Festival can be big break for small films

Lolita Harper

Trish Kinney sat on her hotel bed Wednesday staring out the window at

the luminescent lights of the famed Madison Square Garden, thinking

about World War II, the Korean War and Newport Beach.

Kinney is not a veteran and she is not a Newport Beach resident.

Those topics weighed heavy on her mind because each were cornerstones

of her acclaimed documentary “Crashboats: Air Force Sailors in WWII

and Korea,” which is now screening at the New York International and

Independent Film and Video Festival.

Her film concept, which sprouted in Newport Beach, told the story

of war veterans whose sole purpose was to sail the seas directly

under allied flight paths and tend to the fallen planes.

Kinney also credits her invitation to the New York venue to her

Award of Merit won last year at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

“Here I am in New York right now, about to go over to Madison

Square Garden for the opening night, and I would not be here if it

weren’t for the incredible support we received from Newport Beach on

so many levels,” Kinney said.

FEEING THE EFFECTS

Kinney said her win at the Newport Beach Film Festival made

tangible the gripping effect of her small-budget documentary. She

felt the emotion, the energy, the history, the pain and the glory of

the featured soldiers throughout her work on the film, but it was not

until the Newport Beach awards ceremony that she accepted its effect

on others.

“It made me realize there was a whole ‘nother way of thinking

about what people want to see in a theater-going experience,” Kinney

said, comparing her small piece to other magnificent, high-budget

films in the same category. “They like to learn. They want to feel.

They want to know a little something about the human condition.”

Her film was largely shot in Newport Beach, on the Dream Maker

Yacht, which was formerly the P-510, or “Plywood Express,” while

serving in the Aleutian Islands during World War II.

Kathy Leek, director of public relations at Adventures at Sea

Yacht Charters -- which now owns The Dream Maker -- worked with

Kinney in her filmmaking and helped get the veterans to tell their

story.

Many of the veterans came together to make the piece and were

touched to relive vivid memories with former colleagues. Many more

veterans will reunite Friday, at the New York screening of

Crashboats. Some will be those involved in the filming, and others

are bringing loved ones to learn more about their adventurous youth.

“This is really a success story,” Leek said. “It is a success

story of the Newport Beach Film Festival and this film and the

synergy surrounding every aspect of it.”

TAKEN TO NEW HEIGHTS

Had it not been for the publicity Crashboats received from the

Newport festival last year, it would not have caught the attention of

the New York festival promoters.

“We didn’t even enter this festival, we were invited,” Kinney

said. “It is just incredible when your little piece spreads like

that. You know that it is something people care about.”

Now Kinney can continue to promote her film, tell the story of

these forgotten veterans, give people a slice of “the human

condition” and possibly sell the documentary to a cable channel. And

thanks to experience at the Newport Beach Film Festival, she is more

prepared to endorse her piece in a larger venue, such as New York.

Even if the film does not come out a winner and does not get

picked up by a larger agency, Kinney had the opportunity to share her

work with others and continue to reunite the aging veterans from the

overlooked war heroes.

“We are completely satisfied with just telling the story, giving

these men the sense that people really do care about what they did

for the country and reunited them with old friends,” Kinney said.

* LOLITA HARPER writes columns Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

and covers culture and the arts. She may be reached at (949) 574-4275

or by e-mail at [email protected].