A few days ago I put up a post about a short film I submitted to for the opportunity to direct the winning screenplay as part of a contest hosted by the Richmond International Film Festival (RIFF), made possible by one of their sponsors Shamin Hotels.

This weekend I was emailed by the Founder and Producer of RIFF, Heather Waters, who told me the results of the contest and the winning selections:

Bad news is...

"After careful deliberation with the RIFF Committee and Shamin Executive Staff, we have come to a decision on this year’s winning director for our in-house short film production award. While you were not selected as this year’s winning director..."

Good news is...

"You made it into the top 3 due to your wonderful work. The Committee and Shamin very much enjoyed your take on the project, so the festival would like to award you with an Honorable Mention at the red carpet awards ceremony to recognize this. You will receive an award certificate there, and we hope you are able to attend in person to receive the honor. Again, a wonderful job, Noel & we thank you for your participation!"

So I didn't win the official selection, and won't have the opportunity to go out to Virginia and direct this short film and receive the cash prize package at the festival in March, where it will be presented.

But I did receive and HONORABLE MENTION which I do consider an achievement in itself, and am very proud that I took a chance and submitted to this contest, even though the outcome wasn't exactly what I wanted in the end.

As I mentioned in my last post, the reason why I was able to submit to this festival in the first place is because I submitted my auto-biographical short film My Aura's Echo, which I wrote and directed, to RIFF. I have yet to find out if my film has been officially selected into the festival yet, announcements go out in mid-December. So there's a chance I might still be going out to this fest to screen my film, as well as receiving my Honorable Mention. I'm keeping my fingers crossed my film will be selected so I can go out and screen it, as well as receive my Honorable Mention in person.

Give my film My Aura's Echo a watch, do you think it deserves to be in a film festival? The film is about the struggles I faced during the course of last year when I was 25 years old and was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor and epilepsy. Go to my last blog post and look over the Storyboards and Director's Vision Statement, which are the one's I submitted for the contest for RIFF. Do they deserve the Honorable Mention I received? Would you have selected me as the winning director, was my vision clear, did it seem compelling?

Some how, some day I will make it to the red carpet. Maybe RIFF will be my chance. Maybe not. I'm doing whatever I can right now to make it happen though. RIFF is not the only film festival I've submitted My Aura's Echo to. My Aura's Echo is not the only short film I've directed recently that I'm submitting to film festivals to try to get exposure.

It feels like I'm pushing, pushing, pushing and nothing is getting any easier. But I know the day it does, it will all be worth it. And on that day I'm going to be on the red f*cking carpet.

-NDB