Editorial: Take a bow, Cucalorus

Call it The Little Festival that Could. Cucalorus, that quirky celebration of independent films, has grown up.

Attendance at the annual Wilmington film festival topped 10,000 - its best year ever.

That's a long way from its modest beginnings in the Water Street Restaurant in 1994. The first festival lasted all of three hours. But an overflow crowd showed up to watch the 17 films that were part of the inaugural Cucalorus festival.

Even then there was significant interest in the little movies that aren't bankrolled by the blockbuster-seeking big studios.

It kept growing. The Star-News reported in May 2000 that more than 3,000 people attended Cucalorus screenings the previous year. Fifty-six films had been chosen from more than 200 entries.

This year's four-day festival screened 159 films - a movie junkie could more than satisfy those motion picture cravings for $75, the price of a festival pass. A number of venues were sold out.

Of course, that should surprise few people here in Wilmywood, where the film industry is a significant economic engine.

Tax incentives and highly skilled film crews help draw some of the major productions to town. But Wilmington has plenty of locals who can make a respectable movie on a shoestring budget; some of them had their work showcased in this year's festival.

The Cucalorus name has grown beyond Wilmington. Independent filmmakers from around the world now seek to have their films screened here.

Dino De Laurentiis and Frank Capra Jr. sparked the film industry here after scouting locations for a little thing called "Firestarter" back in 1983. De Laurentiis sold the studio he built and moved on. Capra, who became president of Wilmington's EUE/Screen Gems Studios, died last December.

But Wilmington is still a movie town, and the Cucalorus Film Festival plays a role in its success.