Heartland Opening Event

So, once again, the Heartland Film Festival's Opening Night has come to a close, for the fourth year in a row. I'm going to start with a pair of pictures from the night:

Shane M. White, John Gatins (director of "Dreamer") and Kristen White.

Shane M. White and Judge Reinhold!!!

So, Jason invited Kristen and I and Cecilia Shaw to the Heartland Film Festival's Opening Night Event, which this year included a screening of the film "Dreamer". First, there was dinner and drinks, and we had the pleasure of meeting a couple of guys who work at a local TV station. Randy and one of sons, along with Andy and his wife. They were a pleasure to share dinner with, and we constantly ran into them through the course of the night. VERY NICE people. The film was at the IMAX Theatre, and being dinner guests we were allowed to walk into the theatre on the red carpet, which was rather cool.

After the film there was a reception with a Q & A session. During the Q & A, there was a woman standing near our table, and she eventually went and stood directly next to Kristen, and at the end of the Q & A it was made known that she was Dakota Fanning's mother. It was neat to know that I was close to her (not knowing who she was). I guess that's a good thing for parents, they can cruise through the audience and no one knows who they are. She seemed extremely nice, and was always smiling.

Following the Q & A, I snuck up near the stage and talked with John Gatins for a couple of minutes, basically just about the other films he's written ("Varisty Blues", "Summer Catch", "Hardball", and "Coach Carter"). "Coach Carter" being one of my favorite recent films, I had to let him know how much I enjoyed the films he has written. He seemed really cool, and kept commenting about how polite people are out here in Indiana. It was nice to hear, especially when he compared us Hoosiers to the people in Los Angeles. He was a really nice guy. After talking with him, I snuck over and grabbed a picture with Judge Reinhold. Being a HUGE "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" fan, I had a couple words with him (in 2000, he was in town for the festival and I had him sign my "Fast Times" VHS tape, so I didn't ask for another autograph), however, people were pulling him in many directions and our time was only a couple of seconds. It was nice to get the chance to take a picture with him.

It was an AWESOME night. I really hope this isn't my last year going, but if it is, then I had a GREAT time, with some fun people. THANK YOU to Jason for bringing me once again.

I also ran into Jason Kistler, who has done some acting for GemInI in the past. He's a volunteer with Heartland this year, so it was good to talk to him for a quick second, and I need to shoot him an email, so we can chat some more.

"Lost" ROCKED last night!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so cool. I've got lots of new theories, but I'm going to save them for another Blog.

Jason and I are supposed to get together tomorrow afternoon and begin working on "Crazy About You" stuff, so hopefully we'll make some progress on that. I'll write more tomorrow.