kinsler in the hamptons

The festival is over and I feel like a kid who has to leave summer camp. It was an amazing 5 days of intense work and equally intense partying. Being able to see the festival from the beginning stages in May to the culmination this week has been such an eye-opening experience. Over the last two weeks the festival gained a whole new group of staff bringing us to 35 or so people. I have never worked with such a cool group of people before in my life, people I can truly call friends. They welcomed me, they welcomed Martin and I only hope I have the priviledge to work with such an enthusiastic and hardworking crew again in the future. The films were wonderful and I met so many cool filmmakers, volunteers, industry folk - I feel very lucky to have had such a great experience.

During the festival I worked on a jumbled array of projects. One was the Industry Toast, a high profile event where we toast a vital member of the film industry. This year we toasted Wouter Barendrecht, a pioneer who starting Fortissimo Films. The Toast was hosted by the one and only John Cameron Mitchell of whom I greated by slapping on the back while simultaneously telling myself “you don’t actually know him in real life”, thankfully he is just as kind as you would imagine. Other attendees included heads of production companies, filmmakers and all around amazing people. Another celebrity highlight of the weekend was getting a scolding look from Rudy Giuliani as I overheard him bash Sarah Palin and running into Alec Baldwin at least 5 times, one of which he discussed the importance of quality DVD-R’s.

But now it is back to the real world. Things to do and a job to get back to. I can’t say I’m very excited about getting back to interpreting but I know that I can make some $$ and start focusing on my own projects. Our Executive Director at Hamptons also works for Berlinale and has give me a recommendation for their week long filmmaking workshop I applied for. I’m also applying to 2 other workshops, one specifically for female directors. WIDOW is almost done and I will have a Tampa premiere during Thanksgiving for my crew, family and Laurie, who is coming down from Wisconsin, YIPEE!

Now I must pack, wrap-up work and say my goodbyes to the woods and the ocean and the 10am mornings.

(above image is one of our 8am staff meetings. Thank god Nespresso was one of our main sponsors)

no time to talk, just pose. Working 14 hour days then partying all night is not my favorite look.

AYAYAY.

Best Weekend Ever.

Saw The Class at the New York Film Festival, an amazing French film using all non-actors. A portrayal of a diverse classroom in a not-so-great-area of Paris (yes, they do exist). It was so real, so poignant and so French. Attending the black-tie opening night party in an H&M dress was enhanced greatly by John Waters’ moustache and an open bar. It’s nice to have friends in high places (aka NY film non-profits) because Tavern on the Green is an AMAZING space, and one I will probably only experience annually at this event.

IT WAS SO WONDERFUL TO COME BACK TO BROOKLYN. Did I mention this? I missed it so much. My bed, my street, my drunk Polish men sitting on my stoop!

Brunch with the girls was oh-so-wonderful. They are beautiful ladies and it was so refreshing spending some time with them over amazing food! A haircut and a few hours later drinks and tapas with another group of friends. Being out here has made me re-learn/re-member how to be social around new people. And going back to Brooklyn reminded me of how nice is it to be with people who I know and love.

Sunday was spent sleeping off two nights of partying and then we did what every good American does on Sunday…went to a mall in Long Island. In a few weeks once the festival ends (appx. 24 hours after) I head to Israel, land of holy things, to attend a friend’s wedding. And like I have already stated, my idea of black tie is a dress that costs 24.99 SO…with the gps and sunroof down we headed out to the mall. I don’t even know what to say about the experience because it WAS as bad as you think it was and it WAS as depressing as you think it was. BUT…I got two beautiful dresses and Martin got an adorable cardigan so it was ok.

Later in the night we saw the movie I’m Gonna Explode, by a young-ish Mexican Director. It was just awesome…exciting, dramatic, heartfelt…and things actually happened! I feel like so much of the current cinema-scape is based on reality and relies on the relatability factor rather than creating cinematic situations.

This a.m. very early I drove back to paradise, a large coffee in hand and this c.d. playing. I had a rude awakening at work, everyone was super stressed and the phone was off. the. hook…literally. I came home, made some delish stir-fry veggies with sundried chicken sausage, whole wheat pasta and feta cheese. I have to learn how to cook for one. That or adopt a few hugnry children. Mondays are funny.

It’s almost thursday and I’m just now re-capping the weekend. I’ve never had a job that requires me to work so much (most days I don’t leave til 7) but for the first time in a long while I really enjoy my day job. It’s the weirdest feeling, although it shouldn’t be, and I feel so lucky to be part of such a cool film festival. Our schedule comes out this weekend and I REALLY love most of the films we are showing. It’s also so nice to work with co-workers who I really enjoy as people. I’m used to working with interpreters where the most we have in common is our shoe size. These people are cool and smart and creative and almost every night there is some fun event that someone has planned. It also doesn’t help that we are in the Hamptons and we’re all Brooklynites at heart so some beer and wine on someone’s porch is really appealing most nights.

As per the picture above, you can only guess that the weekend was full of hot sex (read: humping pumpkins) and lots of beach walks. Picked up Martin from the bus stop late Friday night and spent the next two days enjoying his company - having him around even to drive with me, run errands, watch bad tv, help me make coffee - I just can’t explain how happy it makes me to have him as my partner-in-crime.

After some breakfast at this lodge-y cafe on a hill we went APPLE PICKING. Seriously though, it was the funnest thing I’ve ever done. There are so many kinds of apples…who knew??? And raspberrys and pumpkins and sunflowers, oh my. If I have kids one day, we will go apple picking every day because little kids picking apples is like liquid sugar through an I.V.

Yesterday after work I bought a pretty green scarf and went to the beach to read during sunset. I did a mini-iphotoshoot.

After I met some co-workers for free sushi. Let me repeat: FREE SUSHI at this really amazing restaurant. The thing about the Hamptons is that it’s insanely expensive and insanely popular - in the summer. After labor day things die down and all of the restaurants have crazy deals…like free sushi. So I ate sushi and drank the most delicious half-priced Sake Martinis and talked about movies. It was really nice.

Martin comes tonight and I’m beyond excited. No real plans except a festival bbq, lots of beach-walking and breakfast inside a windmill!