Women On Film – AWFJ’s 2008 EDA Awards Celebration at Circa Tabac

Circa Tabac proved to be the perfect setting for the celebration of AWFJ’s third annual EDA Awards. Circa, as the place is referred to by the incrowd of downtown filmmakers and artists who habituate the place, is one of non-smoking NYC’s five smoking lounges. Regulars, who treat Circa as their home or a second office, arrive in the late afternoon, claim their table and hang out until the wee hours. The decor, a hodgepodge of deco, left bank bistro and La Golue, is charming, but the real reason Circa’s so popular is that it presents such an easy, relaxed, cozy and unfailingly congenial environment. That’s thanks to Circa owner Lee Ringelheim–and how generous it was of him to allow AWFJ to transform his lounge into our non-smoking livingroom for three of his busiest hours. From 7 to 10 pm on December 15th, Circa Tabac became chez AWFJ.

AWFJ co-VPs Joanna Langfield and Maitland McDonagh joined me in sweeping ashtrays off the tables and replacing them with heaping platters of FlatOut flatbreads and fixin’s like tabouleh, hummus, cheese cubes, thickly sliced pepperoni, olives from France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Morocco and glorious grapes. Oh, yes, and sweets–trays of homebaked brownies, chocolate chunk and English toffee cookies, and gingerbread were on the bar.

Libations were poured very liberally–Merlot and Chardonnay, and our four featured cocktails, each named for an AWFJ’s EDA Awards winner: Slumdog-tini, Frozen River, Happy-Go-Lucky and Prop-8-Banger.

(PHOTO: Prima publicist Donna Daniels, EDA Award-wnning doc director Tia Lessin (Trouble The Water) and EDA Award-winning feature filmmaker Courtney Hunt (Frozen River). Courtney’s drinking the pretty blue cocktail named for her film. Credit: Frank Lovece).

Like Circa’s regular patrons, our guests weren’t in any hurry to leave. MaryAnn Johanson, who arrived early to help stuff goodie bags and post our EDA Awards winners’ names around the room, stepped up to become our official greeter and welcomed everyone–around 60 guests, in all–as they arrived.

(PHOTO: Ed Douglas holds a “Happy-Go-Lucky” and FatDot’s Brandon Rohwer has a “Frozen River.” Credit: Michael Rose.).

ComingSoon.Net’s Ed Douglas came promptly at 7, but most invitees arrived between 7:15 and 7:45. Once they were with us, they seemed to be in no hurry to leave. Most stayed until around 10, when Circa’ regulars began drifting past the “private party” sign posted on the door, and reclaiming their preferred spots. Several AWFJ guests were still comfortably perched on banquettes and NYWIFT’s Terry Lawler and MoMA’s Sally Berger, each of whom arrived late after making appearances at other pre-holiday festivities, were deep in conversation at the bar as our AWFJ crew headed out the door.

That people stayed and schmoozed delighted us, especially since we presented neither formal program nor official trappings to keep them there–just women’s hospitality. At one point, when publicist Sharon Kahn, ever generous in her support of AWFJ, suggested I make a speech about our organization and EDA Awards, I surveyed Circa aka chez AWFJ to read the scene, and saw everyone enjoyably engaged in lively conversation–Jenny Halper and Lexi Feinberg and other AWFJ members and all our guests were mingling, mixing, making new acquantances and reconnecting–by sheer happy happenstance–with long lost friends and former teachers. And I grinned at Sharon and said, with a note of glee, “Naw, it’s not necessary. Everyone knows why we’re here. They’re having a good time celebrating. There’s excitement in the air. It’s all good. Let’s not interrupt the flow.”

(PHOTO: Golden Trailer Awards’ Evenlyn Brady Watters and Publicist Sharon Kahn. Credit: Liza Bear)

We were sad, of course, that Stephen Daldry, Karina Longworth, David Magdael, Loreen Arbus, Warrington Hudlin, Olympia Dukakis and Sophie Kahn (Sharon’s mom, and a brilliant publicist in her own right)–and several others–who’d intended to join us ultimately couldn’t do so. But a truly amazing group of people had gathered at Circa aka chez AWFJ. Our members had a wonderful opportunity to chat with our awards winners–“Frozen River” writer/director Courtney Hunt and producer Molly Connors, “Trouble the Water” producer/directors Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, and “Man On Wire” producer Maureen Ryan–and with other bright and fascinating directors, actors, producers, publicists. Players who make things happen.

When you convene the right bright and creative people in an environment like Circa aka chez AWFJ for three hours, wonderful conversations are bound to blossom–about AWFJ and the EDA Awards, film and filmmaking, birthing babies and movies, life in general–in a high-powered but low-key sort of way that’s hard to describe and even harder to achieve. But that’s exactly what happened at AWFJ’s first-ever EDA Awards celebration.

We’re grateful. We wish to express sincerest thanks to all who laid it on the line to make the films–the best of them and the most egregious mistakes, too–that we recognized in our 2008 EDA Awards, and all who joined us at Circa aka chez AWFJ, and to our generous event sponsors, Circa Tabac’s Lee Ringelheim and Brian Michels, WomenFilmNet’s Adriana Shaw, Joanna Plafsky and FlatOut Breads.

Judging by the post-celebration notes we’ve been getting, AWFJ’s 2008 EDA Awards celebration will be fondly remembered by all, and everyone will look forward to receiving their invitations to join us at next year’s bash–which is already in the planning. Meanwhile, we deliver the 2008 EDA Awards celebration’s only formal presentation: a rather informal and randomly arranged gallery of snapshots of the event, along with recipes for our deliciously potent winning drinks. Enjoy!

GUEST SNAPS by FRANK LOVECE, MICHAEL ROSE and LIZA BEAR

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