Port Townsend film fest: Good memories — and strands of hay — linger

PORT TOWNSEND — A long-held record was shattered this past weekend: After seven years, it finally rained on the Port Townsend Film Festival.

But the blustery weather, coming Sunday morning, was too late to dampen the spirits of this friendliest of festivals, which celebrates films old and new. The traditional opening-night dinner, held on Taylor Street just outside the historic Rose Theatre, took place under a sky as blue as any Hollywood dreammaker could wish. Passholders and guests sat on hay bales near a huge inflatable screen, on which movies would be projected nightly. The neat rows of bales were punctuated by an unexpected sofa with cushions, seemingly dropped into the middle of the street: a visual reminder that this festival creates its own rules and follows them with charm.

The seventh-annual fest was earlier than in past years (the date change, from late September, was to avoid conflicts with Rosh Hashanah), creating for me a rather surreal experience: rushing from the madness and throngs of the Toronto International Film Festival to this peaceful three-day fest. Located in this step-back-in-time Victorian town, the PTFF is attended not by industry bigwigs but local film-lovers, who crowd the screenings and pepper visitors with questions at the many Q&As. Over the weekend, it showed more than two dozen films, ranging from 1920s silents to up-to-the-minute documentaries and features.

The festival's tradition is to showcase the films of one high-profile guest actor; past visitors have included Tony Curtis, Eva Marie Saint, Patricia Neal, Shirley Knight, Jane Powell and Debra Winger. Malcolm McDowell, this year's guest, answered questions after a screening of the 1968 drama "If ... ," in which McDowell played a rebellious British student who wreaks revenge against the brutality in his posh boarding school. The film's director, the late Lindsay Anderson, was "as near as I've ever met to a genius," said McDowell.

Anderson, McDowell explained, helped him find the key to his most famous role: the murderous, rage-filled Alex of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" (also shown at the fest, in a Friday late-night screening). Unsure how to approach the role, the actor showed the screenplay to Anderson. After reading it, the director had a simple word of advice, based on a brief moment in "If ... " "He said, there's a close-up when you're going into the gym to be beaten [by the prefects], and you look at them and smile. That's the way you play the part," McDowell remembered.

Asked by an audience member why he's played so many socially deviant characters, he fairly cackled with glee. "I love it! I can do something I'm not allowed to do otherwise."

Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies and a frequent PTFF guest, presented the 1944 film noir "Laura," as part of the festival's Formative Films series. In the warm, congenial manner in which he introduces films on TCM, Osborne told the audience of his great affection for the film, which he first saw in his teens.

After the screening, he sketched in the details of the sad life of Gene Tierney, the film's dark-eyed star, and drew the audience's attention to the portrait of Laura that hangs in the character's apartment in the film. It was, he said, a photograph of Gene Tierney that was painted over. Five copies were made for the film, he said with a smile — one of which now hangs in Osborne's home.

Awards were given Sunday to films chosen by a jury: Linda Hattendorf's "The Cats of Mirikitani" was named best documentary, and the German/Swiss/Hungarian comedy "Drum Bun (Bon Voyage)" was named best feature. Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes' documentary "Independent America: The Two Lane Search for Mom and Pop," about the husband-and-wife team's travels through the U.S. examining community reaction to big-box retailers, was voted the festival's Audience Favorite.

And rain or shine, the festival's quirky spirit shone through, whether exemplified by the guy on Saturday who entertained those in line for the Broughton Theater (aka the Port Townsend High School auditorium) by attempting to toss a playing card onto the building roof, or by those comfy hay bales, which shed strands everywhere. (This is, perhaps, one of the few festivals worldwide whose patrons can be recognized by the hay on their backsides. I'm still removing it from my coat.)

Described by its organizers as "a film lover's block party," the PTFF is truly a community festival. Even for those who don't live in Port Townsend, watching a film at this festival is like sitting down with your neighbors, for a party at which everyone seems to be having a wonderful time.

Note: Films from the festival screen this week at Bainbridge Island's Lynwood Theatre. "Finding Thea," a documentary about tugboat legend Thea Foss from local filmmaker Lucy Ostrander, is tonight; "Go West," set in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wednesday; and "Viva Cuba," about growing up in Cuba, Thursday. Tickets are $8; www.lynwoodtheatre.com.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com