First Public Screening

I know it's called a "world premier" but the first public screening of "Voices of the Homeless" was held at a library in downtown Ventura, CA, to 70 people and to me it felt like a humble screening I was simply grateful to have.

We started at 10 minutes after because we heard people were having trouble parking, but then people continued to arrive 10-15 minutes after the film began.  Donald McConnel from CAPS-TV and I decided it was better to have people see the film, late or not, so we decided to continue to let people in after the house went dark.  It was disruptive when the latecomers walked in but so were those three attempts I made to get the DVD to play (how hard is it to hit the "on" button?). Thank God I knew today wouldn't be perfect.

But people came.  A lot of people.  The house was over full.  And I was honored to have 3-Dogs Mike, Donna Rogers, and Dan Flowers there; three people who have or still are homeless who wanted to represent the people we are trying to help with this film and to educate the public to the fact that not all the homeless are alike. 

It is early evening now and I have a massive headache from the chocolate cake and wine I ate on an empty stomach directly after the screening.  But I am happy.  I did it.  And I hope it will help.

For ANYBODY who is reading this blog who is interested in seeing this film, I can be reached at tonij@tonijannotta.com  Contact me.  I will show this film anywhere . . . any time.

Thank you again to all who took the time to drive to Ventura from L.A. to Santa Barbara, to see this little 35-minute film that took me two years to make.

Thank you.

And now . . . to the next one.
:-)