Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Sunrise, Sunset



[Dawn in Philly, as seen from room 2516 of the Loew's Hotel. You can see all of my Philly and U.K. pics on the "Smalltimore, the Movie" Facebook page - click the link in the right-side tool bar]

Philly already seems like a dream. How is it possible that I was there less than ten days ago?

I did have a great time and I REALLY want to go to that festival again, because I know next year will be even better. I have a few regrets, but they were mostly my fault. I wasn't organized enough before I hit the ground there, didn't have a plan as to what films I wanted to see and which filmmakers I wanted to try to meet, and I didn't have any marketing materials with me, which was a big mistake. Everywhere I went and everyone I met was pure randomness, if that is a word. Usually that works for me, and it was fine this time, but especially because the venues were a little scattered, I would have gotten more accomplished had I mapped things out a bit better. But then again, maybe not. Mikey and I had a really tight but reasonable schedule worked out one day, but the evening before we met some filmmakers whose movie we had not planned to see, and they talked us into it ("Sex. Drugs. Guns."). So we changed our schedule and then in the middle of the next day, we met the filmmaker, O'Shea Read, whose film ("Shipping and Receiving", a short) we had switched out to see the other one! He was very nice and happened to have a DVD of it with him and gave it to us, so in the end it did work out fine.

For that one, anyway. Another movie I wanted to see was Adam Bronstein's, "My Movie Girl." I met Adam at the Opening Night Party. I think he is the first guy I have met that made a feature-length romantic comedy. The plot sounded intriguing, and hysterical, and Mikey wanted to see it also. We blocked it out and showed up at the venue on time, to find out it hand been switched to another time slot (in fairness to the festival, that was at Adam's request). I ran into Adam later and found out that it was rescheduled at 10:00am on Sunday. As much as I wanted to see that movie, that just was not going to happen.

But Adam, and O'Shea (though they have not met), both live in L.A. and said they would try to come to my "Smalltimore" screening next month, so it is all good!

Another filmmaker I met on the first night was Philip Maglieri ("The Alley" - short doc). As it turns out, his film was screening at the same exact time as mine, the venues rather far apart. That was the one I was most disappointed not to see. When Philip and I started talking at the party the first night, I asked him if it was his first festival. He said no, he had just been to one in England. I smiled, as I kind of figured what was coming next. Turns out, "The Alley," screened at Swansea Bay Film Festival in southern England, just a week or so before I was in Tamworth for the Heart of England Film Festival. The two festivals are related and had a lot of cross-over movies. In fact, Nick Hudson, the Director of the HOEFF, had met Philip at Swansea Bay and invited him to screen, "The Alley," in Tamworth. Philip was tempted to come up, but didn't, though Nick still screened the film (I didn't see it). But Philip had met in Swansea some of the same people I made friends with in Tamworth, such as Kent Wall ("Shotgun Jesus") and Vagabond ("Machetero"). It was a very Smalltimore moment. Also, Philip lives in Toronto, where dear old Bentley resides (when he isn't here, which he is now, cuz he just called me).

I did manage to see Jesse Bernstein's short, "Us One Night," since it screened right after mine in the same venue. He is using it as sort of a pre-trailer, he wants to make a feature out of it. It was funny, I hope he does! Met some other cool cats, you can check the pics on Facebook.

I have to admit that though I am trying to concentrate and give you the skinny on Philadelphia, my mind is elsewhere. I am getting (a little too) excited about Indie Fest in California next month. I'll explain in a minute.

During one of my conversations with Philip, I told him that I may be losing my job, and therefore my residence, by the end of the year. He asked me, "Are you worried? Are you a worrier?" I said, "Not really. My life always seems to work out the way it should." And it does, though I think part of that is me not fighting battles for the sake of fighting them, but rather making lemonade when presented with the ingredients. Another case in point is the succession of these festivals. I had a great time in Tamworth, and have been in touch with a few of the filmmakers I met there since I got back. But the audiences were negligible. I was in a fairly good schmoozing mode, though, because I am used to traveling abroad by myself, and I didn't have to deal with big crowds. I know it is ridiculous that I am more at ease in a foreign country than in Philadelphia, but that's just how I am.

Philly was a sizable but not insurmountable step up from Tamworth. Only in its second year, they have some bugs to work out, but it was much larger and much better attended, and the filmmakers had a destination meeting point every evening. I had not psyched myself up to schmooze, though, and I watched others work the room like nobody's business. I hated myself for it, but Mikey was there, and I used him as a crutch. That's my fault, I know better. But I was a little overwhelmed , I guess. It made me determined to make sure that doesn't happen again.

And now comes Anaheim, California. West Coast, baby. Funny thing? Heart of England was its First Annual, Philly Independent was its Second Annual, Indie Fest is its Third Annual. I tried not to get too excited about Indie Fest, because there are SO many fests in California, and this one is rather young. HOEFF, I think, accepted the majority of films that were submitted (don't get me wrong, I saw some great stuff there, but I think percentage-wise, that is the case). Steve, the director at the PIFF (Philly), told me that they had about 400 submissions (including shorts) and accepted about half of them. That gave me a little extra confidence, but still, I guess you could say I had a 50-50 chance of getting in, which is a lot better than most fests. Mine was one of about 65 feature-length, though they seemed to be heavy on the documentaries.

Before I go to a fest, I pick it apart so I can know what to expect and avoid disappointment. How many years has it been running, how organized is the communication, I research the venues, I consider the screening times... Some people that I met in Tamworth and Philly were disappointed in some things, but I managed to avoid that because I didn't have any delusions, and I enjoyed the festivals for what they were.

However... Having gone through the schedule of Indie Fest, out of their 140 selected films, only about 38 of them are feature-length, 8 of those are listed as documentaries, 4 as comedies (including "Smalltimore), and the rest (of those 38) are listed simply as features. Especially considering that "Smalltimore" has the final time slot (coinciding with two other non-comedy feature screenings), and the screening venue is the AMC Disney... I'm starting to feel pretty good about this one. Which means I have to start psyching myself up IMMEDIATELY. So I'll talk at cha later.

No comments:

Post a Comment