Almost at Blindness Press Conference

11:04 - I'm writing from inside the press conference room, where I am definitely not supposed to be. All of the videographers are setting up their cameras, and the written press has yet to arrive. I've had my pass checked once by a security guard who is clearly not familiar with the security precautions against letting jounralists with yellow passes into anything, and hopefully I won't have it checked again.

There's about fifty massive videocameras and tripods set up behind me on this ledge, and all the journalists are jockeying for a better spot. Some have even began to setup on the stairs, and they may or may not be kicked off. Here's a picture - it's not great, because it was so dark, but it shows the limited space they have to work with:


As it turns out, attending a screening and it's press conference is practically impossible; in about forty minutes about 1000 journalists from the theatre are going to make a mad dash to get one of the 150 spots in the press conference room. The schedule was probably originally set up to allow journalists to attend conferences directy after screenings, but most of the journalists who will be able to get into this room will not have seen the film, which is unfortunate.

They've set up all the little water bottles and name placards that are way too small to read, so the "talent" should be arriving soon. Doug, a journalist from Colorado who snuck in here with me, has just informed me that "the talent" is a hoighty-toighty term that should be avoided; from now on I'll simply say "cast and crew".

11:37 - Still haven't been kicked out. This is a good sign. The scary security guard keeps pacing, so that makes me very nervous.

11:45 - They're letting people in and I'm still here.


Lens Envy