PUSAN GOES BRONX? CITY ISLAND HITS KOREATOWN? MOVIES TIL DAWN GOES TWEET-HAPPY?

Forget the fact that none of us were invited to Korea for the 14th Annual Pusan International Film Festival for what I assume must be the Korean Premiere of "City Island"; I didn't even know there was such a festival. I won't kick and scream as I did about Rio because frankly I don't think I could have handled traveling to South Korea. Still, had I known a bit more about the lovely participants at the festival (above)...scratch that. I'm a married man. Here's an awfully nice blog review of "City island" by somebody named McGarmot who saw it at the Pusan festival.Big time thanks for the nice words. Give me a call sometime if you need a reference.

And here's more about the Pusan International film festival then you ever need to know. Turns out they were the first film festival ever to exist in Korea--and that they only began in 1996. I wonder why it took so long for them to catch on to what the rest of the worlds chamber of commerces had already figured out: film festivals are bigtime civic events and super crowd pleasers. If I were ever elected Mayor of a city that didn't have one, my first order of business would be to get the local film festival underway. Anway, glad they're there in Pusan and that they showed our movie.

Item: Deauville already seems like a year ago. And yet just recently the following bit of video surrounding our movie and Andy's honorary evening turned up on youtube. Quite interesting:



And now for Ghent, which already seems like six months ago (I think we were there last week?) The following is a very nice
combination tribute to Andy and interview with his fab daughter Dominik, who as fatithful readers of this blog probably know, plays his daughter in the movie. In the opening of this piece, you'll see Andy arriving at our Ghent premiere and you'll occasionally glimpse a fast-aging man with salt and pepper hair and pompous-looking eyeglasses behind him. That would be me. I'm so glad I didn't become an actor. I can't bear the sight of me on screen. By the way, there are quite a few extended clips from the movie within here, enough to satisfy any of you who continue to wonder when they'll get to see the movie...and if, in fact, it actually truly exists outside of my fevered imagination.

Moving on to Twitter. I've become quite convinced that one of the heavy promotional tools for our movie--indeed, one of the heavy tools of our lives as we know it--is Twitter. This is strange since the whole idea of Twitter seemed inane to me only a couple of months ago (even though I quickly signed up for an account--more a spasm of early onset middle-age fear of seeming out of it then anything else). But I've been reading up on it and following my tweets and lets face it--sharing small bits of instant information is addictive, easy, and quite revelatory. For instance I follow Ted Hope--well known indie film producer (and by the way my first ever boss--he was the Key Production Assistant on the first movie I ever had a job on the name of which I've forgotten that was shot in New York City in the dismal summer of 1985...oh well, lets skip that part of our history since we've all presumably moved on to better things...) Anyway, Ted is a visionary about the future of cinema, communication and the way in which real time web stuff is going to impact us all. And though he's been blogging for awhile, it's his tweets that I'm finding most heroically useful. Lots of info, thoughts and ruminations on the ride we're all taking and where we might wind up. Click here to follow him.

So what I'm thinking is: this blog, of course, will continue apace. Better than that, actually, since once I finish my new script I'll start blogging more regularly. But I'll be tweeting every day--almost always with a link to something that I think will be of interest. Click here to follow me on Twitter. If you like what I'm saying/showing you, and if you want to help promote the release of "City Island", re-tweet me to your friends. And send the link to others so that my measely (but much appreciated) nineteen followers grows a bit over the next couple of months. I'm forced to repeat Conan O'Brien's joke about the combined time wasting website that utilizes youtube, twitter and facebook called: "YouTwitFace". Funny though it was a few months ago, time has rendered the joke obsolete; we appear to be on a viral path of no return in which we find ourselves, others and our mutual interests in constant communication, clicking and linking and friending and tweeting ourselves into a mad future that can only be comprehended whilst engaged in a Manhattan Up (Makers Mark preferably)...and while watching a nice old clip such as the following on the ubiquitous youtube. Jeepers Creepers! Take it Satch...

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CITY ISLAND: LET'S GO GHENT!

Well, before I could say "If it's Tuesday it must be Belgium", the invaluble JC has managed to locate press and photos of our trip to Ghent that are so recent, they seem to have been pubiished before having actually occurred. Actually, two nights ago was the gala screening of "City Island" and the lifetime achievement award for Andy Garcia. Note that his actress/co-star/daughter Dominik was with us and that Andy wore his trademark "wintertime only" beret. Thanks, JC, for posting this link in a language I can't identify (Flemish?) If you want more photos and stuff, go to the comments section of my last post and scroll to the bottom; JC has helpfully provided links for all to share.

Ghent is a candy-box city, literally, As beautifully crafted, modeled and sweet as the chocolate which its country is so famous for making. I made the tactical error of telling one of our hosts upon arriving that I couldn't wait to see neighboring Bruges (as in "In Bruges"). "But why?", they asked. "Ghent has everything and more. It is alive! Bruges is merely a museum city. Ghent has a university, people, life!" I half-expected them to break into a Flemish chorus of "L'Chaim" and realized, glumly, that I'd stumbled into an old rivalry while merely attempting to behave a trifle more...aware...educated, if you will, about my surroundings than the usual ugly American filmmaker.

But I was hell bent on Bruges anyway--how many trips to Belgium might we reasonably contemplate in this life?--and yesterday five of us went: myself, Andy, Dominik, our associate producer Joe Drago and music agent extrodinaire Laura Engel who was at the festival with several members of her highly prestigious boutique client list: Alexander Desplat (who wrote the wonderful score to "Benjamin Button") and the legendary Marvin Hamlisch ("A Chorus Line", "The Way We Were" etc.). Bruges turned out to be far from a museum--a bustling, beautifully kept and frankly touristy little medieval spot. We managed a horse-and-buggy tour--Laura was hip to this specialty of the area and "produced" the entire thing--which was lovely and terrifying all at once. Andy smoked his cigar while bundled in the back of the carriage, a touch that I found very swashbuckling. Indeed the whole thing felt so of another century that I couldn't help stealing a favorite Orson Welles line upon entering a taxi cab in New York (as quoted in Peter Bogdanovich's "This Is Orson Welles" and re-quoted to me by PB in similar circumstances--we were getting in a cab on Central Park West in deep rush hour--and hereby requoted by me with no permission whatsoever...JESUS, STOP ME): "And a gold doubloon to you, sir, if you get us there before nightfall!"

Said to the average New York City cabbie, it's funny because it's meaningless. Said to the horse and buggy driver in Bruges, it somehow makes sense. Now picture an aging Orson Welles saying it as he lumbers into a taxi after giving his destination and you get it fully. Here's Andy and I in the town center of beautiful Bruges.



The big closing night ceremony bit that all these festivals have was something called the "Soundtrack Awards", a televised
event where they give out awards of various sorts for music in movies. M. Desplat won two. Marvin Hamlisch was the "lifetime acheivement" guy. He played "The Way We Were" on the piano with a singer who looked but didn't sound like Barbara Striesand, a truly unfortunate combination. Then he conducted the orchestra in "One" from "A Chorus Line", with footage from what I presume to be the film version of the show (a flop from the eighties with Michael Douglas as the director who in the show wisely remains an off-stage presence only).

Afterwards, Andy, Joe and I (and the cool-as-all-get out Laura Engel) had dinner with Marvin Hamlisch and his wife, Teri. Now most people know Marvin from the above mentioned credits; when I was a kid, everyone thought he wrote Scot Joplin's "The Entertainer" from the Redford/Newman/David Ward/George Roy Hill classic "The Sting". The truth was he didn't; he had the cleverness to fit that ancient piece of ragtime to the picture and adapted it for the film. Obviously "The Way We Were" and "A Chorus Line" were hugely successful events in their time--and these he most definately did write. But what I remembered about Hamlisch--which I mentioned to his surprise and I think delight last night--was a record album I had called "An Evening With Groucho". This was Groucho Marx's one man show as presented in the late sixties (prior to Hamlisch's emergence on the big-time circuit) at Carnegie Hall. And who was Groucho's accompaniest? Marvin, of course! Earlier he had been the rehearsal pianist for Streisand when she did "Funny Girl", her breakthrough Broadway hit. This was the stuff I wanted to talk about with Marvin and he was most engaging and--i suspect--happy to talk about a piece of his early life that is now vaguely remembered by others, if at all.

All in all, a lovely film fest experience and one that made me reflect on my youth in an interesting way: for if you were growing up in the early seventies, surrounded by show-biz, and had any musical talent at all, everyone thought you might turn out to
be...you guessed it, Marvin Hamlisch. I remember his success and omnipotence at the time as proof that it paid to practice your piano lessons. And that he was cool enough to play (and conduct) classical music, but could still write hit tunes, hit shows and accompany Groucho Marx. What a pleasure to break bread with the man. Here he is on his extraordinary beginnings as a piano prodigy..

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And here he is on Johnny Carson in 1976 accompanying--get this--Bing Crosby and Ray Bolger. A fine piece of footage and one I hope to mention to Marvin next time...assuming there is a next time.

Spike, Demme and Marty S.: A Raymond De Felitta Joint?

Sorry for the serious lag in updates, posts, entries, what have you. I've been on a major writing roll with my new screenplay and have, literally, been too wrung out from writing every day to post. I took today off so here I am. Plus which I have a story which may amuse some of you. It certainly didn't amuse me.

But first: the good news is that the screenings went extremely well in Rio--EVEN WITHOUT HAVING ME OR STEVEN STRAIT OR THE PRODUCERS PRESENT. But I'm past all that. Really. One door closes, another opens--he says zennishly. I'm delighted the
Brazilians liked the movie and one of these days I may actually deign to visit their country. Assuming of course that they buy me a big fat first class tickets and pay for the hotel.

The other good news is that the generous and lovely organizers of the Ghent Film Festival asked if I'd still like to be their guest. To which I replied: hell yes! So I'm leaving this Wednesday for a five day excursion to a country I've never been to, Belgium. They're honoring Andy Garcia, which means at least one good party and a couple of fine meals, and I'm delighted to have been asked to be part of it. I'll post from there. And Facebook. Hell, I'll tweet the whole thing.

Did you know you can follow me on Twitter? Look on the sidebar of this page and click on the appropriate message (Raymond De Felitta on Twitter--duh). Or go to "city island movie". Not that I've anything very interesting to say--Twitter baffles me still, but I'm quite convinced of the efficacy of the whole thing and the need to plunge ahead into the icy streams of twenty-first century communication/salesmanship etc. To that end, I will be a much more regular presence on Facebook and Twitter as we ramp up for the release of "City Island". Become my follower! Write on my wall! Or just keep reading this good old-fashioned blog, which I started--believe it or not--over two years ago. (Summer '07!)

And now for a little story. You're probably not aware (few people are) that I am the new Chair of the East Coast Special Projects Committee of the Directors Guild of America. What the hell does that mean, you ask? To begin with, the Directors Guild is my union--one of the oldest and certainly strongest of the Guilds (Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild) that exist in the film industry. There are many committees and sub-committees in the DGA and to be asked to serve on them is a real honor. I started my "service" for the Guild back in 2002 when Steven Soderbergh asked me to co-chair the East Coast Independent Directors Committee. Up until that time I'd been a classic non-joiner, non-voter, non-participator. But with Steven's encouragement I began to see the real value of our Guild and of being of service to it. Also I have a lot of time on my hands in between movies so what the hell? (How Steven juggles his life--four movies or so a year plus being the DGA vice-president--is beyond my comprehension. And he doesn't just direct all those movies--he also shoots and edits them. Sheesh.)

Anyway, to be asked to head Special Projects was a distinct honor and one that I couldn't refuse. This committee is the historical heartbeat of the Guild--we collect oral histories on videotape of great directors (always interviewed by another filmmaker) in addition to hosting screenings of new films (with the filmmakers present) and doing cutting edge technology workshops. The other night, I was delighted to present a new film from Mali called "Min Ye" ("Tell Me WHo You Are") written and directed by the distinguished global cinema legened Souleymane Cisse. And guess who interviewed Cisse after the screening? Martin Scorcese. It was the first time I'd met the master and I found him to be terribly pleasant and very well prepared, generous with his time, the whole shmeer.

At the after party, I had an agenda to fulfill. The DGA has yet to collect the oral histories of three New York legends--Scorcese, Jonathan Demme and Spike Lee. We've been trying but all three directors have eluded us--usually sightng scheduling conflicts. All three happened to be attending the after party so I thought I'd take the opportunity to press them a little. Scorcese was first: he told me that he'd like to do it but to ask him after the first of the year when he'd have a better idea of when his new movie was going into production. "Be patient" he advised. I said we would.

Next was Jonathan Demme, who I've met before and whose a lovely gentleman--and a real enthusiast. He'll talk movie history with you any day and has the kind of infectious enthusiasm that makes you realize how he gets such great work out the people he works with; he inspires you, plain and simple. Demme seemed just a bit hesitant--I think the word "history" makes people feel a bit like the interview is a final summing up which it really needn't be at all. Still he said to keep pressing him, he'd find time soon.

And then there was Spike Lee. Now Spike Lee is one of the people responsible for making me an independent filmmaker--he doesn't know this, of course, but like so many people film people my age, he changed my life when he changed the rules of the game with "She's Gotta Have It" and showed us young-un's (I was twenty when that movie came out) that the way to make movies was...to make movies. Just go out and do it--no permission need be granted by men in suits in Hollywood. So I've always admired him and, in a sense, wished I could repay that debt. Perhaps, thought I, the opportunity to sit for an oral history might be a way to do so. After all, it is something of an honor to be asked to recount your career for posterity.

And so I stood there, shaking his hand, telling him who I was and how much his work had meant to me and why the Guild would love to get his interview on tape. He listened, stared, and finally said: "I'm not old enough". Gamely I ventured that perhaps it could be the first of several interviews--we could conduct another in thirty years time. He didn't seem to find this funny. Instead he said: "I don't have time for that." Undaunted, I told him that the interview needn't take a great deal of his valuable time--a half a day would be satisfactory. He stared at me and replied: "How you gonna cover twenty-five years work in half a day?"

At this point I realized that I was barking, so to speak, up the wrong tree. So I shook Spike Lee's hand and told him to keep it in mind. Oy vey. I can't say I wasn't disappointed. Still, his prickliness made me wonder if there's something else bothering him. He's done so much, and he's still relatively young, and it makes me sad to think that that hasn't brought him just a bit more...peace? Generosity? Whatever you want to call it, it's missing and I seemed to have upset him with what I thought was a request he'd be pleased by. Oh well. Sorry Spike. You're still the man. Somebody else better interview you, though...

More from Ghent in a few days. Meanwhile...

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RIO SHMIO

I wish I hadn't eaten that hat.

The Festival du Cinema a la Rio, or whatever the hell they're called, blew us off. Not the movie--they're showing that. But it appears that my presence and (Steven Strait's) wasn't quite ringing the same bell for them that Andy Garcia's was. His inability to attend ended their interest in sending us plane tickets and putting us up on the beaches at Copacabana.

Chica Chica Boom Chic.

Bitter? Not at all. A bit annoyed at what I think it's totally fair to call a lack of professionalism. After all, they didn't have to invite us in the first place. But I'm glad they're showing the film and I fully intend to visit Rio some other time. Like maybe in the next life.

Click here to read the New York Times article announcing the good news: Rio has won the bid for the 2016 Olympics. Congrats, muchachos. I hope you plan on picking up the athlete's accommodations. Maybe that's why they blew us off--they were saving their pesos for the javelin thrower.

Chica Chica Boom.

Meanwhile, Andy Garcia--accompanied by the movie of course--will be appearing at the Ghent Film Festival in the middle of this month. I will not be attending even though they invited me. The reason? Well, at the time they invited me I had this other invitation from this festival in Rio and it seemed like too much flying. Furthermore, I reasoned that since Andy was unable to make Rio, it would be awfully big of me to turn down Ghent so the movie would be represented by somebody in Rio. I didn't exactly expect a South American Good Will Medal for this act, but it seemed rude to me to leave poor Brazil in the lurch, while the two of us galivanted across Belgium. Result? NOTHING. No thanks, no medal, no trips.

Chica Chica Boom Boom.

Angry? Again, no! I need the time to write my new screenplay and frankly I'm always happiest getting off a plane when it's at JFK. And anyway, there's always GoogleEarth to show me as much of Rio as one truly needs to see--aside, of course, from the Twentieth Century Fox Rio on view in all those Carmen Miranda musicals (see below). Pardon me, am I sounding especially acrid? Must have been that plate of Brazilian food that was placed in front of me and then snatched away while I, fork in mid-air, sat goofily and trustingly by.

All right, out of my system. I'll appeal to my higher power for direction--my higher power being a quart size bottle of Absolut, mixed with Perrier and a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy the movie, all you nutty Brazilians. Hope the projector doesn't break down halfway through. Don't blame me if it does. What's the Brazilian word for Karma? Chica Chica Boom, for Chrissakes...

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