Catch sights and sounds of valley on film festival's silver screen
Bruce Fessier • The Desert Sun • January 9, 2009
Darryl Macdonald isn't the type of programmer who will present a section of local films just to appease local sponsors.
But this year, for perhaps the first time in the Macdonald era, there's enough good films with local ties to warrant a Valley Views program.
“We've got at least eight films that have a major local connection,” the executive director said, “starting of course with ‘Adopt A Sailor,' by Charles Evered.
Macdonald says “of course” when referring to “Adopt A Sailor” because its lead producer, Kim Waltrip, has become a spearhead of the Palm Springs Women in Film & Television mission to generate more locally-produced movies.
The film was written and directed by Evered, a writing instructor from the UC Riverside Graduate Center, and locally financed and produced by a team that includes Women in Film members Sherry Halperin and Audrey Loggia, wife of actor Robert Loggia and Merv Griffin's former agent.
The film about a dysfunctional New York couple who accidentally adopt a sailor during Fleet Week has already screened in three festivals. But that just put more pressure on Waltrip to get it accepted into the hometown festival.
“It was stressful trying to get it in here,” she said. “I thought about, ‘What if I'm not accepted?' I would just die!”
Macdonald was impressed by the cast in “Cat City,” including Brian Dennehy, Julian Sands and Rebecca Pidgeon (wife of David Mamet), and the concept behind it.
It's a film noir about greed, gambling, robbery, infidelity and murder set against a backdrop of wealth.
Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio is used as a Las Vegas casino and Palm Springs is the wealthy community. The seedy stuff? That happens in Cathedral City.
Producer Patrick Stack of Los Angeles said writer-director Brent Huff has been coming to the desert for years and says the locals use the nickname, “Cat City.”The 18-day shoot featured 17 days in the Coachella Valley, including scenes shot at Bighorn Golf Club in Palm Desert and old Palm Springs.Macdonald calls it, “a perfect combination of film and setting.”But Two other Macdonald favorites, “Bart Got A Room” and “Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman,” are still to come.
The latter documentary features local homes shot by the famous architectural photographer. The former features Marywood Country Day School alumnus Alia Shawkat from “Arrested Development,” with producer and executive producer credits for family members Tony Shawkat and Dina Burke. “Bart Got A Room” is about a high school kid who rents a hotel and limo for prom night before securing a date for what his parents say should be the most magical night of his life. It stars Steven Kaplan with William C. Macy as his Afro-haired eccentric father. Variety calls it, “Engaging and suitable for family viewing.”
“The Least Among You,” a world premiere based on a true story about the first African-American to attend an all-white seminary, isn't actually designated as part of the Valley Views series, but it co-stars popular desert personality William Devane, who was featured in “24” and “The Missiles of October.”
Devane, namesake of a local restaurant and polo enthusiast, hardly seemed nervous about having a film in his hometown festival, but he did arrive early Tuesday to do interviews on the red carpet before the major honorees arrived at the awards gala. He said he got involved in the project after director Mark Young called him.
“It's the kind of picture I like to do,” said Devane.
