It’s a marvelous night for the Moondance Published: September 26, 2013 | Last Modified: September 26, 2013 01:20AM By Michael Souza Press Writer MYSTIC — Beginning Thursday, one of the biggest events of the season is coming to town. The Moondance International Film Festival, now in its 13th year is moving to a new home: Mystic. For the most part, the festival had run in Boulder, Colorado, and recently had been moved to Los Angeles and New York City. This year it moves to Mystic thanks to the hard work and influence of Hans Hartman of Stonington. He has championed the festival, coordinated several area venues and when at all possible, involved local people. Through his company Mystic Moondance, he has by sheer will made it a reality. “I am a producer and a filmmaker by trade. I have organized events before, it’s in some ways similar to making a film,” said Hartman late last week. “This is the same thing but on a much larger scale. It takes a great amount of planning.” That’s especially true for the last few weeks, where he has been working nonstop to make sure nothing gets overlooked. He’s coordinated the venues, arranged the films, contacted guest speakers and has been the primary contact for almost everything. According to Hartman, the official festival director, a total of 83 films will be shown, all of different lengths and genres. That equates to about 78 hours of film watching over the four days, Sept. 26 – 29. Added to that are seminars, workshops, critiques, panel discussions networking events, guest speakers and parties. Festival founder Elizabeth English, who lives near Boulder, Colorado, had been looking for a new site and considered Mystic a potential location. Hartman contacted her seeking advice about starting a film festival in southeastern Connecticut. The collaboration was fated and the festival will be here Sept. 26-29. Despite flirting with disaster during the horrific river flooding in Colorado earlier this month – she is fine – English will be at Mystic for the festivities. The winners of the festival were announced at the beginning of September in an effort to have as many contestants as possible arrange for the trip to Mystic. The suspenseful drama from Viennese director George Jecel, “Little Dancer,” won the Best Feature Film Award. The 2013 Festival is screening films by filmmakers from around the world. Little Dancer is to receive a Special Seven Seas Award this year, for making a cultural difference in the world. It deals with the topic of child trafficking, and last year the UN director of drug, crime and human trafficking participated in a Q&A. Other winners this year include “A Fish Story,” written, produced and staring Sam Roberts; “Dovid Meyer,” a film by Moshe Paul Mones and produced by Darren Schwartz, “Our Common Roots,” by Glenn and Marjolene Axford of Canada, which will open the festival, and “We Are the Voices for a Future without Genocide,” a concert film with original music composed by Denise Gentillini, will play in Mystic as well as at the ARPA Film Festival in LA on the same weekend. “Zen Noir” a film by Marc Rosenbush produced by Marc and Marla Halperin will also screen at the festival, and the Halperins will be offering consultations and workshops for attendees on developing story ideas, production and distribution. Zen Noir won the 2006 Best Feature Award at Moondance in Boulder Colorado and went on to garner awards around the country. It won the Audience award at the Rhode Island Film Festival that same year, and actor Kim Chan, (Lethal Weapon and several Martin Scorsese Films) received a Lifetime Achievement award at that festival as well. Expected to come to Moondance are Giancarlo Esposito, who starred as Gus on “Breaking Bad” and Tom Neville in “Revolution,” and Linda Vilhjalmsdottir, line producer for “Game of Thrones,” who will give a master-class on line producing. In addition, many of the producers, directors and actors who worked on the films will also be there. There have also been some special events lined up. On Saturday, there will be a short cruise on the Schooner Mystic, to Skipper’s Dock in Stonington Borough. This will return downtown at about 6 p.m. Meanwhile, at 2 p.m., the Garde Arts Center and Mystic Moondance will present a special showing of Frank & Chip: The Olympic Experience. At 6 p.m., Mystic Moondance will have at the Garde Arts Center, a special evening with a “special guest actor.” Hartman did not judge the films but is responsible for everything else. A filmmaker since 1978, this year’s festival reflects his passion for the industry and next year he promises more. “We’ll be here next year and I hope to have a more Southeastern Connecticut theme,” he said. “It will be bigger and even better.”
Posted on: Thu, 26 Sep 2013 18:25:47 +0000
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