Film Festivals NewYork

Launching the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in style was the Opening Night Gala held at Manhattan's hottest new nightclub, BLVD. With over 500 musicians, artists, filmmakers, and industry execs in attendance the party was the place to be on April 22nd, 2004. Amid the hubbub, Aqua Burn was making it's presence known thanks to our schmoozing and PR work!! Not surprisingly there were a few Burners in the crowd who were stoked to see that a Burning Man Film made it into the festival. During the one week respite between the party and the actual showing of "A

qua Burn", we did a little sightseeing. Central Park, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the New York City Library, Empire State building, Time Square and most of Midtown Manhattan. And of course, the NBC Studio Tour where we caught a glimpse of Carson Daly rehearsing for a taping of his show. Finally the night of the showing rolled around and people began to pour into Theater 7 at the Village East Cinemas. Preceding Aqua Burn in the block of documentaries were "My Country, Right or Wrong", encompassing interviews with members of the Santa Fe chapter of Veterans for Peace, and "Zionist Cookies", giving a look at the opinions of an Israeli-American family regarding the Israeli-Palestinian war.The audience's enthused reaction caught us off guard. We were bombarded by praise, and of course questions! The Burners from the party were there, true to their word, wondering which camp we'd be at this year and eager to discuss their experiences. Surprisingly a few of the older folks in the crowd were very eager to know everything about the festival, and I could see the wheels in their head turning away as they began planning their own visit to Burning Man. Another gentleman was curious as to how he could make his own film. I was shocked to see that nearly twenty minutes had passed since the film ended when an usher came to remind us that another film was going to be starting and we needed to exit the theater.