Sunday, December 09, 2007

AIFF - Labeled

We saw the first two minutes or so of this film the other night. I learned today it was supposed to be the intro for "Crossing Alaska with Horses." But it was so crowded there and the [Horses] filmmaker was there to speak afterward, they pulled it to have more time for the Q&A.

But in those first couple of minutes I fell in love with the movie. The visuals of the paint being poured into the tray, cleaning the brushes, painting the rooms were just exquisite. And tonight after seeing the rest of the ten minute movie it was even better. Elaine Riddick was sterilized at age 14 after giving birth after being raped. Now a house painter, she tells her story against the beauty of the images of the paint, painting, and peeling wall paper. She says the painting has helped with her anger. Dan Currier, the film maker, has a great eye, and through the visuals turned a compelling story into an extraordinary short documentary.

And it won the best short documentary award at the festival. You can see the whole video at his website.

The video below shows a few seconds near the beginning of the movie and a bit of the film maker Q&A after the movie was shown tonight.

3 comments:

  1. What is the logic behind sterilizing her at 14 after she'd been raped? That is Draconian.

    Where can we see some of these movies?

    ReplyDelete
  2. These were the so called Eugenics laws based on the idea that people with bad genes - mentally retarded, morally weak (unmarried pregnancy), etc. should be sterilized so the don't pass their genes on. Dan Currier, in the Q&A said that in Mein Kampf Hitler cited the US eugenics laws as a model.

    You can actually see this whole (ten minute) film on line at the link in the post. It gives much more info. It's the only one I found where the whole movie is on line. A number have trailers. (I didn't check them all.) Some of the movies will be released in theaters - I would expect the Clown and the Führer to be. Others will be on DVD either at regular outlets or for sale on line. If you go to the Festival website
    1. Look at drop down windows on left (there are six)
    2. Lower three windows include
    Title of film
    Film Category
    3. Then you'll get a list of films
    (Title, grouped alphabetically, category, grouped that way)
    4. Click on the film you want and you'll get a popup window with info on that particular film.
    5. These usually have links to director, website, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve

    Your blog is amazing!! How do you do it?

    Especially, Thank you for your appreciation for "Labeled" and "Taxi to the Dark Side". I agree with all you said about these two films. "Taxi..." is shortlisted for Oscar Best Doc Feature, ya know.

    Also, "Labeled" filmmaker, Dan Currier, is a photographer as well and teaches studio lighting at a University in VA.

    Thanks so much!

    pamela
    Documentary Program Director - AIFF 2007

    ReplyDelete

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