I absolutely love attending the Scottsdale International Film Festival. I love it so much that I take vacation days to attend the many feature-length films of 70 minutes or longer. I purchased the VIP pass because it allows the ticket holder to view up to 27 films; and the VIP pass does have special privileges. This year I managed to see 23 films in 5 days and, thus, awarded with walking pneumonia! How did that happen? Well, to begin when one is attending movies from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., for five days, AND…does NOT take care of yourself, do not eat properly, and forget to hydrate, that is a perfect recipe for ILLNESS!!! Following is my recipe for Walking Pneumonia! My bad!

Day 1: Four movies

• Sweet Dreams
• Oh Boy
• Lord Montagu
• Decoding Annie Parker (opening night film)

Day 2: Five movies

• About 111 Girls
• Modest Reception
• Parade
• Jewish Cardinal
• Southwest

Day 3: Five movies

• Shyamal Uncle Turns Off the Lights
• The Pin
• Aftermath
• Fantastic World of Juan Orol
• Jonathas’ Forest

Day 4: Five Movies

• Wrinkles
• No God, No Master (look for this movie in February 2014 – a MUST see!!)
• The Key of Life
• Paris Manhattan (Very entertaining)
• Great Expectations

Day 5: Four Movies

• Atraco!
• Coming of Age
• Antartica: a Year on Ice (Winner of the best film for Scottsdale Film Festival)
• August: Osage County (Closing night film) – NOT a Hollywood fan, but Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep were magnificent in this film- try to see this when it’s released to theaters! Lots of great characters – laugh-out-loud funny. A movie anyone can relate to.