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"RUNNER" Snags Big Win at Catalina
By
Richard Furburger
 
(
www.runnershortfilm.com
)
On Friday,
May 6th, Expressway flew out west again for the Los
Angeles premiere of "RUNNER" at the Santa Catalina
Film Festival. Director Nic Reader, Producer
James Madison, EP Meg
Madison and Costume Designer Gina Scarnati were all in attendance. As usual,
Expressway made their presence known. We
papered the town and donned our ever popular
"RUNNER" T-Shirts. The festival weekend
started like any other. The team was hard at work
promoting the film and networking with fellow
filmmakers and festival staff, but no one
anticipated what lay ahead for us.
- James
Madison recollects the events that transpired that
weekend -
As some of you may or
may not know, "RUNNER" technically all started on
Catalina island which is one of the reasons we were
so excited for the festival. In May of 2008, I
proposed to my now wife and now award winning
co-producer, Meg Madison. I got down on one
knee right on the dock in Avalon and asked her to
marry me.
   
One
year later, we were on our honey moon when the idea
for a modern western thriller came to me while
drinking cocktails on a beach in St. Thomas. That was the beginning of "RUNNER". So now, in
2011, much to our surprise, everything has come full
circle and "RUNNER" has won its first Best Short
Film award at the place where it all started.
For those of you who have never been, Catalina
Island, located in Los Angeles County, is the only
resort island on the West Coast. The beautiful
location is rich with cinematic history. The
island is also now home to an amazing film festival.
The quality of films being screened were so
impressive we were just honored to be considered
among them. None of us were really expecting
an award. In fact, we were all sitting around
trying to figure out which film we thought was going
to win, just moments before the ceremony.
Being our own harshest critics, "RUNNER" was not among
our selections. Except for Meg (who always
thinks we are going to win), you could say we were
being down right pessimistic.
(Catalina
Facebook Photos)
As we sat in the crowd and watched awards being
handed out for documentaries and environmental
significance, the anticipation was growing. I
had already talked myself out of getting my hopes up
and I was just curious to see who the festival would
pick as Best. Even when they announced us as a
finalist, I just nudged Nic and said "Hey, that's
pretty awesome." It was not until I heard the
words, "and the winner for best short film is...."
that I let go of my reservations, let my guard down,
got my hopes up and made my self vulnerable; just
for a moment. In spite of all my posturing and
nonchalant attitude toward the competition,
underneath it all; of course I wanted to win.
However, I was stunned when we actually
did. "and the winner for best short film is
RUNNER!" I think I even turned around and
looked to the people behind me as if to ask, "our
RUNNER?"
(James and Nic accepting the award from
Ron Truppa, the festival's founder)
I couldn't believe it. I think Nic almost
passed out. He couldn't even speak when we got
up there to accept the award. I am pretty sure
I was shaking. As I mentioned, we were hoping
and at least Meg was optimistic, but I don't think
any of us saw it coming. A complete and
thrilling shock.
Three years after Meg
and I got engaged on the island, Two years after we
shot the actual film and after one last year of
submitting and waiting for our
festival tour; "RUNNER", the filmmakers behind it,
the cast and crew and everyone that has supported us
and believed in us has finally been validated.
It was an emotional win and it meant so much to us
after having put so many years and so much of our
energy into the project. It seemed like such a long time coming and what an
appropriate and exciting place for it to have
happened.
(James and Nic with the Santa Catalina Film Festival
Staff)
We are first grateful to the festival and its staff
for organizing a world class event and bringing such
a high quality of content to the screenings.
Second, the competition was astounding and we would
like to thank all of the filmmakers that worked so
hard to bring their films to Catalina and the kind
words they had for "RUNNER". Lastly we would
like to thank again, all of the people that made it
possible for us to have won this award. I am
just the producer, Nic is just the director, but the
cast, crew, everyone at Expressway and Brolik
Productions and all of our supporters, we are eternally grateful.
Hopefully we will be back to Catalina next year with
our next film, "I'm Dating the Anti Christ" by
director, Andrew Hobson. Until then, the next
stop for "RUNNER" is Nantucket Film Festival.
Wish us luck and maybe we will see some of you
there.
- James Madison (Producer)
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