Apologies for the lack of blogging... It is crunch time at the Sarasota Film Festival and with the programming decisions coming fast and furious, I am very close to having all the films in place. Now, we just have to gather the rest of the materials for the catalogue, get talent booked, create itineraries for guests, finalize the jury, secure print shipping for every film, make sure that all of our events have everything in place, work on the overall festival press release, launch a new ticketing system, and... my brain hurts. I need a break!

So, I'm off to my hometown of Flint, MI tomorrow, out of the Tampa airport and home to the cold and snow. I am very much looking forward to it. This is the first year I was not in New York City for the holiday season, one of my favorite times of year, since 1997. IN stead, I'm in lukewarm Florida. I have been so buried in work, I have barely noticed the holiday season at all, which I usually love. It will be nice to see the babies back home (I love Sophie, Mikey, and Jack!) and to do a little stress reducing last minute holiday shopping.

Regarding the ol' Back Row Manifesto, in the coming weeks I plan on writing a long piece about the state of foreign film in America (I'm not as optmistic as some), as well as a short list highlighting my Top 10 Films of 2004. Other than that, its nose to the grindstone getting the festival in shape.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has a great holiday season and a Happy New Year!

or, if happiness and joy are not your thing, you can read this wonderful article on the spirit of the season.

Yeesh.

Merry Christmas everyone!
xo
Tom

While other critics and film writers prepare their 'Best of the Year' lists, priming the Oscar pump and launching the 2005 awards season, I have decided instead to hold off on a general list of 2004's best movies until January and take some time for an in depth exploration of what I consider to be this year's finest film, Alexander Payne's Sideways. For those who have not yet had the chance to see the film, I can only assume that the oncoming tsunami of award nominations and wins for this film will propel it into wider release, where it deserves to be seen by a broad audience. So, hang in there America. While Christmas With The Kranks and National Treasure currently occupy 10 screens at the local movie theater, I'm sure someone at the multiplex will wake up and realize that perhaps one or two screens might better be dedicated to showing the best movie of the year.

Alexander Payne is an intensely gifted filmmaker, and Sideways is the best film he has ever made.

What a week. As any film programmer can tell you, the best part of the job is the submission process-- whereby films vying to play at your festival are screened by the programming staff in the hopes of finding new and exciting discoveries. It is also the most grueling part of the job. So far, here in Sarasota, we have found some films that really struck a chord. It is the most exciting thing in the job to watch a video unspool in front of your eyes and know you've found something truly original and well-made. When you wade through so many films in such a short period of time, your moods and tastes can impact the process, as can the relationship between films. Everything becomes one story, and that is the story of your film festival. I see my job as making the festival story as compelling as is possible.

Regardless, I have been buried under a pile of over 700 submissions (not bad for a regional festival) and the process of wading through them, as well as films that are new and that we are actively soliciting, has left me almost no time to blog. So, I have to get back to the films and my programming team of Max Burke-Phillips, Craig Riley, and Maureen Donovan, as we wade through the deep waters of independent film, but I'll leave you with a proposal for a Film Festval Programmers Theme Song. I believe that everyone, everywhere who works as a film programmer can relate to this song and I hope that, as you plow through the mountains of VHS and DVD screeners at 1:00am jacked up on Diet Coke and junk food (maybe that's just me), you can find comfort in the knowledge that, as Michael Jackson once sang, you are not alone.

SUBMISSION by The Sex Pistols
(The Film Programmer's Theme)

I'm on a submarine mission for you baby
I feel the way you were going
I picked you up on my tv screen
I feel your undercurrent flowing
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell ya what I've found

You've got me pretty deep baby
I can't figure out your watery love
I gotta solve your mystery
Your sitting it out in heaven above
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell you what I've found
For there's a mystery
Come share it
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell ya what I've found
'Cos it's a secret
Submission going down down
Dragging me down submission
I can't tell ya what I've found
Submission Submission