Forget the maps and the snack foods, the itineraries and the Twitter updates. The most important thing you need to know about taking a road trip, is that it is supposed to be FUN.
On Friday, Cameron was in the middle of moving apartments and I’d been on the road with my (real) job for a couple of days. We were tired, we were stressed out.
That is, until we arrived at Danville’s Lawn Chair Film Festival.
It started out like this:
Hilarious right? We thought so too. And things really only got better from there. Popcorn in hand, the lawn chair audience was treated to the top 17 films – some were funny, some were confusing, some were scary, some had a real message to them. All of them were great. But of course, it was a film festival, not a “all-these-film-are-great-celebration,” so there had to be winners. Here they are:
• The Golden Lawn Chair Award:
“Mr. Duffy Finds a Friend” – Christian Loftus and Brenna Howard won the grand prize of the evening, materialized in an actual golden lawn chair, for their short and truly innovated stop motion animated piece utilizing cardboard cutouts.
• Best Drama:
“Fair Trade” – Elisa Plattilero and Molly Hoy won for their 8-minute drama shot entirely in Danville’s own The Hub Coffee Shoppe and Café.
• Best Comedy:
“Le Salle de Juex” – Tim Miller’s spoof of French cinema had the audiences howling and took home the award for best comedy.
• Hometown Pride:
“The Flyers” – 9-year-old filmmaker and Danville resident Charlie Hall won this award, which celebrates local film talent, for his tribute to Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film, “The Birds.”
• Lawn Chair Challenge:
“Steven’s Script” – In a special new category, filmmakers were asked to create a film specifically for the festival using several random elements: A quote from an Eminem song, a football as a prop, a shot of a spinning fan, a character being referred to as “Captain”, and the quote “I don’t dance unless I hear music.” Director Jim Stout won for his hilarious entry.
• Audience Award:
“Bizarnival” –At the end of the night, the audience was asked vote for their favorite film through paper ballots or text message votes. Scott Stafford and Walking Softly Film’s “Bizarnival” won by a landslide.
Sponsored by the Danville-Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau and Heart of Danville Main Street Program, the Lawn Chair Film Festival kicks off the Lawn Chair Summer Theater schedule which is available here. Popular movies are shown on a large outdoor screen in Constitution Square all summer.
If you want to keep up with the film festival over the summer, “Like” their Facebook page. And make plans to attend next year. If nothing else, the entertaining MC introducing each film will make it worth your trip. (And if you guys know the film makers of “On a Boat” offer to loan them yours … apparently, they don’t have one.) At the end of the day, it was a great road trip … because we had FUN.
So until next year, here is OUR favorite film festival entry. Tim Miller’s “Le Salle de Juex” Enjoy!
la Salle de Jeux from OfficeRocker Productions on Vimeo.
OH! And if you want a cool tshirt with the film festival’s awesome logo and you live in the Danville area, tshirts are available at Grayson’s Tavern for $10.
MY OLD KENTUCKY ROAD TRIP 