Fans of cosmic horror converged upon Portland, Oregon, last weekend for the HP Lovecraft Film Festival and CthulhuCon, and with them were four student producers from Entertainment Business Management – Myles Messinetti, Patsy Tomkins, Nadeem Siddiqui, and Justin Norton - who set out down I-5 to accompany the short films they produced for the first volume of the digital publication Compendium. (Read a bit more about it here.)

The beautiful (and suitably creepy) Hollywood Theater played host to a wide variety of Lovecraftian films throughout the weekend, but that’s not all – just as the VFS group was preparing to return to Vancouver, festival organizers asked them to stay an extra day for a Q&A session. And that wasn’t the only surprise in store. Here’s Nadeem with the whole story:

Guest Post by Nadeem Siddiqui
VFS Entertainment Business Management Student

In the beginning, there was Portland.

When you work on a film for four months of your life, the hope is that somebody, anybody, will sit down and take the three minutes out of their schedule to watch the fruits of your labour.

Whether they enjoy it is not entirely important (although tears of joy are greatly appreciated). You just hope that someone will watch it. Obviously, there are those forced to sit through it because they gave birth to you, you’re married to them, or, for whatever reason, they’ve sold their soul to you. But a filmmaker craves genuine interest; a group of people thirsting after your work. We crave an audience.

Compendium Volume 1 (aka “Project Space Squid”) had been produced with a tenacity and vigor that few are privy to. The blood, sweat, and buckets of tears that students poured into this project are visible on the screen. While those associated with Compendium have seen it so many times it haunts their dreams, few outside the VFS family have any knowledge these films and interactive pieces even exist.

So, after the anxiety, nervousness, and excitement of production, it was time to find these films an audience, and when VFS Festival Distributor Ryan Atimoyoo approached our class about entering the films into the HP Lovecraft Film Festival, we jumped on the opportunity. We placed the finishing touches on our films and sent them on their merry way, hopeful that whoever was at the receiving end would see something special in them.

As the days went on, our class became preoccupied with various other projects. It wasn’t until a Wednesday afternoon, as I was working on my final project, that I received an email from the lead actor in my film, Eric Floyd. The Rats in the Walls had been accepted into the festival.

I thought the sleepless nights and mountains of work had made me delirious. I read over the email a few more times and then quickly made my way to the official website, and there it was. The Rats in the Walls was listed as an official selection. The first film I had ever had the opportunity of producing had now been accepted into a film festival. It’s hard to really say what that moment felt like, but the word “elation” does come to mind. Along with The Rats in the Wall, Dagon, The Dunwich Horror, and The Call of C’Thulhu had also been accepted. It was an amazing achievement for the entire class, and it was a no brainer that we’d be heading down to Portland for our very first film festival.

So, on October 1st, Patsy Tomkins (producer of The Call of C’Thulhu), Myles Messinetti, Justin Norton (producers of Dagon), and I hopped into a car and made the 6-hour drive down to the beautiful state of Oregon.

The festival kicked off on Friday evening. We didn’t know what to expect; how big this festival was going to be, how many people were going to attend, and what kind of reception our films would receive. Expectations were low (disappointment can hurt) but when we arrived and saw the long line of HP Lovecraft fans craning to get into the Hollywood Theater, we were floored.

There were three screens, and all three were filled with people (the two smaller auditoriums only had standing room by the time the screenings began). I sat and admired the work of other filmmakers. But when my own film premiered on that big screen, in a room full of strangers, I couldn’t help but feel proud. The only thing running through my mind was that I had produced this and now others were watching it. No one got up and left or sneered at the screen or booed. They sat and watched. It was even more surprising when they applauded (and sometimes whistled) at the end. They liked it. They really, really liked it. It was like a dream come true.

Our plan was to initially leave on the afternoon of the 3rd. However, after meeting with  festival organizers, who implored us to stay another day, we decided we’d spend Sunday in Portland as well. While their genuine appreciation and kindness towards our work was wonderful, we were not prepared for their ultimate act of generosity: our EBM class and Project Space Squid were awarded the Brown Jenkin Award for The Spirit of the Festival.

As we walked towards the stage to accept the statuette, audience members applauded and even threw out compliments towards us. We received our award and thanked the audience and the festival organizers. We stood there with other winners and filmmakers who had also been honoured. And as if the award wasn’t enough, as we exited the stage, the audience stood and gave all the winners a standing ovation.

It was that moment that made the last four months worthwhile. All the turmoil and stress we faced creating these projects went out the window. That elusive audience that we had made these films for now stood in front of us and applauded our work.

It was humbling. Not only did others like our films, but they deemed them worthy of being rewarded. Apparently, this is what success tastes like; I can tell you firsthand it’s rather sweet. When we returned to Vancouver and made our way back to the whirlwind that is school, the only thing running through my mind was that moment of success and how much I wanted to taste it again.

Thanks, Nadeem! Readers interested in another angle on the whole experience can head on over to Patsy’s blog, beginning with this post.