AIFF 2020

December20:  The Festival is over.  The awards were announced yesterday and are listed in the Dec 19 post (See list of posts below.)

The Festival has begun.  A virtual festival is totally different and I'll figure out how to blog it as we we go.   I'll also make regular blog posts and I'll index them here (below)
so you can find what you need.  

This year's website link.

And lots on the Facebook Page.

Passes are $100 for all films.  There's a $150 pass for household with more than one person who'd like to help support the festival at a higher level.  You can buy passes here.  Once you have a pass, you can look at all the films.  

You can also buy a ticket for one film or one shorts program for  $10.  

With a virtual festival, you don't have to be in Anchorage to attend.  I've just given a gift pass to a friend in Chicago who we've invited up for the festival a number of times.  This time they can finally make it.  

Another benefit is that you can watch the films on your own schedule, but it has to be within the Dec. 4 - December 13 festival dates.  

[UPDATE 11/29/20:  Your passes will be good starting at about 8pm (Alaska Time)  on December 4, after the opening of the festival at 7pm.  The opening will be available to pass holders and will be one of the shorts programs. ]

Recommendations On the Fly - Films I thought were worth watching first, if * then really liked it a lot

Dec 4  - Masel Tov Cocktail*,      Crescendo Dec 5 - Last Days Of Capitalism*,    Grab My Hand:  A Letter To My Dad* Dec 6 - none to recommend Dec 7 - Dinner In America (Didn't expect much from this one, but it surprised me.) Dec 8 - Foster Boy, Small Town Wisconsin  Some shorts:  Cake Day, Woman Under the Tree, The Marker,  Happy (Short) Films:  Pathfinder, Sky Aelans, Dec 10 - The Woman In The Photographs Dec 11 - Paper Spiders, The Subject* Dec 14 - My Son* POSTS Friday, February 26, 2021 - AIFF 2020: Best Narrative Feature - Festival Picks and Mine (Equan Choi's My Son) - Last of posts I plan on for the 2020 AIFF.  It's the follow up of the January 2, post.  Reviewing the Jurors' and Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature with my own favorites.  If there is news relating to the AIFF2020, I might do another post here.   Saturday, January 2, 2021 - AIFF2020 - The Festival Picks Versus My Picks - A review of the festival award winners in animation, short docs, narrative shorts, and documentary features with my comments and favorites as well.  I've saved my comments on narrative features for a later post because there were so many strong films in this category.  Didn't cover categories where I didn't see enough films to have an opinion.

Saturday, December 19, 2020:  AIFF2020: Awards - Watch The Ceremony - includes video of the Awards Ceremony (I use that term loosely given this was virtual) and the list of winners chosen by the jurors and the list of audience award winners.  

Friday, December 11, 2020  - AIFF2020:  The Subject Took Me By Surprise    

Thursday, December 10, 2020 - AIFF2020:  Toprak and The Woman of the Photographs  - Short reviews of these two films - one Turkish and the Japanese.  Both solid films.  

Wednesday, December 9, 2020 - AIFF2020:  Dinner In America: A Movie I Shouldn't Have Liked, But I Did; Small Town Wisconsin; And Foster Boy - Brief discussion of three narrative features.  

Sunday, December 6, 2020 (12:45am) - AIFF2020:  Sapelo And A Strong Recommendation For The Last Days Of Capitalism And For Grab My Hand:  A Letter To My Dad - Saturday night reflections - and strong recommendations for The Last Days of Capitalism and Grab My Hand:  A Letter To My Dad.  

Saturday, December 5, 2020- AIFF2020:  Opening, Crescendo, Mazel Tov Cocktail, and Green Screens Of The Future- A short post highlighting two films I particularly liked last night, initial thoughts about the losses and gains of a virtual festival, and only tangentially related video about the future of green screens.  

Monday, November 30, 2020 - AIFF2020 - Some World, North American, and US Premieres In Anchorage - There will be some premieres at the festival.  This is a look at one and one that almost is a world premiere.   Pink Violet is a premier and was filmed at UAF.  We to Me was shown two weeks ago and is about the Vietnamese generation that were kids during the war and are in their 50s or so now. 

Saturday, November 28, 2020 - AIFF 2020: Films In Many Languages - From Norwegian To Korean To Spanish And Many More  - Here's a list of films from other countries and in other languages for people who might to travel the world via the festival or just hear a movie in their own language.  Subtitles are not your enemy, but they do take a little getting used to.  Try some of the short films first if you're daunted by subtitles.  

Thursday, November 19, 2020 -  So Much to Blog About And Yet So Little Time  - This post covers a lot of ground, but toward the bottom - at the AIFF2020 heading - I talk about this morning's Zoom meeting with AIFF co-director John Gamache and pass holders.  

Sunday, November 15, 2020 - AIFF2020 - Anchorage International Film Festival 2020 - Q&A With Co-Festivial Director John Gamache - Email interview with festival co-director, John Gamache,  about how the virtual festival will run.