Weekend promises world-class cinema
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POLSON — Polson will join the ranks of cities such as Park City, Utah, and Cannes, France, this weekend as it plays host to the Flathead Lake area’s first ever film festival. The Flathead Lake International Cinemafest will feature 27 independent films, from documentaries to animated shorts, by filmmakers from around the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe.
“There are some phenomenal films this year,” said Karen Lewing, artistic director of the Port Polson Players and one of three judges to screen all the films for FLIC. “It’s just been a thrill and an honor to (judge).”
While Lewing refrained from giving away the judges’ picks, she said the festival includes some riveting documentaries, hilarious short films and plenty of beautiful cinematography.
“There’s a huge variety of films,” she noted.
Beginning Friday with a 5 p.m. champagne soiree at the KwaTaqNuk Resort, the festival is divided into two-hour film blocks, with two blocks following the opening party Friday night, six blocks running from 10 a.m. Saturday to 12:30 a.m. Sunday, and another two blocks Sunday before a closing party and awards show at 3 p.m. With as many as three to five films per session, a $5 ticket per block — or $25 for all day on Saturday — is a great value, noted Daniel Smith, who organized the festival with SKC media professor Frank Tyro. The two worked for more than a year to plan the event with Envision Polson’s year-round committee, made up of 20 people dedicated to providing more wintertime activities in Polson, for residents and non-residents alike.
“I think it’s a great event,” Smith said, noting that Envision Polson, under the umbrella of the Greater Polson Community Foundation and the Polson Community Development Corporation, plans to incorporate FLIC as a nonprofit and make the festival a winter staple in Polson.
Special guests for the festival are 30-year Hollywood producer and director David W. King, who moved to Polson nearly a year ago, and award-winning Canadian animation filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns. King will screen the world premiere of his new docu-reality series “Chasing Fame,” which follows four aspiring actors as they struggle to make their mark in Hollywood. Stearns, who Smith met at the Maui Film Festival in 2006, will present a feature-length documentary with both live and animated action called “One Big Hapa Family,” which explores why 100 percent of Japanese-Canadians are marrying interracially, the highest out of any other ethnic group in Canada, and how their mixed children perceive their unique multiracial identities.
“He’s a rising star for sure; we’re very excited to have him as a guest,” Smith said of Stearns.
Several awards, including both audience and judges’ choice awards, will honor filmmakers — both adults and those under age 18, in the FLIC Jr. category. Lewing, King and local realtor and former media teacher Mac Swan viewed all the films in several screening sessions, scoring each piece in areas such as creativity, theme, emotional impact and audience appeal, structure and storytelling, performance, directing, cinematography and post-production values. Judges were asked to watch one film online at home, and Lewing said by the time she was able to sit down to view the film, it was after midnight.
“I didn’t think I would be able to stay awake,” she remembered, “but I loved every minute of it.”
She and Smith encouraged festival-goers to buy tickets as soon as possible, either online at FLIC’s website, www.flicpolson.com, or at the Showboat Theatre, “so you don’t come to a sold-out show,” Smith said.
All films will be shown at the Showboat Theatre, which is dedicating one of its two screens to the film festival for the weekend, on Polson’s Main Street.
A complete screening schedule is also available on the FLIC website.
