Picked up my industry credentials for the New York Film Festival. They didn’t have my picture and the credentials are kinda paltry looking, handwritten and badly laminated. And they didn’t even have a lanyard for me. Jeeze. You’d think New York’s most prestigious festival would hook a bruthuh up. The saddest part is it doesn’t even get me in to the parties. But at least I got to wander around through Lincoln Center, one of the great places to be in the city. I fell in love like fifty times with various dancers and artists and musicians passing by and sitting at the fountain. Siiiigh.
But I did also run in to Peter Scarlet, the head programmer of Tribeca Film Fest and former Director of the Cinemateque Francaise. He was coming out of a press conference and seemed totally out of it having been on the road seeking films for 2007 at festivals all over the world. He says he’s been through so many airport scanners this week that he’s taken off his shoes enough times to rival Imelda Marcos in her heyday. God speed. Go get them films.
NYFF is showing David Lynch’s new film "Inland Empire" (I can’t WAIT!) as well as Almodovar’s "Volver" and Sofia Coppola’s "Marie Antoinette" and there’s a sidebar of films from the Janus Collection that’s releasing a huge box set of their titles from "Jules et Jim" to "The 400 Blows" to "Wild Strawberries", "La Strada", etc. And considering there’s no way I can afford to actually purchase the box set, I’m going to attempt to see some of these gems in the festival screenings.