Van Dougray Carlyle (kelps) wrote in st_margarets, @ 2018-01-24 21:09:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | character: van carlyle, location: beyond the academy and camden |
Narrative: Sundance Film Festival
WHO: Van Carlyle
WHEN: January 22-28
WHERE: Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah
Van had been genuinely surprised when his film Shadow Chasing had been selected into the Sundance Film Festival. He'd been doubly floored when he heard back from the Silent Film Festival in San Francisco. They liked his work. They wanted to premier it. And after a brief logistics and contest entry rules discussion as to which festival would get the official World Premier of Shadow Chasing, Van was set.
First up, Sundance.
He didn't talk about it. He let Felicity have that limelight. This was her thing and he was just here to shut down the haters. If anyone asked where he was going this week or why he wasn't in classes, he'd be honest. But he didn't want the gushing attention that Felicity's announcement on the network had earned her.
The students from St. Margaret's arrived in Park City and checked into their hotel. Van had his own room, either because no one wanted to be his roommate for the week or because his film was separate from Felicity's, he didn't care. He spent very little time in the room. First, he went to explore Park City, slipping away from the tag-along adults who were responsible for the students on this trip. He had carefully planned his outfits. Van wanted to look good, as usual, and not come across as some backwater Florida boy.
First, because it was fucking cold in Park City, he explored wearing a leather jacket with a scarf and gold-yellow pants. His boots were unique. Van had a thing for shoes. Wearing his festival credentials complete with his name and photo, he wandered around, in and out of shops, not returning to the hotel until later that night.
The next day, Van hooked up with Felicity for a while, walking around with her until it was time for her premier, which he attended. The next day it was time for his own premier and Van attended wearing all black and a different kind of shoes. He thought it went as well as could be expected. The audience had reacted to the mystery/horror story of an elusive shadow that, by the end of a maze of hints and a splash of red blood - the only color in the film - manifested into a young black horse rising from the lake and racing to the camera. That was where it ended and Van was surprised that the very brief credits rolled to the sound of loud applause and a lot of chatter.
He wasn't expecting the line of press outside that wanted to interview him. He answered a few questions, let them take some pictures, and then rolled his eyes and wandered away.
By the last day, having seen several other films and taken the opportunity to go skiing and explore downtown Salt Lake, Van was ready for the trip to be over. To the awards ceremony, he wore a shirt for the occasion.
His category came up.
"NEXT Audience Award Presented by Adobe goes to:" there's a pause as they opened the card. "Shadow Chasing, directed by Van Carlyle."
Van blinked and suddenly wished he'd never done any of this stupid film bullshit. "Fuck," he muttered. He got to his feet and made his way to the front as the large room applauded. His heart was beating fast. The room was full with hundreds of people, but it felt like a million, all eyes on him, and he mounted the stage to accept his award. The announcer passed it to him and gave him a hug, which he nearly backed out of. Who hugs a perfect stranger?
"Uh..." at the mic, Van didn't know what to say. He was aware of the cameras and knew that this was being live fed on the internet. He only had two minutes for a speech. A speech he hadn't prepared for. Well, he thought, fuck it. "Part of the category description for NEXT is: pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to storytelling. I'm a high school student," he smirked, "and my teacher, Mr. Farrell, gave someone in our class the opportunity to make a film without offering the same opportunity to the rest of the class. He thought that since this other student was better prepared, better equipped, and better suited for film production, that he didn't need to give the chance to anyone else. The rest of us were just unimaginative lazy Philistines. I wanted to prove him wrong.
"He tried to talk me out of it, too, telling me how much work it would take and so on, thinking I'd wuss out or something. He didn't believe I could do it. But I was on a mission. It became a matter of principle. Like this category, I wanted to prove that everyone can be bold. Innovative. Forward-thinking. Everyone deserves a chance. This art form doesn't belong to any one person. It belongs to everyone. And, well," Van looked at the award in his hand and then out to the audience. He didn't know if his teacher was there or not, but he addressed him directly. "Mr. Farrell, if you're even listening, fuck you, I did it." Van lifted the award in one hand and with the other, flipped up his middle finger.