AIFF 2010: UFAQs - Unasked Frequently Asked Questions about the Festival

I'm not sure its cricket to have FAQs if no one has asked any questions so these are UFAQs - Unasked Frequently Asked Questions. This is information people might be or should be asking for. Below are links to posts with general information about the Anchorage International Film Festival.

Where's the official AIFF site?

Who won in each category?
2011  Winners -  My 2011 winners (none) - Official AIFF 2011 Winners Page
2010 Winners -  My 2010 winners post -  Official AIFF 2010 Winners Page
2009 Winners -  My 2009 winners post -  Official AIFF 2009 Winners Page
2008 Winners - My 2008 winners post  -  Official AIFF 2008 Winners Page
[Note:  'My winners' tend to be films I picked.  Sometimes I've only discussed one category, sometimes more than one.  Sometimes my comments are buried in posts even I can't find.]


What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc. ) This is a post from 2008, but still gets the basic information across.  It also covers the process for how films get selected for the Festival and how the winners get chosen. 


What  films are the best films this year (2010)?
Films in Competition are the ones chosen  to compete for the Golden Oosiker awards.  Here are guides to each category - something about each film and when and where they will play.  [For the film categories I have up for 2012, you can find the films in competition posts listed at the AIFF2012 page.  They are marked with a check on the Official AIFF website.]

Films in Competition  - Features 2010
Films in Competition -  Documentaries [2009 at link, until I get the 2010 done] 
Films in Competition -  Shorts  [2009 at link, until I get the 2010 done]
Films in Competition -  Animation [2009 at link, until I get the 2010 done]
Films in Competition -  Short Documentaries [Coming Soon maybe- never got this one last year]

Short films are grouped together into 'programs.'  How do I find which short films are playing together and the same of program?
Easiest place is the printed program. It's much easier to get in this year online than last.
Animation Programs  [The link takes you to the Animation Program in Festival Genius.  Once there also look for short and super short animation programs.]
Snowdance Programs (films made in Alaska or by Alaskans)
Short Films
Super Shorts
(The links only go to week one.  You can change it to week two.  See the red rectangle in the screen shot below.)

I'm not interested in the festival, but if there are any films on my favorite place, food, sport, etc.,  I'd go.  Are there any?

The new website software for 2010 allows you to look at a list of countries and then see what films are being shown from that country.  Click on the blue (where the red arrow points below) and it will open a list of countries.  Then pick a country, and wait until it loads the films from that country.

Also note the red box in the lower left.  The film festival spans three calendar weeks and so you have to check for each week.  Just click on the week and it changes.  I got to the page above from the link below:

 http://anchorage.bside.com/2010/schedule/week/type/film

To find out about films of special topics, you need to look through the films themselves.  The Anchorage Daily News did a post on films about the Alaska Outdoors.  I'll try to add some information as I become aware of it. 


How do I find your blog posts on specific films or film makers?  I'll put links for specific films here as I post them  (check the video posts below too) 

Nov 23 -  Feature Films in Competition
Nov 24 - The Wild Hunt
Nov 27 - The Temptation of St. Tony
Nov 30 - Son Istasyon (Last Station)

 [A lot of these posts went to the videos - see that list below.]

Do you have videos of the Festival? - I'll add the video posts as they happen.



Where will the films be shown?
Locations:   Bear Tooth, is the main venue.  

1230 West 27th Avenue (West of Spenard Road) - 907.276.4200

Out North is the second venue.  
3800 DeBarr Road, (two blocks SW of Debarr and Bragraw)  907.279.8099


Marston Theater (Loussac Library) will have the Family Programming on Saturday Dec.

There are special events at other venues.  You can check all the venues next to window where you check the countries (see screenshot above). 

What workshops are there?
There are six workshops with film makers.

What are your criteria for a good movie? When I made my picks for the 2008 best films, at the end of the post I outlined my criteria. The link takes you to that post, scroll down to second part.


Should I buy a pass or just buy tickets as I go?  

Tickets are $8 per film. All films passes are $90. So, if you go to eleven films, the pass is cheaper. But there are other benefits to the pass. You do have to get a ticket (free) for each film and only a certain number of seats are held for passholders, but you do get priority seating with your pass.
And if you have a pass, you'll go see more films because you'll think "I've paid for them. I should go and get my money's worth."
All Films and Events passes are $115. This gets you into Workshops, a few extra events, like the opening night film (which is actually $30 a ticket) and the awards. These extra events also have food.

[Update:  another option is to volunteer and get a pass to a movie.]

You can buy tickets at the venues.  You can also get advanced tickets at the venues.
You can buy tickets for Out North online.  The option is next to the films. 


What about family films? 
Saturday, December 11 at Loussac Library - in the Marston Auditorium.
Here are the AIFF links for family events.



Who Are You Anyways? - who's paying you to do this? does your brother have a film in competition? What is your connection to the festival? From an earlier post here's my  
Disclosure:

Well I blogged the  2007 festival  and the AIFF people liked what I did and asked if I would be the official blogger in 2008. They promised me I could say what I wanted, but I decided it was better to blog on my own and then if I write something that upsets one of the film makers, the Festival isn't responsible.  They had a link to the blog last year.  They also threw in a free pass for me in 2008, 2009, and this year.

I probably won't say anything terrible about a film, but I did rant about one film two years that I thought was exploiting its subject as well as boorishly demeaning a whole country. I mentioned in an earlier post that if I sound a little promotional at times, it's only because I like films and I like the kinds of quirky films that show up at festivals, so I want as many people to know about the festival as possible so the festival will continue. Will I fudge on what I write to get people out? No way. There are plenty of people in Anchorage who like films. They're my main target - to get them out of the house in the dark December chill when inertia tugs heavily if they even think about leaving the house. But if others who normally don't go out to films hear about a movie on a topic they're into, that's good too.

I did a post this year for Film Festival Skeptics who might be sitting on the fence and need to be given reasons to go and strategies to make it work.  

How do I Keep Track of What's Happening at the Festival?
  I'll be blogging the film festival every day.  The link below will be my festival posts only, starting with the most recent.

Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF 2010)


Are there other Alaskan Film Festivals? 
There are some events called 'festival' that I know of in Anchorage, but they aren't major film events like this one.  There is another organization,  that puts Alaska in it's name and rents a postal box in Alaska, but has no other connection that we can find to Alaska.  You can read about that at  Comparing the ANCHORAGE and ALASKA International Film Festivals - Real Festival? Scam?

Anyone who knows of other legitimate film festivals in Alaska, let me know.  I've heard stuff about Sitka in 2008.  And there's also an Indigenous Film Festival Feb. 2011.