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Two weeks ago, on Wednesday March 25th, I sat at home with my daughter blowing out birthday candles on my cake and was very excited for the events of the next couple of days. My birthday is not something that I typically celebrate, it’s just another day at this point in my life; but with a 6-year-old, if you don’t have birthday cake then you might as well be committing a cardinal sin. Later that night, she was doing her Young Authors homework and I was writing, but I was very distracted because my mind was elsewhere.
The reason for the distraction was that the previous week, I was approved for press credentials to cover the Dallas International Film Festival, and I was starting by covering a Filmmakers Round Table that Thursday and Friday afternoon, which would be the first thing that I have covered as anything more than an enormous fan of movies. Uncertain of what it would be like, I was working diligently on researching the movies and assembling a list of questions to ask the people who would be there promoting their movies. I was also watching A Few Good Men on cable, but quickly turned it off so I wouldn’t accidentally write down “DID YOU ORDER THE CODE RED??” as one of my questions to a director.
As I was sitting there doing research I decided then and there to just own the fact that this is my first event to cover, but I wouldn’t let it effect how I wanted to convey events from the Festival to you. Even now, as I type out my thoughts, I am hesitant to out myself as being a first-timer, but I’m not sure how to function if I’m not completely transparent with you, so over the next three weeks I am going to share with you my thoughts on the event, any movies that may have moved me, any hijinks that I encounter, and finally the DIFF experience overall. First and foremost, I am a movie fan and that perspective will never go away in my writing, so why would I change something that is so deeply ingrained in me? That answer is that I wouldn’t, so I shut my laptop and was ready for my movie adventure to start.
Day one of two for the Round Table had arrived and I was nervous and excited, but most of all afraid that I would walk into the place and immediately be spotted as a fraud and escorted out by an armed guard. The nerves were just because it was my first press event, so I calm myself with the knowledge that I have a loyal readership at The Scoop and my love/knowledge of movies makes me more than qualified. So after calming my nerves, I left home with my trusty writing book for notes and questions in tow and I headed towards the event. Just for context on my state of mind, I was listening to this on the way, and was dressed nice as to not stick out when I walked in the building.
When I arrived I met Julie who was running the event and the person that I had been in contact with the week prior, and she could not have been nicer. She handed me the order for the day and told the arm guard it was fine that I stayed, but also warned me that if I asked any stupid questions or started screaming about a “Code Red” that she would roundhouse my face off (or she just smiled and said thanks for coming….again, I was nervous). Once the event started, it was clear that this was old hat for most of the filmmakers that were there, as some of them were just going through the motions and some you could tell were new to the process and genuinely happy to be a part of it. I’m not saying that some of them weren’t excited about the festival and their movies, but there were a few that had passion for their films bursting out of them.
Most notably for me was
James Johnston, who was fresh off of a successful run at SXSW, and was so interesting that I changed my itinerary to make sure that I see his film Melville. I had a question written down, but changed it because I wanted to know something else instead. I swallowed, raised my hand, and asked “As a writer and a director how do you view a project when you start it? Is it with an eye towards the visual or with written word?“.
He told me that he almost always starts with visual and wants to be able to convey the message from his movie, even if there was no sound at all. He was engaging, nice, and was one of those people that you meet that just see’s the world differently. Out of all of the people there, he was the one that gave me the sense that he is going to have a big career. I have nothing to back that up with, but when you meet certain people, it’s just obvious that they are going to succeed at what they do.
The other person that made an impression on me was Mindy Raymond, who I had seen before in the short film Wasted NYC, which she co-wrote and gives an excellent performance in. I remember seeing that short film and thinking that it would have legs and turn into a feature film, or even a television series, so I was excited to meet her. That and she was the voice of Batgirl
in a video game, so she automatically held a place in my heart before I even met her. As it turns out, she is an absolute charm factory and really sold her film, The Adventures of Pepper and Paula, which also made my list of movies to check out. I’m sure that I’m not their main demographic for the movie, but I have a 6-year-old daughter, so word of mouth from parents can’t be a bad thing.
In the end, I made it through both days, didn’t embarrass myself, and managed to get a couple of questions in. Great success! As for the rest of the festival, I have 12 movies and a John Landis Q&A that I
am planning on attending, and the rest of the time, I’m just going to go where the wind takes me. I have a plan for most of the event, but I want to have at least 4 days free to see things from people that I meet, word of mouth movies that are generating buzz, or especially being surprised by walking into a theater with no expectations and being blown away by something.
The one thing that I know for certain is that I absolutely love movies of all shapes and sizes, so seeing people pour their heart and soul into something they are passionate about is inspiring. That is what I am the most excited to experience over these next 10 days. Yes, I will be there to cover the event, and believe me it is a responsibility that I take very seriously. But why does why does that mean I have to be something that I’m not? I am and have always been a fan of movies, which is what led me here in the first place, so that is the perspective that I enter with.
I am going to see at least 22 movies, and I have a plan for most of what I want to see, but I also want to have no plan for most of it, since like we talked about earlier, this is my first event to cover. Why would I spend so much time planning out each and every thing that I want to do, when I am not sure what all there will be to do? I’m here for the experience, and wherever that experience takes me will be fun.
That is what I’m going to share with you over these next two weeks. If there is something that I think you should drop everything and go see, then I will absolutely tell you about it. I’m happy that you will be along for the ride, and hope to see you there since one of the great things about this festival is that all fans are welcome. So buy a pass and come experience it for yourself, and if you do, just go with the flow. I will be there 8 out of the 10 days, so if you happen to arrive and want to talk movies, then reach out to me on Twitter because I am happy to meet fans of mine and especially fans of movies.
Stephen Balding is the Entertainment Badass for The Scoop. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenB_41.
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