AIFF 2017: Anchorage International Film Festival Starts In Less Than A Month

On December 1 to be imprecise.  Well that's the official opening date, but they've snuck in stuff on November 30 already.

The Thursday evening event is free, at (and co-sponsored with), the museum.  It's a movie called "Keep Talking" 

"Four Alaska Native women learning to teach their critically endangered language, as only 41 fluent Elders still speak Kodiak Alutiiq. The grit and resilience of these women helps them overcome historical trauma, politics and personal demons as they evolve into 'language warriors'"

I think this is great.  My view is that each human language is like a volume of the encyclopedia of human knowledge.  It holds the wisdom that each culture has gathered because of the niche it has in the world.  It's the knowledge that language group has gained because of where and when it lived.  While much is stuff we all know, each language has unique words and insights about the world, and we never know when suddenly their knowledge will be important to the rest of us.  So preserving a language is an incredibly heroic act for humanity - like saving a library.  

Then on Friday, there's a discussion about documentaries at noon, a look at some of the shorts at 2pm and then opening night will be. . .

SHORTS!

Not a feature. 

Shaking things up a bit.  I think it's a good call since features tend to get the most attention and often the shorts are terrific.  

So go check out the website and the schedule.  On the schedule page, in the upper left hand corner is a grey button "SCHEDULE."  If you hit the drop down button, you can get "Expanded" - a more detailed version of the link;  or "Grid" showing all the films, where, and when together in time blocks;  or "By Venue"which groups them by where they are playing.  

And there are a couple of new venues.  

The Alaska Experience Theater's large and small theaters have been part of the festival for a while now.  But in the back of that area is a large room, more of a banquet room, now known as the Port View Room.  It's been there all along, but now it has a name and events are scheduled there.  (I think a few things have ended up there in the past, but it's more official now.)

And then there is the F [E] Street Theater.  I haven't been there, but it's on, drumroll, F [E] Street, between 3rd and 4rth Avenues.  [Hope you note my mistake their and make mental corrections - it's the E Street Theater.]

Plus, of course, the Bear Tooth.

One last thing.  Volunteers Needed.  They are still inviting people to volunteer for various activities.  It's a cool way to get involved and get to see a movie or two as well as meet lots of interesting people.  Here's the link that tells you about VOLUNTEERING.

I've also put up a tab on top for AIFF 2017 where I'll keep an index of all my festival posts and, once the festival starts, give daily tips of what's showing.