Greetings!
Just got back from Greenville, and I am exhausted! We had the incredible opportunity to screen Dawn at the first Greenville International Film Festival, and I couldn't have been more pleased with the event. For their first year, Greenville put on a spectacular show, and I cannot wait to see what they have in store for future festivals.
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| Greenville, South Carolina |
Dawn was screened twice at this festival, and both venues were unique and charming in their own ways. First, we screened at the
Coffee Underground. This is a local (popular) coffee house in downtown Greenville, which had a screening room in the back of the building. Very cool venue!
Our next screening was at
Zen Greenville! This is an elegant "space for hire" building that had a very cool vibe going on throughout the festival. Stellar HD projection on 2 screens at once, and some nice chairs to lounge in while watching the film, I was grateful to have had the film screened at this venue.
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| Dawn screening at Zen Greenville |
At both venues, we had a great screening, great audience, and great questions after the film! We also received a short, but very cool, review from
Paul Hyde at
The Greenville News about the film! Check it out
here! In case you can't read it from the site, here you go:
“Dawn.” Joshua Matthews’ superb short film is about a young
carpenter who hides a fugitive from justice at his isolated farmhouse in
19th century Kentucky.
Filmed
in sepia tones, this beautifully photographed movie has the lyrical
texture and unexpected violence of an early Cormac McCarthy novel.
Matthews, who graduated recently from the Savannah [College] of Art and Design, is a filmmaker to follow in the future. No surprise, Matthews’ “Dawn” recently was accepted by the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
As always, I was able to spend time with some awesome people in Greenville! Pikey Holderedge (a local filmmaker who attended SCAD with me) had his film
Madly Unto Eternity screened at the festival as well, so he was able to show me around town throughout the event. I was also able to meet fellow filmmaker
Andrew Disney, whose film
Searching for Sonny opened the festival. He is also a Fort Worth native, and just so happens to know the guys from
Shut up and Prance. If you've been following these blogs, then you know I met them at the Macon Film Festival this past February! I also ran into some people I met at the Charleston International Film Festival as well, including Tina McCard (CIFF) and
Barret Burlage, whose film
Wrench played at GVIFF. His film
My Sister Sam played at CIFF earlier this month. Great meeting back up with both of them.
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| Tina, Alfonso, Joshua, Holley, & Pikey at GVIFF |
Then there was
Alfonso! Alfonso is from Italy, and not only was GVIFF his first American film festival, but Greenville was his first visit to America! His film
Eros e Thanatos won the Best Short Film award this year, and I can't be mad. It was terrific film! I had the pleasure of spending a good bit of time with Alfonso, and was entertained not only by his film, but by his magic tricks and musical abilities as well. I was also witness to his first ever Waffle House experience. So proud...
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| Alfonso wins Best Short Film |
So overall, the Greenville International Film Festival was a great experience. Thank you, Miguel Berg, for putting on a great festival!
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| Joshua, Miguel, Alfonso, & Pikey hanging with the Owner of Ray's | |
And I received more good news while staying up in Greenville!
Dawn has been accepted into the Foursite Film Festival in Layton, Utah! The festival screens June 13th - 16th! Very excited about this! I'll pass more information along once I receive it.
Thanks for the continued support! Till next time.
-- Joshua
