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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Sydney Film Festival Day 1

Today the Sydney Film Festival kicks off with the opening night screening of South Solitary this evening. It will be red-carpets, flash-bulbs and lots of mingling. Until relatively recently this was the only event like this in the festival. Then closing night crept in and became a bit of a party affair and more recently the competition has introduced a series of red-carpet events across the festival.

These are undoubtedly fantastic for the festival and have increased the attendance and general awareness. They are awkward for film-goers with the already narrow entry for the State Theatre shrunk by 2 thirds and often the footpath from Pitt Street to the theatre reserved for Red Carpet arrivals. There is no alternative entry used (Like the laneway and the entry to the side of the foyer perhaps!) and all the punters have to herd themselves down to the George Street end of market street and in through a narrow section barely 2 people wide with traffic heading in 2 directions. If people are trying to meet up (often using the kiosk as a meeting spot) it creates a hell of a traffic jam. Over recent years I have moved the meeting place for my range of companions and utlised that fabulous invention, the Mobile Telephone, to co-ordinate meetings.

In case you are wondering I am not attending the opening night event.

Whilst the excitement of seeing these films with a festival audience is a draw it is not enough to entice me into opening night.

The film festival proper starts for me tomorrow evening with Lebanon followed by Heartbeats and Howl (I think Howl will be my pick of the night).

Today with grand plans of spinning, knitting and cooking I achieved very little. I type this well-rested and on the way to my stash being lighter (i did manage a small destash and some washing).

I ducked out with my MIL around lunch time to check out acoffeeandayarn on King Street Newtown. They have a small but lovely range of yarn and fantastic coffee by Coffee Alchemy (I miss her coffee shop from 2003! but that is another story). I tried the Lamb Shank Pie and it was tasty with lovely pastry. Well worth a visit.

Of course one cannot visit King Street south without stopping at The Button Shop, BeeHive Gallery and the myriad of other shops. Well I can't anyway. I managed to not purchase anything (not even any Japanese fabric).

Progress Update
Spinning Progress: none
Knitting Progress: 2 rows (so far) measurement 24cm
Festival Films: 0

5 comments:

missfee said...

great post - and are you continuing your list at the bottom through June
I should do one too
cat let in front door 4
rows knitted 2
boxes packed 6

LynS said...

Like you, I'm avoiding opening night at the SFF. Perhaps it's a form of reverse snobbery on our part? - only wanting to go to the 'real' events and avoiding the glitz?

Do I need a June
list too?
bunches of flowers bought? 0
rows knitted 16 (PSC sock deadline looming)
cleaning and tidying (30 mins)

Are the lists cumulative or just for the day?

jp said...

The lists will be cumulative and both of you are cracking me up.

Perhaps I should add number of times sitting with cat on lap and number of nips on foot to get me to do something.

DrK said...

oh i love the lists, great idea! opening night sounds like one of my worst nightmares, i think kristen has left the bdlg so we wont have to worry about paparrazi next wed!

Bells said...

I'm so looking forward to reading along. Considering taking time off next year to go - what fun would that be!

yes, keep the list going!

I'd probably go to the opening once, to say I'd done it, but never again!