It is 7:11 a.m. when my good friend and fellow Film Academy student Michael Podogil wakes me up with his phone call. Half asleep, I have no idea why he is calling so early. “Today is the greatest day of my life, Lukas!”, he says, and then it dawns on me: we have been nominated for the BAFTA Student Film Awards for our film Fucking Drama and are going to Los Angeles!

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts had announced the total of nine nominations overnight, three of them in our category “Live Action”.

When our film had made it to the shortlist (45 films from over 400 submissions) a month before, we felt flattered but had no great hopes for a nomination. But then, overnight, we received an invitation to the awards ceremony in Los Angeles and had a 33-percent chance to win.

Through the financial support of the BAFTA, the Freunde der Filmakademie, the FAMA, and the GVL (German Organisation for the Management of Neighbouring Rights), four of us would be able to attend: director Michael Podogil, leading actor Michael Pink, editor Sebastian Schreiner, and I, as producer.

Many thanks to our supporters! We were all very happy to be able to make this trip on such short notice!

We were there for a total of one week. With our rental car, we were able to visit the most important locations and soak up the LA spirit. This included dry heat, traffic jams, petrol fumes, car horns, helicopter noise and police sirens, beautiful Long Beach, the Griffith Observatory with its view of the fabled Hollywood sign and the enormous metropolis, Hollywood Boulevard, glittery Beverly Hills, and above all a lot of Americans – nearly 20 million of them.

On the morning of the awards ceremony, there was a masterclass for the nominees. It was a discussion in a casual setting to which the down-to-earth and very sympathetic Aaron Ryder was invited, who had produced a few films that impressed me very much: Arrival (2016), Memento (2000), and Prestige (2006).

On the evening before the ceremony, there was a get-together at the exclusive bar “The London”, where we held a twenty-dollar glass of wine while chatting with nominees and BAFTA members, networking, and soaking up some Hollywood atmosphere. From talented young filmmakers to childhood heroes like the directors of Arielle (1989) and Aladdin (1992), we met interested filmmakers and industry members of every career level and develop new contacts. Since it was only a small number of films, we were able to talk with everyone and they with us, whether it was at “The London”, the workshop, the awards ceremony, or the after-party.

Unlike at many other film festivals, the winning films were only decided at the ceremony itself – a system that results in a great deal of suspense. All nine entries were screened one after another in random order, and all BAFTA members in attendance were invited to vote. All films were shown in the almost sacred atmosphere of the beautiful United Artists Theater in downtown LA, which was built by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, D. W. Griffith, and Douglas Fairbanks. This alone, and the fact that we were shortlisted in such a strong field of short films, pleased me immensely! Our film was up against DeKalb Elementary (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival) and Nocturne in Black (winner of the Gold Student Academy Award) in the “Live Action” category.

After a thirty-minute intermission, the winners were announced.

We received a lot of applause, praise, backslapping, and sometimes euphoric feedback for our film. While the award went to Nocturne in Black, we flew back to Vienna with a big stack of calling cards, a number of pictures from our short stay in LA, and huge smiles on our faces.

For me, it was a very exciting time and a pretty good feeling. I have a lot of fun making films anyway, and when on top of that you’re invited to get to know interesting people and places, it is even more fun.

More information on the film: www.podogil.com/fucking-drama