It can only
happen in Southern California. Where
else can one be toasting in triple digits by the pool in Palm Springs at noon,
and by 1:30 pm be enjoying 70s and 80s temps in the Alpine setting of the Big
Bear Lake Resort area at 7000 ft.?
That’s one of reasons for the success of the Big Bear Lake International
Film Festival (BBLIFF), along with quality programming and support from the
nearby Hollywood film community.
The festival,
which MovieMaker magazine has called “one of the Top 25 Festivals worth the
entry fee” keeps getting bigger, better, and more prestigious within movie-savvy
circles. It’s been a personal favorite
of mine for a couple of reasons. One,
it’s one of a few festivals that recognizes and honors the creative effort and
input of the Cinematographer. Without
this expert creative artist, no film would appear on a movie screen. BBLIFF has been featuring the work and
artistry of the world’s finest cinematographers for years.
The culmination
of this ongoing recognition (now in it’s 13th year) is the
presentation of their Lifetime Achievement Award for Cinematography. This year the 2012 honoree was the late,
great, English cameraman and Director of Photography, Jack Cardiff.
Scottish
writer/producer/director Craig McCall, whose 13-year film and interview odyssey
documenting the life of Jack Cardiff, accepted the posthumous honor on behalf
of Cardiff’s family. McCall’s film
entitled “Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff”, became the basis for
the prestigious award which was presented to McCall by Monika Skerbelis,
Festival Co-President of the Board and Film Programming Director, with a minor
assist from yours truly, who offered brief remarks from the movie critic’s POV
on Cardiff’s impressive list of films.
Cardiff’s
immense canon – more than 73 movies, TV series, and documentaries between 1935
and 2007 covers every important Technicolor movie beginning in the 1940’s and
50’s i.e. “A Matter of Life and Death”,
“The Red Shoes”, and “Black Narcissus”, all directed by the legendary
English filmmaker Michael Powell, to the films of John Huston namely “The
African Queen”, to Alfred Hitchcock and “Under Capricorn” starring Ingrid
Bergman. Jack was also a favorite
cameraman of director Richard Fleischer filming two movies for Fleischer: “The
Vikings”, starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, and Ernest Borgnine, and “Conan
the Destroyer”, starring California’s former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Cardiff was the
favorite cinematographer of some of the world’s most beautiful women too. Marilyn Monroe, Sofia Loren, Ava Gardner,
Audrey Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Anita Ekberg, Leslie Caron, and the list goes
on and on, praised Jack for making them look so beautiful on the silver
screen. Male stars like Humphrey
Bogart, Kirk Douglas, and Charlton Heston, also appreciated the speed and
ingenuity that Cardiff brought to the set on every motion picture he
photographed. All in all, he spent an
unbelievable nine decades in the movie business. Jack Cardiff was, and still is, arguably the greatest color
cinematographer who ever peered through a camera lens.
The second
reason this festival is high on my list of film festivals (there are more than
4000 festivals worldwide) to attend is their continual honoring of a Lifetime
Achievement Award for Screenwriting.
Sandy Steers, Festival Co-President and Screenwriting Competition
Director presented Academy Award screenwriter Tom Schulman, the Big Bear Lake
International Film Festival Lifetime Achievement Award for Screenwriting.
Screenwriting is
another discipline that fuels the creative arts machine. As they say, “… In the beginning was the
word”. Blank pages like blank canvases
remain just that – blank, unless the creative urge and talent begin to kick in.
Tom Schulman is
a most deserving honoree. He became an
Academy Award winning screenwriter with his first effort “Dead Poets Society”,
starring Robin Williams. He penned
“What About Bob”, the comedy starring Richard Dreyfuss and Bill Murray. He authored “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”, with
Rick Moranis, as well as screenplays for “Medicine Man”, “Holy Man”, and
“Welcome to Mooseport”.
In addition to
the Lifetime Achievement Award Honorees, the festival screened over 100 films,
held Q & A’s, hosted seminars, panel discussions with Industry
professionals, and presented awards to student filmmakers – the creative
artists of the future. It was a highly
successful and affordable Festival.
If you find
yourself in Southern California (the LA or Palm Springs area) in mid-September,
plan on attending the 2013 Big Bear International Film Festival. You won’t be disappointed. We’re not all just oranges out here in
California, despite what Fred Allen, the old New York radio actor used to say
about “Tinseltown”. It was Allen’s way
of needling his old friend Jack Benny. Allen’s actual line was “California is a
great place to live, if you happen to be an orange”. And, most of the time it’s not too bad even if we are not
oranges.
