The Julien Dubuque International Film Festival opens on Wednesday, featuring 180 cinematic works on screens at eight venues in the Mississippi River town. The festival has gained true global notoriety and it’s attracting film industry leaders and up-and-comers from around the planet.
An Israeli-American writer and director who’s flying in for the fest says he’s thrilled to be making his first journey to Iowa. Doron Drew Feldman says he first heard about the Dubuque event in MovieMaker magazine.
“It was a top 50 ‘Worth the Entry Fee’ and another year it was a top 25 ‘Coolest Film Festivals in the World,'” Feldman says. “So far, this has been the most organized and professional festival I’ve ever been a part of and I haven’t even gotten there yet.”
Feldman, who’s based in Pittsburgh, has directed network television shows, films, documentaries, animated series, commercials, and music videos that have received more than 17-million views. He says he’s thoroughly impressed with the Dubuque event, right down to the online presence.
“The website is beautiful. You’d be amazed how many film festival websites, even though the festivals are amazing, their websites are just garbage,” Feldman says. “It’s so easy to navigate. Communication has been amazing. It’s so impressive — all the events that they’re putting together, the panels they’re putting together.”
Doron Drew Feldman
Feldman’s entry in the festival is a 19-minute short he wrote and directed entitled, “Pivot Pals,” a film he was inspired to create from memories of his own childhood.
“‘Pivot Pals’ is about an uptight boy who attempts to derail his mom’s relationship with her man-child boyfriend, after agreeing to reluctantly spend the day with him,” Feldman says. “It’s based on true story. It’s a comedy and it’s a family film.” Feldman will be offering audiences in Dubuque an introduction to his film and he welcomes the Q-and-A session afterwards, saying he considers movies a conversation starter. If people don’t like the film, he doesn’t expect anyone to say so, let alone heave a rotten tomato.
“People are nice. They’re usually not going to be honest about their feelings upfront. And I actually, as a filmmaker, prefer that, right?” Feldman says. “Because I’ve just done something vulnerable. I’ve shared a part of myself and the cast and crew and other writers’ selves with you, and so in that moment, I want to talk about it on a level that is not critical.”
Most Q-and-A sessions, he says, revolve around things like how the film was made and challenges during the process, not reviews, good or bad.
The festival runs through Sunday.