San Diego Film Festival cures summer blockbuster blues

    Now that the mind-numbing season of summer blockbusters has come to an end, and the more provocative fall films have only started making their appearance, what is there to do in the meantime? How about cruising over to downtown San Diego to watch some independent films?

    The third annual San Diego Film Festival will be held in the Gaslamp Quarter between Sept. 29 and Oct. 3. The fest will feature 80 film screenings, including 22 feature films, five documentaries and 53 shorts. All films will be screened at the Pacific Gaslamp 15 Theatre, located at the corner of Fifth Avenue and G Street. In addition, there will be six panels and seminars, a glamorous red carpet opening celebration and several 21-and-over festival parties.

    More than 1,200 entries were submitted this year, and the 80 that were ultimately chosen encompass the gamut of film genres.

    These morsels include comedies, dramas, thrillers, romances, personal memoirs, a film noir, a western and “The Hunting of the President,” a documentary exploring political lynching as director Harry Thomason follows the effort to discredit former President Bill Clinton.

    This year’s program is bound to please even the most selective moviegoers. The lighter features include the romantic comedy “Angels with an Attitude.” In the film, a blues singer, a drag queen and a beauty queen — all of whom are angels — attempt to outmaneuver each other in order to find redemption in love.

    “Bad Meat” tells the story of two ill-fated lovers who try to kidnap a U.S. Congressman (played by none other than Chevy Chase) for ransom.

    “Nothing Without You” documents a man’s experiment in community as he sets out in the nude and without water, food or a single possession to the Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert and observes whether other people will provide him with necessities to survive for a week.

    In the drama “Beat the Drum,” a nine-year-old Zulu boy takes a journey across Africa after he loses both of his parents to AIDS. “Around the Bend” features a top-notch cast, including Michael Caine and Christopher Walken, and focuses on a random meeting of four generations of men who must uncover the truth about their family’s past. “Never Been Done” spotlights the life of Jon Comer, the first professional skateboarder with a prosthetic leg. “Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power” is a documentary about the overlooked civil rights figure who called for armed resistance against the violent Jim Crow South.

    Fourteen-year-old Celeste Davis stars in “Purgatory House,” a film she wrote about a lonely teenage girl who leaves behind her chaotic, drug-tainted life to look for love in the afterlife. In director Brad Anderson’s “The Machinist,” Trevor (a physically deprived Christian Bale) is suffering from insomnia and questions his sanity after he starts to see an imaginary co-worker at the machine shop where he works. The documentary “Tying the Knot” trails the political clash between gay people who want to marry and others who are determined to prevent gay unions.

    The short film collection is separated into eight categories: “You Laughing At Me?” contains adult comedy with films like “A Funny Thing Happened at the Quick Mart” and “Perils in Nude Modeling”; “Got Comedy?” comprises general audience comedies such as “One of the Oldest Con Games” and “The Last Butterfinger”; “Life Cuts Like a Knife” is a category of adult dramas like “Getaway Ben” and “Mind Game”; “In the Moment” is general audience drama, such as “Chasing Daylight” and “Natural Selection”; “Celluloid I” and “Celluloid II” feature San Diego filmmakers with shorts like “The Martyr” and “My Beautiful Wickedness,” and the last set consists of “Innovative Videos in Education.”

    The seminars and panels will take place on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3. On Oct. 2 there will be a writer’s boot camp, a panel discussion on how to make a successful short film and an acting session with four film and television stars.

    The following day will include a panel discussing the casting process and a step-by-step guide for nailing auditions, a seminar in which prominent talent agents will discuss their business and a discussion of what it takes to make an independent film.

    Festival passes range from the $250 all-access VIP pass to a $60 screening pass, and individual tickets cost $10.

    However, students receive a 20-percent discount on all passes. Typically more than 15,000 individuals attend the five-day event, and seating is limited for each screening, so tickets sell out quickly.

    To purchase passes, to look at the film schedule or to find other pertinent information about parking or venues, check out the festival website at http://www.sdff.org.

    With a ticket in hand, you will be free to enjoy the perks of being an insider in the forum of independent film, and you might also rouse your mind from its summer slumber.

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