MOVIEMAKERS FILM FESTIVAL

By Nick Smith

When we gather together, we share our joy and our anxieties, we learn from each other and we achieve goals. Emerald Coast International Week provides an annual opportunity for us to gain knowledge from other cultures and improve ourselves at a faster rate than we could individually.

Film is one example of what can be achieved when a group of people assemble with a common aim. Hermits need not apply. The goal might not be lofty – the film might be no more than a goofy comedy or a scary story intended to make you jump. Nevertheless, when the film is complete the cast and crew have made something together and that is always worthwhile.

The best way to celebrate this achievement is with a screening. A great way is to show several films in one sitting, which is what we did as part of International Week.

The MovieMakers Film Festival took place at Suds N Cinema in Fort Walton Beach, Florida on March 20^th. Suds is a small theatre decorated like a retro diner (I sat in the James Dean booth). It’s privately owned, making it the perfect fit for the do-it-yourself spirit of independent cinema.

17 movies by local and international filmmakers were shown, ranging in length from 5 to 15 minutes apiece. There were trailers, too, for indie feature films. The intention was to entertain, encourage and bring together filmmakers and their audience.

The films and their contributors came from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the UK, as well as Nashville, Tennessee and the Emerald Coast. The entries were eclectic: in Nathan Mikita’s Eureka! a clown-faced character can’t see the joke. In Melvin Audaz’s documentary Garbagia, the Loisaida neighborhood in New York turns trash into art. In Kirkland Long’s dark comedy Cheapskate, a homeless man gets revenge on a cocky motorist.

With so much content from different sources, setting up the festival was no laughing matter. The submissions had different formats, frame rates and screen ratios. They had to be compiled and checked to make sure the full image could be seen on the big screen, and that they sounded good too. During our first technical run we sampled all the movies and only one had no sound. I had to go back, retransfer everything and try another test screening. However, each trip to Suds N Cinema helped to streamline the event.

Luckily, I had the help of theatre co-director Rick Hollis, who not only gave me the chance to test the fest but also allowed us to extend the event time from two and a half to three hours. That meant I could introduce the show with my co-host, actress and movie maker Elesia Marie, and wrap up the festival with prizes, a filmmaker Q&A and an Audience Choice Award for Best Film, won by The Skunk Ape by Renee Luke Jordan, filmed in Pensacola.

I’ve organized and judged lots of film festivals over the past 25 years, mainly in Edinburgh, Scotland and Charleston, South Carolina. While most of them have gone without a hitch, I always focus on the improvements I can make. This time around, all I could do was be as prepared as possible. I was still nervous before the show though, remembering what a fellow organizer once said about a festival we ran in Folly Beach, South Carolina: ‘I am the master of technology when it works and its slave when it does not.’

The technology worked. The films received the attention they merited and a better reception than I could have hoped for. I’ve already been approached with films for another festival, including shorts by younger filmmakers and a longer, heavyweight documentary. There’s so much to show from this area, let alone other countries. But an international variety is essential. We learn from watching films from different cultures, we get the opportunity to celebrate them, and we are inspired by them. That sounds like a good festival to me.