Tuesday July 5, 2016

Tuesday was the opening night for the Galway Film Fleadh (pronounced Fla, means Festival). In the afternoon we had class to go over some of our writing pieces. Because it was Fourth of July and we were all too full after our group dinner the previous night, the professors bought us an apple pie, an apple-berry crumble, and vanilla ice cream. We enjoyed our treats and discussed our pieces of what we like and don’t like about our own. We had a short break to get ready to meet up with our group for a dinner at a pizza place, called Dough Bros and for the festival premier. We got personal pizzas and it was delicious! It was interesting in the middle of the pizzas was a pile of lettuce, almost like it was supposed to be a side salad, except only lettuce. We made our way to the theatre early so we could all get drinks and talk before they began to seat everyone. The film, Creative Control, is a look into the future and their lives with augmented reality and the use of virtual reality glasses. The film shows the issues with the increase of technology and how people can quickly fall into the trap. It was such a great movie. I loved it. However, I feel like if I showed it to most people back home people wouldn’t get it or like it. The movie was made/shot very well and it was so cool to see it all. The director was also the writer and lead actor. His name is Benjamin Dickinson and he is a genius. He was at the screening and answered questions after the movie. It was so interesting to see all his reasons for each shot and angle and why he chose everything.  Hearing the behind the scenes from a movie makes you appreciate it even more because you realize how much work has been put into it and how it is like their little baby they have been caring for until they decided to show it to the world.
Because it was the opening film, there was a reception at Galway Rowing Club afterwards. They took away our tickets which was a little bit of a bummer because they would have been cool to put in a scrapbook if I made one for this trip. We were immediately greeted with a plate and served some small things like meatballs and potatoes, but they were all pretty good. They also had complimentary wine they would bring around, which always makes everything feel classier. Benjamin Dickinson was at the reception so we tried to come up with a plan to go up and talk to him, but he was in the middle of a conversation with a table (one that he looked quite bored in) and thought it best not to interrupt. So instead we waited until he was getting up to leave. We sent Stuart to say something to him so we wouldn’t all swarm him at once. It was like a movie. Stuart reached out to get his attention and Benjamin went the other way. Stuart looked devastating. It was so sad. We were so close! We couldn’t give up though. We made our way back inside to see if he would be in there. I spotted him and we all walked to the back room as he was walking out. Stuart was able to stop him to ask him a question and he turned to the rest of us and had a full conversation with us. We talked for probably 15-20 minutes at least. He was so nice and seemed so interested. I swear he was asking us more questions about our lives than us about his. It was an amazing experience talking to him and hearing what he had to say. He gave us some great advice that I will never forget.

As we were leaving, Stuart chucked up the deuces to Benjamin and he responded in the same manner. Then he turned to us and waved enthusiastically until we left the room. We were so ecstatic about the entire experience we probably looked ridiculous walking home, but we couldn’t help it. Once we got home, we looked at some of the other things he directed, but we couldn’t go to bed yet. So instead we decided to complete the amazing night with a renowned film. We chose to watch The Revenant. It was a great start for the festival and the perfect night, especially for nerdy film students.

Stuart, Tatum, Ryan, Rachel, and I with the man in the middle of it all, the Director/writer/lead actor of Creative Control, Benjamin Dickinson!