It was quite a busy week with Fashion Week San Diego (FWSD) and the San Diego Film Festival (SDFF) occurring simultaneously from Wednesday Oct. 2 through Sunday Oct. 6. It helped that some of the SDFF screenings were held in the Gaslamp at the Reading Cinema and the FWSD runway shows took place at the Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier.
FWSD kicked off on Wednesday with, The Art and Beauty Behind Fashion hosted by local T.V personality Jeff Krapf. There was an interactive panel that included Leilani Angel of Bellus Academy, Travis Parker, Brian Hawkins of FIDM and StyleSeek, Dean Hall of HALL & SAKS and Sheree Vihon Bergthold of TRE Boutique. Our favorite part was the live art demonstration and interaction with Launch Live Art. Guests were also given the opportunity to help paint an original piece that was put on display through the rest of the week.
Thursday night was the first of three runway shows and featured three designers that are on the new fashion competition series Styled to Rock produced by Rihanna. We were happy to see Andre Soriano’s collection, one of the competitors on Rihanna’s new show. Soriano was one of the designers in last years show. Friday night had a Doggie Fashion Show toward the end, which featured dogs available for adoption. Although we expected the dogs to showcase doggy clothes and/or accessories, it was still nice to see FWSD utilize the time to help the pooches find forever homes.
Opening night at the SDFF was a triumph with the movie, 12 Years a Slave. The movie set in pre-Civil War United States centers around Solomon Northup, a free black man living in upstate New York, who got abducted and sold into slavery. There was a lounge set up for VIP pass holders with complimentary drinks and food in between film screenings. We really enjoyed the shorts in the series, For Shorts and Giggles. One of the shorts was a fake trailer for a movie in which characters set-up in typical horror/thriller scenarios make a common sense choice. We quickly saw how boring the movie would be if the characters said no to staying the night in an abandoned cabin where an entire family was murdered. Yup, smart characters are boring!
We were also looking forward to seeing August: Osage County with Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepard and Misty Upham. Unfortunately, the trip to La Jolla didn’t end well. The event was sold out and many ticket holders were left looking for refunds. On a positive note, it showed how SDFF is growing and is attracting a lot of film lovers. Hopefully, they’ll have multiple screenings for their most anticipated films next year.
Oct. 5, more than 40 cities, including San Diego, marched and rallied across our nation and called for Congress to pass immigration reform with legalization that leads to citizenship in 2013. Organized by San Diego Organizing Project (SDOP), Alliance San Diego, SD-AFSC, ICWJ, JOB, Labor Council of San Diego & Imperial Counties, SEIU-USWW and UNITE-HERE, the event began at 10 a.m. with several speakers addressing the participants in Balboa Park on Sixth and Laurel. An estimated 3,000 marchers then walked toward downtown and gathered in front of the County Administration Building. There was music, poetry and speeches from leaders representing various communities.
