THE SPANISH PAGES (Part 2)

PART 2 - FRIDAY: “A Day of Firsts”

We decided to head out early. After all, the new hotel promises a free breakfast buffet and we had to get there before the festivities began. Can’t watch movies on an empty stomach (you can MAKE movies on an empty stomach and many often do), but there’s no sense in paying for breakfast when you can sneak a free one. A brief goodbye to our hosts, we promise to give them a good review online, and are soon pulling our rolling suitcases down the cobblestone walkway with a deafening clatter. However, despite the fact that we both have luggage, three people ask us directions in Spanish. Donan, who has retained more of his high school Español than I, does most the talking. Oddly enough, we were able to point a couple people in the right direction. Probably.

We check into the hotel, but the rooms aren’t ready. We had expected this. Checking our bags with the concierge, we approach the festival table. The throngs of people rushing the table haven’t shown up yet, but it’s barely 10 a.m., and our Guide did anticipate an 11 o’clock stampede. Instead of checking in, we charm our way into the free breakfast buffet. We don’t have room keys yet, but we have out luggage receipts. This seems to be ample proof that we are hotel guests (even if we obviously checked in 5 minutes ago), the hostess sees our game and simply rolls her eyes as she waves us past.

With a square meal in us, we settle in for our first film, MANGRO, an Iranian action flick by director Mehdi Sabaghzadeh.

SYNOPSIS: Under cover police officer penetrates into a drug smuggling gang. When his superior officer who is the only person aware of his mission named “Mangro” dies in a helicopter crash and the gang is arrested he is convicted to death, but the arresting officer is not fully convinced of his guilt.

I enjoyed the film, but don’t intend to get into long reviews. As those who know me know all to well, I can be hyper-critical and likewise often latch onto one random detail that I absolutely love. For example, I walked out of one film (a few years back) and said, “Well, the movie was pretty lame, but their sound design was AMAZING!” But I grew up on action flicks, and this was a decent one. I spoke with the producer for a bit about Iranian cinema. He either didn’t know the filmmakers I had seen or didn’t care for them. Tough to say.

What struck me most about this screening was the small audience of 7 people (Donan and myself included). The fear of premiering “Chronicles” to an empty room finally sets in. Most of this fear is relieved by the second screening (although a knot remained in my stomach about it the entire weekend).

The second film was DO ELEPHANTS PRAY? by director Paul Hills.

SYNOPSIS: Frustrated by the soulless routine world he is shackled to and dogged by a need to find meaning in everything, the life of advertising executive Callum Cutter is thrown into poetic chaos when he meets the free-spirited French seductress Malika who promises to change his life forever...providing he keeps her identity a secret. TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie8qxooDWzs

Another enjoyable film, this time with a much larger audience. I disagreed with some of the choices the filmmakers made, especially on the choice to shoot 35mm over digital. It’s a conversation I enter with a lot of filmmakers that I speak too. Not out of any aversion to 35mm film, or a swelling love for digital, but it just seems to me that if you’re shooting a feature-length film on a shoe-string budget you need to utilize as many tools as possible, for as little as possible. The extreme costs of shooting film then take away from your lighting, props, cast. To put it simply, there’s no point in spending thousands on an Armani suit if you’re going to wear it with a $5 necktie.

After two feature films, a lot of introductions and handshaking, Donan and I had a small window of time before the Opening Night Gala. I introduced myself to the Festival Director, who upon seeing I was a director of one of the feature films grabbed me by the shoulder and quickly whisked me to a nearby couch where a small radio show was set-up. He introduced to me the coordinator and host of “Movies and You” for Talk Radio Europe and I was plunked down for my first interview. Ever... Not just for this festival, or any festival. First time someone sat me down, stuck a microphone in my face and said “tell me about your film”.

Oddly enough, I hadn’t really thought about this. I’d focused on DVDs, postcards, websites, relying on the concept and images to do most the selling for me. I start to sweat a bit, but not long. I’ve been talking about and working on this film for 5 years, I’ve practiced the shpeals while stuck in morning rush hour (Oh, like you’ve never recited a pretend Oscar acceptance speech while stuck in traffic?!) and I had two other bits of good luck working for me.

There was one interview before me, I had time to collect my thoughts.

Also, the host, Allan Tee, had seen my film and ENJOYED it. Phew! Not only does that mean that at least one person likes the film, but that person is conducting the flow of the interview. It also means he does most of the talking, allowing me to agree with him a lot. I did get to put out a couple solid sounbytes, however. Here it is (NOTE: The audio sucks, so I put in subtitles. I’m trying to find the interview online and will repost this once successful).

Immediately after that, Donan pulled me aside. Someone had approached him about doing a VIDEO interview. Having slugged my way past Foreman, I was tossed into the ring with Ali. So these two guys set us down, hand over a mic, turn on the camera and basically say, “Go”. They don’t know anything about the film, they don’t have any specific agenda or questions at all. Just... go for it! Let's just say it was awkward.

I decided to clean up before the Opening Night Gala. Class it up a bit, y’know? And so, in my haste, I shaved off any and all facial hair, plus a nice little piece of my face. So, in my four-star hotel room, wearing a freshly dry-cleaned suit (no necktie--can’t afford it), I sat on the bed holding tiny, ripped up tissues to my face.

Donan’s timing was perfect, KNOCK KNOCK, “You ready?”

I open the door, “Almost... just waiting for the bleeding to stop”.

Five or ten minutes later the geyser had slowed to a small trickle and we were running late. So we headed out, I used the back of my hand to blot the blood every five minutes or so. But, I’m sure to always do it in a really, really cool way.

The opening night Gala consisted of tapas, drinks, Spanish music, drinks, and lots of camera crews. There was a 24-hour film challenge happening for local filmmakers at the festival and one of the requirements was to shoot a scene at the party.

The after-after-party was free of film crews, but still had plenty of drinks. We had migrated to a bar in Puerto Banus. First of all, I didn’t see any transvestites, so I don’t know what that lady was going on about. But the most memorable part of the evening consisted of Donan and I, once again, clomping through Antonio Banderas plaza trying to figure out how the hell we got back to the hotel. We’d arrived at the bar via different routes, and neither of us had a feel for this fancy part of town yet. What could’ve been 15 minutes turned into an hour or so trek round-about the wrong way, but with minimal backtracking.

But we always continue confidently forward, talking over the events of the day, The first film, the first friends, the first interviews, the first free breakfast. It was a good walk, even though we were taking the longest route possible.