Saturday, June 09, 2007

Getting in the car ... NIFF 2007

Closing night of the Newport Film Festival is always exciting. This year the closing night film was Evening . The film was shot in Rhode Island last year and this was a special screening for the home town. (The world premiere is this week in NYC). Two of the stars, Claire Danes and Mamie Gummer, were in attendance. The director, Lajos Koltai, joined us too. I am now personal friends with producer, Jeff Sharp. I drove him from the train station and then the party. I gave them the scoop on what folks were saying after the film. Executives from Focus Features and state dignitaries joined us for a Red Carpet event. There was a good size crowd in Washington Park as a little bit of Hollywood came to our small state.

I was asked to drive the VIP entourage to the party after the film. The top guns from Focus Features rode with me in the first group going to the party (they wanted my phone number, yeah, I know it was for a ride home). Steve Feinberg, director of the RI Film and Television Office got a ride from me. There was also a surprise appearance. A local actor from the film, Jason Anthony, rode with me. The funny part about Jason was, he recognized me! He's a ProFM listener who enjoys Friday Flick Picks every week! I was pretty stunned, such a cool surprise. Turns out I've seen three of his films! Carloads of film makers had a blast at the Oakwod Estate into the wee hours of the night.

You never know who you'll meet in a film festival car.

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