Nashville Film Festival Round-Up

Well, it’s taken me a week or so, but I wanted to get to the round-up of my trip to Nashville for the Nashville Film Festival! Although, I didn’t get to see much of the city (I really wanted to see the Parthenon, the Grand Ole Opry and maybe the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum) as I was only in town for two nights and I spent all of my time at festival activities. First up, the William Morris Party at Arrington Vineyard.

What a fabulous shin-dig this was! The Arrington Red Fox Red Wine is absolutely outstanding. Sorta like Pinot Noir, but with a spicy kick to it that I just thought was yummy! I attended the party with my new friend and traveling buddy Lee Friedlander. Not the the male photographer, but the female director of movies Wasabi Tuna, GirlPlay and her latest Out at the Wedding.

Another couple of cool cats I met were Director Steven Goldmann and Producer Alan Brewer who were screening their movie Trailer Park of Terror. I guess Steven was in the running to direct Otis, but he needed to complete his film. Fun chatting with him and Alan about their film (which was screening Wednesday, the day after my return to LA) and I look forward to seeing it!

I also got to meet an upcoming singer/songwriter named Stacy Donahue and her man-thing, Lee. Stacy is mucho talented and you can check out StacyDonahue.com for more.

Take a listen:

Monday began late as I was able to sleep in a bit, which was nice. My main agenda for the day was to get to the Actors Turned Filmmakers Panel and try my hand at getting into Young@Heart, the sound out screening of the hot doc about seniors who rock.

The Actors Turned Filmmaker Panel was quite entertaining with Michelle Paradise, Joey Lauren Adams, Robby Benson and Vincent D’Onofrio each discussing there various adventures behind the camera. It was moderated by big time casting director Laray Mayfield. I went to the panel with Lee as she and Michelle Paradise worked on the short film The Ten Rules: A Lesbian Survival Guide which actually became the basis for the cable show Exes & Ohs. Pretty cool stuff! So, a great panel overall, some fun topics and pitfalls about jumping behind the camera. Afterward I was able to do a little celeb stalking.

Later that day, I was able to get into the Young@Heart screening as it was so popular they moved it to a bigger theatre. Now, lemme tell you something, if this movie doesn’t move you, you ain’t human. It was beyond awesome. Very well done and I recommend that everyone catch this flick. I watched this with another new friend – actress Emily Wing.

After that I went with Lee to her screening of Out at the Wedding. A quirky comedy about mistaken identities and finding your true self.

Then it was finally time for the main event. OTIS. The screening went great. The crowd, although not as full as I wanted it to be, was completely enthusiastic in it’s laughter and response to the film. Right before I went in to the screening, they nabbed me for a quick interview.

After the screening I did a Q&A and I was glad to discover that Shelley Justiss got some photos of the occasion:

On Tuesday, I attended a few additional panels about the world of film financing and indie vs studio film making before I had to catch my early afternoon flight back to Los Angeles. Overall, a great couple of days. And so much more than I can fit into this post. I met other great peeps (Heather, Reed, Elise, Ali, and many more!) Everyone was so great and I had a lot of fun…Till the next adventure!

PHOTO GALLERY -
NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL [Click to view each one and make comments if you so desire]