The late Noel Coward, who, in case you didn't know, had a certain fondness
for martinis, would have adored this year's New York Film Festival. For,
darlings, I simply have to tell you that the festival gave a divine cocktail
party for the poor ink-stained wretches of the press this past week.
New York's ever-so-exclusive festival has always been a classy affair, catering
mainly to the city's cultural elite. Even the press screenings are remarkably
civilized affairs. Coffee is served, along with a tempting array of muffins
and croissants, each morning. At precisely 10:30 AM the by-now-thoroughly-contented
press corps retreats to the deluxe comfort of the Walter Reade Theater.
The mood prior to the screening is thus fairly relaxed. While waiting for
one film to start, Sylvia Miles, who's hardly shy, said "Hiya Joel"
to a man seated in front of her. There was no response. "I thought
it was Joel Siegel (the Entertainment Editor of ABC)," said Miles,
looking somewhat deflated. But she brightened up when someone asked to see
her pink press badge.
Please don't ask how the actress managed to acquire one of these coveted
badges. All I know is that the name Grand Marnier is emblazoned on one side
of each badge, a highly visible reminder that the liquor company is the
festival's chief sponsor.
In fact never has a festival sponsor been quite so obvious. Richard Pena,
the Program Director for the Film Society of Lincoln Center, even went so
far as to introduce the president of Grand Marnier from the stage. It was
then that the company's president invited all those attending the press
screening of Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies" to sample Grand Marnier
cocktails in the theater lobby.
The post-screening party was too elegant for words. The canapes were to
die for. The conversation was perhaps not as witty as the playwright Noel
Coward's cocktail party patter. Still if you're dying to know what critics
talk about when sipping a Grand Marnier margarita, I can only say that Rex
Reed was happily gushing over Gena Rowlands' performance in "Unhook
the Stars," a film which, alas, is not in the festival.
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