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September, 2006 Newsletter
Contents- "Say I Do" comes to the Rose Friday
- McDowell's Home Still Threatened by Los Padres wildfire
- Early Index of the 7th PTFF
1. "Say I Do" comes to the Rose Friday
Ron Vignone's delightful and original look at a wedding day gone awry will open for a regular theatrical run at the Rosebud Cinema beginning tomorrow. It will screen at 7 o'clock each evening. The film won a special jury prize at the 7th annual Port Townsend Film Festival for 'its innovative use of digital technology to tell a story from a point of view that could be told no other way and its risky use of improvisation to enhance the quotidian quality of the story.' Fancy words, perhaps, but SAY I DO's many charms shine through. It was a favorite among festival audiences who gave it 4.6 points out of a possible 5.
2. McDowell's Home Still Threatened by Los Padres wildfire.
There was a little-witnessed mad scramble on the Sunday of the festival when, in the midst of an interview, special guest Malcolm McDowell learned that his Ojai, California home near the Los Padros National Forest north of Los Angeles was threatened by a wildfire started a week earlier but made dangerous by increasing Santa Ana winds. McDowell broke off the interview and returned to his guest lodging where he wife Kelley and two-and-one-half-year-old son were in the midst of packing. Meanwhile, festival staff were rearranging flight plans and transportation to Sea-Tac. The McDowells had not planned to leave Port Townsend until Monday morning. They were on their way within an hour of first hearing of the danger. The fire has raged ever since but has migrated north leaving the Ojai area "smoldering, but still volatile." One of the biggest and longest fires in California history, the fire has engaged 4,200 firefighters. One of them used a movie metaphor in a Los Angeles Times article to describe their difficulty: "It's like 'Groundhog Day,' he said, 'you wake up every morning and every day is like the last.'" So far, the McDowells have not been forced to evacuate.
3. Early Index of the 7th PTFF.
We're still crunching numbers, but here are some early figures:
- Overall attendance was down slightly this year, principally we think because of Sunday's rain. The four indoor theatres'Pope Marine Park Theatre. Rosebud Cinema, Rose Theatre, and the Broughton Theatre (PT High School auditorium)--seated 4,568 filmgoers over the weekend, about 100 less than last year.
- Nevertheless, nine films sold out, the same as in 2005. In 2004, only four houses had standing room only.
- Audiences generally liked the films better this year than last. Out of a possible ranking of 5.0, balloting at most screenings demonstrated an average rating of 4.4. Last year, the overall average was 4.2.
- Dollar-wise, it's hard to know until all the bills are in'and they're not. Nevertheless, we're hopeful for a break-even year.
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