Katharine Cornell Theater

Thursday, September 14----It was standing room only at the Katharine Cornell Theater this evening, as the inaugural Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival kicked off a four day film celebration with its high wattage Opening Night Film, Michel Gondry's much anticipated THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP.

The sold out screening brought out a mixture of locals, visting filmmakers and some of the cultural elite who call this beautiful island off the coast of Cape Cod home. The screening was preceded by a crowded-to-the-raftersKickoff Cocktail at the historic Mansion Inn in downtown Vineyard Haven, the Festival's main venue.

"We're competely sold out", Festival co-director Richard Paradise beamed. "This is a great beginning for this year's event". The weather, unfortunately, threatened not to cooperate. For most of the day, a steady rain was falling and the clouds moved ever lower to create the fog and mist that is one of the hallmarks of the Cape Cod landscape.

However, just minutes before guests began to arrive for the 6:00pm cocktail reception, the rain miraculously stopped and the fog lifted, giving revelers a reprieve from the heavy downpours. The weather gods deigned to play nice for the rest of the evening, with nary a raindrop falling and the temperature rising to a very comfortable Fall evening level.

But the action, as they say, was on the inside, where Islanders and visiting guests rubbed shoulders at the Mansion Inn, and then proceeded to move en masse to the Katharine Cornell Theater up the street for the first of many film highlights this weekend.

Within minutes all available seats were taken and those coming in late were forced to stand in the back or sit on the stairs in order to be part of the special event. After much rustling and anticipation, the Festival co-directors, Richard Paradise and Nevette Previd, warmly welcomed the overflow crowd and thanked them for making this first film screening such a resounding success.

Audiences who attended were treated to a highly original film by one of today's most ambitious and daring film artists. Michel Gondry, whose background in television commercials and music videos sharply defined his visual sensibilities, scored a major hit in 2004 with his mesmerizing film ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, featuring peerless performances by Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet.

In THE SCIENCE OF SLEEP, Gondry again works with some exceptional actors, including Mexican hearthrob Gael Garcia Bernal (of THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES fame) and Charlotte Gainsbourg (the daughter of musician Serge Gainsbourg, and a fine actress in her own right).

His offbeat tale of a young man's drift between sleep state and "reality" has been described by its director as highly autobiographical, chronicling a time when Gondry was mostly unemployed and living from hand to mouth. The film features haunting visuals and a spiritual quality that elevates it from mere sensationalism to a seamless integration of internal and external stimulation.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was bought by Warner Independent Pictures, the arthouse division of Hollywood major studio Warner Brothers. It then went on to further acclaim at the Berlin Film Festival, and has since been screened at festival events in Seattle, Moscow and Paris.

The film opens theatrically in North America on September 22nd. The lucky people who thronged to the Festival opener are among the first audiences in the country to sample this unique and arresting film. A great start to what promises to be a great weekend of cinema appreciation and film fun.

Sandy Mandelberger
Festivals Editor