Monday 4 June 2007

The Festival so far

Four days are gone!!
The screenings still continuing during this week...but three days are gone and we had a great time! We´ve been able to see the result of all our efforts in the weeks passed as we had people really pleased and interested who had come to watch the movies. In most of our screenings we have had the opportunity to meet the directors and some of the crew and it´s been really a exciting experience. Just after watching the movies, we had time to ask the directors what the film meant to them, their purposes, etc. And also they´ve joined Pete (DeclarationFilmFest Director) in the discussion panels about independent production and distribution so the public knows the hard life of this industry from the protagonists.

Friday...it´s the first day and we are all nervous and excited!! The first films are screened and we´r getting ready for this busy week. We set up everything and we send more brochures out.
During the night we celebrated the DeclarationFilmFest opening and it was great fun!! Duke was amazing as we enjoyed their original music from the start until they had to leave. From Justin Timberlake´s "Sexy Back" to "Don´t let me go" from David Getta Love...they made us enjoy all of their songs made just from a guitar and their three throats and voices. Richard and Terry were also great entertainers for the night as they danced and made us laugh all the time!
So, after the first nervous day, after all the first films, we had time to relax a bit and enjoy the night.

I had the opportunity to see some of the films during the weekend...and they are really good. On Sunday night I saw "Little Chenier" and I was amazed for this moving story. We also met the director, Bethany Ashton Wolf’s, and you could feel in her the calmness of the place where she filmed her movie in Louisiana, where she was born.

"Super amigos", a super story about five different men who work for justice in Mexico. Super Barrio, Super Gay, Ecologista Universal, Super Animal (with his sidekick Super Animalito) and Fray Tormenta fight slum landlords, homophobia , pollution, bullfighters and poverty. Mexican-Canadian director Arturo Perez Torres’s shocks us with this colourful and extraordinary documentary.

"Holes in my shoes" showed us the great story of once the strongest man in New York. Nearly 100 years old, Jack Beers tells us the story of his own long and amazing life. From the beginning till the end you get hooked by this lovely man that had a life full of "ups and downs" but he always knew how to carry on and find something new to do...builder, business man, dog trainer, actor...he never gave up doing things. Clearly he´s it´s an inspirational life.

Do come and enjoy the rest of what´s going on until Thursday!! And remember our competition still on!!!We already have the poster signed by the directors!!