Last night I attended the Orlando Film Festival Awards Ceremony. COVID Dystopia had screened earlier in the day. That morning Donald Trump was announced as the winner of the presidential election. Trump appears in about 10 of the darkest scenes in the film. The horrific first months of the pandemic came flooding back.
I found it odd that no one stood on the red carpet as we all waited for the doors to open to the awards ceremony. It got incredibly crowded as time went on and the red carpet seemed like wasted real estate. One couple did have their picture taken and they stayed on the red carpet afterwards. The theater entrance was at the end of the carpet, so I made my way up there. Since I was alone it was easy to move anywhere I wanted.
Then an announcement was made that we should all line up n the red carpet. I was second in line behind a couple. I offered to take a picture of them with the long line behind them. Tech issues inside the theater kept the doors closed. Any time I am forced to stand in a crowd I get uncomfortable. How was the seal on my KN95 mask. A man coughed as he walked past. Maybe my goatee was too long and would break the seal. Masks work but they aren’t inflatable of no one else is wearing one.
We were finally let in. I made my way to the very back row of a decent sized theater. Most people crushed together up front. Where I sat gave me plenty of social distancing and made sure no one was breathing down my neck. Trailers were to be shown of the top feature films. Unfortunately, a screen kept cropping up accusing the user of being a bot. He would have to log in. We have all been accused of being a bot at some point and were are used to proving our humanity by picking out photos of bikes or bridges. The audience went wild shouting to the tech to log in. I started singing “Send in the Bots” to the music of “Send in the Clowns” in my head. “Where are the bots? Send in the bots.”
When the time came for the Best Animated Short category, I was so pleased to see COVID Dystopia on the big screen as a nominee. I had to scramble to get a photo, I have trouble figuring out how to use the camera. I am more used to sketching but there was no time for that. The audience applauded all the nominees.I had seen maybe half of the nominated films. Scavengers was an awesome film from the UCF animation students. A small army had worked on that film, so it was a real contender.
Then the winner was announced and it was COVID Dystopia! I wasn’t expecting that. I had to walk all the way from the back row to the front of the theater. The steps on the way down were oddly spaced and I didn’t want to trip. Daniel Springen, the executive director of the Film Festival filled the time by explaining to the audience that they needed to see the film, he liked the pacing and how contemporary it was. I wish I had turned on my voice recorder to save the moment but I was numb and in shock.
Upon acceptance I was handed a microphone. I my Disney Feature Animation background and someone from the audience shouted out, “I loved Brother Bear“. I mentioned my collaboration with local musician Andy Matchett and talked about how I sketched rehearsals for his Apocalyptic play Key of E. After handing the microphone back to Daniel, he said something that lead me to shout out how the election of Donald Trump had made the film suddenly very relevant again. I said something bout how the 45th had mishandled the early stages of the pandemic and Daniel rightly chimed in that the festival does not support any one political viewpoint.
I had paid $60 dollars or so for a foam core mounted movie poster. I was sad the poster had not won an award for best poster. After the ceremony I worked to unstick the poster from the movie theater hallway. There were eye hooks screws into the top of the poster but they were unutilized. Then I walked around and collected COVID buttons and cards. Quite a few buttons were picked up, I was surprised. Everyone I passed congratulated me. I am not used to being the center of attention. I realized that all recognized me since I was the only person wearing a mask. They might think of the mask as a bit of theater, but it is my new reality, I wear it to all indoor events and think of it like a cummerbund of bow tie. A well fitted mask it my new formal look.