Notes From A Festival Premiere: This Is How I Roll

By: Kat Vecchio

When we found out we would premiere the film in Seattle, all the way across the country from the skaters we had followed, and the cities we were familiar with, our first thought was “That’s great!” Don’t get me wrong, it would have been awesome to premiere for a hometown crowd, but if that wasn’t going to be an option then Seattle, with it’s long standing love for roller derby seemed like the next best thing. We reached out to the Puget Sound Outcasts, The Rat City Roller Girls and Fast Girl Skates and they all helped us get thing rolling.

The screening was at Central Cinema, this great off beat space, where they even serve beer during the films. As the opening credits started to roll I’ll admit I was glad to be able to drink! It is nerve racking to show your work to other people. The Q&A afterwards was fun, and I even got a round of applause for my mini rant on why I think the term ‘merby’ is lame. I thought that was pretty cool until my boyfriend confided that he got the clapping started.

We had a great time in Seattle, connected with some great roller derby and film folks, got a glowing review and even came back with an award for Best Sports Film. In some ways the trip was a culmination of years of work, and in others it was just the starting whistle.

We are continuing to apply to other festivals, and we are working out an independent distribution plan that we are really excited about. We have launched a fundraising campaign to raise some of the funds needed to take those next steps. If we can raise the money, over the next year we hope to screen at more festivals, work with leagues to host their own screenings, pursue national and international broadcast, get a DVD out (hopefully with some extras in there too), and explore a few ways to release the film online.