OCEANSIDE — This year’s Oceanside International Film Festival kicked off its five days of films with the documentary premiere of local band The Silent Comedy and wrapped up with an interview with actress Taryn Manning.
The film festival began on Tuesday, Feb. 21 with a red carpet party before premiering “I Am Alright,” the story of indie rockers The Silent Comedy from their beginnings as an experimental side-project performing in coffee shops to international tours and their collapse under industry pressures and personal mental health struggles.
After the documentary feature, the rekindled band from San Diego performed a set for the audience. Their performance marked the start of their latest national tour, which will have them playing at The Casbah on April 14 and bringing them back to Encinitas later in August.
Krista Liney, the film’s director, was introduced to the band over a decade ago and became close with them. She and band founder Joshua Zimmerman were interviewed together at the red carpet ceremony on Tuesday before the movie.
“When Josh and I were talking about doing a documentary about this it just seemed to flow naturally out of that,” Liney said. “It’s a very personal story.”
For Zimmerman, Liney’s familiarity with the band members was the reason why she was well suited for the role as director of their documentary.
“Krista has such a familiarity with all the members of the band already and had been such a big part of the peak of our careers… we needed someone who we were comfortable with to be the director,” Zimmerman said.
“I Am Alright” won Best Original Score at the film festival awards ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 25.
The film festival has been a staple in the heart of the Oceanside Cultural District for more than 12 years. Dozens of more films spanning various genres from around the world were featured at the festival held at the historic Sunshine Brooks Theater.
One of those films was “Publish or Perish” by Director David Liban, who doubles as a film professor at the University of Colorado Denver.
Liban described his film as a dark comedy about a professor determined to get tenure who accidentally kills his student.
“He doesn’t want to lose his career so things go bad for him,” Liban said about the main character’s following actions in the film.
Liban previously premiered his new movie at the Sedona Film Festival in Arizona before coming to Oceanside. His next stop is at another film festival in South Carolina.
Actor James Shanklin, who played Dean Richard Crawley in “Publish or Perish,” received the Best Supporting Actor award at the film festival.
Before the awards show, guests watched a one-on-one interview with special guest and actress Taryn Manning, known for her roles as Tiffany “Pennsatucky” Doggett in “Orange Is the New Black,”, Cherry in “Sons of Anarchy,” Nola in “Hustle & Flow” and Janeane in “8 Mile.”
