For half a century, Sydney Pollack and Laszlo Kovacs each worked at creating many of America”s most famous movies without ever meeting face to face.
Friday night that changed. They exchanged a hug at the Mendocino Film Festival Opening Night Gala in a tent outside the MacCallum House.
That hug “scene” and that tent “setting” were typical “script” elements in an inaugural festival that was intimate, economical and sometimes glamorous.
The tent was borrowed from a bride and groom whose romantic Mendocino wedding was apparently complemented by the gala environment provided by the independent art films.
The Mendocino Film Festival found several such creative ways to save money, but the report on whether it made or lost money was unavailable at press time.
Filmmakers and movie buffs who attended were impressed that a first-year festival could lure two moviemaking legends along with more than 60 movies.
The success with celebrities from the other end of the state can be attributed in large part to the allure of the Mendocino Coast. Pollack has a part-time home in Comptche.
“He has people pulling at him all the time, said Keith Brandman, president of the board of directors of the Mendocino Film Festival. “For him to put himself in this position without any gain is great. He flew his own jet up here. It”s just him being incredibly nice.”
Kovacs” good friend is Rich “Aggie” Aguilar, who was gaffer in many films while Kovacs was the cinematographer or chief photographer. Aguilar retired to the Mendocino Coast three years ago and is a board member of the festival.
Kovacs said the artistic village at the end of a long, winding road is a lot like good film-making itself.
“This location, the scenery, the architecture, Mendocino is a jewel, it”s the perfect environment for a film festival,” Kovacs said. “This is not an easy place to get to. The people who want to come must doubly desire it, which is how it should be in film.”
Pollack”s credits as director include a long list of famous movies like “Electric Horseman,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Cold Mountain.”
Mostly as a cinematographer, Kovacs” work includes “Easy Rider,” “Mask” and “My Best Friend”s Wedding.”
Pollack and Kovacs were dressed comfortably and were easy to approach, offering advice one-on-one to young filmmakers, seeming much more like two senior professors than celebrities.
Kovacs said he feels film festivals are indeed his classroom and is thrilled to share his knowledge with young filmmakers.
“I would love to be part of this festival next year. I told Keith I”m only a phone call away,” Kovacs said.
While he decried the modern corporate style of moviemaking as “corrupted” and akin to “manufacturing soap” and said the best films were made in the 1970s, he said film festivals like Mendocino are the bright side of modern cinematography.
“I remember when I was a film student, I would have died for something this good,” Kovacs said.
At a question and answer session, Pollack described being discovered by Burt Lancaster, close encounters with the dreamy Woody Allen and perfectionist Stanley Kubrick, providing insight into how artistic talent can originate in different ways.
Pollack said the combination of multinational corporate conglomerate ownership, demands for huge box-office takes on the first weekend and audience demands for sensation is bad for the art of moviemaking
“We have grown a mass audience that is very hungry for sensation. There are movies now you can”t watch without going deaf. There is an impatience with things that are linear, (films) have to get the clothes off quick or the gun out fast.”
He said the big conglomerates are used to making repeatable products and stifle creativity by making essentially the same move over and over.
“That is why you start a festival like this. What you are encouraging is alternative choices to mainstream flimmaking, which has become cookie cutter. One of the great things about film festivals is that they do encourage work that is not the 27th copy of something, not the fifth sequel.”
Pollack and his partner rejected the script for “The Da Vinci Code,” now a blockbuster hit. He praised actors like George Clooney for taking less money to make worthy films like “Good Night and Good Luck.”
The glamor at the festival was provided by Carl Lumbly, star of TV”s “Alias,” who delivered a flawless performance as master of ceremonies Saturday night, praising and sometimes kidding locals like Jim Hay and Tom Yates for their community accomplishments and contributions to the festival.
Danny Glover, who had hoped to come for just two hours, got stuck in traffic and didn”t make it to Mendocino.
“[Glover] was gracious enough to agree to come up for a two-hour period. After running into traffic in Santa Rosa, it appeared he would only be here for 15 to 20 minutes. I could not in good conscience ask him to make the long arduous trip only to turn around and make it again,” said Brandman.
Lumbly, who is Glover”s good friend, said Glover would appear next year at the festival.
Festival attendees liked the varied ambiance of Mendocino, with venues ranging from St. Anthony”s Catholic Church to Rick”s at the Hill House. While the film festival encouraged Mendocino casual, some locals brought out the glamor garb for the elegant and crowded opening gala and the awards ceremony.
Monika Skerbelis, head of the Big Bear Film Festival in Southern California, praised the new festival.
“This festival is on the right track. The are a lot of filmmakers here. I went to the Sydney Pollack event, he was great. Lazlo is a gem, he was so good to all the filmmakers, he gave them so much time and encouragement.”
She said films have been shot in the Big Bear Lake area due to their festival and she anticipates similar action in Mendocino.
“It is about getting on the radar. So many films have been shot in Mendocino. To be here is a refresher.”
Skerbelis ventured north while in town and thinks the festival should involve Fort Bragg in the future.
Marcie Schorg, publicist for the film festival, said those plans were in the works this year.
“We tried to involve the Coast Cinema this year, however May is when they show their blockbuster movies and it didn”t work out,” Schorg said. The festival also wanted to involve Cotton Auditorium but ran out of time while working out the logistics, she said.
The film festival, in addition to donating a percentage of profits to reinstate the study of film making in the high schools, is donating to the Mendocino County Film Office, Schorg said
Set-up worker Craig Jones remembers the failure of other local film festivals over the years, calling this the fifth attempt.
“I believe it will the first time in history an inaugural film festival is going to be in the black, but they look to me like they are going to pull it off,” he said.
Jones attributed the initial success to the energy and organization of this crew. There has been opposition to films and film festivals in the past, but that did not surface this time, organizers said.
Manhattan filmmaker and photojournalist Spencer Mandell brought a documentary on the presidential elections in Afghanistan that he hoped would be well received in Mendocino.
“A more liberal, forward-thinking community might be more interested in a political documentary like this. I don”t feel like I have to sell myself here. People are more friendly,” Mandell said.
Natasha Levitan of the upstart Film Festival Channel was also impressed by the quality of the entries and celebrities, having seen many of the films at other film festivals.
The film festival”s trophy, a distinctive glass water tower with bit of film inside, designed by Yorgen Kvinsland, wowed the crowd.
The winners of the Feature Film and Documentary categories get a special screening as well as a four-hour reception at the adjoining art gallery at the Wilshire Screening Room in Beverly Hills.
Winning films:
Films About Art: “Purvis of Overtown”
Documentary Short: “Recycled Life”
Narrative Short: “Rumble”
Documentary Feature: “Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea”
Feature Films: “The Gold Bracelet”
Special Jury Award: “The Real Dirt on Farmer John”
Organizers anticipate the festival will be held in May again next year.
