Trinidad film fest gets down and indie this week

Film festival season in Colorado kicks off every September with the oh-so-glamorous parade of celebs and their pet projects through Telluride, followed by a chain of lesser festivals aspiring to such glory across the state. But if you crave truly independent cinema; if you long for the days when film...

By Alan Prendergast

September 11, 2012

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Film festival season in Colorado kicks off every September with the oh-so-glamorous parade of celebs and their pet projects through Telluride, followed by a chain of lesser festivals aspiring to such glory across the state. But if you crave truly independent cinema; if you long for the days when film festivals were about mavericks screening distinctly non-Hollywood fare, rather than stars declaring themselves "indy" and scoring distribution deals; or even if you long for a world without Ben Affleck -- then Trindiefest might just be for you.

Trinidad's first stab at a "truly independent" film festival gets under way on Thursday, September 13, and runs through Saturday, September 15, at Trinidad Junior College and other venues in and around the city's historic and well-preserved downtown. The scope is modest, the fare mostly obscure, and that's the way festival director Kirk Loudon (writer/director/editor of 2010's Forward Slash) and other supporters want it.

Check out the full schedule of screenings here. And don't miss the special guest appearances, including Joe Estevez (Martin Sheen's younger brother, known for doing some key voiceovers in Apocalypse Now and carving out his own niche in low-budget fare such as Beach Babes From Beyond and San Franpsycho), writer/director Catherine Cyran, and Mark Stolaroff, producer of the much-buzzed sci-fi thriller Pig, about an amnesiac trying to reclaim his life.

Stolaroff will speak on "the advantages of no-budget filmmaking." Here's the official trailer for Pig, which has been compared favorably to Christopher Nolan's Memento and is now making the rounds of the less starstruck festivals -- making it a perfect offering for Trindiefest.

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Alan Prendergast is a former staff writer at Westword and is now a senior contributor. He writes about various topics but primarily focuses on news. He’s contributed to Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, Outside, USA Today, Men's Journal and other publications and is the author of two nonfiction books, Gangbuster: One Man's Battle Against Crime and The Poison Tree: A True Story of Family Violence and Revenge. He’s earned numerous accolades for his work including the Eugene Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award and two national feature writing awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

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