ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Late last year, Liberal-born filmmaker Ben Scantlin premiered his film “Flipping Pancake Day” in Liberal at Southgate 6 Theater, and recently, the film made its Hollywood debut.
The screening took place at the iconic Chinese Mann Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard as part of this year’s Dances With Films Festival, and Scantlin said it was an unbelievable experience.
“It was a really amazing surprise how the first film festival we submitted ‘Flipping Pancake Day’ to, it was accepted. This festival, the Dances With Films Festival, happens to actually be one of my personal favorite film festivals, and I’ve attended it multiple times, even when I was newer to Los Angeles,” Scantlin said. “I remember my first time at this festival, it was about 20 years ago and I had such an incredible time because the people who organize it are VERY filmmaker-friendly and encourage everyone to interact with each other and not really look at it as a competition compared to some other film festivals that happen. This festival is definitely more of a showcase of everyone’s talent, which is just a great vibe to have. I was so ecstatic about our first film festival being one I already have great respect for, and it’s great how the two places I’ve shown the film – Liberal and Los Angeles, where I now call home – are so important to me. This year marked the festival’s 28th anniversary, and it was an incredible experience. It was multiple days of screenings, with ‘Flipping Pancake Day’ screening June 26, and it was a completely packed crowd, which was also amazing, and we screened alongside a few other films. What amused me was, the other films were somewhat weightier in nature and more cause-driven, and then here comes my film about this funny Pancake Day festival that’s been around for 75 years. The audience was laughing throughout the whole movie, and I had people come up to me afterward telling me how they loved seeing the joy of everyone in Liberal has when it comes to Pancake Day. They also thought the movie had a lot of heart and dedication, so I definitely got some amazing feedback, which I was really excited about.”
Scantlin said there was a multitude of feelings about the movie making its big festival debut.
“I have to admit I was a little nervous, because you just never know how the audience will react to what you’ve put together. I wanted to make sure everything looked and sounded good, because when you submit a film to these festivals, you deliver the file and hope and pray everything looks and sounds right and fits the theater,” Scantlin said. “But everything looked and sounded exactly how I wanted, the theater people did an amazing job handling it and making sure everything went how it was supposed to. I knew everything was going well when the opening credits started rolling, and it was great hearing the crowd’s reaction and then hearing everyone’s feedback afterward.”
So what is next for Scantlin and his crew? More festivals.
“We’ve submitted the movie to multiple festivals across the U.S., and we’ve also submitted to multiple festivals overseas including the United Kingdom (which the lovely people of Olney should appreciate), Croatia, Japan, Italy, Spain, and a few other countries, so we’re really globetrotting with this movie,” Scantlin said. “One of the goals of doing this movie was to get Liberal known on an international level and bring Pancake Day to the world and showcase this amazing event. I hope the film translates well to these other countries if it gets accepted, but it’s always a bit of a numbers game in terms of how many festivals we’ll actually get into. I know we probably won’t get into EVERY festival we submit to, but I hope it gets shown in at least some of these other countries. We’ll hear back from some of those festivals later this month, but it’ll be closer to September when we hear from the majority of them. We’re submitting anywhere and everywhere, and now it’s a waiting game, and then we’ll plan accordingly. I feel extremely proud of my team who helped put this movie together and finish it, I honestly can’t say enough about them. My co-producer, John Kubin, is from Moscow, and he was able to be with me at the screening in Los Angeles, and he loved seeing all of our hard work on the big screen. We’re all so, so proud of this little movie and we feel like it has just such a big potential of getting out there and getting more eyeballs. There are also a few airlines who have gotten in touch with me about licensing the movie to show on their flights – they won’t be able to until we’re done with the festival circuit, but that’s still exciting. We’re all very privileged and honored and proud to have this movie getting the response it has, and I can’t believe there could be even more people learning about this quirky little festival that started 75 years ago as a friendly rivalry that I grew up attending every year.”
Scantlin said he hopes to tell as many people as possible about Pancake Day.
“I want to bring more awareness to the festivals about Pancake Day, so I hope people will be intrigued and maybe make their way to Liberal or Olney to watch the races in person, and I want to also showcase the work my crew did to make the movie look so amazing in terms of cinematography and all of those aspects, because they did an amazing job and deserve more of these opportunities,” Scantlin said. “And actually, when I came out of the screening, I had people coming up to me saying ‘We want to see Liberal now!’ and ‘We’re so hungry for pancakes now!’ and comments of that nature, and then there was another documentary producer who offered me an opportunity to direct an episode of one of the shows he produces, which just came out of nowhere and was also great.”
And just like any other project, Scantlin said the work is never done.
“As things progress, we’ll have to start making subtitles and/or dubs for the international festivals so they can really connect with those audiences,” Scantlin said. “We’re working with some artificial intelligence technology to help translate the movie into various different languages so it can more broadly accepted, and I think it’ll be hilarious seeing the people in the movie ‘speaking’ in all these different languages. We’ll be doing all of that work, and we’re constantly putting together other marketing materials so when put our submissions together, we have the best stills, the best synopsis, and the best overview of why the movie will fit into that particular festival. That takes a lot of research and collaboration, and it’s all about putting the best foot forward and give the movie a better chance of being accepted. It’s definitely one of those times when the work is seemingly never-ending, but when you’re this passionate about a project, it NEVER feels completely perfect. I’m so blessed and grateful to have this type of opportunity to bring Liberal to the rest of the world and help more people learn about Pancake Day. I can’t believe the response it’s already gotten so far, and I hope it leads to even more success and recognition both in the U.S. and overseas.”
