Back from Sedona

We just got back from Sedona International Film Festival. Where we spent five days in screenings, panels, walks and a great hotel jacuzzi surrounded by Sedona’s famous spectacular red rock monuments (we also had a room, not just a jacuzzi). The festival was well organized with legions of volunteers, a dinner or gathering every night, a filmmaker lounge with great food. And really interesting, quality films. Underground was well received. I fielded lots of questions during the Q&A about the making of the film and we felt genuinely appreciated and well taken care of. Oh yes, and all the screenings were sold out!! My favorite short (besides mine) was Pitstop directed by Melanie McGraw. A really fine piece of work all around.

The other great part of the festival was the workshops with writers like Barry Morrow (Rainman), Dan Petrie (Beverly HIlls Cop), Joe Forte (Firewall) and producers Tom Nunen and Meg LeFauve. When you hear elements of good story structure (even if you’ve heard them before) from several different sources it really resonates. And it was great to hear the war stories.

We also had a good screening at New Filmmakers in New York on March 5th where it again generated a lot of interest and questions from other filmmakers. I was tremendously disappointed not to get over to see the screening in Paris at CineRail in February. But at least we did get to Filmstock in the UK, housed in a former hat factory and run by two energetic passionate film-loving young guys, Justin and Neil and Luton is a nice bit of post-industrial squalor and yes it is impossible to get a decent cup of coffee, for any price. I saw one short masterpiece, La Crème Napolitane and some other very interesting work. And we got into London one day and saw a fabulous production of The Country Wife at the Haymarket Theatre.

Posted on 03/23/08 by: Michael Medeiros 03:42 AM