That’s right, it was still raining

Got in after 2 a.m., having seen four in a row, including my first midnight feature in several years. All were at The Neptune, the old Landmark Theatre in the University District, which has been refurbished to something approaching its former grandeur. And the popcorn tastes good, too.

As with all first days of a festival, the going went fairly rough. The managers didn’t exactly know how to run the pass-holder line, which is a bit surprising as this, as the people keep pointing out, is the 31st time they’ve held this festival. Thing is, pass-holders get to enter the theater first – which is only appropriate given how much money they’re putting out. Even so, they have to stand in line. And the question is, for those pass-holders who are already in the theater and expect to stay for the next show, what’s the best way to handle them?

Last night, following the end of the first film, “Somersault,” an Australian coming-of-age story involving a teen girl whose way of dealing with men is singularly sexual, we were told to stay inside. Then we were told to go back out (something that, in the past, hasn’t happened at either The Egyptian or Harvard Exit) in the old. Then after the next film, a British film titled “My Summer of Love,” we were told to go upstairs and stand in line, which we did only to see the line go in exactly the opposite way we had been waiting (so that those at the rear were suddenly now at the front).

The procedure changed yet again, following the third film, the Chinese effort “2046,” which preceded the midnight movie, “The Aristocrats.” So no wonder I had to tell a guy not to stop shoving me – which I later felt bad about because he was, it turns out, in the right. Ah, well, the joys of festing.

And this was only the first day. Today we start again. But first, coffee. And then I look outside … and guess what it’s doing?