Including a pic of Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter handing me the “Filmadelphia” award, the jury prize for best film made in PA!

Thanks to everyone who came out and joined us in Philly!!

Edit: Here’s a pic for ya!

Second order of business: Brand new trailer with new footage! Click here to view! (Or click the trailer tab).

Now, that being said, let me report that Lebanon, Pa. won the “Standout Film Award” at the Hells Half Mile Film Festival in Michigan! Full report (with lots of pics!) if you click “more.”

I don’t know why I didn’t do this kind of report before. In fact, I may need to go back and write up little reports for SXSW and Traverse City…

So last weekend I travelled to Bay City, MI for a little film and music fest called Hells Half Mile Film & Music Festival. We had the pleasure of playing alongside some other SXSW/TCFF films like The Happy Poet and Cherry. Both great films, by the way. And Cherry is coming out in theaters right now!

The very gracious HHM people put me up in this big, pretty room in one of the town’s legendary old houses now turned into a B&B.

We had the pleasure of screening twice. First, in the town’s restored grand movie house, which from the balcony looks like this:

This is our movie on the screen!

I was really taken aback by how positively the audience responded during the screening. This was the first fest I had been to where we had done no advance press and I had come alone, so knew no one. And yet, a solid crowd came… and *loved* the movie. The number of audible laughs and gasps was wonderful. They were really into it, and the projection equipment was top notch – the film looked and sounded great.

Near the end of the film, Chris Hansen of Matt Pond PA snuck in the back and shook my hand. This was the first time we met. All the scoring work for the film, done by Chris and Matt, was done over the internet and phone. The film ended and Chris and I went up together to do a Q&A, and then we were off to the “Masonic Red Room” for the music portion of the evening.

So, gentle reader, the reason I asked Matt Pond and Chris Hasen to do the music for the film was that, no holds barred, Matt Pond PA has been one of my favorite bands for a long time. I first saw them at a show at the Khyber in Philly around 2002. I wrote a chunk of this movie while listening to Several Arrows Later and Emblems. They were always my first choice to do the music for the movie, and I felt so lucky when they agreed to do it. But as I said, I had never actually met these people, so I must say it was really a highlight of this whole experience when this happened:

After mooching a lot of beer from my musical heroes in the green room, I let them do their pre-show thing and went out to the main stage area to chat with some other filmmakers, including a smart Australian screenwriter called Chris Weekes who is taking the world by storm in LA. His script “Muppet Man” topped last year’s “Black List” – a list of the best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood. You know what #2 was? “Social Network.” He was gracious and awesome, as were the other filmmakers in town. Then the band starting playing, and even though it was now almost midnight, the room blew up.

Ok… I’m going to skip ahead at this point… To the next day at about 3pm. The scene is the kitchen of the quaint, quiet, pretty B&B where I have come down, shaking and hungover (but showered), asking for a glass of juice because I missed breakfast… by about 5 hours! *I* don’t have any photos of this period. If others do, perhaps they can share (or delete)… it involves a dance party in a Bay City art gallery, bourbon, rides from various people I had never met, a case of Bud, and certain members of the band freestyle rapping (you know who you are).

But here we are, back at 3pm the next day, and I have a screening of the film at 4! I speedwalk into town and arrive at our screening here:

Doesn’t look like a “movie theater” does it… That’s because it’s a Planetarium! That’s right. Bay City hosted the first, and likely last, screening of the indie drama Lebanon, Pa. in a domed planetarium!

I don’t know if you can really see, but people are slumped back in tilted seats looking up at our film in dome-o-vision. Point: Bay City.

Finally, before heading to bed, as I had to get up at 3:30am to return back to Philly for a day of work, I went to an awards ceremony where these fine people awarded Lebanon, Pa. the “Standout Film Award.”

So, I have to say a big thank you to Alan LaFave and the folks at Hells Half Mile. I had a great 48 hours there. They were gracious hosts and I think they’ve put together an impressive fest in just a few short years. Continental Airlines, not so gracious. Of my 4 flights to get there and back, 3 were delayed. One by *a day*. Luckily, I had such a good time, that didn’t even matter …

Now, on to Philly!!

Our official East Coast Premiere will be at the Prince Music Theater on Friday, October 15th at 5pm. We will also screen Sunday, 10/17 at 4pm at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute and Sunday 10/24 at 7:15 pm at the Rave University City. The Philadelphia Film Festival is really stepping it up this year with some new high-profile programmers and a fantastic lineup. We’re honored to be a part of it!!

You can buy tickets starting today here: http://filmadelphia.bside.com/2010/films/lebanonpa_filmadelphia2010

Pennsylvanians, hope to see you there!!!

First up: Two stories hitting today.

1) Variety story on TCFF which includes a quote from Ben

2) Film Gecko (film blog) interview w/ Michael Moore in which he says some awesome things about the movie and why he chose it for Traverse City