AIFF 2015: Looking Back As This Year's Festival Nears- Link To Alex Gibney Interview

The first year I blogged the Anchorage International Film Festival (2007), I was already disagreeing with the judges. I was taken by Cam Christiansen's visuals in I Have Seen The Future an animated short that didn't get any recognition from the judges, but soon after got accepted at Sundance.   And I thought that Alex Gibney's Taxi to the Dark Side should have won the best documentary.  No doubt in my mind.  But it didn't.  However, it did go on to win the Academy Award for best documentary. The Anchorage International Film Festival has seen some great films.  Some have gone on to a wider audience, many others got lost in the fierce competition for screen space, and we were lucky to get to see them.  I've seen a few showing up in other venues - Wildlike, which was best feature in 2014 has been released in theaters recently, for example. 

I mention Gibney's film because there's an LA Times interview with him Wednesday on his winning the first Christopher Hitchens award. And this seems like a good introduction to the 2015 Anchorage International Film Festival which posted its selections for the December 4 - 13, 2015 festival. 


You can take your first look at all the films selected for the 2015 Anchorage International Film Festival.  You can also see which ones are "in competition" which means the screeners thought them worthy to go to the juries to be reviewed for prizes.  Here's the link.

And since this first post on the 2015 Festival was pushed into being by the Alex Gibney interview, here's a list of the documentaries in competition this year.  First the longer docs:

Children of the Arctic	Nick Brandestini	Switzerland	93 min.
Circus Without Borders	Susan Gray, Linda Matchan	United States	69 min.
Lost & Found	Nicolina Lanni, John Choi	Canada	82 min.
Love Between the Covers	Laurie Kahn	Australia, United States	83 min.
Madina’s Dream	Andrew Berends	United States	80 min.

 And these are the shorter ones:

Bihttoš	Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers	Canada	14 min.
Man in the Can	Noessa Higa	United States	38 min.
Superjednostka	Teresa Czepiec	Poland	20 min.
The House is Innocent	Nicholas Coles	States	12 min.

I'm not sure if the shorter ones are in competition with the longer ones or not.  I suspect that may be the case, though I think they should be in separate categories.


The Feature Films in Competition this year are all from outside the US - Turkey, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.   Should be interesting watching.

And here's the trailer for this year.  Last year's was a departure from previous years.  It was a compilation of clips from different films in the festival with some very catchy music that made me look forward to seeing (and hearing) it before each showing.  This one is the same genre though in the first couple of listens, I don't think the music is quite as catchy as last year's.  But take a look and as you see films in the festival you'll start recognizing the clips in the teaser. 


All this is a reminder that I need to get moving if I'm going to be ready by the opening date of Decemer 4, 2015. I have started a page in the header for AIFF 2015.

I've tried over the years to give general tips on how to best take advantage of having this festival in town as well as give specific guidance on what's playing each day and what things I like.  I'll also be putting up pictures and videos of film makers, AIFF organizers and volunteers, and audience members.  

[Feedburner probs, so reposting]