Remembered, but not forgotten
Well, the dust is finally starting to settle on this, the 2011 installment of our most righteous and beloved RiverRun International Film Festival. Ballots have been counted. Filmmakers and friends have boarded and deboarded their departing flights, left only with fond memories of 80's Proms and fantastic flickering images all. Banners have been furled (some even re-furled). Windows have been shuttered. Alas. Did I just say alas? I think I'm being overly dramatic in my sentimental state. After all we're just powering down for a little spell, then it all cranks up again before we know it. But for now, a few factoids about this year's festival that you may or may not have been aware of being smack dab in the middle of the maelstrom.
1) Michael Shannon, the Oscar-nominated actor and newly cast Superman villain Zod, was here!
If you missed the Emerging Master Award presentation we held for Michael Shannon last Monday, it was a truly remarkable event. When our own Sarah Sheppard posted a clip on Youtube of Mr. Shannon talking about being cast in the upcoming Superman re-boot, we were flabbergasted to see the video receive over 60,000 views in the following 24 hours! The story was even picked up and reported in dozens of major national news outlets, and the RiverRun International Film Festival and the city of Winston-Salem were featured prominently on sites such as MTV, Entertainment Weekly, IndieWire, and The Hollywood Reporter, just to name a few. Michael Shannon is a truly exceptional and gracious individual and was just fascinating as could be to talk to, if only for an evening. The outstanding director Jeff Nichols of Shotgun Stories and the upcoming powerhouse Take Shelter (both starring Shannon) was also in town to moderate the Q&A, and was equally as insightful and personable to be around. Lucky for us he's also a UNCSA alum, so hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of him and his work in the coming years.
2) 49 screenings were complete sellouts this year!
Yes, you read that right, that's roughly 1/3 of all of our screenings that were packed front to back, a new record. That's up from last year's record of 31 (which was about 16% of all screenings). We even had to add fourth screenings of The Robber and to.get.her because of the overwhelming response.
3) Over 14,000 people attended films and events this year, a new record!
That's a 5% increase from last year's record, and a real testament both to the powerful sense of community that exists here in Winston-Salem and the sheer cinematic appetite of our amazing audiences. It's also remarkable considering we had around 20 fewer individual screenings this year and a considerably smaller average venue capacity per showing (due to the unavailability of a large venue like the Stevens Center for marquee films).
4) Over 20 directors visited the festival to interact with audiences about their films!
This is a fact that we're particularly thrilled about--not just because these filmmakers are the lifeblood of independent film and are captivating personalities one and all, but because it makes every screening they're at such a richer experience for everyone involved as I'm sure you'll agree. On top of all of the directors in attendance, we also had over a dozen other guests related to specific films, including producers, riveting lead actors and actresses, and even circus performers (Circus Kids) and a symphony conductor (Kinshasa Symphony)! That's not even counting the myriad of industry professionals, scholars, festival programmers and screenwriters that came as jurors, panelists, or just special guests more generally. Thanks to all of them for being the fuel in our turbo-charged engine for the last week-and-a-half. You know who you are.
5) Oh yeah, Medusa was parked on Cherry Street for one glorious evening!
If you missed the explosive late night film Bellflower, just know that the soon-to-be-famous, flamethrowing muscle car Medusa from the film was parked right around the corner from us (see below). Just saying.
Anyway we'll be continuing these transmissions at semi-regular intervals throughout the offseason, so keep checking back for all the glorious details about RiverRun 2012 as they develop in the coming weeks and months. Feel free to get at us on Facebook and Twitter for the blow by blow on what's going on--we'll be updating from other festivals and such before you get a chance to miss us. Thanks again to all, and don't be strangers!
