(HAWTHORNE, NJ) -- The 1st Annual White Vulture Film Festival and Vulture Awards will take place February 22-23, 2023, on two screens at the Hawthorne Theater. The festival will consist of two full days of screenings and co-hosted by Flavio Romeo, Hawthorne resident and host of the Towncast and New York actor Anna Swanson. New Jersey Stage spoke with Christopher Padula, the Founder/Director of the festival to learn more.
What inspired you to create the White Vulture Film Festival? Are you a filmmaker yourself?
I have been an "artist", "musician," or more recently "filmmaker" from my whole life... at the very least I am obsessed with it all. I put everything in quotes because on one hand I understand completely that without these terms it is hard to communicate these topics with any efficiency, on the other they are way too common and usable... everyone is an "artist" today.. So I describe myself as a "filmmaker" with some degree of discomfort. That said... after a lifetime of writing, acting, painting and every other thing you can't make a career out of, like many others, it was Covid that finally gave me the time and energy to "Direct" a project as opposed to only acting in one... and my first time experience wading into the festival world is really what started the slow, frustrated ball rolling toward the White Vulture Film Festival.... I had really expected to find this boundless world of artistic convergence and instead I found a world dominated, on the GOOD side, by academics and donors... and many of the best, ballsiest yet "unconnected" filmmakers, pay money to "submit" to these festivals just so these people can watch each others films and have drinks and give each other awards. This inaccessibility pushes filmmakers toward scam, online festivals that do literally nothing for you. You pay to get the default "filmfreeway laurel" (the portal most film festivals operate through) and only after getting four or five of these identical laurels do you eventually realize... "this is all a factory". I can honestly say that of the many laurels my project received, I don't think a single festival actually watched what we did.
These same realizations being laid out to my creative partners left us all with the universal feeling of, "we can do this better...." and if not "better" per se we can do it more sincerely... we all TRULY give a sh*t. We aren't doing this for "the parties" like many festivals.
As for the name "White Vulture"... that came to me in a dream about 6 months before starting a festival was even a thought in my head.
What is the goal or mission of the White Vulture Film Festival? What do you hope people take away from the festival?
Our goal is the creation of an "art focused" process and event that celebrates risk and guts and courts the highest level of work from around the world, across the country and yet, at the same time, remains approachable to local films as well.
With our stated love of "risk-taking" as it is, we allow ourselves to judge equally, not only big budget films, but small budget films, as well. We judge and award films that have had a range of budgets from $0 to $2M alongside one another.
We want to combine the short term gratification of a bi-monthly online festival where your film can actually be screened (online) and the directors can actually speak (also online) that leads directly into a very real selection process for films to be screened at an annual live event and, along the way, attempt to do everything that we can for the filmmakers that participate... other than screening at the online phase and allowing the directors to speak about their projects, everything is custom made; the laurels, the certificates, the trophies.... and we communicate honestly every step of the way, sometimes to our own detriment.
We hope that very project goes through the WVFF process feeling their projects were viewed and treated with great care and a wide-eyed wonder that is ready and willing to "go on the ride" the director wants to take us on.
I got the feeling that you take a lot of pride in bringing the festival to Passaic County. Tell me what the area means to you. Did you grow up in or near Hawthorne?
Yes, there is a certain pride in bringing such an event to Passaic County and making admission free to the public... and we are especially thrilled to have our event in Hawthorne. Growing up in Northern NJ, with so many culturally active areas around us, it is easy to miss the fact that Passaic County has become something of the cultural doughnut hole of the region. There are events of all types in Hudson County, Essex County, Bergen County, Monmouth and Middlesex... and of course, NYC... and yet here, right in the middle of it all, we are the Arts and Cultural "eye of the storm" in a way, where all of this activity swirls around us, yet never quite hits us directly.
So bringing, not only a film festival, but one that is unapologetically raw in its art driven approach, we feel, makes up, in a way, for all the time we have sat on the sidelines.
What have been some of the most difficult aspects of getting the festival off the ground?
Literally everything. For reasons I've stated, most filmmakers are distrusting of "new" festivals. So many pop up, talk a good talk, but then are simply online scams. Many say they have live events that never happen... so the fact that we've had hundreds of contributions (we hate the word "submissions") our first year may not be impressive by some standards, but part of me didn't think we would have any.
But to be frank, the most disappointing obstacle has been the cold shoulder from so many of the local entities that we hope to bolster. Unfortunately, here in the greater NYC suburbs of New Jersey, most entities (press, business, cultural, etc) do not care about something until it is already something, if that makes any sense.
So what we've done has been a Herculean effort across the board.
Where have the film submissions come from? How can filmmakers submit to the festival?
To answer the second part, first... like 95% of the functioning festival-sphere... WVFF works through the "Film Freeway" portal... and all filmmakers are encouraged to find us there at www.filmfreeway.com/whitevulturefilmfestival and if they have any questions first, it is easiest sometimes to contact us through instagram which, for better or worse, I have come to refer to as "my office".
But, as for the first part of your question... unlike most of the new or strictly online festivals... we speak to people, not with a copy and paste letter, but something that is written personally after watching your trailer or film or looking at your imagery.
We have been criticized for it from time to time, but we speak to filmmakers the way we'd speak to a friend, but with the joy of a fan. We speak about the lighting, the acting, the shot framing and let them know that we actually see and acknowledge what they are doing and that we aren't just trawling instagram looking for suckers to get a "submission fee" out of.
Do you expect any of the filmmakers or actors to attend the festival? Are you planning any Q&A sessions during the festival?
The short answer is "yes, many". We are at the "hey are you attending?" phase of communication and are delighted that many filmmakers are attending... from Jersey, but also, as far as, Japan, Australia and Peru.
People's answers change constantly, so it is too early to give too much specificity as to "who" and "when"... but we look forward to picking the brains of a majority of the contributing filmmakers.
You mentioned "artistic purity" instead of the trending issues of the day; do you feel that many film festivals simply try to push a message instead of presenting the best films or those with the best performances/stories?
Yes... or at the very least, feel obligated to tip their hats to certain issues. The mere fact that within a month of the "lockdown" every festival on the planet had a "lockdown/covid" category says much about the festival zeitgeist and its eagerness to cast a net tailor made for the issues of the day. Or one specific festival that proudly stated "we judge all work on its merits and therefore make sure that at least half of all films awarded are directed by women"... which is quite contradictory in way. Now I'm not saying that "message driven" festivals don't need to exist... but they do... and there are tons of them. There is a startling lack of festivals that are just for people "trying to do something that looks cool"... or is strictly funny, or strictly scary etc. We have many films that address myriad of topics, mental health, LGBTQ+ etc, but they do not need to exist strictly within that context. They are "great films" first.
But as troubling as "cause focused" festivals is... who dictates these causes? Generally filmmakers that want to compete in festivals find themselves bending toward these criteria. Criteria established by donors, academics and their friends in the film world.And this is what has lead to the perception of a "crystal ceiling" between what are largely considered the "good festivals" and the up and coming filmmaker, where access is given to their friends and, believe it or now, themselves... I saw recently a post by one of, if not THE, biggest festivals in NJ where one of the directors of the festival proudly announced their own film being selected into the festival... I am not trying to be dramatic, but I find this absolutely appalling... and if someone does not find that appalling, then WVFF might not be the festival for them.
What would be your dream for the festival? Where do you hope to see it one day?
Well, we made the decision, rightly or wrongly, not to pursue "sponsors" this first time out... despite my railing against how influence is counterintuitive to art, I am not a fool and understand that in order to make WVFF into something enduring and available to artists from all walks of life, money eventually needs to be raised... but we thought, perhaps naively, that if we were able to pull it off on our own terms just once, that maybe we can appeal to like minded people that might want to make sure the festival persists.
So, I'd love to think that that is a possibility. That in a few years we can have the funding and continued trust of the art community, to be able to continue to offer an "artistically pure" product, not only to NJ and NY but the whole damn world.
This brings me into a level of idealism I seldom permit myself to travel, but it is true. I'd love to see us here... focused on screening films and talking to filmmakers, offering a fantastic award ceremony, giving out Vulture Awards, maybe even some prize money and not losing thousands of dollars to do so... this stuff is expensive... but you never know. Maybe with a little exposure from publications like "New Jersey Stage" we will find out where that avenue lies.
Finally, tell me a little about yourself. What do you do for a living? Have you been involved in films? What was the first film you remember seeing in a theater? Who is your favorite director?
I allowed being art and aesthetic obsessed my whole life to lead me to be a hairstylist, first in Manhattan on 5th and Madison Aves before opening my own space with my wife. We closed it just before covid. I do feel that the "service industry mentality" has found its way into WVFF... in the service we provide to the filmmakers and in our "say yes first" mentality. But although writing, acting, painting and making music have been mainstays my whole life, it is only recently that I've truly recognized that filmmaking offers me the opportunity to combine all of these things... which is why I've embraced it so fully despite its relative newness in my life.
I am hesitant to say a favorite director... simply because I get concerned that someone might think that that is somewhat determinative of how I/we judge films... it is not at all. Like I said, we go on the ride the filmmaker wants to take us on. but, that said, at home on the couch, I love filmmakers that make me say "what the f*ck just happened" at least once,: Lynch, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Bergman, Tarkovsky... but everyone knows those names... come to the Hawthorne Theater on Feb 22nd and 23rd and I'll show you something you'll never see again.
OH! the first film I saw was the original "Star Wars"... right in the Hawthorne Theater...
