Tuesday, October 14 - I arrived in New Orleans yesterday evening and checked into the hotel. It's one of these modern, hip hotels that's very cool but not all that comfortable. It's a block from one of the main screening venues, the one my film is playing at and where filmmaker check in is, which is nice. But it's also oddly convenient yet inconvenient in that it's located not too far from most New Orleans attractions but not really close to any either. I checked in and got my gift bag, which had some nice stuff. But, I discovered that my filmmaker badge only admits me to five screenings, including my own! Also, on weekdays, which is when I'm in town, they only do screenings in the evenings. Lucky this is New Orleans and there's a lot to do. Supposedly, the good thing about this festival is the parties, so I skipped the screenings and went directly to last night's party which was in the Foundation Room at the House of Blues. It was a great venue and I met several filmmakers, including several from Los Angeles, and some nice festival staff people. We went out to a bar afterwards, and I got in about 3 a.m. Maybe I'll use my free daytime to sleep while I'm here.

Wednesday, October 15 - Yesterday evening I went to a couple shorts programs at the Contemporary Arts Center. It's a decent venue, kind of a stage space where they've set up a screen, but pretty good presentation considering. The programs were among the best I've seen at festivals. Afterwards there was a party at the House of Blues sponsored by one of the films, "The Dance." Steve Azar and Katie Cook performed, and it was pretty good, but more like going to a club than a party. I bailed out early with a bunch of the festival staff and some other filmmakers to a local bar called Mimi's where we could talk. The festival staff are really fun people. A festival volunteer, Jessica, gave one of the other filmmakers, Mark Gray, and me a ride home, and we stopped for martinis in Mark's room. Another late night, so a late start today. I met up with Mark for lunch at Mother's where I got one of my favorite meals in New Orleans: a debris po'boy. Afterwards we killed the afternoon by taking a city tour. Pretty soon I'm headed back to the Contemporary Arts Center for a film/sound check.

Thursday, October 16 - The film/sound check yesterday evening went well. Saw a couple of short film programs afterwards and then to the Thursday party. It was mellow. Most of the filmmakers have left and things are starting to wind down. I went home fairly early - early for this festival being 2 a.m. Today I was on my own in the city. Went to the Aquarium of the Americas, which is a great aquarium. Then back to the room to pack up since my flight leaves at 7:30 in the morning. This means I'm going to have to check out at 5:30, a daunting proposition. My film program played at 7:00 p.m. and the crowd was very good from what I've seen at this festival. Probably about 75 people and good response. There was one other filmmaker there, a writer from New York who flew in today. Afterwards I grabbed some dinner and then to the closing night party. I thought about skipping it, but everyone kept saying it's one of the best ones. It was good, but everyone was clearly tired, and there were almost no filmmakers left. I left about 1 a.m. so I could get a few hours sleep before my flight.

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