The Palermo thing began well before we’d finished the film, almost a year ago. There is a site called Film Freeway that allows you to upload your film, even a work in progress, and enter it in festivals around the world. To be honest, I think we were hoping for a nibble from somewhere to give us a shot of adrenaline to finish the film.
And that’s what happened. As George Vasilopoulos says of recruiting Puskas in our film — ‘then, out of the blue, like a miracle, something happened’. Almost the minute I submitted to the Paladino d’Oro International Sports Film Festival in Palermo, somebody emailed back:
We are honoured to have your film in competition. Puskas was Golden Paladin in 1997. Please send film, trailer and poster to download.
What’s a Golden Paladin? We still don’t know, but that nugget of information, that Puskas was a favourite of the festival, spurred us onwards. And as deadlines approached, I’d whip Cam into action to produce trailers, posters, the actual freaking film! On one occasion I sent him photos of the beachfront near Palermo, with the note ‘do you want to go here or not’. Cam did want to go here, and now we’re here!
If you’re in Palermo, do come! It’s on at Cinema Vittorio de Seta.
If you’re not in Palermo, we can now virtually promise that there will be a screening in your part of Australia in 2025. Our goal is to have the theatrical licenses in place by March. We want to do a tour of major cities and regional centres. If you’re in touch with an independent cinema or a Greek /Hungarian community group that would host us, we’d love to hear from you.
Forze Ange! Forze Boss!
This is a lot of fun.
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