Fest Programmer Fears Final Day

SATURDAY morning:
Well, Saturday morning REALLY started on Friday night. Yeah, I stayed at our Friday night event INTO Saturday. And on my way back to my truck, I decided to start the day's duties early. I actually went to Godfrey's to bring my gear back out of the basement and started the set-up for Saturday's events. I would have completed the set-up, but I was feeling a bit like burnt toast, and the driving beat of the music rattling the wall shared by Godfrey's and the Funhouse was calling to me. I needed to stop my work and have a beer and really enjoy some music. After Paragon Park, I needed some reassurance that people cared about REAL musicianship and not as much about theatrics, little hotties in skimpy skirts, and fake accents from far away lands. My faith in human nature was restored! Time to go home and catch a few hours of rest.

Soon I awoke and prepped for another day of Godfrey's, Segway cruising, and responsibility. The fare at Godfrey's today would not be the Children's Film Series, but instead would be a series of seminars featuring our friend Pawel Partyka. We would be hosting a series on Hans Christian Andersen, taught by Pawel. Today's activities also included two blocks in which we screened the animated films created during Pawel's "Children's Animation Workshop" at the CACLV. Along with the workshop pieces, we also screened a "teaser" of the Award -winning "Peter and the Wolf". This 30+ minute animation is a testament to the mastery of the puppet. This wasn't a Pixar CG-created behemoth, this isn't a Warner Bros cartoon. This film, produced by Pawel's SE-MA-FOR Productions, is a adaptation of the original storyline. It is dark and yet lyrical, it is scary and yet redeeming, and in the end... hope. It is truly a masterpiece, and we are forever appreciative to Pawel for sharing this special screening with our audiences.


Pawel continues his talk on Hans Christian Andersen at Godfrey Daniels

And so the day went: HCA seminar, Kid's Workshop pieces, and "Peter", and in between... my regime of Segway commuting, checking on venue status, and running errands to help snuff out any last minute fires. The day paced itself and soon it was nearly time to prep for the evening's activities and our closing party. More to come....

In the meantime... butter up that popcorn, turn down those lights, and crank up those projectors. SouthSide Film Festival has reached its final hours for 2007, but we won;t go without creating a little more stir.