Festival Kicks Into HIGH Gear in a BIG way...

Festival Kicks Into HIGH Gear in a BIG way

I know, I haven't been blogging steadily and I apologize for that. But here I am to tell you a bit about my hectic week and the excitement surrounding SouthSide Film Festival 2008.

We are soooo excited here in South bethlehem, as we kicked off our FIFTH annual Film dfestival, to rave reviews and excited audiences filled with locals and filmmakers from around the World.

Our three Workshops kicked off earlier this week. Monday we began our second year of two of our class offerings: Pawel Partyka's Children's Animation Workshop and Shanti Thakur's "Experiments With Reality". The classes are jam-packed with enthusiastic students. More on these later.

On Tuesday we began our fourth edition of FilmTreks' Documentary Filmmaking Workshop. Mel Halbach and Clayton Farr are again in town to teach this 4 day intensive study into Documentary Filmmaking. I am so proud to have my friends back in town, and this year their subject is THE FESTIVAL.

The Festival officially cranked into gear on Tuesday evening. Started with a wonderful reception at John Clarke's Home and Planet, a store filled with eclectic furniture and accessories, most utilizing recycled materials. This is one of MY favorite stores, and I've spent thousands here to help furnish our home.

We normally are led from the business district to the venues on Lehigh University by a Bagpipe band, but due to scheduling conflicts we were simply led by a police escort. We were disappointed, but made the best of the situaation. It was a mass of humanity moving IN the street for many blocks, winding through South Bethlehem and making its way to Tuesday night's screening venue at Whitaker Labs.

Tonight's program featured some really great films. We featured 5-time SSFF filmmaker Kevin McCorry's "The Shredder", a short about an Industrial shredder. The film is paced with a beat poem  style narrative, and backed by a great soundtrack of COOL jazz. Then it was time for our Image Over Word competition, with a face-off between the boys of Spaceship Brain (Kevin Kiernan and Stevie Wilt) and  Collin Kornfiend. "The Pro" vs. "Kiss, Kiss". Who will win this competition for jury and audience prize? More on Image Over Word later...

Just before a brief intermission, we screened Zak Forsman's "I F'ing Hate You". Words can only begin to describe this short gem, shot with the "Oath of Chastity" deemed during the era of Dogme 95. This is probably like the 20th time I've screened this film. And to add to the excitement of this film, Zak happens to be hanging out at the Fest this year. I know he was stoked to experience the audience's reactions and chuckles, as his short film unfolded. I won't spoil it, but you NEED to see this film. Check YouTube or just do a Google search. A definite must-see and favorite of our Film Selection Committee.

After a brief break we rolled out Dagur Kari's "Dark Horse". A Feature highlighting our Scandanavia/Nordic Isle Spotlight this year. This films is just a wonder in filmmaking and is a must-see. I arranged to have a new DigiBeta print pressed for the occasion, working with the Danish Film Institute and the producers. If you want to screen it, you'll probably need a region-free DVD player or a Mac laptop, as it's only available in PAL. The film is a humerous jaunt into youthful discovery and problem-solving.

The evening ended, but our partying had just begun. The nights are late and the days are long, but with the energy of the crowd and the enthusiasm of our visiting filmmakers, I'd do this FOREVER if I could. We'll see....

Hope to see you in a dark theater at SouthSide Film Festival this week, running through this Saturday, June 21. Get your butt off the coach, curtail those hours of internet surfing and get out and see the rest of our wonderful roster of films. We have something for everybody at SouthSide: 4 incredible blocks of shorts, wonderful features from around the World, a Kids' Film Series at Godfrey Daniels Thursday through Saturday. a free Family-Friendly Outdoor Screening on Friday night (a long-time dream of mine for the Fest), Midnight movies on Friday (The Animation Show #3), and late night parties and performances, including tonight's Sports For Kin show at Touchstone.

We are SouthSide proud here, and hope you'll join in. And where else can see films for $5? $50 will get you into anything and everything throughout the Fest's run. Get here now! Check out our website at SouthSideFilmFestival dot com...