By Adam Scott
Independent film fans, it is time. The Vacant Era Film Festival, which runs through Sunday at the Sooner Theatre and Coach's Brewhouse, starts 6 p.m. today at the Sooner with a kick-off speech by Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal.
The festival got started with a small problem in 2006, said Meleah Montgomery, production manager and festival coordinator for the Vacant Era Film Festival.
"Well basically, it originated in a script. Cory Allen and Randy Aspell were doing a script in conjunction. They were trying to get it made into a film and they discovered it's really hard to get all the people together for the editing, production and distribution on a film.
"There are people around town who do those things, but those resources aren't all combined into one place and it's hard to find all the individuals together at the same time for the same project."
The city's moniker helped seal the deal for the Vacant Era Film Festival.
"We all live in or around Norman so we decided to do it here," Montgomery said, "and it is the City of Festivals after all so it was a good fit."
While most festivals are up and running after several years of fundraising and planning, the Vacant Era Festival is instead ready to begin after several months.
"That was about April," Montgomery said, "and we've been doing it ever since. For it to have come to fruition this quickly is amazing, especially when you think of how long it takes to get all the stuff together for a festival. Most festivals start to years and advance and so, for us to have started it halfway through the year is a rare thing. We've been fighting it uphill all the way, since most organizations and groups have already decided their budget for the financial year in advance regarding donations and sponsorships, budgeted out their money already and add on top of that the economy.
"So it's been an uphill battle trying to get it all together and get it started. It's amazing we're getting it done and it's happening."
Giving a helping hand to make the festival come together in such a short time are the City of Norman and local businesses and arts organizations including KREF 1400 AM, Action Arts OKC, Coach's Brewhouse, the Firehouse Art Center, Standing Buffalo Indian Art Gallery and Gifts, Crazy Ladies Book Shop, Marc Heitz Chevrolet, Republic Bank and Trust, Riverwind Casino and NONzine.
Mayor Cindy Rosenthal proclaimed the week of the festival Independent Film Week in Norman, Montgomery said.
"It's great, this being our first year, that the City of Norman is behind us on this festival and so many other organizations are ready to help us out on this and help make it happen."
Montgomery said there is a schedule of festival events available "at www.vacantera.com/2008Schedule.htm. Just click on pages two through four for the schedule of events because the first page there is the cover."
While there is no common theme to the films featured in the festival, and in fact some films' subject matter and/or content are not family friendly, they all share humble origins.
"They're all independent films," Montgomery said.
"There's not going to be anything you've seen before except for maybe one or two someone may have seen just because they are by a filmmaker from Norman and there's been a few showings around town. But most of them are new to just about everyone. Most of them were done on a shoestring budget but that doesn't mean they can't be a quality production.
"And there's filmmakers coming in from all over the country, even from Canada and France. About half of the films are from Oklahoma and half aren't. It would be neat if we could make it with all Oklahoma films but it would defeat the purposes of the film festival to expose our films to other audiences and to bring in tourism to the area and the state as well."
Getting four evenings packed with independent films organized and funded with only a few weeks' notice is a pretty tall order. A tall order which gets even taller when taking into account the decision by Aspell, Allen, Montgomery and the festival's other organizers to include music performances in the festival.
"It didn't start out that way," Montgomery said, "but we got to thinking, film and music go together. What film have you seen that doesn't have music involved with it? Music is a big part of the Norman arts scene and it just kind of spiraled into '(the musicians) need a platform. They need to be heard as well.' We have just as much talent here musically as there is in film and in both fields, people are told they have to go somewhere else if they want to succeed."
The film festival is about finding a new way to make a living at a creative profession without traveling far away to an established hub of the music, art or film world to do so.
"The idea of Vacant Era was, instead of going to other markets and trying to 'make it' there, they can get known and circulated in and from their area," Montgomery said, stressing the importance of making connections with new colleagues and with new fans from other regions. Having fun doing it is a nice bonus.
"I mean, how often does a band from Oklahoma, unless it gets a huge record deal, get to play with another band from Seattle, or France? It just doesn't happen."
Internet-based networking and Web site traffic had a definite impact on making the Vacant Era Film Festival a reality.
"I will say that MySpace has been a great tool, so has having a strong Web presence, but we did a lot of old-fashioned publicity too. We hit the streets, handed out flyers, put up posters, spread word of mouth all over. You can't just go with the newest ways of getting out information," she said.
"If we had stuck with just MySpace and Web presence, we wouldn't be having nearly the participation and interest in the festival that we are having. Yes, the Internet helped, but so did the old-school methods. The fact that all these other papers and different places got the press releases was a big help. It definitely was a combination of both."
Montgomery gave an example of the aforementioned old-fashioned publicity in action.
"I've been out and about all over town and around the area the last three weekends, as has everyone else (organizing Vacant Era). Every bar and every club that we went to: Flyers. Hanging up posters all over town. Everywhere."
Montgomery outlined the different admission charges to the festival, contingent upon what entertainment festivalgoers seek -- and how much of it.
"Per day, it is 15 dollars for a ticket for the entire day and night. That allows you to go to every music performance that night at Coach's as well.
"Just going to see the bands playing at Coach's one night -- that's $5. Some people may opt for just that because of when they are off from work, school or whatever. But if someone has purchased a movie ticket for the festival that day, they get in free; the music's included in the ticket price."
For the serious entertainment bargain-hunter with the time to go and see it all, there is an all-inclusive VIP option for the Vacant Era Film Festival, she said.
"If you want a weekend pass for the whole thing, Thursday to Sunday, it's 45 dollars and that gets you a VIP pass that lets you into everything for the entire event. Movies, music performances, everything."
Montgomery said whichever option attendees choose, they're getting a great deal.
"There's 40 films and about 11 to 12 bands over the course of the festival. To be able to see roughly 10 to 15 new films in a day -- you're not going to be able to see that at the movie theater, let me tell you. And then on top of that you can go see at least two bands that night included in that same fee. That's pretty cheap entertainment when you break it down like that."
Montgomery hinted at something unexpected during today's opening
"Mayor Rosenthal will speak during the opening of the festival (today). There will be a few surprises. It will be a lot of fun."
Adam Scott
366-3533
pop@normantranscript.com
