Enjoying the Afterglow of the Film Festival in Barcelona

What a week that was! Our first feature film, Gimp And The Hitman, written and directed by Dimitri Raft premiered at the Love & Hope International Film Festival (L'HIFF) in Barcelona last week. The audience of fellow filmmakers received it well and expressed their enjoyment with a host of positive comments about the film's message as well as the technical aspects.

Dimitri Raft with the festival poster for Gimp And The Hitman

An Entertaining Surprise

Before the film was screened the audience was treated to a short skit by The Gimp Man (Dimitri Raft) and The Cowboy (JP Gates) in full costume. The Gimp asked the audience if he should choose his wife or his Bitcoin before squaring up to The Cowboy and chasing him out of the cinema. It all became clear when the audience saw the film.

Check out the trailer if you'd like a hint, though.

Q&A with Dimitri Raft (centre) and JP Gates (right)

Film Q&A

After the screening, Dimitri and JP answered questions from their peers about the production and experience of making a low-budget independent film. 

Dimitri, as the writer/director, explained the origins of the creative idea for the film, which came from his background as a psychologist.  He wanted to explore the issue of relationships as men are currently going through a crisis because they feel that women don’t need them in some way. Women are independent and achieving in their own right.  The problem for men is that if they’re too soft they end up being a doormat, hence the Gimp character, and if they’re too tough they’re chauvinists. 

Another theme was that, although the film was scripted, people wondered if it was improvised, which shows that the acting was natural.  Dimitri confirmed that it was scripted with some room for the actors to show what they could do with their characters.

The biggest challenge was keeping the cast and crew motivated during the tight filming schedule which was just 16 days at various locations around Athens, Greece.

And The Award Goes To...

We were nominated for Best Film and Dimitri Raft for Best Director but sadly there were no gongs for us on the night. Honestly, we were impressed with the calibre and diversity of all the films shown during the festival and all the winners were well deserved.

Finally, thank you to all the amazing filmmakers we met at L'HIFF for sharing your hearts and incredible creativity with us. We look forward to future collaborations and for everyone's success in the world of independent film.