Declaration of Independents

New executive director Patrick Schweiss has brought stability to a organization reeling from internal upheaval. His pitch: Make Sedona a launchpad for cutting-edge films, and fund education initiatives.

Last year, the Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop wasn't just showcasing drama: It was participating in one. Right before Festival weekend, the organization experienced a sudden change in leadership. Remarkably, the festival went on without a visible hitch, but its future was uncertain.

Now, under new director Patrick Schweiss, the show will go on. With new sponsorship money and donations, preparations for the Festival's 11th year are well under way.

Schweiss remains committed to providing a showcase for stories "that make audiences think." We spoke to him about his goals, including expanding the festival's role in education, and highlight some of the films and guests scheduled to be here for the March 3-6 event.

Patrick Schweiss is no stranger to the movies, or planning big events, in Sedona. He is founder and chairman of "An Evening at the Oscars," the largest fund-raiser of the year for the Sedona Arts Festival, on whose Board he has served for nine years. We spoke with him in early December 2004; what follows is an edited excerpt of our conversation.

SEDONA MONTHLY: Where do you think Sedona fits in on the independent film festival circuit?

SCHWEISS: It's an interesting question. We're not Telluride, we're not Sundance, but we are a player in the film festival world on the level that we're at. We've launched some great movies, like What the #$*! Do We Know!?, which has gone on to this incredible wave of national success. In the grand scheme of things, we're not one of the biggest festivals in the nation - what we are is a very good festival. And we have a very good reputation among filmmakers and among our audience. Our 10-year goal is to be something close to a Telluride [Colo.] festival, because our audience can match that, our size can match that. They get 5,000 to 7,000 people at Telluride every year. What Telluride has that we don't is powerhouse movie distributors that automatically launch films there. We're not at that level yet.

So how do you go about making Sedona a festival where distributors want to launch?

Everyone already knows Sedona for its beauty; the town is an easy sell, it already has a reputation. The film festival aspect, even though it's been around for 10 years, is still relatively new. We have to keep reminding them we are a viable resource. I went to the Telluride festival in September, and when I came back I got on the phone and called all the distributors and contacts for all the great films I had seen. Now, Telluride launches many films that are getting distribution a month or two later, so the chances of us screening those specific films in March are slim and none. But what we're doing is putting our Festival's name in front of a lot of these distributors, as a viable option to bring other films.

So, while we missed the window for [Telluride hits] Being Julia or Kinsey, we can go after what's going to be released in the spring. We're working with Miramax Films, with New Line Cinema, with Zeitgeist Films, we're working directly with them now to try to get the great films that might be released two or three months after our festival, which we could either premiere, or be one of the first places in the U.S. to screen them.

Are there examples of these kinds of contacts paying off this year?

Showtime is bringing us a film that I saw at the St. Louis Festival called "Sexual Life," with Steven Weber and Anne Heche, and I think our audience is going to love it. It's incredibly creative, it's incredibly provocative, it just hasn't yet been picked up for nationwide distribution, and they're trying to get out to as many festivals as they can. Now we, the Sedona International Film Festival, are on Showtime's radar. And they know, 'Hey, they want to show our film there, let's send them some other ones.'

How about having distributors coming here to discover films they may want to work with?

We are e-mailing and in constant contact with all these distributors, not only to get their films but to let them know they're invited to come to Sedona for that weekend. The more we can promote to get those [dealmakers] here, the better chance we have of putting our filmmakers in touch with people who are interested in their work. Those efforts are ongoing and constant.

One film we're really proud of - we're going to be the U.S. premiere, possibly the world premiere if they don't get into the Berlin Film Festival - is "Hate Crime," by Tommy Stovall, a local filmmaker here in Sedona. It's remarkable, it blows away many of the films I've seen at the other festivals. It's about a gay couple and one partner gets murdered. It's an incredibly powerful film, and remarkable given that Tommy is a first-time filmmaker. For us, we feel it could really help put us on the map, because I'm quite confident this will get picked up for distribution. We're expecting the whole cast to be here.

What about the audience experience?

We want to create a program that's fun, so moviegoers come out saying, 'I had the greatest time.' There's 28 blocs of films you can see at our festival, about 100 altogether. If you're a cinephile, and you want to see all those films, you can do it, Thursday to Sunday. But no matter how many you pick, whether it's six films or all of them, we want you to go away feeling that you got something you couldn't get anywhere else.

Among the events, we've restructured the gala a little bit. Friday night will be a 'Cast Party' - a little more fun, a little more casual, rather than a black-tie affair. The ticket price will be lower, because we want to make it accessible for all of Sedona to be able to come and honor the filmmakers.

We're also very proud of our new ticketing system, which is going to eliminate a lot of waiting in line. Depending on what ticket level you have, you can get tickets for all your films at once. Gone will be the mad dash to leave one film because you have to get in line to get your tickets for the next film, then come back hoping you didn't miss much.

What about the Workshop panels?

The Workshop is going to be on directing. The main panel will be held at Red Rock High School on Friday. Zaki Gordon Institute will host Saturday breakout sessions.

How did the Festival survive the upheavals of the past year?

We were very blessed with a very supportive Board, because we came into this year horribly in debt. Our first challenge was to get on solid financial ground. We got a matching grant offer from them - the deal was, after I came in, that they would match the first $25,000 we were able to raise through sponsorships and donations. And they did. They sweetened the pot at the end of August. So we went from being a broke organization to being one of the most financially solvent overnight.

The overall goal is to keep it solvent, then make a little money and turn that around, because we are nonprofit, and put it into educational projects. It's our goal. [The backing] is a testament to the fact that the community wants to see this film festival succeed. It speaks volumes for Sedona.

The Workshops: Flavia Fontes This year's Frank Warner Workshop topic is Directing. Among the panelists is this New York-based film-maker; her most recent documentary, Forbidden Wedding, is about a paraplegic man forbidden to wed his love because the Catholic Church in Brazil suspected he was sexually impotent. SEDONA MONTHLY: What do you think is the key for aspiring directors? FONTES: Passion. Tell a story that's very close to your heart. Making a film is such a long journey, passion is what's going to keep you going. Very often, when you're in the middle, you think to yourself, 'I should leave this, I should abandon it.' The calling has to be that you feel you are the person to tell that story. Any advice specific for women directors? I've never felt it was very different for men and women. Women may focus on different sides of a story. But there are male directors who I think have a feminine perspective. Men and women directors are [more alike] than we may think.

Animation: Steven Churchill Animation will be a bigger presence at this year's Sedona Film Festival. Churchill, with co-producer Chris Padilla, will be bringing AnimationTrip to this year's lineup, a compilation of short films created on computer by some of the most creative animators around the world. SEDONA MONTHLY: Why the surge of interest in animation? Churchill: Pixar and DreamWorks have excelled at telling stories and driving interest with their features. It's given a total boost to the field. What will we see in AnimationTrip? We're offering hidden gems -- high-end, entertaining shorts that are not so well known. It'll be a fun mix of story-driven segments and eye candy driven by original music composed by artists like Jan Hammer ("Theme from Miami Vice"), Thomas Dolby ("She Blinded Me With Science"), Kerry Livgren (of the band Kansas). The trick is to make it cohesive, thematic, so it almost looks like it comes from one source.

Mockumentary: Lynn Oprie Bette Fredricks - A Life Lived's director is a silent-film buff, with credits working on documentaries about film pioneers Cecil B. DeMille and Louise Brooks. The experience inspired her to create her Festival pick, exploring the life of this troubled and colorful, if fictitious, actress. SEDONA MONTHLY: What inspired you to do the Bette Fredricks story? OPRIE: The seed of the idea is actually about 13 years old. I saw this old interview footage of Louise Brooks - the actress and flapper from the 1920s. She seemed really mean and drunk -- I thought that was awesome. I did a sendup of that interview in a stage show, and developed it from there. It took a year to write the script -- including a timeline, filmography, scripts for films within the film. I was really inspired by a mockumentary called Forgotten Silver by Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) for New Zealand TV, about a 'lost' genius film pioneer. It was done so realistically that people actually got mad when they found out it was fake; he got all this hate mail. We had an experience like that. The film was shown at the Big Bear Film Festival, and they didn't realize Bette wasn't real. They just thought it was a funny documentary. I didn't get hate mail for that; I got a round of drinks. What were Bette's career highlights? She was born in 1927, the day The Jazz Singer opened. She was in Mildred Pierce and The Lost Weekend - as an extra, you can see her back. There was a love story, Romance Among the Hymnals. The children's show in '58 on L.A. TV, Kiddie Kaper Time. European childbirth films. Several drinking binges. Her '80s comeback after ripping off a 7-Eleven, the nostalgia dinner show Bette, Just Bette. We almost secured an interview, but she died in 2001, in a bathtub full of rum. A small but twisted life.

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