CHRISTOPHER WOOD: TFF FINAL DAY >>>

Closing Night at the Temple Theatre - talk about swanky. The Grand Cinema concluded its third annual cinematic circus known as the Tacoma Film Festival last night at the Temple Theatre. Classy yes, but the cavernous ballroom seemed an unnecessary venue given crowd turnout. Though the Temple has landmark status (serving as the city’s first movie house), the chosen location should have captured The Grand’s intimate feel better. I made due by gorging on the Harmon’s catered banquet. What a trooper.

After stuffing myself and refusing an elderly woman at my table the chance at romance with a dance (Pearl Django provided music), the evening’s big moment arrived. The Volcano’s own Steph DeRosa headed to the podium first and presented Nick Lentz’s film Verlaine with the Best Short Film plaque. Too bad Nick couldn’t accept his prize. (No filmmaker did. Lame.)

I had the fortune to view the winner for Best Documentary, On Paper Wings. Ilana Sol’s moving feature tells of several children in Oregon killed from a balloon bomb sent across the Pacific by Japanese military during World War II. Portland filmmaker and history buff Sol jokes about the five year completion time for Wings: “Making this film is a testament to what a nerd I am.”

Tacoma continued to show Portland love in, strangely, the Best Local Film category. The harrowing real-life stories told in Jon Betz’s Memorize-you-saw-it find redemption through John Bosco, a Ugandan youth seeking to help other former child soldiers. Though he remains detached in his reporting, Betz regards this project as a very personal one. “One of my dreams is to…help [Ugandans] produce their own media about their own issues,” he says.

Weiner Takes All: A Dogumentary won Audience Choice. The talk of the festival, Weiner sold out both its screenings.

And the Temple even awarded me. I drove home with the biggest trophy of all â€" a Volcano sandwich board. Attention Tabitha: Your signage is in my trunk.

Signing out.