Now, because I know that none of you can go that long without hearing my thoughts on the happenings at the Los Angeles Film Festival, here I am again with more reports for your reading pleasure!
Monday was the day of Austin Film Society’s very enjoyable cocktail reception at the Westwood Brewing Company. Scott and I drove over there, wishing we had DMG along for the ride to guide us through a group of people neither of us know. (She is so popular, if SAGIndie were a high school, she’d be the cheerleader who was Homecoming AND Prom Queen!)
ANYWAY, so we arrived and engaged in some scintillating conversations, including one with Matt Dentler, a strapping young man and a curator/programmer for SXSW, among other things. DMG likes him, so we figured we would too. And we did. (Almost as much as we liked the super gift bags they had prepared for us – Zippo lighter? Beer Cozy? Austin, you are my kind of people!)
*I’d like to take this moment to thank Scott F. Garner for ditching me when I was cornered by an older man who actually used the line "Can I buy you a drink?" When I reminded him the drinks were free, he asked if I was an actress. Or a model. Or a…librarian. Awkward.*
After the party ended Scott left and I went to meet Paul at the W for the Filmmaker Reception hosted by Harrison Ford. Only I got there a little early. Like an hour early. So I practiced my Hollywood skills and stood in line talking on my phone to my mom making awesome deals and talking to awesome people about awesome things. Paul arrived and I got another who’s who of the party schooling. It’s very exciting for me, as a recent college grad and pretty new Angeleno, to be allowed to converse with and learn from such successful people. It gives me hope in a city that can be as depressing as watching Showgirls on USA. As the host of the evening, Harrison Ford gave what we were told was a good speech, but that we couldn’t really hear. I was lucky enough to get some time to talk to Thoma Kikis of Darkon and Matthew Cooke of Deliver Us from Evil, two documentaries I was dying to see, but due to scheduling conflicts could not. (I have heard great things about both, though, and promise to see them someday…It gives me a lot of pleasure to see documentaries capture a lot of attention, and these two – from what I have heard – really deserve it. I fancy myself a budding documentarian, and can only hope to be in their position someday. I actually over heard someone say that so far, they have only seen Deliver Us… {and Chalk} because those were two films they could be sure were going to be good, and they only like to watch "good things". Oh! You like "good things"? A rare and novel preference, indeed!)
I like "good things" too, so I was excited about another gift bag (!!!) Don’t believe the liars who say they got into this business for "the love of film" or "to tell stories that need to be heard". They’re here, we all are, for the brick of expensive soap that smells of lemony goodness and keychain/flashlight combo.
Life is good, loyal readers, life is good.