Big Night

So yesterday afternoon I got a call from Nick Matthews. Nick is a cinematographer I have been working with for the past year. He gave my first job in full confidence when I had nothing to show for myself. He believed in me when I wasn't sure if I did.
He has been a mentor, a collegue, a friend to me all year.

So yeah, he gave me a call to tell me he forgot to tell me that he had bought me a ticket months ago to go to the ACS Awards with him. The Australian Cinematographers Society Awards. He was nominated for a short film (I worked on it last november, it was my first aussie job, it is called AZADI) and a feature called Modern Love.
They awards work like this. There are categories like short film, feature film, doco, tv commercials, stuff like that. The panel of juges look at all the entries, then give mentions, silver prize or gold prizes.

So even though it was last minute, I was free to go that night. Allen is away and all my friends are working saturday night. The only problem was that it was a black tie event. Woah. I've never been to anything black tie before. So I screened my closet. Nothing to wear. The only dress I own (except my wedding dress) didn't fit so great anymore, and nothing else I had was dressy enough. After I had ran to my friend's house and downtown back and forth, I had 20 minutes to take a shower, do my hair, makeup....before Nick picked me up. Oh man, I never got ready so fast.

The awards were wonderful. I met lots of great people in the industry - which was the reason for Nick to buy me a ticket in the first place - had a great meal, and Mr. Matthews got the recongnition he deserves. He won a Gold Award for AZADI, a Silver Award for Modern Love, and he won the Cliff Ellis Memorial Award. That's a big deal. I was so proud of him. And when he thanked his camera crew during his speach, he used my full french name. It was nice to hear. It was greater still to see him win those prizes. He works so hard, and he has the best attitude doing it, too. He is full of talent. It was great to see the ACS recognize it.

At the end of the night, my feet were absolutely dying. I had worn silettos for the first time in my life and actually pulled it off. Now that was MY award. But I felt great. We had drinks in the lobby after the ceremony, and it was lots of fun.

You know when you meet someone who gives you the feeling they are going to make it big? Yeah. Nick Matthews. Félicitations, mon ami.