If you’re
wondering why I haven’t been posting as often as usual, it’s because I’ve been traveling
and busily occupied. First, I was a juror at the Savannah Film Festival, in one
of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever visited. Then my wife and I flew to
another historic location, Charlottesville, Virginia, for the Virginia Film
Festival. Both events have built solid track records, and now I know why.
The Savannah
festival is sponsored by SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), one of the
largest arts institutions in the country. They are fortunate to have access to
two magnificent theaters: the former Weis, now named for SCAD, and the Lucas,
built as a vaudeville house in 1921. They are just around the corner from each
other and a block from the hotel that serves as festival headquarters, the historic
Marshall House. The friendly, welcoming atmosphere (plus Leopold’s Ice Cream)
made my six days in Savannah especially agreeable. Daytimes were taken up with
jury screenings; when we could Alice and I took in some of the high-profile
evening presentations: the wonderful Brooklyn,
followed by a discussion with its star, Saoirse Ronan, the enjoyable Tab Hunter Confidential, with its
subject on stage afterwards with his longtime partner, producer Allan Glaser,
and the entertaining new feature Miss You
Already, accompanied by a lively discussion with its director, the talented
Catherine Hardwicke.
My fellow
jurors were June Dowad, who represents “below the line” film professionals at Sandra
Marsh & Associates, Jody Gottlieb, director of development for Vulcan
Productions, and Diane Connors, vice president of special events for Walt
Disney Pictures. We got on well and, after watching ten feature films, easily
agreed that the first dramatic feature we saw (Tumbledown) was the best, and the last documentary (Becoming Bulletproof) was the clear
winner in its field. You’ll have a chance to see both of them in the near
future and they are definitely worth your time. Rebecca Hall and Jason Sudeikis
star in Tumbledown, a notable
directing debut for Sean Mewshaw, based on a screenplay by his wife, Desiree
Van Til. Michael Barnett’s Becoming
Bulletproof has been on the festival circuit and has generated a lot of
well-deserved acclaim; it had us all in tears by the end. Getting to meet its
primary subject, A.J. Murray, was especially moving.
Less than two
weeks later, we were on another plane heading east for the Virginia Film
Festival, which is staged by the University of Virginia in a variety of venues,
including a magnificently restored Paramount Theatre in the heart of town. We
arrived just in time to take in Ithaca,
Meg Ryan’s impressive debut film as director. It’s a remake of William
Saroyan’s The Human Comedy, featuring
Alex Neustaedter in the role Mickey Rooney played so well in 1943. He’s
surrounded by solid actors like Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater, Ryan herself and
her son Jack Quaid, as well as one of the film’s executive producers, Tom
Hanks. It’s a deeply-felt piece of Americana that does a fine job evoking its
era, thanks in part to location filming not far from Charlottesville.
I was asked to
invite some filmmakers I admired for q&a sessions and was lucky to get the
prolific and spirited animator Bill Plympton, who screened his latest feature, Cheatin’ (and led a workshop for
aspiring animators) and Maggie Greenwald, who brought her 35mm print of the
wonderful (and underappreciated) movie Songcatcher
(2000). I was also pleased to introduce two beautiful 35mm prints from the
Library of Congress collection, housed in Culpeper, Virginia. I, in turn, was
introduced by Greg
Lukow, Chief of the National
Audio-Visual Conservation Center. I chose one bona fide classic, The Maltese Falcon (1941), and one
sleeper, the pre-Code gem Employees Entrance
(1933). Both of them were well attended and played like gangbusters. I hadn’t
seen the Falcon on a big screen in
years and had a great time watching it again. Employees Entrance has all the snap and spark we associate with Warner
Bros. pictures of that era, with the period’s emblematic leading man, Warren
William.
While in town,
I was drafted to serve as a mentor and juror for the festival’s Adrenaline
Project, in which high school and college students have 72 hours to produce a
five-minute short in a genre that’s chosen by lottery. I was greatly impressed
with what I saw, in both rough and finished form, and don’t know how these kids
put together a project so quickly. Kudos to all of them.
Our stay in
Virginia was all too brief but rewarding. We got a tour of the Library of
Congress’ Packard Campus in Culpeper on our way home, capping off a great
weekend. If you have an opportunity to attend either of the festivals I’ve
described next year, I encourage you to do so.
