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Is Moondance One of the World’s Most Important Festivals?
A Conversation with Founder Elizabeth English
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For Elizabeth English, the Moondance International Film Festival is about more than just film screenings and an opportunity for up-and-coming moviemakers to network-it's a chance to right the historical wrongs of an industry that has long demeaned the role of women and promoted destructive behavior. She founded the Boulder, Colorado-based event in 1999 because of her frustration with the "boy's club attitude in Hollywood-as well as the perception that you must live in LA to be considered a serious screenwriter." She also bristled at the fact that women writers over the age of 40 have "virtually no chance of getting produced." Originally open only to women, the competition has evolved to include work from either gender, provided the work shows "women in strong, positive roles, and, if possible, lead roles for women actors over 40."
Here, as she enters her fourth year of producing the event, English talks with MM about her festival's ambitious mission statement, the quick success she's found and why a film festival should celebrate more than just the actors and director.
Jennifer Wood (MM): Though your event is called the Moondance International Film Festival, moviemaking is just one of the arts you celebrate. Can you talk about the other arts you focus on?
Elizabeth English (EE): The Moondance International Film Festival invites international screenwriters and filmmakers, playwrights, short story writers, television writers, librettists, film music composers, children's filmmakers and writers, and young (18 and under) filmmakers and screenwriters.MM: Why do you think it's important to celebrate more than just the directors or actors who help to create a film?
EE: That's a great question and I'm glad you asked! First of all, the entertainment industry, worldwide, must recognize and value the vital role of the writer in the creation of the concept and script for any film or television show. In legitimate theater, there is a long tradition of the writer as "king," and his or her words on paper are respected and recognized as the ultimate source of the stage play. Unfortunately, this is not always true in the film industry, and Moondance aspires to challenge and change the perception that writers are merely peripheral to the ensuing film; that their talents and ideas may be dispensed with once the shooting starts. Additionally, the rest of the above-the-line and below-the-line film crew should be seen as vital, since film is, without a doubt, a collaborative medium.
MM: Your mission is a very ambitious one: can you talk about what it is that you hope to accomplish with the Moondance Film Festival?
EE: Moondance offers everyone a unique opportunity, in a non-elitist environment, to come together with other writers, directors and producers to create new opportunities, develop tools for success and forge new alliances within the international film and entertainment industry. Our goal is to tell good stories, to relate to people emotionally via our craft, to push the boundaries of the world film industry and, in the end, to be taken seriously as artists.Moondance promotes and encourages non-violent conflict resolution in film, depictions of women and girls in a positive manner, lead roles for women actors over 40, and appreciation of ethnic diversity. The Moondance International Film Festival's mission is to promote cultural understanding among the peoples of the world.
MM: Can you talk a bit about what your Columbine Awards are all about?
EE: Our much coveted Columbine Awards are given to the filmmakers and/or writers who best depict alternatives to violence as a method of dealing with conflicts, whether personal, local, national or international, and/or show why violence as a solution to conflict is ultimately counter-productive and inhumane. Our mission is to present a vibrant and growing collection of films and writings, which is an ideal means for communication across perceived boundaries of race, culture, age and gender.
The Moondance Columbine Award project proposes to raise global awareness of writers' and filmmakers' experiences and perspectives of peace and conflict. We hope it will help people better realize their potential as peace-builders, from the village to the national and international level. Also, it's our aim to affect the film, television and music industry, specifically targeting those entities to motivate them to fund and produce films and shows which depict alternatives to violent conflict resolution. We also wish to acknowledge the potentially powerful roles writers and filmmakers can play in securing peace and gaining a greater commitment by the film community toward depictions of non-violent conflict resolutions.
MM: Obviously, your platform is one based as much on political and social equality as it is on quality filmmaking. What prompted you to develop such an ambitious mission?
EE: Moondance's resolute and vigorous promotion of equality for all, in a non-elitist atmosphere, is a vital part of our mission. And it teaches us to learn more about other people's cultures and mores, thus encouraging respect for diversity among all people. The terrible events of September 11, 2001, as well as the Columbine massacre in Colorado, the Washington DC sniper killings and other on-going international conflicts could be solved peacefully if people around the world respected others and knew of viable alternatives to violence. Filmmakers and writers can powerfully influence the dissemination of world knowledge and experience, as well as inspire peaceful resolutions to conflicts. Film festivals like Moondance can encourage filmmakers and writers to create the stories that can make a difference.MM: What are some of your greatest success stories?
EE: A short film, The Unique Oneness of Christian Savage, about the ills of apartheid, by a South African filmmaker, had the distinction of being invited for screening at the Cannes Film Festival, after winning Moondance. One of the winning librettists, a young Chinese man from Vancouver, Canada, had his work noticed by an agent attending Moondance, who subsequently sent the "book" onto filmmaker Ang Lee, who is now considering it for a martial arts opera on film.
Another Moondancer who was a finalist in the feature screenplay category had a script requested by Francis Ford Coppola, and Jodie Foster's Egg Pictures requested all five finalists' scripts. Recently, an online poll was taken among filmmakers asking them to list the top 10 "most important" film festivals in the world; important to a filmmaker's career and to the world film industry. Moondance came in third in that poll, after Cannes and Sundance.
MM: If you had to sum up, in 10 words or less, what kinds of projects you're looking for, what would you say?
EE: That's easy! I can do it in four words: good story, well-told.
MM: Finally, what do you think makes Moondance stand out from the number of other festivals that keep popping up?
EE: Our strict emphasis on absolute top quality films and scripts. To say you've won Moondance is to have doors open for you that may otherwise remain closed. Producers and agents know that a Moondance film or script is always going to be the best of the best. Additionally, Moondance is an "open" film festival, in that we strive to always be available to the participants, and to encourage and inspire them, throughout the year, anytime. We're people-oriented and non-elitist. At the Moondance 2002 awards ceremony, the entire room full of 200 people gave me a standing ovation for five minutes, some of them with grateful tears streaming down their faces. But I reminded them that it is they who make Moondance what it is; it's their stories, their films, their scripts, their music scores, not mine. And it's the time and talents of the Moondance staff and many volunteers who make it all possible.
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