First things first; admittedly, I am a producer, was first A.D. and had a small role in "King of Herrings." But even with all that good will towards the film, nothing could have prepared me for the two screenings with packed houses at The Prytania Theatre for the 2013 New Orleans Film Festival! Having seen the film many many times as we were working on it in post production, it was such a gift to be able to see it ANEW, through the audiences' eyes. They laughed, they loved, they hated, and some of them even cried. While watching the film with these audiences it was so apparent that they were hooked in, taking the ride, and that they loved it. Afterwards, they enthusiastically told us what they thought: "It's a quirky odd little film that's funny and packs an emotional wallop!" "It's refreshing to see a film that's really just about people...a character driven film with great dialog and stellar acting!" "Such reprehensible, yet human characters that we all actually care about and end up rooting for." These were all things I heard people say to us after the screenings...and so many other great things, that there is simply not room for here. Since we didn't really campaign to get people to vote for us, it came as a complete surprise to all of us when we won The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature! My feeling about how good the film is, has been validated on levels beyond my own expectations. Sincerely, John Mese
Review of King of Herrings
