06/22/99 - Temecula, CA

Are you still holding out on the film festival? Too busy? So is my husband. Every year I tell him what I saw and he says next year he is going to take a day off work and go with me. Finally, I got him into a screening last Saturday night. We went to see the classic, Dr. Zhivago – movie classics are an added bonus this year. It wasn’t available though. Film festivals can be like that.

No problem I said, we’ll just see what is showing. Scrapbook, a film by Kurt Kuenne was keyed up for 9:00 p.m. Saturday night. We had about 15 minutes, so we popped into a showing in the next theater – that’s the thing about the film festival, there is always something – you don’t like one, get up and go into another.

From the film summaries, Scrapbook was one I had underlined, so I was excited. Technical difficulties delayed the start, and as my husband tapped his fingers I wondered aloud if he had the patience for festivals. Then the movie. A gem. I wouldn’t be surprised if it wins the whole shabang. It was everything a film festival is about.

On our way in, Sunny Thomas introduced us to Kurt Kuenne. Usually people related to the film are there for you to meet. Kurt is unusual though because when you meet him you are meeting the writer/director/producer/composer/editor ("It’s a lot easier to manage that way; I work cheaply for myself," Kuenne said).

The film itself, a story of redemption, the power of forgiveness, coming of age, a family saga of sibling rivalry and casual choices with permanent consequences. My husband walked out almost in awe. "Much better than anything we’ve seen lately," he said. I told you so, I said.

The other thing I love about the festival is just getting into the creative process, the Q&A with the principals of the films. As for Kuenne, a recent graduate of USC with degrees in film production and music, he shared how it has been harder to get the film seen by industry execs than to make it. He recounted raising the money, working out his own business plan (he hit the law books for a month to figure out how to put together a limited partnership for the funding), the joy of an audience’s appreciation when much of his time now is spent in dead end letters and phone calls, his work writing movie scores or sound editing as he moves his dreams alongs.

So, take the afternoon off. Head down to see a classic, or the documentaries – don’t miss Long Time Coming about American Viet Nam vets and Vietnamese vets sharing a bike trek along their old battlefields or The Return of Paul Jarrett, a WWI vet who returns to the battlefields of France 70 years after the war. There are kids movies in The Climb or Tom’s Midnight Garden or any of the films produced and written by kids.

As for the City Council, Kuenne reported spending his time in Temecula hitting The Stampede and then Pechanga Entertainment Center with friends who came to town with him.

It’s all working. I hope you don’t miss it. I know if you go you are going to call and tell me how great it was. I’ll nod and say, "I told you so!"

The festival is playing at the Temeku Theaters at the Palm Plaza shopping center.

Visit the Film's Festival website: http://www.tviff.com