Local, digital, film

~Since they teamed up to start Cape's first film festival two years ago, Michael Huntington and Pat Bond have been two of the most visible faces in a small-but-growing local film movement. And despite disagreements and an up-close taste of the way big Hollywood does things (remember 'Killshot'?) the two are still at it, preparing for their third Show Me Digital Film Festival Feb. 24 at Port Cape. To get involved or for more information visit www.showmefilmfest.com.

With a new emphasis on all-local film, the pair hope to make this year's festival better than ever and shine more light on local filmmakers. Bond and Huntington recently sat down and talked to OFF about local film and the festival.

OFF: How does the upcoming festival compare with those of the past?

Michael: We're looking to have a good festival this year. Our emphasis is on local filmmakers. We're tyring to show the city and the region some of the talent we have here. We think we have a good slate of films. A lot of people have said they're going to come out ... and that's what we're looking at doing, just get the people out, entertain them with some films and get them involved in Southeast Missouri.

Pat: We really liked our first year.

We didn't have as many local films last year, and we want to get back to local films, because it shows people things are going on here.

Michael: We've gotten submissions from several countries ... we're definitely on the map ... but in order to get the people in the seats here, they want to see what's going on here.

Pat: The other thing that's different this year is we moved away from the college -- we're upstairs at Port Cape. Granted, it only holds half the people, but I think it's a little more comfortable. And there's going to be food ... and a cash bar, so I think people will get into it a little bit more than sitting in a college theater watching a movie.

Michael: But we were never sponsored by the university.

We always wanted to try to come down here because we want to try to help vitalize the artistic scene down here. I think our venue's a good venue. It's going to be relaxed and fun and we'll be able to get about 150, maybe 200, people in, and for their six dollar ticket, six dollars in advance, nine at the door, they'll be able to watch four or five hours of films and meet the local filmmakers and we'll feed them and we'll entertain them afterwards, we'll have a band perform afterwards, and it will be a good thing. We anticipate we're going to sell it out

this year.

OFF: Are all the films short or are there features?

Pat: They're going to range from two minutes to probably 18 minutes. We're trying to stick with shorter movies this year.

I hate to say it, but if there's a movie you don't like, stick through it and it's going to be over in five minutes and something else is going to be on.

Michael: You have breaks. People don't have to sit there. The shorter films, it works a lot better.

In future years Pat and I have talked about multiple venues and maybe one of the venues being features.

OFF: Does it seem like there's more interest in local film?

Pat: Going back to "Dark Garden," when we premiered that, we met a lot of people at that premiere that wanted to get involved with either writing, acting, music, whatever, so we picked people up. Then after our first film festival we got submissions from people we didn't even know. So I think by having a film festival, it's getting people's interest in knowing you don't have to leave Cape if you want to do something, whatever you want to do.

Michael: I think there continues to be a core group of people, the hardcore filmmakers, probably about a dozen, maybe two dozen, people that will be there for every project. And probably two dozen more peripheral people that are available to work ... maybe even equally people that come in for one or two projects. But I think we're right on the cusp, right on the verge, where over the course of the next year or two, paying projects, paying feature films are going to be coming, to where people are going to start looking at it professionally. Right now we can just work on shorts and we can work on features and people are pretty much volunteering. People can't quit their day job. I can't quit my day job right now and take three or four weeks off to work on somebody's film, because I've got bills, and that's the way it is with everybody. But over the course of the next year, there's some good possibilities and opportunities of us kind of kicking it in professionally. And I think once we start having some professional projects, and it's only going to take one, it's only going to take one feature, professional film that makes money, for us to get to that point where people aren't just hangers-on and groupies, they're going to actually show up.

OFF: Do you think filmmaking is starting to be embraced as another art form in Cape?

Pat: What I think is, I can go home and paint a picture, and I'm not saying it will be easy, because I'm not a painter, but it's something, once I'm done with it, here you go. But if I shoot a movie, I've got months of planning, then I've got to shoot it, then I've got to edit it, so the process is longer. I think for people to grasp onto that is going to be a little bit harder. But even a lot of Hollywood movies now are independent movies, and I think people are starting to like independent movies.

Michael: I have always said that film is the ultimate art form. There's a lot of people who don't consider it part of the artistic community, but it's the only art form that encompasses all the other ones: theater, writing, acting, visual, photography, costume, all that, and it's a little more intangible for people to grasp. For one, it's a community-type thing. When you have a play or a film or whatever it tends to be sort of compact, and it's a little hard to get to unless you have the finished product. A painting you can go see in the gallery or whatever, but films, you've got to go see it at the one or two events or whatever.

But I think people know that we've got stuff going on. I think "Killshot" put a little focus on that, and film festivals showed people there's stuff going on. I think what it's going to take is it's going to take us to just keep our wheels moving and eventually something's going to hit. Eventually we're going to have something that's going to do well at a film festival elsewhere, you know a Sundance or something, or we're going to make a million dollars on a movie.

We've got our core group of people, and we're not stopping, we're not going anywhere, and it's just getting better and improving more and we'll try to have these film festivals each year to encourage local filmmakers and the talent. We're not making any money off this. We're doing this for ... three reasons: we love film, we want to show the works that we've done to people that haven't seen them, and three, we're reaching out.