PTFF News
Newsletter Archives
August 22, 2007
Contents- Elliott Gould Announced is the 2007 Festival Guest!
- Port Townsend Family Portrait
- Merchandise Sale
- Come on! Volunteer! Come on! Host a filmmaker!
Elliott Gould Announced is the 2007 Festival Guest!
Happy Birthday Mr. Gould!
Long-time Hollywood and Broadway actor Elliott Gould is the Port Townsend Film Festival's special guest for its eighth annual Festival, Sept. 28-30.
Each year the Festival, which calls itself a "block party celebrating great films and filmmakers," celebrates an actor or actress whose career has withstood the test of time and who has contributed a body of work that has become part of the film classics' canon.
Among the 69-year-old actor's most notable films are: "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" (1969), "M*A*S*H" (1970), "The Long Goodbye" (1973) and "California Split" (1974). He received numerous awards and nominations for his work in, "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" and, "M*A*S*H," including an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for, "Bob & Carol...."
In 1970 Time magazine put him on its cover and called him "a star for an uptight age."
J. Hoberman in The Village Voice recently wrote, "Only in the early 70s could Elliott Gould have been a matinee idol." Describing him as a "manic, overgrown 31-year-old kid from Brooklyn," Hoberman went on to credit Gould with "successively personifying the sexual revolution, the spirit of anti-militarism, and groovy campus rebellion."
Active in numerous though less canonical films in the eighties and nineties, he has most recently appeared in the "Ocean's Eleven" movie series in a continuing role. He just completed the voiceover for God in an animated 3-D version of "The Ten Commandments" due out this fall.
Two of Gould's films from the 1970s will be screened at the three-day Port Townsend festival: "California Split" and "The Touch," the late Ingmar Bergman's only English language film made in 1971.
"The Touch" co-stars such Berman veterans as Bibi Andersson and Max von Sydow. The film was not well-received at the time of its release but has since enjoyed a reconsideration by several critics including Molly Haskell. There has been little chance to view it. Only one 35mm print is known to exist in North America, owned by Gould, who is lending it to the Port Townsend Film Festival for screening. After the film was more or less disavowed by Bergman himself, it was never transferred to video.
Questioned as to this choice of film for a celebratory screening, festival artistic director Peter Simpson said: "Films that are considered failures are often more interesting than commercial hits," he said. "I'm delighted we have this rare opportunity. After 35 years, this generation of moviegoers can make up its own mind about The Touch's" success or failure.
Gould began his career on Broadway before moving onto Hollywood, appearing with classic vaudevillian Eddie Foy Jr in "Rumple" (1957), in "Irma La Douce" (1960), "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" (1962) during which he met his first wife, Barbra Streisand, and Jule's Feiffer's "Little Murders" in 1967.
Gould joins a long line of classic film stars to be featured at the annual Port Townsend cinema celebration. Previous honorees have included Tony Curtis (2000), Eva Marie Saint (2001), Patricia Neal (2002), Shirley Knight (2003), Jane Powell (2004), Debra Winger and Arliss Howard (2005), and Malcolm McDowell (2006).
Festival Passes, which give you the flexibility to pick your movies on the fly, are on sale now. A limited number of Advance tickets for the Uptown, Rose and Rosebud venues go on sale to PTFF members beginning September 10 and to the general public on September 17. Buy these by going online
GUESS-THE-GUEST CONTEST. Winner of the guess-the-guest contest will be announced next week. A total of 134 entries were received, with 51 (or 38%) correctly guessing Gould's identity. No one guessed correctly after the first clue was issued, but two entrants made correct guesses with the second clue.
At 10 am, Saturday, Sept. 1, the annual Port Townsend Family Portrait will be taken in front of the new City Hall. We're encouraging all PTFF faithfuls to gather as a bloc, to be identified by wearing one of the many baseball caps the festival has issued over the years. The festival group will assemble en chapeau at 9:45 AM at the Pope Marine Park. Then, we'll move to city hall en masse.
Also on Saturday, Sept. 1, the Festival will hold a sale of vintage PTFF merchandise as part of the city-wide Sidewalk Sale sponsored by Main Street. We will have a booth in front of the newly renovated Eisenbeis Building on Water Street from 10 AM - 3 PM. We'll be there with our fabulous new high performance Port Authority PTFF Jackets for you to try on and pre-order.
Come on! Volunteer! Come on! Host a filmmaker!
This is a repeat call for Volunteers for the 2007 Port Townsend Film Festival! Be among the near-300 to sign up to usher, take tickets, assist in hospitality, or sell tickets before or during the festival. Work 12 or more hours get a volunteer pass! Register online www.ptfilmfest.com, email volunteer@ptfilmfest.com, or call 360-379-1333.
Filmmakers are hearty creatures, sometimes working 24/7 to get their projects complete. But, you know, they need beds now and then, most particularly while attending film festivals. PTFF has become a favored rendezvous for filmmakers, so we're in need for some dwelling space. If you have a spare room, please let us know. Call Mary Buckham at 379-1739. Earn Festival screening vouchers!