Wow, what a weekend. Two films that I have had the pleasure of working on, "Requiem For The American Dream" and "Tumbledown", had their premieres at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival. My wife and I went down to NYC and got to go to both of the premieres, which was a really special moment for me. I even got to get a few photos taken on the red carpet at the Requiem premiere. As the Associate Producer on Requiem, it was awesome to see it play on a big screen in front of sold-out crowd (including my wife and also one of my closest friends from growing up). It was also great to see the whole PF Pictures crew again and the directors, Peter Hutchison, Kelly Nyks and Jared P. Scott. They are an incredibly thoughtful and talented group of filmmakers and it was a real pleasure working with them on Requiem and other projects. These guys are going to shake things up and I can't wait to see what they do next.
PF Pictures crew (and family) at Requiem premiere
After the Requiem premiere, we headed over to the Tumbledown premiere, which was a whole other ballgame in terms of press and scale, due to the stars of the film, Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis. I was an assistant camera/tech for some of the establishing shots/scenics that were shot in Maine for this film. The husband and wife directing/screenwriting duo of Sean Mewshaw and Desi Van Til (respectively) are wonderful people and it was a pleasure to get to work on such a great film and story. It took them years to get the film made the way they envisioned it, and to get a bit of Maine in the film (which is set in the mountains of Western Maine) was a real labor of love on their part. Seeing the finished film on screen, you don't see any of the countless hours of work and struggles to get an "indie" film made- just the great writing and directing, the powerful, funny performances of all the actors, and a beautiful film. They make it look easy. I can't wait for this film to get out to a wider audience- it really deserves it!
"Tumbledown" Q&A after the premiere. From far right: Sean Mewshaw (director), Desi Van Til (screenwriter), Jason Sudeikis and Rebecca Hall.
After the screening we went to the premiere party and got to hang with some good friends and meet some new ones (more talented Portlanders), and got to say hello to Mike O'Brien from SNL, who's "7 Minutes In Heaven" sketches Caitlin and I are big fans of. All in all, a pretty amazing weekend.
*Mind officially blown from excitement*