AIFF 2015: Tuesday Scheduling - It's Gayla Night - UPDATE SCHEDULE CHANGE

[UPDATE:  Short Doc Program time has been changed to 7:45, which allows people to see either Vanishing Sail or From This Day Forward before seeing the Short Docs Program.]

I realized last night that there was a scheduling problem at the festival.  Look at the grid for Tuesday night.  Am I the only one who can see this flaw?  And I admit, there was a problem Monday night too, just like this, but I didn't catch it.  And if you don't look at this view (this is the grid view, there are several other options on the SCHED page), you probably won't see it at all.

This is a screenshot the links don't work - But go here for the original

Unless you want to see the Short Docs program AND something else.

Basically, the Short Docs program overlaps all four other movies showing Tuesday night.

All they had to do was move it earlier so you could pick between the two 8pm offerings  OR move it later and you could pick between the earlier offerings.  

This is a problem for Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night as well.  I've emailed the festival honchos.  I understand that making changes at this point is problematic because people have already begun to schedule.

But now that they have this fancy Scheduling technology, which even tracks who has planned to attend, they should be able to make changes and notify people.  If most people are like me, they don't know what they're going to watch until the day it happens, so they won't even notice the change.

Or, they could move Short Docs up to 6pm and play it twice.  So if people come at the previously scheduled time, and thus miss the first hour, they could just stay and see it the second time and catch what they missed.  And then people who wanted to see a different 6pm film, could also see the Short Docs.  It's win/win.  

This kind of thing drives me nuts every year, but usually it's because films I want to see are just playing at the same time.  Here,  they are unnecessarily playing at the same time.  Grrrrr!

I've already told some folks I want to be involved in scheduling next year.  Just to make sure this sort of screwup doesn't happen.  That was before I saw this!   

I know, from years to blogging about the festival, that scheduling glitches like this just aren't obvious until you're trying to see a particular film and it overlaps with another.

I understand overlapping at the Alaska Experience theaters because you want to stagger the audiences a bit, so everyone isn't buying a ticket at the same time.   But the overlaps also mean that one film starts before another ends and so it limits the number of films a person can see, without missing the end or the beginning of a film to catch the next one.

TONIGHT:

The Short Documentary program has two docs that are in competition.
Bihttos (Canada, 14 min.) 
Superjednostka (Poland, 20 min.)  (This will also show Thursday afternoon at 2pm at the Martini Matinee)
I've covered these and the other docs in competition here.

Technically, you could stay long enough to see these two and make a dash to the Bear Tooth to see the Gayla feature at 8pm.  But just because something is in competition, doesn't mean other films in the program aren't good or even better.  The screeners all have different tastes and frequently films that are in competition are not the ones I would have chosen.

The Gayla feature at 8pm at the Bear Tooth is The David Dance.  From the EdgeMediaNetwork

"I'll be honest. I had some misgivings when I first began watching the "The David Dance." At the start, I wasn't quite sure what to make of the film, but once I reached the end of the movie I was overwhelmed with all different kinds of emotions and plenty of tears. This is truly one of those movies that gets to the heart and soul of a person.
If you have ever felt love of any kind, this movie is for you. If you have ever met someone who was "the one," but you just didn't know it at the time, this movie is for you. If you have ever come across someone who has had a different view-other than your own -- and didn't know how to establish common ground -- "The David Dance" is the surprise of the LGBT film circuit.  .   .    ."

The Gayla documentary at 5:30pm at the Bear Tooth is From This Day Forward.  From The Star:

"As Sharon Shattuck planned her wedding two years ago, she recalled her father’s unsettling request, made when she was about 13 on the drive to school: “Whenever you get married, I hope that you’ll let me wear a dress when I walk you down the aisle.”
Now 32, Shattuck has made From This Day Forward, a personal, insightful and gently humorous documentary about love, marriage and growing up with her transgender dad, Trisha. . . "

For more details on the films playing tonight go to the SCHED.