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 The IDAHO PANHANDLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Sandpoint, Idaho (God's Country)

August 31, 2006

(because of the pictures, I've had to make them all thumbnails. So, just click on the picture and you'll be able to see them at a normal size)

Wow, what an amazing little journey I had. If you'd like to follow along with me, I'll display pictures while I tell about my trip to Sandpoint, Idaho, the panhandle of God's country.  I flew to Spokane (thanks to Jody Rosenberg from my high school graduating class) and I rented a car.  I was very excited to begin my journey.  I had been up since 9pm the night before, but the adrenaline was rushing right thru my body once I packed up my rental. I had an hour and a half drive ahead of me, but it didn't matter. All I knew was that I was not in LA anymore!! And, I was relieved.

I drove along Highway 90 and then onto Highway 95 which was the road that took me into Sandpoint. It's amazing how everyone and I do mean everyone, goes the speed limit. It was hard for me to leave my LA driving skills off the road, but I did a great job driving the same limit as everyone else. I noticed how clean the roads were. No trash on the highway.  People used their blinkers when they changed lanes and smiled while they were driving. As I continued down the road, I realized why people must be smiling. I mean, look at this place. Big trees, blue skies with great clouds and nature. All nature.

I finally made it to the motel. It was called the Country Inn. Okay, now wait, it's NOT the Country Inn I worked at for 5 years. That was the Country Inn and Suites. When I made the reservations, the guy was really nice on the phone. In fact, he's the reason I booked. BUT, there's a REASON there was no web page OR pictures on the web. I pulled up off the highway and wow....the first thing I saw was a Jesus sign and a NO GAY MARRIAGE bumper sticker. Oy vey.  I was a little freaked and decided to go anyway. I mean, I had reservations and there wasn't a room in town anywhere else. I looked at the RV park to the right (and I'm not talking RV's like the big, cool beautiful ones either...haha use your imagination) I went into the office, met the guy and checked in. He said he'd help me with my bag and while he LIMPED up the steps carrying my very heavy suitcase, I stayed behind praying he wouldn't fall on me. He was not a tiny man. I won't bore you with all the details, but let me just say this. While I was in the bathroom attempting to put my makeup on, the same two flies that followed me around the room now settled in the bathroom. Okay, I'm not a bug lover. Bottom line...the place was the Bates Motel with nice country folk that ran/owned it. I unpacked and got out of there as fast as I could, wishing I had the money to stay at the 4 star resort nearby. haha. But, it wasn't going to happen. Not on this trip. 

I was off to the film festival to check in. Tired, up for many, many hours and very excited to get this wonderful event started.

         These are the first pictures taken.  We were lucky to have a visit by MISS IDAHO TEEN Sheena Paris. She's not only pretty but she's very nice. Her platform is Make A Wish Foundation, so I loved her from the minute I met her.  They insisted we take a picture together, so I call the top one Miss Teen Idaho and Miss Queen Idaho. The man in the corner is Mitchell Fullerton who works at 95.3 KPND and Fred is in the green shirt. He's the Festival President/Director alongside his amazing son Trevor Greenfield.  They did a wonderful job putting this together, by the way.  Then, I met who was to become my new buddy and road mate. Matt Chieffo.  His mom was one of the judges and he was in town to see her (Seattle) and then came with her to the festival. Katherine, who I called Ma, was wonderful and a huge fan of our film.  I was grateful for her love of our movie.  She introduced me to her son, Matt. We hit it off right away. Then, I started sharing my living arrangement story. And, Katherine came to the rescue. Most people were staying at the new Motel 6 in town. It was a bit more than the Bates Motel, but if she could get me in, I was outta there. So, she made a call and bam!! I was in. And, right across the hall from her!! Yeeeeepeeee!! So, she volunteered Matt to come with me for protection (haha) and he was wonderful. Gathering all my stuff and shoving it back into my suitcase while I got my funds back.  Then, off to the Motel 6, and thanking my higher power the entire way. I was having fun on this journey and I knew Matt and I would have fun together. 

So, I paid for my new room and I had to change for the night. Keep in mind, it's now Thursday evening, and I've been wide awake since Wed. night. Matt wouldn't let me UNPACK so I had 5 minutes to get new clothes on, brush my hair and get out fast. Hahahaha...I needed a shower AND a nap, but I was having fun!  And, off we went, back to the VIP room where all of us hung out and socialized the entire time.

This is Sandpoint Creek. It's the view I saw every day. It's right behind the VIP room and it's so beautiful. I got to spend some alone time (15 minutes haha) sitting in the grass watching kids across the creek swing on a big rope and jump into the water.

   Then, of course, I met Gabe. The local Mexican as he calls himself. Actually, I say the ONLY one in town. He's the greatest cook and catered all of our parties. Yes, I fancied him. He was fun and sweet and we all hung out the entire weekend.

Almost 24 hours with no sleep and enjoying every minute.

Now, let's go to Day 2, shall we?  I finally went back to the motel that night around 1030pm. I couldn't stay awake anymore and it was time to sleep. I won't go into the loud noise the a/c made that kept me awake from 2:30am that night until about 5am. Haha...I wasn't laffing then, that's for sure. But, I did get a good solid THREE hours of sleep. I went outside to see if I could see any wildlife around 5:45am that morning. (Friday) but nothing. It was nice, though. Very chilly and beautiful. 

A fun day planned. The night before, Matty and I talked about a road trip. I knew I was going to take one so I thought I'd see if he wanted to go with me. He was all for it. So, we planned out a place to go. Originally, we were going to drive up into Canada but you need a passport or birth certificate and neither of us had one, so I said we're going to MONTANA!!

    It was a glorious drive. We drove hundreds of miles, I think.  On our way into Montana, I saw a yearling so I slammed on my breaks in the middle of the road and pulled back. We pulled out our cameras, but they were a little far away. You'll have to look for them, but we saw two little deer and then the Mama came out. It was so incredible to see them. They had little white spots on them and they were so cute, I wanted to take one back to my cat to play with.

  You really do have to look hard. Anyway, trust me, they are there. Hahahah....I also took pictures with my Minolta, so perhaps they came out better. Anyway, we were off.  We took Highway 2 all the way into Montana. Then, we met some folk at some tiny store and they told us about a place called KOOTENAI FALLS. They shot part of "The River Wild" with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon there. So, we had to go. We came that far, we had to keep going. I had no idea what lie ahead.

Okay, Matt will disagree here, and I know if he's reading, he'll be rolling his eyes, but this hike was a LONG one down and a LONG one back. It was worth the walk, though. It was my first hike since I've lost weight. Hell, it was my first hike ever, lol.  I was really afraid I wouldn't make it, but Matt had on shorts and flip flops, so if he could do it, I had to. Besides, there was no one to carry me back up and he'd be damned if I was gonna ride on his back all the way back up. Hahahaha. 

But, the most amazing thing happened. I did it. Of course, I could walk down. But, I make it all the way back up hill. I think it was at least a mile, he said a tenth of one. But, you know how men are about distance and length. LOL It was more like a mile.  I didn't talk much on the way back up. I was concentrating on not falling on my ass and making sure I was gonna get back up the HUGE staircase and the HUGE mountain. Remembering that I had not been very physical while losing weight.  Every so often, Matt would turn around and make sure I wasn't laying flat out on the ground. As soon as I realized we were back to the top, I threw my arms up in victory. I did it. I hiked a mountain. I went to the falls and went back up. I felt so good. Here's what was waiting for us at the bottom. It was worth it's weight in gold. Enjoy the pictures and in your head, you can almost hear the water falls.

Pretty amazing, huh?  We went back to Sandpoint after that. We had to get back because it was time for me to do my radio interview. Of course, I was a huffing and a puffing on the way back up, but I felt like I could conquer anything after that.

I was to be interviewed on 95.3 KPND as soon as we returned. So, we went back to the hotel and I changed clothes. I think I had like 5 minutes to get ready, I can't remember.  We met Mitchell Fullerton at the VIP room and he took Matt and I over to the station. I had the copy of the interview but I have to get my dad to put it up as a file so you can listen to it. It's pretty trippy. The DJ, Jonny loved me so much, I'll be phoning in some wild spots for them!!!

Ready for my radio interview!!! Yeehaw!

           This is Mitchell Fullerton who works at the station.

I had so much fun doing this interview. Turns out, Jonny, the DJ had been waiting for this interview because he knew I could hold my own. And, boy did I. haha We had a blast playing off of each other. It was fun, so hopefully, I'll get the file on and you can listen to the interview. I hope the 3 people in Sandpoint heard the interview. LOL

And, now it was off to the Friday night bash, more fun and films.

Saturday was my film showing day. I was so excited. And, after days at the festival, people were waiting with excitement to watch "A Perfect Life."  My block was the 11:30am block and the theater had a nice little crowd. Not huge, but that's okay. The town ain't that huge. Hahaha. I was to introduce the film and then do a question and answer after my film showed.  I wore my movie shirt that I had made and took a few pictures.

The Question and Answer after the film.  I had so much fun. The film was very well received.  People laughed and enjoyed it. The one thing that a lot of folks said was it was a nice break from serious, cuss word films from

Hollywood. I agreed. There were some wonderful shorts in my block of films. I was proud to be among them.

I shared how I had lost 110 pounds and they wouldn't recognize me in the film. Most everyone knew I had lost weight anyway. Yea, I'm not shy, right??  But, there were a lot of folks that didn't know and I got a great round of applause. I shared about my panhandling story.  Just in case some of you don't know, I had to panhandle to get to this festival. I came back from my vacation to MD pretty broke. I knew I had to go to the festival so I put an ad on craigslist and it said "Filmmaker panhandling to get to Idaho Panhandle Film Fest." The response was wild. No money came out of it, but great support. Then, I sent the ad to my friends and family and WOW!! I raised enough to not only get there and back, but I got a free plane ticket, too!!! I got donations anywhere from one dollar to 200 dollars. I couldn't believe the support I got. It was amazing. So, I shared that with the president of the festival and said I was coming!!!!! He was amazed at my story and asked that I share it from the podium. I did and got another round of applause. I said it's about passion for filmmaking.  And, really going to any lengths to support the film. The director, Troy Niemans was very busy with working on a show in Canada and couldn't get to Idaho for the festival. Scott  Knaub, the Executive Producer was on a business trip and Andrea, the Executive Producer, the other writer and other leading lady was doing something for work as well and couldn't get away. I knew I had to be there to represent our film and I made it happen. I'm so glad I did. 

And, Saturday night. The awards show. No, we didn't win anything but I got some high compliments from Trevor and Fred.  The ceremony was short and sweet and then it was party time.

   This is Matt and his little brother Jesse. 

That's me, copying from Matt.

  I love this guy. This is Pat Ficek.  He's on the Board of Directors for Sandpoint Films. He was shooting a lot of the film festival footage and we had something very wonderful in common. He's an amazing man and I just loved him. I was sorry we never got to say goodbye. But, we'll see each other again.  He'll be one of the ones shooting my feature, which I'll tell you about at the end of this page.

  My guys Mitchell and Matt.  Yep, they've had a few drinks.

One of my favorite people in Sandpoint. This is Yolanda Willeke. She owns the best coffee shop/food in town. It's called FC Westkil's.  She fed me every day. Made the best chicken salads for me and on my "free food day" gave me two very hot, out of the oven, fat croissants. First bread I've had in 7 months and wow, was it worth it. Oh, and two chocolate chip freshly made cookies. Gotta love her. The first day I thought I had lost my wallet and she helped me look for it. Left her shop to help me find it. OF course, being the air head that I am, had left it in the hotel room, but we became fast friends after that. Then, on my last night, I had mentioned I needed to get chicken for my trip home. Yolanda came and found me at the after bash party, and gave me a little brown bag of chicken strips. No charge. I couldn't believe she had done that. Then, we talked for about an hour before I had to leave. She will be catering my film. Yolanda and her boyfriend are the greatest people. She used to live in Southern California, too.  I can't wait to go back and see everyone.

   Wow, I guess losing all that weight, I get all the hot guys. Mr. Sun God here, Jonny the DJ was a lot of fun. It was hard to say goodbye to him. But, we'll see each other again soon, I know it.

Me and my chef, Gabe. Yep, still a hottie.

  So, here's a quick story for you. This is Thor Gold, Director. Turns out the first day I was there, I saw his name on the roster. I knew that name. I mean, how many Thors are there in the world. LOL When we saw each other, it really was him. Thor and I used to live next door to each other in N. Hollywood about 10 years ago. We were friends for a year and a half while living there and then when I moved, we lost touch. It was so nice to see him again.  He's such a talented director and actor and made my film festival experience a better one. We live down the street from each other and I know we'll be in touch now.

There's the gang. Trevor Greenfield is the one sitting on the chair next to me in the white shirt. It was just such a wonderful time and I was sad to say goodbye to everyone. But it was time to go back to the motel, pack and sleep for two hours because I had to leave at 4am to go to the airport.

At 3am, I woke up and said goodbye to Matt and his mom Katherine and Jesse. I saw them off and wished them well and then went back to sleep. I set my cell phone to wake up at 4am, BUT I woke up a tad late. Hmm..it's Matt's fault. :)  And, I was off to the airport.

In closing, let me tell you that I will be taking my feature film, "Chase the Rain" back to Sandpoint. I have the entire town behind me. I have people offering me barters, low rates and trades for next to nothing. There are passionate filmmakers in Sandpoint that share the same dream as I have. It will be a true honor to shoot most of my film there.  I'm so grateful to all of you that helped get me there. From the one dollar donation and up to the ticket and to my dear friend Elizabeth for watching my kitty.  To the beautiful emails from my friends and family wishing me well and waiting till I came home to send pictures and tell all about my journey.

There you have it. My film festival experience at Idaho Panhandle International Film Festival. www.ipiff.com

If you are ever up that way, stop by the coffee shop next to the Panida theater and say hi to Yolanda or go to Bearweare and say hi to Trudy. Hug Pat for me.  Feed the birds.  See Janice Jarzabek and Karla Peterman at Sandpoint Films. Hug Mitchell for me at the radio station, slap Jonny for me and don't forget to eat the Trinity Cafe. Tell Gabe and Eddie that Allie sent you. They will laugh and then feed you till you can't eat any more. But, whatever you do, sit by Sandpoint creek, look at the sky and remember, you'll be seeing all of this in my upcoming feature film "Chase the Rain."

THANKS EVERYONE!!!!! I MISS YOU GUYS ALREADY!!! BUT, I'LL BE BACK!!!