Paul shares a beer with Reg Harkema, director of Monkey Warfare (2006), at SXSW 2007.

I arrived in Denver Wednesday afternoon, ready to offer some fresh energy to Dave and Kevin who have been burning the midnight oil for a whole week now. So after a download with the whole team over beer and some really delicious fish tacos, Kevin and I head for my first film of the festival, Nail Polish. After the film we look across the aisle to our left and see none other than the real Will Ferrell sitting in the audience. His wife, Viveca Paulin, is one of the producers for Nail Polish. Needless to say, Kevin and I worked up the courage to interview them on the fly, trying hard to keep the focus on Paulin’s film, not Ferrell’s career. He talked about big-budget productions versus small-budget films, and some of his favorite things about Nail Polish, while she talked about the challenges of shooting a film in 28 days with a small crew.

Will Ferrell and Viveca Paulin.
Starz Denver Film Festival, spout.com podcast

There’s a lot of excitement around the Spout offices today, as we watch the tickets sell for our first community film-watching event, tonight. We’ll be watching 51 Birch Street, a documentary by Doug Block about his parents’ marriage and the general mystery we call “family.” After the screening, we’ll host an online Q & A time with the director, then we’ll get as many people as possible to head over to our favorite local joint, The Cottage Bar, for some beer and continued discussion. (After tonight we’ll continue the discussion in a conversation group on spout.com)

The fact that we’re handing out drink discounts for the Cottage should help get a crowd to participate in the follow up. But from what I’ve heard about the film, I think people will feel compelled to be together and have opportunities to talk about the issues the film presents. That’s ultimately what’s exciting to me about this event, and about film festivals and any community film watching experience, really: the possibility to connect with others and parts of ourselves in new ways, around ideas sparked by films. And that’s why we’re testing this event–to find out how we can help individuals anywhere put together an event like this. We’ll let you know how it goes.

What did Dave do at Telluride? So glad you asked… Here’s what he told me.

5 favorite films:

- The Last King of Scotland (we had a good podcast conversation about the film)
- The War (the first part of the new Ken Burns documentary on WWII)
- The Italian
- Volver
- Infamous (for the acting)

4 interesting people:

- Kevin MacDonald (director of The Last King of Scotland–here’s our podcast featuring him)
- Sharon (an “older” woman who has been coming to the festival for about 10 years with a group of friends–the group has grown and this year numbered about 20)
- Forest Whitaker (lead actor in The Last King of Scotland–we also made a podcast with him)
- a couple from Boston we shared the gondola with after watching The War

3 favorite spots:

- the New Sheridan Saloon (lots of mingling, playing pool, drinking beer)
- the Elks Park (where the outdoor screenings were held)
- the gondola at night (a really stunning way to come down off a film)

2 memorable moments:

- walking and talking with Kevin MacDonald and Forest Whitaker (see podcast links above)
- listening to the conversation between Peter Bogdanovich and Bertrand Tavernier

1 way the festival changed you:

- I realized in a more complete way that there’s such a great diversity of film lovers out there–not a certain type like we sometimes imagine. The thing that ties them all together is their passion for “pictures.”