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Cole Christine (winner, student
shorts contest) and Bette Gordon
(director, Handsome Harry) enjoy
the opening night party at Mezze |
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Salute at the Clark: Barry Levinson
receives an original artwork by
Stephen Hannock and gives the
audience a first-hand look
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| Poliwood producer Jason Sosnoff, board president Joe Finnegan, and
board member Tom Fontana announce the Festival's top shorts |
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Exec director Steve Lawson chats
with guest artists Jessica Daniels,
Adam Salky, Ashley Springer,
and Alexander Poe |
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ith 39 films, a sold-out Benefit dinner, and Halloween distinguished by a throng of major artists, WFF's 11th season was memorable by any yardstick. Not only were both attendance and box office income up from 2008, but guest artists concurred in audiences' enthusiastic reception. According to producer Stacey Reiss, "Williamstown is a perfect place to screen a film." Director Charlie Anderson "felt honored just to be selected." Animator Bill Plympton praised "a beautiful setting and one of the best audiences I've ever had." And director Bette Gordon seconded that opinion, calling WFF "a wonderful festival with great audiences - one of the best Q&A's I've had."
rom Gordon's haunting season opener Handsome Harry to the wacky shenanigans of Lynn Shelton's Humpday on closing day, the lineup was warmly received. New England premieres of Against the Current at MASS MoCA and Poliwood at the Clark Art Institute were big draws, with Current's writer-director Peter Callahan receiving WFF's first-ever feature screenplay prize and the Festival saluting filmmaker Barry Levinson. It was a strong year for documentaries - besides Poliwood, the schedule included Sue Gilbert's Beyond Greenaway: The Legacy, Crayton Robey's Making the Boys, and Richard Shepard's I Knew It Was You. Lighter moments were provided by Adam Salky's unusual teenage romance Dare, the high-camp Mexican sci-fi musical The Ship of Monsters with live original score by the hot band Ethel, and the ever-popular All-Shorts slots.
or its juxtaposition of talents, October 31st - the Festival's second Saturday - will be especially remembered. In the morning Plympton, America's leading animator, showed two shorts and sketched drawings for a long line of fans eager to obtain dvds of his work. At a packed lunch seminar, award-winning director James Ivory recalled his career of nearly half a century. That afternoon, groundbreaking Boys in the Band playwright Mart Crowley received a standing ovation after the screening of Making the Boys. And that evening Poliwood producer Jason Sosnoff, WFF board president Joe Finnegan, and Barry Levinson's producing partner and WFF board member Tom Fontana joined WFF executive director Steve Lawson onstage at the Clark to present Levinson with his award - a rendering of his friend (and frequent performer in his films) Robin Williams in What Dreams May Come, created by artist and WFF board member Stephen Hannock. The group then announced finalists for the annual Christopher and Dana Reeve Audience Award, with three titles - Bevan Walsh's Love Does Grow on Trees, Foulkes and Smith's This Way Up, PES' Western Spaghetti - close runners-up to John Allen's riveting Love and Roadkill for the prize as top short of the season.
" years is just hard to believe," sums up Lawson. "We're deeply grateful to all the artists and contributors without whom WFF wouldn't exist. And there's no resting on laurels - we've already got ideas for the 12th season next fall." |
