Production Note #34 – or rather Promotion Note #1

It’s been quite a while since our last Production Note, and a lot has happened in the meantime. First of all, we’re no longer in Production Mode – where now in the middle of promoting our film worldwide, so it’s probably time to reset the counter and call this Promotion Note #1. Here’s what happened in Promotion Mode so far:

The World Premiere of Late Blossom Blues happened on January 28 at Clarksdale Film Festival. Now Clarksdale is of course THE home of the Blues if there is any, so it was the perfect place to show our film to the public for the very first time. Our director Wolfgang was there to present the film. We had an audience of about 100 people and they all seemed to like the film a lot. Most importantly, our man Leo Bud Welch himself saw the film for the very first, and he liked it a lot, too.

Here’s Wolfgang giving a little speech in the lobby before the screening at Delta Cinema in Clarksdale.

Wolfgang also visited Leo in his home in Bruce and presented him the film poster.

Wolfgang shows Leo our film poster in Leo’s home.

After Clarksdale, the next screening was, believe or not, in India at Noida Film Festival. Nobody from the team was able to take the journey, but we received an Honorable Jury Mention, so that was something.

At the end of February, Wolfgang travelled to Mississippi again for two screenings at Oxford Film Festival, only 20 miles from Leo’s home in Bruce. Wolfgang made some great contacts there that could help us bring Late Blossom Blues to theatres throughout the South.

Wolfgang, Leo and Vencie on the Red Carpet at Oxford Film Festival

Right after Oxford, we showed the film in Bruce at the local theatre. We were all very excited to bring the film to Leo’s hometown. But it was the first really beautiful day of the year, and the screening was on a Sunday afternoon when everybody was out enjoying the sun – so we didn’t have so many people, maybe 40. That was a bit of a disappointment because we expected this to be a very special thing. But it was still nice, everybody who was there (mainly old friends of Leo) really enjoyed the film.

About a month after that, it was time again for Wolfgang to pack his suitcase – this time the film was shown at Bergamo Film Meeting in Italy.

Wolfgang in Bergamo during the Q&A with Alessandro Uccelli.

Again, people really loved the film a lot – Wolfgang got even congratulated on the streets of Bergamo on the days after the screening quite often. By the way, you should all visit Bergamo. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful.

Next up was Queens World Film Festival in Queens, NY. Nobody from the team was able to be there, but we received a lot of positive response via email and social media – so it seems like it was a successful screening, too.

The next big thing for Wolfgang was Dingle Film Festival in Ireland. If you haven’t read about Wolfgang’s very special relation to Dingle and the local Phoenix Cinema, you should read it right here and now.  Dingle was wonderful, and despite the amazing weather, really a lot of people showed up for the screening and liked the film a lot – Wolfgang got even hugged a couple of times! The most important thing for him was to meet the children of Michael O’Sullivan who inspired him the be a filmmaker 11 years ago. They even keep the Phoenix cinema running together!

Wolfgang with Michael O’Sullivans children Sean Rea, Kathleen and Francis O’Sullivan

A few days after Dingle, we had our Austrian Premiere at Diagonale Filmfestival in Graz. We had two screenings there with a lot of people and made some really good contacts. It was also the first time that not only Wolfgang but the whole team was present to get the well deserved credit and applause.

Our editor Lisa and our DoP Viktor (front), Wolfgang and Stefan (back)

The next screenings were our South American Premiere in Paraguay at Festival de Cine de San Lorenzo and a screening at Asbury Park Music & Film Festival in New Jersey, where Leo also played a show.

Leo played some more shows on that same weekend at Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, and we were all very frightened when we heard that Leo collapsed during an autograph session – just around the corner from where we had our world premiere. He was brought to a hospital with a helicopter. He had a lung emphysema, but was released only two days later. Here’s his message to his fans from the hospital bed:

Leo’s hospital bed video on Facebbook

So that’s where we are right now.  It’s been quite the ride, and we’ve already had way more success than we’ve ever thought we’d have.

In the next few days, our film will be shown at Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz/Austria, at Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas, at Mediawave Film Festival in Komarom, Hungary, at Cinèmatte Bern in Switzerland and in many other locations. By the way, the list of all our past and future screenings is – pretty much always up to date – right here.

In all these screenings, we’ve met a great deal of wonderful people who might help us bring the film out there to a very broad audience. We’re at the moment talking to Blues Clubs, Music and Film Festivals, Cinemas, DVD distributors and TV stations from all over the world, and we’re hoping to close as many deals as possible as soon as possible so we can start bringing out the film to each and everyone of you.