Martin Landau at Moxie Festival, Santa Monica receiving a lifetime achievement award. Photo / Vinca Jarrett.

A Day in the Life of
the Festival Schmooze
at Park City:

To truly understand going to Park City, I must describe a condensed day there. Besides seeing films, one goes to reunite with existing contacts and meet new ones in the greatest industry purpose of Park City: The Schmooze. And this year was no exception, as I reunited with Hollywood producer Kasey Sixt of L.A.'s noteworthy Sixt Sense Entertainent, who I met at the 2000 Boston Film Festival, and with whom I spent a needed reprieve from the hubbub of the festival skiing at Deer Valley and dining at the almighty Stein Erickson Lodge, where all the majors and stars at the festival hang. And then, still festooned in ski wear, we headed back to Slamdance to see several films. There we hooked up with one of the Santa Monica Moxie Festival directors, Robert Boyd (who just received his SAG card thanks to one of Boston's finest casting director's, Kevin Fennessey), and sponsor of that festival, Smith Glover of Atom-Bomb.com, who also sponsored this year's Slamdunk Festival.

Bill Plympton, Animator, along with Kat Thomas and David Kleiler at BUFF. Photo / Vinca Jarrett.

Still in skiwear, Kasey and I headed into town to attend one of Slamdance's other events, a Fireside Chat, hosted at the Treasure Mountain Inn on "Alternative Distribution", which had amongst the panel of experts, film finance gurus such as John Lee, and notable film short distribution companies such as Atom Films. Other Fire Side chats during the week included, "U.S. and International Festivals", "Screenwriting", and "Music in Film". Doing a quick change at the Sixt Sense Entertainment pad, we dolled up for the rest of the evening's festivities, and headed to a book signing at Dolly's Book Store by John Lee (The Producer's Business Handbook and Louise Levison (Filmmakers & Financing), where I bumped into more Boston locals, including David Kleiler (Underground Film Festival), Michele Meek (BuyIndies.com), and Judy Laster (Woodshole Film Festival). Afterwards, we all headed over to the Massachusetts Film Office Party, where dozens of New England film folk schmoozed with the L.A. industry. Heading back to Slamdance, Kasey and I checked out another film, and finally ended up at dinner with L.A. based director Gino Cabanas (STAVROS) and Boston native stand up Rick D'Elia, whose upcoming feature, MOB DOT COM was co-written with Boston local Erica Ferencik. Later that evening Kasey and I, joined by up and coming director Gino Cabanas, hit no less than three industry parties, beginning with Brighton Avenue Pictures, hosted by Boston's own Laura Bernieri and ending with the Acme Talent Agency after hours shindig, hosted by hot and happening agent, Lisa Lindo. Finally we crashed into slumber around 5 a.m., only to awaken and do it again the next day.

L.A. Where Deals are Made
and Festivals Pick Up
Where Park City Left Off.

Hitting the film capitol, Los Angeles, on Valentines Day, two film festivals of note were in progress, the Santa Monica International Film Festival, more commonly just called Moxie, and held at various theatres from February 14 through 19, and Anjelciti, held from February 8th to 18th at Raleigh and Paramount Studios. Both these festivals are worth looking into for filmmakers, since technically they run all year round, Moxie having various features and shorts every month, culminating in the year end Moxie awards, and Anjelciti, with more than 20 awards, and another festival hitting Chicago June 20-28 (submissions being accepted now). Anjelciti is located in the heart of L.A. with underground parties on the studio set held every night, and screenings with the feel of a drive-in movie or reminiscent of summer camp. Amongst this year's winners were for best feature, AFTER THE STORM, starring Armand Assante (THE MAMBO KINGS) and Benjamin Bratt (TRAFFIC), based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway set in 1930s Bahamas, and for best film short, ODESSA and starring Yolanda King (GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI), which is intended as a television pilot. For more information about Angel City, check out www.AngelCity.com/film.

Drew Figueroa (Director of Moxie Film Festival, Santa Monica), Monte Robison (Conspiracy Music), Mike Timm (Director) and Jason Dnne (Producer/Director) gather at the Massachusetts Film Office Party. Photo / Vinca Jarrett.

Moxie, meanwhile, was headquartered in the exclusive Fairmont Miramar Hotel, with more than ten screening locations around Santa Monica. While filmgoers scurried around to see the extensive array of shorts, animated works, documentaries and features or attend one of five panel discussions ranging from the practical, "Marketing of a Motion Picture" to the philosophical, "What Defines True Independent Films", everyone lay in wait for the grandiose awards night celebration, held in the Miramar ballroom with more than 800 guests February 19. A Moxie award for best producer went, not surprisingly, to Tom Rice's celebrated work, THE RISING PLACE, starring Frances Fisher (TITANIC), who attended on the arm of the up and coming director, which premiered at the Boston Film Festival last September, and features a score by Jennifer Holiday. Best comedy went to the hilarious THE WOMAN EVERY MAN WANTS, by filmmaker Gabriela Tagliavini. Atom-Bomb, one of the event sponsors, had a rowdy table of attendees, including Smith Glover, who eyed every film short he could over the weekend. Highlights of the evening included a tribute to Ray Bradbury, who's MARTIAN CHRONICLES and FARENHEIT 451 has recently been made into feature films; also, a lifetime achievement award went to Martin Landau (ED WOOD, CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS), who noted that "[t]he great thing about film is that there is a common kind of experience going onÉYou don't change the world, but you can enlighten and touch people with what you do, and it is the actors and the acting that do it." Rhode Island actress, Susan Johnston, whose move to L.A. last year has brought her newfound stature in the film community, was one of six of this year's Moxie award judges. For a full line up of winners and how to submit your films during the year long Moxie festival, check out www.smff.com.

Underground Events Rise in Stature Back at Home It wouldn't be dignified to attend so many film festivals, and miss Boston's rising star, BUFF (Boston Underground Film Festival), which is the brainchild of local film guru, David Kleiler, and held this year from February 20 through the end of the month. Going from a one-screen weekend event to a four venue, seven day event, in just one year, Kleiler and his worthy assistant Kat Thomas, taking the reigns as Managing Director, have turned the 3rd annual BUFF into Boston's hottest grunge event for college students and hipsters alike. While still striving to meet time schedules, the array of film content was nothing short of impressive. Personal favorites included the feature documentary BENJAMIN SMOKE, a harsh look of drugs, deviant behavior and rock 'n roll; SPACE BABY AND MENTAL MAN, a magical children's feature by local filmmaker Rex Dean; and in the shorts category, ZEN AND THE ART OF LANDSCAPING, directed by David Kartch, about a family with sexual secrets that run amuck. The opening night party, sponsored by the Planetary Group, was packed over at Lilli's in Somerville, and the headline music act Drag Strip Courage, proved how good a band can be in spite of these troubled times of Napster law suits. The closing night party, held at the Linwood Grill, opposite Boston's newest and greatest movie theatre, General Cinema's Fenway 13, was equally well-attended by film area regulars such as Kevin Fennessey, celebrity animator, Bill Plympton (MUTANT ALIENS, PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, winner of the 1991 Prix du Jury at Cannes), both serving as judges this year, and the leather-wearing throng of excited partiers, most of whom attended the week long festival. For more information on this year's winners and how to submit your film next year, check out www.bostonundergroundfilmfestival.com.

Loranne Turgeon, Executive Director of Vermont Film Office, stands outside Sundance Party greeting industry participants. Photo / Vinca Jarrett.

The Last is Always Best, Especially when it's in Colorado While all the film festivals noted herein overall received high marks in terms of film diversity, venues, schmoozing and location, the newest gem to be added to the list is the inaugural 2001 Durango Film Festival, held this year from March 10-18 in South Western, Colorado. Unbelievably well-organized and well-sponsored, showing more than 70 films (each 3 times during the week), premiering 13 films, and with several special showings, including the Rolling Stones documentary, GIMME SHELTER; the Australian classic; PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK; the must-see reggae film ROCKERS; and the par-excellent film short, SMILES, by A-list celebrity director John Avildsen (ROCKY, academy award, KARATE KID), who was in attendance, and gave a notable talk on filmmaking , Sunday March 11 at the Diamond Circle Theatre, a stage set in the historic Strater Hotel on Main Street. Avildsen's advice to young filmmakers included "the most important thing is the scriptÉsomething worth shooting" and it's a "very good thing to improvise with actors (during auditions). You may not hire 'em, but you get a lot of good dialogue." ROCKY, written by and starring Sylvester Stalone, was made in 1976 for $960,000 in only 26 days, using borrowed camera equipment from Martin Scorcese off the set of NEW YORK, NEW YORK, and made Mr. Avildsen one of the most respected directors in Hollywood in the coming years.

Durango is no stranger to the film community, having been the location for both BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID and CITY SLICKERS. Erik Burke, the festival director, who's own tongue and cheek comedy, LOSER, was shown with rave reviews at Sundance in 1991, has the relaxed demeanor of a man who knows he is not alone in coordinating this impressive festival. Everyone I spoke to seemed to be a volunteer, and loving it. Durango, home to many cultural aficionados, has an ongoing film club, that brainchilded this festival with the motivation to give better known festivals such as those at nearby Telluride and Aspen, as well as more renowned festivals such as Sundance, a run for their money. And that they are doing! While the winners of this new festival had not yet been declared at the time of press, personal favorites include sinister feature, CHARMING BILLY (which screened at Northampton Film Festival last year) by writer/director William Pace; THE WEDDING COW, an hysterical German comedy by New York based Tomi Streiff, and EVERYTHING FOR A REASON, a romantic comedy of the ages, by first-time filmmaker Vlas Parlapanides. In the documentary category, THE RETURN OF NAVAJO BOY by Jeff Spitz is a compelling look at corporate environmental destruction of the Navajo Indians way of life; SUNSHINE HOTEL, by Michael Dominic, about the last flop house on the Bowery in NYC, as seen through the eyes of its residents; SUGIHARA: CONSPIRACY OF KINDNESS, produced by Canadian resident Diane Estelle Vicari and directed by Robert Kirk, about a Japanese Shindler, who helped more than 2,000 Jews to escape during WWII; and LONG HAIRED WARRIORS, by Mel Halbach, explores the Vietnamese women's role in standing up to oppressors during Vietnam. Finally, amongst the phenomenal shorts were included the delightful ETHEL'S SOFA, about seniors who get revenge on a duplicitous thief, and THE GEORGIA PEACH BOY, about poor but loving parents who are thwarted when they try to adopt.

A large part of the sell-out success of this first year festival is its publicity, which was run by J.C. Anderson, originally a native of Concord, Massachusetts. Modeled after the earlier Edinborough and Sundance festivals, Erik Burke has selected films that are new or haven't been seen and meet a high standard of story telling, "intriguing, well done (with) good concepts." Nearby, are the Purgatory and Wolf Creek ski resorts, which during festival time attract spring break and families, ensuring that films are well attended. A variety of passes were available to fit every budget and life style, making it easy for locals and travelers alike to come to events. Every night a party was sponsored at a different venue, maximizing schmoozing for industry attendees. For my money, this is the film festival that should be watched the most closely, and to filmmakers across the board, if your film is worthy, submit it next December. For more information, check out the web site at www.durangofilmfestival.com.

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Vinca Jarrett is an attorney of counsel to the firm of Shames and Litwin, a full service law firm with foremost experience in the field of entertainment, including film, music, television and media. She is also the owner and principal of SKRIPTEASE Script Consulting, specializing in drafting, editing and consulting on feature and television projects both on spec and in production. You can contact Vinca during work hours at (617) 277-6772 or (617) 821-6772 or at JarrettBiz@aol.com