BNAT1138: The Pre-Party

Friday night was the annual Butt-Numb-a-Thon (BNAT) pre-party, this year at the shiny new and oh so conveniently located Highball. Dozens of film geeks were there, greeting old friends and making some new ones prior to the 25+ hour movie marathon spectacle that is BNAT, now in its 11th year.

Among my first greetings was, "So I hear you're a virgin." What the.... Oh. BNAT virgin. Yeah. A little later, I hear, "I told her you were a virgin." and "Yeah, and I wanted to know how he knew, til I realized he meant BNAT." Thankfully, BNAT veterans welcome newbies with open arms.

I have several friends among those who have secured seats, and more trying for standby. But this isn't an exclusive crowd; they're very welcoming. People were very friendly and the advice is still flowing (apparently the hygiene comments are very appreciated). I met people at the party with guaranteed seats as well as some hoping to get in from the standby line. At least one person came as far as Atlanta without a guaranteed seat. People with seats have come from as far away as Sweden. 

The lineup for BNAT is never announced in advance, which was a great source for discussion for tonight's partygoers. So what's the buzz? What among the most anticipated upcoming releases will play BNAT1138? There's a lot of speculation about the lineup, including Wolfman, Kick Ass, Shutter Island, Book of Eli, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes. But wait, Avatar is out in a week, and it's only another week til Sherlock Holmes. But it could be? No, it won't be, it's already screened for a lot of people. But wait, it just played for critics, maybe the print will stay in town. Many people enjoy the speculation and some even have a system for figuring out what will play. Others simply don't want to know. 

Apparently many veterans as well as a few newbies such as myself were leaving shortly after 9:30 pm.  We need our beauty sleep before the sleep dep of 25 hours of cinema we're about to embrace.  Since no phones or cameras are allowed, I'll be on techno-blackout until Sunday afternoon.