Now for you to understand why a recovering Film Fest addict is breaking his self imposed ban on film fests to go to Bend, you have to understand a little about why I’ve sworn them off. Flash back to 2001. I had been running DVD Talk for three years and for some reason or another I got it into my head that I was going to go to Sundance. My planning was horribly last minute, trip completely insane, but the rewards were great. I got to discover films like Memento, Donnie Darko, The Road Home and The American Astronaut . I reveled in the opportunity to sit with filmmakers and stars to just chat about their films and film making. Now flash forward five years to the 2006 Swagdance film fest… Wait I mean the 2006 Sundance Film Fest. Now after 5 years of fest going, some big, some small I come to the intersection of film fest love and film fest loathing. My planning for the fest was no less chaotic than it had been 5 years earlier, but my experience couldn’t have been more different. Gone were the opportunities to actually interact with corporate video production, film makers about their films. Informal chats at the back of the theater after a show were replaced by rigidly scheduled (and often) canceled interviews. Lines to get into movies that would open in theaters just days later wrapped around the block and more people were there to ‘star fuck’ or grab swag then celebrate movies (I’m still in shock that many screenings at Sundance had a red carpet press line). I realized that things had completely changed for the worse when it was easier for me to get into the big Beastie Boys party than see the film itself. My 2006 Sundance experience isn’t isolated. More and more I’m hearing from friends and colleagues about how the film fest circuit has become one big long promotional tour for ‘independent’ studio pictures to get some word of mouth going, get that little fest seal for the DVD and throw big parties with even bigger swag bags. For me, a film fest is about the films and the film makers. I’m more a fan of discovering films I never knew existed than getting an ego boosting chance to see a film several months before its wide release. So that’s why I’m hopping in my car for a three and a half hour scenic drive to the middle of a state no one would ever think of as the epicenter of film. Last year at BendFilm I was pleased to discover a number of films that simply weren’t on my radar screen. From one of my favorite films of 2005 The Puffy Chair to the crowd pleasing The Real Dirt on Farmer John BendFilm was a fest where I made a ton of new discoveries and spent a lot of great time speaking with and ultimately getting to know filmmakers. For 2006 I was fortunate enough to get a number of the films in advance to check out for this preview piece. Going through the list of films I was surprised at just how many I had never heard of. Sure there are a couple of familiar faces in the crowd (including Sherrybaby which debuted at Sundance and The Trials of Darryl Hunt which has made its way to a number of festivals) but those few are greatly outnumbered by films waiting to be discovered. Here’s a look at just a handfull of films showing at this year’s BendFilm fest (running Oct 12 – 15) Pirate Radio USA – an extremely interesting and well done documentary, Pirate Radio USA is the autobiographical work of Jeff Pearson and Mary Jones (aka DJ Him and Her) who document the world of Pirate Radio from the inside out. Following the struggles of a very dedicated and passionate group of individuals literally fighting to exercise their right to be heard, Pirate Radio USA looks at the freedom speech from a completely different angle.