Four Day Event Starts Thursday, February 22 With Best Ever Line Up At Alameda Theatre and Cineplex
By Larry Freeman
Alameda film buffs, or maybe just folks who want to explore an outpouring of ‘Indy’ films and shorts, will get more than an eye full beginning Thursday Night, February 22 as The Alameda International Film Festival (AIFF) comes to town in its fourth incarnation.
Over a four day period, folks will get to choose from a flood of films and live, interactive events with ‘the celluloid’ content involving animation, documentary, fictional looks into the recesses of the human soul and experience and wry comedy to name a few.
This year signifies growth, popularity and notoriety of the AIFF, a homegrown, non profit, volunteer entity, as it is packed with heavy duty, independent film talent that does not often get noticed, much less picked up by “Hollywood” for mass distribution.
BOFFO ‘TALENT SHOWS’ THIS YEAR
The Festival’s lead off film, “No Right Way”, written and directed by Chelsea Bo also features her on screen debut as the lead actor.
Bo has written, produced or directed three 2020 prior films, including “Wake Up: Stories from the Frontlines of Suicide Prevention” , and two more that involve relationship struggles and reckonings.
Her first credited film, a short named “The CavKid”, followed suit with a theme based on a youthful, broke, singer songwriter navigating the troubled waters of her dream pursuit of music stardom.
“No Right Way” continues with another youth centric look into life dramas where a brash, headstrong teen gets caught up in being the guardian of a half sister with whom she shares common emotional scars of rough times in their coming of age paths.
Hailed by the Festival’s promoters as the keynote film event will be the screening of an animated work, “Slide”, by renowned, Oscar nominee talent, Bill Plympton, who designed, wrote, animated and directed this work.
The protagonist, a slide guitar playing cowboy in the Clint Eastwood mold, centers on the good guy taking on the bad guys in the frothy dregs of an Oregon town set in the wild west of timberland threatened by rapacious logging.
Turns out that Plympton himself is a slide guitar player who grew up in the very same town of the film’s locale, so at times, parallel universes will meet in this eighty minute work that took about 80,000 hand drawings, all penned by Plympton, to put together.
Slide rides into town having been screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market in France and Woodstock Film Festival.
To cap his event, “Plympton will host a free Animation Masterclass and join in a live panel discussion with industry leaders from Pixar, Laika, and Fox animation, including those from Luca, Coraline, and The Nightmare Before Christmas,” according to an AIFF press release.
On Friday, folks can take in the festival’s jazz film entry, “Dr. Eddie Henderson: Uncommon Genius,” which will be enhanced by an in person appearance by the down home trumpet and flugelhorn talent. Henderson was schooled as a youngster by “Satchmo,”none other than Louis Armstrong.
More brushes with greatness propelled Henderson as Miles Davis, a family friend, also saw great , developing talent in the teen and propelled him to obtain his training at The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, leading to performances as a member of The San Francisco Conservatory Symphony Orchestra.
By1968, his sublime tonalities earned him a twelve year spot with Herbie Hancock’s ensemble of jazz fusion, among other notable performance highlights
While Henderson is not scheduled to perform live at the festival, attendees of the film will have the chance to meet him and converse with him and the film’s director.
A BEVY OF OTHER FILMS AND ACTIVITY OFFERINGS AWAIT
Friday will also be flush with a line up of four other films each of which will be followed with their own Q & A sessions with film notables.
Saturday of that packed weekend will really deliver a film lover’s whallop. In addition to Slide, the day’s events will boast nine total feature or short films.
Interspersed will be a free Animation panel discussion at 1:00 pm in the theatre’s plush upstairs Mezzanine, followed by a Writing Workshop at 2:00 and the Masterclass with Bill Plympton as the capper at 3:30.
Sunday is a day not to be outdone by the previous displays of art and talent, as no less than ten shorts and feature screenings, including some second showings of earlier films in the schedule, will involve four of Alameda Cineplex’s theaters.
The Mezzanine will also be in play with two events, a panel discussion and the showcase for “Experimental Shorts”
Naturally, no film festival worth its ever growing renown and quality would be complete without the fanfare, group schmoozing and libations of opening, closing and awards ceremonies.
For film makers and fans alike Sunday afternoon will the moment of truth as the top tier, select few will determine who gets AIFF awards and cash prizes, up to $1,000.
FOR FULL DETAILS ON THE LINEUP, SPECIAL EVENTS AND OBTAINING TICKETS PLEASE VISIT: https://www.alamedafilmfest.com/schedule
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THE EVOLUTION OF THE AIFF IS A COMMUNITY TALE UNTO ITSELF, AND ONE STILL IN THE MAKING.
This year’s fourth incarnation of the Alameda International Film Festival in its current setting is a truly organic, homespun endeavor with roots that lie in the ambition and love of film by a trio of key players, Phillip Matarrese, Colin Blake and Mark Farrell who joined up to create the film festival as an addition to the mission of Anchor Alameda.
Maybe it was more like a stumble into than a joining up.
The AIFF “grew out of a bunch of friends who made their own short films on the longest day of the year and they called it ‘The Long Day Short Film Festival’” as a private insular celebration, according to Mark Farrell the Executive Director of this year’s endeavor.
“The next year in a truly whimsical if not ironic vein, “ we had the first one in the parking lot of Forbidden Island, and every film had to be exactly 6 minutes and 20 seconds long,” he added.
In 2013 and 2014 the event returned in slightly larger digs, and moved to the indoor spaces of the now defunct Rockwall Winery on the former Navy Base.
The event took another growth step forward, still with classic Alameda community connectedness and the interior of Michaan’s Auction House became the new showplace for the undertaking.
It dawned on Farrell and his cohorts that “we were doing a lot of work for just one hour of screening” and “we expanded to two or three days” to include feature films on top of shorts, as the 6/20 model gave way to more diverse and encompassing showcase for talent.
Eventually, the AIFF grew enough in renown and variety to need more screens to make things work to potential and meet the demand of prospective participants.
Enter Kyle Connor and The Alameda Theatre and Cineplex as a local benefactor in making community happen. AIFF and Connor reached a preliminary understanding to more AIFF to the plush digs of his ornate 1932 movie palace.
Covid set things back and in 2021 the AIFF hit the big time in terms of venue quality and capacity. “It’s been significantly improved,” said Connor who, through his own experience and love of movies, understands the trials and tribulations of growth and the need for community connectedness.
For his part as one of the many local sponsors of the event, Connor is allocating as many as four of his eight theaters on a given day –not to mention the swanky Mezzanine– and has granted a massive discount to Anchor Alameda when it comes to the normal rate for theater rentals and events. (see below for more sponsors and supporters)
“It started really small, and I felt like it was something I could do because I’m not involve” in the films as a film maker but I have consumed soooo many movies. It just grew out of that, and we really didn’t know what we were doing,” said Farrell.
But with the help of so many friends and supporters, The AIFF has grown from a playful local notion into a growing and increasingly recognized celebration of motion picture art.
Beyond the largesse of the content of this latest event, Farrell noted with a sense of pride and regret that the AIFF selection board had to begrudgingly pass on 75% of the independent films that vied to be a part of things.
Still, he and his partners know that this project is truly labor of love that needs to maintain its unpretentious ethos just as his has done every step of the way in its journey.
“The film festival has to grow organically, because we can’t jump to try and be bigger than we are. We’re not Mill Valley. It’s gotta grow out of something grass roots, and it has,” noted Farrell.
TO HEAR AN IN-DEPTH AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH MARK FARRELL ON MUCH MORE ABOUT AIFF AND ITS BACKSTORY, LISTEN HERE:
ADDITIONAL SUPPORTERS OF AIFF, in alphabetical order:
Anchor Alameda (sort of a parent organization), Alameda Power and Telecom, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, Cami and Company, Chaix, City of Alameda, Downtown Alameda, Executive Inns and Suites, Greer Family Mortuary, Karibu Wine Lounge, Little Giant Lighting, Perforce/esp. Chris Seiwald and PG&E.