The manic rushing around, packing in all that you can is as much a part of Sundance as anything else, a festival where you measure everything against the film you could have seen in the time your doing something else (even sleeping). In stark contrast, BendFilm encourages a much more leisurely approach, giving you more time to grab a cup of joe, listen to a talk, digest the films that you’ve seen and chat with others. I think I spent as much time talking about films like The Puffy Chair and Shakespeare Behind Bars as I did actually seeing them. Perhaps this is why films like Police Beat and The Real Dirt on Farmer John did considerably better with BendFilm audiences than at their Sundance (or Slamdance) premieres. As with most major fests, most films were followed by a Q&A with the films director, writer or producer. But in Bend that’s just the beginning. Since Bend is such a relatively small town, it was commonplace to run into the filmmakers of the films at the fest. This dynamic gives pretty unprecedented opportunity to be able to spend time meeting and chatting with the majority of the filmmakers at the fest. I’ve been to a number of film fests, and I can tell you that in terms of access to filmmakers nothing comes even remotely close to video production London. Another unique aspect of BendFilm is the fact that there are cash awards given to several of the top films, and the big award of $10,000 is open to all films in competition. To give you an idea of the significance of this, I was sitting next to one of the directors at the awards ceremony who remarked to me “that prize is the budget for another whole film”. Also unique is the fact that short films are in equal contention for this big “Best of Show” prize as full length narratives or documentaries. At BendFilm shorts are anything but a side attraction. Many of the shorts I saw in the fest were followed by Q&A’s by the filmmaker, something which I quite enjoyed. This level of attention to short film makers is pretty extraordinary, and it attracted some truly talented short filmmakers. Of the shorts at the fest, the ones I enjoyed the best were: Estes Avenue from Paul Cotter (remember that name, it’s sure to show up in features or TV soon!), Green Bush (which won the award for Best Short Live action), At The Quinte Hotel think Charles Bukowski only Canadian, Down Dog – a sharp jab at Yoga from Richard Roll (another one to keep your eye on) and Victoria Para Chino which won the student award, a $3000 prize. In addition to the competition shorts, BendFilm featured an entire mini-fest geared towards kids: Indiekid Films (The Best of Lil’ Longbaugh). I was shocked to see that the Saturday morning screening for Indiekids was completely sold out (people were literally standing in the back). Indiekids featured 14 short films from around the world, some of them geared towards kids and some of them made by kids. My absolute favorite was a short called No Problem. If there’s any film that shows the amazing possibility for independent films made and geared towards kids it’s No Problem. Animator John Bergin sets up and animates a scenario with some sort of problem (like a solar powered house not being able to get energy because the clouds in the sky) and then his five year old daughter draws her way out (in this case she draws lots of suns) – it’s just phenomenal. Indiekids was very well received at BendFilm, and I’d be surprised if other fests don’t adopt indie kids programming.