Many small-town theaters never get some of the year’s best independent releases (or any foreign-language titles at all). With their demonic emphasis on hits, Blockbuster and HBO sure aren’t filling the gap. About the only way real film lovers can see quality movies these days is to pack your bags and attend a film festival. That kind of excursion used to be as trying as sitting through “The Country Bears,” but all that’s changing.
Fact is, some of the best and least-publicized film festivals gear themselves toward regular moviegoers, not Hollywood hotshots. You may not spy as many stars at these cinematic celebrations as you would in Cannes, but a hotel room there costs $500, you’re not actually going to get into any movies and what are you really going to say to Nicolas Cage if you run into him, anyway? “I loved you in ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’?”
A film festival’s survivability, in fact, is often inversely proportional to the number of celebrities it draws. January’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, still has great programming, but it turned unruly and nearly unbearable as soon it was “discovered” by the film industry. Like Cannes, Sundance is now about as hospitable to ordinary tourists as East Timor.
Yet there are alternatives. Five top North American festivals not only feature outstanding programming but also stand apart as great holiday destinations even without the movies. So if you’re tired of the same old dreck at the multiplex and want to plan a movie vacation more ambitious than visiting the Dyersville, Iowa, “Field of Dreams” ballpark, consider these options:
The Maui Film Festival at Wailea. The trailer in front of every film at this new festival carries this introduction: “There are more than 1,200 Film Festivals on Earth … luckily one of them is on Maui.” That’s almost all you need to know. This small summer fest, entering its fourth year in 2003, stands alone for its peerless al fresco venues, and the films are well-chosen, too. To watch movies at the sprawling outdoor Celestial Cinema, you unfold a lawn chair or a blanket on the rolling grass of the Wailea Golf Club. Silent films are shown on the beach mere yards from the waves at the open-air SandDance Theatre. Director Barry Rivers’s programming focuses on “life-affirming” stories, and this past June’s festival included “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Tadpole” and “The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys.” Movies are shown at night, so you don’t have to abandon your cabana and frosty mai tai during peak tanning time. The area’s premiere hotels, led by the Four Seasons Resort Maui, will offer discounted festival packages for next year’s event, June 11-15. Information: www.mauifilmfestival.com
Telluride Film Festival. It’s not just the oxygen-depleted Rocky Mountain elevation (“8,760 feet above the average film festival,” organizers boast) that gives you a movie high. It’s this festival’s eccentric and egalitarian attitude. Bookended by a huge barbecue at the start and an equally vast picnic at the end, the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 Telluride is so determined to discourage show-business dealmaking that its film lineup is not announced until the day festival kicks off; the resolute secrecy keeps most industry types away. Programmers Tom Luddy and Bill Pence have unusual but reliable taste. Recent selections included “Insomnia” (the Norwegian original, not the American remake), the U.S. premiere of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the Inuit hit “The Fast Runner.” There aren’t many direct flights, and rooms are pricey, especially in the Mountain Village resort area set above town (a scenic 12-minute ski gondola ride carries you down the hill to the theaters). Since almost all individual tickets sell out, you need to buy a pass, which start at $300. But what other film festival lets you camp? Information: www.telluridefilmfesival.com
Toronto International Film Festival. Perhaps the top festival in North America, this enormous collection of movies (326 films shown last year) is wrongly considered a weaker sibling to Cannes and Sundance. Many film professionals-especially those looking for new films from up-and-coming directors-consider Toronto the most important stop on the festival circuit, ahead of even its more famous rivals. Artistic director Piers Handling mixes some high-profile studio movies (“Training Day,” “Hearts in Atlantis”) with many of the year’s best independent films (“Lovely and Amazing,” “Monsoon Wedding,” “Time Out”). Thanks to the U.S. dollar’s favorable exchange rate, Toronto is very affordable, with luxury hotel rooms costing just over $200 a night. Ticket demand is high, but the festival (Sept. 5-14 this year, Sept. 4-13 in 2003) runs separate screenings for the press and industry, so you’re not competing with pushy talent agents for seats. The best bet: buy a “Globetrotter” or “Screening Room” pass, where expert festival programmers select the movies you’ll see. You might just stumble upon the next “Amelie.” Information: www.bell.ca/filmfest
Palm Springs International Film Festival. There’s not a lot of quality culture in this California desert city most of the year; the bar rests pretty low when you recall that Sonny Bono was both its leading politician and leading singer. But this golf destination turns surprisingly arty every winter (Jan. 9-20 in 2003) when it hosts the film festival, now entering its 14th year. Palm Springs showcases some of the world’s preeminent foreign-language movies, showing scores of Academy Award submissions (this year’s lineup included eventual Oscar winner “No Man’s Land”). It’s an important niche, as many of these international films are never seen anywhere in the United States. Tellingly, the L.A. studio scouts who used to ignore this festival are starting to turn up. Individual tickets are $9, and the most expensive pass is $250. Information: www.psfilmfest.org
Seattle International Film Festival. Like Palm Springs, the focus is on world cinema. Unlike Palm Springs, the coffee is excellent and the fish is fresh. In the recently concluded festival, more than 200 films from 50 countries were shown. Seattle’s roster included Norway’s “Elling,” Spain’s “Sex and Lucia,” Germany’s “Das Experiment” and the French-Austrian film “The Piano Teacher.” In keeping with the laid-back pace of the Pacific Northwest, the festival unspools over a leisurely 25 days. Seattle also features a special program of $4 family films, but instead of “The Powerpuff Girls Movie” you get to see Holland’s “Minoes,” Canada’s “Spooky House” and New Zealand’s “Her Majesty.” Weekly passes ($125) are the best option. Information: www.seattlefilm.com
There are scores of other festivals in every possible venue organized around every imaginable theme, from the Acapulco Black Film Festival to the Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. But all require your leaving the neighborhood multiplex behind. Because if you don’t, there’s about only one moviemaking choice you can make: Do you go see “Austin Powers” at 7:05 p.m. … or 7:15 p.m.?
