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April 7, 2009
Sarasota 2009
Now I'm in LA again. On the drive out here, Toby and I listened to November Rain ten times in a row while speeding through the desert. It was awesome.
Also awesome was the Sarasota Film Festival, which I returned from late on Sunday night. Much has been made about the recent shifts in the festival landscape, both in terms of shifting personnel and vanishing funding; after the economic woes of late, Sarasota's entire future was in jeopardy, and this year's operating budget was slashed by quite a large margin - but Tom and Holly and the rest of their team knew exactly how to spend what they had and, as ever, provided an absolutely outstanding venue for visiting filmmakers to present their work to one of the most appreciative audiences in the country. Particularly amazing was the technical side of things; I was thrilled to see my film look and sound so perfect. Tom told me that the one area he refused to make monetary cuts in was the presentation, and he even went so far as to bring in famed Chicago projectionist James Bond to run the projection booth. That sort of care and attention could be found in every facet of the festival, from the parties to the transportation to the quick conversations with staff in the halls of the theater, but it was a comfort and joy to know that the heart of it all was, indeed, with the films.
I will leave out the details on the absinthe-fueled rollercoaster that was Saturday night (in an attempt to keep tabs on myself, I made regular Facebook updates throughout it all, one of which simply stated: l"7", which in saying nothing says it all) and turn instead to what was the most satisfying part of the whole venture. I mentioned the appreciative audiences; let me add to that considerate, and intelligent, and curious. Even those who admitted to not getting the film stopped me in the aisles of other movies afterwards to talk to me about it, and try to get to the bottom of it. I missed my shuttle to the airport after the second screening because I was standing in the lobby, still discussing details that I had never even noticed in the movie before. One gentleman wrote me an e-mail after seeing the film, a letter whose contents pretty much validated this entire venture. He wasn't a distributor with a contract to sign, or someone with connections to offer or make; he was just an audience member, but to say he was just an audience member implies a deficit import. This is diametrically converse to the heart of the matter, which is that it's for folks like him that I made the film in the first place. It made my day.
Next up: the Acadiana Film Festival in Louisiana, the screening at the Modern, and the Maryland Film Festival. More on those soon.
In other new, I just registered for the Chicago Marathon, which takes place on October 11th. I'm kinda hoping to be in Europe at that point, but just in case I'm not...
Posted by David Lowery at April 7, 2009 11:48 PM
Comments
Glad to hear it went well, David. I'm marking Sarasota on my calendar for next year. For a relatively small festival, Tom offers really interesting programming. Did you make it to any of the Ashby films?
Posted by: Darren at April 8, 2009 9:06 AM
I unfortunately got there for the tail-end of the retrospective, and was only able to see the new directors' cut of Looking To Get Out. I'd never seen the film before, so I can't make any comparative judgements, but it was a wonderful little romp, distinctly Ashby and distinctly 80s in equal measure. I wish I could have seen The Landlord (on the big scren) and 8 Million Ways To Die (for the first time), but my own screenings got in the way.
Posted by: David Lowery at April 8, 2009 12:50 PM