PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Film Festival Oscar Broadcast & Big Party this Sunday will include the expected food, drink and fellowship, but there will also be the bonus of a festival connection to an Oscar nominee.
Courtney Marsh, whose “War Within the Walls” was selected for screening at last year’s Focus: Women & Film weekend at the film festival, is a nominee for a short documentary feature, an award that festival Executive Director Janette Force said will be televised Sunday.
“This is why we do what we do,” Force said. “Here, a film that nobody has seen can come to life, which not only informs the audience but informs the director.”
Marsh has filmed a promotional video that will be shown at the party, where she thanks the festival and Force for their role in the film’s development.
Force said this is the first time that feedback gleaned at a Port Townsend Film Festival event has been incorporated into a film that is then nominated for an Oscar.
Festival-to-Oscars connections are not unprecedented: 2012 special guest Bruce Dern traveled from the festival to the filming of “Nebraska,” for which he earned a 2014 Oscar nomination.
The party will be from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St., beginning with champagne, appetizers and music by the Rex Rice Jazz Trio.
Luke Burbank, CBS and NPR comedian, will host the evening.
As of Thursday, about 100 of the 125 available tickets had been sold.
If purchased by 5 p.m. today, they are $85; afterward, they are $125.
The room will include a giant screen at each end where the awards show will be presented using TiVo to snip out the commercials.
As a result, the video will run about five minutes behind, “so someone looking at their iPhone will know who won before we do,” Force said.
“It’s great to not have the commercials,” she said.
“That way, we can talk and eat and do other things while we wait for the show to start up again.”
Some active fundraising will occur during the breaks, she said.
Force said the party is the festival’s largest fundraiser, with about half of the ticket price used for its support.
She has just solidified the lineup for the second annual Focus: Women & Film event April 8-9 and is also planning the fall festival to take place Sept. 23-25.
A special guest has not been secured, she said.
“We do not have the sardine in the can,” she said, “sardine” being a code name used for prospective guests to keep the identities secret.
“I wish I had a different answer and I wish I was lying, but I’m not.”
Force said there are two possible candidates who cannot commit because their filming schedule is unknown.
It’s not quite panic time, she said; February is always fraught with possibilities, and everything comes together in March.
“The festival isn’t about the special guests; it’s about the filmmakers,” she said.
“The fact that we pay attention to filmmakers makes them want to be here, and when they make their next film, they come to us first, and we don’t have to go out searching for them.”
To order tickets to Sunday’s party, call 360-379-1333 or go online to www.ptfilmfest.com.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
