Spring Break was finally here. But that didn’t mean I had a break. I had three deliverables that I needed approved and sent out to printing. I had a promo video I needed to wrap up and send to. I made a pact with my friend to make Spring Break the “Boot Camp” week. I wanted to take that time to learn some new skills so I can apply that to my work. Sadly, I didn’t get around to it because the deliverables were approved. I spent part of my morning sending out the specs of the printing. I then spent the rest of the week either working on the final edits for my Promo Video or working on homework for my classes. I sent out the final edited Promo Video and I just heard back. All they said was “thanks and we’ll let you know if we need anything else.” Which was a breath of fresh air. That meant that my year long project had finally come to a close. At least for now. Looking back at it now I do see ways I could have improved the video but overall, I am happy with how it turned out. Maybe if they wanted to make another edit I can slide in the change I wanted to make. But as of now I am happy to finish that project.

Last weekend was my friend’s week to shine but this weekend is mine for the taking. This weekend (April 12^th – 14^th) was the CUNY Film Festival. And I went because I along with my team of amazing people got together to make a documentary and we got chosen to screen! My documentary was about a writing organization in NYC that lets youth write and publish their own personal stories. On Friday I went with the original team to go watch

the screening of our film. When we got there the rest of the team was there too! So, there we were, at Macaulay’s Honors College, in a small screening room watching and rooting for our work. I saw a bunch of other great documentaries too which made me glad we were chosen. I believed that our work really was great because it had the privilege of being screened with them. We sat there for a while watching documentaries. Regretfully I didn’t attend any of the screenings on Saturday, which was mostly short narrative films amongst other things. On Sunday the Awards Gala was held. But before that there was a panel talk about “Producing the Future”. That was the theme of the panel. All of the guest s

peakers were great. I learned a lot about what they did and how that was shaping the future of filmmaking. They also had some nice demo reels, which is a video version of their portfolios and/or the work they did. It inspired me to do more so I can build my own demo reel.

Later on, we had the Awards Gala. Our film wasn’t nominated for anything but Professor Kapusinski and Professor Davis was nominated for different categories. So, we were there to root for them and as Professor Davis kept mumbling beside me, “Represent Brooklyn”. Unfortunately, they didn’t win in their respected categories but Professor Kapusinski took home an award, called “Audience Choice”.

When the awards were given out there were a variety of people reading the awards. There was the founder of the CUNY Film Festival, the current Director and some others. I regret not remembering who she was but she was giving the award for best Experiemental film.

She had a great speech. In her speech she referred to the Wizard of Oz. She said how every journey was like the yellow brick road, and we’re all trying to reach Oz. And along the way you will meet your Tin Man, your Scarecrow, and your Lion. And those people are the people you should cherish. Those are the people you should network with. You don’t have to necessarily go straight to the greats. As long as you gather people you can call your friends and your partners, then you will truly be an unstoppable force. She said that because as great as the Greats are, if you work hard enough, eventually you will become a Great. And that really stuck with me. As I was sitting there with my friend who helped me create my documentary and my professors, I realized how great of a team I really had. I hope I have a great team like that in the future. A team I want to sit with and root like crazy for one of ours making it. And I think that was the most important thing I got out of the CUNY Film Festival, the importance of a team.

Let’s just start off by saying that the beginning of April was a pretty hectic time for me. My weekends for the first two weeks was booked with events, I had quizzes in my art history classes, and the workload in my classes certainly wasn’t getting any lighter. But I would like to add that my internship was starting to get easier to handle. I’m nearly complete with the promo video for my client, which was a major project that I was working on since last semester. Anyways, on April 6^th I went to MoccaFest. MoccaFest is an Indie Illustration convention. It was hosted by the Society of Illustrators and every year they gather a bunch of illustrators to table and sell their work to people who came. I went because I was coaxed by my friend. She had a table there along with Ink Club, an illustrator’s club at school. I also wanted to go not only to support her, but there was another friend that was tabling at MoccaFest as well. This was the first time I had ever went to a convention like this. So I was definitely feeling a little bit overwhelmed about where I needed to go or wondering who I can talk to. Most of all, I was really questioning whether I can just take something off their table and walk away. But that’s just me. I enjoyed my time at MoccaFest. As a hobbying Illustrator myself, I liked seeing all of the different styles and artworks that all of them made. I even bought some stickers to add to my laptop. Most of the stuff I bought was to support my friends but there was also a couple of things that I bought because I liked them. There was this one table that noticed me eyeing a postcard of a bunch of rabbits cooking and roasting people, no kidding. And my friend thought that postcard matched me perfectly. The people at the table jumped in and jokingly said “I know you want it!” And I really did want it. I never took out my cash as quickly as I did then. I then talked to the people at the table and asked about who created it. Sadly, she wasn’t there but I asked for her Instagram. That was the only shame out of the interaction. I really liked those people too. There was a friend there that was tabling with her friends and my intention was to go over there and purchase some things to support her. But as it turns out I bought things from her friends. And when I did my usual interrogation of who created what I purchased I felt instantly guilty that I didn’t buy anything that my friend made. But she didn’t mind. As long as there was artists supporting other artists.

I think that was the main thing I got out of MoccaFest. Not only was there great artwork, but there was a great sense of community amongst the creators and the customers. I would definitely go again. Not just to support my friends, but to support the artists that caught my eye. I managed to scoop up a nice set of business cards too, and I didn’t feel as guilty about that.