Sci-Fi Film Festival: RECAP

It was a particularly un-Seattle like day. A few clouds but no rain. It seems every time I go there, the rain stops. That seems to be the trend in my life. Must be something in my body that repels weather of all types. But, aside from the lack of promised rain, Seattle was Seattle. Busy, bustling with people, and faster than the Montana rhythm I've grown used to.

The festival started at 2pm with a tour of the Sci-Fi Museum (which if you've never seen, you should... it's magnificent). We were lead through the post modern building and treated to the wonderful sights and sounds of our imaginations. There is a great display at one point which takes space ships from all different types of mediums and compares them visually. They fly around each other and through the HUGE HD monitor. The Millennium Falcon maneuvers around Moya as the Dark City rises from nowhere and into the heavens. Truly great stuff.

At the top left of the screen a long, black, tube of a ship sits almost motionless. The tour guide asked if any of us in attendance read sci-fi. Most of us raised our hands. She then asked if any of us could identify the black tube ship. Everyone turned back and said nothing. I looked again. "Is that Rama?" I asked. Her eyebrows raised and she responded happily, "It IS Rama!". I think I might be the first person to get that one right. Interestingly enough, I've never read the book "Rendezvous With Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke, rather I recognized it from a piece of production material from the filmed adaption by David Fincher which has yet to materialize. I kept that secret to myself.

We left the museum and headed across town to the Cinerama Theater. Butterflies in my stomach - I absolutely hate to watch my films with an audience - I sat down in our reserved "VIP" seats. I leaned back, then further, then further... the seat was broken. As was the one next to it, and the next one... you get the idea. As I type this I am reminded by the pain in my back and neck, that my VIP seat was not a kind way to view a 5 hour short film festival.

But I digress. The festival itself was a treat. One of the best audiences I've ever seen a film with, and we all got treated to 20 wonderful films. My personal favorites were Monster Job Hunter (a comedy with a punch line no one will see coming) and The Recordist, which is a terrific film about self discovery and potential. But I loved a little bit of most of them.

But where did my film fit into this festival? I'm not sure. To me it felt as though there were two categories. Those films with budgets... and those films without budgets. The films with budgets were the one's actually in competition, while the rest of us felt more like time fillers. But there's nothing wrong with that I suppose. To complain would be nothing but sour grapes. The three winners were all very very good films and I wish their cast and crews much luck in the future.

That being said, it is a bit of a catch 22. To have success at that level, you have to be playing at that level. To be playing at that level requires to have either already had success at that level or wager an economic risk. At this point, I just don't know if that is in my future.

But I DO know this: I love film. I love to make films. I love to work with people creatively on this level and hope to do it all again soon. This festival was an eye opener of sorts, but it was also a wonderful experience which I wouldn't trade.

I got back on the plane, a last minute change of gates threw off my equilibrium but I managed not to panic, and I thought about my place, my future, in film. Who knows. Nobody knows. We are always our own worst critics, but I feel as though I have potential and have not yet found out what my true voice is... though I'm getting close. I've still got stories to tell and think that people want to hear them. It's all a question of how I'm going to do that. How am I going to tell these stories to bigger and bigger audiences. We'll see what happens next. For now, I'm home, and taking a few moments to myself to digest the experience and plan my next move/movie.

Hope to see you all on the road there ;)

Your Lonely Director,

N.J.