Festival films delight smaller-than-expected crowd

The films at the Second Annual Digital Film Festival were about a variety of topics, from Christianity to "Montezuma's Revenge." The reactions to the festival, though, were far from varied.

"I've loved the festival," said Nancy Haertling. "It was fun to watch."

Charles Enderle was only able to attend on Saturday, the last night for the two day festival, but said his favorite film was the short "PuddleJumper."

"It gave me the pucker-butt feeling," the local actor said of "PuddleJumper," which documented a man's battle in Mexico with "Montezuma's Revenge." "I was sweating."

David Allstun, a local actor, also enjoyed the festival, citing its diversity.

"[Friday night] was more experimental or artistic. [Saturday night] there were more plot-based films. 'BachelorMan' was a big favorite."

On Friday night Allstun enjoyed the film "Pilgrim's Progress" the most. The film documented how society was built up into what it is today, he said.

Lower turnout than expected

The organizers of this year's festival deemed it a success, despite a lower turnout than in the festival's inaugural year.

"Last year we had more local movies, and that helped bring in more people," said festival director Patrick Bond. "This year we only had three local films, so that didn't bring a lot of people out."

Bond said that the weekend chosen for the festival was also to blame for the lowered turnout. Several other events were going on this weekend including a football game, a basketball game and the beginning of deer season, he said.

While fewer people attended this year, Charles Parsons, a member of the festival's board of directors, thinks that this year's films were of a higher quality.

"The films this year were outstanding," said Parsons. "In terms of production quality and artistic value it was a head and shoulders improvement [compared to last year]. There were so many good films. 'BachelorMan' was a huge success, and so was 'PuddleJumper.' We're proud to have had those films here."

'BachelorMan' the highlight

"BachelorMan was the better of the films," said Hank Bond, a festival-goer. "It's a guy movie; it was funny and true to life."

In attendance at this year's festival was the writer for the film "BachelorMan," Rodney Lee Conover. Conover, also an actor in the film, was joined in attendance by Dave West, a native of Jackson, who also acted in "BachelorMan" and directed "PuddleJumper."

West, who graduated from high school in Jackson in the early 1980s, said that to be back in the area was a good feeling, although it doesn't really feel like the same place.

"It's grown a lot. Being here now as a grown-up, I realize how picturesque it is now," West said of Cape Girardeau.

West, who now spends his time making movies in California, had nothing but praise for this year's festival. "It's been great," West said. "These guys are doing a good job. It's young and will only get better."

Jerimy Ferguson, a member of the festival's board of directors, had the same thoughts about next year's Show Me Digital Film Festival.

"There's this thing called 'sophomore slump'," said Ferguson. "We had some problems, but we'll plan more for next year."