At the second of the big tributes, the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award, both the press area of  the red carpet and the barriers out on State Street were packed with excited people. Veteran reporters ETHAN & TEYA, now in Team 53, brought their research & anticipation to the event, and of course the hope of speaking with the honoree. They achieved that, AND had some great conversations along the way!

Photo courtesy of SBIFF 

Veteran reporters TEYA & ETHAN were nonetheless facing their first interview of the festival on the Red Carpet for Outstanding Performer of the Year, and got to talk with visiting Georgian filmmaker NINO BENASHVILI, Director of the short film "Where Time Stood Still".

On the Red Carpet for Outstanding Performer of the Year, Team 53 reporters ETHAN & TEYA got to interact with the directors of a South African film, "Carissa", as they walked the carpet to publicize their film. The reporters ended up getting interviewed themselves!

After a bit of quiet but anxiety-provoking news from the Red Carpet managers that it was to be cleared "for security reasons," TEYA & ETHAN actually did get the interview with the filmmakers of "Fine Young Men" aka "Hombres íntegros".

(For more on this, see our Behind The Scenes interview with PR Guy HENRY ESHELMAN)