"Solidarity" was picked for THE MAYOR'S AWARD at the Heart of Gold International Film Festival!

This was the film's Australian premiere, and the inaugural event for a very special festival, indeed.  The spirited festivities took place October 26-29, 2006, in the town of Gympie, Queensland, Australia.  The whole town turned out for the event, and Australia's well-respected news program, Australian Story, shot a documentary of the festival (available for viewing November 13).  Lead Actor Fernando Gambaroni ("The Guy") had a blast representing the film, and here's his email to Nancy afterwards:

From: "Fernando Gambaroni" <flgambaroni at hotmail.com>
To: solidarityshort at earthpins.com
Subject: RE: hi, how'd it go?
Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 23:13:05 -0500

Hi Nancy!

I just got off the plane. I am in LA and I am leaving tomorrow afternoon (at 4pm). Let me know if I can catch you, that would be nice.

In any case, it was wonderful. I took some pictures and they have to mail me some. People really responded to the film. Everybody was shocked to see me. They had your picture in the program. Toni will send a couple of programs.

They screened it three times. It was interesting to see how they laughed at other things. To them, the run was the best. Before that, they seemed pleased, but they just giggled.

When they announced the winner people roared. It was very special. Toni is amazing and it was clear that they were happy to have us there.

The people in Gympie were all extremely nice, and they took excellent care of us. The general organisation of the festival was almost flawless. I was impressed.

The mayor was there, of course, and he almost killed me with his handshake.

The filmmakers village was very nice, although the internet and phone thing had some glitches.

I was also impressed by the quality of the other fllms. Very consistent. They did a very nice job.

The whole town was supporting the event, which was nice to see. Lots of people working just for the fun of it.

I thanked you in my speech. And you might be able to see it because the most important news show in Australia was making a documentary of the whole thing. I think the channel is ABC, and they will be showing it in around two weeks. They said we could download it from the internet.

The food was great (especially that breakfast! OMG!).

I will give you a call tomorrow to chat. Let me know if we could meet early in the afternoon, maybe I can go early to LAX.

Thanks again, and, in my opinion, it was completely worth it.

I am SOOO tired.

Fernando

Photos, clockwise from upper left:  Toni Powell, HOGIFF director extraordinaire, with Heart of Gold carved by a local Queensland artist;  Fernando in back row, left, with some of the filmmakers;  gala party;  Toni and Fernando; local Gympie news stand.