Hello, there.

Holowicki

This past weekend, I went to the Hannibal film festival. I know I would typically be writing about music, but I have a special affinity for film, too.

Anyhow, one of the guys on from Quincy’s Big Dam Film Festival committee asked me if I wanted a free ticket and I said “yes.” Well, he ended up flaking out on me, and there I was, stranded without a ticket. So, I thought, “I’m gonna go anyway!”

It was held at the end of the main commercial strip in the B&B Theater’s Main Street Cinema 8, 100 S. Main St.

I went Saturday afternoon, not Friday when the festival began. Starting at noon that day, at any given time, there were two theaters operating showing indie films from all over the world.

Admission was $5 for each segment, which included a short and medium film and a feature, taking running nearly two hours a segment. If you wanted to see additional segments you had to pay another 5 bucks, which I thought was excessive.

Two of the more notable films were “Virtual JFK” and “World of Art.” “Virtual JFK” is an editorial depiction of what the country and hence, the Vietnam conflict, would have been like had Kennedy not been assassinated. Very accurate from a technical perspective and very interesting conceptually.

The second was “World of Art,” an obscure representation about a man named Art who gets casts into the real life settings of the world’s most notable works of art in progress. Shot entirely in southeastern Michigan, Art meets the real Mona Lisa, Auguste Rodin’s the Thinker, and Van Gogh in his famous straw hat painting his self portrait, among others. The visual effects of this film were far beyond what one would deem as indie, from the costuming, the set designs down to people getting pulled into the art frames and cast into the scene from which they were created.

What made the festival special were the peripheral events. There was a screenwriting workshop and an actor’s workshop both offered by renowned playwright and screenwriter Ron Simonian for an extra $15 a piece, with all proceeds going toward the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum.

Thursday night featured an opening night cocktail party, and music by the Slasher Kings at the Hannibal Arts Council. Friday night featured a murder mystery cocktail party and Saturday and Sunday featured a Meet and Greet Brunch with members of the cast and crew from several of the films.

Although the turnout appeared to be small, it was a great time and great that the festival coordinators made an entire weekend out of it. I’ll plan on going next year, too!

Steve Holowicki