There has been a buzz around town of eager film festival-goers hoping to find an escape route from the ugly realities of the day (well, The Administration) for all or part of this 32nd annual festival’s 11 days, to sink into the screening HQ of the Metropolitan Four and special events at the Arlington, Lobero, and elsewhere as a way to avoid the seeming meltdown of American values in our White House. Of course, no real escape is possible, partly because the historically all-important international component of festival — including from countries deemed demonic by Trump (incidental note, check out the Iranian film The Salesman, screening today, Thursday, at 2:40, and later in the fest).
At the opening night ceremony, longtime executive director Roger Durling wisely tapped into the zeitgeist and collective angst, without naming names or controversies, by referring to his own trouble upbringing as an alienated Panamanian, who found his calling in the United States — “the place of second chances.”
He addressed the nearly sold-out Arlington throng, saying “you are 2,200 people, and you are all equal, in the dark…I am a foreigner and I am an American. Film festivals build bridges between cultures. There are no walls here…artists tear down walls. We, as citizens, can do the same.” He then invited the crowd to pick up candles in the foyer after the film and to create a candlelit procession down State to the big opening party at Paseo Nuevo post-screening.
