Lights, camera, action. One of my favorite filmmakers is back at the Port Townsend Film Festival, and he brought his signature charm with him. I have followed Tedy Necula on Facebook since he was here with another film back in 2018. This year he brought his movie, The World is My Arena, a true story about a rugby player who had an accident that left him paralyzed. This morning was the last showing but you can still view this virtually with the PTFF online.

This afternoon I waited outside the theatre to capture Tedy as he left the Rose Theatre following a question-and-answer session about his movie. Tedy leaves a lasting impression on and off the screen. He has a definite charisma about him and I love capturing that with my camera. As in 2018, I had so much fun photographing him again today. So many people stopped him to chat as he headed to the door. I overheard them thanking him for his movie and telling them what an inspiration he was to them. I caught a sweet moment as he was thanked by a theatergoer. I was walking to my car as Tedy was heading off to lunch when a couple that he had been chatting with just minutes before returned. I think they had dashed off to the PT Shirt Company to buy a Port Townsend tee-shirt Tedy could wear on his return home to Romania tomorrow. I caught this series of delightful interactions as he displayed his new shirt. Then another long-time PT Film Festival supporter stopped to visit, wanting to make sure he said goodbye before Tedy left. This whole time I’m a “fly on the wall with a camera” documenting this really special series of moments.

I’m reminded of the power of photographs and the lasting impression and inspiration the kind of films, like Tedy’s bring to the PT Film Festival and the lasting connections the festival creates. I said goodbye to Tedy and dashed to my car. I tried not to speed as I headed home knowing I had caught some wonderful images and wanting to see them right away on my computer. As I culled and edited them, I realized that the wind had shifted the PTFF flags behind them so they didn’t read correctly, they were reversed. Thanks to Photoshop I was able to flip the entire image horizontally, so the flag reads properly. I’m thrilled to share these images as a permanent reminder of Tedy’s visit to the Port Townsend Film Festival. He told me this afternoon he would love to come back in the summer sometime for another visit. I look forward to his next visit.