Tucson singer-songwriter and filmmaker Linda Chorney has added three top prizes to the growing list of film festival awards for her indie movie “When I Sing.”
The biopic, which traces Chorney’s improbable journey from little known artist to 2012 Grammy contender, took home Best Screenplay, Best U.S. Feature Film and the top prize, the Grand Jury Award, at last weekend’s Borderlands International Film Festival in New Mexico.
“Out of 80 films, we not only got best screenplay” — which Chorney gave to her writing partner Douglas Raine — “but we got best U.S. film and the Grand Jury Award, which is a combination of the audience and (the judges),” she said.
Next stop in early November: Back-to-back film festivals in Nashville, Tennessee, and Michigan.
Meanwhile, Chorney is continuing to tour the film in what she’s dubbed the “’When I Sing’ Wicked, Awesome World Tour,” a national screening tour that is sponsored in part by Visit Tucson, she said. It’s a chance to show not only her film but Tucson, which plays a prominent role and where most of the movie was filmed.
The tour will wrap up on Dec. 1 with a red carpet screening at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway. For tickets, visit loftcinema.org
In addition to the New Mexico film festival honors, “When I Sing” won the special jury award for best low budget theatrical feature film award at the 51st annual Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival in April and the Peoples Choice Award at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival last February.
