We had heard through the grapevine that the Film Review and Criticism Workshop with Boyd Van Hoeij was going to be intimate and fantastic this year at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. So we sent Chad out to investigate. Here is what he had to say….
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ABOUT CHAD
“Coffee drinking, cat loving, beach born, desert raised, screenwriter.
My muses go by the names of Natalie Noel and Josephine Rose.
My influences come from my friends, family, heartache, life, Jim Morrison, Charlie Kaufman, and most of all Love.
Film is a place to get lost, for an average of two hours nothing matters but what is shining off a bright wall in a dark room.” – C.A.
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A Review of the Film Review and Criticism Workshop with Boyd Van Hoeij
written by Chad Austin
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Today I attended The Film Review and Criticism Workshop with Boyd Van Hoeij.
Boyd is a well known film critic who resides in Paris, France. This is someone who has spent many films and years honing in on his technical skills of breaking down films and compartmentalizing his emotional response and knowledge of the technical aspect of a film making sure he never gets lost in a film (at least for too long) distracting him from his task at hand. In the USA Boyd writes for variety but also writes for quite a list of European publications, watching and reviewing up to 700 films a year.
I had a rough idea of what to expect from this experience being I had attended workshops and classes on different topics at previous festivals. The format usually goes as follows; find seats in a packed auditorium, sit there and listen for around two and a half hours as the speaker strokes his ego and in the nicest way possible kills yours, watch segments of films as they point out their contributions, and finally a small window of Q&A that never gets all if any of your questions answered.
With these lingering past experiences in the back of my mind as I walked into the lecture hall five minutes before the intended start time of the workshop I wasn’t greeted as expected by the eyes of the over eager early birds, instead I was welcomed by two festival programmers and the host of the six hour workshop Boyd Van Hoeij.
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A total of seven of us were in the hall once everyone who had signed-up filed in late and we began what I would was the most interactive, intimate, and enjoyable workshop I have attended thus far.
I am excited to go back for the second half tomorrow afternoon where we will be discussing and breaking down the technical sides of “Room 237″ and “The Shinning.”
“As a critic, you have to convince yourself that your opinion is the only one that matters” – Boyd Van Hoeij
“Give every movie the possibility to be the best movie”
- Chad Austin, for The Coachella Valley Art Scene
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For more information on Boyd Van Howij
