sundance 2006 - Zoael

Aging Like A FineWine
A Very Good Year for a Classic Vintage of Film Festival
BY JUSTINE WARNER
THE 19TH EDITION OF THE
Napa/Sonoma Wine Country Film
Festival screened over 125 films
from thirty-five countries with filmmakers
attending from all over the
world. This is a festival with a difference,
and several of its sections are
dedicated to creating deeper cultural
understandings, an enlightened world
view and a more conscious approach
to living.
The launch of “CineLatino,” one
of seven sections with twenty Spanish
speaking films, was enthusiastically
received. Best of the Festival
International went to Spanish director
Joaquin Oristrell’s Unconscious.
Best Cine Latino went to Carlos
Sorin’s Bombon, El Perro (Argentina).
BY GREG MCKAY
THE 17th GALWAY FILM FLEADH
(Irish for feast or festival) once
again outdid itself in the quality
and number of films and events presented
in the magical Medieval town of
Galway on the West Coast of Ireland.
Some of the highlights of this year’s
Fleadh included actor’s master classes
taught by Campbell Scott and Patricia
Clarkson who were attending with The
Dying Gaul. A director’s master class
was taught by Luis Mandoki, attending
with his powerful Los Innocentes. A
screenwriting master class taught by
the legendary Paul Schrader. A public
interview with Matt Dillon. Though, of
all the international talent attending,
the most popular proved to be twelve
year-old Caeli Smith.
Featured in Robert Downey
Senior’s film Rittenhouse Square, the
charming prodigy had brought along
her French violin and could not stop
An homage to director Carroll
Ballard (Black Station, Fly Away
Home) included a sold out Master
Class and the screening of his latestthe
magnificent Duma, which won
Best U.S. Cinema award.
55
NAPA/SONOMA WINE COUNTRY
Students learn to identify land mines in the documentary Disarm.
playing it at the Fleadh, or on the
streets and in the pubs of Galway. This
young lady is an exciting talent and
should be watched for in the future,
both for her cinematic triumphs as
well as her music.
International talent aside, the
Fleadh is primarily about promoting
Irish and European filmmakers, and
secondarily about bringing films to this
far corner of Ireland that the people of
Galway might not otherwise have the
chance to see. To which end, a tribute
to well known Irish actor Seamus
Deasy was presented, featuring four
films exhibiting, not only the length of
his career from Bob Quinn’s Potin, but
the breadth of it, to in Pearse Elliott’s
The Might Celt.
Other new Irish features included
Dermot Doyle’s fresh new comedy, Hill
16, Perry Ogden’s harshly wonderful
Pavee Lackeen, Stephen Bradley’s
zombie comedy, Boy Eats Girl, Patrick
Kenny’s thriller, Winter’s End, Polly
GALWAY
The Festival’s “Reels of Wheels”
program provided movie buffs with
outdoor “Films al Fresco” as the
Festival migrated from one county
(Napa) to the next (Sonoma).
The popular “EcoCinema” section
Film Fleadh Shepards the
Financing Green to Eire
Steele’s doc, Keeping the Peace, and
the closing night film, Short Order,
from Anthony Byrne, wherein food
becomes a metaphor for the poetry of
life. All these, as well as bushels and
bushels of new Irish shorts which filled
what amounted to almost three solid
days of programming alone.
An adjunct to the Fleadh is the
Galway Film Fair which brings together
potential financiers from around the
world and tries to help match them up
with Irish and European filmmakers, in
hopes of getting projects launched.
The enormous success of this event
cannot be estimated. Projects pitched
and produced from this market are not
so important in as much as the relationships
that are created and the
projects launched from those relationships.
The Fair is an invaluable resource
to filmmakers.
Awards are presented by jury in the
Shorts category, with first place for
“Best Irish Short” going to Recoil,
included 30 films plus an Eco Fair
and symposia on sustainable topics.
Gaia Awards were presented to filmmakers
honoring their works that contribute
to making our earth a greener
place to live.
As part of the extensive “Cinema of
Conscience” series, a release of onehundred
live doves provided a symbolic
celebration following the world premiere
of Mary Wareham’s Disarm
which took home the David L. Wolpher
Best Documentary award. Nobel Peace
laureate Jody Williams, who is featured
in the documentary, received the
Festival’s Humanitarian Award.
The Napa/Sonoma Wine Country
Film Festival celebrates its 20th
anniversary in 2006, running in various
locations from July 20 through August
31, 2006. Located forty-nine miles
north of San Francisco’s Golden Gate
Bridge, the Wine Country location is a
splendid place to visit to enjoy the
amenities of a unique area and the
finest of international cinema. Entries
now accepted through May 15th at
withoutabox or www.wcff.us or call
707-935-3456.
“Best First Short” going to Taxing
Night. The distinction between “Best
Short” and “Best First Short” is made
to distinguish between filmmakers
who are well financed with European
or University grants, and those made
by filmmakers who have nothing to
work with in terms of financial
resources other than what they can
come up with themselves. “Best
Animation” went to Stars, and the
“Best Short Documentary” to Idir
Dha Shoal. The audience award for
“Best Feature” went to Pavee Lackeen.
Sally Ann O’Reilly, artistic director
of the Fleadh, has left the Fleadh after
many years of powerful and admirable
programming. Her very big shoes will
be filled in 2006 by the inimitable and
talented Felim MacDermott. The
Fleadh and Fair will take place in 2006
from July 11 through July 16.
Information and application forms can
be found on their website: www.galwayfilmfleadh.com.