By TAYLOR VAN ARSDALE Special to the Daily Press
There’s nothing quite as exciting as walking the red carpet at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood, holding your head high amidst the paparazzi as their flashbulbs go off, seeing you’re several feet away from the stars of the film.
There’s also nothing quite as embarrassing a being turned away at the door because you don’t have a ticket. Access denied!
Yes, that’s right, folks, I almost didn’t make it to the premiere of “Wanted” (an amazing film BTW, see my review later this week).
After being dissed a festival volunteer informs me my tickets are at the press booth, but the press booth doesn’t have them and suggests I check with Los Angeles Film Festival will call. Will call, upon learning I am with the press, sends me back to the press booth; who then sends me back to will call. Do we see a pattern of insanity here?
After 15 minutes of dickering between tables (so much for meeting Mr. McAvoy) I am told there are no tickets available. Fortunately, a contact at mPRm graciously offers me an extra, but to obtain it I have to trudge (in high heels, mind you) to the overflow theatre across Wilshire Boulevard. I am not a happy camper.
Once at the Majestic, a congenial woman takes the stage, this is Dawn Hudson, the executive director of LAFF and I have to say a bright star in my evening of mishaps.
She introduces the film explaining how exited LAFF is to present Bekmanbetov’s “Wanted” since they screened “Night Watch” back in 2005. Hudson is so warm and friendly that I find myself forgetting the events that have transpired and settling into the best film I’ve seen in years.
An after-party hosted by festival supporter Jameson Irish Whiskey follows the debut, and thankfully there are shuttles at the ready.
I am a Tommy Bahama Rum drinker, so I’m not impressed with the booze situation nevertheless I opt for a whiskey sour. It is hideous; but soon I am tipsy and the next one tastes halfway decent. At the party I meet aspiring actress, Amy Garris who laments, “Last year they gave us gift bags.”
There’s no swag at this party. In fact, there are actually two parties occurring simultaneously: the “Plebeian Party” for us common folk (where I was), and the “Patrician Event” hosted by Universal (where Berkmambetov was, and the reason I didn’t get my interview), both are filled to capacity the distinction being Universal’s is packed with mucky-mucks.
Knowing this, why I should try in earnest to cajole the bouncer poised between the two events to pass me a comp ticket strikes me as psychotic.
I blame it on the Jameson. The bouncer remains stalwart … until a 90 year-old woman approaches claiming a “misplaced ticket,” and he permits her entry. Life is cruel.
Dejectedly I slink back to the Plebeians where in no due time a heavy woman collapses in a dead drunk heap on the pavement at my feet, signaling my cue to leave.
The consensus from the Plebeians interviewed is that the festival has out-grown itself; in year’s past the crowd was not severed from interacting with talent, and no one appreciates being roped off from the Industry executives; most of them don’t know the execs so they can’t be faulted for their ignorance in this matter.
From the get go the festival has been beset with problems, from: obtaining credentials to figuring out which events require hard tickets, and hoping the volunteers will be responsive and well informed.
There’s no question that coordinating an event such as LAFF is a daunting and almost impossible task, but the next day the publicity team (Julie Siegel and Petra Kauraisa) works quickly and efficiently to ameliorate the situation; within 10 minutes I am officially “hooked up” and feeling much better.
Don’t let a few minor set backs hastened by uninformed volunteers ruin what is otherwise an amazing event.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 25, 2008. Read the original PDF.