Stewart Halpern Blog

It is 5am and the phone rings. All I can hear is screaming. After a minute or so I realize that it is my film partner Ron telling me that we got into Slamdance. Then all I can hear is me screaming.

Ron, a friend from college, and I have been working on a documentary called PAGEANT for the last three years. The process has taken a toll on us, but now that we were in Slamdance we are ready to celebrate.

PAGEANT follows 5 of the most talented female impersonators from across the country as they compete in the Miss Gay America Pageant. (Check it out at www.PageantMovie.com)

Ron and I are feeling good about the movie – "Hell, we like it." But we still have never seen it in front of an audience of any kind. We hope that folks will laugh and cry. But we really have no idea.

Ron and I arrive in Park City with a mission. We need to get people to our two screenings. We proceed to cover the town in posters, buttons of female impersonators, and even Pageant style sashes. Surprisingly, even before the movie premiers the buttons are going like hotcakes.

Our publicist tells us that the TV show INSIDER with Pat O’Brien is going to air a 2 minutes piece on the movie so we wait anxiously to see how we are portrayed.