(Continued from Part I)
When I discover that my film is not on the screening schedule, I write a panicky note to the event organizers. They respond by telling me that a number of films failed to follow one of the challenge’s few rules–all films must begin with a title card featuring the assigned film title and the team name. If my film wasn’t included, I must have disqualified myself by leaving off the title card. I write back to assure them that I did, indeed, include the title card. I ask them to check again.
To be honest, though, I am beginning to wonder whether I want my film screened at all. I have now had the chance to watch it again with a good night’s sleep, and it is, frankly, pretty crappy. Everybody else’s contribution is just as good as I remember–the acting, the music, and the backpack wrangling all hold up extremely well. The only problem is the writing and the directing. The first 30 seconds of the film are nothing but a slow pan over a still image of a garden. That’s 11% of the film’s entire running time, taken up with the dullest possible image. The next 30 seconds aren’t much better; it’s not until a full minute into the film that one of my actors actually appears on screen. And once the action starts, the shots I’ve chosen often aren’t the best ones to tell the story.

Meanwhile, after a series of e-mails, the Film Challenge organizers have figured out why we don’t appear on the schedule. The film’s name was “The Herb Garden,” and our filmmaking team is “The Last Minute Irregulars.” Somehow, this information has ended up in the database as “Film Name: Last Minute. Team name: Irrison.” Really, I can’t imagine why they had such a hard time reading the information that I scrawled onto the tiny label of a miniDV cassette in a moving cab on insufficient sleep. In any case, while The Last Minute Irregulars are not listed on the screening schedule, “Irrison” is. Along with the other 48 Hour films, “The Herb Garden” will be screened on October 15.
I suppose this is good news, but I’m really not sure. I’ve already shown the film to David, Zsu, and Lauren, and they have all been politely enthusiastic about it, but I am not looking forward to having them see it in the roaring silence that an unimpressed audience will provide.
On the night of the screening, the five of us arrive at the Curzon Mayfair and take our seats in the packed theatre. “The Herb Garden” is scheduled to be the last film in the screening, which gives me an hour or so to squirm. Fortunately, there are at least two films that are worse than mine. Unfortunately, there are a number that I like very much indeed.
Finally, despite my prayers to the contrary, the time for my film comes. And to my surprise, it gets huge laughs in the first few moments.
And it keeps getting huge laughs. Since there is no way that my crappy film could be getting such a positive reception, it becomes rapidly obvious that the audience is merely laughing at how amateurish it looks. When the film ends and receives a big round of applause and cheers, I am convinced the entire audience is reacting with one sarcastic voice. David and Zsu are extremely pleased with the reception, and express their sincere amazement that “The Herb Garden” was not one of the winners of the competition. Not wanting to ruin their buzz, I do not point out that we have just been the victims of unanimous derision, expressed through subtly ironic applause and cheers.
On the tube ride home, it slowly begins to dawn on me that perhaps the film isn’t as bad as I thought. Perhaps it has even turned out rather well. It is only the next morning, when I receive a few e-mails from people who had been at the screening and loved the film, that I realize the response hadn’t been at all sarcastic.
I’m still a bit bemused by the whole thing. Certainly, a large part of the positive reception stemmed from the fact that the audience was made up of other 48 hour filmmakers, who knew how hard it was to make a movie under those circumstances, and who admired my nerve in trying it using only a still camera. I have no idea how the film will play when viewed strictly on its own merits. Still, I’m now encouraged enough to submit it to other film festivals, if only to see how it does.
Events described occurred between September 16 and October 15, 2003.