Previous Festivals: 2001

WFF President Bob Ware with honoree Sigourney Weaver and her husband Jim Simpson

Super Troopers

In retrospect, the 2001 season was themost successful and exciting yet. A blend of provocative lunch seminars, six East Coast or New England premieres, and international film star Sigourney Weaver on hand as honoree proved a heady mix. The number of films screened went from seven to 16, submissions tripled from 20 to 65, and attendance jumped a walloping 60% over the previous year... all the more remarkable considering the Festival came a week and a half after the events of 9/11.

Weekend I kicked off with Super Troopers, a hilarious hit of this year’s Sundance Festival - and an auspicious sold-out beginning, with a line of ticket buyers out the door. The first Saturday featured the films of two Williams alumni directors - Stacy Cochran ‘81 and D.W. Maze ‘92. And that night, WFF moved to North Adams for the first of two screenings co-presented with Mass MoCA: Matthew Irmas’ diabolic film noir Sleep Easy, Hutch Rimes.

Weekend II began at MoCA with a bill of Adam Davidson’s Academy Award-winning short The Lunch Date and Richard Linklater’s mesmerizing digital film Tape starring Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman. The crowd cheered the stamina of screenwriter Stephen Belber, who had literally flown in from Paris that afternoon, rented a car at Kennedy Airport, and driven his family up just in time for the film and post-screening Q&A.

The busiest day - Saturday, September 29 - started with Davidson’s first feature effort, Way Past Cool - based on the Jess Mowry novel about black kids in the Oakland ghetto. (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).

The rest of the day was devoted to honoree Sigourney Weaver. There was a sold-out lunch seminar, followed by an SRO screening of A Map Of the World - a Weaver favorite among her films. The evening started with dinner and moved down to the Clark Art Institute for a Salute to Sigourney - a clips reel of 19 films in the actress’ career, a colloquy with the crowd, and the presentation of an award to the honoree. "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 packed breakfast screening of Lisa Picard Is Famous, a hilariously biting satire of the lust for fame. The screenwriters and leading actors took the floor afterward for an extremely lively Q&A session.

The success of Season III can be attributed to several factors: 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 actors, directors, screenwriters, and producers who came from New York, California and even France. (Stacy Cochran was so anxious to be present that she rescued the only print of Drop Back Ten from her apartment near Ground Zero. "With luck, WFF will be around for a long time," says executive director Lawson. "But we’ll be lucky to be blessed with more gifted, conscientious artists than the ones who took part this year."