THE UNAUTHORIZED REVIEW OF
THE TAMPA FILM REVIEW
The unauthorized review of the Tampa Film Review monthly film festival By C. A. Passinault
INTRODUCTION - PART 1 - PART 2 - FILM FESTIVAL SCORECARD
The Tampa Film Review
Venue
Location, location.
Much can be said about the location of a venue. Where do I start here?
Ah, let's start with Ybor City itself.
Ybor City is not the kind of environment for much of anything art or entertainment
related, and is a poor choice for any film festival event. It is a pretentious
and deceptive place, where no one could truly let their guard down. In
many ways, it could be said that the location is the perfect analogy for
the Tampa Film Review.
Ybor has a lot of drawbacks. You have to pay for parking. Sometimes, you
have to pay too much. Once, I simply drove into the parking garage after
10 PM for a Tampa Film Review after party and, after leaving five minutes
later, was forced to part with ten dollars for my trouble. Parking fees
are even worse on Saturdays, and safe parking is always difficult, at
best, to find.
Crime is also a big problem in Ybor. God help you if you are caught walking
around after midnight on a weekend. Did you hear the story of the photographer
who had his photography equipment stolen out of his van in the middle
of the day? Did you hear about a certain film festival organizer who was
jumped, assaulted, and put in the hospital for his trouble of walking
the streets of his beloved Ybor one night after his film festival? Yes,
they TRY to spin Ybor as a family-friendly destination, but it never quite
fits with the party-going clubbing atmosphere or the shady characters
that the area attracts. I'd like my film festivals without the drunks,
criminals, con artists, and the strip clubs, thank you very much. I am
sure that I am not alone when I say that I strongly dislike Ybor City,
and it is hardly the center of true art and entertainment like some people
would like you to believe. I recall walking models and actors several
blocks at night to their cars after the Tampa Film Review because they
were afraid of being robbed, raped, and/ or murdered (Which I am happy
to walk them to their cars regardless, but they were afraid of walking
around Ybor at night, and I don't blame them one bit). Nice way to endanger
your audience, guys. Is it really safe to dodge drunk drivers, pay for
parking, and walk several blocks in the worst part of Tampa at night just
to attend a flawed film festival?
I don't think so.
The International Bazaar in Ybor City, which is the venue for the Tampa
Film Review, is a nice enough place - kind of like an oasis
in the middle of hell. The people are nice, the store is
huge, and they have a great selection of many great and often hard-to-find
things. As an avid chess player, I especially like their chess sets, and
I plan on buying my next chess set there (providing I can hike back to
the parking garage with my valuable chess set without being mugged). This
said, however, it's not an ideal location for a film festival.
You see, when an audience watches films, they need to be able to concentrate
on watching films. The store is usually quite busy, and on more than one
occasion you will find that store shoppers will make lots of noise when
people are trying to watch indie films. By the way, who had the bright
idea of putting musical items and other noisy merchandise in the back
of the store where you have a film festival?
Oh, and the heat. Let's not forget about the heat. There is something
terribly wrong with the air conditioning in the back of that store. The
sweating and the stench of fanboys around you also detracts from the film
festival experience. If you plan on going to the Tampa Film Review, make
sure that you put on disposable undergarments and lots of deodorant. Then
again, being late winter, I would have to say that the next time that
there Tampa has freezing weather, the Tampa Film Review is going on, and
you are about to freeze to death as you fight off muggers in the streets
of Ybor, that the Tampa Film Review is the best place to go to warm up.
The best venue that the Tampa Film Review ever had was at the Coffeehouse,
which is out of business. Although that too was in Ybor, at least it fit
the film festival better AND was much closer to the parking garage. You
also didn't have rude shoppers making noise when you were trying to watch
indie films.
Tampa Film Review Vendors
Since the Tampa Film Review is not professionally produced and is not run as a business, like real film festivals should be, there are no vendors, paid sponsorships, or cash flow to run or improve the event. This is a big problem, and with the Tampa Film Review indie film festival track record of regular events (something they have done every well at; in the few instances that the Guzzo’s could not attend, they did a good job at delegating and making sure that the show went on), they may have a good chance of landing some. This is perhaps their only chance of surviving, and as long as they refuse professional help their audience is ultimately sold short.
Tampa Film Review Attendance
The Tampa Film Review
has had a history of small to average size audiences. In January 2007
(The Quiet Place
debut!) and again in January 2008, the Tampa Film Review celebrated their
anniversary, each bringing in large crowds. Historically, however, the
audience returned to normal after these special events, simply because
the Guzzo’s have been unable to maintain the benchmarks that they
set during these times. Again, lack of sponsors and professional planning
are, in my opinion, the reason that they cannot maintain any high point.
The regular audience is more of a sign of a demand for indie film screenings
and is not at all a result of the marginal success of the Tampa Film Review.
Proof of this is that most of the time the audience does not grow, and
when it does spike it quickly returns to what is was before. Many visitors
are put off by the lack of professional organization, the glut of poor
films, and the technical problems. Sadly, they never return.
The Final Verdict
Until the Tampa Film Review makes serious improvements and builds a solid support infrastructure, we cannot recommend it. We feel that the Tampa Film Review has achieved marginal success in spite of itself due to the fact that it is presently the only game in town. We hope that things will improve before professional competition steamrolls the Tampa Film Review into extinction, but historically we know that this will probably never happen. It is quite possible that the Tampa Film Review, if it exists a year from now, will be the same, and that would be a shame. Tampa Film Review film festival “organizer” Paul Guzzo may think that he is in the position to determine who is a “real” filmmaker and who is not, and he is entitled to his misguided opinions, but he proves each and every month that he is not an event planner. Guzzo has a talent for filmmaking and should stick to that; perhaps with more practice he will be successful with that one day.
NEXT:
FILM FESTIVAL SCORECARD
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UPDATED 01/15/08
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