Misophonia just got accepted into its 13th competitive film festival. I didn’t know if we’d get into even one when I started this experiment. For me, having our odd little puppet film play on a big or small screen in front of any size audience is the best award possible. But it has also won a few jury awards, and while I think every film I’ve seen at the festivals should win, I’m also really grateful for this recognition.

Most recently Misophonia was Runner Up for Best Animated Short in the excellent 32nd Woods Hole Film Festival on Cape Cod amongst some truly spectacular films. It was also an incredibly supportive festival staff and community that we were so glad to get to know over 4 days.

In Maryland in July at the Puppeteers of America’s National Puppetry Festival, Misophonia was included in the Reel Puppetry Festival (a festival within a festival). There were 150 puppet films entered— I didn’t imagine even 150 puppet films had been made so this was great news. Of these, many were by my all time favorite puppet artists, some utterly astounding and beautiful work with puppets on film. And so it was mind boggling that we won Best Film of the festival. With the greatest humility we accepted this award.

And also surprising and rewarding was Best Sound Design from the Blackbird Film Festival in Cortland, New York. Sound was the aspect of filmmaking I had the least experience with, and given that I’d chosen to make a movie about sounds that fill me with panic and rage, this was not an easy part. It was already difficult to figure out how to weave and layer sounds on each other without making an auditory nightmare for a regular audience, much less people with misophonia. But the sound was the most important part of the film, and this award makes me think people got it, and that is just the best.

Thanks to all the film festivals who have hosted our film, and hosted us! It’s been a fantastic ride!