DIY FILM FEST GALA 2013

Thomas Dolby scoring, narrating and playing "The Invisible Lighthouse"

The 11th Annual DIY Film Festival celebrated its winners and honorable mentions in the Academy Room of the Roosevelt Hotel on Friday night.

Site of the original Academy Awards, the room was treated to an unusual event; a live performance by Thomas Dolby while screening his award winning "The Invisible Lighthouse" film.

Bruce Haring announcing the winners of the Los Angeles Book Festival & DIY Film Festival

Winner of the Best Director and Best Short Documentary categories, Thomas Dolby performed live in front of a crowd that included the winning authors for the Los Angeles Book Festival.  It was an amazing performance, part reminiscence, part sound effects, part singing - the performance seamlessly went between the filmed on camera presence of Thomas Dolby and the performer playing keyboards and speaking in front of the audience.

An avant-garde foray into the original performance/visual event that films once were, with a live performance on a Wurlitzer or other instrumental while the film ran above the orchestra, this was a perfectly time masterful examination of the performer's life - the town in eastern england on the shore where he grew up, the lighthouse that became part of his memory, whether real or imagined, the history of his family who had been in Suffolk for centuries.

Thomas Dolby interacted with himself on the screen at various times.

Plus the inventive story telling, which included CGI, flying cameras, negative images, sunsets that evoked fires - the visuals complemented the story telling, and the story telling enhanced the visuals, while the music and sound effects tied it all together into one masterful, standing ovation receiving performance.

Watching the live performance

As Jean Cocteau, the avant-garde artist and filmmaker once comments; "When the cost of filmmaking is as much as a pencil and a piece of paper then you'll find true art."  We at the DIY Film Festival have adopted that as our motto, and probably never experienced a more pure form of it than in Dolby's "The Invisible Lighthouse" film/performance.

Dolby plans to tour with the film in live performance, so look for it in a theater near you.  He's planning two nights here at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, so there may be a chance to still get tickets.

We also honored some of the other films and filmmakers, some who could not be in attendance.  The audience was treated to a trailer of Daniel Schmidt's "Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds," and we screened Harrison Allen's "How Not To Rob A Bank" which had the audience roaring with laughter.  (Check the film on the panel to the right, there are clips from all of the films and honorable mentions).

Clip from Daniel Schmidt's Best Film, Best Doc "Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds"

  Also screened and honored were the filmmakers behind "Disconnection" - Writer/Producer/Star Kristine Gerolaga, and Director Steven Krimmel.  Also on hand was her co-star Ben Winston.

Ben Winston, Steven Krimmel & Kristine Gerolaga of "Disconnection"

Finally, Josh Wick from "Francis of Brooklyn" was on hand as well as some of the behind the scenes folks from his film, including his star Mig Feliciano.

Josh Wick and Mig Feliciano of "Francis of Brooklyn"

Josh explained that the film is actually a reworking of the "Francis of Assisi" story - revealing that Francis had returned from being in a war in Italy, had eschewed all money, taken the robes of a monk, and changed Christianity.

Josh Wick and pals from "Francis of Brooklyn"

In like form, Francis of Brooklyn is about an Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran who returns and has an apotheosis that forces him into the streets of New York, along with some of the many other veterans who are suffering from PTSD.  But is it stress related? or is it a religious conversion?  And what does that mean to the average person who wants to practice Christianity?

Steven Krimmel Director, Writer/Producer/Actress Kristine Gerolaga
from "Disconnection"

A good time was had by all

Josh and the other filmmakers were awarded software from our new sponsor Pinnacle, now a division of Corel.  The company graciously awarded each winning filmmaker with their latest in home editing software Studio 16, a state of the art editing system developed with Avid codecs and technology.

Here's a pice of some of the winning filmmakers and authors from the Los Angeles Book Festival and DIY Film Festival.  For clips from the winning films, please look to the panel to the right... ----------------------->

Congratulations to all the winners!!!!