Story by Sarah Baker
During my time attending the Port Townsend Film Festival on Friday, Sept. 23 and Saturday, Sept. 24, I met an array of colorful film producers, directors, staring subjects and had the opportunity to see many touching movies, their points of interest ranging everywhere from little league baseball teams to the widely pondered ongoings of the Church of Scientology.
People flock to the festival in hundreds. Parking took a lot of energy to find and many inns were booked solid the day I arrived. Some theaters were so full that I, among others, had to stand against walls, crammed between taken seats and walking aisles.
Other than ramping up tourism in tiny, quaint Port Townsend, the festival serves as an annual tradition many people look forward to all year.
Andrew Benett, 24, an aspiring photographer traveling all the way from Aberdeen, WA, has been attending for three years. He said, “most of the cheaper hotels were all booked up by the time I started looking. I had to spend the night in my car. It’s crazy.”
The festival itself was held across the entire waterfront of the town, in many different theaters and on many different streets; some viewings were held in old museums, on fold-up chairs, and some took up entire roadsides with giant projector screens and bales of hay for sitting.
Each location and film were different from the next, making every experience unique and easily enjoyable.
My two favorite of the five films I saw were “Jim: the James Foley Story,” following the life of a late conflict journalist who spent time documenting events and people in Libya and Syria, and Phil’s Camino, the inspiring tale of a man diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, who walked the total length of Spain in his backyard as part of his physical therapy.
The festival not only offers an occasion for the community to get together and celebrate film and cinema, it’s also a splendid way to kickstart the autumn season.
Editor’s Note, News Editor Sarah Baker provides an insider’s viewpoint in this event.