Cucalorus

Well, Cucalorus this year……hmm….well, I am a little undecided on my experience this year. Maybe it was the fact that I had sooooo much fun last year, that I was expecting soooo much out of this year’s festival…or if I truly didn’t enjoy myself. I am still figuring out this answer. I was really syked when I found out that my film was actually going to screen in the festival. I actually got a lot of great feedback from people at Cucalorus and the days following Visions. This was a fantastic feeling for sure! It was a lot of work and trouble trying to re-record sound for my film in time for the festival. It is difficult when you actually like what the original product was and you have to change it. It was a bit nerve wrecking sitting there waiting for my film to go on. I wasn’t nervous all morning or the night before. But, the second the films began, I started feeling overwhelmed. No one else had watched the new cut with the new sound, so this was a bit scary. In the beginning of the screening, the right speaker in the front of Jengo’s started buzzing in and out and even losing its sound. Right at that moment I knew that if this happened during my film, it would definitely lose much of its dramatic effect. And it just so happens that that speaker went out right in the dramatic point of the film…thus killing all intensity of the experience for the audience. This was a huge bummer. The way that the sound is set up is that the interview is louder, and of main focus….the interview was sooooo quiet at Jengo’s. And we also put smalls sounds that create an eerie strange feeling…but they are set low, to not over power the man’s story. This was upsetting for sure…although I still got good feedback and questions from people. That screening was truly a mess!!! First, the screeners were adjusting the screen during the first film…then the woman from the Ukraine that was there and had a film in the screening….her film ran for about 2 min without the sound! No sound…I was a little more fortunate. And they didn’t even re-start it! THEN…the sound from my film started playing again at the beginning of another person’s film…it was crazy…I have never seen anything like that happen at Cucalorus. And THEN….I heard all about that filmmaker from Australia showing up at Lumina to see his film and it was put on wrong by someone…and they told him that they would screen it on Sunday…but he was already having to fly out before then…he came all the way here and never saw his film…that’s an expensive trip…did the festival pay for that?

Not to mention the fact that all of the parties and such were scattered all over the place and I felt like I didn’t see as many people in one place at a time the entire festival this year…unlike last year…so I was a bit bummed I was not able to catch up and network with as many people. But, I did enjoy the filmmaker’s brunch…although I never got to enjoy the filmmaker’s lounge. You know, come to think of it, I think that much of the scatteredness of people had to do with the fact that Thalian’s large theater was under construction, thus it was soooo far to go to see the late night screenings, which I enjoy the most. Honestly, I mainly went to the shorts. I went to one late night, “House of the Devil,” which was no “Dead Girl,” but it was pretty cool. It was shot on film, so this was a nice thing to look at…andddd it was set in the early 80’s late 70’s….so I always enjoy seeing how people are able to adapt and date their films. Agghhh I guess I’m just bitching. I enjoyed my mom coming to see my film and also her watching the experimental films…esp the abstract ones….priceless!!!