HM!#8 was a big success - lots of great films and lots of fun watching them! Turnout was great and the venues worked out perfectly. Cheers to everyone involved!

Winners: (drumroll...............................)

HM! Gold ($300) - Buttons by Damon Bishop - overwhelmingly the HM! favorite this year, and it had nothing to do with the fact Damon came down from Chicago to be with us, that was an extra special surprise.

HM! Silver ($200) - Dies Irae and We Are Winning Don't Forget by Jean Gabriel Periot - both of these amazing films came in at the top so we're putting them together at #2. Collectively something like 8 to 10 thousand stills put together to great effect and impact.

HM! Bronze ($150) - Harmony by Tim Trainer - thanks for the print, Jim.

Top Animation ($150) - Welcome to Purgatory, Return to Purgatory, and Cinema Slideshow by Jay Barba and Brian Farrelly. These guys sent a bunch of great animations, the three we showed collectively win the prize.

Camera Aesthetics ($150) - She Sank on Shallow Bank by Clifton Chlidree and Nikki Rouason. In the dark theater on the big screen this flick was incredible.

Funniest of the Fest ($150) - Down Home Cookin' and Uncle Jimmy's F*ck Farm by Aaron Yonda. Sides were splitting at our Midnight Madness Show.

Bang for the Buck ($150) - Chibuki and A Bad Hair Day by Meesoo Lee. Meesoo sent a bunch of "minimalist music videos" that we loved, especially Chibuki, plus others including A Bad Hair Day that was a crowd hit.

Best From NC ($150) - Hot Dog Man: A Case Study by Joyce Ventimiglia and Jim Haverkamp. Every "local" film in the fest was great, and we had around 10 of them. This one was on every staffer's list of favorites.

Audience Award ($124) - The audience has spoken! Natasha by Jen Ashlock wins the pot, $124. Dies Irae was a close second, followed by CCAQZ.

Film Grants ($500 each) - She Sank on Shallow Bank by Clifton Childree and Nikki Rouason and A Special Message from CCAQZ. These are the filmmakers we think most deserve some film to make another flick, hopefully in time for HM!#9!

Prizes will be in the mail soon!

Honorable Mentions - A number of the categories were close, and the following great films were near winners:

Conform or Die by Rob Perri

Shadow of Liberty by Geoff Adams

Dentist by Signe Baumane

Caesura by Leanne Williams

Comrade Turtle and Vulture by Khang Mai

Skip Rogerson: Extreme Walker by Sean Overbeeke

Big Screen Version by Aaron Valdez

Shlitz and Giggles by Joshua Pritzker

The Tozer Show by Onur Tukel

Meaning of Life by Don Hertzfeldt

Safety by Dave Baeumler

Rapito Dagli Alieni by Giuseppe Tilli

Remember This by Chris Iovenfo

Highlights:

Outdoor Block: Wow, it didn't rain. We almost called off the show a few times, but took our chances and made it happen. It was cloudy but dry. Good crowd and great movies. Skip Rogerson: Extreme Walker was shot right where the screening was, so that was fun. Dies Irae was amazing on the big screen. Dentist was a crowd favorite. Three great films with local ties played together (Hot Dog Man, Safety, Comrade Turtle and Vulture).

Midnight Madness: The standing room only crowd at the Wetlands, plus the hilarious films, made this possibly the most fun block of all. Cheers to Nikc Miller and crew who presented A Special Message from CCAQZ - they came down from Maryland and hung with us the whole weekend, and seem to know a thing or two about Queer Zombies.

Experimentaliciousness: John Harrison opened the show with his ear-and-mind-candy music, sounded awesome! More great films with Buttons and We Are Winning Don't Forget really standing out, but the whole block was really solid.

DayToNight: David Nahm acoustirocked us into this show, sweet! Lots of hits here, really about all of them. MSOCTTHR got the most laughs, Harmony and Death Mask were heavy and powerful, Natasha rocked out. Some good "ewwww"s from A Good Strong Roof and Cavities. A fun block.

PrimeTime: An amazing group of films! Don Hertzfeldt was gracious enough to let us screen his video preview copy of Meaning of Life (we couldn't arrange a 35mm projector in the venue!). Big Screen Version threatened to blow some minds. Conform or Die is one of the best films EVER. Everything else rocked, too.

Redux: Skylight Exchange is such a great place/venue, and Khang and I (Matt) had fun choosing films to show here. We showed some old HM! entries, some of the hits of HM!8, Jean Gabriel Periot's image blitz 21.04.02, Jay Barba and Brian Farrelly's Losing Your Cherry. We showed one of the Installation films, Jason Bolicki's 20 Gay Stereotypes Confirmed. We tried to show Aaron Yonda's When the Lord Attacks, but the DVD wouldn't play right which we took as divine intervention. Nikc Miller and Posse showed CCAQZ and Why Did You Kill Me Mommy?, their 48-Hour Film Fest flick that, besides being awesome, is the best 48-Hour film I've ever seen.

Sendbacks: The mini-DVs, betacams, and prints have been mailed, you should be getting them back soon. We have a few tapes that were not indicated that you want them back (no return address on the tape), let us know if you do.

Goodies:We have some really great shirts and posters. Screenprinted posters by Ron Liberti. Shirts by David K. Rose and screened by Ron. Let us know what you'd like. We need to sell them at cost to cover expenses. Posters $5 shipped, shirts $10 shipped. The shirts are odd sizes, but we're probably going to print some more.

Press: No telling how long these links will work, but here are some articles: http://indyweek.com/durham/current/filmbeat.html http://www.newsobserver.com/print/friday/wup/story/2468549p-8872514c.html http://www.chapelhillnews.com/arts_entertainment/story/2462394p-8866801c.html

Thanks:So many people helped out, forgive me if anyone is left out here: Staff: Mainly Tom Laney who put uncountable hours and energy into this thing. Ian Krabacher and Khang Mai really made things happen. Ashli Welborn processed all 400 entries, and did lots of other "fun" jobs. Dan Partridge and Randy Bullock paid their dues.

Additional Screeners: Everyone above screened a mess of films. These people also helped out: Jim Haverkamp and Joyce Ventimiglia, Jason Summers and Kate Fix, Elizabeth Goldsmith

Fest Volunteers: Thanks to everyone who pitched in during the show(s). Most everyone above plus: Scott Beavers, Claire Kelly, Shannon, Rob Koegler, Nathan Logan, Bo George, Quy Mai, Leilani Trowell.

Venue people, everyone was great and very helpful: Tess and everyone at The ArtsCenter (esp. Soleil, Phaedra, Darren, and Jon), Alan and Sala and the staff at the Wetlands, Dennis at Skylight, Frank and Derek at the Cradle for pitching in.

Soundguys: Kemp English did the outdoor sound and encouraged us to not pull the plug because of rain. Dave Schmitt ran things superbly at The ArtsCenter. Jesse Olley built triple-stacks for us at the Skylight Exchange.

Artists: Big thankyous to David K. Rose who did the program cover art and tshirt art, and Ron Liberti for doing the posters and screening the shirts.

Patrons: thanks to all the local businesses that put an ad in the program, especially these great people who have been continued supporters of the fest, and we love them for it: Scott Conory, Suzanne Harris, Alton Chewning, and David Sutton.

Bribes: thanks for all the neat bribes sent in by filmmakers, they really make it fun getting into them, keeps things from piling up too fast.

The Future:So what happens now? HM!#9 will definitely happen in some form as of yet to be determined. This year went so smooth maybe we'll do it just the same. Stay tuned to the website for dates. Early June worked out nicely, so maybe a similar time. Likely have a free deadline in the first few months of 2006. I'm stepping down from my one year run as director. The idea is a different director every year. It's been fun and rewarding, but looking forward to some free time. As long as there is willing man- and woman-power Hi Mom! will continue in full force!