As most of you know, my dad is going to be attending his first film festival this year. We also have the extreme pleasure of covering the festival as part of the Social Producers Program, which is absolutely thrilling. I've been coy about sharing the news, but now I'm gonna say it loud and proud :). I was contacted by TCM, submitted 2 proposals, they liked one and got approved. My dad and I are extremely excited to tackle this really exciting and awesome opportunity. Look for us on twitter: @diandapanda. I went ahead and made some cards for use at Moo. I loved the cards I made last year and had to make more:
I'm not totally sure how much use we're going to get out of them, but it was really fun to find classic Father/Daughter duos from film and real life. If you see me or my dad feel free to ask for one. Anyway, back to the schedule.
And now onto the schedule! The much anticipated full schedule was released this past Monday, I randomly checked the festival website before getting out of my car at work on Monday morning and was thrilled to find that it was available. I quickly tweeted about it and then texted my dad to let him know that we had some decisions to make. But, unfortunately, I didn't have much time to peruse it until my lunch break. When I did finally get a full look at the schedule I noticed some tough choices that had to be made. Over the past 6 days I've ended up with about 4 different schedules, some that primarily focused on absolute favorite movies that I just HAD to see on the big screen, one that showcased all the special guests, one that deferred completely to my dad's interests and taste, and one that consisted of new to me films. And now I finally think that I have arrived at a happy mix of all these different schedules. So without further ado, here comes our (tentative) schedule.
Thursday Afternoon: Meet TCM, So You Think You Know Movies, Welcome Party at the Roosevelt Hotel. Easy choices, since there aren't any conflicts :)
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| Here's the Roosevelt during the fest last year |
The first conflict comes right off the bat. For all previous festivals I've had the unbelievable pleasure of attending the Opening Night Red Carpet Movie at Grauman's, however this year I won't have access to that. So how does one choose between Queen Christina and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance? For me the deciding factor was the inclusion of special guest Keith Carradine at The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I have been trying to embrace Westerns more, so perhaps this will help.
Thursday Second Time Slot: Favorite/Must See
Again, hard to pick, but we're gonna go with My Man Godfrey, it's close to impossible to pass up a chance to see Carole Lombard and William Powell on the big screen. Although the screening of The Sea Hawk with Errol Flynn's daughter in attendance is extremely tempting, I think the late ending time is a deterrent for us.
Friday First Time Slot: New to Me vs. Must See
For this movie block, I'm leaning towards The Dawn of Technicolor, while my dad is leaning towards Inherit the Wind. I'm not sure what we're going to decide on here.
Friday Second Time Slot: Special Guest
We're gonna go with Lenny with a Q&A with Dustin Hoffman with Alec Baldwin. This is one of those blocks where 3 of the movies had been previously announced and we were looking forward to all 3. I had wanted to see Reign of Terror with Norman Lloyd and my dad was looking forward to The Proud Rebel with Alan Ladd's son, but in the end Dustin Hoffman wins.
Friday Third Time Slot: Special Guest and Must See
For this time slot The Cincinnati Kid with Ann-Margaret in attendance wins out even though I had been looking forward to the screening of Limelight and hearing Norman Lloyd. It'll be wonderful to hear Ann-Margaret and to see Steve McQueen on the big screen.
Friday Fourth Time Slot: Too difficult to decide
This happens to be one of our tougher time slots. When titles were first being announced I knew that I had to see Steamboat Bill, Jr. It was pretty much number one on my list of must sees. My dad and I were also interested in seeing Rififi, which would be a new to us title, and I was also very excited about getting the chance to see Raiders of the Lost Ark on the big screen. So, imagine my surprise when I saw all 3 of them pitted up against each other! And to add to that there is also a screening of The Invisible Man at the same time. We are completely at a loss for this time slot and it may be our first time splitting up during a screening. I had my heart set on Steamboat Bill, Jr. and The Invisible Man is one of my dad's favorite movies and was one of his father's favorite movies. Not sure what will happen here.
Friday Fifth Time Slot: Dad's interest
If I were going by myself this time slot would be Roman Holiday at the El Capitan all the way. It would've been a nice change of pace, since it's possible that we would be spending this entire day at the Egyptian Theater and it is by far one of my favorite movies. And my second choice would've been Rebecca, to satisfy my Alfred Hitchcock fix. But here's where other factors come into play. I recently saw Roman Holiday at UCLA and I know my dad has been looking forward to the opportunity to see a real-life James Bond. So, in the interest of embracing new things and seeing a wonderful celebrity guest I think we will end up seeing On Her Majesty's Secret Service with special guest George Lazenby.
Saturday First Time Slot: Special Guest and New to me
For the first time slot on Saturday my father and I have decided on The Man Who Would Be King. The deciding factor here was an opportunity to see Christopher Plummer and to see a new to me movie.
Saturday Second Time Slot: Undecided
For this time slot my dad and I are trying to decide between Rebel Without a Cause and The Miracle Worker with Andrew Prine in attendance. Both are movies that we've seen before and love. We may also take this undecided opportunity to check out Sophia Loren Live from the Film Festival. I have never attended one of these in the past and it may be our one chance to see Sophia Loren since we are most likely attending The Grim Game as our closing night movie. This time slot may come down to a day of decision. And as James Dean says in Rebel Without a Cause, "You're tearing me apart!"
Saturday Third Time Slot: Special Guest and Must See Movie
I'm pretty sure we're going to the screening of The Apartment with special guest Shirley MacLaine during this time slot. This feels like one of those quintessential must-sees and a great opportunity to see Shirley MacLaine. My dad has expressed interest in both Madam Curie and Viva Zapata! Both of which sound wonderful, but I don't know if I could see them instead of The Apartment. Another we shall see and possible split up moment.
Saturday Fourth Time Slot: Wait and See
For this time slot, we're still trying to decide between The French Connection at Grauman's with William Friedkin being interviewed by Alec Baldwin and the amazing hand-cranked presentation of Return to the Dream Machine. This may be another decision we make the day of, perhaps depending on our mood. Both offer something very unique.
Sunday First Time Slot: New To me
Sunday morning we're going to start off with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, this is a movie I have always wanted to see and what better way to see it than at the Film Festival in Grauman's.
Sunday Second Time Slot:
This may be where I get my Alfred Hitchcock fix with Psycho, but my dad is making a compelling case for the Diary of Anne Frank complete with Diane Baker and Millie Perkins, another we will see.
Sunday Third Time Slot:
If we end up seeing The Apartment on Saturday then we will skip The Children's Hour during this block, for now we are trying to decide between The Philadelphia Story and Judgement at Nuremberg. They could not be more different, a light fun rom-com or a heavy courtroom drama. This may be another decide on the fly movie block. My dad also mentioned interest in seeing Houdini, so all bets are off.
Closing Night Movie:
We have been excited about The Grim Game since it was first announced and it would make sense for us to close out the festival at the Egyptian Theater since we will possibly spend all day Friday in the Egyptian Theater. It will be tough to miss out on Sophia Loren and the screening of Marriage Italian Style, but I think we're set on this decision.
As you may have noticed I have no set definitive plan, I'm really on the fence about a lot of time slots, but it was fun pulling up all the movie posters for my first, second and third choices and I know that whatever movie, panel or event I attend it will be a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience. I am really excited (as per usual) to attend the festival and especially thrilled to share this experience this year with my dad. We may have different movie tastes, but I kind of like the fact that I may end up at screenings I wouldn't normally attend.
Other bloggers picks for the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival:
Out of the Past: My thoughts on the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival Schedule
Blog of the Darned: March Movie Madness Baby
Laura's Miscellaneous Musings: The 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival Schedule
A Classic Movie Blog: Joy! The TCM Classic Film Festival Schedule is Here: What I Plan to See
The Black Maria has Cary Grant's reactions to the schedule
I'll be sure to update as soon as more bloggers post their picks.
Update!
Once Upon a Screen: My Picks for #TCMFF 2015 are not made of stone
Joel's Classic Film Passion: 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival
Happy Film Festival-ing everyone :)
Wow, That's amazing we could have as many as 9 in common or as few as 0. As the father half of another father daughter team, I had the advantage of picking most of the films on my daughter's behalf. She's only 15 and almost everything on the schedule is something she doesn't know. I think I've done a good job selecting films she would like. The other advantage I had was where I had two or three films and no clear favorite, I had her read the descriptions of the finalists and make the call. Of course, it led to some odd justification for the choices. For example, we're going to My Man Godfrey over The Seahawk, because my daughter likes ninjas more than pirates. Yes, among 15-year-olds, the debate between ninjas and pirates is not only a real thing, but one that carries some weight.
ReplyDeleteMy apologizes for the delayed response! We barely ended up following this schedule and we barely saw you and your daughter, but it looked like you guys had an amazing time at the festival. It's funny that you chose the schedule for your daughter, I tried to choose for my dad, but he definitely had his opinions about certain time slots. Hope you had a good time at Wondercon!
DeleteDiane,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for linking to our festival piece over at Black Maria. Congrats on the social producers program. We know that must be exciting for you. See you at the fest!
--Jill from Black Maria
Sorry for the delayed response, but thanks so much for the comment, it was my pleasure to include the post, it was very cute/clever and there can never be enough Cary Grant out there.
DeleteI'm bummed we didn't get to meet at the festival, we'll have to try again next year :)
WOW. Almost made me change my mind on a few of the screenings. Such tough choices!! Seems the only one we agree on as far as a MUST in HUNCHMACK. But I'm hoping we get the change to hang out a bit. SOOOO EXCITED!!
ReplyDeleteAurora
Once Upon a Screen
Hi Aurora, I'm finally getting to these comments, it's been a wild couple of weeks. I'm so bummed that I didn't get to see more of you at the festival! We clearly didn't have similar schedules. I hope you had a great time at the festival, I've loved reading your tweets and blog posts. Talk to you soon!
DeleteWOW. Almost made me change my mind on a few of the screenings. Such tough choices!! Seems the only one we agree on as far as a MUST in HUNCHMACK. But I'm hoping we get the change to hang out a bit. SOOOO EXCITED!!
ReplyDeleteAurora
Once Upon a Screen