Festival press and industry screenings kicked off with a bang today, with a large crowd (no doubt drawn by the racy, erotic film description) mobbing the Varsity 4 theater for today's 12:45 p.m. screening of Lukas Moodysson's "A Hole In My Heart." Ten minutes before the showing, only a few seats were left inside and a crowd of at least 100 people were still hoping for a spot.
While Indiewood studio buyers were escorted in to the showing ahead of the line, execs from smaller New York companies were simply shut out (as were we at indieWIRE). Some grumbled that the screening should have been scheduled to accomodate more, given Moodysson's strong following, and a few rejected audience members exchanged angry words with screening staffers. Fest organizers quickly added another P & I showing for tomorrow.
One fest programmer who saw the film reported to us after the screening that a number of people walked out of the graphic, intense film.
