Midnight Delight, the latest feature from New York Film Academy graduate Rohit Gupta has been honored with the prestigious Platinum award for Best Experimental Film at the 2015 Oregon International Film Awards. “We are highly delighted about such an encouraging honor,” said Gupta, whose third film in a row continues to enthrall audiences around the world. Gupta’s earlier feature Life! Camera Action… picked up the Grand Jury Choice Award, the highest recognition at the same event in 2011.
Tag-lined “Say hi to high…” and “Couch. Conversations. Clarity,” the 85-minute unique comedy film, Midnight Delight, produced by Gupta and Saumin Mehta under the banner of production company Dot and Feather Entertainment, is a composition of nine vignettes of characters at a smoking lounge and their hilarious antics with people they’ve never met before. Gupta shot the entire film over two-nights with a multi-camera set up. Mehta also post-produced the film, including an animated sequence, in only three months. The ensemble cast includes award winning actor Shaheed Woods, Michele Suttile, Alexandra Hellquist, award winning actress Dipti Mehta, John Crann, Maggie Alexander, Bill McCrea, Rachel Myers, Michael Laguerre, Adit Dileep, Sofia Sivan and Michael Lester who is also credited as co-editor. The theme song is I get high by Filo.
When asked Gupta about the significance of the title, Gupta replied, “Midnight Delight has been my all time favorite ice-cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery.” Fair enough.
The Oregon International Film Awards (OIFA) recognizes the very best in contemporary international independent cinema and screenwriting. OIFA presents awards annually to unique and compelling films from around the world. Awards are presented each year in four top recognition levels: Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze and only to those films and filmmakers that demonstrate a superior level of craftsmanship and quality.
Gupta and his team have another reason to celebrate this festival season as Midnight Delight has also been announced as an Official Selection at the Blow-up Chicago International Art House Film Festival 2015, which takes place towards the end of December. The Festival, named after the Michelangelo Antonioni’s iconic film Blow-Up, brings original storytellers together with adventurous audiences for its annual program.
Earlier in 2015, Midnight Delight won the Judges Choice Film of the Festival award at the Cannabis Film Festival in Humboldt County, California, where the jury stated, “Midnight Delight is like smoking a cinematic joint.” At the film’s Washington state premiere at the 2015 Hempapalooza Music and Film Festival, it was said, “Midnight Delight is a pure cinematic aphrodisiac that brings a completely new and unique take on cannabis based movies and culture.”