A Huge Success!
That's the phrase that immediately comes to mind to describe the The Anaheim International Film Festival which kicked off its inaugural events tonight at the brand new UltraStar Cinemas at Anaheim GardenWalk. The Orange County Screenwriters Association is a sponsor of the festival and we attended with five members and two student film makers who are doing a documentary on OCSWA.
I had the opportunity to talk to Founder and Chairman Sinan Kanatsiz to tell him how impressed we all were with the presentation and organization. Had I not known this was the first night of the first year I would have never guessed. Everyone who worked the desks, the red carpet and security were professional and pleasant. The check-in and red carpet were handled expertly. I felt immediately that AIFF has a real chance of challenging the Newport Beach Film Festival as a premier film event in Orange County. I can see that a lot of that good vibe comes directly from Mr. Kanatsiz himself who was so well-spoken and personable that I wondered why he wasn't himself an actor.
While OCSWA board members Rudy Garcia and Eric Hensman worked the very long red carpet, OCSWA co-founder Sterling Vozenilek and I went to the shorts screening which was the venue that OCSWA specifically sponsored. The beautiful theater was packed and the enthusiasm high. A lot of aspiring filmmakers attended along with a good representation of actors, directors and producers of the shorts being shown.
Derek Horne, short film programmer, was a man on fire as he introed the shorts and described his process of choosing the eclectic mix of films to represent the festival. His energy matched that of the room as he told of hours spent culling films from every corner of the globe.
Representing most of the various styles that will play over the course of the film festival, the films included Joshua and Rebekah Weigel’s BUTTERFLY CIRCUS; Max Lang’s and Jakob Schuh’s THE GRUFFALO; Iram Haq’s LITTLE MISS EYEFLAP; Natalia Mirzoyan’s MY CHILDHOOD MYSTERY TREE; Lilli Birdsell’s ONCE UPON A CRIME; James Redford’s QUALITY TIME, starring Jason Patric; Cordell Barker’s RUNAWAY; and Peter Meech’s WINNER BEST SHORT FILM.
All the choices were well-done, fun and some were truly fantastic. Unfortunately, there were a lot of technical problems (new theater and all) including "Quality Time" which was shown in all green tones. "The Gruaffalo" had to be cut short because the sound could not be heard - a shame since British acting luminaries such as Robbie Coltrane, Helen Bonham Carter and John Hurt lent their vocal talent to the cool, little animated film.
My favorite film was perhaps "Runaway" an animated gem that reminded me stylistically and tonally of "The Triplets of Belleville." The short by Canadian cartoonist Cordell Barker was just so well done and delivered that the audience laughed from almost the first frame to the last.
The inspirational and beautiful "The Butterfly Circus" was made even more stunning by the attendance of the writer/directors most of the actors and performers including the lead, limbless actor Nick Vujicic.
Sterling and I didn't attend the after-party because I was too worn out from my week to be of much good schmooze and Sterling had to get home to her family. But we agreed that from the moment we got the invitation to be a part of this festival to the moment we left, we both smiled broadly and enjoyed ourselves throughly.
A special thanks and kudos to Director of Publicity Sandy Moul who tirelessly answered questions, helped secure passes and made the experience of the first night a smooth and rich experience. It's no small accomplishment to handle both press and sponsors and Sandy did it like she had been doing it for decades.
All in all, this is an amazing and terribly well-done film festival - look for it to become a huge event here in The OC.
More reports to follow (I'm going again on Friday at the least) with some red carpet footage from Rudy Garcia and Art Kirsh who helped us with the camera work tonight.
The Anaheim Film Festival runs through Sunday night.
