2011: Year in Review, Part 2

Welcome back to 2011: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.  If you missed my previous post of last year’s lows, you can check it out here.  Today, I’m writing about my favorite career highlights from 2011.

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My Spanish Debut at the Marbella International Film Festival

This weekend is an exciting one for me.  For the first time, my work has been seen on-screen in Spain.  My Spanish debut came yesterday with the screening of The Taste of Relation at the Marbella International Film Festival.  Our film was accepted as one of 47 selections from over 1000 applicants.  This marks my third European film festival screening, after last year’s acceptances at Amsterdam and Cyprus.

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Sometimes the Costs are High.

It’s been an eventful summer.  Slow in terms of work, but rich in life experiences.  The most profound of these would be the recent passing of my grandfather.  An opinionated, stubborn, kind man, he always had a twinkle in his eye.  He was born a second-generation Canadian on his father’s side, but was very proud of his Irish roots.  I can often remember seeing the Irish flag flying high above me when I would go up to spend a weekend.  He would go on walks with us (his gaggle of grandchildren; he had a lot), take us down to the brook to play, and hike us out to the family waterfalls and the old forested homestead and graves where his ancestors had first taken root in this new land.  He was always good for telling a story that would leave you in stitches, or throwing another log in the fire to make sure that your toes were warm enough.  I’ll miss him more than I can say.

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Son of the Sunshine

I’ve waited to see this movie since I saw the casting breakdown posted about 3 years ago. Finally, after a successful festival run and scooping up 12 awards along the way, the film has come to Toronto. A true Canadian indie film, Son of the Sunshine apparently had to put up a good fight to secure its week long run at a Toronto cinema. The nay-sayers were quickly proven wrong when the film performed so well on opening weekend that the theatre decided to hold it over and let it run for an additional week.

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And the Winner is…

So this week the good people at the Canadian Film Centre were kind enough to give me two free tickets to the Canadian Premiere of Kim Cattrall’s new movie Meet Monica Velour. This lead to the development of a whimsical contest where one lucky individual would win a spot as my date to the Premiere. Without further ado, I present our winner: Mr. Sean Ballantyne!

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Win a Date with Holly, and Meet Monica Velour!

I was fortunate enough to score a couple of last minute tickets to the Canadian Premiere of Kim Cattrall’s new movie Meet Monica Velour, compliments of the Canadian Film Centre. My usual crowd already has plans for the evening, so my other ticket needs a good home. This lead to the creation of my first fan contest!

Be Holly’s date to the Canadian Premiere of Meet Monica Velour!

The winner gets to accompany me to the Premiere, where we will get to see Kim Cattrall, co-star Dustin Ingram and director Keith Bearden in person! Screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the filmmakers.

Use the link below to enter via facebook. Stay tuned for a recap of the night!

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Theatrical Premiere!

Had a great night last night!  I was up on the big screen!

Horrible picture of me on the big screen!

A local director was premiering an independent feature film and asked the owner of my filmmaker’s club if he could have one of the club’s short films to screen as an openner.  Excitingly, he chose one of my films.  A bunch of us went to go and see our debute.  Very cool seeing our work on the silver screen!  There were about 100+ people there.  Granted, we were the openning band.  Most people were there to see the feature, which was incredible.  Nevertheless, we were well received and scored a few laughs in the appropriate places.  I even had my first fan photo op!  After the screening we were gathering in the lobby to chat, and a woman came up to me (perfect stranger), told me that I was great, and asked if she could take her picture with me!  Haha!!  Sure wasn’t expecting that!  I was also able to get a few words with the feature film director to thank him for the screening.  He was very friendly and gracious.  I slipped him my card and got a hug from him, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a future collaboration.  At the very least I had a wonderful night with some great people 🙂

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