The Tumbleweed Film Festival rolled back into town last Saturday, and while the movies delighted some 50 people at Esther Bricques, it wasn’t quite the event movie goers have gotten used to. The movies were great, but there was only one venue this year.
The reason is it needs some help. Co-founders Maureen Fine and Geoff Klein, short film makers in their own right, have gotten busier and busier running their company See Spot Run Productions. Like most businesses, that is if you want to stay in business, the customers come first. And that’s not to mention family obligations and everything else that gets in the way of what we want to do.
Festival co-founders Geoff and Mo took a break this year, but Linda and Steve Colvin stepped up to present a “Best Of the Tumbleweed” at their winery Esther Bricques in order to keep the ball or weed rolling as it were. Their venue, along with Alpine Brewery, were where it all started in Oroville in 2010. These venues matched the fest founder’s motto “Drink Locally, Watch Globally” and it seems to be a winning combination.
Other venues have also taken part in the past, but those two will remain my favorite – except maybe family night at the high school with all the animated shorts. It’s great to hear the kids laugh, especially when you realize some may be seeing a movie on the big screen for the first time.
I’ve been a part of Tumbleweed since it first started and with Dana, we have committed to doing more. We just don’t want to see the Tumbleweed fade away. We’d like to see more people get involved, it really is a unique event, unlike any other in the state and it take place right here in our own back yard.
Tumbleweed Film Festival is a Washington-based non-profit organization committed to bringing the art of storytelling through filmmaking to communities in Washington and British Columbia. If anyone wants to help you can get in touch with me at the newspaper or go online to www.tumbleweed.com and find out more about the festival and see how Tumbleweed, you might find you’ve caught the film bug too.
