The WFF Story(Continued)

"I've been to a few festivals around the world - this one is so intimate.
It's clear you all really love film."
Sigourney Weaver

Lawson moved to cement relationships with WFF’s artistic partners after this season. Halloween 2000 saw a major joint event with MASS MoCA: the pre-release screening of Shadow of a Vampire, a night highlighted by an interview and colloquy with the film’s screenwriter. WTF staged its first event in New York City - a brunch at Board member Tom Fontana’s house where 100 guests heard about plans for the future - and teamed up with Images on a screening of the Arturo Sandoval biopic For Love or Country (courtesy of HBO) as part of the local jazz festival.

From a modest beginning, WFF had doubled its artistic partnerships and the number of events within a year. Fourteen events over three days in 2000 proved to be the maximum possible in a single weekend, given venue restrictions. So for Season III, the Festival decided to expand to two consecutive weekends and move from culturally-crowded June to early fall.

Lunch seminar with Sigourney Weaver and Shawn Rosenheim

The result was the most important season yet: six East Coast or New England premieres and international star Sigourney Weaver on hand as honoree. Submissions tripled, and attendance jumped 60% over 2000... remarkable considering the Festival took place a week and a half after 9/11. The Fest kicked off with Super Troopers, a hit from Sundance. It also featured the films of two Williams alumni - Stacy Cochran ‘81 and D.W. Maze ‘92 - and Matthew Irmas’ diabolic Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes. Weekend II kicked off with Adam Davidson’s Academy Award-winning short The Lunch Date and Richard Linklater’s mesmerizing Tape starring Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman. The crowd cheered the stamina of screen-writer Stephen Belber who flew in from Paris, rented a car at Kennedy Airport, and drove up in time for the film and post-screening Q-and-A.

Davidson was another artist willing to go the extra mile to be present, flying in from San Diego at midnight and departing at 5 a.m. Sunday after showing his film Way Past Cool. Sigourney Weaver was the focus of a sold-out lunch seminar, an SRO screening of A Map of the World, and a salute via a clips reel of 19 of her films, colloquy, and presentation of an award. “I’ve been to a few festivals around the world,” noted Weaver, “and this one is so intimate. It’s clear that you all really love film.” The Festival wrapped Sunday with a breakfast screening of Lisa Picard Is Famous, a hilarious satire of the lust for fame. The success of Season III can be attributed to word of mouth, articles in Variety and Boston Magazine, new relationships with area colleges including student interns and discounts, the support of a new, high-profile Advisory Board, and the strong cooperation of WFF’s artistic partners. Not to mention the artists who came from New York, California, even France. (Stacy Cochran was so eager to make it that she rescued the only print of Drop Back Ten from her apartment near Ground Zero.)

"What a fantastic screening we had!"
Sean Welch, Spellbound

Season Four in October, 2002 featured four sellouts, a further 20% bump in attendance, provocative guest actors, directors, screenwriters, editors, and producers, first-class films including three documentaries, and WFF’s first-ever American premiere. The Festival showed eight features (two the final festival screenings pre-release) and 17 shorts, and established itself ever more firmly on the New England cultural scene. Audiences responded to the inspiring Rocks with Wings, the sexual power plays of Love in the Time of Money, the novelty of an all-shorts slot, and the wacky romance of The Perfect You. WFF drew 2,500 people for the first time, with Roger Dodger, Spellbound, XX/XY and The Safety of Objects selling out.

There were many memorable moments: Campbell Scott, fielding questions on opening night about playing the title cad in Roger. Jeff Blitz and Sean Welch comparing notes with Rick Derby on the perils of making documentaries, or presenting Emily Stagg - one of the young National Spelling Bee hopefuls in Spellbound - to the surprise of the crowd. John-Paul Davidson flying in from London for the weekend to reveal secrets of the Disney animation process after an exhilarating premiere screening of The Sweatbox. Several major contributors increased gifts, HBO and Coca-Cola joined the cause as Corporate Sponsors, and in a tough economic year the Festival surpassed its fundraising goal.

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