Last night, August 4th, the award ceremony for the Nashville 48 hour film project was held at the Belcourt Theater.  This is the 3rd year Fighting with Forks has submitted a film, and we had expectations of at least winning the Fantasy genre, which is the genre we drew.  As the awards progressed, a few of us (namely me) were a little discouraged that we only got 1st Runner Up in the genre of Fantasy, but I was excited that Ellen Tift got Best Supporting Actress.

Let me stop and say this: There were some brilliant films this year.  The day after the screening, I raved about 3 or 4 of the films in our group that completely floored me.  Although I thought we had made a good film, I thought many of these other films were at least as good or maybe better than ours.  When some of those films weren’t winning some of the prizes, I was a little shocked, but I understood that I hadn’t seen 3/4 of the films.

At the end of the awards, they presented 4 films. Honorable Mention, 2nd Runner Up, 1st Runner Up, and Best Overall Film.  By this time in the ceremony, I was excited for the other teams, but, even without seeing the other Fantasy film that beat us, I was still dissapointed.  I really didn’t expect anything, and my main focus was figuring out what I was going to have for a snack when I got home.

There was a pause, and the announcers said “And now the winner of Best Film,” and they pointed to the screen.  And on the screen, larger than life, was the name of our film and our team name, Fighting with Forks. Shock.  It was so surreal, that I just sat there in shock, thinking, ‘wait, someone screwed up here.’  But our whole team that was present (Ellen Tift, Jamie Roberts, John Marshall, Charlie Rauh, and myself) Jumped up and started screaming.  I’m trying to decide if we were more shocked or the rest of the audience.

Let me explain: In previous years, you would see a team win tons of stuff, and then when they won Best Film, you weren’t surprised.  We had only won a few awards, one of them being a made up award for Best Death Slide, so it was a complete shock.  I felt like we were at the Acadamy Awards, and when they announce Best Film, it’s a film that wasn’t even nominated.

Regardless, we were elated, and I’m still on a crazy high from the evening events.  We are completely honored and humbled at this award, and we thank the Nashville Film community for pushing us to do better and better.  And for making great films.

What does this mean? Our film is going to show in the Nashville Film Festival, plus our film goes on to compete against all the other Best Film winners of other cities.  Maybe more?  Who knows?

And most of all, thanks to the Fighting with Forks team.  You kids kicked ass.

motke