Day 5: Fade Out

I woke up at 11:00 am, feeling refreshed and ready for the last day of the festival! Had another smoothie for breakfast on the way to the theatre - I'm getting really sick of the liquid diet by the way. Something wierd is going on with my digestion... OK, first I'll you what I did not like about today, then I'll finish on a positive note. There was this one short, which I thought was awful - 5 more minutes. Did anyone see it? What was that?? But Santa Baby was magnificent! That's what I like about shorts - you never know what you are gonna get, but you can be sure to see some amazing stuff every now and again. Anyway, the feature films were excellent today. Started with Neo Ned which was fantastic - my wife's favorite movie of the whole festival! It was mine too, but The Queen was really amazing as well. Of course the budget was in a whole different class. Great closing movie! I did not go to closing night party, but straight home to have some dinner and go bed! I had a great weekend and was inspired by the level of artistry at the San Diego Film Festival 2006. Hope y'all had a good time too!

DAY 4: Actors Ball

Woke up late after last night. Bit hungry - I've been on a liquid diet for the past 3 days - not enough time to run around and buy food! Today was pretty great for movies - we saw a bunch of good shorts and documentaries. I never thought I would be much of documentary fan, but I am! 10 Canoes was really good and Baja 1000 was hilarious!!! A couple of well known actors showed up: Gabrielle Union and Jason Priestly. Gabrielle Union is extremly good looking in person, I would have never guessed she is over 30, and Jason is suprizingly short - he has a "taller" presence on screen. That brings me to the "Actors Ball", which was pretty much a terrible party... a real piece of shit, i'd be pissed if I paid 300 bucks for the VIP pass. Actually, parties went downhill since the opening night party, which is suprizing because last year it was much much better. Well, I'm back in my hotel room, almost completly sober, which is not a good sign, but I'm happy to go to bed at a reasonable time today and I'm looking forward to watching Neo Ned tomorrow!!!!

DAY 3: 10mph

We are staying downtown for two nights at the OMNI. Ch3ck out the view from our room:






I know there are cranes in there... but trust me, this is awesome. We saw some good movies today. STANDARD was a great movie. The people who made it looked really young - at the start of their career for sure. Very professional, and an original approach to school shootings. Then, I we saw America at 10 mph - GOTTA SEE THAT ONE! Makes you want to take a roadtrip, even though this one took more that 3 months! Imagine that, 3 months standing on a scooter driving from coast to coast. Its a really well made engaging documentary. Finally, we saw Americanizing Shelly- what a blast!~ It got a bit of that bollywood flavor, with the singing and dancing, and its a feel-good love story at the core. I even got a picture taken with the star of the movie:

Day 2: Brats

So one of the rules in the "biz" is to not say mean things about anyone, especially if you are a nobody, because you never know who is going to be famous or give you a break... right? Another rule is don't walk out of a movie if the director and cast are sitting in the theatre, and if there is only 8 people total! But I broke rule#2 - I walked out of the first two movies. I felt bad about it at first, but hey, there are a lot of movies playing and there is just not enough time to see them all. The two movies were G.I. Jesus and Say I Do. That broke rule #1. Sorry, but I was happy I did it because I got to see Souvenir (remember Natasa from last night?), Three Women and a Chateau and BRATS:Our Journey Home.

All three were good! Loved the architecture in Chateau, it was really beautiful! I was surprised how much I liked BRATS. I didn't know what to expect, and the reason I went to see it is because I have a friend who is an army brat and I thought it would be interesting to get some insight into his life through the eyes of so many other kids in his situation. I found that the documentary resonated with me on so many levels as well. I was a kind of a 3rd culture kid as well and it was almost therapeutic to see an introspective analysis of children who grew up in the military. It actually turned into a bit of a therapeutic session after the film, with the Q&A... If you are thinking about seeing this one, its worth it. But don't take my word for it, check it out yourself ;)

Day 1: Opening Night

I got downtown about half an hour before the opening, so there was already a line outside the theatre. We were standing around, looking at the programs when people from let's play downtown came around asking questions and doing interviews. Check them out at http://www.letsplaydowntown.com/ They kinda shoot all the stuff happening around SanDeigo and post in on their website. Sort of like CobraSnake, but with video...

The movie was "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" by Dito Montiel. The film was great, and I really liked the Q&A with the director afterward. He had some great stories to share, I especially liked the one about Channing Tatum throwing a table through a glass door in one of the scenes and injuring Diane Wiest, and how it all worked out in the end...

After the movie, we made our way to Stingaree for the opening party - the place is off da hook people - i'm really liking how downtown is getting transformed - more clubs, more places to eat. At Stingaree I chatted with director of "Souvenir" Natasa Prosenc and the star of the film Rita Obermeyer. They said we should go see their film, we said ok, and thats that. My secret plan is to hit Natasa up for a job if I run into her again (and if I like her movie) shhhhhh!