I'm the King of the World!!!! Cruising back to Dover.

Wow, that was a longer trip abroad than I expected! Finally got in midnight last night, after a 12 hour car/ferry journey courtesy of a ride-share agency, a concept all but unknown in the UK, but very popular in Germany, and in this particular instance, invaluable – my flights got cancelled twice, and I was getting rather itchy feet in Frankfurt, so am just amazed I am now back at home in one piece. Piles upon piles of stuff to catch up on now I’m back, so this post will be brief, but I just want to say a huge thanks to Marion, Holger, Alex, Mayu, Christiane and all the others at the fest, not only for their work in putting together such a great event, but for their amazing behind-the-scenes level-headedness in making sure all of us were housed and entertained during our extended stay, while they attempted to find ways of getting us all back home. I’d also like to say thanks to my hosts for my final days, Heiko and Kerstin, who kindly provided me with a bed while I ummed and ahed about the best way of making it back home.

Freak volcanoes notwithstanding, this year’s Nippon Connection was the most fun I’ve ever attended, with great films, great guests, and a generally excellent atmosphere all round. Sadly, I fear, few of the organisers got the chance to enjoy the festival as much as they should have, considering it was the tenth anniversary, occupied as they were by these unexpected events in Iceland. Film festivals are an immense amount of work at the best of times, so I really feel for the Nippon Connection staff who had to spend the past few days dealing with the volcanic aftermath, and as far as I know, are still dealing with it now. Hope they get a chance to relax soon and realise what a great job they’ve done. For these and so many other things, I salute them all. See you next year, Frankfurt!

Posted at 14:45 on 22 April 2010 Filed under news.

• Tagged
• Nippon Connection

0