PREVIEW: BIFF Opening Night features “Big Chill”’s Kasdan

The Boulder International Film Festival’s Opening Night RedCarpet Gala is rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the most prestigious filmevents in the region’s calendar. This year is no different, as we are proud topresent, live and in person, two of the most legendary American cinema talentsof our time.

Four-time Oscar nominee LAWRENCE KASDAN helped to shape theconsciousness of a generation of filmmakers.

For starters, as a screenwriter,he completed the script of “The Empire Strikes Back,” then went on to write“Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Return of the Jedi.” He created some of theiconic films of the period as writer and director – “Body Heat,” “The BigChill,” “Silverado” and “The Accidental Tourist.”

On Opening Night, Thursday, Feb. 16, he brings us his latesteffort – the comedy “Darling Companion,” starring Kevin Kline, Diane Keaton,Richard Jenkins and Dianne Wiest.

Along with him will be one of the film’sproducers, the innovative and visionary Anthony Bregman, who will be given ourAward for Excellence in Producing that night.

Bregman has produced a string of groundbreaking originalfilms – Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm,” Mike Mills’s “Thumbsucker,” and TamaraJenkins’s “The Savages,” to name a few. In particular, he has workedextensively with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman – “Human Nature,” “EternalSunshine of the Spotless Mind,” and “Synedoche, New York.”

After “Darling Companion” and the presentation of the award,these industry figures will sit down and chat with our Special Event Producer& Host Ron Bostwick – and that’s only the centerpiece of the evening! Itall begins when the doors of the Boulder Theater open at 6 p.m. (5:45 p.m. forVIP passholders). Our Opening Night Reception includes appetizers presented bythe Big Red F Restaurant Group, Chocolates by Seth Ellis Chocolatier, anddrinks including specially priced wines by the Francis Ford Coppola Winery.

Partygoerswill be serenaded by the Hot Club of Pearl Street, a swinging jazz triocomprised of guitarist Jeremy Ciampa, Greg Corcione on drums, and keyboardistRyan Tipton. Better still, they will be joined by chanteuse MargueriteJuenemann, co-founder of Rare Silk and jazz vocalist extraordinaire.

This event is FREE for all BIFF VIP passholders! Tickets areavailable right here. Put on your glad rags and come on down – we’ll be waitingfor you!

The BIFF Saga: Year Three (Feb. 15-18, 2007)

Robin Beeck hanging out with the Polish brothers at BIFF 2007. [Photo by Randy Malone]

Our outer-space(y) subjects set the tone for Year Three -- it was crazy. There were slam poets, air guitar masters, would-be astronauts, and more! We also enjoyed a visit from Boulder-born screenwriter John August ("Go," "Big Fish," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"), who led a wonderful master class in storytelling for film. Then, we rounded up a half-dozen regional film critics and talked to them about the fine art of writing about movies.

Here are some more highlights, from our 2007 wrap-up press release:

• Opening Night featured the thriller “Breach,” about Robert Hansen, the FBI agent that was responsible for the largest security breach in the history of the United States. The screening and the enthusiastic audience set the tone for the following three days of the Festival.

• Boulder resident and Holocaust survivor Walter Plywaski answered questions for an awe-struck audience filled with students about his life experiences after the free student screening of “Paper Clips.” The film documented Tennessee schoolchildren’s struggles to understand the magnitude of the Holocaust.

Walter Plywaski

• “Slam Planet: War of the Words” was followed by a powerful performance by the Denver Slam Poetry team, winners of a national contest in the film.

• The Polish Brothers, directors of “The Astronaut Farmer,” answered questions after the Saturday evening pre-screening of the film featuring Billy Bob Thornton, who played a family man intent on building and launching a rocket—by himself. The film sold out the Boulder Theater and offered a look into the minds of the famous twin brothers and their newest film.

Oh, Robin! She sure was popular that year. Here she is with two of our visiting air guitar masters. [Photo by Randy Malone]

• The debut of “Air Guitar Nation” rocked the house and, following the Q&A session, Dan Crane (Bjorn Turoque) took to the stage and emceed the “Aireoke” contest and after party. Fans packed the theater for a chance to get on stage and show their stuff with hopes of wowing the crew of Air Guitar Nation enough to join them in this year’s U.S. Air Guitar Championships. The party lasted well into the night and BIFF directors, Kathy and Robin Beeck even tried out their air guitars! The film wound up winning the Best Documentary award at the Festival.

• Festival attendees devoured the decadent desserts prepared by Cheesecake Factory at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony on Sunday. The Colorado Film Society Awards were presented, and the film “In the Shadow of the Moon” was shown for the second time ever, mesmerizing the audience and the many Ball Aerospace sponsors and workers that attended the special event. After the film, director David Sington answered questions from a very emotional audience, and a trip to the moon did not seem so unbelievable anymore. After the screening, the film was presented with the Grand Prize of the Festival.

David Sington accepts the BIFF Grand Prize for his documentary feature "In the Shadow of the Moon." [Photo by Randy Malone]

• Packed parties for filmmakers and VIPs at the St. Julien, Blink Gallery and Red Fish were another highlight of the weekend festival.

BIFF 2007 Award Winners

Best Student Film

“Lucky,” Avie Luthra, director (South Africa/UK)

Best New Filmmaker

Matthew Porterfield, “Hamilton” (US)

Best Editing

“Drunk in Public,” David J. Sperling, director (and editor) (US)

Best Short Film

“High Maintenance,” Phillip Van, director (US)

Best Colorado Film

“Purvis of Overtown,” David Raccuglia and Shaun Conrad, directors (US)

Best Animated Film

“Badgered,” Sharon Colman, director (UK)

Best Short Documentary

“Talk to Me,” Mark Craig, director (UK)

Best Documentary

“Air Guitar Nation,” Alexandra Lipsitz, director (US)

Best Documentary (Honorable Mention)

“The Cats of Mirikitani,” Linda Hattendorf, director (US)

Best Feature Film

“Journey from the Fall,” Ham Tran, director (Thailand/US)

Commitment to Education Award

Jerry Aronson, University of Colorado Film Professor

Jerry Aronson [Photo by Randy Malone]

Grand Prize

“In the Shadow of the Moon,” David Sington, director (UK/US)

The BIFF Saga: Year Two (Feb. 16-19, 2006)

Actress and BIFF 2006 attendee Maria Bello, who received the Colorado Film Society Award for Excellence in Acting. [Photo by Randy Malone]

It was COLD.

Colder than a [insert your favorite metaphor here].

BIFF Year Two was marked by a record-breaking cold snap (minus-14, anyone?) that posed some logistical challenges, but didn’t stop the attendees from increasing by 50 percent from Year One. Even though downtown Boulder was subject to rolling blackouts throughout the weekend, everything took place as scheduled!

51 films were shown, and an avalanche of special guests included actors Maria Bello, Patrick Warburton, Danielle Proulx, Marie Matiko and Eric Roberts; screenwriters Amy Fox and Richard Alfieri; directors Arthur Seidelman, Stephen Auerbach, Andrew Quigley, Kathleen Man and Jim Butterworth; and producers Judd Payne and Joe Eastwood.

Actor Patrick Warburton, winner of the BIFF 2006 Best Actor Award for "The Civilization of Maxwell Bright," bummed a Buffs hat to withstand the arctic temperatures. P.S. Patrick is a heck of a nice guy! [Photo by Randy Malone]

All these guests and many visiting filmmakers bundled up and scooted from their hotels to the BIFF venues. Many of our volunteers brought our guests hats, gloves and coats to borrow, and even brought them door-to-door! Snuggled away in the evenings, we partied enthusiastically together.

Here’s some more info, taken from the end-of-fest wrap-up:

Actress Maria Bello and the makers of “The Sisters” attended the Opening Night Gala on Thursday evening at the Boulder Theater. After the film, which held the audience in a web of family dysfunction and drama, Bello, director Arthur Seidelman, screenwriter Richard Alfieri and producers Judd Payne and Joe Eastwood, answered questions from the audience. Bello was presented with the Colorado Film Society Award for Excellence in Acting. Later, Onda rocked the house with its unique brand of Afro-Cuban jazz.

A still from the hilarious "West Bank Story," which took Best Short Film honors at BIFF 2006.

French-Canadian actress Danielle Proulx answered questions from the audience after the screening of "C.R.A.Z.Y.," in which she portrayed the mother of five sons.

"Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock," about the annual gathering in Nevada, played to two nearly sold out screenings.

“The Civilization of Maxwell Bright,” a film about redemption through unconditional love, played to a large audience late Saturday night at the Boulder Theater.

Present were actors Patrick Warburton, Eric Roberts and Marie Matiko, who played the Chinese bride who chose to see her husband’s beauty and offer him a sense of peace. After the film, the three stars answered audience questions for more than 30 minutes.

Veteran film actor Eric Roberts takes questions from an appreciative crowd after the screening of "The Civilization of Maxwell Bright." [Photo by Randy Malone]

Festival attendees devoured the decadent hors d’oeuvres prepared by Frasca at the sold-out Closing Night Awards Ceremony on Sunday. The Colorado Film Society Awards were presented, and the Tibetan/Canadian film “What Remains of Us” mesmerized the audience.

After the film, Kalsang Dolma, the Tibetan-Canadian woman featured in the documentary, answered questions from a very emotional audience. The Rebecca Folsom Band performed to close out the Festival.

Amy Fox’s screenwriting workshop was well attended, as was Jim Butterworth’s documentary workshop. The panel discussion, "Film Forward," highlighted the issues surrounding new media.

Playwright and screenwriter Amy Fox gave a well-attended screenwriting seminar in a chilly Municipal Building on BIFF 2006 Saturday.

BIFF 2006 Award Winners

Best Student Film

“The Saviour,” Peter Templeman, director (Australia)

Best New Filmmaker

Andrew Menan, “Frozen Food Section” (U.S.)

Best Short Film

“West Bank Story,” Ari Sandel, director (U.S.)

Best Colorado Film

“Light of the Himalaya,” Michael Brown, director (Nepal/U.S.)

Best Animated Film

“Magda,” Chel White, director (U.S.)

Best Short Documentary

“Carhenge: Genius or Junk?,”David Liban, director (U.S.)

Best Documentary

“Boys of Baraka,” Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, directors (Kenya/U.S.)

Best Adventure Film

“Race Across America,” Stephen Auerbach, director (U.S.)

Best Feature Film

“C.R.A.Z.Y.”, Jean-Marc Vallee, director (Canada)

Best Actress

Danielle Proulx, “C.R.A.Z.Y.”

Best Actor

Patrick Warburton, “The Civilization of Maxwell Bright”

Colorado Film Society Award for Excellence in Acting

Maria Bello

Special Jury Award

“Diameter of the Bomb,” Andrew Quigley, director (UK/Canada)

Special Guest announcement: animator Bill Plympton!

The Boulder International Film Festival is pleased to announce its first featured film and special guests for 2012! The film is the documentary “Adventures in Plymptoons!,” and we will welcome its director, Alexia Anastasio, and its subject – one of America’s greatest living animators, Bill Plympton.

Bill Plympton’s instantly recognizable style, absurd wit and storytelling verve makes him one of our most distinctive and hilarious talents. For more than 25 years, he has hand-crafted a staggering variety of short films, features, commercial projects and more. A multiple Oscar nominee and Cannes honoree, Plympton’s vision encompasses slapstick, surrealism, satire . . . and a kind of ever-expanding, stretchy, numinous vision of the universe that can only be equated with the idea of putting Silly Putty on acid. His short “Push Comes to Shove” won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1991.

(His work has been seen at BIFF, too – most recently, his 2009 short “Horn Dog.”)

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, he graduated from Portland State University in Graphic Design. Bill Plympton moved to New York City in 1968. He began his career creating cartoons for publications such as New York Times, National Lampoon, Playboy and Screw.

In 1987 he was nominated for an Oscar® for his animated short "Your Face". In 2005, Bill received another Oscar® nomination, this time for a short film "Guard Dog".

After producing many shorts that appeared on MTV and Spike and Mike's, he turned his talent to feature films. Since 1991 he's made 9 feature films, 6 of them, "The Tune", "Mondo Plympton", "I Married A Strange Person", "Mutant Aliens", "Hair High" and "Idiots and Angels" are all animated features.

BIFF 2012 festivalgoers will enjoy not only the feature portrait of Plympton, which includes interviews with such animation icons as Will Vinton, Terry Gilliam and Ralph Bakshi, but will take part in post-screening interviews with Anatasio and Plympton. Most excitingly, Mr. Plympton has agreed to lead a master class in film animation at this year’s festival – a marvelous opportunity to learn from a contemporary master of the painstaking art of animated filmmaking.

For more information, please bookmark our website at http://www.biff1.com/. Discount VIP passes and BIFF gift certificates are still available! Stay tuned to our blog, blog.biff1.com, or follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter. More fun and wonderful updates soon!

From the field: BIFF talks to the filmmakers

Katelyn Hauge-Aldridge talked to many folks yesterday at BIFF -- here are just a few of her interviews!

Tomas Sem Lokke-Sorensen [Photo by Katelyn Hauge-Aldridge]

At the VIP dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill on Saturday, we caught up with Norwegian filmmaker Tomas Sem Lokke-Sorensen. The Boulder International Film festival is one of Lokke-Sorensen’s many stops on his tour of film festivals around the world that are screening his short film “The Unhappy Woman.” This five-minute comedy/drama focuses on a dialogue between an actress and a director, whose conversation quickly turns from business to personal, and ends very unfortunately for a certain camera operator. The film has already gained recognition within the film community -- it was the winner of the 2010 Aspen Shortsfest: Best Short Short Award in April of 2010.

For Lokke-Sorensen, this film was a challenge to his talents as a filmmaker.

“The film is shot in one scene with no cuts and only two actors,” said Lokke-Sorensen. “It was a challenge to myself. We shot for only one and a half hours total. It’s a very simple film that shows how people must learn commitment and communicate to avoid arguments.”

This film has brought Lokke-Sorenson to the United States for the first time. When asked about his impressions of Boulder and the community of filmmakers who have gathered here, the filmmaker had nothing but good things to say. “The people here are very friendly and love to have fun. It’s a great community.”

Henry Phillips

Phillips in a still from his feature film, "Punching the Clown."

Filmmaker and actor Henry Phillips brought his feature-length film “Punching the Clown” to the Boulder Film Festival this year. In his semi-autobiographical film, Phillips plays a performer/comedian who rises to fame in Los Angeles due to a series of misunderstandings. But his fame doesn’t last long and after becoming the victim of a terrible rumor, he is run out of town.

“The film is sort of a metaphor for myself,” said Phillips. “It was inspired by a series of my own life stories that I told to director Greg Vienz. Its sort of autobiographical, but the stories are over exaggerated for the film.”

Phillips screened his comedy for Boulder Film Festival audiences on Friday and received an incredibly warm reception. As an independent filmmaker, Phillips hopes that the screening of his film at the festival will help bring his film further recognition.

“We have basically no ad budget, so we have been showing the film at festivals to spread the word about the film. We have a lot of great support from musicians and comedians, and we are hoping to broaden our adudience,” he said.

Phillips’ film is now available on Netflix and Amazon, and clips of the film are also available online.

Suzan Beraza [Photo by Katelyn Hauge-Aldridge]

Saturday’s filmmaker panel brought a wide variety of voices and views to the Boulder Film Festival -- from independent filmmakers to Disney producers. Among these was documentary filmmaker Suzan Beraza, whose film “Bag It” was screened earlier that day.

Beraza’s film is a “quirky and approachable documentary” that focuses on the impact of the use of plastic products in today’s society. Originally, Beraza intended only to make a short film about a competition between the towns of Telluride and Aspen, CO to reduce use of plastic bags in 2008. However, as Beraza learned more and more about the subject, she quickly became passionate about plastic and the repercussions of its use on the environment and chose to expand her documentary’s focus to create her first feature-length film. Beraza’s film has been screened at several film festivals across the country, and was the winner of the Best of Festival Award at the BLUE Ocean Film Festival in Monterey California in 2010.

As one of six filmmakers on Saturday's panel, Beraza was happy to be part of the variety of talent who spoke about what they are most passionate about -- film.

“I really liked the variety of people that were on the panel. It was a great way for the audience to connect with us about all the dimensions of making a film,” Beraza said. “There is no one right answer to how to make a film. The process is different for everyone.”

Clips of Beraza’s film are available online, and it will be aired on PBS in April of this year.