4 minute read
IDAHO FILM SOCIETY
Boise cinema club brings filmmakers together
BY APRIL NEALE
Created by self-described Luddite filmmaker Aidan Brezonick and HP careerist Rich Raimondi, Idaho Film Society is an amalgam of like-minded heavy hitters that also includes Treefort’s Eric Gilbert, “A Christmas Story” star Peter Billingsley, Visionkit’s Stephani Norell (and more) as board members. The nonprofit, brought together through Brezonick and Raimondi’s kindred love of films, exists in the former Greyhound station in downtown Boise, a spacious location brimming with the kind of cinematic details that inspire artists of all mediums.
Brezonick and Raimondi have high hopes for IFS, and imagine it might become a revenue-generating creative think-tank, workspace, and equipment source for aspiring cineastes and filmmakers, as well as a springboard for real careers in all levels of cinema.
Raimondi brings the organizational experience he developed at HP and Bishop Kelly High School, along with his penchant for 1960s/1970s films like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “American Graffiti.” He’s using this knowledge and passion to help tackle obstacles in Boise’s film community, including the lack of tax incentives for production in the Gem State.
“When we formed the Idaho Technology Council, we learned that you have to get your people together and build a case before you can ask for anything. There’s already an industry here, particularly in commercial production. We can do more, and it can bring revenue to the state. It can keep people here who would otherwise go to Chicago, Austin, and Los Angeles,” said Raimondi. He believes, as do others in the community, that Idaho-born filmmakers who live in other places feel the draw to come back—but there’s no infrastructure to support them.
Of course, there’s an upside to this too. Brezonick and Raimondi both note that making films in Idaho is relatively hassle-free. There’s a reason people do come here, and Brezonick and Raimondi want to grow IFS to show what the community is truly capable of.
“We’re building an Idaho film industry, which doesn’t have to be a Los Angeles film industry in Idaho,” Raimondi explained. In some ways, what we have here is better, even, especially as retired filmmakers and craftspeople continue to call Idaho home.
Once, Brezonick needed help restoring the Egyptian’s old projectors, so he reached out to the Music Box in Chicago. The manager couldn’t help, so instead, their equipment ended up a little closer to home in Wendell, Idaho.
“John Eickhof is one of the last true film technicians left in the country. He owns and lives in the Ace movie theater in downtown Wendell. He’s a retired film technician servicing projectors, installing projectors for celebrities, and staying in his small town collecting film equipment. And because he knew all these people across the country, everyone willed everything to John,” Brezonick explained.
“I went there to see him, and he said, ‘I’ve got all this equipment, and I’m happy to help you and restore these projectors. By the way, do you want all of this stuff?’”
Brezonick couldn’t believe his luck. “So John comes down and fixes up the 35 and 70 mm, with his buddy Phil from Star, Idaho, who are in their 70s. They love film and have industry friends living in Glenns Ferry. We started talking to them about getting prints from them. We never would’ve known about this great network of experienced people [right here],” he said.
So it goes in the film community—and in Idaho. IFS events, often held at the Egyptian, bring cinephiles out of the woodwork.
“We’ve gathered a board of 14 fantastic board members, 40 volunteers, ten film curators, and a partnership with the Egyptian in six months. Boise’s been ready for it for a while. People want to be in a space where you can show movies and get excited about films, talk movies, be a resource with thousands of scripts available for reading or to sit down and work,” said Brezonick.
