Suddenly some loud mouth 40-something came storming in from the street with his group of other 40 and 50-somethings. He was huffing and hollering, probably looking for street cred. He saw the all access pass hanging off my neck and yelled "What's going on?" Just as loudly I yelled back "What's going on with you?" He was in an expensive suit. I was in a dirty Pitt (Pitt had just beaten Notre Dame the night before, suck it, Irish fans!) sweatshirt and feeling a bit plucky. He backed down some and in a more calm tone explained that he had paid for a bunch of concert tickets and wanted his money back. While taking out his wallet to show the tickets, he almost subtly exposed a badge. Not a police badge, but something. I asked what it's for, he said the Senate (I didn't know if he meant the real one, or the jokers up in Albany who should probably be running their own film festival) but either way he got to show off the gold credential and explain that he was an important lawyer. Apparently he never received any e-mails about the concert's cancellation, and was looking for money and answers. The LA guys joked that he should wait in line. Without giving all the details we informed the lawyer that there were many others looking to get money out of QiFF. The lawyer gave me his card and said with a smile said "Oh yeah? Let's sue! We'll see what they do when we sue!" He gave his card to the LA guys, the security guards working the door, and anyone else in the lobby area. "We'll see! We'll see!" he laughed and yelled while threatening to sue the world! Even after leaving the building with his group, the LA guys and I could still hear his many "We'll see's!"
He left the lobby just as the ceremony crowd was entering it. To again get away from the masses I stepped away, this time to the building's front steps where the lawyer had just held court. One of the LA guys, Sam, came with me and within minutes we were joined by a video camera.
It was Dan Nuxoll and the cute assistant I mentioned earlier. Upon introducing himself I joked "No matter what you hafta say I'm on Marie's side! She selected Sodom by the Sea into her festival, you rejected it from yours, so I'm with her." He laughed and asked if I had liked my QiFF experience. After much stuttering, I asked if we could talk off camera. He told me his story of how he was duped out of thousands of dollars worth of rental equipment to help run QiFF back in 2007. I told him that I may have my own Marie story which only involved two tickets and a few hundred dollars but that I wanted to give her a couple of days before getting into all that. He understood, passed me his number and looked for other filmmakers to interview. I noticed that a few others had problems putting their QiFF experience into words. Later in the night I found that Michael Sergio would not have this problem.
Before then but after talking to Nuxoll I bumped into a couple who I had first met at my own screening. To my surprise I found that the couple happens to live in my building. They came out because the husband had written a script (one I was never assigned to read) which had been selected into QiFF. He and his wife were driving to another part of Astoria for the closing night party at a catering hall called Renaissance. Needing to get out of my dirty sweatshirt I asked if I could get dropped off home first. They gave me a ride then continued to the party with my friend Dan Turkewitz. Before I could finish washing up to go myself, Dan called to say that the party was dead and he was leaving. Still, I wanted to check it out before saying goodbye to what could have been my second favorite film festival.
I rushed over and saw a small crowd at the bar while the rest of the place looked as dismal and as sparsely attended an affair as I had ever seen. Michael Sergio was with a small group at the bar. I hung around them waiting for a moment. I wanted to introduce myself to Sergio and tell him that I too was raised in Astoria. I too was a Mets fan (how can anyone like the Mutts these days?) and remember his "Game 6" stunt. I wanted to tell him that his feature stole the title of my first short which originally was to be called, Under the Hell Gate Bridge. But as I inched my way closer, I saw that this wouldn't be the best time to chit-chat. Someone else had asked what he thought of QiFF. He never stuttered or took time to find the words. Instead he just slowly shook his head and said "I can't say anything bad. I can't say anything bad."
Seemed like good advice. I would see how everything sorted itself out before saying anything bad. Shortly later, we were all taking cover from a live rock band that truly did not know how to read its audience. Or lack there of. Within minutes Sergio was gone. My Sunday night ended with a whimper. I left after paying for two beers (once again QiFF was not comping their own filmmakers) and went back home. Dan called again to say that his night ended in the type of bizarre fashion that I had witnessed on Thursday. Apparently after leaving Renaissance he was called over by someone sitting in a parked car. The mystery man asked if Dan was a QiFF photographer. Not knowing what to make of the stranger Dan kept his answers simple. The stranger then asked if Marie was inside. Dan told him that not only was she not inside, but she hadn't even shown up for the awards ceremony. The stranger explained that he had worked for her as a QiFF photographer in 2008. He still wasn't paid and warned Dan to expect the same treatment before driving off. Dan laughed that the whole exchange felt like a scene from a '50s noir. I laughed back thinking that the past four days certainly felt more movie-like than anything I had seen during the screenings.
Since that time Dan and I both exchanged separate e-mails with Marie. She literally gave Dan the "check is in the mail" line. She and I compromised on $250 in cash for my work. Of course we could have compromised on a million dollars cash because there was no way I was seeing any of it. Still, I tried giving her some time to meet up with me. After she cancelled our second meeting, I decided that it was time to say something. Like Dan Nuxoll and the many other victims documented in Willow Belden's powerful pieces, I was scammed. Like them, I'm now speaking out. I will continue to speak out and do my small part to make sure that Marie Castaldo never runs a film festival again. I will continue to help in making sure that there is no QiFF in 2010. At least not one attached to Marie Castaldo, or her inside team which for several years now has included Borris "I lost it" Bazelais.*
