It has been a week and 3 days since I had the pleasure of attending the Big Island Film Festival at Mauna Lani. My husband and I went to represent The Ballad of Sandeep, one of the submissions in the festival. If you have not yet had the privilege of viewing this epic short film directed by Derek Frey and starring Deep Roy and The Minor Prophets, you can find it at lazerfilm.com.
Thom and I were lucky enough to be included in the crew on this film. Armed with a powder puff and steamer, I kept everyone un-shiny and un-wrinkly during the shoot. I should also mention that I had a cameo as the effervescent waitress in the Indian restaurant scene and if you look closely, you will see me reviewing reports in one of the office scenes. Thom was on boom mic duty and provided security in some of the more dangerous locations. He definitely had it much harder than I did. Holding a boom mic for hours under hot lights doesn't really look all that fun. Most of my time was spent eating donuts and watching everyone else work.After touring through festivals all across the universe, Sandeep finally landed on the big island for a screening on May 27th, 2012. Chauffeur Liam piled us into his jeep and drove across the dangerous island terrain before delivering us safely to our destination. The Mauna Lani resort is a plastic oasis in the middle of what looks like Mars. It was HOT. I was grouchy. We started drinking to take the edge off. Things were fine after that.
We passed out flyers, ate pupus and finally watched the screening before being drug up to the front of the room for a torturous Q & A. Thom was pretty much on his own with that one. To my credit, I did help him with a good bit of smiling and nodding. So, here's to The Ballad of Sandeep! Congratulations to Derek, Deep, The Minor Prophets and all that helped make this film a success!
P.S. Thank you to Hadley Catalano of Big Island Weekly for her lovely article and the folks at the Big Island Film Festival for letting us partake in the filmy festivities.
