A group of Gloucester filmmakers whose documentary spotlighted Gloucester's Greasy Pole walk have reeled in a top prize in a global competitions.
Emile Doucette, Michael Pallazola and Tom Papows traveled to Toronto last weekend as finalists in the International Documentary Challenge at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival, and still cannot believe the result after earning the Documentary Educational Services award.
"It hasn't really sunk in," Pallazola said. "There was so much competition there, and every documentary was exceptional."
Teams from all over the globe — including the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Ireland and China — competed for a slew of awards, including honors for best director, best editing, best cinematography, best screenplay and best original score. But some of the most coveted awards given away at the festival are those for best film, PBS' Point of View Award, and the Documentary Educational Resources Award.
Pallazola and his team won the DER Award for their work on the story behind the Greasy Pole, after being assigned to address the genre of "Sports." The DER Award honors teams for their work toward capturing and preserving the true culture of a society, and the heritage behind the annual Greasy Pole competition — a staple of Gloucester's annual St. Peter's Fiesta — is a big part of the film.
The documentary challenge was a timed filmmaking competition in which teams had five days to make a documentary that runs between 4 and 7 minutes in length. The Gloucester team and the 11 other finalists were picked initially from 142 competitors based in 16 countries.
Along with a $1,000 prize, the group will also work with the organization to distribute the film, which was produced through Bait & Tackle Ad Co. in East Gloucester.
"The (film festival) organization has taken such an interest in our movie that they want to personally visit Gloucester and see Fiesta for themselves," Pallazola said. "We've obviously done an amazing job with this documentary. To have them express this much interest is truly flattering."
The Gloucester community has also expressed interest in screening the film, Pallazola said. The group has already been contacted by businesses interested in a Fiesta-related showing, when that festival takes center stage June 24 to 28.
"We want to screen it in as many places as possible," Pallazola said. "This is such a huge part of Gloucester's culture that it deserves to be recognized."
Pallazola said the team is also now looking to the future; in addition to competing in the International Documentary Challenge next year, the group also plans to compete in other speed film-making competitions, such as the Boston and New Hampshire 48-hour film projects.
"We have a few great ideas for the coming future," Pallazola said. "This film has given us a lot of momentum and we can't wait to make our next one."
WATCH THE VIDEO
To watch the video for yourself, visit: http://documentarychallenge.org/Finalists/the-greasy-pole.html
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