In 2003, Dale Pollock, the one-time dean of the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, brought the RiverRun International Film Festival to Winston-Salem, from its original home along the French Broad River in Brevard, NC. My colleague at Wake Forest at that time, Linda Dunlap, turned me on to it and I first went in April 2004, when it was just a four-day festival.
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| 500 Days of Summer (RRIFF 2009) View Trailer on YouTube |
Then, from 2005 to 2009, I was a manic movie attender each time the festival came around. I've seen so many great films, from full-length features to documentaries to animated and a wide variety of short films...domestic and foreign, full-time professional filmmakers and film students...the whole range. Then, my work schedule got too full and too crazy and I had not attended RiverRun in 10 years. Until this past week, that is!
Between Friday April 5 and Sunday April 14, I saw 70 films at RiverRun (the number is high because the screenings included seven different collections of shorts, ranging from six to 11 films each). Some of those were at the ACE Cinema Complex on the UNCSA campus. One film was at SECCA; one was over in Greensboro at the RED Cinemas. Fortunately, several were at HanesBrands Theatre and at Aperture Cinema, both of which are walking distance from the house. Except for the few days when there were some heavy downpours, it made my attendance all the easier and all that much more cool, given my downtown residence.
Years ago, I ended up with one of the RiverRun inner tubes that various businesses around town displayed to advertise and support the Festival. I put it up on the second story porch rail for the very same reason this year.
So there's been much less kitchen activity while I was indulging my film passions. The Festival was fantastic, though, and I'm already missing it now that it's over. Then again, it finished up just in time for me to scramble and do my taxes at the last minute!
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