Friday, June 3, 2011

A Very Lovely Image Noise

When we were in Rotterdam for the film festival awhile back we received a handwritten note in our festival mailbox. The note spoke lovingly of our film and invited it to be screened at a new festival in Basel Switzerland. This was the inaugural year for the film festival Bildrausch [Image Noise] Film Fest Basel held at the Stadtkino and good god are they off to a wonderful start!


A mix of modern slickness and a homespun charm made this fest incredible, not to mention the well rounded, passionately curated film program! Nicole Reinhard, the festivals heart, has such a unique and brilliant take on film, each one carefully chosen for its craft, ingenuity, sincerity and unavailibility to the Swiss locals. Her love of film and her desire to bring it to people is intense as were the small touches of thought that went into the fest. Overflowing vases of fresh cut wildflowers,  comfort foods at every moment, the projection of silent, bursting fireworks on the ceiling of the space, the sleek, comfortable, cool style of everything all added to the many thoughtful parts that made this fest the warm embracing family that it is! And the people of course; Simon (production manager extraordinaire, who somehow managed to always have ice cream for me at any moment!), Sibylle donning every hat, Jurgen also carrying some of the load- each person of the small crew floating into all areas of the fest seamlessly, so many beautiful, intelligent, caring faces with so many skills it is unbelievable!


We met some really incredible filmakers too- Brent went to a prison turned hotel with Ziska Riemann (whose new film Lollipop Monster looks wonderful), had dinner with Dusan Makavejev & Bojana Marijan (a retrospect of Dusan's unique visions of experimental, collaged work were a feature of the festival- more on them later!),  and even went to a museum featuring a ton of Picasso & Brancusi & Richard Serra with Athina Rachel Tsangari (the current face of the Greek indie film movement). The fact that Nicole was able to bring together this incredible group of artists in the first year alone is no doubt a sign of things to come! I still cannot believe how great this experience was and I will never, ever forget it. I am so proud to have Gravity be a part of the beginning of what is no doubt bound to be a long lasting film festival legacy!