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March 1, 2007 Newsletter
Contents- The Envelope, Please...Oscar Night®, Port Townsend
- Altman's The Player at the Upstage on Thursday
- VOLUNTEER CALL
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Janette Force, winner of the Best Costume - Female |
Mara Lathrop, chairperson of “The Envelope, Please...“ | Sebastian Eggert, master of ceremonies and host for “The Envelope, Please...“ and Nancy Sendler, operations director of the PT Film Institute | Warren Etheredge, host of entertainment blog, BuddyTV, which broadcast the event live from Port Townsend, with Peter Simpson, Institute Exec. Dir. | Abby Dylan, member of the national board of the Screen Actors Guilde and live auctioneer at “The Envelope, Please...” |
Photos © 2007 by Kevin Mason. (From left)
The Envelope, Please...Oscar Night®, Port Townsend, Silverwater Cafe, 25 February 2007
The Oscars® are over, even the shouting has dimmed four days later. Yet, the memories linger, Here are some highlights:
- As one attendee said: “This is the best dressed crowd I’ve ever seen in Port Townsend.” Indeed, locals at the Silverwater looked as good or better than those at the Kodak Theatre.
- Best dressed female: Janette Force (who doubled as the event’s decorations chair) in a gown crowned with “the best fur piece I ever bought at Goodwill.”
- Best dressed male: Steve Evans
- The 2007 festival pass for PJ (for pajamas) Ticket holders went to Karen deLorenzo.
- Tom Christopher won the door prize for the most correct guesses of Oscar® winners (he got 12 right)
- Warren Etheredge’s coverage of the event on www.BuddyTV,com, a Seattle-based online entertainment blog.
- Winner of the “What if . . .” speech was D.D. Wigley who accepted on behalf of her dog, Frendl, who appeared “live on tape via remote.”
- A gross of approximately $15,000 -- almost twice that from last year!
Altman’s The Player at the
Upstage on Thursday
When Robert Altman issued his film, The Player, in 1992, it was greeted
by complete surprise.
After nearly 40 years in the business, Altman was considered washed up by most Hollywood insiders. He hadn’t had a popularly-acclaimed film since 1975’s Nashville and while his 1990 production of Vincent and Theo, about post-Impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh, was critically acknowledged, it went unnoticed at the box office. Further, The Player was all about Hollywood, warts and all, mostly warts—yet everyone in tinsel town loved it.
With this love-bite of a satire, Altman began riding the last high crest of his career that ended only upon his death last November.
The film, which stars, Tim Robbins, Whoopi Goldberg, Dean Stockwell, Sydney Pollack, Dina Merrill, Greta Scacchi, and Lyle Lovett, with guest appearances by more than 50 big name stars, is the second in an Altman tribute sponsored by the Port Townsend Film Institute in association with the Upstage Theatre and Restaurant. It screens Thursday, May 8, at the Upstage.
Long-time Altman associate, Mike Kaplan, will introduce the film and discuss his experience working with the famed director. Over the past 30 years, Kaplan, who resides in Idaho but works in both Hollywood and Europe, has participated in Altman project in a variety of capacities. He acted in Buffalo Bill and the Indians (1976), was publicist for Three Women (1977), and associate producer for Short Cuts (1993), based on nine Raymond carver stories. The latter film led to the development of a 1993 documentary that Kaplan produced and director, called Luck, Trust and Ketchup: Robert Altman in Carver Country.
In 1987 Kaplan also produced The Whales of August, the last film made by Bette Davis and Lillian Gish, and, in 2003, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, helmed by English director Mike Hodges, starring Malcolm McDowell and Hollywood’s newest heartthrob, Clive Owen.
The film is being offered as a dinner theatre program with dinner served at 6:30 p.m. and the film screened at 8 p.m. Tickets for the dinner and movie are available at the Port Townsend Film Institute’s office, 360-379-1333. Reservations are required. Tickets at $10 for the movie only will be sold at the door beginning at 7:45. The Upstage is located at 923 Washington St.
A third film in the Altman tribute will be screened on Thursday, April 19. A Wedding, directed by Altman from a story by Port Townsend resident John Considine, will be presented at the Upstage. Considine will introduce the film and discuss his experience of working with Altman in three films.
VOLUNTEER CALL
PTFF Number 8 is still seven months away, but we’re gearing up
and have need for office assistants to input information into our brand
new data base. So come help us get organized while we’re still
sane. Remember: 12 hours of volunteer services earns one festival pass
for any screening at the Broughton Theatre.
Please call Nancy at 360 379 1333 if you have time and inclination.