Alan Colsun of "Gone Fishing"
"I can't say how much it cost!"
Kevin Acevedo of "The Last Page"
"I love writers..."
The 17:40 screening of International Program F produced some of the best Q's & A's of the festival so far. Thanks to some film school students who attended, technical terms were flying all over the place (it was a chore to translate some of those words to Japanese and/or English but I think I persevered).
First up was Kevin Acevedo who brought his hilarious short "The Last Page," a tale of an unfortunate writer facing, yes, the writer's block. And yes, it was based on Kevin's own experience with this dreaded disease. When asked about the production design by a young female Japanese production design student, he told us that he was able to enlist the aid of a fellow director who took on the production design duties. Her understanding of Kevin's vision was the key point in accompkishing the look he wanted. If you haven't seen this short yet, do so, especially if you're in any sort of filmmaking endeavor.
Next up Alan Colsun, Exec producer for "Gone Fishing" from the UK., one of the most tender, heart-warming shorts of the festival. He also gave the students some interesting & revealing points about producing. His answer to a question about how much of a budget the film had brought laughs & nods of interest when he told us that the amount depended on who was asking. If it's a young filmmaker, the film made cheaply, if it's a distributor or prospective buyer, the film cost a lot of money (the audience loved this kind of "straight" reply).
Like I said, all in all a interesting & quite humorous session.
DJ John
