AIFF 2009 - UFAQ's Overview Post

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?  Live blogging from the Awards Ceremony.

What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc. ) (This is a post from last year, but still gets the basic information across.)


What  films are the best films this year?
 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. 

Films in Competition  - Features
Films in Competition -  Documentaries
Films in Competition -  Shorts
Films in Competition -  Animation
Films in Competition -  Short Documentaries [Coming Soon - sorry never got this one]

How do I find the what's in the programs of short films playing together?
Easiest place is the printed program. It's hard on line.
Animation Programs
Snowdance Programs (films made in Alaska or by Alaskans)

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?

Here's an overview of topics and countries in the films - This is intended for people who aren't particularly interested in the festival, but might come to a few showings because a film is about a particular country or in a particular language or about a particular subject.  This doesn't cover everything, but as much as I can identify.  I'll keep updating. [coming soon - another good intention that never materialized.]


How do I find posts on specific films or film makers? (check the video posts below too)

11/21  Frozen Shorts
11/22  Dear Lemon Lima (Lima as in bean)
11/23  Fat Bike
12/09  Ryan Ward's Son of the Sunshine (also under videos)
[A lot of this went to the videos - see that list below.]

Do you have videos of the Festival? - I'll try to keep these up to date, but things get a bit hectic once the festival starts. I've tried to date these when they were shot rather than posted.
11/24/09  Rand Thornsley in his office (AIFF President and main programer)
12/1/09   Tony Sheppard on this year's Features (AIFF Founder and Features programer)
12/03/09  Anchorage animator Paxson Woelber
12/04/09  Audience Comments after Hipsters
12/04/09  Callum Paterson Animation Workshop Presenter/Film maker
12/05/09  Beth Varner Volunteer Coordinator
12/05/09  Devi Snively, Director of Death in Charge
12/06/09  Tapped Audience Reactions
12/06/09  Mount St. Elias Audience Reactions
12/08/09  Natalie Eleftheradis and James Harkness Celebrate "Birthday"
12/09/09  Bear Tooth Theater
12/09/09  Know Your Mushrooms and Trip to Hell and Back  
12/09/09  Son of Sunshine Director Ryan Ward (short video at bottom of long post)
12/09/09  Cedric Sanders Q&A after showing of The Least Among You
12/09/09  Cedric Sanders in the Lobby
12/09/09  Audience Reactions to The Least Among You (The Sanders videos are all in the same post)
12/10/09  Short Interview with an AIFF Volunteer
12/10/09  Audience Comments: Adopt a Sailor, Circus Rosaire, Son of the Sunshine, Birthday, Against the Current, Shadow Billionaire, Paddle to Seattle, American Primitive, and Godspeed.
12/11/09  Jennifer Burns and Vincent P. Falk on Vincent
12/12/09  Security Guard talks about AIFF
12/13/09  Filmmakers Maddux, Bliley, and Burns talk about AIFF
12/13/09  Vincent Part 2:  Director Jennifer Burns after last showing of Vincent.

12/13/09  Best of the Fest Annouced at Awards Ceremony
12/14/09  Albert Shin on his film Point Traverse
12/15/09  Viewer talks about Point Traverse


Where will the films be shown?
Locations:   Bear Tooth, Out North, Museum,  Alaska Experience Theater,
Marston Theater (Loussac Library) Sat. Dec. 12 Family Programming

What workshops are there?
Link goes to a list of the special workshops (scroll down the page) and a bit about the visiting film maker presenters. [Link goes to AIFF page right now.  I'll add more stuff soon.  Warning - Animation workshop is this Saturday - Dec. 5 - 3pm at Out North. ]

What are your criteria for a good movie? When I made my picks for last year's 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 $7 per film. All films passes are $75. So, if you go to eleven films, the pass is clearly the better deal. 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 $95. This gets you into Workshops, a few extra events, like the opening night film (which is actually $25 a ticket) and the awards These extra events also have food.

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

The website ticket page has all the details.


What about family films?  [Coming soon]
Saturday, December 12 at Loussac - in the Marston Auditorium.  Check the printed program or the website. 



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 last year. 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 last year 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.