AIFF 2011: "You Wanna Touch My Penis?" Asks Best Feature Director

The prizes in the Anchorage International Film Festival are called "Golden Oosikars."  Oosikar is a fusion of Oosik and Oscar.  Everyone who's seen the Academy Awards knows what an Oscar is.  But Oosiks are not as well known.  From a page on walrus ivory and bone at BooneTrading:

RW10 WALRUS OOSIK SPECIMENS (walrus penile bone). Oosik (pronounced "oo' sik") is the Eskimo word for the walrus penile bone (baculum). Oosik is the original "ugly stick"; large ones were used as clubs by the Eskimos or used for making tools like picks and knives because the bone is so dense. They're an excellent conversation piece, color's mostly a rich brown tone.  These ancient specimens are polished glassy smooth. Available July - October, prices are approximate, these sell out quickly so order early.

From a post on the legal sale of ivory on Gustavus.com:

WALRUS (non-fossil)-
Regulated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Raw walrus ivory predating the Dec. 21, 1972 law, tusks bearing the Alaska state walrus ivory registration tags or post-law walrus ivory that has been carved or scrimshawed by an Alaskan native (Eskimo) are legal to buy, possess, and sell.

Raw walrus ivory obtained after 12/21/72 is not legal to buy or sell unless both parties are Eskimo (it is legal to own). A $30 export permit is required to ship walrus ivory or oosik (legal as per above) out of the United States.

FOSSIL WALRUS IVORY-
Not restricted as it pre-dates the 1972 cutoff, it is legal to buy and sell anywhere within the United States. Shipping ivory or oosik (fossil walrus penal bone) out of the U. S. requires a $30 permit.

So after receiving his Golden Oosikar last night (Sunday) for Best Feature Film, Director Travis Betz would smile when people came up to him and ask, "Do you wanna touch my penis?"  And then he'd whip out his oosikar.

The winning movie, The Dead Inside, plays again Wednesday at 7pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.  A lot of people I talked to were both surprised, but in agreement, with the choice of the zombie musical love story as the winner.  I'll try to write about the film tomorrow.

Tonight (Tuesday), at 7pm also at Alaska Experience Theater, they are showing Audience Award Runner up  Love You To Death, a modern Indian comedy that I haven't seen yet.  So I'm glad it plays again.  Except it plays at the same time as Apartment in Athens which had DVD problems when it showed in the festival.  The first 15 minutes were great and I pestered features programmer Tony that they had to show it again.  But I can't be in two theaters at the same time.  (Thanks for scheduling it, I know there's not much time available, but grrrrr.)  It is contingent on them working out the disk problems they had the first time.  (I'm planning a post on technical glitches sometime soon.)

And to take the Oosik theme in another direction, you can listen to the music of a group called OosiK if you click here and listen.  Or just watch the video.
OosiK "Dark Toffee" (excerpt) from Ryan K Adams on Vimeo.