Spudfest features family films

DRIGGS, Idaho — Four days, 32 films, live music, a handful of Hollywood celebrities, breathtaking scenery and the Spud Drive-In combine for a unique, family-friendly atmosphere at Spudfest, the Teton Valley's first film and music festival.

This film festival is a bit different from Sundance. The addition of live bands, food vendors and themed events, such as "Cowboy Night," " '50s Night" and "Decorate Your Pickup Night," make for a sit-back-and-relax atmosphere.

In addition, most of the films are appropriate for families, according to Dawn Wells, Spudfest executive producer and president of the Spud Film Institute . . . although she is still better known as Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island."

"The character of Mary Ann, the wonderful valley here that's all family oriented, the Spud Drive-In, which is about as family as you can get going back to 1953 — I thought it was a great combination," Wells said.

Spudfest will be showing a variety of dramas, comedies, documentaries and animated films in three locations near Driggs, Idaho. Titles include "Saints and Soldiers," "Danny Deckchair," "Burying the Past" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark: An Adaptation."

The festival will also show golden-oldies "Footloose" and "Winterhawk," along with the premieres of "Sons of Provo" and "The Easter Egg Escapade."

Peter Brown, a producer for "Sons of Provo," a mock documentary that follows the stardom of boy-band Everclean, a Mormon trio, is eager to see how the Teton Valley audience reacts to the film. "Spudfest seemed like kind of a nice combination for us," Brown said. "Driggs, Idaho, would be a type of place that (Everclean) would play."

Brown added that "Sons of Provo" is a film that tries "to show people that (a film) can be really funny and not have something really crude."

The festival celebrates the creation of the Spud Film Institute, a nonprofit organization that Wells put together to facilitate various film-related projects she has been operating for the past five years. In addition to the Spudfest, Wells runs the Film Actor's Boot Camp, a weeklong summer workshop to prepare actors for careers in show business. The camp has expanded to include classes for directors, producers, screenwriters and score writers and a vocational school for film-crew members.