I had the fantastic time again over the weekend at my third TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, an event that just keeps getting better and better in its fourth year. This is one brilliantly curated series of films and special events with fantastic celebrities (Norman Lloyd and France Nuyen for starters) and the nicest, most enthusiastic crowds I’ve ever encounted at a film festival.
Passes aren’t cheap, but people in line I spoke with — they cover an amazing demographic and geographic span — felt it was a great value for the staggering array on what’s on offer from TCM. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that’s turned into a yearly ritual,” said one moviegoer who returned for a second year after a relative bought a pass as a gift in 2012.
It’s not only the films and the guests, it’s a mindset where the festival’s director, Genevieve McGillicuddy, programming vice president Charlie Tabesh and their army of hard-working colleagues,set out to make the overall experiece as fun as possible. That means respecting the audience and not treating moviegoers (and press) like a problem that needs to be controlled, such has long been the case at one high-profile New York festival that’s overlapped the TCM event for the last couple of years (yes Bob and Jane, we’re talking about you).
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/movies/tcm_classic_film_festival_it_wrap_Bw2BQGgVq3qioPoiJmWmWO#ixzz2SRIlZrEq