VSDA Report - Page 3

by Guido Henkel

Apart from release news, VSDA is also always a great place to mingle and schmooze. Various parties, panels and events make it a happening just as much as a conference.

For us, this year’s VSDA started on Friday night, the day before the show, with another one of Anchor Bay’s classy private parties. Very intimate, as in previous years, Anchor Bay invited selected people as well as famed filmmakers they work with and threw them all together in a nice bar to mingle. “Bring a group of people together who have nothing in common” is the motto of their parties and it always works like a charm. Where else do you get the chance to chat with George Romero over a beer, or to talk to John Landis while munching on a few peanuts. Or how about chatting with “Halloween” legends PJ. Soles and Danielle Harris about their films and future projects.

Bruce Campbell was back this year to party a little more
with Anchor Bay’s friends

Ilsa star Dyanne Thorne was having some fun at Anchor Bay’s party at the Ventian

It was also a great chance to get back together with director Werner Herzog - it is always a pleasure to meet fellow Germans in this industry - and of course Anchor Bay’s recurring guest, the ever-personable, buddying Bruce Campbell.

But also Monte Hellmann, director/producer Bill Lustig and others came back again for the party this year and gave us the chance to follow up with their latest projects. It was also great to meet Dyanne Thorne, star of the Ilsa movies, in person and chat with her about love, life and careers. Charming and radiant, Dyanne was a truly remarkable guest at this party.

Right after visiting Anchor Bay at the Rumjungle in the Venetian hotel we went across town to check in to our final Destination at New Line Home Video’s party. Located at the Beach, a nice club, off the strip, New Line treated its guest to wine, women and song... so to say... and pulled off a great party that attracted guests such as John Waters. It was a great party, and we had a great time, but we knew we had to go on.

20^th Century Fox had also staged a party on the same night, so we went back uptown to the Venetian hotel to get to the House Of Blues where the studio held its festivities. With “K.C. and the Sunshine Band” creating the right atmosphere with their live gig, the party was very energetic and great meeting place for many industry people. After a few beers however, it was time to get some rest and prepare for the actual show that kicked off early the next day.

After visiting the show throughout the following day, we went to visit Artisan’s Blair Witch 2 Party at the Hard Rock Cafe. Featuring “Solid Gold,” the same band that was playing up at New Line’s party last year, the party was accordingly very loud making it practically impossible to talk  the same mistake the band made last year! Nonetheless, it was a fun party and Artisan showed quite a bit of footage from the upcoming sequel to the Indy superhit. Identical in looks and feel to the original film, I couldn’t help but think that “Blair Witch Project 2” has lost its novelty aspect and isn’t much more as a rehash of the first film. But let’s wait and see...

Sunday night then Warner Home Video invited its friends to a party at their very own theme restaurant inside the Venetian hotel. Very stylish and lavish, the party was very impressive and gave visitors much to explore. Over two floors, the restaurant features a number of rooms that carry film-themes, you could go out and watch an Elvis imitator in one room, visit Gotham city in another, watch The Green Mile in a third one, or take a trip to Morocco and capture the ambiance of “Casablanca” in another one. Showgirls, jugglers, musicians and other interesting sideshows made this party a very vivid happening while the great scenery added immensely to the stylish party.

But apart from partying all night, the VSDA convention is also host to a series of interesting events and panels. One such panel was for the second time a discussion with filmmakers. Like in the previous year, hosted by film critic Leonard Maltin, this year’s panel featured “Stuart Little” director Rob Minkoff, John Waters, David Zucker, George Romero and John Landis. All five of them were very open  and funny  and made for some great conversation. Talking about their stance on DVD, their approach to the new medium, their future plans and other interesting tidbits, it was entertaining and informative to listen to these great filmmakers. All of them have obviously not only adopted the format as fans but also embrace it as filmmakers as good as they can. From Rob Minkoff’s take on DVD as a restoration and preservation format, to John Landis’ outlook that we will soon get to see his debut film “Schlock” on DVD  “finally in focus, thanks to Anchor Bay,” he said, it was obvious that they all look at DVD’s capabilities not only as a presentation format, but

Famed directors talked about DVD and their view on the format

Another panel was held on Monday morning, bringing on a number of studio representatives to talk about DVD. It was an interesting panel that brought out some information about where studios see the highlights and capabilities of DVD and how they believe the market will develop in the future. This panel was followed by the First Annual DVD Festival Awards. As some of you may recall, I have been on the jury for these awards  which meant going through more than 60 discs and evaluate them according to a variety of categories. I also had the honor to be one of the presenters of the Awards Ceremony that was hosted by comedian Paulie Shore, presenting the Award for the best Audio Presentation on DVD  which went to Dreamworks’ “Saving Private Ryan.” A funny and very energetic guy, Paulie was a lot of fun and managed to bring on a few great lines to get people excited about the awards. I enjoyed the awards and I think it is important to honor and celebrate the outstanding releases we have seen in the past months and years. DVD releases like “The Matrix”, “Army Of Darkness”, “The Judy Garland Collection,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Ghostbusters,” “Yellow Submarine” and others truly deserve the acclaim and recognition they get during these ceremonies and hopefully serve as inspiration for the entire industry.