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Jerry Rudes Bids Bon Voyage to Avignon
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Just what is it that makes this festival experience so unique? “It’s the magic of the place and the magic of atmosphere Jerry creates,” says Seamus McNally, winner in Avignon/New York this past fall for his short To Paint the Portrait of a Bird, based on the Jacques Prévert poem. “Every film, whether it has stars, is a short, documentary or feature, is treated exactly the same,” chimes in Dayna Goldfine, co-director (with Dan Geller) of the award-winning documentary Ballet Russes. “There is a sense of camaraderie that starts developing at the very beginning. Jerry’s spirit and generosity infuse the experience. It’s about the true spirit of film, not that horrifying rollercoaster you have to ride at other festivals.”
The Sundances, Venices and Tellurides of the world certainly don’t have their moviemakers working and playing together in the context of the festival. Buoyed by the creative fuel of inspiring stories of the blood, sweat and tears poured into the films, filmmakers in Avignon are given a picturesque setting against the backdrop of the south of France to speak candidly about their work: “Making everyone have breakfast together—nobody does that. Having a picnic lunch where I encourage everyone to eat together. The dinner (for nearly 70 people) at my house—these things developed out of a need to create a place where people can relax and get together and talk about movies in a quiet and introspective way,” says Rudes.
“Everything feels like a dialogue between filmmakers that is an actual exchange of information which I hope to continue,” remarks Mary Stuart Masterson, director of The Cake Eaters and part of the official selection this year. Nina Paley, winner of Best American feature for the animated Sita Sings the Blues adds, “There is nothing mainstream about this. It’s clear Jerry likes films that take risks.”
In the media and celebrity age where the uninventive trend is to create a massive enterprise encumbered in a velvet-rope mystery, the down-to-earth and accessible style of Rudes and his festival (because they are inseparable in their identity) are what makes the experience so attractive and refreshing for the moviemakers and tourists who happen to be in town and purchase tickets to a screening only to find themselves being encouraged to ask questions (as was the experience this year of legendary composer Carl Davis, who attended the 25th to see the premiere of Hannah Davis and David Connolly’s The Understudy, for which he composed the music, and later to speak about his work with Charlie Chaplin’s films). That kind of experience could be found at the back of a crowd centered on a 13-inch television screen outside the press room on the balcony of a convention center in Cannes—if you paid $500+ for your market badge.
Of course, we would never embark upon most great endeavors if we knew upfront all that they would entail. Twenty-five Avignon and 13 Avignon/New York festivals later, “I don’t think I want to pick a high point,” muses Rudes. “Every year has wonderful memories… Louis Malle attended our third year and that really put us on the map… meeting Sam Fuller and the fact that he liked Avignon so much that he would come every year and that other filmmakers got to meet him (like Quentin Tarantino, when he was at Avignon with Reservoir Dogs)—that was very rewarding. And, of course, I went on to become the co-author of his memoirs which was important to me. Thirteen years ago the Avignon Festival made it clear that I should have an American version and it prompted me to do a New York event, which got me to move back here.” (Rudes now splits his time between New York and France and has dual citizenship.)
Buzz that this is Rudes’ last year with the festival percolates rather loudly, prompting attendees, volunteers (some of whom have been with him all 25 years) and Honorary President Maria de Medeiros to bemoan over dinner, “No, please, you must keep going!” To which Rudes ruminates, “I think 25 is a nice number. I want to do other things with my life. I want to leave room for other people to run the festival if they so desire and I want to let the festival disappear if that’s what has to happen in order to clear up a clogged festival calendar…Maybe I’m going to find another outlet to continue to support independent movies.”
So what are moviemakers to do in the absence of this intimate and special festival that has graced the summer calendar and enriched so many lives for the past 25 years? Aside from the wonderful and lasting friendships that have been established over early morning breakfasts, zealous conversation over roasted lamb, tabouli and French wine at a 2:00 a.m. dinners, heated debates over which boule belongs to whom, or the clown car atmosphere of 10 slightly intoxicated moviemakers crammed in the back of a beat up station wagon with two bum doors, Rudes hopes that the moviemakers will continue to do what he always encourages at the closing ceremony year after year: “Keep making movies.”
As for Rudes? He’ll pull his hat over his head to block the strong Provencal sun and plant an olive tree in his front yard until the spark of an idea for his next venture strikes.
For more information on Rudes and the Avignon Film Festival, visit http://www.avignonfilmfest.com.
Ashley Wren Collins is an accomplished actress living in New York City. She welcomes your comments and thoughts at ashley@ashleywrencollins.com.
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COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by sander heilig on 4/08/09 at 3:11 pm
I’ve know Jerry since the mussel and oyster days of the 70’s in Cadaques. Jerry never stood in the shadow of Dali, but created, instead, his own reality… always the salt of the earth but with an intensity of energy that only a free spirit could aspire too.
One day, we went diving and Jerry came up with an octopus trying to strangle him. Jerry knew exactly what to do with this octopus, Having learned, I presume, from the local fisherman. Holding it by the tentacles,he pounded the thing until it was tenderized. So he said. Later that night we cooked it with a few onions and some garlic. That’s all we had. It was horrible- but one of the most memorable meals of my life. That’s the way Jerome Rudes does things. I can only imagine a 1000 other such adventures....what rich life. I love you Jerry.- Comment by شات صوتي on 9/07/09 at 7:45 pm
thanks for u
- Comment by ميلان on 9/07/09 at 7:47 pm
thankunuo
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