I am screening films for the Newport Beach Film Festival as I have done for the passed three years [last year I screened 70 shorts!]. While this is a small film festival it does have international recognition and receives some amazing submissions. And some really crappy ones. Screening is the front line of the festival; each film received is coded and bagged and sent home with the screeners who rate to weed out the really terrible ones [anyone can submit a film on anything- say a 10 minutes home video of a friend playing drums, or the more common "artsy" films which always include at least one b&w "Reservoir Dogs" style film] and to recommend the utterly amazing ones.
I prefer to screen the short films since there is less commitment to each submission. The one I am watching now is 28 minutes and done with still photographs. It has potential but it is too intense [in the "fueled by coffee and cigarette" maniac way]. Still from the film is almost captured in the picture above.
Three amazing films I have seen so far: Thomas in Bloom: About the sounds of life which can't always be heard as told through a boy and his beloved Grandmother, Mirage: A Poetic animated film that was so poignant, & Footprints on Sand: A relationship between a coyote and the person he is smuggling across the border.
Also I played basketball yesterday with some ladies [trainers and PE teachers mostly]. It was the most exercise I have had in years possibly and I feel it today. I was by far the worst player; if I actually somehow got my hands on the ball I would freeze and pass it on as quickly as possible. Though I had some good defense skills that included blocking people by dancing around in front of them waving my hands wildly. I am severely lacking in the athletic skills and grace qualities. But everyone was forgiving of my playing and I had a lot of fun.
Cheers all!
