Homegrown works among 61 screenings

Friday, February 23, 2007

By Nancy Van Valkenburg
Standard-Examiner staff

Four years ago, Scott Halford was a Weber State University student with an independent film he wanted people to see. So he booked a room at WSU and invited a few others to show their short films as well.

Today, Halford is the director of the Foursite Film Festival, which opens Wednesday with a gala at Union Station, followed by a film at Peery's Egyptian Theater. The 61 films booked, mostly shorts, come from Utah and other states, and also from locales including India, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Korea.

Halford handpicked a few of the films from a festival he attended in New Zealand. Two of his feature films have Utah ties, and one, "Blind Dating," was shot by James Keach and wife Jane Seymour in Ogden, and makes its world premiere at the festival.

"The first year, the festival was for fun," said Halford, 27 and a Farmington resident. "The second year was for passion, and the third year was where I started getting my vision. This year, my vision is taking shape."

New for 2007 is an additional evening screening, following a gala opening night that is open to the public rather than just to filmmakers. Student filmmakers now have a session block to showcase their work, and can raise money for future projects by selling tickets to the screenings.

Also for the first time, panel discussions and workshops for filmmakers have been added to the schedule.

And something else is new. People are beginning to pay serious attention to Halford and his festival. Like Ogden mayor Matthew Godfrey.

"This is an incredible film festival that I believe will become a huge event for Ogden," Godfrey said recently, while awarding the festival a $4,000 grant from the city. "They attract great quality films that are family friendly."

The Utah Film Commission is taking notice, too. Ricky Flores is one of several Utah Film Commission employees who will be judging the film competition.

"Scott definitely has a plan," Flores said. "He's looking to make it the next Sundance. I've judged for the past two years, and the films are getting better each year. He shows a broader range of films, and the quality is better. And he wants the festival to bring economic growth to the area, which sounds like a wonderful goal to me."

Halford's festival -- named Just Another Film Festival its first two years -- now has a board of directors, and a local businessman donated the services of his attorney to apply for nonprofit status (approval pending) for the festival.

"When I started, I did not think I would have a career as a festival director, or travel the world to meet with other festival directors," said Halford, who still directs films. "I'm not a businessman. I'm just an artist with a lot of persistence."

Pirates at the gala

Halford has the enthusiasm and drive, but he needs more people to fill the audience seats.

"We had about 700 people attend last year, spread over eight screening sessions," he said. "The smallest screening was around 30 people, the largest about 170."

Those numbers would fill an intimate venue, but the Egyptian has 800 seats.

"We're pretty positive that the first night's film will surpass our total attendance from last year," Halford said.

The first screening, to run at Wednesday night's opening gala, is "Pirates of the Great Salt Lake," shot in-state and starring Utah actors Kirby Heyborne ("Saints and Soldiers," "Sons of Provo"), Larry Bagby ("Church Ball"), Emily Tyndall ("Napoleon Dynamite") and others.

The film, screening at 8 p.m., tells the story of two affable guys who decide to become the greatest pirates the Great Salt Lake has ever known. But inland pirating, it turns out, is less satisfying than expected. At least until the two find a long-lost treasure map.

"We have a lot of the actors and crew coming to the screening, so it's going to be exciting," Halford said.

Keach's film

The film that closes the festival at 8:30 p.m. on March 3 is "Blind Dating," about a young, virginal blind man whose brother sets him up on a series of really bad dates. The young man finally meets a nice girl from India, but finds cultural differences may be their biggest handicap.

"I contacted them, because the film was shot here, and the Egyptian Theater is the perfect place to have its world premiere," Halford said. The film's theatrical release is set for March 30, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Next Friday night's film, in the 7 p.m. block, is "For Right or Wrong," an hourlong documentary on a group of top snowboarders and their adventures.

And Halford is especially excited about Thursday night's feature film, "Mini." It tells the story of a futon salesman who competes with one of his store's mattress salesmen by running in a mini-marathon, with the winner to earn a coveted management position.

"The only way I can describe it is it's like 'Napoleon Dynamite,' but more funny and with a better story," Halford said. "I enjoyed it so much, I had to show it to other people. The production quality and the entertainment values are there."

The film is in the 7 p.m. block.

Mostly for families

Booking evening features he thinks will appeal to a broad spectrum of viewers is one way Halford hopes to boost festival attendance, he said.

Another way is adding a student short-film session, which he hopes will attract area students and aspiring filmmakers. Additional short-film sessions are geared to families, adventure fans, documentary lovers, and to people who love film as an art form and don't mind a little adult language or content.

Except for the family-film session and the R-rated session, Halford would rate most sessions PG or PG-13, he said.

"In choosing films, I look for entertainment value, then production value, then I look at the film as a whole, as to the overall effect it will have on people," he said. "If a film is entertaining and not laden with objectionable content, then it fits our festival well. Except for the late Friday night session, we are a family festival."

The future

Just four years in, Halford is happy with the growth of his festival and the increased funding sources he has found. But his dreams for the future are even bigger.

He named the festival "Foursite" for two reasons: first, as wordplay on "foresight," in hopes that the festival would screen exciting films before the public could see them anywhere else; and second, with the dream that his festival would grow to have four sites, one each in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties.

Four sites could take a while, Halford admitted.

"I want full houses," he said. "I want to have films purchased for distribution at my festival. I want to have a summer workshop series for student filmmakers, and a foundation so people can apply for grant money. I want to be able to hire and employ a staff of people to help accomplish all these things."

Halford believes increased "social standing" will draw more money to the festival, which will permit more improvements.

"I'd like to be able to offer cash prizes, which will encourage more filmmakers to submit films, and lead to a higher quality of films that will allow us to draw larger audiences."

His dreams are big, but he's gaining support and momentum.

"Right now, I'm still dragging the festival along," Halford said. "I'm still in the climb. But I think this could be the year we step over the summit."

PREVIEW

WHAT: 'Foursite Film Festival'

WHEN: Wednesday through March 3

WHERE: Peery's Egyptian Theater, 2415 Washington Blvd., Ogden, except for Wednesday opening gala at Union Station, 2501 Wall Ave., Ogden.

TICKETS: $15/gala, $10/most screening blocks, $10/most feature sessions, $5/student session, $20/all workshops. Some discounts for students and seniors. Festival pass, $50. 395-3227 or www.foursitefilmfest.com.