Charles Poekel is my guest today. Charlie has the distinction of meeting both our requisites as qualification to sit in the guest directors chair in the projection booth, retrofitted home of the Lynwood Theatre Podcast. These qualifications, as is well known, are, simply, that one must have an area of expertise that includes art, the humanities, or, as in the case of Governor Jay Inslee, a deep respect for those that create said art. Secondly a connection to the geographic coordinates known colloquially as Bainbridge Island. As the Gov, Charlie Poekel has both. In spades.
Born in upstate New Jersey, and relocating to the left coast just in time for the pandemic, he has the distinction of having met his wife by an introduction from the son of one of our owners, the honorable Sam Granato. How’s that for a plot twist of delicious irony? I met Charlie about ten minutes prior to our session and knew we would get on just fine as I recognized the logo on his ball cap to be from the album artwork of one of my faves, Jerry Garcia. The Chain would remain Unbroken I vowed silently entering the studio.
Prior to taking a full-time position at Cornish in Seattle (Brendan Frasier, Reggie Watts, Ann Wilson) as Prof of Film, he wrote, directed and produced a feature titled, “Christmas, again.” It played at Sundance among others and received terrific reviews. You can read a few of them here.
Another feather in his cap is the launching of the Bainbridge Island Film Festival, BIFF. Scheduled for a September launch, all the information a budding, or established, filmmaker needs can be found at Film Freeway or their website at BainbridgeIslandFilm.org. A particularly important detail is the free submission offer to any filmmaker with a Kitsap County address. Hey, that’s me!
Charlie and I covered a lot of ground in our ‘just short of an hour’ exchange. I had a great time, even managing to drop a bombshell announcement, the fallout of which I will use as clickbait to entice you into a listen. One hint, this HLT APB offers a substantial reward for information leading to the location and subsequent communication with, of, arguably, the most influential name in film OF ALL TIME. If you know this guy’s connection to Bainbridge Island, and can get me a ten minute audience in order to make our humble elevator pitch, YOU WILL GET A REWARD EVEN BILL GATES WOULD APPRECIATE.
Thanks to Charlie for his artistic and organizational efforts to bring about the BIFF, check it out and take a listen, we’re listening for the secret and searching for the sound.
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