Krasnogorski ITW Screening & Closing Ceremonies

Photos...
1. ITW screening crowd
2. Closing ceremony performance
3. Festival Participants & Film groupies
4. Chris & Dave with honorable mention plaque
5. Chris & Julia (Festival Curator)

Our screening was moved from Wednesday afternoon to Friday afternoon. We had a good showing with a nice crowd to see "Into the Wind", (photo of crowd in the cinema lobby). We were approached by several people after the screening to shake hands and comment about the movie. A couple of very well known Russian directors pulled me aside and told me how much they liked the movie, and how beautiful the footage was.
Later Friday evening was the closing ceremonies for the festival. About 30 of us boarded a large bus outside our hotel at 4:00 pm. The evening festivities were to begin at 7:00 pm in a convention center located about one hour away traveling by bus. About two hours later, we were still in the bus and were no where near the destination. (Moscow traffic is a bitch!) We were told by someone that the weekends are time to get away to a country house and most of the population of Moscow was headed out of town. We got to the convention center at about 9:00 pm! The bus ride from hell for sure. (no bar, and no bathroom on the bus = no good).
The festival people herd us into the auditorium and it is set up really nice. There were two emcees, guy and gal, who spoke in Russian (of course, hey we're in Russia after all!)The evening was full of awards, speeches, musical performers, singers, and the most memorable rendition of "Strangers in the night" by the female emcee, (in English) including the "dooby dooby doo" part. This was not a joke performance, totally serious. Dave & I will be breaking into the "dooby dooby doo" lyric for the rest of our lives with a wink and a smile remembering this evening. Not like a typical American festival for sure.
ITW got an honorable mention, and I was called on stage to accept the plaque with all the other award winners. Two Russian male singers rushed out and sang the official festival song, very popular with the Russian festival goers, all singing along.
Afterwards, back to the bus, (only an hour to get back!) and over to the "Golden Fish" restaurant / bar for a late meal and some cold Piva's (beer's for you that haven't been paying attention). A long day for sure, I think the clock read 3:00 am when I hit the pillow.