My Chance Meeting With Leonard Maltin

Early on Friday morning, at approximately 9:30 A.M., I made the decision to head down to the Staff Clubhouse in Telluride to grab a bit of breakfast. I wasn't quite certain as to the exact location of the clubhouse, so I was sort of ambling along down sidestreets and dusty trails, in an attempt to find the necessary sustenance to get me through the day. Pretty soon, I became relatively lost (albeit that Telluride's a small town).

As one does when lost, I looked about to see if someone in the vicinity could assist me with directions. Only two individuals stood within proximity - at the time, I had no idea who these people were. Without thinking, I approached with the aim of asking directions. As I asked the requisite direction-related, only then did I realize that I had approached renowned film critic Leonard Maltin. Let's have that again. I was asking Leonard Maltin for directions.

Maltin is the current president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the movie reviewer of Entertainment Tonight and teaches at the University of Southern California (USC) in their Cinema Studies department.

Our meeting is particular peculiar on the account that only a week before Telluride I had been looking at the USC website for Cinema Studies as consideration for graduate studies; in particular, I explored Maltin's biography and information on the course he taught at the university.

So, here I was, having gone from Maltin on my computer monitor to inches away from me, in real life. Talk about life-changing.

Maltin was standing on the sidewalk with his daughter Jessie near Telluride's gondola station when I approached. Both, I learned, were waiting for transportation to arrive to take them to their condo. He and his daughter were beyond cordial, even helpful as to the location of the Staff Clubhouse. After pointing out the location, the three of us talked about the festival, how it was my first time and how Jessie had been coming since she was ten (and she's only a year older than me). We also talked about USC. Maltin answered some questions that I had about the school, with particular attention to his course and then we parted ways. I thanked them for the jovial discussion and mentioned that it was lovely to meet them.

I left from the conversation ecstatic at having for the first time experienced the magic of the Telluride Film Festival. I was bright-eyed, having realized that the first story of many to come had just happened. Little did I realize that the Sunday afterwards, I would run into Jessie Maltin again at a concessions stand outside Le Pierre (one of the festival theatres) and our having met on the Friday before would be the cause of a wistful and striking conversation that ran the gamut from jazz music to linguistics. It was, in short, quite excellent.

She and I exchanged contact information thereafter and, having returned to Chicago, I look forward to our continued correspondence and our next meeting. Hanging out with her in Telluride and having one of those rare wittily magnificent conversations was one of the many experiences I will never forget from Telluride. Here's to more of such memories to come!

Another Step Forward

I just finished speaking on the telephone for the first time with Paul Gandell, with whom I will be staying during my time in Telluride. One perk of the Student Symposium is that the cost of lodging is waived for students with financial restrictions -- in lieu of renting a condominium or hotel for several days, qualifying students are personally arranged by the festival organizers to reside with citizens of the mountain town.

Paul lives in what he describes as a "noticeably green" two-story house with a white picket fence arranged along its perimeter, the dividing line between the Gandell residence and the town which for six days at the end of August and the beginning of September becomes a film lover's heaven. He has a young boy, his only child, who as of recently turned four years of age. I imagine that he could be a handful, but I have always taken well to children and so look forward to meeting a boy so fortunate as to grow up in a town where magic happens just beyond his property line.

As is my custom, I thanked Paul profusely for providing my lodging during the Telluride stay. He quickly confessed that, while he is more than happy to offer a room to me, he is being handsomely compensated with festival passes of his own. We shared a laugh at that moment. I told him that it sounded like he was getting a good deal with the arrangement. He didn't miss a beat when responding with, "Definitely a great deal." We laughed again.

A lot of our talk was introduction and formalities, but before we finished our discussion I asked Paul that always difficult and oftentimes unfair question -- I asked him to relate to me a favorite moment from a past festival. As I expected, his immediate answer was "There are so many." It took only four words to make me as giddy as when I first found out about my acceptance. Telluride's past, I realized, is filled with memories; in fact, is a source for memories. Again, he repeated his sentiment. "I have so many great memories and moments from the festivals, it's hard to pick just one."

Though, he eventually settled on a story surrounding Harvey Keitel, a couple of years back when he was being honored with one of three tributes given during the festival proper, a cinematic retrospective and ceremony of sorts. As the Telluride schedule is openly fluctuates (in terms of additions) even throughout the course of the festival proper, a screening of a unnamed movie came up at midnight. According to the program, it was a "New Harvey Keitel Movie" and listed the time. Now, nobody knew what was going on. Some people were there, but it wasn't terribly crowded as I understand, due to the mystery of the whole thing. But, Paul had just gotten out of work, so he went to see it.

As it turns out, the mystery film that Paul went to see (with Keitel in attendance) was none other than Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Paul told me that it was, by far, the most electric, outrageous, devastatingly pleasant surprise he had ever been a part of in TFF history. In his own words, "There was no better way to see it." Sounds like it, Paul. Now, I'm not sure if this screening was authorized or a big secret, but depending on what year this all went down, this could have been the first screening of the film ever. I don't know if that's true, considering Sundance claims that it debuted there. Paul didn't say this, but it was a thought I had. I am pretty sure however, that since Tarantino was a part of the Sundance Institute that the film premiered there in January of '92. Pretty sure.

In addition, Paul told me another related story about when Tim Roth (who acted in Reservoir Dogs) stopped into his sandwich shop another year -- apparently, they had a bit of a discussion, wherein Paul asked him about the title of the film. Roth wouldn't give away its secret. He said, "I don't know. It's really Quentin's thing and... I don't know." Great quote, I know, but the experience (even if unsuccessful in revealing the mystery) was a priceless one.

It was then that I realized that just like Paul was retelling his own experiences with such enthusiasm, it would not be long until I, too, would be able to the same. Telluride is actually happening -- it's no longer an opiate daydream, the whims of a cineaste from a small town. In eighteen days, as I told Paul, I will be eating lunch next to Werner Herzog and Ken Burns. I used that exact phrase as an example and, again without missing a beat, Paul responded: "Don't be too surprised if that actually happens." I about died.

I am looking forward to making my own memories at Telluride, meeting people who I have long seen from afar as inspirations towards achievement and changing my life, one step at a time.