My second Film Festival

Random Chairs in a Darkened Room, September 2024

After the first Leamington Film Festival (Random Chairs in a Darkened Room Worldwide) took place in 2019, we had to give way to the pandemic. That first event had been relatively successful, but I decided a) to scale it back to films only on Friday night and Saturday, and b) to enlist a local collaborator who is in my Buddhist group. Almost immediately after we had set the date - one of the only weekends in the remaining year when we were both available - he became unavailable due to his son getting the grades he needed to get into a university that required his presence on the Saturday.

Never mind, we decided to go ahead anyway and I benefited from his management of the drinks on Friday night, which is an area where my skills are very much lacking. I was also supported very well by the Gulloebls - Lola II and Mr M - who came armed with snacks as well as trailers to each of the showings. Huge thanks to them. 

So it was looking pretty good on Friday afternoon: I had rearranged the furniture, tested the films, got an extra kettle down from the loft... and then the doorbell failed. Mr M's job was door answering, which was probably a poor choice given that he was the least likely to be able to hear anyone knocking on the door. Luckily one of the guests was the university entrant and his young ears proved invaluable.

We welcomed thirteen people on Friday night for Catherine Called Birdy, which I class as a roaring success. There were almost no bookings before the event for the Saturday films, but a few people came at the last minute (one without booking at all) so that we did watch the first film on Saturday (the Blues Brothers), and nine attended for the late afternoon performance of This Beautiful Fantastic. It was a film that I hadn't seen before and which turned out to be... all right. A nice film, but I would say that the Film Festival demands a more exceptional standard.

None of the visitors had attended the event five years ago, but all seemed very enthusiastic about future events, and I think we can build nicely from this baseline. Booking their place, bringing themselves, food and drink at the right time, and dressing up for Friday will all improve, and for my part I could make sure the doorbell works next time. I don't think I'll extend beyond Saturday next year, and as Mr M commented, real success will be demonstrated when someone stays for two films in a row.