PALM BEACH, FLA. April, 19, 2001 — The call
came out of the blue, catching Kermit Christman by surprise.
It was the Palm Beach County Film & Television Commission. Would Christman
consider screening Do You Want to Know a Secret? during the Palm Beach
International Film Festival?
“I was absolutely delighted,” said Christman, who co-wrote and produced the
film.
Delighted because film festivals rarely deem a teen slasher yarn–especially
one starring onetime sitcom heartthrob Joseph
Lawrence–worthy of attention.
Or the ideal closing night attraction.
“The reality is that this is a teen thriller,” said Christman, who produced
the annual Palm Beach Shakespeare festival before branching out as an aspiring
movie mogul with Del Mar Productions. “It’s not a film festival film. I said I
would love to give the film to the festival because I want to support the festival.
I just hope everyone realizes that it’s a purely commercial film.”
No matter, say organizers of the PBIFF, which opens Thursday in West Palm
Beach and Boca Raton.
Do You Want to Know a Secret? will close the festival on Thursday,
April 26, because it was filmed last summer in the county. Therefore, posit PBIF
organizers, the film has a potential built-in audience. It also represents the
only opportunity for local cast and crew to see the film on the silver screen.
It will bypass theaters in favor of a cable TV or video debut.
“We want to focus on a locally shot film,” said Mark Diamond, the PBIFF’s
artistic director. “There are not many. We thought it would be interesting. It
has some nice shots of Palm Beach. It’s the horror genre. Normally, it wouldn’t
even be in a film festival. But how it’s used and what it is works for us.”
Screening locally shot films–quality concerns, aside–is one way that a regional
film festival such as the PBIFF attempts to capture an audience. Two years ago,
the PBIFF premiered The Last Marshal. So what if the by-the-numbers Scott
Glenn cop caper was heading straight to video? That it was filmed in the county
accounted for the some 600 people who squeezed into the screening.
“We had a Chinese film that was shot here,” said Chris Clark, the film programming
manager for the similarly sized St. Louis International Film Festival. “It was
one of our opening night films. There was a lot of St. Louis in it. It was not
a great film, but it was good. But everyone came to see it.”
Increasing attendance remains of paramount importance for Diamond and wife
Susan Fraine, the PBIFF’s executive director. With its emphasis on American independents
and foreign films, the PBIFF has had trouble drawing audiences since its inception
in 1996. It also does not help that it is the youngest–and least established–of
three festivals in South Florida. Also, the festival donates 100 percent of its
profits in the form of grants and scholarships to film students and high school
and college programs. (This year, the PBIFF will give two $5,000 scholarships
and $6,700 in prizes to the winners of its film competition; 14 county schools
also will be eligible to apply for money from a newly established equipment fund.)
Last year, the PBIFF moved from its customary mid-April slot to early February.
The theory: a festival held during the height of the county’s tourist season would
translate to more people in seats. That flopped because the PBIFF found itself
facing greater competition than usual. Attendance remained unchanged at 6,000.
Box office revenue dropped. It also cost the PBIFF a pretty penny to move its
gala awards from the 630-capacity Boca Raton Resort & Club to the 2,193-seat Kravis
Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. (Fraine said the move to the
Kravis is worth the extra cost because it allows the public–and not just sponsors
and other festival VIPs–to enjoy the proceedings.)
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So, for this year, the PBIFF returns to its mid-April dates with 55 features,
short films and documentaries from 17 countries.
U.S. premieres include Maybe Baby, Sex With Strangers and Whatever
Happened to Harold Smith.
Another problem cropped up when the PBIFF screened films at theaters some
30-plus miles from each other at opposite ends of the county. The PBIFF once screened
films in Jupiter, at the northern-most tip of the county; at several theaters
in West Palm Beach, a somewhat more centralized location; and Boca Raton, at the
southern-most tip of the county.
Jupiter residents did not want to travel to Boca Raton. And vice versa. PBIFF
volunteers all but suffered anxiety attacks as they fought bumper-to-bumper traffic
on Interstate 95 to transport prints from a theater at one end of the county to
the other end of the county in time for scheduled screenings. Consequently, attendance
suffered.
The PBIFF will enjoy the good fortune this year of screening films at two
new theaters in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton. Muvico Theaters, a festival founding
sponsor, last year opened both theaters.
The Muvico Parisian in West Palm Beach also is situated in CityPlace, a downtown
shopping, entertainment and residential complex that continues to draw large crowds
six months after its October opening. The centralized locations, coupled with
the mass appeal of CityPlace, could boost attendance, Fraine said.
“I’m not making projections, but I hope to increase attendance from last year,”
she said. “I’d love to see attendance hit 10,000.”
In addition to changing its screening locations and attracting local talent,
the PBIFF will end this year after eight days, rather than continue through a
second weekend of films. Muvico has granted free use of its theaters for eight
days, but the PBIFF would need to pay for a second weekend.
“It’s shorter, but we have more films,” Fraine said. “It’s concentrated.”
Such measures need to be taken if a festival is to address stagnant attendance,
Clark said. The St. Louis International Film Festival enjoyed attendance of 4,500
in 1992, its debut year. Attendance peaked at 10,000 in 1997. St. Louis realized
it was growing too fast and, in an effort to stop competing against itself, reduced
the number of screens it occupied from six to four.
“We need to fill every seat before expanding,” Clark said.
To further distinguish the PBIFF from its regional rivals, Diamond went out
of his way this year to avoid scheduling films seen at the recent Miami and Fort
Lauderdale film festivals. Diamond and Fraine, who also run the Boston Film Festival,
limited Beantown entries to Songcatcher, A Trial in Prague and some
shorts. Diamond selected the majority of the films from those submitted by filmmakers
or distributors.
This year also marks a major collaboration between the PBIFF and the fledgling
Children of the French Cinema, founded by Jupiter resident Francois Ravidat. Dedicated
to the promotion of French cinema in the United States, the not-for-profit also
distributes Gallic films and co-organizes the French Film Festival in Gainesville,
Fla.
Ravidat brought five films last year–his first–to the festival. This year,
the festival will screen 20 Ravidat selections, including a handful distributed
by the Children of the French Cinema, and a retrospective of the work of director
Jacques Becker. Ravidat said he put together a slate of films designed to demonstrate
the diversity, emotion, intelligence and sensitivity of French cinema.
“My choice of movies also [tries] to make a bridge between the past and future,”
Ravidat said.
To this end, the festival will pay tribute to the late Becker and his son,
Jean, also an acclaimed director.
The elder Becker will be represented by Golden Helmet and It Happened
at the Inn.
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The festival will screen Jean
Becker‘s Crime in Paradise and The Children of the Marshland.
He also will receive a lifetime achievement award at the festival’s gala award show on Saturday.
Next year’s PBIFF may not place the same importance on French cinema, Fraine
said. If there is a positive response to the French selections, Fraine said, the
PBIFF might highlight films from other countries in future years.
Ravidat, a festival board member, may have other plans. Saying that the festival
sometimes puts its social events ahead of content, Ravidat is pushing for a deal
between the festival and UniFrance. Dedicated to the promotion of French movies
abroad, UniFrance once sponsored the now-defunct Sarasota (Fla.) French Film Festival.
The association’s representatives will attend the festival.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aarsonson, the driving force behind the
PBIFF and its formation, has said he would embrace a UniFrance partnership, but
that the festival will never become a purely Gallic affair.
“We will always have the Palm Beach International Film Festival,” Fraine said
emphatically.
Ravidat said he “does not want to take control” of the PBIFF, that he just
wants the chance to create a unique festival “so the world will talk about it.”
A partnership with UniFrance, and an attempt to bring other local arts organizations
into the fold, would achieve this goal, he said. UniFrance also would add money
to the coffers of the nonprofit PBIFF.
Irrespective of his potential future plans, Ravidat and the Children of the
French Cinema have paid for and arranged visits to the PBIFF by a slew of French
filmmakers and industry figures, including actress Isabelle
Candelier and director Gabriel
Auer. He also is responsible for the PBIFF bestowing a lifetime achievement
award to actress Leslie Caron,
star of An American in Paris, Fanny, Father Goose, Chocolat
and CBS’ upcoming remake of Murder on the Orient Express. The PBIFF will
screen Gigi in Caron‘s honor.
The PBIFF also will honor Aarsonson, the first recipient of the newly established
PBIFF Commissioner Burt Aaronson Founder’s Award. He will receive the award named
after him–given to a community or business leader who aids the festival’s development–for
his long-lasting commitment to the PBIFF.
Caron was scheduled to receive her award Saturday in person, but bowed out
last week due to a scheduling conflict.
“That’s tough, especially as it’s been promoted,” Fraine said.
The gala’s star power will come from actor-dancer Gregory
Hines, the evening’s entertainment.
The celebrity factor does generate plenty of attention for a film festival,
said St. Louis’ Clark, but it’s a matter of being able to persuade stars to come
or finding the funds to pay for their flight and accommodations.
The PBIFF does pay homage to stars with local ties. Past honorees include
homegrown talent Burt Reynolds
and former Miami resident Sylvester
Stallone. Last year’s gala almost served as a de facto premiere for Rules
of Engagement, minus a screening of the military courtroom drama: Tommy
Lee Jones, who plays polo in Palm Beach County during the winter months, and
director William Friedkin
received lifetime achievement awards. Co-star Samuel
L. Jackson also attended.
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Blame the looming actors and writers strikes for the lack of celebrities at this year’s gala and festival, Fraine said.
“With the strikes, it’s very difficult to try and lock someone in,” she said.
Case in point: Robert
Duvall, who stars in opening night film A Shot at Glory as the manager
of a Scottish soccer club. Diamond wanted Duvall to attend with director Michael
Corrente, but Duvall needed to go to Argentina to make a tango-related film produced by Francis
Ford Coppola.
Screened last September in Toronto, A Shot at Glory will receive its
U.S. premiere Thursday at the PBIFF. The film, which also co-stars Michael
Keaton as the soccer club owner, does not have an U.S. distributor. The festival
could serve as a launching pad for A Shot at Glory, or for some of the
other unclaimed films.
A regional film festival slot is the best way to generate significant word of mouth–newspaper articles and reviews, in particular–for a film struggling to garner attention, Clark said.
Kermit Christman, the co-writer and producer of Do You Want to Know A Secret?, views his film’s closing night berth as the perfect way to stir up interest in his slice-’em-and-dice’em chiller. The film will bypass theaters, ending up either on cable or on a shelf in a Blockbuster near you.
“The secret is letting people know it’s there,” said Christman, who also produced Clean and Narrow. “The film festival increases awareness. Florida knows about it. It’s on the Internet.”
“When the film festival asked we to participate, and we said yes, Miramax called. Other studios called. The word’s going around.”
