Nantucket is a magical place where even the film and video geeks get BMWs (note the side of the car says “Official Vehicle of the Nantucket Film Festival”):
These are the perfect cars for an island untouched by the likes of MacDonald’s and Burger King, and yet where the Bavarian Motorworks has established a firm foothold via proxy. Perhaps MacDonalds can drop Big Macs via parachute? Starbucks can shoot lattes over from Hyannis via cannon? Who knows? All I know is that I had a great time despite the snafus typical of any artisitic convention, festival, or workshop.
The movies were good. Not great, but good, and I should caveat this with the fact that I am not a fan of documentaries, which were all I saw here because I was unable to secure tickets to the main attractions - so take my opinion for what it’s worth. Also, there are two more days of the Festival and I will not be attending so for all I know I missed out on the best films ever made, and I did not hit the late night story telling. My recommendation based on what I did attend: Don’t miss the “Morning Coffee with…” series; there really is nothing like having a chance to interact with professionals in the film industry in a question and answer session, especially if film is your business. Here is Kevin Clash again, in a still from yesterday’s session (he is on the far right, sans Elmo, and here’s an interesting fact: Kevin was the only black guy I saw in the past 8 days, unless you count the two men being arrested while I waited in a “stand by” line for tickets; Nantucket is not the most diverse location on Earth):
My suggestions for anyone planning to attend future Nantucket Film Festivals are (1) Buy a pass – prefereably a Patron Pass as this eliminates many of the headaches associated with buying tickets ahead of time or risking the “stand by” lines, (2) plan in advance, and (3) if you’re from out of town, make sure you don’t miss out on all the other stuff Nantucket has – like beaches. That is it; signing out from NFF2011.
