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Roxbury International Film Festival Boston, USA - late July 2006

The Bostononians

From what I hear, our appearance at the Roxbury Film Festival in Boston was quite controversial. My old friend Nonso and his African American girlfriend Aisha were our spies. Apparently more than 60 people were in the small screening room, and though they struggled with the accents at the start, they soon got the gist of things.

For better or worse, everyone was transfixed, and not one person left to so much as go to the loo. There were the usual lively responses at the key points. And since most people werenít expecting them, there was a shocked silence during the kissing and love scenes.

But it was at the Q & A afterwards that it the *beep* really hit the fan. It appears to have been conducted by one of the Programmers who had heard us talk in Canada, but that was one occasion when we didnít actually say too much. People had a lot of questions, and by the end, Nonso held a 10 minute discourse on Nigeria, diasporan culture and the themes of the film.

There was one lady who was particularly virulent about her feelings. I think people feel they have to be polite when the film maker is present ñ so this is stuff I never get to seeÖshe really let rip about not liking every aspect of it. But as Aisha put it ëWhy didnít you leave?í It appears others also stood up to shut her up. Drama, drama.

I wonder if weíll see anything similar when we get to Venice next month. Iím going to focus on not giggling foolishly when the Italian subtitles come up.

In the mean time ñ Kyan, one of our composers, came across this review of Rag Tag in Variety. My jaw literarily dropped to see our name in the Industryís most famous trade magazine. Even though he saw the unfinished version, I thought it was a reasonable assessment - but I hear chat rooms are already raging with agreement and dissent. Those whoíve seen Rag Tag can judge for themselves.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930945?categoryid=31&cs=1

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