TROY!

We screened at the Arts Center in Troy, NY last night. I had never been to Troy, unless you count the journeys made with Homer's Paris, Helen, and that horse. It's a beautiful gem of a city, Troy, a small island of renovated historical buildings next to the gates of RPI (Renselear Polytechnical Institute), with neighborhoods which fan out into Brooklyn-like town houses fronted by ice-clad trees, twinkling crystals under the street lights. The Arts Center is a group of industrial buildings in the heart of the downtown.

It was buzzing with people when we arrived. We had brought a mini-dv deck, Stephen Harris's, to patch into their projector as we have sworn NEVER to screen on dvd again. Too much chance for technical error. William Gill was there to help us. He was delightful, affable, and unable, with the cables at hand, to rig up the setting we needed. Thank you, Will, for such a cool head and great trouble shooting. We appreciate your efforts.

Luckily Sophia, ever intrepid leader, brought clean dvds newly minted on Donn Gobin's state of the art machine, which she handed to Will grudgingly as an audience had already formed and it was five past the start time. We had considered sitting out the screening in a bar ... a sushi bar across the street ... but realized no one who had never seen the film would know if it skipped or not, and we might be returning to a Q&A that made even less sense then the ones which happen after a clean run.

Disclaimers were made by Laudilina Martinez who charmingly mc'd the evening keeping the whole of it fun and entertaining, and then we were off!

It was a delightful audience who stayed with it, laughing through Sadie and Henry, thoughtful and engaged during Edmund. The questions were smart and entertaining and once again everyone signed on to our dvd pre-order list, so many who want to see it again. One woman, in the second half of her life, saw her first dildo in our film and whooped with joy when her friend explained to her what it was. "I've never seen one!" she exclaimed in a giggling stage whisper.

We have been invited to return to Troy where we will screen for an Organization of professional Latina women, and also to sell our dvd at the Farmers' Market there. I love this grassroots campaign we have begun. Taking our film to its niche audience which is the widest and most diverse niche demographic I've ever seen.

Our testing has shown us that we can play this movie anywhere in the United States to people who like to think and they LOVE it. Husbands look so relieved at the end, having assumed that they were in for a 'chick-flick' and surprised to find that there's something here for them too.

So we will NEVER screen on dvd again! That said, it was a lovely evening and we are grateful to Kevin Craig West for inviting us to bring RACING DAYLIGHT to Troy.