Who is this festival for? Maybe it's just me, dodging/missing a lot of mainstream flicks of late, but did anyone else know that today was the first day of the Boston Film Festival? I only got a clue earlier this week when I was clicking thru Fandango checking out listings and came across HOMIE SPUMONI (BFF) at the Boston Common.BFF, WTF? In this case, definitely not best friends forever.
And if you check out the site, the film descriptions are still "coming soon." (As of noon on opening day.)
They drop the names of Sundance, Venice, and Telluride in their promo copy. Not having travelled for any fests besides Ottawa for animation, would I be out of line saying that comparisons to those film festivals seem like serious stretches?
Maybe there's another level to it all that is appreciated by industry folk? Or for all the people that make the party pics page in the Improper, y'know? But apparently not the average Bostonian, native or student, with 20 bucks in his pocket, not averse to soaking in some culture, and if it happens to allow for snacking in air conditioned comfort and stadium seating, all the better.
Bleah.
Keep on keepin on~
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After scanning all the options in the pulldown menu for the schedule, the only picture I recognize by title is JESUS CAMP, which I do want to see. There are a few others that look good based on star and director power, but I don't know anything about the content of the films. I see Clu Gulager as a star of the movie VIC... Isn't that the dad of the guy who "won" PROJECT GREENLIGHT last year? He got to direct the horror flick, FEAST? Funky.
Well, I'll try and grab a catalog of atoms at the theater, since the bits one isn't available online. The theater is a short walk from the office, so maybe I can hit a few of these, once I get a handle on what they're about.
2 comments:
Oh good, I'm not the only person who noticed BFF's lack of advertising, promotion, and general competence. I posted on the same subject here and here.
I did go by the theater later in the day—to see THE PROTECTOR, light on plot, but heavy on bonecrunching martial arts action =) —and when I asked for a film festival program in the lobby (none were obviously available anywhere), the very courteous manager-type handed me 6 or 7 pages of the printed out schedule. Basically, a printout of the listing available at the website, with titles and credits, but no descriptions of the films.
WTF?
Y'know, a few years back, I was not happy with having to catch festival films in the oddly angled classrooms of the Copley Square theater, but at least they had their programs available in the lobbies, and many more movie offerings as well as showtimes. I got to see YOUNG AND DANGEROUS from Hong Kong, and Sarah Polley goodness in GUINEVERE, and some cheeky fun with action movies in HIT AND RUNWAY. The promotion always seemed to me to be a bit weak—I'd get caught by surprise a couple days before the fest started—but this year is just ridiculous. I didn't once see a trailer for the fest before a film. You remember those, right? A few seconds of identification and dates followed by a minute or two of sponsors' logos? But it was promotion! I don't think there was even a poster up at the theater yesterday...
Bleah.
Eh. Whatev. The Brattle's got Terry Gilliam films for a week and the mainstream flicks here will probably be in theaters in a week or three anyhow...
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