Hey folks, Harry here... Young Quint is going to put on his bikini briefs and tube top and take Santa Barbara by storm! He's just recently gotten a lube change and by taking Kraken, it insures that everything will slip in and out smoothly! And really, that's all you can ever hope for... that and a ton of really cool movies and panels and pontification about movies and how to make em! Well, here ya go...
Ahoy, squirts. Quint here announcing that I am going to be skulking about the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, taking in dozens and dozens of movies and hopefully getting some cool one on one interviews.
Santa Barbara has been getting a lot of buzz on the net this year, especially over at OneRing.net, because noneother than Peter Jackson himself will be there accepting an achievement award. That's cool, but even cooler still is Jackson is also going to "Present" a screening of BRAINDEAD (aka DEAD ALIVE)!!! The wolves of hell couldn't keep me away from that screening!
Overall, the Santa Barbara Film Fest should be exciting. I'm looking forward to the events, the panels and the screenings. The below is a kind of battle plan of what I'm looking to cover for the fest and some info on what's screening for those in the area interested in taking part in the festival.
They have the big gala Presentation of the "Modern Master" Award to Pete on 31st (the same night as the screening of BRAINDEAD). On the 3rd of February there's going to be a salute to Charlize Theron and on the 6th of February a Tribute to Diane Lane. I'll definitely be at Pete's award ceremony, but I might opt out of the Tributes in favor of watching some films or catching up on reports. We'll see when the time comes.
On top of all those people, the panels are filled with exciting behind the sceners as well. The lovely Fran Walsh and the Queen of the Geeks herself, Philippa Boyens will be on a screenwriting panel with John August (BIG FISH), Anthony Minghella (COLD MOUNTAIN), Jim Sheridan (IN AMERICA) and Guillermo Arriaga (21 GRAMS). Other panelists throughout the fest include: Peter Webber (director of the yummy Scarlett Johansson in GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING), Gary Ross (director of the awesome PLEASANTVILLE and the recent SEABISCUIT), Keith Gordon (director of THE SINGING DETECTIVE, but he'll always be an actor in my eyes... He faced down JAWS with Roy Scheider, man! And also stole the mechanical heart of CHRISTINE!) and Patty Jenkins (director of MONSTER).
The panels look like a lot of fun, but what about the films? Looking over their website), I see that there's a strong focus on foreign film. The opening night film is VALENTIN), which looks really cute... THE RECKONING, starring Willem Dafoe, Paul Bettany (that bastard that stole my Jenny Connelly away from me!) and Brian Cox, closes the fest.
Other flicks I'll most likely be seeing... I'M NOT SCARED from Italy... the trailer is up at Apple and it looks really well shot and could be really creepy. It has been demanded of me from my good friend Rav, a expert of "Unkown, small movies made in closets around the world" that I must see GREEN BUTCHERS, a movie out of Denmark that's supposed to be a combination of SWEENEY TODD and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. If Rav demands it, I must comply.
Stephen Fry's BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS has gotten some word from other fests. I'll probably check it out. There's a film called DEDALES out of France with no names whatsoever attached, but the premise revolves around the capture and psychiatric evaluation of a serial killer. Having seen HAUTE TENSION at BNAT, the French seem to have a handle on horror. Let's hope this one's a winner.
Also getting good word from other fests is Lars Von Trier's DOGVILLE. I'm not a fan of Trier and think the Dogme style is one of the most pretentious wastes of talent ever, but I'll give this one a shot.
I'm thinking about catching I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD, by Mike Hodges. I should be really roarin' to go for the new film by the guy who did CROUPIER, but the description of the film on the Santa Barbara FF website leaves me a bit cold. Anybody out there seen the film?
Another question mark film is LOST THINGS. It's a film out of Australia that sounds like it could be creepy, but they use the line "In the tradition of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT..." in the description which sets off all sorts of warning flags. It could work. I'll more than likely give it a shot.
There also seem to be a good amount of documentaries playing. I'll be checking out BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE since Rav raved about it so highly in his PALM BEACH FILM FESTIVAL reports. The evil, terrorist loving France spawned a documentary called CONDOR: AXIS OF EVIL, a documentary that serves as a cautionary tale against our current "War On Terror." Being the liberal schmuck I am, I'll probably check this one out.
There's a special screening of a film called BIG CITY DICK: RICHARD PETERSON'S FIRST MOVIE. It's apparently about some sort of Seattle street musician... Doesn't capture my imagination, but the Dude is hosting the screening so I am now torn. Do I go see this movie and get a look at the Dude in person, or do I try to find something else that looks like a better film? Take a chance on Jeff Bridges or not? Hmmmmm.
There's a new film out from the Cousteau's called SHARKS AT RISK. It's less than an hour and I am a crusty seaman, so I'll more than likely watch this shark documentary.
The fine folks at the Santa Barbara Film Festival are also doing a movie musical retrospective. MY FAIR LADY, PAL JOEY, TOP HAT, SILK STOCKINGS... I don't know if I'm going to have time to check out these classics, but I might squeeze in a film or two. You can't go wrong with these films...
Also being shown in the retrospectives are CULT CLASSICS, which kicks off with Frank Darabont's BURIED ALIVE, which I have not seen. I'm a huge Darabont fan and will definitely be at this screening. The classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is also playing, as well as DEAD ALIVE, LES DIABOLIQUES, FASTER PUSSYCAT, KILL, KILL! and Sam Fuller's PICK-UP ON SOUTH STREET.
Lots of goodies at the fest. The above is just my jumbled thoughts on what I'll see so far or what caught my eye when perusing the film list (which you can check out here!). All that changes when you get there, hear the word on what's good and what isn't, see the flyers, see trailers... Hell, there may be some screenings I want to see that I'll have to miss due to an interview. But as of now, this is what it looks like. I'm told there may be some more guests to be announced, more panels to be put together... the film list itself isn't finalized yet, so we'll see if there are any surprises.
I'll be there from January 29th through February 9th. Drop me an email if you're attending the fest, have a film at the fest or have seen any of the flicks I've mentioned. I'd love to hear from you guys. 'Til then, this is Quint wishing you a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
