Roll out the red carpet...

It's Awards Night at the International Infertility Film Festival. One 250ml bottle of Love (kindly donated by the Alchemy Cordial Company) will be winging its way to each of our three winners - and if you missed out this time, you can try again at the third festival - our Halloween Special - screening from October 27th 2007.

But on with the prizes! The Audience Choice Award was well and truly won by Scott and Michele P for Seasons - and well-deserved it was, too. It was great to see their happy ending, even if it did come after so much heartache and pain. Well done Scott and Michele! Love is coming your way - although your entry seems to imply it's already there!

We drew the Lucky Dip Prize next, mainly to narrow down the difficult choice ahead, and if Mr Bea has the envelope... yes, the Lucky Dip winner, hand-drawn by Mr Bea out of a hat prepared by Bea herself, is Vee and Max's Spring! Congratulations Max and Vee, and what a beautiful and heartwrenching entry you gave us.

The Jury Prize was decided, after an awful lot of deliberation, by Mr Bea, who was asked to assess the entries based on interpretation of the theme, originality, technique, and overall impact. I excluded those who had already won a prize - well, I had to try and make it a little easier on the poor guy - and he put his film buff hat on and sat down.

I have to say, he paused and replayed some of those entries several times each over the last couple of weeks, and right up until the last minute he was still struggling to choose from his shortlist of four. He wants me to point out the several things which kept him oscillating back and forth - one packed a full show into a short timeframe, and a couple of others were full of beautiful pictures and great song choices, with nice editing to keep everything flowing along. But he couldn't go past the psychedelia and original lyrics of Mother Earth's Flower Shop, by Mel and Josh - the original Stirrup Queen and Sperm Palace Jester! Congratulations to you both. And much (well, 250ml of) Love.

Really, I want to congratulate all the entrants. You all deserve a prize, which is why I hope you'll join us again for the third International Infertility Film Festival - our Halloween Special - screening from October 27th, 2007. Click the link for details!

Second International Infertility Film Festival - Seasons

Midnight! Welcome to the Second International Infertility Film Festival, based around the theme "Seasons". Our entrants have all put a great effort in, so I hope you enjoy the show. The Awards Ceremony will be held here on the 11th of August - giving you two weeks to vote for the People's Choice Award and otherwise put your two cents' worth in at the bottom of this post. Alchemy Cordial Company has generously donated three bottles of Love for our winners! But first, the entries:

KarenO brings us Season Of Hope - a beautiful film about hope, based on an inspirational poem by Miradied.

Spring Clean is my based-on-a-true-story video about loss, grief, and trying again. And scrubbing the kitchen floor with a toothbrush.

Jen gives us a beautiful insight into the strength of a relationship through the toughest days, in Infertility Journey - When The Rain Comes.

Karaoke Diva has an entry called Seasons of Love, to the song (from "Rent") by the same name. How do you measure a year in the life of an infertility patient?

Vee (and Max) have given us Spring - a beautiful song about pregnancy and loss, with gorgeous artwork to match.

Seasons of Hope and Despair is Pamela's collage of the emotions of infertility - the anticipation of a new treatment and the devastation of a failure.

Stirrup Queen and emerging songstress Melissa has a two-part entry. Mother Earth's Flower Shop is a song which helps explain alternative methods of family-building to young children. The same audience can gain an insight into loss through What The Gardner Knows. Bring tissues.

Seaons of Infertility is Z's entry in which she gives us a glimpse into the oh-so-involved process, before making her triumphant proclamation at the end.

Jenna gives us the R-rated version of a date with Dildocam - for over eighteens only - in Me and DC (check the sidebar). Then, in I Remember, she tells us of the best and worst days of her life.

For snappy music and great scenery, check out Jules' Nothing Will Stop Us. It's great to hear some toe-tapping confidence.

And there's a happy ending to Scott and Michele P's story of infertility, IVF, loss, and later successful pregnancy of identical twins in Seasons.


Like the show? Then Help Promote The Festival - on your websites, message boards, wherever!

And don't forget to vote for your favourite below. (I'd like to remind you that a vote for my film is a vote for environmental preservation and thriftiness, as I won't have to post one of the bottles of Love, but that wouldn't be fair, would it?)

Contrary to what Paul McCartney would have you believe, you can not only buy Love, but also ship it

I've decided to make things more interesting this time around by offering prizes. Other festivals are giving away things with a broad range of appeal and convenient, international delivery to the online community, such as internet shopping vouchers. I mean, who wouldn't like an internet shopping voucher? And how simple and economical would that be to arrange?

Then again, simplicity has never been my strong point, and besides, what prize could be more rewarding than Love? Love, in this case, being a rose-petal-and-lime-flavoured, all-natural, gourmet cordial syrup produced in my hometown. Mr Bea and I like to call it "Love Juice" and then snigger a little bit, because we can be immature like that.

So! I will be offering three small (250ml) bottles of Love as prizes for "Seasons" - the Second International Infertility Film Festival - based around the following guidelines:

• The winners must be prepared to give me their postal addresses. I will not misuse these. In fact, I have trouble keeping track of addresses at the best of times, for misuse or otherwise. You can still enter the festival even if you don't want to give me your address! I just won't be able to send you a prize. Also, I will only ask for your address if I need to use it - you don't need to send it to me all willy-nilly unless you feel really confident.
  
  
• One will be a People's Choice Award, decided by audience poll.
  
  
• One will be a Lucky Dip Prize, decided by pulling names out of hats.
  
  
• I will award the other prize according to a set of guidelines I am yet to establish (suggestions welcome).

With only twenty-six days to go, I hope you'll all be a little extra-inspired by Love.

"Seasons" - 28th July 2007 - Second IIFF

I've spent the last week or so mulling carefully over all the suggested themes, asking myself which is the most inclusive and diverse, has the most poetic ring, presents the widest range of creative interpretations. Finally, this morning, I gave up and put them all into a hat, and out came "Seasons" - your theme for the Second International Infertility Film Festival, due to screen online from Saturday, July 28th, 2007 (suggested by Mel).

From the earliest days of our existance, seasons have had deep practical implications for life on Earth. They mark the passage of time, they mould our lives into patterns, they give rise to rituals and symbolism. Our language and culture is peppered with references - we talk about seasons of change, the springtime of love, the winter of our discontent. For everything, as the song goes, there is a season; a time for every purpose under heaven. Even in our modern world we respond to the heat and long days of summer, and the falling of the leaves as it ends.

It makes sense to use these powerful associations to explain the world of infertility. Remember to interpret the theme as literally or creatively as you like. Make us laugh, cry, pause, think. And have your post ready to go on the 28th of July, 2007.

**Where possible, please tag your film IInfertilityFF after uploading, and include this site's address in your notes, as well as a link from your blog post.

Got a question? Try the FAQ first. Still have a question? Email me. Suddenly thought of a good theme for future festivals? Let me know. If you thought of one this time but it wasn't chosen, it's still in the hat for the next one.