I've been a friend of Donna Dickman, a fellow academy member for a long time. And when she first invited me to the Gold Coast Film Festival I wasn't that excited. But just that night on T.V. there was a story of the demolition of the famed "Great Gatsby House" supposedly the model for F Scott Fitzgerald's famous book. The newscast went on to explain how at one time the northern shore of Long Island was the resort area for Manhattan rich and famous – hence the "Gold Coast." The next time I saw Donna I said count me in! I planned a master class and a film screening but since I was in the middle of two big projects I could only attend for one day.
The highlight was the master class because it took place in the NYIT de Seversky Mansion (he's the guy who helped developed the helicopter). It was quite a juxtaposition, me showing my rude crude animations in the beautiful old 19th century mansion. But the coolest thing was the tour I got after my show. I came to find out that it was on this property that computer animation was born. It was here that the New York institute of technology amassed the first group of people to experiment with CG people like Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. I also heard that Chris Wedge also learned CGI at NYIT. They should put up a plaque commemorating this hallowed ground. They even talked to me about holding some kind of animation festival here, to bring together all the people who started animation. What a great idea. In any case for the 1st year The Gold Coast Festival was a big success and I hope to return. Thanks Donna!
I give the festival a B-
I don't recall de Seversky being involved in the development of the helicopter, though he was known for his contributions to the air industry (he patented a gyroscopically mounted bombsight, and tried to sell people on ion-powered aircraft to REPLACE helicopters)... maybe you're getting him mixed up with the similarly named Igor Sikorsky, who's definitely a giant in helicopter development?
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