October Monthly Riff... "I Am" Documentary Film Premiere

The film premiere of the “I Am” documentary was held just a few weeks ago at the Prince Theater in Philadelphia, PA.  (My previous blog post has more details about the film project and this event!) It was a truly magical night as all who were apart of our venture got to share such a beautiful project with our Philadelphia audience.  The night began with cocktail hour in the lobby, where I had reunited with the Saint Katherine’s students and their parents.  I also got to catch up with friends from the Freshfly film crew and Philadelphia ArtReach Staff, who made this whole thing possible.  It had been six months since we had all seen each other so we were all overjoyed to finally relax and relish the work we were very proud of.  We took many pictures, revisited old jokes, and talked about our current bearings.  All of the students seemed to be nervous, they all talked about how weird it was going to be to see themselves up close on such a big screen.  

Soon, we all finally started filing into the theater, where all the nerves set in.  I had no doubt the movie was going to be amazing and so meaningful to me and everyone else witnessing the screening.  There tends to be a little bit of nerves when you’re about to see yourself on screen when most of the shots were whilst I was in a tired and sweaty state. Our reserved seats were in the front row so we wouldn’t miss a single second of the movie.  I was seated next to the principal of St. Katherine’s and her husband.  Before the movie started, she handed me a few tissues warning me, “You’re definitely going to need these”.

The movie was perfectly perfect in every way and I couldn’t have wanted it to be any better.  It was so beautifully shot and edited and was clearly done with so much love and compassion.  I could feel the warmth and emotion coming from the audience behind me when the 50 minute film sadly came to an end.  I heard lots of sniffles and the applause was unbeatable as the Q&A panel started to file onstage. 

After the Q&A, dessert was being served in the lobby where we could all discuss our emotions and amazement with the film.  I got so many “Thanks you’s”, “Congratulations”, and “Amazing Job’s”, almost every person came up to me.  As the night went on, I grew more and more appreciative of being apart of this unbelievable team of talented people.  I will never forget this time of my life, and would like to thank every single person who was apart of this film project.  I’m truly in awe of the talent, love, and diligence in everyone and that time will always be kept in my heart and as an alluring memory.

Below is just a short clip of the question and answer portion of the screening, we were all asked one question.  I’ve also attached some pictures I captured during the event.