PSIFSF 2007: Day 1
On the road again…
I drove down to Palm Springs this morning, taking state routes the entire way. Hilly, twisty, turny, bumpy, two-lane roads and straight-as-an-arrow-for-50-miles two-lane roads. I love it. The great thing about driving across the U.S. is the vast, empty space between little, funky towns. Whoever’s worried about overpopulation in the states has never driven across them. Scenic beauty to boot. The kind of beauty that will kill you, however. Three days in the Southwest desert without supplies and your dead as a doornail…which I assume is very, very dead.
The perfect place for an alien abduction.
The Festival
The Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films not only has the world’s longest festival name, but it also screens 300 short films over seven days. I’ve been traveling to the event for the last couple of years so that I may troll for films. The best of the lot gets selected to play the Dam Short Film Festival (which I run). Last year, I watched close to 70 shorts. This year, I’ll try to break my record.
Watch ‘em until your eyeballs melt.
Zoso
Like every good film festival, Palm Springs hosts a party each night. For Friday evening, BANDIT threw a shindig at Hotel Zoso. I forget what BANDIT does, but I’m sure it’s something to do with filmmaking. Much loud mingling ensued in the dead heat of the night. And Palm Springs is truly International, with filmmakers flying in from all corners of the globe.
Food, beer, girls with accents…