NOVEMBER 2, 2004—Two weeks into The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and Gregory von Hausch’s work has only just begun.

The festival’s president is now preparing for the never-ending hustle and bustle that accompanies the month-long event’s packed screenings and wild parties in Fort Lauderdale.

The festival’s already traveled down to Coral Gables and back up to Delray Beach. But the real fun begins Thursday with the festival gala at the Agu Studios in Lauderdale Lakes. Von Hausch will them switch on the projector and screen films—from Pedro Almodovar’s latest to an Indian family film made in 3D—at the Parker Playhouse, the AMC Coral Ridge and the festival’s very own Cinema Paradiso.

Film South Florida.com spoke with von Hausch as he was trying to coordinate shuttle pickup service for many of the festival’s European guests.

Film South Florida.com: The Boston Red Sox made the World Series. Voters went to the polls to elect a president. How have these events of national importance and interest affected festival attendance?

Gregory von Hausch: Luckily for us, the (baseball) playoffs affected us more than the World Series because the World Series was over so quickly. The playoffs—the Yankees and the Red Sox—did eat into us. We were pulling for the Red Sox to win the World Series in four, and who would thunk it. The festival started in Delray the next day. The election has been a tremendous diversion. People were so into it. It had a lot of people’s attention. We were a little worry that we were going to have 36 days of Florida reprised, but it’s better for everyone that it happened this way. We had (Election Day) off. We usually have films on Election Day, but this year I didn’t want to compete. I didn’t have people to choose between a great comedy or going to vote.

Film South Florida: You changed the format last year. You used Cinema Paradiso for Sunshine Celluloid, American Indies, Shorts, and Documentaries. You screened the World Cinema and competition entries at the Parker Playhouse. What lessons did you learn that you have applied to this year’s festival?

Von Hausch: Last year we just did Parker Playhouse and Cinema Paradiso. This year we have expanded. We’re gone back to the Minifest thing. We have films all the way from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach counties. It’s reminiscent of what we were doing for years. We got out of that loop when we couldn’t negotiate the venues. We did learn that 10 straight days at Parker was too much. We just didn’t have the bodies to fill up matinees on Mondays and Wednesday. So we have condensed into three days and 11 films. All are competition films, with the exception of Heart of the Storm.

Film South Florida.com: Why return to the AMC Coral Ridge after all these years?

Von Hausch: We have not been there since 1999. I always liked being there. We weren’t able to strike a deal. AMC had problems and would not give us the venue for free. Things have since changed. Now we’re back. It’s always felt like home there.

Film South Florida: What were you thinking when you had to postpone the opening night encore screening of Being Julia? That it was a sign of things to come?

Von Hausch: It was the perfect beginning. It’s kind of a microcosm of the film festival. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. People were raving about the film at the end of the first screening. They were saying it was the best opening night film. I was on Cloud Nine. Not even eight minutes later, I’m telling people, “Here’s the opening night film,” and it went down. Everyone was wailing at me, everyone was angry. The actual problem was that the (movie projector’s) lamp house caught fire. We didn't think it was a big problem. We thought it was a burned-out lamp. We changed the lamp, but the new lamp didn’t come on. The wires leading to the socket had fired inside the machine. (Being Julia costar Shaun Evans) had just introduced and was going to do a Q&A after the film. He was taken the Samba Room for dinner. I stayed. I radioed them and them to as much time as they needed for dinner.  

Film South Florida: The Fort Lauderdale portion of the film festival kicks off Thursday with the opening night party minus an opening night film. Did you just realize that film and wine don’t mix?

Von Hausch: For me, the opening night is just a melee of activity. We have to get the film early enough so people can leave early enough to the party. I’m frustrated with: Here’s the guests, here’s the introduction, here’s the film, no time for a Q&A, now go to the party. The ultimate was in 2000 with John Waters. Everyone’s loving him, I have to get him off so we can show the film about a Nazi killing kids so we can get people to the party. We now get to do two films on Friday, and there’ll be a party at the Mercedes Benz dealership after Heart of the Storm.

Film South Florida: But you’re screening M*A*S*H during the party  

Von Hausch: M*A*S*H is so episodic. We don’t have to sit and watch it all. Jo Ann (Pflug) is going to be there, so we thought we would show it. It’s a fun film.

Film South Florida: How would you describe this year’s slate of films? Eclectic?

Von Hausch: That’s always been our thing. We try to do as many different things as possible. We have strong documentaries, shorts, international films. That leaves the American indies. We started last year to be more selected and cut down the number. So we have a nice blend of comedies and dramas and cutting-edge stuff. We’ve got a great gay section. the Florida section is bigger than usual. Some of the bets documentaries are in that section.

Film South Florida: Is that what surprised you or struck you the most about the films in the Sunshine Celluloid sidebar?

Von Hausch: The documentaries are really strong. They also seem to make up the majority of the section. They’re all gotten better. The quality’s improved over the years. They really are some nice pieces. And they’re a good bunch of people. I’m hoping everyone will come to the gala.

Film South Florida: Any films you couldn’t get?

Von Hausch: There’s one. I met with the filmmakers, but they had accepted an invitation to a small festival in Florence. I was so disappointed. They only had one print with English subtitles. Why that was an issue—when the film is French, and festival is in an Italian town—I don’t know. They said they have big contingent of English speakers. They speak either Italian or French, so they could use the English subtitles on a French print. But I’ll try to get back for next year. People will not have seen it.

Film South Florida.com: What’s your favorite film in the festival?

Von Hausch: I’m a sucker for the Italian films. Catterina Va In Citti is one of my favorites for sure. Ae Fond Kiss, the Ken Loach film. You know I like comedy. I’m delighted with two, El Carro and The Ketchup Effect. The one from Iran—Marmoulak—because you don’t always see in a film like this cursing, drinking, womanizing and thievery. Films from Iran are always very holy in their religious viewpoint. That’s why this was banned in Tehran. The Miracle of Bern—it’s a different perspective. You don’t see 1954 Germany, when a father, a former Nazi soldier, comes home from the prisons in Russia. It’s a unique film.

Film South Florida: This year’s guests include Melissa Gilbert, Andrew McCarthy and Fred Willard. They don’t possess the same star value as Kevin Spacey, Ben Kingsley, Nick Nolte and Burt Reynolds. Given past experiences, does the absence of big-name talent matter when it comes to drawing people to the festival?

Von Hausch: Not really. Kingsley drew people because they wanted to see the film and to see him. We do what we can with celebrities. It’s my least favorite part of the festival, dealing with them and having to get them. I’m not sad we don’t have a headline star as we’ve had in the past. But we do have a of people who could be headline stars. The (festival’s) board is always looking to pop stars in here and there, but I really don’t care.

Film South Florida.com: Why salute movie producer and studio executive Mike Medavoy?

Von Hausch: He’s getting the Motion Picture Industry Leader Awards. He’s got a god stable of films. We honor producers, people don’t get sung. We thought this would be honorable candidate. If we mentioned his name, people go who? That’s the beauty of the film festival: to open doors.

Film South Florida.com: What’s the greatest challenge of running a film festival that runs for more than one month?

Von Hausch: Keeping it in front of people’s eyes. Logistically, it’s nightmare. We get prints in for the press, the prints go to another festival, they come for a Minifest, they go back out, they come in the festival. They may come in and out four or five times. We’re running shuttle buses moving people back and forth. We only have 30 guests this weekend, but it seems like they are from 30 countries arriving on 30 airlines and staying at 30 hotels. That wears you out.

Film South Florida.com: What do you plan to do when it’s over? Sleep for one month?

Von Hausch: We’re negotiating to do the festival from Dec. 2 through 5 in Key West. we did in Highlands in North Carolina. We’re going to do it in Seaside next April. We’re going to take the Outdoor Movies to Fort Myers, LaBelle and Port Charlotte. But even if we’re doing that, this little cinema here keeps us busy all the time.
 
The 2004 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival runs through Nov. 21. Visit http://filmsouthflorida.com/fliff2004.html or http://fliff.com/2004/filmfestival.htm for more details.

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