PORT TOWNSEND — Hollywood writers couldn’t have penned a better script for this year’s Port Townsend Film Festival.
While early reports indicated this year’s festival would be scaled down, recent changes, including an appearance by actor/director Peter Fonda, may make the fourth annual event Sept. 26-28 the biggest yet.
Fonda, who starred alongside Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson in the 1969 cult classic “Easy Rider,” will present a special cut of his 1971 film “The Hired Hand,” which he directed and starred in.
The film is a “lost classic,” film festival Director Peter Simpson said.
It had a wide run in Europe where it won several awards, but only played for two weeks in the United States.
Nearly 65 percent of the negative for “The Hired Hand” had to be completely restored because of streaks and discoloration. The sound has been remixed in Dolby stereo.
The Port Townsend Film Festival will be the second time the version of the film has been shown in the Pacific Northwest.
It was presented in 2002 at the Seattle International Film Festival.
And yes, Fonda will introduce a screening of “Easy Rider” as well, Simpson said.
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The rest of the story appears in the Wednesday Peninsula Daily News.
