Malibu Film Festival stays dry, draws steady crowd

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The New Malibu Theater must have been as welcome as a blue sky in a rainstorm to the 2001 Malibu Film Festival. The two-theater venue is a cozy improvement over the roadside tents that housed film screenings in the festival’s first year.

Inadequate parking and the constant threat of film getting soaked by the spring rains were a nightmare for David Katz, president and founder of the festival, during the first festival in 1999. “I had to worry about water leaking in and getting on the screens, on the film. I had to get these expensive tents and seal everything,” he said. “Oh, it was rough.”

With warm and dry seating in The New Malibu Theater, and ample parking nearby, participants and film buffs at this year’s festival could concentrate on movies instead of the weather. The only tent to be seen was the central gathering spot for the event, a carnival-size big top filled with sponsor booths, posters and merchandise for the festival and for some of the films, where, for instance, you could pick up a sample bottle of sponsor Paul Mitchell conditioner. The tent contained televisions screening commercials for major sponsors, and had a section for filmmaker question-and-answer sessions where fans and film buffs could pick writers’ and directors’ brains about a film they liked. Outside, the festival’s main sponsor, Audi, offered test drives in new cars throughout the weekend.

“I was here last year and it’s not the same,” Santa Monica resident Morgan Akins said. “They have definitely turned the corner.”

Katz agreed, saying that the festival is now “established.” The local event is “for the community and for the industry,” he added.

When asked about attendance halfway through the festival’s first day, Katz said that it was “slow.” But the numbers went up from there. Early in the weekend, audiences numbered anywhere between one and 10 people per screening. Saturday saw a peak in attendance at the overflowing screening of the short films “Dreamer,” “Fightin’ 4 the Forty” and “Righteous Indignation,” where dozens of people had to squeeze into the aisles or sit against the wall. The crowd favorite in that screening was “Indignation,” a film by Katrina Bronson, daughter of Charles Bronson, and winner of the Malibu Film Festival’s Emerging New Director Award. Attendance was also steady and heavy on Sunday.

The New Malibu Theater allowed Katz an extra day so he could screen an encore performance of films that won audience-choice awards. Upon entering the theater at every screening, participants were handed a ballot and a pen with which they could rate the movie, from 1 (“average”) to 5 (“excellent”). The audience also voted for their favorite films in the short film, feature length, documentary and foreign categories. Those screenings were held on Monday.

The festival kicked off with a fashion show and a black-tie affair at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. Industry seminars took place throughout the weekend, such as “New Talent–What Agents Look For,” conducted by people established in the film business.

The awards gala that capped this year’s fete took place Sunday evening at the Miramar. Awards were presented to Shirley MacLaine, Charles Bronson and the late Lloyd Bridges for lifetime achievement in the arts. Other notables included Nick Nolte, James Cameron and Roger Corman. The Grand Prize award for the most outstanding film in the festival was also handed out at the dinner, as were other trophies. Actor Stacy Keach was master of ceremonies.

The festival is a nonprofit organization. A portion of the proceeds will be donated as a grant to Malibu public schools, and children from the HeadStart program were bused in to attend the festival.

With the 2001 festival under his belt and forward momentum building, Katz was optimistic about the future. Confident that the festival has become an institution in the community, Katz has designs on bigger and better film in the years to come, returning to a seven-day format in August of 2002.