Auto Focus (The Bob Crane story) I didn't like it much because I couldn't sympathize with the character. Greg Kenier did a credible job, but ultimately it was disappointing. But it will have contributed to the best lines of the festival:

"What time is it? It's fuck time!"

"Sex is not the answer, sex is the question. Yes is the answer."

And: "A day without sex is a day wasted."
I had a couple of oppertunities to talk to Willim Dafoe.

Cuckoo is a Russian film about WWII. A Finnish guy attached to the Germans and a Russian army guy all end up at a Lapp woman's house and she is starving for a man since her husband was taken away 4-years earlier. It supposed to be an anti-war film. It is entertaining. (The joke is they all speak different languages.) I got to meet the star of Cuckoo, Anni-Christina Juuso. She really is a reindeer herder, and cute to boot.

Man Without a Past is a Finnish film about a man who gets beaten up and loses his memory. He moves in to a homeless camp and starts a new life. It has very dry humor. But it is very good. It's about getting a second chance in life and the choices you would make. I got to see the star of the film, Kati Outinen in person.

I saw the Peter O'Toole tribute package. I had to run it for a rehearsal. Peter O'Toole will be here. Apparently he smokes quite a lot and we are to provide him with an ashtray on stage. When asked about the Colorado State law that prohibits smoking on school grounds, the festival director said, "it never happened."

I have seen the Cinerama Package. It consists of the Documentary video called Cinerama Adventure and a clip show in Cinerama. The clip show is the Roller Coaster from This is Cinerama, and the flight across America. At the end there is the trailer for How The West Was Won. This is a wow program. After five flawless rehearsals the real show for the public was messed up. By chance someone had brought an original Cinerama Break Down reel to Telluride. So when they realized the show was going to crash, they ran the Break Down reel. They solved the problem and got on with the show. The public thought it was part of the act.

This morning I saw Rabbit Proof Fence and it brought tears to my eyes. We must book this film when it is available. Our little old ladies will eat it up.

We have a film here called Ken Park (say it backwards) that was done by the same guys who did Gummo. (Larry Clark) it is very sexual and features those skate boarding kids with their pants halfway down that I hate so much. It leaves very little to the imagination. Our virgins would flip if they saw this film. I walked out after a reel and a half. But Payal stayed for the whole film. (She likes edgy) I'm telling her mom. We are actually warning our patrons about the explicit sex.

We also have a film here called Irreversible, which is uber violent that we are also warning our patrons about. There is a 9-minute rape scene. The film starts out running backwards like the projectionist fucked-up. It is designed to make the audience mad. Boy, I am looking forward to running that one. Sic!

This morning I ran the Peter O’Toole tribute and Peter O’Toole was great. He only smoked 7 cigarettes on stage in the one hour he was speaking to Leonard Malton. He is quite the drama queen and is very concerned about his light. But everybody is quite charmed by him.

I have seen Bowling for Columbine a new film by Michael Moore. He was thrilled to premier it in front of the Telluride Film Festival staff. It deals with violence in America and tries to divine its root causes. I got to ask Michael Moore some questions about the film. He is very accessible on the street.

Today we showed Respiro a new Italian film from Emanuele Crialese. I can’t say much about the film, but he charmed the pants off the audience.

We also showed Pedro Almadovar’s new film called Talk to Her. It’s the usual Almadovar film about romantic obsession. I have yet to form an opinion on this film. It is hard to judge a film from the projection room porthole.

In the park tonight they showed a new film from Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass called Naqoyqatsi. It is a follow-up to Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi. The difference is that Godfrey Reggio didn’t shoot any film. He just used found objects and stock footage.

That’s all for now, I’ll tell you about more films and filmmakers later.Today I ran Singing in the Rain in High Definition, Digital Video. In some ways it looked great and in some ways it looked just like very good video. Many people had complaints about digital artifacts and pixels.

This evening I saw Lost in La Mancha which is a documentary film about Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to bring Don Quixote to the screen. It was a very good film about the disasters of filmmaking. Terry Gilliam will be here tomorrow for a conversation.

Then at 11:00 PM I got to see the third ever screening of Frida. Frida is the story of Frida Kahlo the painter wife of Diego Rivera the famous murialist from Mexico. It stars Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina. It is directed by Julie Taymor who directed the Lion King on Broadway and the film Titus. I loved this film. I loved Frida's work before and I love the movie. It comes out in October in NY/LA and platforms from there.

Yesterday I spent 20 minutes talking to Elvis Mitchel who is the critic for the New York Times and NPR. He has very long dreadlocks. He was facinated that I ran a 5-screen art cinema. I told him a bit about the business. He related Miramax horror stories to me.

This morning I ran a French film called Max et les Ferriellerurs. This film was shot in 1971 and never shown in the US. We had it on High Deffinition video tape. It ran at 24 FPS. I met Rodger Ebert out in the lobby as he was buying Jelly Bellys. I asked him how he liked the big TV. He asked is this video, not film? I told him it was High Def and he was suprised. Leonard Malton was beside himself when he heard this.

See if you can see the short film called Stump. That's all I'm saying about it.

It precided a documentary about Willy Nelson called Still is Still Moving.

Well, I only have one more movie to project and that is a Japanese Anime called Spirit Away for the Elementary School kids tomorrow morning. The art was good, but the animation was jerky.

I am now at the Red Lion Hotel & Casino in Elko, Nevada. I'll get home tomorrow. I drove Norge the whole way out and back. Norge held up well. I drove through Yosemite, Arches and Slick Rock. I took I-80 all the way back. It's boring but fast.

He writes:

We saw Noqaqatsi yeseterday at the VFF - it's incredible. We must play it! Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things is also quite wonderful and very moving. This afternoon we are seeing The Dancer Upstairs.

Gotta go.

Ky

Lucky Bastard!