We won at Fantasia!

Bonjour from Montreal!

…where I’ve eaten too much poutine and haven’t had enough sleep.

Beautiful city though. And Fantasia is quite the festival for film lovers.

Good vibes and fun films. Highly recommend.

I know I said last time that I’d be putting this letter on pause… buuuuuut I just had to share the great news (more after the jump):

VETERANO was selected for Official Competition, Best International Short Film at Fantasia International Film Festival

aaaaand

won for Outstanding Performance for our brilliant lead Jon Jon Briones (AMERICAN CRIME STORY, RATCHED, MISS SAIGON).

Our fearless writer/director/producer Patrick Epino accepted the award at the ceremony at the Cinéma du Musée this past weekend.

Below are some photos from the red carpet.

Here is the official winners list on Variety.

If you’re interested, I am sharing our journey in realtime on IG at @PaolaMardo and @NationalFilmSociety alongside @PatrickEpino. Follow along!

Trying to post on notes as well. (And, yes, that’s true… lol.)

Congratulations to Patrick, Jon Jon, and all these incredible filmmakers:

It appears we are the only Filipino film and one of a handful of American films that won awards at Fantasia this year so we are truly honored.

If you’re into sharing this sort of thing, please like our posts on social or here on Substack, and do share with your networks.

Help me and my team spread the word about our special crime thriller film.

And if you’d like to learn more about the story and inspiration behind it all, check out our trailer on YouTube or Instagram or, better yet, head to VeteranoFilm.com. (Just give me a beat to update our press kit hah.)

More to come so watch this space.

Cheers… and merci!

— PM