There are thousands of movie festivals around the world, but none can match Big Bear Lake’s film festival for sheer beauty, fun and showcasing of the best new talent in America.
   I have been to many of them, from Cannes to Moscow, both as reporter and presenter of my own films, but with Big Bear’s majestic backdrop, and excellent local food, wine and beer being served, the parties were the best of all of the film festivals.
   Several new feature films were showcased by talented new film makers. “Solitary,” a brilliant work by director Greg Derochie, starring Amber Jaeger, won the audience appreciation award. The taught mystery about a agoraphobic woman trapped inside her house was reminiscent of early Alfred Hitchcock.

(Photo on left: Boyle salutes winners of the Audience Appreacation Award for best feature film, Director Greg Derochie and actress, Amber Jaeger.)

   Maybe the best film, “Shady Lane,” a masterful work by L. Doggans Farr-Jagodzinski about police corruption in Los Angeles, was not finished in time to be presented, but was screened privately. At a late night wrap party at our hotel, the Robinhood, overlooking the beautiful lake, the first time director and I saluted our mutual friend, John Daly, who produced “Salvador,” and the Oscar winning “Platoon” and the “Last Emperor.” Daly, who died last year, was noted for finding new talent, such as Oliver Stone and Doggans-Farr Jagodzinski, one of the few African American women directors in Hollywood.
   Another feature film that won audience approval was “Golden Earrings,” directed by Marion Kerr, an up and coming new talent. Many excellent short films were also presented, such as “Threshold,” produced by two University of Southern California graduates, Orhan Ayasli and Eric Karkheck. We talked about the great film program at USC, where I taught film in the late eighties, and produced noted directors such as John Singleton, whose “Boyz in the Hood,” was a student project.
   Another great short film by another product of USC was the moving "Touch" by director Jen McGowan, and since it won at the Florida Film Festival it may be considered for an Oscar for best short film next year, and will surely get my vote.
   The Acting Award of Excellence was presented by Richard Moll, noted for his bland comic style on Night Court, to Clint Howard, who has acted in dozens of films, ranging from a campy cross dresser to a space alien on Star Trek.
   “I was hired for the fifth episode of Star Trek at age five,” said Howard, “ but I never dreamed the show would go on to become a cult classic.” Howard, whose voice was dubbed, played a midget alien, his first of many challenging roles. We also talked about his brother, Ron Howard, whose “Far and Away” has also become a respected classic despite its early box office disappointment. “It was a great film,” said Clint Howard, pictured at right with Major (Ret.) Bruce Black and Richard David Boyle.  Black headed the crack security team at the festival.
   Moll and fellow actor Ken Carpenter said they were working on a new film about two aging vampires and their love for a sex starved nurse.
   Of all the festivals I attended, and won, such as the Venice Video Festival in 1987 for my documentary, “Below the Volcano,” the security at the Big Bear Lake Festival was the even better than the KGB in Moscow or French Second Bureau at Cannes. Major (Ret.) Bruce Black, a former crack paratroop commander, headed a detail of former military officers and high school cadets from the Big Bear Civil Air Patrol. Their main job was to make sure only ticket holders, not gate crashers, attended.
   Each year the Big Bear Lake Film Festival gets bigger and better, so I can’t wait for 2011nd.
   I am also looking forward to the Big Bear Horror Film Festival, running between Oct. 15 to Oct. 17 at the Performing Arts Center.  Ken Carpenter has already made a great horror movie spoof for the festival, which can be seen on Youtube.  There will be a private screening of my documentary, "Below the Volcano," a real horror film about the Death Squads in El Salvador that is more horrible than any film with fake blood and guts.  That work won several video festivals, including Venice, Moscow and Sardinia and was so admired by Director Oliver Stone, he decided, with John Daly,to produce "Salvador" which was based on "Below the Volcano."

Richard David Boyle, was nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay for “Salvador” in 1987 and is a candidate for the Board of Trustees of the San Bernardino Community College District. His website is: www.teachersforachange.biz and can be reached at: boylewriter@aol.com

(Photo right: The elite festival security team, comprised of former military officers and high school cadets from the Civil Air Patrol, did an excellent job of protecting guests at the Big Bear Lake Film Festival.)