A few weeks ago, I was in Ottawa for the Ottawa International Animation Festival, since my film was accepted into the Canadian student competition. I moved to Vancouver in 2009, and except for the cities in Vancouver Island (Victoria and Nanaimo), I'd never visited any other Canadian city before.
Ottawa is a lot smaller than I expected it to be, but it is very beautiful and the weather was pleasant while I was there. Being a tropical creature, I'm not a fan of snow and cold temperatures (I refuse to leave the house if it gets any colder than -10C), so I have a hard time seeing myself living there, but it was very nice to visit. I stayed with my good friend Luli - it was great seeing her after a while and I'm very thankful for her wonderful hospitality.
The festival was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. I met lots of very nice people and I'm actually looking forward going again next year. I got to meet a bunch of animation rockstars and some of my heroes and that was amazing.
The event had three main venues, and they were all located in downtown Ottawa. This made eating, drinking coffee, meeting people, and hanging out between screenings very easy. While the walk from one theatre to the other wasn't long (15 mins max), it would've been a lot more comfortable to just have everything in the same location. The weather was nice most of the time, but it did rain during the day sometimes. Maybe if the entire event had taken place in one convention centre or one theatre with more than one screen, everything would've felt better organized. However, it was very nice of the organizers to include all the parties in the program. I've been to events in which you're responsible for figuring out when the parties are and no details are given about how to rsvp. OIAF was very good at letting everybody know what the parties were and how to get to the venues.
I feel like having a film in the show and having a filmmaker badge made me 250% more interesting than I would normally be, and that was a great advantage since I can be very shy and a little socially awkward at times. My badge was a great conversation starter, specially when I approached other filmmakers. Seeing my work next some amazing films was a very humbling experience. All the screenings I was able to attend were really, really good! I guess I expected the festival to only accept relatively good films, but most of them were fantastic. Even the ones that weren't any particular style I'd normally like were good.
'Unfortunately' got a fantastic reaction from the audience. I attended both screenings in which it was shown and people laughed in both (not just my friends, regular people also laughed). My favorite thing was that a couple of women came up to me after the screenings or at parties and shared some of their most embarrassing period stories with me. I know this sounds a little weird, but I find it AMAZING how people can find me approachable and trustworthy after watching my film. Even older men came up to me to tell me they enjoyed it. I guess gender/sex/age shouldn't matter to me that much, but I do think it's awesome that older men laugh at my silly period jokes. I'm just happy I could make people laugh, really.
After the festival was over, I stayed a couple of days in Ottawa, and then took the Greyhound to Montréal. My french is limited and a bit embarrassing, but I'm very proud to say I feel like I handled all conversations fairly well. Even though I was there for only a couple of hours, I really loved it. It's a very beautiful city with gorgeous buildings. After spending the day in Montréal, I took the overnight bus to New York city. I got to spend a sweet weekend visiting my boyfriend and his family in Jersey.
A year ago, I was very sceptical about making a film and wanted to work on a portfolio instead. While I'm still looking for work and having a stronger story portfolio would probably make the job hunt a little easier, I had no idea making a film would change me so much. It was a decision I would not have made on my own and I'm very grateful for all the fantastic people in my life who supported me during that process. I loved making Unfortunately because it made me realize I really love story, I really love experimental animation, and I want to keep directing.
Honestly, I can't wait to make another film.
