Off to a fresh start and a review of OPN 5

Hello again!

This Film Journal has gotten off to a much slower start than I had originally anticipated.  My entrance into parenthood was a little more distracting than I thought it would be.  A few months later and I'm ready to give this another try; my daughter is in a bit more of a rhythm and I'm regularly getting around 4 hours of sleep all in a row!

I'll keep this re-introduction a bit short so I can finally post the brief review I had written of the last Open Projector Night before I got completely distracted by baby's arrival.  This way anyone who was unable to make it has some idea of what to look forward to during OPN 6 which is coming up soon! Check out our "Upcoming Events" section for more info.

Does anyone out there have a listing of the short films that were shown at OPN 5 and who made them? One of my goals for this Journal is to have a constantly updated list of the projects Alaskan Filmmakers have done so their fans can easily figure out who made what.

Thank you for stopping by and encouraging me to make this project happen!

OPN 5 Review

The Alaska Film Forum and Out North’s Open Projector Night 5 on Thursday, March 15, 2012 was quite the success. The crowd was excited and engaging, the movies were well received and most are already looking forward to the next OPN.

Open Projector Nights have outgrown all of their previous venues, so they expanded up to the Bear Tooth. The first night at a venue this large, you SOLD OUT the Bear Tooth! They had to turn away an unfortunate few. This is an amazing sign for the local film industry! It was also fantastic publicity for AFF and Out North.

The crowds arrived before 9pm, when networking was set to begin. The average Joe got to see and chat with Anchorage’s best known directors, producers, actors, and crew. There was even a special drink for the event – the AFF Martini (I was bummed at not being able to try one due to my pregnant status).

Judging by the crowd reactions “Pretty Little Victim” was the most anticipated and “Elect” was the funniest. I admit to being biased about my favorite of the films, “The Job,” starring my car and my partner Berick Cook. Astoundingly, this fast paced heist movie was begun a mere 6 days before premiering at OPN 5. I don’t know how they did it, but I’m impressed.

As if there weren’t enough evidence of the growing local film industry, the there were so many movies submitted that they couldn’t all be accommodated in a single evening. Six films had to be put off until the next Open Projector Night. I for one am looking forward to finding out what I missed.