West and Clear: Thoughts on opening night of Lone Star Film Festival

by Steve Smith of of West and Clear

OK, I intend this to be a thoughtful reflection on a what I thought was an awesome kickoff to the second annual Lone Star Independent Film Festival. But I’ve got to get something out of the way first: I met Van Cliburn. I’ve even got the photo to prove it. (Thanks, PeteW.)

Yes, I know it is totally not cool to be so effusive, but I’m a big fan of Cliburn. He’s a classical music icon, an American hero and one of Fort Worth’s greats. And I met him. Awesome. Totally. Freaking. Awesome.

In an event at the Fort Worth Club after the first screening of the festival, Russian Cinema critic and author Kirill Rozlogov, a Visiting Artistic Director at this year’s festival, presented Cliburn with a film archive of his triumph at the 1958 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition on behalf of the Russian Government. And during his presentation, Rozlogov seemed a little emotional about meeting Cliburn. After a seven-minute video, everyone seemed to get a little emotional. I was emotional. His victory in 1958 was a unique moment in the Cold War, and I think it has as much to do with his personality and demeanor as his considerable talent. And Cliburn is every bit a gracious and cordial now as he was in those films a half-century ago. He is a class act.

Another class act happened before the screening of the opening film, Sunshine Cleaners. Lone Star Film Society Chair Johnny Langdon and festival artistic director Dennis Bishop acknowledged the work of former artistic director Tom Huckabee in the success of last year’s festival. Huckabee was in attendance and received a nice round of applause, and it was a nice fence-mending gesture and a classy move on everyone’s part after the acrimony after last year’s event. This gracious gesture sets a positive tone for what looks to be a promising festival.

Sunshine Cleaners, starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, is an offbeat comedy in the style of Little Miss Sunshine and Juno. The film had its moments and was entertaining enough, but it doesn’t achieve the level of greatness of the two films it emulates. (Although I had heard that Adams would be at last night’s screening and Dustin Hoffman would be at Sunday’s screening of Last Chance Harvey, Bishop said neither star would be attending the festival. My apologies for the error.)

Even though I was not blown away by the first film, I’m still geeked up about this festival. Everyone is talking about Let The Right One In, the Swedish vampire movie, and also Glory at Sea, a 30-minute film (playing as part of the Shorts Package 2) set on the coast of a prehistoric New Orleans and narrated from the bottom of the ocean by a dead little girl that has been called “everything a short film can be.”

And, I did have another accidental brush with celebrity last night. When I was hanging out with Huckabee and James M. Johnston at Scat Jazz Lounge after the Van Cliburn reception, I got to meet Bob Musgrave, also known as Bob Mapplethorpe from the Wes Anderson movie Bottle Rocket. I’m a huge fan of the movie, and Bob is a right cool guy. Yes, I’m a name dropper. Deal with it.

BTW, Johnston’s short film, Merrily, Merrily will be screening at the festival as part of Shorts Package 1 (Sat, Nov. 15 at 4:30 p.m. and Sun, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m.) Check it out and support a talented local filmmaker.

Was that a thoughtful reflection? Maybe not. But did you hear I met Van-freaking-Cliburn?