Last week, I was talking to my mom on the phone, who was planning on coming up to the Triangle for a visit with my brother and me.
We’d been planning the trip for months.
She wanted to see my new house and the playset I made for my daughter (and the little Jeep she’d bought my daughter for Christmas!) and I needed to give her the correct version of her Christmas present from me — a photo book of our family cruise trip in 2019 — since the version that came in December was not at all what I created (thanks a lot, Shutterfly!).
We were all excited.
Then it dawned on me. I’d double booked.
Months ago I had agreed to attend a film festival to screen my latest short film, “The Casserole Brigade.”
For the past year, it’s been screening in festivals around the country and none of them were in person (for obvious reasons). And even though I’m proud of that, it’s bittersweet because I’ve missed the best parts about film festivals — networking with other filmmakers, hanging at the afterparties, and, most importantly, seeing a live audience watch my film.
But the Foothills Film Festival, a first-year festival based in Shelby, NC, was dead set on hosting their event in person. They’d postponed twice, hoping that COVID would clear and when that didn’t happen, they found a location that was large enough to host a small group safely.
Initially, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go.
Of course I wanted to be safe, but I also really wanted to see my film on a big screen with a real audience — at least once.
On the other hand, I knew there wouldn’t be that many people there and I was going to drive three hours each way and pay for an Airbnb, just to stroke my artist’s ego a little bit.
Then, when I realized it was on the weekend my mom was visiting, I was even more conflicted.
Would I completely regret leaving my family to go to a film festival by myself while we’re still in the middle of a pandemic?
Well, I did leave them.
And it was great.
The staff at the Foothills Film Festival and the Legrand Center made us all feel safe, with round banquet tables sitting far from each other, instead of typical theater seating, and a huge ballroom with four big screens for us to watch the films.
There were probably 60 people in space that could fit 1000, but those 60 people were so happy to celebrate each other and their art and just be watching movies together.
I remember eating my popcorn realizing how long it had been since I’d had any kind of theater experience. That’s important to a filmmaker and I’m grateful they gave that to me.
Then, just as I was feeling good about my decision to attend, something I didn’t expect happened.
I won the award for screenplay — my first award ever for writing.
To accept it in person, alongside one actor from my film and other NC-based filmmakers, and to go on stage and thank the audience, dedicating it to my mother who inspired the film, made the trip more than worth it.
Mostly because it felt like real life again.
It felt like maybe we aren’t going to be stuck in this forever and maybe there is hope for live events again in the future.
Because even though virtual connection has saved us in the past 12 months, it isn’t the same.
We need to see human faces. We need to see them laugh and cry and be surprised.
We need to feel the collective pulse and energy that happens when we are in groups together, experiencing the same things.
We need that. And I think it’s coming back soon.
When I got back to my Airbnb, I Facetimed my mom and brother who were up late at his house watching movies. And in that moment, I was grateful for the connection technology provided us.
But I was more grateful for the brunch we shared around my kitchen table the next morning.
Rain Bennett is a two-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker, writer, and competitive storyteller with over a decade of experience producing documentary films that focus on health and wellness. His mission is simple: to make the world happier and healthier by sharing stories of change.
You can read the rest of “Right as Rain” here, and check back every Wednesday on Chapelboro for a new column!
