Maritime City Film Festival's Outdoor Movies

Gig Harbor moviegoers gave a big thumbs-up to the inaugural Maritime City Film Festival, with rave reviews about both the films and the concept. “The film festival was successful on a number of different levels,” said Paula Lillard, planning committee member. “By and large the most successful film, other than the ones at the park, was Her Best Move.”

“This is the best thing I've seen in a long time,” said Bunny Searles of Life Among Whales. “It was so magnified -- so intimate.”

Galaxy Theatres manager A.J. Witherspoon noted that even with a multiplex, showing independent films regularly isn't simple. “Normally theaters that show independent films have cultivated relationships with the indie film industry -- we have relationships with the major film industry. It's not that we don't want to run the small stuff; we would love to do it.” He observed that during festival screenings, audience behavior was different: “People were coming out of the theaters having discussions about the movies. I don't see that with many major films.”

The inflatable screens used for the festival were provided by Open Air Cinema.