Home  |  Out & About  |  Dining  |  Events  |  Singles  |  Classifieds  |  Archive  |  Advertising

Hell’s Half Mile Returns to Downtown Bay City

by Gina Myers

Festival organizers are busy working on the final details of this year’s Hell’s Half Mile Film and Music Festival, which is scheduled to kick off on Thursday, October 1st. 

In its fourth year, Hell’s Half Mile is hoping to continue the success it has enjoyed in previous years while also increasing its audience.  “At last year’s festival, we saw a 36% increase in audience over the previous year.  We’re hoping to see another increase this year,” explains festival director Alan LaFave.  “I want to build a bigger audience for each film.”  The all volunteer run festival is heavily focused on community involvement, and its mission is “to develop a community that participates in the arts.”

The festival shows features, documentaries, shorts, animated, student, and foreign films.  Each year LaFave attends a number of other film festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival, the Traverse City Film Festival, and the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck, to see what is out there.  While a handful of the movies are solicited for Hell’s Half Mile, the majority of what screens comes from open submissions.  This year, the committee received over 130 entries, from which they selected approximately ten feature films and 28 short films.

Friends (With Benefits) is one of those films.  Director Gorman Bechard will be attending all four days of the festival with two of the film’s lead actors, Lynn Mancinelli and Alex Brown.  The film has received a great response from other festivals it has screened at, winning the “Best Narrative Feature” award at the Sacramento Film and Music Festival and the “Best Romantic Comedy” award at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival. 

Bechard had been searching for festivals that seemed like a good fit for his film on withoutabox.com, a guide to film festivals, when he came across Hell’s Half Mile.  “I looked at what had played there before, and it had a fun, funky feel.  It seemed like it would be a good fit for the film, and it turns out, it was.”

Friends (With Benefits) is a bit of a departure from Bechard’s other work.  He started out making horror films and B movies in the ‘80s, but turned to novel and script writing in the ‘90s.  He had 26 scripts optioned during that time, but none ever got made, so he decided to return to filmmaking himself.  Since then, he has created three feature films where he has had complete creative control.  The two films that came before Friends (With Benefits), Psychos in Love and You Are Alone, were dark, and Bechard found himself wanting to do something light and fun.  He describes Friends (With Benefits) as a movie for college crowds or the 16 – 26 age group.  “When the film screened at Rutgers University, the audience was laughing so much that they were missing jokes.  The film gets quite a different reaction from an indie crowd.”

Bechard is looking forward to the festival and his first visit to Michigan.  “Alan has been really great about everything.  With some festivals, it can be iffy, but you can tell he really has his act together as far as organizing goes.  It’s been amazing.”  

There is a lot to look forward to with this year’s festival.  Unlike previous years, Hell’s Half Mile will kick off with a block party, taking place from 5 to 8pm on Thursday, during the same time as the monthly First Thursdays art walk.  Saginaw Street, between Center Ave. and 5^th Street in downtown Bay City, will be closed off to traffic.  There will be live music and drinks and food available.  A number of local arts organizations will also have booths set up.  Following the party, Timer will screen at the State Theatre, with producers Jennifer Glynn and Ricki Jarret in attendance.  An opening night ticket can be purchased for ten dollars and includes entrance to both the block party and the film.

In addition to the block party, another highlight of this year’s festival will be the Music Night at the Masonic Temple, taking place on Saturday, October 3rd.  LaFave is especially excited about the bands they were able to line-up.  “We have two bands coming from Chicago, Oh My God and Baby Teeth.  We have been trying to get Oh My God to play here for awhile—they’ve come as close as Flint and have a big following there, so I think we will have a great crowd here.”  Opening for them will be Champions of Breakfast, a synth-pop band from Detroit.  While the show is all ages, beer and wine will be available for purchase by the 21 and up crowd.

Tickets for Hell’s Half Mile Film and Music Festival 2009 are currently available for sale at the State Theatre Box Office.  An all access pass, which grants access to all films and events, is currently available at a discounted price of $35; the all film pass is currently $20.  Once the festival starts, the passes will be available for their regular prices, $45 and $30, respectively.  Tickets can be purchased individually for $5 a piece, with the exception of the opening night, which is $6.  Entrance to the music night is $10.

Hell’s Half Mile takes place on Thursday, October 1st through Sunday, October 4th.  Be sure to check out the special Hell’s Half Mile guide in this issue for a complete schedule and listing of shows and times.

home  |  Out & About  |  Dining  |  Events  |   singles  |  classified   |   archives  |  advertising
© 2009 Review Magazine.  All rights reserved.