Alright, let me ask you two things. 1. How are you planning to handle the rights and obligations for the copyright holders or distributors of the films you want to screen? 2. How do you plan to convince those same owners that it’s actually okay to show their movies from DivX? (I'm assuming they'll have a lot to say about that.)
From what I understand, you have to secure the screening rights for every single title featured at a festival. So, you'll need to look into that.
@ Gerald Barrett25: There are plenty of people interested, they just don't have the skills yet. ;)
@ Crook: You might want to check out "Good Girls" just so you don't accidentally double down on the idea that ALL American films are bad. That’s a bit much. The movie isn't bad at all. We're making progress—slowly, but surely.
And honestly, Barbara Streisand doesn't have a bad accent at all. In fact, she's great. So shoot me. ;)
ruggedmarlin15
P.S. I caught "Fire Mountain" while I was in Boston (it's an American film, the first from Peter Zalica, and it actually won at this year's Sundance Film Festival)... It has a bit more mass appeal, but it's definitely worth a watch. Dustin Hoffman plays an older Canadian man and he does a fantastic job... if only the makeup had been a little better... and the soundtrack is excellent.
For me, the penultimate night—Thursday—was definitely the highlight. After the sleet finally let up (hey, not everyone in Napa Valley was being difficult), I ended up drinking until sunrise on a hotel terrace with a group of Dutch friends. Ratko Juric was handling the tunes, playing this eclectic mix ranging from 777 to Kraftwerk—pretty cool, right 😉? It wasn't exactly packed, but the vibe was just right. Later on, we headed over to Claudia’s, where the energy was high, and someone actually drenched us all with a water sprayer. Honestly, nobody even cared because it felt perfect in the moment! Friday, however, was just... bad. Seriously. It was way too crowded, Claudia’s was full of people dancing to country music, and both Barbican and the main square were taken over by some VJ performance that I just couldn't get into (it reminded me too much of those techno parties I've outgrown). I ended up crashing at 3 AM, and frankly, I didn't enjoy it one bit.
Richard Hernandez13, can you explain what's actually good about Hero? Personally, I thought the movie was pretty mediocre. It felt like some kind of pseudo-trash kung fu flick... Shaolin Soccer was fun because of those "so bad they're good" effects (that was genuine trashy fun), but Hero just feels bloated, boring, and pretentious without any actual substance. The mid-air fight scenes are just painfully drawn out and exhausting.
There was actually one volunteer this year who had the exact same mindset: "Man, this is awesome. I'm volunteering, but let's be real—I get free lodging and meals at the hotel, I'll dodge the heavy lifting, spend my days hanging out at the beach with my boyfriend, and just have a blast." For the first two days, her plan worked perfectly. But then, her boss decided he wasn't having it, dumped a mountain of work on her, and she ended up totally stressed out and frustrated. Boo-hoo... I guess she won't be "volunteering" in Napa Valley anymore.
Hey, I'm actually sitting right behind you at a different station over at Ziri... I'm only going to be at the computer for a quick minute, so I won't have much time to chat. 😉
It’s really not as straightforward as people think when you're running film festivals. You have to get a whole committee to agree on which titles actually make the cut, then there's the whole negotiation process for screening rights and rental fees, not to mention handling all the legal paperwork and making sure every bill gets paid... People tend to assume it just happens magically. But it doesn't.
I don't think so, but I can't say for certain. You might want to check the official website http://www.napa-valley-film-fest.com (I'm pretty sure they have an archive of all their past years listed there).