Two Thumbs Up

We've been talking about it for months, and now the CAN Film Festival has finally arrived.

Saturday, April 18, the Circle Cinema hosts the Child Abuse Network's annual fundraiser, an all day family-friendly film festival that will feature repeated showings of winning short films selected by a judging committee. Last minute tickets can be purchased for $10 by calling the Circle at 585-3456 or through their Web site at www.circlecinema.com.

A brief refresher for those not already in-the-know: The Child Abuse Network was formed in 1988 by the Junior League with the idea of creating a centralized network for various cooperating agencies (DHS, Tulsa PD, OU Medical and the district attorney's office) to interact more effectively and efficiently. The goal was to ease the burden and trauma of the abuse investigation process by eliminating the cumbersome tangle of bureaucracy that made an already unpleasant situation far more difficult to cope with. The concept was to streamline the process by simply putting all the agencies under one roof.

The community-based nonprofit organization was a success, and it now serves 3,000 children annually. It's an important cause, a model of citizen-led community improvement that, like all nonprofits, relies heavily on raising funds and awareness through events like this Saturday's festival.

And what can attendees expect?

"It's fun and family-friendly, with an educational component that comes from the workshops," festival director Miranda Pautler said. "It's just a fun day in the spirit of independent film, highlighting young filmmakers. There aren't many film festivals that you can take your kids to."

Regarding the films: "Diverse, exciting, cheesy, corny. It's so interesting when we do the call for entries, because no two films are alike."

Pautler said that the festival aims to make the largely younger filmmakers (whose ages range from 10 years-old to 20-something) feel special by rolling out a red carpet for arrivals.

Additionally, there will be an invitation-only awards ceremony at 6:30pm, at which time the judges will announce the winning films. Mayor Taylor will be present and will say a few words to commence the proceedings.

I will also be on hand to present the Urban Tulsa-sponsored award to a personally chosen film that was especially successful at creatively utilizing limited resources to make a movie that's both moving and artistically accomplished.

The first showing of winning films will be at 12:15pm. At 1:30pm, TU professor Michael Wright will host a workshop on screenwriting, which will be followed by an acting workshop at 2:05pm courtesy of Jack Wallace and John Sawyer. At 2:30pm, Okcate and Tallulah Smith will talk about storyboarding, and throughout the day there will be airbrush makeup demonstrations by Chelsea Price.

The second screening of winning films will commence at 3:15pm. The $10 ticket covers admittance to either the 12:15 or 3:15 showing and free reign of the workshops, as well as concessions. It's important to know that ticket holders are welcome to stay throughout the day--film screening times do not dictate any specific timeframe for admittance to general festival. Show up early, leave late.

Pautler said that the dress theme is "Sundance chic," "dressy casual with a western flair." In other words, time to bust out the boots, parka and Wayfarers.