Durango

The Durango Independent Film Festival is quite an operation.  We arrived on Wednesday, March 2, and were warmly received and immediately wrapped up in the festival.  It was a whirl for the next five days.  We attended parties and get-togethers with other filmmakers and with festival-goers and with the many, many people who work to put the festival together.  It has been a wonderful experience.

We saw a lot of films, but we only saw about half of those we would have liked to see.  There just wasn’t enough time, and we had to pace ourselves so that we could make it through.  We showed our film, Strictly for the Birds, on Friday and again on Sunday to receptive and appreciative audiences.  I loved hearing their take on the film and answering their questions.

We also spent some time at Maria’s Bookshop, which is carrying the book that the film is based on: In Between (tinyurl.com/KateB-InBetween).  They were wonderful to meet and work with.

I had wondered about the appeal of the film – whether it would appeal mostly to people our age, or perhaps to middle-aged people who have a child who is transgender or gender-neutral.  But it seems to appeal to all ages.

People our age appreciated that we show a love story of 70-somethings.  A woman encouraged her genderqueer child get time off work so they could see it together.  (They bought a book, too.)  The young people we talked to loved it.  It was all very gratifying.

We watched a few other films. Some were fairly full, but most showings had smallish audiences.  We talked with several people in town who said they just weren’t ready yet to venture into a theater.  The pandemic has certainly affected us all, whether we got sick or have made it through safely.

Andrea’s two brothers and several cousins came to the festival, too.  It was good to spend time with them.

Durango is a small town in a beautiful part of the country.  Sunday morning we woke to four inches or more of snow.  It snowed again later that morning, and again Sunday night.

We left Monday morning under cold, sunny skies heading south.  It will take a while to digest all we saw and experienced.  We felt embraced by the festival and the people there.  What a wonderful experience.