Bart Chat

Greetings,

It's funny, I remember in years past when it started to get close to fall, I would feel the stress of the festival coming. Then over the years we changed to spring, summer, and winter, and here we are back again. This year will be special because it’s right after the election (hey, you can go and vote now to avoid the lines). I hope we can all celebrate; we have lots of great films about politics and other themes. We need relief from the longest campaign season in the history of the world.

When you go to the site, we have a few things on there that I’ve wanted for so many years; it makes me very happy. If you are surfing on any smart phone, the site will resize it for you automatically, so even at the Fest you can look and see what else is playing. The other cool thing is, as you look over the schedule, you can click on an icon next to the film so that it will show up in your calendar! Wow. We have plenty of trailers on there and you can even see which films people are looking at. If you’re a filmmaker, you can keep going to the site to increase your numbers!

Last weekend, I was at the Austin Film Fest. You can see my blog about it on the Arts and Seek KERA site. And this weekend, I’m headed to the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival to do a workshop on how to make your documentary shorter. Anybody who knows me well knows this is a pet peeve of mine. So that should be interesting. Also, they have a nice selection of docs and hot baths!!

Check it: the Guts and Glory web site is now LIVE: http://24hourvideoracedallas.com/

If you’ve never seen it, this is a unique Dallas Video Fest event and very cool. It’s like a video race but with film, and this year to add to the 16 mm we have super 8. I know you know someone who wants to do this and I know you know someone who has a camera, so check it out.

Did any of you see that friend of the festival, Edie Adams, has passed away? It happened this weekend. The very first program in the very first year of the Fest was Edie showing the work of Ernie Kovacs, the first artist to work in television. I wish I had an open spot in the festival to pay her a tribute. Without her work in preservation, so much of his legacy would have been thrown out in the trash. As a festival director, some of the finest memories you have are those few dinners or backstage conversations with folks you would never have had a chance to meet otherwise. I remember one dinner when on the way out the door the guy sitting at the piano stated to play and Edie just started singing. It was magical. As she would often tell us, yes she did go to Julliard and yes she really could sing. And she also had great comedic timing. Luckily for us, she was also obsessed with keeping the legacy of Kovacs alive. Year after year, she came to talk about him, to show us some rare clips never seen before, and to introduce a new generation to the way he used the medium of TV to be funny. Edie, we thank you for all you have done for us here in Dallas. We will miss you.

Bart