Friday, June 20, 2008

SIFF 2008 Wrap Up: My Faves + Closing Night

I actually attended the Closing Night party this year (previous years, I've either been too sick, too tired, or just plain not here), and it was pretty cool.

Held at the gorgeous Pan-Pacific, the party offered 2 drink tix per guest (an improvement over the Opening Night party), various tasty sammiches, including veggie options, fresh fruit, and my favorite: waiters with trays of chocolates and the most perfect little lemon squares I've ever tasted. There was also a small screening room set up with popcorn bags filled with candy treats, which I thought was kind of charming - even if they were playing Out of Africa. :)

One of the things I really loved about the Closing Night party was that the "stars" wandered around amongst the regular people - they weren't sectioned off into a special Super VIP area. You could just like, go up and talk to them. Who knew? I saw both Freddy Rodriguez (and resisted the urge to yell out "Rico! How could you do that to Vanessa??"), and Bill Pullman which made me very, very. VERY happy. I didn't go up to Mr. Pullman, just gazed lovingly across the room at him - but still, it was pretty awesome. And I will continue to believe that he smiled AT me, and not just randomly in my direction.

In related news, I saw 18 films this year - which is still down from my all time high (38, I think in 2004? This is why I write these things down now), but is a decent upgrade from 2007 AND 2008. And here's how I'm breaking it down:

Films I am most likely to purchase:
American Teen
The Fall
Mermaid
Shall We Kiss?
Sita Sings the Blues

Films I am most likely to watch again:
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Bad Habits
Ben X
Fantastic Parasuicides
My Effortless Brilliance
Villa Jasmin
The Wrecking Crew

Films I would watch again, if they happened to be on TV:
Ask Not
Bottle Shock
Donkey Punch

Film I *might* watch again, if I wanted to gaze at Martin Henderson & Michelle Rodriquez together:
Battle in Seattle

Films I don't want EVER to watch again:
Newcastle
Savage Grace (sorry Julianne - I just can't do it!)

And, there you go. Next year - I hope to push it over 20. We'll see what happens!

American Teen poster from the IMDb.

3 comments:

  1. Amie, it was a pleasure to run into you, your boyfriend, and intrepid Three Imaginary Girls/KEXP correspondent Chris Burlingame at the closing night party. I'm also glad you, Gillian, and Chris's fellow KEXP blogger, Chris Estey, make it to the shindig at Moe Bar. Except for the drinks fiasco at the opening night bash, SIFF did right by their other parties. The Women in Cinema celebration in honor of Julia Sweeney was also a lot of fun. In all cases, I ate too much chocolate. Alas, I missed out on the popcorn bags, but the mini-quiches were delicious. As for Mr. Rodriguez, he smiled at me when I ran into him at the W Hotel just a few days before. Made me wish I had requested an interview, although I would've spent more of our time asking about "Planet Terror" than "Bottle Shock." :-)

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  2. Thanks Kathy! It was great to see you too...and I don't feel like I properly thanked you for that drink ticket. :) THANKS!
    I still had tons of fun at the Opening Night party, drinks or no - I just heard lots of other people complaining, so I'm sure they appreciated that Closing Night offered them some free booze.
    And I know what you mean about Freddy Rodriguez - Bottle Shock was ok, but I would have spent the bulk of my time asking about Planet Terror too! (and Six Feet Under) - and if I got to near Pullman, hoo boy. MAJOR fangirl alert! I had a crush on that guy all through the 90s...and still do. So, I kept it to myself. Heh.

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  3. I hear you. I've had a thing about that guy since "The Accidental Tourist." (If I had spoken with Pullman about a movie, though, it would've been "Lost Highway.") SIFF superstar Poppe, however, chatted with him for 20 minutes, and said he couldn't have been nicer.

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