since we seemed to get attitude from 90% of the people we had to deal with there and they had a tendency to lock it up at odd times. 
Other than that the week seemed to go pretty good. We managed to catch a few movies, mostly shorts, since the features booked up pretty quickly and also seemed to not start on schedule.
We met the writer/director of 800 CD's, Chris Valenti, who obviously encouraged us to catch his movie. I did manage to watch a showing on Friday, which was wonderful, funny and educational on the business of networking, it was well worth watching and we will be posting a review on it to our Withersin Reviews site. I also tried to watch Aids, Inc., directed by Gary Null and although looking to be a promising documentary; the technical difficulites that plagued the film festival prevented sound during the showing rendering it pointless. We did manage to see Itsy Bitsy which was directed and starred in by David May. This was a nice change of pace; a very humurous short, only eight minutes and still managing to tell a complete story. I'm glad that this was the Short Film Audience Award Winner of the festival. We were able to get back to the hospitality suite for a quick bite, some wine and an intimate concert with After Midnight Project. Now, this was only an acoustical playing without all the amps, but instantly we were amazed by the versatility and energy this band has. Kim was definitely smitten and cannot say enough about their musical talents, especially after listening to their five song EP, The Becoming. She even posted a review on our Reviews website (so check it out). We finished off our night visiting the Music Festival, but nothing really peaked our interest, so we headed home.
Sin-a-Rator, Exact Change Only, Bare, Arjuna, Cirugia, Aeotearoa, The Intruder, One Day, The Twonky and The Tragic Love Story of Dr. Faust. 
While most of these shorts were okay at best, we really enjoyed One Rat Short, which happened to win the Best Animated Film Award from the festival; very well deserved! We were also able to catch some regular shorts, which included Adam Bolt's, Vanished Acres. This was amazing and very well worth the craziness of a delay in showings. Although, it did not win an award from the festival, , it is certainly "The Best" in our minds and hearts and we hope he continues to make these amazing films. In between showings, we managed to catch another musical act, Kandace Ferrell, she has a beautiful voice and amazing muscial talent; don't mind that she is only 19, her persona is well beyond that! We headed out to the inhospitality suite in time for dinner, actually just in time, as the food was completely gone before we finished our plates. We headed out to the Music festival to catch some more acts, including another perfomance by After Midnight Project, this time with all the bells and whistles. WOW, does not describe the energy of this band, they commanded the stage, truely, truely incredible! We got moving, preparing for some well needed rest before hitting the Black Tie Gala on Sunday. Sunday was a day of rest for both Kim and I; then we headed out for the Gala, held at the Pechanga Casino Grand Ballroom. 
We had our typical issues getting into this event, multiple people not knowing what was going on or what credentials we needed to have. We eventually wound up in the care of Platform Media Groups', Henry Eshelman. After some additional confusion and heated conversations, we were allowed to attend the VIP pre-party and were then allowed to sneak in for the dinner in the main ballroom. Definitely need to say "THANK YOU' to Henry for dealing with us and allowing us to eat, the dinner was incredible. If the filet, chicken, shrimp trio were not enough, and they were, the dessert was heavenly; a sinful Tiramisu set inside a chocolate film reel. The festivities of the evening started soon after the dessert and continued for a bit over three hours, although it felt longer. The gala was for the major VIP awards, but was interesting none-the-less. All in all it was a very productive few days, passing out a few copies of Birth 1.1 and making some new friends along the way.
TVIFF Rising Star Award for emerging young actress: TECHNICOLORThere were performances by the lead singer of Lemon Sun and a closing performance by Kandace Ferrel.
The Film Festival Awards:
Best Picture: BILLO, LE GRAND DAKHAAR
Special Jury Prize (Directing): JESS MANAFORT of THE BEAUTIFUL ORDINARY
Special Jury Prize (Acting): PAXCAL ZULLINO for II_RABDOMANTE
Special Jury Prize (Acting): DOUGLAS SMITH for CITIZEN DUANE
Best Short Film: A LITTLE LIGHT
Best Animated Film: ONE RAT SHORT
Special Jury Prize: THE DESCENDENT
Special Jury Prize (International Film): ANTES Y DESPUES DE BESAR A MARIA
Special Jury Prize: POP FOUL
Best Documentary Film: UNSETTLED
Special Jury Prize: GULF WAR SYNDROME - KILLING OUR OWN
Honorable Mention: DAMNED TO HEAVEN
Audience Chosen Award Winners:
Feature Audience Award Winner: HEBER HOLIDAY
Documentary Audience Award Winner: JOURNEY TO PALOMAR
Short Film Audience Award Winner: ITSY BITSY
Animation Audience Award Winner: EXACT CHANGE ONLY
The Tower Plaza was nicely decorated with handmade purple and black satin table linens and catered by some of the local favorites like Rosa's Cantina offering pollo chicken and mexican rice, but the real treat was their famous carrot cake. Presto's brought baked Ziti, green salad and italian bread. California Pizza Kitchen, which offered a nice array of pizza: BBQ Chicken, Five Cheese with Tomato, Pepperoni and Caesar Salad and finally, Penfold's Cattle Company, which cooked up some amazing filets and sliced it onto some toast points, along with cream of white asparagus soup and tomato and feta salad. The rest of the festival was as busy as ever, lots of great independent films and fantastic music, plus the great food and wine served at the opening night and in the hospitality suite, which included: Carl Strauss offered Woodie Gold, Stargazer and their famous lager; Miramonte Red and Riesling; Stuart Cellars Viogner and Merlot; Briar Rose Cabernet Franc; Keyways Riesling and Hart Viogner. Our teen correspondent Loegan was very impressed with the offerings saying, "I thought it was really cool. "They had tasty food and drinks available." We did manage to catch a showing of 
NEVANDO VOY (Spain)Jury Prize Awards for Dramatic Feature Films:
"Chain Link" ~ "The Flyboys" ~ "Fine Pena Mai" ~ "The Last Lullaby" ~ "Older Than America"
Jury Prize Awards for Documentary Films:
"Begging Naked" ~ "Neo-Lounge"
"My Mother's Garden" - for Best 1st Feature Documentary
"Fight or Flight" - for Best Artistic Expression
"Ottica Zero" - for Best Short Documentary
Jury Prize Awards for Short Films:
"Plain and Simple" - Animation Award
"Monsoon" - Student Film - Artistic Achievement
"Nina Quebrada" - Student Film - Dramatic Achievement
"Politics of Pre-School" - Comedic Achievement
"Four Minutes til noon" - Comedic Achievement
"Cassandra" - Artistic Accomplishment
Audience Awards:
"The Flyboys" - Feature Film
"Tuli" - Foreign Film
"Monsoon" - Student Film
"Residue" - Short Film
"Sebastian's Voodoo" - Animation
"Chasin' Gus' Ghost" - Documentary
Starving for Gravity tied with The Luxury for the MusicFest honor.
