George Marshall, who passed away this week, was RI's film impresario
George T. Marshall wasn’t a household name in Rhode Island, but he should have been.
One of the state’s defining threads is surely the arts, and George spent his career weaving film into that fabric.
He left us too soon this week at age 68.
But he’ll live on through his creation, the Rhode Island International Film Festival, which is a very big deal, New England’s largest, eclipsing anything in Boston, all because of a classy impresario named George Marshall.
The fest was held again in August, its 25th year, and because of George’s vision, thousands watched flicks in cool places like Misquamicut Beach and by the Providence Pedestrian Bridge as well as indoor venues from Woonsocket to Providence.
The fest was his main annual event, but George, who lived for movies, was behind a dozen annual initiatives, like a children’s film camp, showings at hospitals and both Jewish and Islamic film series at Roger Williams University.
That all happened here in Rhode Island because a military kid named George T. Marshall, while growing up in the 1960s on a base in Yokosuka, Japan, found movies like “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” a way to dream.
Patinkin:The RI International Film Festival's power – and the intriguing man behind it
Luckily for us, his dad decided to move the family to his favorite Navy town, Newport, and George, after graduating from Rogers High School and getting a master's at Brown, spent his career bringing his passion for films here.
Legacy of Rhode Island Film Festival
What a great biopic he would have been himself, starting in 1979 showing arts movies at Newport dinner parties on a 16mm projector that meant changing reels mid-flick.
That evolved into the Rhode Island Film Festival, attended each year by many thousands, and what beautiful moments happened over the years because of it.
One example: in 2017, a pair of Brits sent George an early cut of a 20-minute drama about a deaf girl. Something like that can get lost in the pile, as George's festival gets 7,000 submissions annually from 100 countries, whittled down by his judges to 380.
But George saw promise in this half-finished effort, encouraged the Brits, and the drama won 2018’s Oscar for live action short film.
In another lovely development, George championed a short film called “Model Rules” by Marlyn Mason, a big name in 1969 when she starred opposite Elvis in “The Trouble with Girls,” but whose career faded as she aged. That changed when George showcased her short film here, and today, at 82, Marlyn Mason is again getting roles and being featured at Elvis fan events.
The festival drew other big names here, including Julie Andrews, Cicely Tyson, Ernest Borgnine, and this year, Karen Allen, who played Harrison Ford’s love interest in the Indiana Jones movies. In August, Karen told me that movies like her latest, an indie end-of-life drama, are able to get traction because folks like George create an eco-system of festivals catering to non-blockbusters.
More:Read George's bio
I reached Steven Feinberg, executive director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office, who said that in George T. Marshall, we lost one of the most important film forces in the state.
Steven got emotional as he described how George soldiered through a cancer battle to continue shepherding his August film festival, and was still at times sending 3 a.m. emails, because his hours reflected his nonstop passion for the art.
At heart, said Steven, George was a dream-maker, helping visions come true for struggling movie-makers from Ukraine to Iran to Pawtucket.
To Steven, it feels this week like he lost a brother.
And the state has lost a thread of its arts fabric.
But what a legacy George T. Marshall left us all.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Film Fest founder George Marshall left a lasting legacy on state
