Bainbridge on the big screen: Film festival stretches for two days

There’s Sundance, and there’s Cannes. There’s even the Seattle International Film Festival.

So why not Bainbridge Island?

The 2012 Celluloid Bainbridge Film Festival will take over the historic Lynwood Theatre Saturday, Oct. 20 and Sunday, Oct.  21 with feature films, documentaries, animations, shorts and more, running back-to-back both days. All the films have an island connection.

While the festival is packed with cinematic island gems, perhaps one of the best details is its admission price — free.

The film festival is the product of Kathleen Thorne, who initially started the event in 1999 as part of the Bainbridge Arts Walk in Winslow. Films of all types with a Bainbridge connection were shown at the Pavilion theater back then.

The attraction, however, proved so successful over the years it outgrew the arts walk and into what it is today.

“It got so popular, that the arts walk coordinator asked me to move it because it interfered with arts walk,” Thorne said.

The festival, now in its 14th year and housed at the Lynwood Theatre, has shown movies such as “What’s Up Tiger Lily?,” co-written and voiced by islander Frank Buxton, and “The Last Detail,” screenplay by Darryl Ponicsan of Bainbridge.

This year’s fest had so many submissions, that two days were required to feature them all.

“Every year I think that has got to be it, there can’t be more (films),” Thorne said. “And every year, more show up.”

The selection for 2012 has produced an impressive crop of films, animations, documentaries and more.

“We’ve got some really good films this year, some of them were total surprises,” Thorne said.

“For example, a feature on Sunday is ‘A Better Life,’ it has this Oscar nominated actor.”

“It’s never played on Bainbridge before,” she added.

“A Better Life” earned Demián Bichir a Best Actor Oscar nomination in 2011 for his performance in the film.

Thorne’s own son is also included in this year’s festival. Ned Thorne’s feature film “419” is a thriller that will finish off the weekend of cinematic delights.

An additional feature this year will be a filmmakers forum, “Ready, Camera, Action … Does Anyone Speak English? Filmmaking in Remote Locations.”

The forum starts at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, and will include filmmakers Liesl Clark, Bryan Gunnar Cole and Laurance Price, who will talk about making movies in foreign locations such as the Himalayas, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. The forum will be held at the Bainbridge Public Library and is also free.

Contact Bainbridge Island Review Staff Writer Richard D. Oxley at roxley@bainbridgereview.com or (206) 842-6613.

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