PTFF 2017 Newsletters
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2021 Festivals Past Festivals Filmmakers Join Us About Us and Events and Events PTFF 2017 Newsletters December 11,2017 December 4, 2017 November 16, 2017 November 2, 2017 September 28, 2017 September 12, 2017 September 1, 2017 August 23, 2017 August 20, 2017 August 10, 2017 August 3, 2017 July 28, 2017 July 21, 2017 July 5, 2017 June 21, 2017 June 3, 2017 April 26, 2017 March 30, 2017 March 23, 2017 March 9, 2017 March 1, 2017 February 16, 2017 February 3, 2017 January 28, 2017 December 11, 2017 You truly are a super hero of the arts. That’s no exaggeration. You understand, more than anyone else, how important arts are to the robust health and happiness of our community. Your vision and support each year ensures that the show will go on. Your support has put PTFF and Port Townsend on the map as one of the best film festivals in the United States. Even Variety magazine thinks so. Your underwriting also covers a mission near and dear to our hearts: During the year, we bring documentary filmmakers, one at a time, and take them to local schools, colleges and fellowships to offer hope and solutions for some of our community’s toughest challenges, such as PTSD, homelessness, abuse, autism and even suicide. You also understand the power of film to inspire hope (and solutions) when things look hopeless. As a patron of the arts, you also know that your support helps pay year- round costs for PTFF, such as April’s Women & Film weekend, our Film Fellowship, scholarships for film students and support for community projects–when even paying the rent can be staggering for an arts organization. Speaking of staggering costs: We now begin rounds of negotiation with Hollywood agents—and let me tell you, they’re a tough bunch. For example, a few years ago, we were poised to sign a contract with a star in July. But, at the last minute, she accepted a casting call for Star Wars. Imagine that! And in 2015, we were shocked when both Beau Bridges and Chris Cooper said yes (then you helped pay them both). Why would a film professional, sometimes paid thousands per day for their time, even consider us? Because your support has allowed us to grow into a solid, trustworthy, arts organization that delivers what it promises. You truly are the superhero of our Festival story. It’s easy to donate. Just click the pink button below to our secure Paypal site. Wishing you the very best in this season of giving, Janette Force, Executive Director for PTFF 211 Taylor Street, Suite 401A Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-379-1333/ Cell 360-774-1978 www.ptfilmfest.com December 4, 2017 First Tuesday Salon: Faces Places screens at the Rose Theatre 12/5 @ 7pm 2015 PTFF Film Fellow premieres at SUNDANCE! Welcome 2018 Film Fellow Lana Wilson At 88, French New Wave icon Agnes Varda found a kindred spirit in JR, the acclaimed 33-year-old photographer and artist who shared her passion for images. Deciding to collaborate, they traveled through the French countryside, cameras in hand, speaking with locals and producing large-scale portraits of their faces, turning the stories and lives of these everyday people into art. The result is a road movie unlike any other, a documentary as delightful and inspiring as any work in Varda's legendary career. Join us for a conversation about friendship, road trips, and how these things sustain us years later. Subtitled. Rated PG, 89 min See the trailer HERE. Some of you will remember Alexandria Bombach, awarded our first Film Fellowship with co-director Mo Scarpelli. With the help of several donors, PTFF provided a fully furnished condominium on Water Street for Bombach and Scarpelli from June through August, 2015. Huddled for hours in a windowless room in front of editing screens, they transformed miles of footage they shot in Afghanistan into their completed film, Frame by Frame. Fearlessly shot in war zones, private homes and villages, the film follows four photojournalists who face challenges as they report for the post-Taliban free (but still subject to censure) press. We’ve just learned that Bombach’s newest film, On Her Shoulders is one of 110 feature films selected for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. On Her Shoulders, is a profile of human rights activist Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi, survived genocide and sexual slavery committed by ISIS. Repeating her story to politicians and media, this ordinary girl finds herself thrust onto the world stage as the voice of her people. Away from the podium, she must navigate bureaucracy, fame and people's good intentions. The film will compete with 15 others in the United States Documentary competition at Sundance, Jan. 18- 28, 2018. Bombach’s film made the final cut over 3,901 feature length films submitted to Sundance this year. Frame by Frame screened at the Port Townsend Film Festival and won prizes around the world. It is available in DVD from our film library. Introducing Lana Wilson, Our 2018 Film Fellow Lana Wilson is an Emmy Award-winning director, writer, and producer based in New York. She joins us in Port Townsend in April, 2018 to work on her latest documentary, The Cure for Fear. Her most recent release, The Departure, premiered in 2017 to extraordinary critical acclaim: “A genuinely spiritual experience” (The Washington Post), “Stunning” (Filmmaker Magazine), “Tender and quietly moving…like a haiku” (The New York Times). The Departure was recently nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. The Departure will be featured at PTFF Focus: Women & Film April 14 & 15, 2018. Passes go on sale in January, 2018. Celebrating this season of gratitude, Janette Force, Executive Director for PTFF 211 Taylor Street, Suite 401A Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-379-1333/ Cell 360-774-1978 www.ptfilmfest.com November 16, 2017 PTFF 2017 Alums: SKID ROW MARATHON Wins at 2 more festivals TRIBAL JUSTICE Top Prize at American Indian Film Festival Gratitude is always in Season at PTFF PICTURED HERE: On the right, Gabi & Mark Hayes, directors of Skid Row Marathon, with editor Doug Blush and Lisa Klein, director of The “S” Word. Here at PTFF, Skid Row Marathon won a Special Jury Award for Cinematography and the Audience Favorite Best Documentary Feature. This week we learned they won BOTH the Audience AND Grand Jury Awards for documentary at the 2017 Napa Valley Film Festival, then THREE MORE prizes over the weekend, this time at the Second Annual Coronado Island Film Festival near San Diego...Documentary Grand Jury, Audience and Emerald Awards! What an honor to bring this kind of inspiration to the screen. Thanks to the whole crew! PICTURED HERE: The Honorable Abby Abinanti, Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribe on the North Coast of California AND The Honorable Claudette White Judge White has served as Chief Judge for the Quechan Tribal Court since 2005 More fabulous news: Tribal Justice (PTFF alums 2017) just won the Best Feature Documentary Award at the prestigious American Indian Film Festival. This is amazing given the terrific competition. Thank you, AIFI! And thank you to Producer/Director Anne Makepeace for capturing their courageous, compassionate story! Our office will be closed starting on Wednesday, November 22nd for Thanksgiving weekend, so get your films from the library collection here in our 4th floor office in the Mt. Baker Block on Tuesday! Celebrating this season of gratitude, Janette Force, Executive Director for PTFF 211 Taylor Street, Suite 401A Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-379-1333/ Cell 360-774-1978 www.ptfilmfest.com PTFF 2017 Alums: SKID ROW MARATHON Wins at 2 more festivals TRIBAL JUSTICE Top Prize at American Indian Film Festival Gratitude is always in Season at PTFF November 2, 2017 First Tuesday Salon, JANE November 7th 7:30pm with chimp sanctuary co-directors, Diana Goodrich and J.B. Mulcahy 2017 Titles have arrived in the PTFF library Support Becoming Bulletproof in their new project, The Homecoming- A Musical Jane Goodall’s observations of chimpanzees in the wild challenged conventional wisdom about what made humans exceptional. Brett Morgen’s documentary “Jane,” which tells Ms. Goodall’s story largely through footage of her expeditions, is such an absorbing account of her experiences at a reserve in what is now Tanzania that you may not pause to think about how its imagery was captured. If Ms. Goodall — who was 26 and had no scientific degree when she first ventured into the forest, hoping to gain acceptance from chimpanzees inclined to run from her — was mostly exploring on her own, who set up the camera for that incredible shot of her climbing? How is it that the animals are so calm in the presence of moviemaking tools? See the full NYT review HERE. We began looking for an expert on primates for our First Tuesday Salon, which led us to contact the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest. When I told Diana Goodrich, the co-director that I was looking for a speaker to highlight the opening week of “Jane,” Diana replied, “I want to do that!” We will host she and her co-director, J.B. Mulcahy representing CSNW, a 89 acre farm in the Cascade Mountains. They are one of only a handful of sanctuaries in the country that care for chimpanzees. Here is a LINK to a blog post that Diana wrote just a week ago. Join our First Tuesday Salon conversation following the 7:30pm screening at the Rose Theatre to hear more about Ms. Goodall and the wonderful work at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest.