Gloria International Film Festival, Salt Lake City :: Day Three

Obviously no real "day three" in the journal for the Gloria Film Festival. As usual Duncan and I arrived early. It was great fun to see THE LOST PRINCESS large and beautiful. It had been such a long time since I last really watched the movie. It was delightful listening to people who knew nothing about us, or Renaissance Festivals, laughing at and enjoying the people of our community. We did get to see our friend Mary's short — SEARCHING FOR GREAT AUNT MARY — it was sweet and wistful. Again spent a late night talking and chatting. It was sad that we had to leave before the event ended. I would have liked to have gone to the closing ceremony. However, we did have to make it back for Sterling's last 2005 weekend. Always such a bittersweet event. I had a lot of fun performing with Jose and Dakota at Sterling this summer. It's also great to work with good friends like Cantiga, Jim Hancock, Dan Looker, Ken Silkie, Gabriel Q, Johnny Fox, the London Broil guys (who seem made for a place like Sterling.), the list goes on and on. (I feel guilty not mentioning everyone — please forgive me!) Plus the fans here, the regulars are really sweet people who make our work seem more like play. After a great final weekend it is off to Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival. We start on Aug 20th and I think are here for 6 weekends. This part of the country is so beautiful. And it is always a delight to renew old friendships and make new ones.

We're excited about the film festival in Stratford, England. Thayr (The Fly) and Rich (our cinematographer for El Gusano and a great guy) should be in attendance. We'll let you all know how it goes. LOST PRINCESS rocks!!

Thanks.

— Doug

Gloria International Film Festival, Salt Lake City :: Day Two

After having been up for almost twenty-four hours, Duncan and I got a fairly late start to the day. We went to the Temple Square and got a quick tour of the Mormon's conference center — really a magnificent structure that seats thousands and thousands of people! Our tour guide was an elegant, delightful and friendly woman, very sweet. In fact, almost all the people I have met in this city have been friendly folk. Duncan and I were walking around the downtown area when a stranger (a woman) stopped us on the street and asked if we needed help. We must have looked like tourists. She was very helpful in directing us to some dining establishments.

We arrived at the festival at 4 and watched a bunch of short films. Most were very dramatic with a very serious theme. My favorite film of the evening was this beautiful documentary called THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR. It was about a man in WW 2 who held to his religious convictions regarding the Sabbath and the commandment of "Thou Shalt Not Kill". He still wanted to support his country and so refused a deferment to become a medic in the infantry for the Pacific theater. He always refused to learn how to use, or indeed even touch a gun! His sweet and firm conviction was inspirational. From being mocked by the men of his unit he became a source of healing and pride for them. He would go into the most dangerous of situations to administer medical aid to his fellow soldiers. He was even reported to have helped an enemy combatant. He believed he was not there to kill, but to help cure. Eventually he received a Congressional Medal of Honor presented to him by President Truman. I am not doing the story justice. The film, though, moved both Duncan and me to tears. True nobility.

Afterwards we chatted with other filmmakers and the organizers of the event. Very nice people, lovely ideas. We hung out with a filmmaker from Minnesota: Mary Britton, who has a short film called SEARCHING FOR GREAT AUNT MARY. She was fun and even gave us a ride back to our hotel. Unfortunately her film and ours run at the same time, but Kevin, one of the organizers said he would try to figure out a way to allow us to see each other's films.

Had a late night afterwards hanging with Duncan in the room. Watched some TV, drank some wine, did some Blind Dog business.
Slept great!

— Doug

Gloria International Film Festival, Salt Lake City :: Day One

Today is the opening day of the Gloria International Film Festival. Matt (of the London Broil) was kind enough to get up REALLY early and pick up Duncan and me at 3:30 A.M. for the hour plus ride to the Rochester airport.

Our flight has three legs to it — From Rochester to Atlanta, Atlanta to Dallas and then on to Salt Lake City. Duncan just pointed out to me, on our flight from Atlanta to Dallas that the Java City coffee is hand roasted! What does that mean? Hand picked? Hand stirred? But hand roasted? That must hurt like Hell! On another note — we're watching the in-flight vacation video. The couple in it never stop moving — swimming, kayaking, playing tennis, skiing, running . . . they must be exhausted!

Just got into Salt Lake City, checked into our room and discovered that we've been accepted to the Stratford Upon Avon Film Festival in Stratford, England!!! So excited, so pleased! We'll be showing on Sunday Night August 28th!!!

Went to the festival tonight. Ended up a little late for the reception as our cab driver, "Mr. Ed" apparently fell into a ditch somewhere and never picked us up, so e took a yellow cab instead. Tonight's movie was Believe — a mockumentary on pyramid schemes and the people involved. Pretty funny and quite fun! Met a bunch of nice folks and now we've been awake for almost 24 hours. Time to sleep.

— Doug