Festivals

Tom Donahue and John Osborne at the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival in Palm Springs, California

Being part of a film festival, or attending one is a wonderful and stimulating experience. Many films are premieres that no one has seen before, and often the directors, producers, and even actors are there to meet the audience and talk about their film. I’ve attended many film festivals over the years, and some have been life changing!

Venice International Film Festival 2025

A surprise meeting with my director and actor friend, Luca Rosini, at the Venice International Film Festival, Italy.

The Mendocino Film Festival was one of the film festivals that changed my life. Because I had never heard of it before, and because of my interest in film, a friend invited me to to stay at her place in Mendocino to attend the 2009 Festival. I took my college-aged daughter with me, and we had an incredible experience. Not only did we see many good films, we had the pleasure of meeting directors like Robert Elfstom (Johnny Cash, The Man, His World, His Music) and screen writers like Audrey Wells (Under The Tuscan Sun, Shall We Dance, and others.) The Festival staff were friendly and the events were fun. We also really enjoyed the atmosphere of the Mendocino Village where most episodes of “Murder She Wrote” had been filmed. My daughter was a big fan!

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, opening night, Mendocino Film Festival

The next year I was brought on as a volunteer to help with filmmaker events and to Tweet about the goings-on. It was thrilling to be a member of the festival even though it involved a lot of hard work and long hours. In 2013, l became a Member of the Board for a short time, and have been involved with the Festival in some capacity ever since that first visit in 2009.  The Festival introduced me to the beauty of Mendocino where I eventually made my home.