Dam Short Film Festival: Day 1

Eleanor and I set out from L.A. this morning... and arrived in Bolder City (the Nevada one) around 4:30 pm for day one of the Dam Short Film Festival (The Computer: Wonder of the Future screens Friday, February 13).

Boulder is a great little town! Very authentic; very friendly. I won't go into detail about the history of the town (as we are still learning more and more and that's what Wikipedia is for), but in general, the town was created for the workers building Boulder Dam (later re-named Hoover Dam), hence the name of the festival (Dam Short, not Hoover Short). An interesting note about Boulder City: while it is in Nevada, gambling is illegal here, which may greatly explain why the town is so clean, wholesome, and friendly.














We checked-in at the Filmmakers/Press Lounge inside the historic Boulder Hotel (a GORGEOUS hotel) where I was immediately showered with swag: a festival-branded t-shirt, baseball cap, canvas bag, assorted Boulder Dam memorabilia, and other nick-knacks, doo-dads, and curios. In addition to filmmaker/press relations, the lounge also houses lots of beverages and snacks (provided at no cost), free neck massages (by professional, legit... uh, professionals) and a film library (with copies of not only this year's films, but every film ever shown at the festival, watchable at the DVD viewing stations) as well.
































After checking in and filling up, we set off for the home of the film screenings: The Boulder Theatre. This theatre is, simply put, amazing. It was originally built as a cinema back in 1931 when the dam was being built. After a long day working on the dam in the hot, dry Nevada climate, workers would pay their 25¢ to sit in the theatre to not so much enjoy the filmed entertainment, but because at that time, the theatre was the only building in town with cool air conditioning. The theatre has since been converted from a cinema to the home of the Boulder City ballet. While the original movie screen has since been removed, one has been installed for the film festival. A note of trivia regarding the theatre: It is owned by Desi Arnaz, Jr. In 1997, Arnaz and his wife Amy founded non-profit Boulder City Ballet Company (BCBC).

The festival programming is divided into category blocks, drama, comedy, super-natural, crime-drama, etc., with each block consisting of anywhere between five and seven films. Tonight, we watched the block titled Documentary: A Serious Issue (www.damshortfilm.org/2009/htm/doca.htm) -- and boy, were they indeed serious. I was struck at how much information and detail about such serious complex topics the filmmakers were able to deliver in such a short time format. After that block, we took in the Sci-FI: World's End program (www.damshortfilm.org/2009/htm/sci.htm).


















After the festival we headed out to our lodgings: The Hacienda Inn Hotel and Casino, about a 10 minute drive from the festival, right outside of Boulder City at the Arizona border (gambling IS, obviously, legal here!). The room is made perfect by the fact that I won a drawing for one of seven comped rooms that the festival gave away!

Tomorrow will be our first full day at the festival. At 12-noon, we are checking out the block Drama D: Supernatural Stories to specifically see the film Cold October directed by a new friend we made here at the festival (www.damshortfilm.org/2009/htm/drad.htm).

That's all for now... it's after 1 a.m and I'm ready to hit the casino and win some big money to make my next film... More tomorrow...

Michael