Woke up last Sunday (1st Feb) feeling a little blue. Surely if we were going to win an award in Santa Barbara that afternoon, the festival organisers would have called to let us know? So I went about my business thinking ‘always the bridesmaid’ and wondering how we were ever going to convince distributors that audiences love the movie. At 3:45 pm, long after the Awards Ceremony was over, I had a call from Candice, the programmer from SBIFF. “SKIN just won the Audience Choice Award - by a mile!” she said.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I bleated, nonplussed.

“I just did!” she said, equally puzzled.

“I mean, why didn’t you tell me sooner!?” Seems they had just done the final tally and were going to announce the Audience Award at the Arlington Theatre before the closing night screening. “Is there a physical prize? Something to collect?” I asked, thinking I might have enough time to drive up.

“I’m not sure,” said Candice, “Let me check and call you back.”

I immediately called (composer) Helene Muddiman, who had gone up to SB for the day and told her the good news. The penny was starting to drop: SKIN was an award-winning film! Magical words that mean so much to so many people.

I never did get a call back from Candice and, as it was getting late, I put Helene on standby to receive the Award, if there was one...

Next day, I discovered there WAS a physical prize - something they handed out to Helene on Sunday night and then immediately took back, so that it could be engraved with the title of the film. Helene said she had great fun at the Arlington and everyone was very excited about SKIN.

As soon as I get my hands on the Award, I’ll pop an image on here. Has it changed our lives? Not yet. But we’ve come to see this is as a marathon, not a sprint. The key is to enjoy the race.

Next up: our Pan African Festival Centerpiece Gala, 11th Feb. We’re building up the press interest (doing an interview for the BBC this evening, and one with ABC Entertainment next week) and I’ve just had confirmation that Sandra’s US visa was issued this morning (multiple entry for the next 10 years!) - so she’s can definitely join us, thanks to sponsorship from Marcia Williams, Head of the UK Film Council’s Diversity Department.