The last few weeks have been
grueling… for me.
Oh, I’m sure the hardworking people
over at the High Falls Film Festival offices have been logging an inhuman
amount of hours putting the finishing touches on the festival dedicated to
women in film. But I’m really more concerned with myself. Would it kill you
programmers to choose lackluster movies that I can fast-forward through? Why
does everything have to be so interesting?
Artistic Director Catherine Wyler and
Managing Director Ruth Cowing, the programmers at High Falls, selected 39
feature-length films and 49 short films for unspooling during the festival’s
2005 incarnation. Wednesday’s opening night presentation is Stephen Frears’
latest, Mrs. Henderson Presents,
starring British acting titans Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, and the festival
closes on Sunday with The World’s Fastest
Indian, starring Anthony Hopkins. Saturday night’s gala celebration
screening is Hidden, by edgy German
director Michael Haneke.
A number of filmmakers will be in
attendance at High Falls with their films and conducting Q&A sessions after
the screenings, but the most standout feature of High Falls might be the
peripheral events scheduled to coincide with the festival. Panels on
screenwriting, making documentaries, and the business of independent film are
all planned, as well as parties, receptions, and the popular “Coffee With…”
series at the Crowne Plaza.
Jane Alexander, award-winning actress
and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, has been tapped to
receive the 2005 Web of Life Award, while Susan B. Anthony “Failure Is
Impossible” honorees this year include actresses Angela Bassett, Diane Ladd,
and Christine Lahti, plus screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal and producer
Norma Heyman. Each of these great ladies is scheduled to be in attendance at
various points during the festival.
Though High Falls 2005 officially
ends on Sunday, the audience picks for best feature film and documentary will
show on Monday evening at the Little Theatre, so make sure you vote. I was able
to check out a good portion of the High Falls selections, and I’ve already
chosen my favorite, and handed out a few other awards of my own design.
The “50 is the new 30” award: When the Sea Rises
Thursday,
November 10, 6:55 p.m.; Q&A with Yolande Moreau
Yolande Moreau — probably best
known to English-speaking audiences as the closure-deprived downstairs neighbor
in Amรฉlie — makes her filmmaking
debut with When the Sea Rises, an
affectionate mash note to traveling players everywhere. Moreau also stars as
Irรจne, a woman who dons a grotesque mask, slathers her arms in crimson
greasepaint, and shoves a leek in her purse to stage a one-woman show in
various towns. A chance meeting with a floppy-haired puppet maker leads to a
charming romance, but frequent phone calls to discuss floor tile selections
suggest that Irรจne may not be as free as her unusual lifestyle seems to
indicate. Moreau, with the apple cheeks and impish smile of Vivien Leigh
(you’ll see it) won the 2005 Cรฉsar for Best Actress for this role, which was
prompted by her own experiences as a touring comic. Cinematographer Gilles
Porte co-directed and co-wrote Sea with Moreau, and the results showcase a courtship between adults of a certain
age… something that’s all too rare in today’s films.
Best use of a former “Friend”: Duane Hopwood
Thursday,
November 10, 7 p.m.; appearance by Jane Alexander
David Schwimmer can relax in the
knowledge that his post-Friends acting career is secure, thanks to his skillful performance in the title role
of writer-director Matt Mulhern’s look at an alcoholic and the havoc he wreaks
on his world. Duane’s disease shattered his marriage to Linda (Janeane
Garofalo) and now jeopardizes his relationship with their daughters as well as
his job at an Atlantic City casino. Schwimmer doesn’t try to make his character
likable, though it’s obvious that Duane’s heart is in the right place.
Garofalo’s awful hair color in no way detracts from the fact that she’s got
decent acting chops, and the enchanting Irish actress Susan Lynch (from The Secret of Roan Inish and Waking Ned Devine) pops up to play
Duane’s tentative new love interest. (Dick Cavett’s hanging around, too, for
some reason.) Hopwood unfortunately
employed a feel-good montage to come to what seemed like an abrupt and easy
end, but there certainly was pleasure in getting there.
Hippest sound bites: Punk: attitude
Thursday,
November 10, 9:10 p.m.; Q&A with Krysanne Katsoolis
“All you need is one guy or girl to
stand up and say, ‘Fuck this,'” quoth documentarian’s dream Henry Rollins. The
former Black Flag frontman — and ubiquitous go-to guy when the subject is
music — weighs in on the evolution of a genre in Don Letts’ Punk: attitude, which also features
insights from some of punk’s finest, including Jello Biafra, Thurston Moore,
Mick Jones, Glenn Branca, and David Johansen, to name a few, as well as
filmmakers Jim Jarmusch and Mary Harron, and journalist Legs McNeil. We get to
see classic footage featuring fallen icons like Joe Strummer and Johnny
Thunders prowling the stage in their ultra-sexy prime, and we learn that
Siouxsie Sioux thought Nancy Spungen was a “horrible girl,” Chrissie Hynde was
in an early version of The Damned, and safety pins weren’t so much a fashion
statement as a way to keep ratty duds from completely falling apart. But
perhaps Rollins best sums it up by invoking the words of John Lennon: “Say what
you mean, mean what you say, put a beat to it. Go.”
The fly-on-the-wall award: Sketches of Frank Gehry
Friday,
November 11, 7 p.m.; Q&A with Suzanne Weil
The subject of filmmaker Sydney
Pollack’s first documentary is also his friend, and it’s this level of access
that makes Sketches of Frank Gehry such a fascinating treat. Sketches offers viewers an insider’s look at the art and science behind the madness of
acclaimed architect Frank Gehry, who combines shapes and light to form
structures with both beauty and function. Gehry cops to the same doubt that
plagues us all (“I’m always scared that I’m not going to know what to do”), but
it’s abundantly clear as the camera caresses the curves of his astonishing
Guggenheim outpost in Bilbao, Spain, that he’s found a way to let go. Refreshingly,
the film also allows Gehry’s critics to have their say, but as perpetually
bathrobed artist and filmmaker Julian Schabel observes about the Guggenheim,
“If it does compete with the art, then maybe the art isn’t good enough.”
Best performance using the worst
accent: Love, Ludlow
Friday,
November 11, 8:55 p.m.; Q&A with Adrienne Weiss
Myra (Alicia Goranson) is a stubborn
office temp who has spent the five years since her mother’s death avoiding
entanglements because of the detrimental effect it may have on Ludlow (Brendan
Sexton III), her mentally challenged brother. So when sweetly naรฏve rube Reggie
(David Eigenberg) begins to woo her, he finds that the only way to Myra’s heart
is through the clever and sarcastic Ludlow, who is in no mood to share.
Adrienne Weiss’ directing debut, written by David L. Paterson and based on his
play called Finger Painting in a Murphy
Bed, is your basic romantic push-pull, but Weiss gets bonus points for
finding something to do with the underused Sexton and for often going with the
more affecting reaction shots rather than training the camera on whoever
happens to be speaking. Goranson (you know her as Becky No. 1 from Roseanne) turns in a surprisingly
accomplished performance as the conflicted Myra, though her Queens accent
achieves the same aural effect as a sack of angry cats.
Loosest interpretation: Midnight Movies
Friday,
November 11, 11:15 p.m.; Q&A with Ben Barenholtz and Stu Samuels
This engaging documentary focuses on
the six seminal films that birthed the late-night cult movie phenomenon of the
1970s — Alexander Jodorowsky’s El Topo,
George A. Romero’s Night of the Living
Dead, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos,
Perry Henzell’s The Harder They Come,
Jim Sharman’s Rocky Horror Picture Show,
and David Lynch’s Eraserhead — and
checks in with the inventive minds behind both the films and their often
seat-of-the-pants exhibition strategies. Truthfully, I tried for days to find
the reasoning behind the stellar but decidedly male-centric Midnight Movies‘ inclusion in a festival
designed to spotlight women in film, then I read that this film gives notice of
High Falls’ desire to launch a midnight movie program of its own next year,
“without regard to the gender of the participants before or behind the camera.”
What? Think twice before you start chipping away at your original vision, High Falls. If you want to have a film
festival, then just have a film festival. The work will always speak for
itself.
Toughest chicks: Sisters In Law
Saturday,
November 12, 1 p.m.
Judge Beatrice Ntuba and prosecutor
Vera Ngassa lay down the law in Kumba Town, Cameroon, a place where a wife can
be obtained for a pig and some cash. Co-directors Kim Longinotto and Florence
Ayisi follow these formidable women over the course of three cases: A
6-year-old girl suffering from abuse at the hands of her aunt, a battered wife,
and a pre-adolescent rape victim. Ntuba and Ngassa are forceful but fair
advocates for women and children in a poverty-stricken Muslim society that
doesn’t always have the best interests of females at heart. Understandably,
it’s difficult to hear a 10-year-old matter-of-factly recount her sexual
assault and see a little girl covered in both old and new scars. But while Sisters might sound depressing and sad,
it’s actually extremely uplifting, and the sight of these gorgeous African
women dispensing justice in the old-timey powdered wigs is a surreal hoot.
My most favorite High Falls film yet:
Stolen
Saturday,
November 12, 1 p.m.; Q&A with Rebecca Dreyfus
You can’t make this stuff up: A
daring heist of $300 million worth of art, including the world’s most valuable
stolen painting, Vermeer’s The Concert.
A dapper fine-art detective who sports an eyepatch and a fake nose. A dogged news
reporter who was blindfolded, driven to a secret location, and afforded a
tantalizing glimpse of one of the missing paintings. A trail leading to master
art thieves, cocky gangsters, the Irish Republican Army (!), and the US Senate
(!!). Director Rebecca Dreyfus’ crackerjack documentary Stolen plays like an edge-of-your-seat narrative and fascinating
biography all in one. The film explores the life and legacy of great American
art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) and her eponymous Boston museum,
which was robbed in March of 1990 of five Degas, one Manet, three Rembrandts,
and the Vermeer. Dreyfus and co-cameraman Albert Maysles follow Harold Smith, a
75-year-old man whose body has been ravaged by skin cancer for the last 50
years, as he tracks the stolen masterpieces, pursuing leads that only seem
outlandish and often hitting dead ends but never, ever giving up.
Best argument for the rebirth of
silent film: Somersault
Saturday,
November 12, 7:30 p.m.
Australian filmmaker Cate Shortland’s
feature-film debut is a pretty yet flawed tale of a young woman trying to
figure out how to harness her powerful allure. After Heidi (Abbie Cornish,
looking like a sad, elfin Charlize Theron) gets caught snogging her mother’s
mulleted boyfriend, she hits the road and winds up in a small ski resort town
that seems to be populated exclusively by alcoholics and predatory jerks. Heidi
obviously has major daddy issues, but Somersault‘s
male specimens are carelessly drawn, which leads to no resolution for anyone.
Robert Humphreys’ sumptuous cinematography is almost enough to divert a
viewer’s attention from the fact that Somersault‘s
well-intentioned story lacks any real depth or maturity. It’s not the fault of
the actors, however: Cornish handles her part admirably, and the men of the
film do what they can with their thankless and slightly insulting roles.
Least politically correct (but
funniest) film: Sarah Silverman: Jesus Is
Magic
Saturday,
November 12, 10 p.m.
Last seen making the audience
extremely uncomfortable during her bit in The
Aristocrats, Sarah Silverman’s one-woman show gets the big-screen treatment
with the help of director Liam Lynch (“Whatever!”). It’s not so much comedy,
she says, as “learn-medy”: Silverman weighs in on topics from mixed religious
upbringings (“Mommy is one of the chosen people and Daddy believes that Jesus
is magic”) to bathing with your boyfriend (“Your breasts will be sparkling
clean. Sparkling!”) to HIV (“When God gives you AIDS… make lemonaids!”). Not all
the jokes hit their marks, and her let’s-put-on-a-show musical interludes
falter slightly, though she’s got strong pipes. Silverman’s brand of humor is
juvenile, scatological, shrewdly subversive, and screamingly offensive (to
everyone), but it’s also undeniably funny: “I don’t care if you think I’m
racist. I just want you to think I’m thin.”
Coolest filmmaker name: Ballet Russes
Sunday,
November 13, 2 p.m.; Q&A with Raven Wilkenson
Delightful footage, from the 1920s to
the present day, make Dayna Goldfine and Daniel Geller’s documentary Ballet Russes a must-see for any fan of
the ballet. The film traces the evolution of the groundbreaking Russian dance
troupe from its various inceptions to its eventual dissolution to a reunion of
the troupe in 2000, where the dancers were still elegant, playful, and active,
despite being well into their 80s. Names like Balanchine, Markova, Diaghilev,
and Nijinsky are all checked, and the film sandwiches interviews with the
troupe’s former stars between gorgeous clips to tell stories about the triumphs
and failures that went into creating an art form whose nature was “to exist for
but a moment.” To be honest, if you’re not into ballet, you may find yourself
zoning out during the endless barrage of names and dates. But the vintage
recordings of the troupe are breathtaking, and the co-director’s name is Dayna,
which is always a sure sign of quality.
The “courage despite convictions”
award: Sir! No Sir!
Sunday,
November 13, 3 p.m.; Q&A with Evangeline Griego
Narrated by actor Troy Garity, the
compelling documentary Sir! No Sir! uses the recollections of numerous Vietnam veterans — as well as Garity’s
folks, infamous protestors Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden — to shine a light on
the anti-war movement that took place within the armed forces during the war in
Southeast Asia. Interviewees include Susan Schnall, a Navy nurse who was jailed
for dropping anti-war leaflets onto the Presidio army base, and Dr. Howard
Levy, also incarcerated for refusing to train Special Forces troops. As one
former GI says, “I knew what was happening in country was not what was being
told to the United States,” and this growing realization among servicemen after
the 1968 Tet Offensive started an underground peace movement that led to court
martials and massive desertion. Ironic, really, when you consider that the
United States was fighting halfway around the world for freedoms it wasn’t
willing to allow its best and brightest.
The “if you think it’s tough now…”
award: The Education of Shelby Knox
Sunday,
November 13, 3:15 p.m.; Q&A with Shelby Knox and Rose Rosenblatt
There’s no sex education program in
the schools of Lubbock, Texas, so it’s not a surprise that that city has one of
the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the nation. We meet 15-year-old
Shelby Knox just as she’s beginning to question everything she thought to be
true, and her gradual edification appears as though it might mark the beginning
of a life of service. Documentary filmmakers Marion Lipshutz and Rose
Rosenblatt chronicle Shelby’s path from sheltered Christian… to informed
Christian. She’s at ease with her own personal choices, pledging abstinence
until marriage through her church, but Shelby’s liberal leanings compel her to
serve on Lubbock’s Youth Commission and battle the powers-that-be over
misguided policies that are endangering many of Shelby’s peers. Especially
entertaining is Shelby’s ongoing dialogue with her pastor, Ed Ainsworth, a
condescending wolf in sheep’s clothing who will never admit that he’s met his
match in a teenage girl. I can’t imagine anyone witnessing Shelby’s turmoil and
mourning their lost youth, but Shelby’s bravery and drive may make you a little
wistful that you can’t go back again and try a little harder.
Best use of a Kennedy: The World’s Fastest Indian
Sunday,
November 13, 6:45 p.m.; Q&A with Diane Ladd
It’s nothing you haven’t seen before
— a guy realizes his dream against odds that would deter a person with any
sense — but the passion surrounding Roger Donaldson’s labor of love about the
true story of Burt Munro is crowd-pleasing and infectious. Anthony Hopkins
redeems years of overacting with his adorable turn as the eccentric Munro, who
traveled to the United States in the mid ’60s in hopes of breaking land speed
records with his motorcycle, a souped-up 1920 Indian. The World’s Fastest Indian also contains elements of a road movie,
as the friendly Kiwi journeys from New Zealand to Utah and meets up with people
as unique as he is. Watch for Diane Ladd’s satisfying cameo as an indomitable
desert widow, and check out the man playing Burt’s fellow speedster Jim Moffet.
That’s Chris Lawford, who previously worked with Donaldson on the Cuban missile
crisis drama Thirteen Days. He’s the
son of actor Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy, and he’s got the charisma and
teeth to prove it.
The close to home award: Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars
Sunday,
November 13, 7 p.m.; Q&A with Mary Jo Godges and Renee Sotile
The first citizen passenger on the
space shuttle was a gregarious social studies teacher from New England who beat
out a number of applicants for a chance of a lifetime. This honor would
eventually turn into one of our country’s saddest tragedies, but Reach for the Stars chronicles, through
interviews and archival footage, the life of a woman who realized early on the
great power she had to make a difference. This documentary by Mary Jo Godges
and Rochester native Renรฉe Sotile is essentially a video canonization of the
Teacher in Space — no one comes forward to talk about the time Christa
McAuliffe cut in line or jaywalked — and as such it plays more like an
educational film than an insightful character study. Still, her story is
inspirational to anyone who would like to matter, and it particularly struck a
chord with me: At the time of her death, McAuliffe was the same age that I am
now, and we share a birthday. Spooky.
Words from… Christine Lahti
Award-winning actress Christine
Lahti’s diverse and successful career makes her a natural choice for the High
Falls Film Festival’s Susan B. Anthony “Failure is Impossible” Award. She’ll be
in attendance at the Dryden Theatre on the festival’s opening night, Wednesday,
November 9, to accept this much deserved honor.
Lahti recognizes the value of the
High Falls Film Festival and other organizations that bring attention to the
contributions of women behind, in front of, and even nowhere near the camera.
“Women still are underrecognized,”
she says. “They’re certainly underemployed, and I think that anytime one can
spotlight the achievements of women, it’s good for everybody. The more you
recognize the achievements, perhaps the more opportunities will come.”
Probably best known for her
Emmy-winning role on the TV series Chicago
Hope, Lahti is also a director with both a short (Lieberman in Love, for which she won an Oscar) and feature-length
film (My First Mister, starring
Albert Brooks) under her belt. She’s been lauded with a number of Golden Globe
nominations and received an Oscar nomination for 1984’s Swing Shift. Pretty impressive for someone who began her career as
a Central Park mime.
So while failure might be impossible,
the fear of failure is very real, and it’s one that drives Lahti to take the
chances that she does.
“I’ve always tried to take risks,”
she says. “As much as I may be kicking and screaming, I really like that fear
of failing. The satisfaction is so much greater when you do something that is
scary.”
Words from… Jane Alexander
The High Falls Film Festival’s Web of
Life Award is designed to recognize an individual’s understanding of the power
art has to entertain and connect with an audience and the responsibility that
comes with that power. The 2005 honoree is acclaimed actress and producer Jane
Alexander, who is scheduled to accept the award at the Dryden Theatre on
Thursday, November 9.
Alexander hits Rochester hot on the
heels of her Emmy win last month as Sara Delano Roosevelt in the HBO film Warm Springs. Mainstream moviegoers in
recent years have seen Alexander in such films as The Cider House Rules and The
Ring and can look forward to catching her next year in Fur, Steven Shainberg’s eagerly awaited biopic of photographer
Diane Arbus, which features Nicole Kidman in the main role.
The four-time Oscar nominee has
actually been to Rochester before and specifically remembers a certain Greek
Revival mansion. “You don’t visit Rochester without visiting George Eastman,”
says Alexander, who recalls having stopped by 900 East Avenue on two previous
occasions, once during her four-year stint under President Clinton’s
appointment as chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. Alexander stepped
down as head of the NEA in 1997and later wrote Command Performance, a memoir recounting her fierce and frustrating
battles with bureaucracy. “I am done with politics, but I am not done getting
people elected,” she says.
Alexander believes in the spirit
behind a festival like High Falls, in which women specifically get their day in
the klieg light.
“If there were parity between men and
women in media and entertainment, then we wouldn’t have to do this,” Alexander
says. “It calls attention to the fact that there are pretty swell women out
there doing things, and that’s why I applaud it.”
Words from… Diane Ladd
“There are two sexes on the planet
but you wouldn’t know it to look at Hollywood movies.”
The honey-soaked drawl doesn’t mask
the import of the words. Actress Diane Ladd throws down the gauntlet when
talking about the disparity between men and women in the entertainment
industry, and it’s no doubt because of this outspokenness that the
Oscar-nominated Ladd — also a writer, director, and producer — is being
honored at this year’s High Falls Film Festival with the Susan B. Anthony
“Failure Is Impossible” Award. Ladd will be in town on Sunday, November 13, for
the festival’s closing night to receive her award and present her latest film, The World’s Fastest Indian, in which she
stars with Sir Anthony Hopkins.
The Susan B. Anthony Award is an
accolade that Ladd calls “very inspiring,” and she’s looking forward to
attending High Falls. “In this day and age, film festivals are more important
than ever,” she says, “because festivals help people’s awareness of culture,
awareness of film, awareness of good work, and this makes the world a better
place to live in. Films breed understanding.”
A tireless activist for her
profession, Ladd sits on the national board of the Screen Actors Guild and
spends a great deal of her time working to ensure that her fellow actors are
taken care of, whether it’s by securing medical coverage for retirees or
fighting for tax breaks to keep productions in the United States.
“When these actors are not working,
then good films are not being made,” Ladd says. “And if good films are not
being made, then culture is receding.”
Ladd is currently hard at work on her
pet project, Woman Inside, about the
life of Watergate spouse Martha Mitchell, and plans to direct the film from a
script that she co-wrote. Her executive producer is Martin Scorsese, the man
who directed Ladd to her first Oscar nomination for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. Ladd, who wields a Master’s in
esoteric psychology, also has a collection of stories scheduled for release in
April of 2006about metaphysical and spiritual discovery. The book’s called Spiraling through the School of Life.
“I have a joke I like to make,” she
says. “When Shirley MacLaine went out on a limb, I was already out on a
branch.”
The schedule
Movie venues: Little Theatre, 240
East Avenue; Dryden and Curtis Theatres are in the George Eastman House, 900
East Avenue.
For more information,
www.highfallsfilmfestival.com, 258-0480
The films
Wednesday, November 9
On the Outs, 6:45 p.m., Little
Theatre A
Mrs. Henderson Presents, Christine
Lahti in person, Q&A Norma Heyman, 7 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Czech Dream, 7:05 p.m., Little
Theatre 1
Ellie Parker, 8:55 p.m., Little
Theatre 1
Bearing Witness, 9 p.m., Little
Theatre A
Thursday, November 10
When the Sea Rises, 6:55 p.m.,
Little Theatre 1
Duane Hopwood, Jane Alexander in
person, 7 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Little Jerusalem, 7:05 p.m., Little
Theatre B
Duck Season, 7:15 p.m., Little
Theatre A
Shorts
Program #1, 9 p.m., Little Theatre B
Punk: attitude, Q&A with
Krysanne Katsoolis, 9:10 p.m., Little Theatre 1
The Holy Girl, 9:15 p.m., Little
Theatre B
Transamerica, Q&A with Linda
Moran, 9:15 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Friday, November 11
Live-In Maid, Q&A Marcela
Bazzano, 6:45 p.m., Little Theatre A
The Future of Food, Q&A Deborah
Koons Garcia, 6:55 p.m., Little Theatre 1
Sketches of Frank Gehry, Q&A
Suzanne Weil, 7 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Love, Ludlow, Q&A Adrienne
Weiss, 8:55 p.m., Little Theatre A
The War Within, Q&A Joana
Vicente, 9:15 p.m., Little Theatre 1
Stoned, Q&A Finola Dwyer and
Monet Mazur, 9:30 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Midnight Movies, Q&A Ben
Barenholtz and Stu Samuels, 11:15 p.m., Little Theatre A
Saturday, November 12
Into the Fire, Q&A Julia Newman,
11:05 a.m., Little Theatre A
Children’s
Shorts From Around the World, 11:15 a.m., Little Theatre B
Sisters in Law, 1 p.m., Little
Theatre 1
Stolen, Q&A Rebecca Dreyfus, 1
p.m., Dryden Theatre
The Grace Lee Project, Q&A Grace
Lee, 1:10 p.m., Little Theatre A
How I Killed A Saint, Q&A Wanda
Bershen, 3:15 p.m., Little Theatre B
Stolen Life, 3:30 p.m., Little
Theatre 1
Classic
Film: The Lovemaker and Animated
Shorts by Mary Ellen Bute, Q&A Margaret Parsons and Betsy Blair, 3:30
p.m.
Women
of SoFA: Short Films by RIT Students, 5 p.m., Little Theatre A
Shorts
Program #2, 5:15 p.m., Little Theatre B
Czech Dream, 5:30 p.m., Little
Theatre 1
Hidden, gala night awards and film,
Angela Bassett in person, 7:15 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Somersault, 7:30 p.m., Little
Theatre 1
Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic, 10
p.m., Little Theatre 1
Sunday, November 13
Bee Season, 11:15 a.m., Little
Theatre 1
Being Caribou, Q&A Diana Wilson,
Dryden Theatre, 1 p.m.
Ballets Russes, Q&A Raven
Wilkenson, 2 p.m.
Sir! No Sir!, Q&A Evangeline
Griego, 3 p.m., Little Theatre A
Shorts
Program #3, 3:15 p.m., Little Theatre B
The Education of Shelby Knox,
Q&A Shelby Knox, Rose Rosenblatt, 3:15 p.m., Dryden Theatre
After Innocence, Q&A Jessica
Sanders, 4:45 p.m., Little Theatre 1
Some Secrets, Q&A Wanda Bershen,
5:15 p.m., Little Theatre A
The World’s Fastest Indian, closing
night ceremony, Diane Ladd in person, 6:45 p.m., Dryden Theatre
Christa McAuliffe: Reach for the Stars,
Q&A Mary Jo Godges & Renee Sotile, 7 p.m., Little Theatre 1
Monday, November 14
Audience
Award winner: narrative, 7 p.m., Little Theatre A
Audience
Award winner: documentary, 9:30 p.m., Little Theatre A
The events
Wednesday, November 9
Opening
night party, 9:30 p.m., Inn on Broadway, 26 Broadway
Thursday, November 10
Coffee
With… , 11 a.m., Crowne Plaza, 70 State Street, free
Sponsor
and passholder reception, 5:30 p.m., Studios at Linden Oaks, 170B Linden
Oaks
Filmmaker
party, 10:30 p.m., Java’s Cafรฉ, 16 Gibbs Street
Friday, November 11
Coffee
With… , 11 a.m., Crowne Plaza, 70 State Street, free
Red
Hat Night, 6:30 p.m., Little and Dryden Theatres
Filmmaker
party, 10:30 p.m., Veneto, 318 East Avenue
Saturday, November 12
What’s
the Deal? The Art of Business in Filmmaking, panel, 10 a.m., Curtis Theatre
Screenplay
Live!, 10:30 a.m., Geva Theatre, 75 Woodbury Boulevard
Movies
in the 21st Century, panel, 12 p.m., Curtis Theatre
The
Screenwriter’s Hollywood, panel, 2 p.m., Curtis Theatre
The
Alexander Technique, master class, 4 p.m., Curtis Theatre
Gala
party, 9:30 p.m., Artisan Works, 565 Blossom Road
Sunday, November 13
Documentary
Filmmaking, panel, 11 a.m., Curtis Theatre
Wallace,
Gromit, Chickens, Raisins and Me: Teresa Drilling, 12 p.m., Little Theatre
A
Gallery
Talk: Mania Akbari, 1 p.m., Curtis Theatre
Ongoing events
Video
Artby Mania Akbari, Little
Theatre
Photos
by Robin Holland, Little Theatre Cafรฉ and Dryden Theatre lobby
The tickets
Tickets ($8.50 general admission,
$10-$20 opening and gala night films, $6.50 seniors and students, $6 children’s
programs) are available through Ticketweb (www.ticketweb.com or 866-468-7619),
an hour before the show at the venues’ box offices. Admission to the opening
night party is $20, $25 for the gala night party. All-access passes are $150; a
book of 10 screening passes is $75. Rush tickets may be available to sold-out
shows 10 minutes before screening time.
This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2005.
