By Naomi Gish
The coastal town pulled together the weekend of September 25-27 and created an atmosphere quite unlike any other for the 16th annual Port Townsend Film Festival. Seasoned professionals as well as newcomers to the industry enjoyed what was one packed weekend of film.
Filmmaker Steve Edmiston (The Maury Island Incident) who served on the board this year rather than entering a film, said, “it’s really just the right film festival. You go to one that’s huge and you’re completely lost and don’t know what to do. You go to another and there’s too little. Port Townsend is the best festival because of its size and the community that supports it.”
The main drag, Water Street, was host to four theaters with three more on Taylor Street that showed up to five films each day of the festival. These included feature length and short program compilations of both documentary and narrative content.
Other than films, a few special presentations at the festival featured conversations with esteemed actors, Q-and-A with directors and a few discussion panels including filmmakers from every walk sharing personal stories or insight into their industry.
On Friday and Saturday evening, Taylor Street gave way to the masses of families that had come to watch the kid-oriented film showing on a large inflatable screen, free of charge for all ages.
Charming musicians on every street corner serenaded film junkies queuing for their next movie while girls in black dresses and caps enticed with boxes of goodies for sale worn round their necks.
An impromptu street dance that broke out Friday night outside the Rose Theater strip was a bit of a perfect introduction to the guests that this was indeed one special festival they’d shown up to.
“Quirky! Yeah that’s the exact word I’d use to describe this place,” said Cesar Beitia of the Seattle Film Institute. He and his classmates in the film-scoring department of SFI had traveled to Port Townsend to partake in the festival on a scholarship they’d received.
“To meet people and make connec- tions is what we’re here for,” another student said, fanning his business cards out as a show of his commitment to this endeavor.
While some festival attendees had objectives like the film scholars, most were people who have a true passion for film and believe it has a powerful voice in society.