A STAGECOACH RIDE INTO THE WEST
In his wonderful film about moviemaking, DAYFOR NIGHT, Francois Truffaut, paying the driector of this film within a film, says, somewhere near the midpoint, "Making a film is liking taking a stagecouch journey across the Old West. At first you hope fr a good trip, then you hope you'll make it there at all."
I'm sure those same feelings can be applied to other endeavors, but it is certainly been true of every film festival I've been involved with, and nor more true than this year's festival. With a terrible financial loss last year with George Romero, (fun fest but high overhead), we had no money and no credit. Enter Kevin and Anna, willing to take on the role of Festival Directors. Eager and optimistic, they plunged in full of high hopes. Then reality set in: lack of funding, insufficient manpower, and the gradual scaling back of expectations.
A few days ago, morale was down and there was the unstated question of whether we could move forward at all. But Anna and Kevin hung in - in fact I've rarely seen anyone so dedicated and determined. Things have moved forward, and last night we had a screening session, organizational meeting, and everyone is now psyched about the Festival.
The program, as usual, is very strong, and with Chip Moore coming in to help Kevin on print trafficthe pr is beginning to break, thankes to Marla's perserverance; and, the web site is up earlier than it has ever been. Kevin and Anna seem to be working abound the clock.
A few minutes later in DAY FOR NIGHT, the Truffaut character says, "The crew is in their places, the actors understand their roles, personal concerns have to be put aside, FILM IS KING. That's the spirit of this year's BUFF.
I'm sure those same feelings can be applied to other endeavors, but it is certainly been true of every film festival I've been involved with, and nor more true than this year's festival. With a terrible financial loss last year with George Romero, (fun fest but high overhead), we had no money and no credit. Enter Kevin and Anna, willing to take on the role of Festival Directors. Eager and optimistic, they plunged in full of high hopes. Then reality set in: lack of funding, insufficient manpower, and the gradual scaling back of expectations.
A few days ago, morale was down and there was the unstated question of whether we could move forward at all. But Anna and Kevin hung in - in fact I've rarely seen anyone so dedicated and determined. Things have moved forward, and last night we had a screening session, organizational meeting, and everyone is now psyched about the Festival.
The program, as usual, is very strong, and with Chip Moore coming in to help Kevin on print trafficthe pr is beginning to break, thankes to Marla's perserverance; and, the web site is up earlier than it has ever been. Kevin and Anna seem to be working abound the clock.
A few minutes later in DAY FOR NIGHT, the Truffaut character says, "The crew is in their places, the actors understand their roles, personal concerns have to be put aside, FILM IS KING. That's the spirit of this year's BUFF.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home