AIFF 2010: Opening Gala - Some Photos

Bear Tooth Audience Early On

This is where the blogger considers walking out into the snow and just abandoning everything.  Going home at 1am, my work begins.  And the Bear Tooth auditorium is dark, I won't use the flash, and so I have to pretend my pictures are arty. So here are some photos and I'll try to get some film maker videos up before the sun rises.

The orange cones will be easily recognizable to Bear Tooth regulars.  For others, this is how the wait staff know which order to bring you during the movie. 

Tony Shepherd and Rand Thornsley - the the man who makes it happen and the man who makes it work - opening the festival.  There was even a birthday cake and a singer from the Anchorage Opera led in singing Happy Birthday.

Jon Voight and some of the crew from "Everybody Loves Whales" were there and spoke about being in Anchorage.

After The Wild Hunt showed - I'll try to get into that in another post - there was a break to go into the lobby and eat and mingle.  I got a chance to talk to several of the film makers and will try to get some of that up soon. 

Back in the auditorium, there was a band and also some trailers and film makers in the audience were introduced.  Here's Erik Knudsen, recently arrived from UK and who did Silent Accomplice.

Andy Thomas encouraged folks to check out his film The Anatomy of Vince Guaraldi.

And Taavi Eelmaa, from Estonia, talked a little bit about the film in which he plays the title role, The Temptation of St. Tony.  This is a film I'm particularly looking forward to.  It sounds like a perfect festival type movie - honoring classic film makers and telling a dark tale in non-Hollywood fashion. 



More coming.  There are some neat folks in town for the festival and I'm hoping to share some with you here.