Fort Worth Film Festival
Written: Nov 10 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great location, friendly people
Cons: needs more local interest
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| hamburgerman's Full Review: Fort Worth |
Review Topic: Sights & Attractions
The 3rd Annual Fort Worth Film Festival took place October 19-22, 2000, in downtown Fort Worth, Texas.
I learned LAUGHING BOY had been accepted to the Fort Worth Film Festival while I was in L.A. in September. When the Fort Worth Fest schedule was originally announced, LAUGHING BOY was to play Friday October 20 at 9:30 PM at the Black Dog Tavern and Saturday October 21 at 5:00 PM at the Caravan of Dreams Theater. I created my press release and began the email and faxing campaign again. By now my e-mail press release distribution list must contain around 3,000 email addresses. I also emailed everyone in the Texas Production Manual from the Dallas/Fort Worth area who had a email address listed in the book, probably around 100 or so people.
About 5 days before the festival, I saw on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website that LAUGHING BOY'S schedule had changed. I was told the schedule is subject to change, but nobody notified me when it did. No big deal, I called to verify the new time and issued and updated press release.
I was very pleased to see how much press the Fort Worth Film Festival was getting in both the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News. There must have been at least 6 articles printed in the two weeks prior, mostly about the festival's special guest John Waters (PINK FLAMINGOS, CECIL B. DEMENTED). Strangely enough, though, the Dallas Morning News was much more supportive of the Fort Worth Film Festival. It should be mentioned that journalist Roger Philpot of the Star-Telegram seems genuinely supportive of the festival and LAUGHING BOY while Christopher Kelly poo-pooed the festival. Mr. Kelly also recently got some hate mail for his bad review of REMEMBER THE TITANS.
Saturday at 4PM I made it a point to check out the beginning of the video feature LULLABY, since director David Lowery frequents a particular indie film website that I do. David was presenting a rough cut of LULLABY in Caravan screening room 2, a very small room with a portable screen and video projector. It was a small room, and I would guess about 20 or so people were there, and that filled it up. Had this been a screening of his completed movie, it would have been a poor place for it. The blinds on the windows were letting the sunlight in, so the room was nowhere near being dark.
We left 30 minutes into the movie (David knew we had to leave early) to greet our friends for LAUGHING BOY. Tiffany Grant, who plays Alicia Dimsdale in the movie, attended with several of her relatives, including her father and her younger brother. Sheila Sawyer's parents and sisters also attended, as well as Scott Ringnald, a friend of mine who has been an avid supporter since we met during the SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOR shoot.
By the time the movie started, there were about 30 people in the audience. This was a disappointing turnout, especially because so many people from Dallas have put money into LAUGHING BOY. Maybe some of them would attend Sunday's screening at the Black Dog Tavern. The forecast called for heavy rain Saturday, and it ended up raining pretty heavily Saturday evening. Maybe that kept them away. After all, the drive from Dallas can be as long as an hour, depending on where you are coming from. Since we weren't able to attend any other films at the fest, I have nothing really to compare our attendance to, except LULLABY.
Saturday evening, Sheila and I attended the Q&A session John Waters was giving. There was a good turnout for this, as should be expected. Mr. Waters spoke for 90 minutes about Shock Value and a brief history of his films. It was very entertaining, and the man certainly loves what he does. He commented, though, that he will not be participating in the gross-out race that is happening now. He already WON that race in 1972 with PINK FLAMINGOS. We watched PINK FLAMINGOS at midnight Saturday. He won by a mile. (Note: There was a DIVINE look-alike contest Saturday night as well...two people participated.)
After Mr. Waters presentation, we debated whether or not to stay and watch CECIL B. DEMENTED at 10PM or to go to the party back at the Caravan of Dreams. In the lobby, two girls who attended our 5PM screening approached me to tell me they really enjoyed LAUGHING BOY. We went to the party. Apparently LAUGHING BOY had some real good buzz at the fest; several people came up to us saying they are sorry they missed it, or how much they enjoyed watching it (my submission video). This makes me wonder what it REALLY takes to get people in the theater.
John Waters attended the party as well. At first it seemed people were afraid to approach him, but once someone broke that ice, a line of people began waiting for the chance to speak with him. We waited for the crowd to die down before approaching him. I asked him to sign the copy of RANT magazine the festival gave me (He is on the cover). Sheila got him to sign a poster. I suggested that she ask him to sign her boobs. She did and he obliged. I wish you all could have seen the photographers go nuts, flashes everywhere as if she was a superstar (can you say gratuitous publicity stunt?) We made sure the press had her named spelled right and associated her with LAUGHING BOY. No word as to whether or not the photos actually got printed. (Note: Sheila did not expose herself!)
Sunday we headed to the 6PM screening at the Black Dog, and got a little lost, so we were a few minutes late. There were just about 20 people at the Sunday screening, which was pretty good given that the bar opened at 6PM and it was the last day of the festival which is traditionally not well-attended. With the exception of the bartender, everyone that was there came to see LAUGHING BOY. How do I know this? They left when it was over. Both Saturday's and Sunday's audiences seemed to really get into it, especially the bartender at the Black Dog. He raved about it.
THE PROS THE FORT WORTH FILM FESTIVAL
Downtown Fort Worth is a fantastic place to hold this festival. Everything is within walking distance, and the main theaters are on the same block. The festival received lots of coverage from the press (at least the printed press, I didn't watch television or listen to the radio while I was there.) Their posters were placed all over downtown, very visible in business windows. The films with 35mm prints were presented at the AMC theaters, and films presented on video at the Caravan of Dreams looked really good as well. The festival staff was also very friendly and gave the filmmakers free stuff. This year they had John Waters as their special guest, and last year they had Gregory Peck.
THE CONS OF THE FORT WORTH FILM FESTIVAL
The Black Dog Tavern does not seem like an ideal place to screen the movies since it is a working bar (but I still wish LAUGHING BOY had played Friday night at the tavern!) and the color seemed worn out on their big screen television. The schedule in the program and the newspaper was confusing, and it didn't list any of the movies playing at the Black Dog on Sunday evening, or at least it didn't list LAUGHING BOY on the schedule grid for Sunday. And on LAUGHING BOY's individual listing with the synopsis in the program, it lists Sunday before Saturday. My friend Vince Longhi tried to attend our screening on Saturday, but he went to the Black Dog at 6PM by accident. Luckily he saw it Sunday. It was very confusing. The festival also did not know I was attending, even though I told a staff member on the phone that I would be. Filmmakers in attendance got an "In Person" mention in the program. I didn't.
Overall, We had a favorable experience at the Fort Worth Film Festival. I learned that I should always aggressively promote the movie no matter what festival or location we are playing. We got at least 3 press clippings from the Dallas and Fort Worth newspapers to include in the LAUGHING BOY media kit. In fact, the Dallas Morning News said LAUGHING BOY was "probably the best of the Texas-made independent films at the festival." I got to see some friends I haven't seen in a while, Vince, Danny Anderson, and Scott Ringnald. I got John Waters' autograph. They still have some kinks to work out, but I will definitely submit to this festival in the future. The Fort Worth Film Festival website is www.fortworthfilmfest.com
The Fort Worth Film Festival has a lot going for it, it just needs to find a way to generate interest among the Dallas/Fort Worth community. I recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
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hamburgerman
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Member: Brazil (Joe) Grisaffi
Location: Houston, TX
Reviews written: 38
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