One for the books.

Day four gave the promise of less snow and more people and delivered in spades. Attendance definitely outshined Thursday even though both days gave us snow.

Highlights of the day included one of our biggest crowds of the week for the feature film ? Independence ? where people traveled from as far away as Chicago , Kansas City and Ogallala to see the film that was shot in beautiful Cozad , NE. Special thanks to director Terry Gsell, writer, producer, editor Margaret Norwood, producer Greg Owen-Boger, production designer Stacie Knock, and sound director Matt hew Norwood, for coming out and supporting their film, helping drive attendance to their first screening, and giving us a fantastic Q&A after the film. They have three television interviews on Saturday to help promote their Sunday screening so naturally they weren?t able to go out afterward and hang out at our after party at Julio?s. Wait, I guess they WERE there, but they did leave early. 2:00am is early, right?

Another significant highlight was the screening of ?Mr. Dungbeetle? with executive producer (and actor) Clay McCaw who treated us to a great Q&A after his screening. Based on the crowd reaction to this fantastic and touching film, I anticipate a much bigger crowd for his Saturday screening through word-of-mouth. Great job Clay.

We had a great turnout to our short film block 3 which included the highlighted Nebraska shorts as well. Special thanks to the filmmakers in attendance that included Laurie Epstein (?Fishy?), Kerry Knight (?Trashing the Can?), Dan Byers (?Break Time?), Aaron & Molly Zavitz (?Taken?), and Tim Guthrie (?Last Call?). We had a great Q&A afterward and hopefully they can all help drive attendance to get our crowd up for the next screening on Saturday.

And speaking of Saturday, here we are. Please check the website for the great listing of films that we have and be sure to check out the Q&As of the films that have directors in town.

Did I mention the party at Julio?s? Well, they graciously kept their doors open a couple of hours after they closed for us and dozens of troopers stayed until the bitter end. Yes, there are stories, but I?ll leave those to the imagination. Yes, we will be back there tonight after the festival.

Two days left, come check us out and support art in Omaha .

Marc Longbrake

Omaha Film Festival

Program Director

www.omahafilmfestival.org