Concessions

Does a fake tan qualify as acquiescing to the superficiality of LALALand? Look, I was downright pasty. Something had to be done.

Actually, haven't even seen that many plastic people and certainly haven't met any. Since my ZZTop adventure, I haven't met anyone except film people (and the bartender at the ESPNZone), and since they are INDIE film people, they are all pretty cool.

I am not quite sure what is going on day to day here. There is no organized destination for the filmmakers to gather at the end of the day, which kind of, well, blows, because that is half the fun. But the day ends late here, last films aren't over until 11pm-ish, so that only leaves room for the hardcore to go out for a few... and apparently I haven't run into them yet.

This is my third fest and they have each been so different. Though Indie Fest has less films than the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival had, there is a far better turnout of filmmakers and their entourages. However, the audiences at each screening seem to be made up of only those same people - no locals. And though there is LOADS of foot traffic past the theater, we don't seem to be capturing any of it. The people who are walking by are here for Disney Land. And when you are paying $72 a day to go to an amusement park, you aren't going to spend any of that time (let alone extra money) in a movie theater.

And the majority of people who are here to support their films, much like the tourists, travel in packs. For many it is an excuse to come to "L.A.", though that is equivalent to being accepted to a film festival in Baltimore and using it as an excuse to go to D.C. I went to 4 screenings today (5 if you count the one I walked out of, but more on that in a minute). Most of the people that I met at the opening night party that I saw here today only went to their own screening and maybe one other.

I won't mention the names of the films I didn't care for, but I will tell you what I liked best. I started off with a foreign feature today that sounded interesting. Technically it was very good, but I could tell you the whole story in 3 to 4 sentences. It would have made a good 30 minute short. But it had two child actors who were wonderful, and initially I was very impressed by some of the steadicam shots. But then it ended up having a slew of steadicam shots, and even though those are difficult and impressive, if the film is a one-trick pony it is not as interesting to watch after awhile.

The second screening I went to was a shorts block. I did not originally intend to go to this block because none of the synopses struck my fancy, but the first buddy I made at the opening night reception was an older gentleman named Bob, who very kindly folded me into his own entourage at the party before I could even start to feel silly being there alone. I have not yet met ANYONE who has a film here who is here all by themselves. Bob is a SAG actor who lives in Fairfax, and I had a lovely conversation with his wife about a documentary on photographer Eddie Adams that we have both seen, called, "An Unlikely Weapon". Anyway, Bob plays, well, a sugardaddy, in a short called, "A Dance of Two". I also met the writer/director and the producer at the party, so I wanted to see it.

"A Dance of Two," was definitely the best short in the block. I enjoyed Bob's performance, although I felt very sad for his character. This block was a very strange mash-up, which made it difficult to get into any particular mood, so I think it is a tribute to his performance that I could get my head into the story. First there were four animated shorts. Then a mix of a few comedies and a horror, then Bob's short, which was a straightforward drama, and then the last short was a Samurai sword-fighting piece!

What I have seen quite a bit of at festivals that annoys me are shorts that are obviously more about practicing, or showing off, techniques and effects (especially with animation) rather than telling a story. I don't go to the movies to see someone's senior project, I want to get caught up in a story and forget that it is just a movie. I want to connect with the character(s), I want to love them or even hate them. I don't want to just watch them do things and marvel at how they did them. But maybe that's just me.

There was another short in that block that I really loved, an animated short called, "Skylight." I laughed my ass off at that, and when the projectionist wasn't paying attention and started running it a second time (which he did three times within the block), I was almost disappointed when he caught himself and turned it off.

The third screening was another shorts block, and this I wanted to see because at the opening night party I had also met some of these people. A short titled, "Boundaries of Attraction," had brought their own motley crew of eleven people all the way from New Hampshire. I would probably have to say this is my favorite so far, it was a very brave and very complicated piece, and had some very good performances.

Another very good one was called, "Captain." I had met a woman, I think she was the actress in the piece, at the opening night party. She was a machine. She swooped in on me and said something like, "You look like a dynamic female filmmaker that I need to meet," as she pressed a postcard of her movie into my hand. Then she said something about only asking one favor of me, and that was to see her movie. I was fine with all of that and was about to continue the conversation, but that was really all she wanted to say to me or hear from me, and she swooped onto the next person. I do admire her, I guess you'd call it, efficiency, but to be honest, I would not have felt guilty if I did not end up seeing, "Captain," because she made no real connection with me. Turns out, though, that it was VERY funny, and very polished, and I am glad I got to see it, even though it faked the death of one of the cutest dogs I have ever seen.

Also in that block was a short called, "The Cost of Living," which was very cute and starred Jim J. Bullock and Molly Hagan, who has been in a lot of stuff but I always remember her from the short-lived and underrated sitcom, "Herman's Head." She was one of the people in his head. She was actually in the audience, so a real celebrity sighting! She seemed very nice and I was within a few feet of her, but didn't really have anything to say, so I didn't speak to her. I thought I had seen Jason Schwartzman at the opening night party, but I was never quite sure it was him, and by the time I got up the (liquid) courage to go up and talk to him, he had disappeared. Which was probably best for everyone.

Part of this is my training from back in my D.C. days, dealing with celebrity clientele at the hotel that I worked in. I met loads of famous people, but I never asked anyone for an autograph, and very rarely was I ever impressed enough that they made me nervous. One exception was Adam Ant, but hey, it was the 80's, and though I could have probably beat him up, he was still hot. The other reason I don't bother celebrities unless I have something extremely pertinent to say, is that I always remember a story about a friend of a friend who ran into Dame Judy Dench (or was it the other Dame actress whose name I can't recall? Maggie Smith? I don't know...) outside of a theater in London. At a loss for words, my friend's friend blurted out, "I loved you in "Sister Act Two"! Not even "Sister Act ONE." She had to go with "Sister Act TWO." Needless to say, Dame Whomever completely ignored her, after visibly wincing.

The fourth screening... my first choice was a feature comedy, for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to check out the competition. I think there are 4 or 5 other feature length comedies besides "Smalltimore." Secondly, it was made by a female writer/director/and I think also actor. I like meeting people who wear a lot of hats. Plus, the female filmmaker thing. This is a boys club, believe it. Having been through it myself, I like to see what makes them tick. The interesting thing is that it is something different every time and I feel these are the people (multi-taskers, both male and female) I can learn the most from and I definitely receive the most inspiration from them, they impress me and so in my mind I think I pit myself and what I can do against them and their own accomplishments.

Wearing all of those hats, just FINISHING a feature length, and then having it accepted into a decent festival, that is a lot to be proud of. But, if it is supposed to be a straight-up comedy... and I have only laughed out loud (I am not that tough an audience!) maybe once in the first 20 minutes... when I reach that point in a movie, I give myself another ten minutes. If I don't laugh out loud or at least am dying to see what happens next, I leave. It has only happened a handful of times in my life, I hate to walk out of a movie. But it happened today. I was really bummed about that.

I walked down the hall to another theater where there was yet another shorts program. This was a fairly cohesive block of drama and horror. Could have lived without most of them, but they were well done. I don't like blood & guts, but even seeing a well made horror flick is better than seeing a poorly executed comedy. It has been a crapshoot so far, but that seems to be par for the course at festivals. Audiences have also been scant, though the later the screening time, the bigger the audience, so I am hoping since "Smalltimore" has the last time slot on the last night that (a) we will have a decent audience and (b) it means that the programmers thought it was a strong piece. Cross your fingers and knock on wood for me, and I'll let you know how it turns out.