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Short rant I had while planning the fest this year.
(short essay from program guide, 2003).
So this is the 2nd year for the Gadabout. We took this show on the
road for our first national tour last summer. We had a small pool
of filmmakers from all parts of New York, Boston, and St Louis, and
felt good about the program. To be honest, the tour began as a reason
to travel. To see the country, to meet people, and to show some films.
Through the tour it started to take form and develop into something
more. The more we talked to people, the more feedback we got, and
the more submissions started coming in from all over, the more I knew
that there was something much larger happening that I was excited
to be a part of.
Over the past 10 years or so, there has been a growing revolution in film/video,
and in media as a whole. What is a "revolution�" "Any fundamental
change or reversal of conditions (the American Century Dictionary-497)."
Revolutions have always been about the question of access. Whether
it be to money, power, or technology. With the introduction of digital,
and home based editing systems, people now have the access to equipment
needed. Forever film has been a medium of the rich and privileged.
Reserved only for those who could afford it, or for the handful of
major studios who are in the �business.� What does that do? It causes
certain censorship, streamlines content, and helps present a false
sense of reality for its viewers. When the average person goes to
a movie, they are hit with glamour, action, and worlds that they will
never encounter in their life. But we still watch, captivated by the
moving pictures and unattainable reality. There are still restrictions,
digital cameras and computers are expensive, and are still very much
reserved for a certain financial status. But it does leave more room
for grants and community art centers to open the access to people
of a lower class standing.
With this access comes this wave of individual creative thought.
New ideas are being thought of, and �regular people� are producing
their own movies. Now of course this creates an even larger pool of
crap being produced, but it also opens up the possibility for some
fresh, inventive, original works of video and film. Ideas that could
have never been reached had the access still been limited to the smaller
10%.
So now we have cheaper equipment and more people producing. But there
is still a hierarchy reserved for the rich. Getting your film actuallyshown
or distributed is even more difficult now. Because with the growing
technology for cheaper basic equipment comes the growing technology
in the realm of special effects. Movies are moving towards more �shock
and awe,� with explosions and space crafts being a standard. In the
highly competitive world of commercial film, where you have to break
box office records to make your money back, there just is no room
for low budgets, especially when they aren't even linked to a major
corporation that can give it the publicity needed.
That's why outlets like the Gadabout become so important. There
are rivers of indie film just flowing now, which is kind of exciting,
because of the possibility of pulling out something really unique
and refreshing. At the same time there is a need to throw most films
back, because EVERYONE wants to be a filmmaker. That's where we are.
We receive films made by people who love making movies. There is something
realistic and genuine about each piece; a feeling I never get when
I go to a movie theater. We try to create that distribution and audience
for low budget films that usually never get out of their local area
or have more than one or two screenings. And we are not trying to
compete with the more commercial "Independent" Film Festivals that
are screening only those films with big names and the next �Hollywood
potential� directors. There is no community amongst the indie film.
Each filmmaker is trying to push their own work, while not caring
one bit about what you are doing. �If you are not ahead of them, then
what can they learn from you?� This attitude is what keeps film elite.
We try to keep the Gadabout a little less pretentious, and a little
more fun, and a little more inclusive. That's what this is about,
having fun. If you aren't enjoying what you do, and when it becomes
"just a job," that's when your childhood dreams become conditioned
adult responsibilities, and just another way of paying for your convenient
life style.
So enjoy the show. I hope you appreciate the work and love that
goes into these films/videos, because we do. That's why we are on
the road bringing them to you. We don't make money off of this. We
DO NOT make money off of filmmakers. There is a community building,
and this is what we are excited to be a part of. But until this medium
is open to all races, sexes, classes, and ideals, then we must be
fighting to make it so.
Thanks for supporting independence,
Eric Ayotte
the Gadabout Traveling Film Festival
| The Gadabout Traveling Film Festival
14 Mulberry St.
New Paltz, NY 12561
(845) 256-1694
eric@gadaboutfilmfest.com
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