EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Every now and then, food and film come together to create an artistic fusion, and a rare film festival in South Korea focuses on the rare coupling.
The film festival seeks to share stories of how food influences culture, and out of 1,047 films submitted to be highlighted at the festival only 10 were selected from 10 different countries, and the recent film directed by Liberal native Ben Scantlin called “Flipping Pancake Day” made the cut.
“This festival has been on my wishlist for years,” Scantlin said. “I heard about it from a friend who attended it and loved it. Typically it’s all film centric. This balances film and food. It focuses on films about food story lines. I had it on the radar when I did this film.”
Scantlin’s film features Liberal’s tradition of competing against Olney, England in a woman’s race while carrying a pan with a pancake. The race has taken place in England for more than 600 years, and the friendly international competition began when Liberal reached out in 1950 and the Brits accepted the challenge.
“It was a long shot,” Scantlin said. “I had a call with them (Thursday). I said we were privileged and honored.”
Scantlin is leaving for Seoul today before heading to the beachside community of Sok Chu where Pancake Day will be featured with the Pacific Ocean as a back drop, a far cry from the amber waves of grain waving across the plains surrounding the small Southwest Kansas community Scantlin called home before his career in Los Angeles.
“Every mentor I had said ‘Write and produce what you love and what you know,’” he said. “I took that with a grain of salt, and this project helped me see what they meant. The passion behind making the film, the countless hours, make it better by wanting to tighten it up. The heart and passion came across in the film, and they are seeing it. It’s an incredible story about a 75-year tradition, and the filmmaker grew up with it, and they are excited to talk to me about it and how it started, what it was like participating in it. They are fascinated with it.”
Scantlin has shown the film at other festivals and has received a positive response, and he said not to be surprised if Liberal sees some new guests at upcoming Pancake Days.
“The last festival in Hollywood, there was a packed house of 200 people all cheering and yelling during the screening,” Scantlin said. “It was a great experience. They got it. There was a Q&A with a group of about five filmmakers. They were all directed to me about Liberal and Pancake Day. ‘Where is Liberal?’ ‘How often do they run the race?’ ‘What time of year?’ ‘We want to get see it.’ It is getting momentum from people who want to come enjoy it. It’s exciting to have people come. We could have a bunch of South Koreans come out.”
Scantlin has been able to meet other filmmakers and documentarians, and in South Korea he will be the only American filmmaker in the group.
“It was hard for them to narrow it down,” he said. “They are thinking about including a couple more because of so many good submissions, but right now it is limited amount. I’m curious to see what they look like.”
Since debuting his film, Scantlin said he is about halfway through the festival schedule, and then the film might start showing up in other venues.
“The last submissions will be in February or March,” Scantlin said. “Then distribution options will be available. Airlines are interested in licensing it. We will start putting it out there.”
There will also be the opportunities to win awards.
“You hope people will watch it and enjoy it and get recognized at a festival is the icing on a cake,” Scantlin said. “There’s a potability of winning awards or financial benefits to go to next production. Each have audience award winners which we won in LA South Korea will be more of a showcase, but it’s all day watching movies from one screening to another, to eating, to another movie, to eating over four days. Its going to be fun. I love Asian food, it will be a lot of fun.
Scantlin never forgot his High Plains roots, and he still is thankful to those who helped make the film possible.
“None of this was possible without the community support,” he said. “Everyone opened their arms up. Nick and Lisa Hatcher, our executive producers, have been so supportive. It was an incredible experience to come home and shoot this film and to show it to the world — it’s unbelievable. It was beyond what I thought could happen. I’m living my best life with this.
