Golconda IL. BW meet-up and Tollywood film "Convention"

[jjake61]

So in my travels south I discovered Golconda IL and some of us Tollywood obssessed fans have decided it might be a good place for a meet-up. Here are copies of the conversation from the Obssessed with thread in the Beyond


 Bollywood section.

YKYAATSIFW...you drive 42 miles round trip out of your way (effectively adding an hour onto a 12 hour car drive) just to scope out the town of Golconda Illinois for dreamed of Tollywood Film buff Tw/BWeet-up.  Here are the details: (photo's will follow as soon as I can find my camera)

It is 21 miles off the interstate (I-24 South of Champaign/Urbana). You drive past 2 correctional facilities and farmland that slowly drops down into the Ohio River valley.  There was a sign for Amish buggies but I didn't see any. Part of the drive goes through the Shawnee National Forrest (I assume there is camping there but didn't see a sign forit,  this is about 10 miles from Golconda)  There is also Dixon Springs State park about five miles from Golconda. Attractions on the way: There is a shop called the Chocolat factory, a golf course and Hotel near the interstate, and surpisingly to me, near Golconda was a sign pointing to a National Trail of Tears Site. (I guess I never thought they brought the Cherokee that far North from Georgia on the way to OK.) There were a few other signs for historical markers along the way and a cool old Cemetary near Grantsburg (No Pop. listed on the signs and no stops just a slow down in the speed limit sized town) Also a antique/curio shop specializing in Antler pens and wagon wheels. 

Golconda itself is a very very small rundown midwest rivertown. Population 750. They had flags on the street signs and telephone poles that proudly proclaimed "Visit Downtown" Downtown is exactly 2 blocks long with really rundown bulidings on one side of the street and a large brick building with a war memorial staues in front on the other side ((We just drove around a bit didn't get out as time was an issue)  There is a grociery store, the Sweetwater Saloon (looked promising as a eatery/beverage/meeting the locals place) There were small buildings dedicated to the Pope County Historical society/ a home care agency/some closed buildings and a few other shops..I can't remember the nature of them..no farm store where you could buy machetes that I noticed.

Now the cool part.. it is right on the Ohio River. There is a run down marina and a dike that protects the town from the river. The top of the dike can be walked or driven on and is listed as part of the " Ohio River scenic Byway". we drove along it and saw a sign for the old  "lock and Dam houses" they were at the end of the dike where there was the sign for the Lock and dam..I didn't see anything that looked like a locke so I am guessing they are remnants. Anyway the houses were 3 or 4 (can't remember till I find my dang camera) fairly large houses with a sign that said "1 or 3 BR guest houses with hottubs..daily or weekly rental"  There was a phone number. I took a picture of the sign.  Anywho..there is some potential here..if people are adventurous...

BTW here is a link that explains the Trail of Tears if people are not familiar with it. Scroll down to Cherokee and you'll see the reference to Golconda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_of_Tears

Woo-hoo!  Sounds very promising!      Thanks for scoping it out, jjake!  The lock and dam houses sound interesting.  But no theater in Golconda?      I imagined us renting out the theater to show Telugu films...and converting the local populace.      And inviting special guests like, oh, Prakash Raj.  And Sunil.  (who am I kidding?  they're both in every Telugu film made so likely not available -- Mahesh Babu probably has more free dates)  Maybe we could show films outside on the side of a building or something.  Or on one of those portable screens like in Road, Movie and Swades.    

(But I guess we could just watch them on a regular tv screen in one of the lock and dam houses, too.)

YKYAATSIFW...I checked and Golconda is only (only?) a 14 hour drive from here. 

I agree Laura

Yea, thanks Jill!

Any of these option sound good to me

I don't love flying but I don't mind so much to fly within the US...I will take a flight from LA to get to this place if you guys meet up here for sure, would be so fun ll:-)
Doesn't sound like the kind of town that will have too many vegan restaurants (hehe) but I can always pack some lunches into my little suitcase:D

Did Shah Rukh have a theatre in Swades?  Pffft!  I saw we put up a sheet in the center of town and show all our films outdoors!

I live on the Ohio River in Pennsylvania, and I'm planning to buy a kayak soon.  I wonder if I could paddle all the way to Golconda?

^^I actually think it would be fun..and the town could use some attention financially..even if it's only a handfull of us the first time it would be fun and I bet they would make a big deal out of us and find us and our filums quite the event.  Plus I am a geek for anything historical..Wiki says the whole City (seriously half a square mile and 750 people make a city?) is a National Historical site.  Should we try for next summer? say August?

ETA Photos



Downtown. You can see the dike/levee strait ahead


County Seat






Ohio River on top of the dike




These are the houses for rent


Looking back downtown fromon top of the dike

Fabulous Photos, Jill.

Me, Me, ME. I volunteer to help with the organizing of the First Golconda Telugu Movie Convention.   

We could advertise to our local Telugu Associations. OKC has one, so I'm sure you guys in the big cities have at least one.

OKC is only a ten hour drive away.   

Wow, I think you might be able to fit the whole town inside the fort! 

(here's an interesting short video about the fort:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbBt6jEmqMA)
 

Sounds good to me!   

I guess the nearest big airport is in Nashville, TN?  (about 3 hours away, I think)

I think you could!  And it's only 900 miles.   

http://www.captainjohn.org/OhioiRiver.html

Me too!!:-)
I'm so there with you guys.
Photos look terrific Jill, thanks for posting them.
Unless you all reject my noble offer, I hereby volunteer to dance at the first festival. Nobody laugh!!
You always need carnival freak-show sideline entertainment right? I'm your girl for that *ties on payal and practices*
Hehehe:p

You had me at hot tub

I actually think this is a great idea!

So it looks like a tentative consensus that next August would be a time to shoot for. So what do we do now?

[los angeles]

^ Maybe after you all select an August weekend for screenings, so there's a proposed set of dates in mind, you guys could pick some movies?

And maybe eventually make a Facebook Event page too, or whatever those are called...you know those things where you can click a button to say you are attending and whatnot. That way people who are fans of these movies but who aren't forum members might also have a chance to get involved.
 
Which reminds me, if someone is good at naming things, maybe they can think of something to name this convention also. Like an official sort of name you can use to put out info and everything.

*clearing my schedule for August 2012 as we speak* []

Maybe the city has to be contacted before any of this though...to check if they'll even allow it?
I mean if they say no, we're gonna have to go down there with some machetes and make things happen hahaha:p

[Dolce~oro]

I'm in.

Wait... what? Where is this place? What are we doing? Nevermind, I'm in anyway. 

[Vinita]

So it looks like a tentative consensus that next August would be a time to shoot for. So what do we do now?

First, we need an organizing committee.  All who want to help organize the thing.

Then, we need to have a few meetings, on Yahoo! messenger or gmaill chat or whatever everyone has. In the meetings, we will need to decide what we want to have there, precisely.

Do we just want to do movies? How are we going to show the movies, that is, do we use our subtitled DVDs on a large screen TV or do we get a projector?  Where are we going to get our movies from? What titles do we show, the best of the last few years?

Or do we want vendors there? 

How are we going to pay for all of this?  Are we going to charge the attendees, the vendors?  How much will it cost to rent the place to show the movies?  How much it will cost to invite an actor or three? 

What do we want to call it?  How are we going to get people to know about it? 
Marketing, advertising, sales, etc. 

Who will be the contact with the City of Golconda? 

And the Telugu Associations in our states.  They will be a good source for ideas and Telugu run businesses as vendors, and in helping spread the word, getting us more attendees, than just the people on BW? or FB. 

ETC. ETC. 

HTHs

[Simran_Singh]

I'm in.

Wait... what? Where is this place? What are we doing? Nevermind, I'm in anyway. 

LOL! That's the spirit!

[Ms. Chandni]

I volunteer on a film festival, and the thing about getting artists is you need a lot of money.  They like to stay in nice places, and they expect you to pick up the tab. They also like it if you take them to local watering holes, and make sure they get safely returned to their cushy B&B after the bar closes.  They're not low-maintenance. They don't show up for film festivals out of the goodness of their hearts.  Which is no reason we couldn't do a mass campaign to convince Tarak or Prakash to attend for free.  It's just highly unlikely.

I kind of envisioned this as more of a meet-up, where we convince the local school board or library to let us use their auditorium to show a couple of films, we invite the community to watch and get some good Indian food in the lobby. We don't have official non-profit status, but we could still write for in-kind donations of rental space and food in exchange for the free advertising.  I kind of like the idea of showing one of the movies under the stars.

If you want to be legal, you'd have to get the movies from a distributor, and that's not free. You'd need to find out what kind of projector the venue uses, and make sure it's compatible with the dvd they send.  However....my experience from showing movies publicly (with a dvd) at libraries is that if you don't mention the title of the movie in the advertising, then you're somehow within the letter of the law regarding copyright infringement.  You're also allowed to show them if it's for educational purposes only.  

Would it be informative if on an individual basis we all try this on a very, very local level?  Say we all approach our local libraries, schools, etc, and ask if we could do a film/talk event?  See what works and what doesn't.  Then we'd have a knowledge bank.

[Ms. Chandni]

I can see a bunch of people with lawn chairs sitting in this lot, watching a movie projected onto the side of this building!

[jjake61]

Ya I am with you on the low key meet-up for our first one.  I picture a bunch of us taking over the Dam houses or some campsites at the park.  Holding a community event showing some movies(featuring scenes of Golconda Fort naturally!) Going on some hikes, maybe see if we can rent a boat at the marina. We could probably organise a "talk" at the Library for the locals as well.  I was thinking about the cost of "officially" showing a movie too. If we show a movie in conjunction with a brief lecture would it count as educational? I'm thinking it would. The Pope county High School is just a few miles before the town so that would most likely have an auditorium and projectors etc...  Getting a dvd player speakers and projector to show outside under the stars wouldn't be that difficult either.. heck I could probably check that kind of equipment out from my school for the summer.  I can't remember how far it is from Champaigne/urbana but maybe there is a Prof there that could come give a talk.  Or maybe Beth from BethlovesBolly could come down and do it.  I seriously can't imagine getting any stars to come but I think we could get some media attention..if Dolce comes we could bill it as an International festival/meet-up/convention thingy... 

We could do a dvd swap, Have a dress up event where we put on fake mustaches and wave machetes and dangerous looking farm implememnts around...we could cook our favorite Indian recipes and have a buffet...If Los Angelos comes we could have some dance classes...the possabilities are endless...

[los angeles]

If Los Angelos comes we could have some dance classes...the possabilities are endless...

I'm down!! No worries!!
Especially if that helps us bill it as "educational" and all that.
I'm there in my payal and dance costume~
I agree with you all about keeping the first one low-key and informal. I think this is way to go (plus I'm pathetically broke as a joke and unfortunately wouldn't be able to contribute towards expenses too much this time. But who knows, I might win the lotto by August of next year...in which case I'll buy us some vegan snacks and other things we might need hehe:p]

[NewLaura]

I agree about keeping it very simple, too.  I was joking when I suggested inviting celebrities.  (that shouldn't stop us from pestering them on twitter about dropping by, though.    Too bad Golconda is kinda out in the middle of nowhere, in terms of being accessible.)

If the SFTM fans (and any other BollyWhat members) just got together in Golconda that would be fun (and, yes, maybe a little bit insane  )

We could do a dvd swap, Have a dress up event where we put on fake mustaches and wave machetes and dangerous looking farm implememnts around...we could cook our favorite Indian recipes and have a buffet...If Los Angelos comes we could have some dance classes...the possabilities are endless...

I love all these ideas.   

[dustdevil]

I like the idea of an informal meet-up, with stuff open to the "public" (Golconda only has 726 people), and I like the idea of films showing Golconda Fort. Hiking, food, boat, all sound good.

I bet if we did a youtube video with the highlights after the event, it might get some play in the Telugu entertainment channels and sites, and we could certainly tweet-harass some celebrities to tweet us some congratulations on the film festival.

We might convince someone from the Telugu Association/School in Nashville to drive over and teach us some Telugu http://www.tasnashville.org/telugu-school/.

In a bit, we should post a note on VisitGolconda's facebook wall, they'd probably be thrilled to help.

ETA: Let's definitely keep it small, I'm not sure Golconda has the infrastructure to support something big:

[Vinita]

Have we decided on a date for this yet?

[jjake61]

No I was going to call and get info from the Dam houses and Bed n Breakfast over the Christmas Holiday break in a few weeks.  I am suggesting the 1st or second weekend in August.  I prefer the first weekend.  Perhaps those interested can post here their preference and we'll pick the weekend that can acommodate most..

[Ms. Chandni]

The 1st or 2nd week of August would be perfect for me.

[dhiire jalna]

I think some filmi-song karaoke may need to happen... 
August is good for me and I volunteer to bring mountains of daal, veggies and spices - and turn it into food, too, be it on a stove or campfire.
Huge props to you guys for coming up with this plan and following through!

[NewLaura]

I think anytime in August would probably work for me.

[dhiire jalna]

Are we really meaning to do this? Because if so, we should probably be making reservations, travel plans, et cetera.

I'm still interested in meeting up and am willing to pick up people who need to fly at O'Hare or the St. Louis airport on my way to Golconda.

[Vinita]

DH's schedule is still not fixed.  Once I know what his schedule will be for August, I can either commit or not.