Dare Not Walk Alone Wins: Even though it didn't get the award

I know it sounds corny, but everyone who was at the 40th Annual NAACP Image Awards tonight was a winner. Never before have I experienced that much shared love in an auditorium full of people, never have I felt so much collective hope and joy.

(And never before have I witnessed a musical performance as moving as Jennifer Hudson singing "The Impossible Dream" to Muhammad Ali, but I digress.)

No, Dare Not Walk Alone did come away with the Image Award for Outstanding Documentary, but to be nominated and considered and embraced in such a way, this is a big win for the film as far as I'm concerned. I am sure there will be more screenings because of this, and an uptick in DVD sales.

On a personal level, I think the director Jeremy and I look just a little bit like zombies here at the after-party, wearing dazed grins on our pasty white faces in a mixture of sheer joy and disbelief that our "little" film had come so far. We had no star power and no marketing budget, yet we're here with fellow nominees from studio films like Cadillac Records, Miracle at St. Anna, The Secret Life of Bees and Seven Pounds. We're rubbing shoulders with stars from amazing shows such as The Wire, a TV epic that Jeremy and I both hold in highest esteem (and which got the same number of awards we did).

The personal and professional interest being shown in the film is genuine and real. People have sought us out and introduced themselves. Several studio executives have personally requested screeners of the film. We are pumped! And I think we will be able to carry that feeling through to a new push to get the film seen more widely than ever.

So Thank You NAACP, and happy HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY
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