Eight years after the film “There’s Something About Mary” premiered at the Rhode Island International Film Festival in 1998, writer/director/producer Peter Farrelly returned for the festival’s 10th anniversary.
Farrelly took the stage on Tuesday, opening night, to introduce fellow filmmaker Michael Corrente, a Pawtucket native and the third winner of the festival’s “creative vision” award. Corrente co-wrote and directed the 1999 film “Outside Providence” and is now working on a film about former Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. based on the book “The Prince of Providence.”
“I cannot tell you how pleased I am to see this happening in Rhode Island,” Farrelly said of the wave of filmmaking activity in the state. “This place is rocking.”
And so is the film festival, which has “steadily grown” since its start 10 years ago when five films were shown over three days at the Stadium Theatre in Woonsocket, and about 2,000 people attended, said George Marshall, founder and director of the festival.
This year’s festival included screenings of 250 short films, features, documentaries and animated films in six days to more than 20,000 people, Marshall said. It received 2,000 entries this year from filmmakers in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, India, Chile, Guatemala and the United Arab Emirates.
Marshall said last year, the festival generated about 1,200 hotel room night-stays at about $120 a night, which would equal about $144,000 in tourism dollars. That’s based on the number of people festival organizers knew were coming from out of state.
“It helps the city in terms of building the summer months,” said Lynne McCormack, director of the Providence Department of Art, Culture & Tourism. “We’re looking to build the city of Providence as a destination for festivals in the summer months. This is important for that because we don’t have a lot of events in August.”
It also gives the city national and international exposure, which will lead more people to view Providence as an art and culture destination, she said.
“The film festival has really grown immensely,” said McCormack. “They’re really reorganized themselves and become much stronger as an organization in the last two years.”
In January, TravelSmart magazine rated the Rhode Island International Film Festival among the top 12 film festivals in the country, in part because of its qualification as an official screener and nominator of short films for the Academy Awards, Marshall said. The festival is one of 60 that qualify, out of about 2,700 film festivals worldwide. It received the qualification in 2002.
“This year it’s really jumped forward,” McCormack said. “It’s got a lot more Hollywood people coming in. It takes a while to build that reputation.”
The festival drew well-known actors such as Cicely Tyson, winner of the festival’s fifth “lifetime achievement” award, whose film “Fat Rose and Squeeky” premiered during the festival. Also in attendance were Carmen Electra, Jason Priestley, Tori Spelling, Emma Bing, Lisa Henson (Jim Henson’s daughter) and Adrian Grenier, among others.
And this is the first year that hotels, such as the Providence Biltmore, have played a role in making the festival successful by sponsoring the event and giving discounted group rates to people attending, Marshall said.
Christopher Lush, national sales manager at the Biltmore, said the hotel partnered with the film festival this year “because we see the benefit of having the film business in Providence.”
When filmmakers and cast, about 300 this year, come to the state at their own expense to attend the event, they are staying for a minimum of three to four days, Marshall said. “Businesses are doing the math and seeing the value for themselves.”
Local gelato maker Roba!Dolce offered complimentary gelato and sorbetto for select events this year. Ri Ra Irish Pub and Restaurant offered a 10-percent discount to filmmakers and cast members. And Body Sense spa distributed coupons offering attendees 15 additional minutes of massage and yoga.
“When you’re talking economic impact, you’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Marshall said.
The attraction of filmmakers and cast also stirs interest in using Rhode Island as a destination for filmmaking, said Steve Feinberg, director of the R.I. Film & Television Office. Visitors learn about the state’s film and television tax credit, which is one of the top three tax credits for movie making, he said. Massachusetts and Louisiana also have competitive tax credits.
Filmmaking has injected about $120 million into the state’s economy during the past two years, Feinberg said. The Disney movie “Underdog” generated about $40 million of that amount.
In the future, Marshall said, he would like to expand the festival to seven days.
“Our goal is carefully thought-out expansion,” he said. “What we want to be is signature. We’re here as a launching pad. We want to launch new filmmakers.”
