There are two grandkids here now. That's a big distraction. The older one and I mixed bread dough today. She paid very close attention and we didn't make too much of a mess. This is a very simple recipe from a Josey Baker bread book I got at the library - just flour, salt, yeast, and water. But it does call for it to rise at least three hours and then spend the night in the refrigerator. So maybe all the fermenting will give it interesting tastes.
I'm also getting used to how to do things on Yosemite (the new Mac operating system) and figuring out how to find things in the various other updated software. iMovie is proving a longer haul - partly because I have about 30 minutes of interview with Attila Szász, the director of The Ambassador to Bern which will show in the Anchorage International Film Festival in December. So I'm transcribing it and figuring out how I want to edit it. Part of it is a discussion of taking a real historical event and then fictionalizing it.
It was taking so long that I decided to just make a short video from start to finish - it saves video in different ways that I'm trying to get my head around - just to do one. It was windy this morning when I woke up, so I took a picture of the evergreen out the window blowing in the wind.
The windows here muffled the sound pretty well, so I looked for some wind sound effects - found 'cave and wind' - and I also tried out the video effects. The video is short, but look at the difference between the raw footage (what I normally would have used with the old iMovie I was using) and the enhanced video with the added sound.
This is a little related to the discussion of taking a real event and fictionalizing it. For creative film makers, this offers lots of possibilities: the enhanced mood of the video effects and the sound of wind from the sound effects tools. But when you compare the beginning few seconds to the second part, you can see the dangers of this sort of editing for people putting up the news. It's easy to make the video far more exciting than what it really was. Of course, everyone knows this, but I haven't had such easy access to such smooth and easy enhancements.
So, as you watch video on tv or online, look for whether you're seeing what the camera caught or what the editing room wrought.
Showing posts with label AIFF 2014. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AIFF 2014. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
AIFF 2014: Talk toFestival Director and Director of Film Programs Now (10am-11am) On Talk of Alaska
From Alaska Public Media's Talk of Alaska:
In the dead of winter, film makers from far distant lands come to Alaska because we have a festival. It’s been around for 13 years, and it shows more motion pictures in a week than it is possible for any one human being to see. A look ahead at the program for this year’s Anchorage International Film Festival is just ahead on the next Talk of Alaska.
HOST: Steve Heimel, Alaska Public Radio Network
GUESTS:
- Jim Parker, Director of Film Programs, Anchorage International Film Festival
- Laura Moscatello, Festival Director
PARTICIPATE:
- Callers Statewide
- Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air).
- Send e-mail to talk [at] alaskapublic [dot] org (comments may be read on air)
LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.
- Call 550-8422 in Anchorage or 1-800-478-8255 if you’re outside Anchorage during the live broadcast
AIFF 2014: Questions (and Answers) People Should Be Asking About The Festival
A lot of people don't even know what questions they should be asking. So I'm listing them out here (with the answers) to help you find out what's happening at the Anchorage International Film Festival and how to take advantage of all the great films that will be in town Dec. 5-14, 2014.
Below are links to posts with general information about the Anchorage International Film Festival. This is a revision and update of a post I first put up about five years ago and updated again last year. I've been checking the links to be sure they too are current for 2014. But it's still a work in progress.
Q: Where's the official Anchorage International Film Festival website? Click the AIFF2014 link here.
Q: What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc.) This post defines key festival jargon you'll see in the program or on here.. It also covers the process for how films get selected for the Festival and how the winners get chosen.
Q: What films are the best films this year (2014)?
Films in Competition are the ones chosen to compete for the Golden Oosiker awards. I'm working on lists of the films in competition for each category - something about each film and when and where they will play. [For the film categories I have up for 2014, you can find the films in competition posts listed at my AIFF 2014 tab. Films in competition are marked with a check (√) on the Official AIFF website.]
Films in Competition - Features 2014
Films in Competition - Documentaries 2014
Films in Competition - Shorts 2014
Films in Competition - Animation 2013 (2014 never made it to a list)
Films in Competition - Super Shorts 2013 (2014 never made it to a list)
But often there are other films that I thought were as good or better than the films in competition. And there are some films, which for various reasons, are not eligible for prizes, so they aren't 'in competition, but they're good.
Q: Who won in each category? None yet this year, but here are the previous winners.
2014 Winners - Official Winner list compared to my list (with my comments on the Features)
2013 Winners - Official Winner list
2012 Winners - My 2012 winners Official compared to AIFF 2012 Winners Page
2011 Winners - My 2011 winners (none) - Official AIFF 2011 Winners Page
2010 Winners - My 2010 winners post - Official AIFF 2010 Winners Page
2009 Winners - My 2009 winners post - Official AIFF 2009 Winners Page
2008 Winners - My 2008 winners post - Official AIFF 2008 Winners Page
[Note: 'My winners' are films I liked best. Sometimes I've only discussed one category, sometimes more than one. Sometimes my comments on a particular film are buried in posts even I can't find.]
Q: Short films are grouped together into 'programs.' How do I find which short films are playing together in the same of program?
Animation Programs 2014 [There's only one program for 2014. There's also an animation in the Mexican Consulate's films- Eskimal.]
Made In Alaska 2014 (I guess this replaces what used to be called Snow Dance. There are eight programs)
Short Docs 2014
Super Short Narrative 2014 (There are four programs, including one of Mexican films)
Family Program 2014
Q: What is FG?
The short answer: Festival Genius.
The longer answer: It's a film festival software program that AIFF has acquired that makes it much easier to find out when and where the films will be shown. It takes a little bit of time to figure out how it works.
Step 1: You click on the blue FG icon on the AIFF website, or you can click here.
Step 2: Then you can choose films. That opens up four more choices. For starters look under category, then click the blue box (see green arrow) and a drop down window will give you a long list of choices. Or you can pick countries. If you leave three of the boxes at their starting setting ("all ...) then you'll see all the choices. You can combine settings in boxes - say animation category and Mexico for country and that should pull up just one film. If you know the name of the film you want, you can put it into the Film Search window on the right.
Step 3: If, instead of films, you pick schedule, you can see what will show for that day or that week.
If you click on schedule, you'll get screening choices (red box) by week, by day, or grid. Week and Day give you a list of films for the time period. Grid will give you a table.
You don't have to sign in (I don't because they want too much personal information for me), but if you do, you can make your own schedule and review films, etc.
Q: I'm not interested in the festival, but if there are any films on my favorite place, food, sport, etc., I'd go. Are there any?
Festival Genius - see above - allows you to look at a list of countries and then see what films are being shown from that country. Click on the blue spot for the country window and it will open a list of countries. Then pick a country, and wait until it loads the films from that country. Make sure you have "all events" and "all films" in the event and film windows.
Also note the red box in the lower left. The film festival (2014) spans two calendar weeks and so you have to check for each week. Just click on the week and it changes.
To find out about films of special topics, you need to look through the films themselves. I'll try to make some lists of topics if I see any patterns and I'll link here. There are family films, Alaska films, Mexican films sponsored by the Mexican Consul, Chinese films sponsored by the Confucius Institute at UAA, and the Gayla films.
How do I find your blog posts on specific films or film makers? In the AIFF 2014 Page - It's a tab under the orange heading at the top of my blog - I'll have an index of posts by category and an index of posts in reverse chronological order. Here's a link to that tab. You can see them in the archive on the right side. They'll mostly be in December, with some in November and I try to start them with AIFF2014.
Do you have videos of the Festival? - I'll add the video posts as I get a chance to make and edit them. I'll list the posts with video in the AIFF2014 Page. I already have some video of Attila Szasz, the director of The Ambassador to Bern, which I got in a Skype interview with him in Budapest. It's not edited yet.
Where will the films be shown?
Locations:
Bear Tooth, is the main venue.
Alaska Experience Theater
333 W 4th Ave #207, Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 272-9076
There is a large and a small theater there
Anchorage Community Works** This was a new venue last year
349 E Ship Creek Ave
Anchorage Museum
625 C Street
Marston Theater (Loussac Library) Family Programming on Saturday Dec. 14
3600 Denali St.
There are special events at other venues. You can check all the venues next to window where you check the countries (see screenshot above).
Q: What workshops are there?
There are five workshops with film makers. These are chances to interact with film makers and learn some aspect of the movie craft and industry.
Q: What are your criteria for a good movie? When I made my picks for the 2008 best films, at the end of the post I outlined my criteria. The link takes you to that post, scroll down to second part. I also did a post in 2012 on what I thought makes a good documentary.
Q: Should I buy a pass or just buy tickets as I go?
Tickets are still only $8 per film. "All films passes" are only $100. So, if you go to twelve films, the pass is cheaper. But there are other benefits to the pass. You also get priority seating with your pass. That means you go into the theater first at the Bear Tooth. You do have to get a ticket (free when you show your pass) for each film at the door and only a certain number of seats are held for pass holders.
And if you have a pass, you'll go see more films because you'll think "I've paid for them. I should go and get my money's worth."
All Films passes get you into Workshops, and discounts for a few extra events, like the opening night film (which is actually $30 a ticket) and the awards. These extra events also have food.
Another option is to volunteer and get a pass to a movie.
You can buy tickets at the venues. You can also get advanced tickets at the venues.
You can also buy them online. Tickets are already available.
Q: What about family films?
Saturday, December 6, at 11am at Loussac Library - in the Marston Auditorium.. This is a free event. You can see the family program here. (As I'm posting this, there is no list of films yet at this link, just the time and place.)
Q: Any free events?
Yes, there are. Besides the family films (right above), Made in Alaska, and two of the workshops. You can see them all here.
Q: Who Are You Anyways? - who's paying you to do this? does your brother have a film in competition? What is your connection to the festival? From an earlier post here's my Disclosure:
I sort of accidentally blogged about the 2007 festival and the AIFF people liked what I did and asked if I would be the official blogger in 2008. They promised me I could say what I wanted, but I decided it was better to blog on my own and then if I write something that upsets one of the film makers, the Festival isn't responsible. The Festival has a link to my site. They also threw in a free pass for me in each year since 2008.
I probably won't say anything terrible about a film, but I did rant about one film in the past that I thought was exploiting its subject as well as boorishly demeaning a whole country. I mentioned in an earlier post that if I sound a little promotional at times, it's only because I like films and I like the kinds of quirky films that show up at festivals, so I want as many people to know about the festival as possible so the festival will continue. Will I fudge on what I write to get people out? No way. There are plenty of people in Anchorage who like films. They're my main target - to get them out of the house in the dark December chill when inertia tugs heavily if they even think about leaving the house. But if others who normally don't go out to films hear about a movie on a topic they're into, that's good too.
I did a post a couple of years ago for Film Festival Skeptics who might be sitting on the fence and need to be given reasons to go and strategies to make it work.
Q: How Does One Keep Track of What's Happening at the Festival?
I'll be blogging the film festival every day. The link below will be my festival posts only, starting with the most recent. There should also be printed programs in the Anchorage Press you can pick up around town as well and go to the Festival Webpage.
My blog will update every day. My Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF 2014) tab on top will have an overview of what's happening each day.
Q: Are there other Alaskan Film Festivals?
There are some events called 'festival' that I know of in Anchorage, but they aren't major film events like this one. There is another organization, that puts Alaska in its name and used to rent a postal box in Alaska, but has no other connection that we can find to Alaska. You can read about that at Comparing the ANCHORAGE and ALASKA International Film Festivals - Real Festival? Scam?
Anyone who knows of other legitimate film festivals in Alaska, let me know. I've heard stuff about Sitka Film Festival in February. And there's also an Indigenous Film Festival in February and there's been an Alaska Native Film Festival. And there's the Farthest North Jewish Film Festival in Fairbanks.
Below are links to posts with general information about the Anchorage International Film Festival. This is a revision and update of a post I first put up about five years ago and updated again last year. I've been checking the links to be sure they too are current for 2014. But it's still a work in progress.
Q: Where's the official Anchorage International Film Festival website? Click the AIFF2014 link here.
Q: What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc.) This post defines key festival jargon you'll see in the program or on here.. It also covers the process for how films get selected for the Festival and how the winners get chosen.
Q: What films are the best films this year (2014)?
Films in Competition are the ones chosen to compete for the Golden Oosiker awards. I'm working on lists of the films in competition for each category - something about each film and when and where they will play. [For the film categories I have up for 2014, you can find the films in competition posts listed at my AIFF 2014 tab. Films in competition are marked with a check (√) on the Official AIFF website.]
Films in Competition - Features 2014
Films in Competition - Documentaries 2014
Films in Competition - Shorts 2014
Films in Competition - Animation 2013 (2014 never made it to a list)
Films in Competition - Super Shorts 2013 (2014 never made it to a list)
But often there are other films that I thought were as good or better than the films in competition. And there are some films, which for various reasons, are not eligible for prizes, so they aren't 'in competition, but they're good.
Q: Who won in each category? None yet this year, but here are the previous winners.
2014 Winners - Official Winner list compared to my list (with my comments on the Features)
2013 Winners - Official Winner list
2012 Winners - My 2012 winners Official compared to AIFF 2012 Winners Page
2011 Winners - My 2011 winners (none) - Official AIFF 2011 Winners Page
2010 Winners - My 2010 winners post - Official AIFF 2010 Winners Page
2009 Winners - My 2009 winners post - Official AIFF 2009 Winners Page
2008 Winners - My 2008 winners post - Official AIFF 2008 Winners Page
[Note: 'My winners' are films I liked best. Sometimes I've only discussed one category, sometimes more than one. Sometimes my comments on a particular film are buried in posts even I can't find.]
Q: Short films are grouped together into 'programs.' How do I find which short films are playing together in the same of program?
Animation Programs 2014 [There's only one program for 2014. There's also an animation in the Mexican Consulate's films- Eskimal.]
Made In Alaska 2014 (I guess this replaces what used to be called Snow Dance. There are eight programs)
Short Docs 2014
Super Short Narrative 2014 (There are four programs, including one of Mexican films)
Family Program 2014
Q: What is FG?
The short answer: Festival Genius.
The longer answer: It's a film festival software program that AIFF has acquired that makes it much easier to find out when and where the films will be shown. It takes a little bit of time to figure out how it works.
Step 1: You click on the blue FG icon on the AIFF website, or you can click here.
Step 2: Then you can choose films. That opens up four more choices. For starters look under category, then click the blue box (see green arrow) and a drop down window will give you a long list of choices. Or you can pick countries. If you leave three of the boxes at their starting setting ("all ...) then you'll see all the choices. You can combine settings in boxes - say animation category and Mexico for country and that should pull up just one film. If you know the name of the film you want, you can put it into the Film Search window on the right.
 |
| click to enlarge |
If you click on schedule, you'll get screening choices (red box) by week, by day, or grid. Week and Day give you a list of films for the time period. Grid will give you a table.
You don't have to sign in (I don't because they want too much personal information for me), but if you do, you can make your own schedule and review films, etc.
Q: I'm not interested in the festival, but if there are any films on my favorite place, food, sport, etc., I'd go. Are there any?
Festival Genius - see above - allows you to look at a list of countries and then see what films are being shown from that country. Click on the blue spot for the country window and it will open a list of countries. Then pick a country, and wait until it loads the films from that country. Make sure you have "all events" and "all films" in the event and film windows.
Also note the red box in the lower left. The film festival (2014) spans two calendar weeks and so you have to check for each week. Just click on the week and it changes.
To find out about films of special topics, you need to look through the films themselves. I'll try to make some lists of topics if I see any patterns and I'll link here. There are family films, Alaska films, Mexican films sponsored by the Mexican Consul, Chinese films sponsored by the Confucius Institute at UAA, and the Gayla films.
How do I find your blog posts on specific films or film makers? In the AIFF 2014 Page - It's a tab under the orange heading at the top of my blog - I'll have an index of posts by category and an index of posts in reverse chronological order. Here's a link to that tab. You can see them in the archive on the right side. They'll mostly be in December, with some in November and I try to start them with AIFF2014.
Do you have videos of the Festival? - I'll add the video posts as I get a chance to make and edit them. I'll list the posts with video in the AIFF2014 Page. I already have some video of Attila Szasz, the director of The Ambassador to Bern, which I got in a Skype interview with him in Budapest. It's not edited yet.
Where will the films be shown?
Locations:
Bear Tooth, is the main venue.
1230 West 27th Avenue (West of Spenard Road) - 907.276.4200
Alaska Experience Theater
333 W 4th Ave #207, Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 272-9076
There is a large and a small theater there
Anchorage Community Works** This was a new venue last year
Anchorage Museum
625 C Street
Marston Theater (Loussac Library) Family Programming on Saturday Dec. 14
3600 Denali St.
There are special events at other venues. You can check all the venues next to window where you check the countries (see screenshot above).
Q: What workshops are there?
There are five workshops with film makers. These are chances to interact with film makers and learn some aspect of the movie craft and industry.
Q: What are your criteria for a good movie? When I made my picks for the 2008 best films, at the end of the post I outlined my criteria. The link takes you to that post, scroll down to second part. I also did a post in 2012 on what I thought makes a good documentary.
Q: Should I buy a pass or just buy tickets as I go?
Tickets are still only $8 per film. "All films passes" are only $100. So, if you go to twelve films, the pass is cheaper. But there are other benefits to the pass. You also get priority seating with your pass. That means you go into the theater first at the Bear Tooth. You do have to get a ticket (free when you show your pass) for each film at the door and only a certain number of seats are held for pass holders.
And if you have a pass, you'll go see more films because you'll think "I've paid for them. I should go and get my money's worth."
All Films passes get you into Workshops, and discounts for a few extra events, like the opening night film (which is actually $30 a ticket) and the awards. These extra events also have food.
Another option is to volunteer and get a pass to a movie.
You can buy tickets at the venues. You can also get advanced tickets at the venues.
You can also buy them online. Tickets are already available.
Q: What about family films?
Saturday, December 6, at 11am at Loussac Library - in the Marston Auditorium.. This is a free event. You can see the family program here. (As I'm posting this, there is no list of films yet at this link, just the time and place.)
Q: Any free events?
Yes, there are. Besides the family films (right above), Made in Alaska, and two of the workshops. You can see them all here.
Q: Who Are You Anyways? - who's paying you to do this? does your brother have a film in competition? What is your connection to the festival? From an earlier post here's my Disclosure:
I sort of accidentally blogged about the 2007 festival and the AIFF people liked what I did and asked if I would be the official blogger in 2008. They promised me I could say what I wanted, but I decided it was better to blog on my own and then if I write something that upsets one of the film makers, the Festival isn't responsible. The Festival has a link to my site. They also threw in a free pass for me in each year since 2008.
I probably won't say anything terrible about a film, but I did rant about one film in the past that I thought was exploiting its subject as well as boorishly demeaning a whole country. I mentioned in an earlier post that if I sound a little promotional at times, it's only because I like films and I like the kinds of quirky films that show up at festivals, so I want as many people to know about the festival as possible so the festival will continue. Will I fudge on what I write to get people out? No way. There are plenty of people in Anchorage who like films. They're my main target - to get them out of the house in the dark December chill when inertia tugs heavily if they even think about leaving the house. But if others who normally don't go out to films hear about a movie on a topic they're into, that's good too.
I did a post a couple of years ago for Film Festival Skeptics who might be sitting on the fence and need to be given reasons to go and strategies to make it work.
Q: How Does One Keep Track of What's Happening at the Festival?
I'll be blogging the film festival every day. The link below will be my festival posts only, starting with the most recent. There should also be printed programs in the Anchorage Press you can pick up around town as well and go to the Festival Webpage.
My blog will update every day. My Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF 2014) tab on top will have an overview of what's happening each day.
Q: Are there other Alaskan Film Festivals?
There are some events called 'festival' that I know of in Anchorage, but they aren't major film events like this one. There is another organization, that puts Alaska in its name and used to rent a postal box in Alaska, but has no other connection that we can find to Alaska. You can read about that at Comparing the ANCHORAGE and ALASKA International Film Festivals - Real Festival? Scam?
Anyone who knows of other legitimate film festivals in Alaska, let me know. I've heard stuff about Sitka Film Festival in February. And there's also an Indigenous Film Festival in February and there's been an Alaska Native Film Festival. And there's the Farthest North Jewish Film Festival in Fairbanks.
Monday, November 17, 2014
AIFF 2014: Deciphering Film Festival Jargon: Feature, In Competition, Official Selection, And More
This is an updated version of a 2008 post, modified for 2014 Anchorage International Film Festival
[UPDATED November 25: I've got some clarifications from Jim Parker, AIFF 2014 Director of Film Programming about the film classifications and film selection process. The changes are marked with strikethrough and [brackets]]
If you look at the program guide for the Anchorage International Film Festival coming out soon in the Anchorage Press, the films are divided into different categories. I figure out:
• Features - 'fiction' films over about 55 [to 140] minutes [Except Animation Features are 55-120 minutes]
• Documentaries" "non-fiction" films over about 55 [to 120] minutes
• Shorts - 'fiction' films under [10 to] 55 minutes
• Short Documentaries - 'nonfiction' films under [10 to] 55 minutes
• Animation - Animated films - these can be feature length or short, and while most are 'fiction' I guess you could have an animated documentary - a biography of Mickey Mouse maybe? No, this would be a interesting challenge.
• [Super Shorts (Animated or Fiction) 1 minute to 10 minutes.]
But there are other distinctions I didn't quite understand, so back in 2008 I emailed and talked to several of the people running the Festival (Rand and Tony and a one of the documentary coordinators from last year) to find out what these terms mean exactly and how it all works. All the highlighted terms will be explained, though some show up before the explanation. Patience.
Pre-screening Committees [Programmers]- Committees [Programmers] are selected early on to view all the movies submitted to the Festival in the specific film categories. So, there is a committee for documentaries, for features, for shorts, and for animations. These committees select the films that will become official selections. There are five to ten people on a pre-screening committee. They've completed their work some time ago.
[Clarification from Jim Parker, Director of Film Programming: These are people who volunteer to screen the films that are submitted, and at times they solicit films that they think would be a good fit for our festival. They will make the ultimate decision about which submitted films are films selected. This year there are five different sets of programmers:
• A. Documentaries, includes short and super short documentaries
• B. Features- They screen and make decisions about which feature narrative (55 to 140 minutes in length) will be included.
• C. Animation- They screen and make decisions about super-short, short, and feature animated films. However, this year we have a film (Rocks In My Pockets) that is animated but was entered as a feature and was considered by the feature programmers.
• D. Shorts and Super-Shorts programmers.
• E. Made In Alaska. This used to be called Snowdance, it encompasses a film of any genre or length that is made in Alaska.]
• Official Selections - An official selection is any film that was submitted to the festival, was accepted by the appropriate pre-screening committee, and paid the entry fee.
• Special Selections - Special selections are films that the festival invites or solicits after the submission process has ended to round out the program, usually they have to pay a screening fee for these films and often times these films are already in theatrical release and this category applies to classic films as well, such as Wildlike that will be shown opening night this year.
[Clarification from Jim Parker: Official Selection- We've made it easier this year. An official selection is any film that the programmers screened and chose as part of their program. This year a special selection is a film that I or the AIFF board chose early in the process before the Programming teams started receiving and screening films. This year the special selections are the Opening night film Wildlike, The Lookalike, and No More Road Trips? This year we abolished the requirement that a film that received a fee waiver be considered a "special selection" and thus ineligible for jury prizes. So almost all films are official selections and eligible for jury recognition.]
• Films in Competition - The pre-screening committees are given a rough guide about how many films they can accept as official selections. Of those, they pick what they consider the best. These are then the films in competition and get sent to the jury panels. These films are the contenders for the Golden Oosik Awards. Now, there is some negotiation between the coordinators of the pre-screening committees and director of the film festival to insure that ultimately there is a good balance of genres (they'd rather not have every feature be a comedy for example) and national representation, etc. They have to narrow it down so that the jury panels have time to watch the films and make their choices.
• Jury Panels - Once the Films in Competition are selected the pre-screening committees are done and the films are given to jury panels. The jury panels get together as a group in a theater and watch them all together. I think these also tend to be five to ten people who haven't been involved the selection process before this. They choose the best films for each category. I think they're supposed to have this done by the middle of the next week. These best films win the Golden Oosik awards at the Saturday night awards ceremony.
[Clarification from Jim Parker: Jury selections. When each of the Programming teams select their programs they also select their top 5 to 7 films. These films are "in competition" and will be shown to a jury of volunteers who will determine the top three award winning films. There are juries for shorts, super-shorts, documentaries, features narrative films, Animation, and Made in Alaska. The juries watch all the films, but not usually together. DVDs are passed around between them. They almost always have one meeting together where they "deliberate" and choose the best films. ]
• Audience Awards - [None this year - see below] All feature length films (over 55 minutes) are eligible for the audience award which is voted on by . . . well, you know who. This was new in 2008. The best audience award feature film and documentary will be screened on the last day of the festival, they will be announced at the awards party on Sun, Dec 14, 6:00 PM at the Organic Oasis. For all feature length films, audience members are little forms with which to rate film.
[Clarification from Jim Parker: This year the AIFF dispensed with the Audience Choice Award to lessen the demands placed on volunteers, but it may be brought back in future years.
Best of the Fest - The jury award winners will not be screened on the last day of the festival, but rather at the Alaska Experience Theater on the Tuesday and Wednesday folllowing the festival.]
When I first blogged the festival I didn't understand any of this. When I was picking my own favorites, I didn't take into consideration the category of films in competition. I'm pointing this all out here so others can understand it. Now, before the Festival begins I first focus on making it easier for people to know what the Films in Competition are for each category and what the schedules are so you have a chance to see as many as possible. [For 2014 I've already posted about the Feature Films in Competition and the Documentaries in Competition.]
But other people will be more interested in films of specific genres - comedy, drama, etc. Other people will just want to see shorts or animation. And some will be interested in films from certain countries or about specific topics. They won't care if the films are in competition or not. And there are the special presentations which have been invited and may prove to be better than the films in competition. But I tend to start with the films in competition, then, if I have time left over, I'll go onto some other focus. Once the festival starts, I'll report on what I go to.
Check the tab on top - Alaska International Film Festival 2014 - for an overview of how make the most out of the festival and for an index of posts I do on the festival this year. The 2013 tab is also still up if you want to check on last year's festival.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
AIFF 2014: Documentaries In Competition - From Seeds and Shields to North Dakota,Coney Island, Mala Mala, Water, and Dismantling Dams
This is an overview of the documentaries the jury selected to be in competition.
How Do Films Get Selected?
First the films are selected from all those submitted. Then a certain number from each category is chosen to be 'in competition'' meaning these are the finalists eligible for an award in the category.
How Many Docs Are There?
The documentary category has, if I counted right, 20 selected films (5 under 30 minutes and 15 over 30 minutes) and 7 are 'in competition.' Five are longer documentaries (77-89 minutes) and two are shorter (20 and 35 minutes).
Most of the documentaries are from the US. There's one identified as Puerto Rico/US, one as Switzerland, and two as Canada. Not all that international this year.
My Goal Here: I haven't seen the films. So I'm just trying to give you a sense of what the films are and how they are scheduled. I'm trying to find interesting info on the films, but I'm also recognizing that time is ticking and there are other categories and films to cover. And these are just the films in competition.
The documentary category has been very strong in recent years. Even though films aren't in competition, it doesn't mean they aren't worth seeing.
So check them all out. Here's a list of all the documentaries selected for the festival.
Sat Dec. 13 12pm Anchorage Museum
From the Brooklyn Daily, here's the start of their article on how this film was made:>
2) Divide In Concord
3) Mala Mala
Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini
USA√
87m
Mon. Dec. 8, 8pm Bear Tooth
Wed. Dec. 10 7:30 pm Alaska Exp Small
From their Kickstarter page:
Sandy McLeod
USA√
77m
Sat Dec.6 1pm Anchorage Museum
Thu Dec. 11 5:30pm Alaska Exp. Small
From the California Academy of Science about McLeod's visit there:
Here's a bit from the director's statement:
More on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault here.
5) Shield and Spear
Petter Ringbom
USA√
89m
Sat. Dec 6 5:30pm Bear Tooth
Sun. Dec 7 1:00pm Alaska Exp. Large
Excerpt from OKayafrica just before the African premiere of the film in Durban, South Africa July 2014.
6)The Strong People
Heather Hoglund
USA√
35m
Sat. Dec. 6 3:30pm Alaska Exp Small (with White Earth, and other short docs)
Fri. Dec. 12 5:00pm Alaska Exp. Large (with White Earth, and other short docs)
From The Strong People website:
7) White Earth
J. Christian Jensen
USA√
20m
From a review by Whitney McIntosh in the Stanford Arts Review:
>
Scheduling
It's often hard to figure out how to see all the films in competition in a category. At least the documentaries aren't scheduled at the same time (except the two shorter ones - White Earth and The Strong People which play in the same program so it's easy to seem them both.)
I've made a calendar of the documentaries in competition.
This makes it look easy. But there are lots of other documentaries you might want to see. And then there are feature films, animated films, shorts, etc. But this is a starting point. Once more, here's a list of all the documentaries selected for the festival.
How Do Films Get Selected?
First the films are selected from all those submitted. Then a certain number from each category is chosen to be 'in competition'' meaning these are the finalists eligible for an award in the category.
How Many Docs Are There?
The documentary category has, if I counted right, 20 selected films (5 under 30 minutes and 15 over 30 minutes) and 7 are 'in competition.' Five are longer documentaries (77-89 minutes) and two are shorter (20 and 35 minutes).
Most of the documentaries are from the US. There's one identified as Puerto Rico/US, one as Switzerland, and two as Canada. Not all that international this year.
My Goal Here: I haven't seen the films. So I'm just trying to give you a sense of what the films are and how they are scheduled. I'm trying to find interesting info on the films, but I'm also recognizing that time is ticking and there are other categories and films to cover. And these are just the films in competition.
The documentary category has been very strong in recent years. Even though films aren't in competition, it doesn't mean they aren't worth seeing.
So check them all out. Here's a list of all the documentaries selected for the festival.
1) Coney Island: Dreams For Sale
Alessandra Giordano
USA√
80m
Fri. Dec. 12 7pm Alaska Exp. Small
From the Brooklyn Daily, here's the start of their article on how this film was made:>
"The movie is the first feature-length work by filmmaker Alessandra Giordano, who originally intended to make a five-minute short. Giordano, who hails from Italy, was taking a film course at New York University in the summer of 2008, when the fight over Coney’s future was raging, and a friend suggested that she should visit the area.And the trailer:
“They told me it was a place I would enjoy, a place that’s different and interesting and quirky,” said Giordano.
On that trip, Giordano met one of the main characters of her film, Coney carny Anthony Raimondi, owner of the now-defunct Jones Walk booth Gangster Cigars."
 |
| Adapted from images in Divide In Concord press packet |
Kris Kaczo
USA√
82m
Fri. Dec. 12 3pm Bear Tooth
Fri. Dec. 12 3pm Bear Tooth
Sat.Dec. 13 3pm Alaska Exp. Small
From the film's press packet, here's part of the synopsis:"Jean Hill, a fiery 84-year-old widow and mother of four, wants to ban the sale of bottled water from Concord. Her path begins when her grandson tells her about the disastrous environmental effects of the empty plastic bottles.The site also includes words from the director, Kris Kaczo:
Jean presents a bylaw to ban the sale of single-serve plastic bottles at the 2010 and 2011 Town Meetings. After losing by seven votes in 2011, she vows to continue the crusade with neighbor and Harvard Law Grad, Jill Appel. If enacted, the law would be the first of its kind in the world.
But all are not in agreement with the ban. Merchants are wary of the bylaw. Philanthropist, mother, model and celebrity publicist Adriana Cohen takes the fight to the spotlight, calling the ban an attack on freedom. With billions of dollars at stake, The International Bottled Water Association sends in the cavalry."
"The entire documentary was self-funded. It was tough; our van was broken into and died the day of Town Meeting, our hotel almost burnt down and we had two eerie ghost experiences at the Colonial Inn. But we battled on and feel that we honored the story and the town.I'd note that anyone who would like an answer to Adriana Cohen's question, might want to check out the documentary Tapped which was in AIFF 2009.
Concord is the home of the American Revolution as well as significant literary and environmental movements. Residents are expected to know about Thoreau. A favorite quote became “Heaven is under your feet as well as over your head.” The film is a tribute to Concord. We do not take sides on the ban. Both sides have compelling arguments. "
3) Mala MalaDan Sickles and Antonio Santini
USA√
87m
Mon. Dec. 8, 8pm Bear Tooth
Wed. Dec. 10 7:30 pm Alaska Exp Small
From their Kickstarter page:
"As a trans person in Puerto Rico, not only does your experience beg the question “am I Puerto Rican, am I American, or am I both?” but also “am I a male, am I a female, or am I both?” This vagueness, this in-betweenness is what most fascinates us as filmmakers, and with this project we hope to share the stories of people who's voices may not otherwise be near enough to reach your ears.Excerpt from an interview with the designer/fashion website Oak:
At its core, this film is a people piece. We are interested in the relationship between the internal and external being, the dynamics between performance and gender, and the power of self-discovery."
"OAK: What do you think was the biggest revelation, or biggest thing that you learned about the trans community and yourselves, when you reflect on the entire experience?4) Seeds of Time
DS: One thing for me personally is that I feel so much more confident in terms of how I understand my own gender. I’ve started to look at certain aspects of myself as maybe being a bit feminine, and I love those parts of myself now. And thinking about myself along those lines puts me in a more complex and interesting position than someone who identifies as something that exists inside a box. I think I’ve learned a lot about the ways we can play with, and grapple with, and fuck gender. Deconstructing gender gives us more room to play with it and understand it and have fun with it.
AS: For me, throughout the project, I think [our subjects] didn’t realize we were watching them living [over the course of 2 1/2 years]. It was like studying. I don’t think we normally do that to other people, so it was kind of a privilege being [so present] in these private lives. One thing about it was that we were seeing their transformations. They had something they desperately needed that was either going to lead themselves to killing themselves, or total depression, or to [becoming who they were]. And we were able to meet them on the other side, and see them about to become what they wanted to become. That power of choice was something I really didn’t understand fully until I met them.
DS: During one interview Ivana told us that in school people would ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she would always say a police man just to get by. What she actually wanted to say was that she wanted to be a woman when she grew up. That really reminded me that the trans experience is universal in a sense that it’s achieving a goal, and becoming what you want to be. It’s no different than that."
Sandy McLeod
USA√
 |
| Adapted from images at Seeds For Time website |
Sat Dec.6 1pm Anchorage Museum
Thu Dec. 11 5:30pm Alaska Exp. Small
From the California Academy of Science about McLeod's visit there:
. . . It began in 2007, when McLeod discovered an article in the New Yorker about Cary Fowler, Senior Advisor to the Global Crop Diversity Trust. McLeod was immediately hooked on the story. For the filmmaker, it was time to buckle down and learn about agriculture—both pre- and post-industrialization. “You immerse yourself in the subject,” she explains. “You come to it like an audience member, not knowing much and learning all the time. It was a great learning experience.”A movie about saving earth's genetic kitchen in the face of climate change. Nothing too serious here. You can see the trailer here.
McLeod challenges the audience to think about the industrialization of our food system. “We don’t grow for nutrition to begin with: why? Everything nutritional is taken out, including the antioxidants. Taking out the nutrients can cause the food to go rancid, so then you have to add preservatives. If you just took the whole grain and milled it with all that good stuff still in it, we would have all the nutrients.” She points out that vitamin companies profit from the ‘enriching’ process of reintroducing vitamins, and also reminds us that the entire processed foods industry is not about creating nutrient-rich foods, but about monetizing food production.
These discoveries made McLeod an advocate of sustainable agriculture. She champions the concept of seed vaults—the process of cataloging information about the variety of seeds on the planet and saving physical samples for perpetuity. She discusses the idea of a seed library from which users could ‘check out’ seeds, cultivate the plant, and then re-file the next generation of seeds. “Growing the same things in different environments will help to get some diversity back.” She is also a proponent of citizens getting involved in policy changes that protect seed diversity, limit the amount of food processing, or otherwise help us return to a more robust food systems model. “Resilience is what you need. We cannot sustain this, it’s not sustainable, how do we get it to a place where it supports itself.”
Here's a bit from the director's statement:
"When I met Cary Fowler a whole new world opened up to me. I realized that, although I thought I knew a thing or two about food, the issues that he was grappling with were entirely new to me. And that those issues, largely concerning food security, are issues that anyone who likes to eat should not only know about, but have a say in too.
Cary Fowler is a guy who has almost single-handedly created something of great value for the Global Community. I can’t think of many other global projects that have that kind of absolute value for all of us that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds."
More on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault here.
5) Shield and Spear
Petter Ringbom
USA√
89m
Sat. Dec 6 5:30pm Bear Tooth
Sun. Dec 7 1:00pm Alaska Exp. Large
Excerpt from OKayafrica just before the African premiere of the film in Durban, South Africa July 2014.
". . . In gaining that trust, Ringbom has tapped into many of the important dialogues taking place in South Africa, the result being the coherent and incisive conversation central to Shield and Spear.What do you think?
“In some ways the outsider-ship can work both in your favour and against you,” reflects Ringbom. “I think people are more comfortable opening up to a complete outsider. But there’s a duality to it also, where you encounter that question of why are you coming here and taking our stories? It’s something I thought about a lot. It comes with a responsibility not to be exploitative essentially.”What do you think?
Remaining firmly behind the camera, Ringbom has allowed his accomplished cinematography to tell one story, leaving the rest up to the earnest dialogue of his subjects. Together the two combine effectively in capturing the paradoxes present at the heart of any discussions pertaining to freedom in South Africa.What do you think?
“Something which surprised me the most was how emotional this project would be for me,” admits Ringbom. “Maybe it was due to how inspiring, genuine and open the people I met were. All I know is that I haven’t felt this emotionally overloaded in any other project I’ve worked on.”
6)The Strong People
Heather Hoglund
USA√
35m
Sat. Dec. 6 3:30pm Alaska Exp Small (with White Earth, and other short docs)
Fri. Dec. 12 5:00pm Alaska Exp. Large (with White Earth, and other short docs)
From The Strong People website:
"The Strong People is an award-winning documentary chronicling the largest dam removal project in US history on the Elwha River in Olympic Peninsula, Washington. It is told through the eyes of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe that has long resided in the area, looking specifically at how these dams have affected the life ways of their people.
The indigenous Klallam have long had their way of life impeded by the dams’ existence. The disruption the dams caused to the river’s salmon runs were not only an economic disaster for the tribe, who relied on the fish for commerce, but also wreaked havoc on the Klallam’s cultural beliefs, of which the salmon are an integral part."From what I can tell, Heather Hoagland is working at Wander, Wonder, Wilderness in Boston. Here's what their website says about Hoagland:
"Heather graduated from Emerson College in 2013. She is currently a freelance documentary filmmaker in Boston. Her senior thesis project, The Strong People, documenting the largest dam removal in United States History, has picked up numerous accolades at film festivals and events worldwide. Heather’s passion lies in creating cross platform projects concerning environmental issues. An avid runner and cyclist in the city, your only chance of seeing her is in brief glimpses as she zips around the city to her next destination."Here's the trailer:
7) White Earth
J. Christian Jensen
USA√
20m
Sat. Dec. 6 3:30pm Alaska Exp Small (with The Strong People, and other short docs)
Fri. Dec. 12 5:00pm Alaska Exp. Large (with The Strong People, and other short docs)
This film won a 2014 STUDENT ACADEMY AWARD Silver Medal in the Documentary category.
From a review by Whitney McIntosh in the Stanford Arts Review:
"Although he initially wanted to interview workers in the oil industry, he met resistance in a suspicious bureaucracy of permission-giving and media-anxiety. He thus “shifted to looking at the way that these industrial processes existed in the landscape,” a landscape both natural and emotional. He said that he “wanted it to be a nuanced, intimate exploration of people, and children,” spurring more prevalent themes of juxtaposing industry against environment, technology against nature. The male oil workers exist in the background, while what are normally peripheral voices of children and family members are brought center stage, and express themselves with remarkable clarity.
Although Jensen had made plans to focus on a single family, a week before he was to start production, Jensen received a call from the father explaining changed family circumstances and their inability to continue with the film. He recalls, “I had to sort of pivot really quick to do something else. And fortunately I had cast a really wide net when I was doing my research, and I had met a couple children, and there was one child in particular, whose name was James that I met by chance.” We meet James, an adolescent boy living with his father, from the outset of the film. His commentary is unusual and compelling, as he is sharply conscious of the central paradoxes of the circumstances of the town of White Earth, which is slowly growing, but without the infrastructural capacity for this growth."
>
Scheduling
It's often hard to figure out how to see all the films in competition in a category. At least the documentaries aren't scheduled at the same time (except the two shorter ones - White Earth and The Strong People which play in the same program so it's easy to seem them both.)
I've made a calendar of the documentaries in competition.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
This makes it look easy. But there are lots of other documentaries you might want to see. And then there are feature films, animated films, shorts, etc. But this is a starting point. Once more, here's a list of all the documentaries selected for the festival.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Life Versus Blog
I try to balance life and the blog by blogging about things I'm doing. And much that I'm doing right now is blog related. I've got a post on the Anchorage International Film Festival's documentaries in competition (one's that the jury said were the best and are eligible for a prize), but these lists take a long time. I also did a Skype interview with Attila Szasz whose feature "Ambassador to Bern" is also in competition. So now I have to edit the video so I can post the interview. He is in Budapest. To make this more complicated, I finally got a new computer. Besides being really slow, I figure that my 7 year old MacBook is going to do worse things, than being slow before long. And while the changeover is going more smoothly than I expected, it still takes getting used to. Especially jumping three or four versions of iMovie.
I'm also working with the new Ethics Center in the UAA philosophy department, so I'm working on a paper I hope I can send in for publication before long. I could share some of that here, but not yet. An the dark sky above was shot from the office I'm using while another faculty member is away. So, I'm not hiding or idling, I'm just trying to catch up. There's also some travel coming up again. And I'm being careful with my foot now that the boot is off.
I did spend an hour with an Apple "Genius" this afternoon and he helped with a lot of little things that I've been discovering on this computer. As I say, the transition is going reasonably well.
Here's a shot of yesterday's sunrise.
Monday, November 10, 2014
AIFF 2014: Features In Competition - My voice rocks 6 unicorns in my pockets; I come, Ambassador, to Bern in hell I believe: in-appropriate behavior.
Trying to make a sentence using all the words from the titles of the feature films in competition taught me that verbs and conjunctions are scarce in the titles. I had to change some nouns to verbs. Left on the table: 'bullets' and 'the'.
But if you remember this sentence - My voice rocks 6 unicorns in my pockets; I come, Ambassador, to Bern in hell I believe: in-appropriate behavior. - you should be able to remember all the features in competition. Now go find the titles this came from.
Features are films that are fiction (even if based on a true story) and over 55 minutes long.
In Competition means that after the initial screeners "selected" the films to be in the festival, the juries picked what they thought were the best of those selected. Those films are 'in competition" for festival awards.
I'm sure there are other outstanding features - there always are - that don't make it into competition. If I learn about any I'll let you know.
Fourteen Features were selected and six are in competition. They represent eleven different countries.
Our loss according to someone who saw the film.
6 Bullets To Hell
Tanner Beard
Spain/USA √
80 m
10:00 PM Tue, Dec 9 Bear Tooth
10:00 PM Sat, Dec 13 AK Exp Small
An excerpt from the Planet Spaghetti-Western:
The Ambassador to Bern (A Berne Követ)
Attila Szász
Hungary ✓
77m
5:30 PM Tue, Dec 9 Bear Tooth
5:30 PM Wed, Dec 10 AK Exp Small
The English poster for this film reflects the USA's obsession with guns. The violence in the Hungarian poster is much more subtle. I hope this means that violence in the trailer is all the violence in the film and the rest will be more drama. I'm leaving the trailer off here because the quality of the youtube video is much poorer than the video on the movie's website.
The video quality on the Ambassador to Bern website is much better. By the way, I found a copy of an Hungarian language trailer. It's similar to the English language one, but shorter and no subtitles. Apparently it showed on Hungarian television earlier this year.
It's taken from a true story about Hungarian immigrants in Switzerland, after the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956, who take over the Hungarian embassy in Bern.
The film won the Bronze Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film at the Montreal Film Festival in September this year.
Appropriate Behavior
Desiree Akhavan
USA √
90m
5:30 PM Mon, Dec. 8 Bear Tooth
8:00 PM Sat, Dec 13 Alaska Exp Small
Anchorage is Appropriate Behavior's 13th film festival this year - including Sundance - according to the film's website.
From a New York Times piece on Desiree Arkhavan:
Variety's review sees a good, but imperfect film, with lots of promise for its director:''
Come to My Voice [Were Dengê Min][Sesime Gel]
Hüseyin Karabey
France, Germany, Turkey √
90m
8:00 PM Thu, Dec. 11 Bear Tooth
11 AM Sun, Dec 14 Alaska Exp Large
From the Hollywood Reporter:
The review says it won the audience award at the Istanbul International Film Festival this year.
I Believe In Unicorns
Leah Meyerhoff
USA √
80m
5:30 PM Sat, Dec 6 Alaska Exp Small
8:00 PM Tue, Dec 9 Bear Tooth
I can't tell much about this one. The website has too many balloons and unicorns for me, but the reviewers see promise in filmmaker Meyerhoff. Dear Lemon Lima had cutesy teen stuff too, but turned out to be a very good film, if you could suspend reality enough for kids to wear shorts and go swimming in Fairbanks in December. But it did win the audience award, so people here looked past those things.
Ryan Lattanzio at Indiewire wrote:
Rocks In My Pockets
Signe Baumane
USA/Latvia √
88m
3:00 PM Sat, Dec. 6 Museum
5:00 PM Sun, Dec 7 Alaska Experience Large
Can you tell this story might involve mental health? Peter Dunlap-Shohl is a local cartoonist (and AIFF film maker) whose blog on Parkinson's uses animation to help others understand what it's like to have Parkinsons. And to remind others with Parkinsons that they are not alone. I'm hoping this film will prove as enlightening and as funny as Peter's work. Here's a short interview with filmmaker Signe Baumane from Rooftop Films, back in February 2013, before the film was complete:
I need to check on how this made it as a feature in competition without even being selected into the animated category. I've had disagreements with some of the animated selections and winners in past years. This looks to be a dark film, but one with lots of imagination. But no judgments until I see the animated films. And why doesn't this show at the Bear Tooth at all? Are they afraid people don't want to see films about depression? In December in Anchorage? They would sell a lot of beer. But I'm just speculating with no actual evidence. I usually find out that things that seem strange often have a good explanation.
Here's the official trailer:
But if you remember this sentence - My voice rocks 6 unicorns in my pockets; I come, Ambassador, to Bern in hell I believe: in-appropriate behavior. - you should be able to remember all the features in competition. Now go find the titles this came from.
Features are films that are fiction (even if based on a true story) and over 55 minutes long.
In Competition means that after the initial screeners "selected" the films to be in the festival, the juries picked what they thought were the best of those selected. Those films are 'in competition" for festival awards.
I'm sure there are other outstanding features - there always are - that don't make it into competition. If I learn about any I'll let you know.
Fourteen Features were selected and six are in competition. They represent eleven different countries.
- Australia/USA
- Canada
- France/Germany/Turkey
- Hungary
- USA
- Spain/USA
- United Kingdom/Poland
- USA/Latvia
Our loss according to someone who saw the film.
6 Bullets To HellTanner Beard
Spain/USA √
80 m
10:00 PM Tue, Dec 9 Bear Tooth
An excerpt from the Planet Spaghetti-Western:
"Opening with the sturm-und-twang of Ennio Morricone’s ‘Seconda caccia’, from The Big Gundown, and the killing of a cowering priest, 6 Bullets to Hell signals its intentions even before the rotoscope-style credits gambol across the screen. Assembled on a miserly budget by a coterie of genre aficionados and shot entirely in Almería and its environs, this US-Spanish co-production is an unabashed love letter to the overheated vendetta westerns that rolled in this region in the Sixties.”
The Ambassador to Bern (A Berne Követ)
Attila Szász
Hungary ✓
77m
5:30 PM Tue, Dec 9 Bear Tooth
5:30 PM Wed, Dec 10 AK Exp Small
The English poster for this film reflects the USA's obsession with guns. The violence in the Hungarian poster is much more subtle. I hope this means that violence in the trailer is all the violence in the film and the rest will be more drama. I'm leaving the trailer off here because the quality of the youtube video is much poorer than the video on the movie's website.
The video quality on the Ambassador to Bern website is much better. By the way, I found a copy of an Hungarian language trailer. It's similar to the English language one, but shorter and no subtitles. Apparently it showed on Hungarian television earlier this year.
It's taken from a true story about Hungarian immigrants in Switzerland, after the Russian invasion of Hungary in 1956, who take over the Hungarian embassy in Bern.
The film won the Bronze Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film at the Montreal Film Festival in September this year.
Appropriate BehaviorDesiree Akhavan
USA √
90m
5:30 PM Mon, Dec. 8 Bear Tooth
8:00 PM Sat, Dec 13 Alaska Exp Small
Anchorage is Appropriate Behavior's 13th film festival this year - including Sundance - according to the film's website.
From a New York Times piece on Desiree Arkhavan:
"For her part, Ms. Akhavan is quick to play down any suggestion that she is pursuing an agenda in her work as writer, director or performer. “I see where the funny lies and where the story is, and I chase the story wherever it leads me,” she says. “And it usually leads to a very personal place and my life just happens to involve all these hugely political things — being bisexual, being Iranian, and now being a woman is inherently political, too. But I don’t consider those things at all while I’m doing it.”The underwear shopping clip at the web site will definitely get most people's attention.
Variety's review sees a good, but imperfect film, with lots of promise for its director:''
"It would probably be horribly reductive to describe Desiree Akhavan’s “Appropriate Behavior” as a lesbian Persian-American “Girls” knockoff, but it wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate, either. A debut feature from the writer-director-star, this tart, sexually frank portrait of a disintegrating relationship — and its long, bitter aftermath — packs plenty of punch in its best scenes, but it also frequently tests audience patience with its relentless deadpan affectlessness and insistence on leaving no Brooklyn cliche unmined. Pic should be a natural for future festival play all the same, and its auteur ought to be well worth watching once she starts to find her own voice."
Come to My Voice [Were Dengê Min][Sesime Gel]Hüseyin Karabey
France, Germany, Turkey √
90m
8:00 PM Thu, Dec. 11 Bear Tooth
11 AM Sun, Dec 14 Alaska Exp Large
From the Hollywood Reporter:
"Raiding a Kurdish village after a tip-off, a Turkish military unit fails to find the weapons suggested by the informer; enraged, the captain (Nazmi Sinan Milici) orders all male villagers to be taken away for detention and questioning at the barracks, and told the remaining folk - elderly and children mostly - they would have to hand over 15 rifles and 20 guns within a week in exchange for the release of the men."According to the review, this is just the starting point; the film shows the wider ripples of the Turkish military's action, but it appears that the main characters are a Kurdish grandmother and granddaughter.
The review says it won the audience award at the Istanbul International Film Festival this year.
I Believe In Unicorns
Leah MeyerhoffUSA √
80m
5:30 PM Sat, Dec 6 Alaska Exp Small
8:00 PM Tue, Dec 9 Bear Tooth
I can't tell much about this one. The website has too many balloons and unicorns for me, but the reviewers see promise in filmmaker Meyerhoff. Dear Lemon Lima had cutesy teen stuff too, but turned out to be a very good film, if you could suspend reality enough for kids to wear shorts and go swimming in Fairbanks in December. But it did win the audience award, so people here looked past those things.
Ryan Lattanzio at Indiewire wrote:
". . . While the film gets kudos for carefully unpeeling the psychology of its young (anti-)heroine, "Unicorns" also contains a few fairly graphic sexual encounters between 16-year-old Davina, played with startling grace by Dyer, and Sterling, seething with the handsome Vack's silent menace. Nothing like being bent over a bail of hay and fucked doggie-style to cap off an affair to remember.Rob Dickie at Sound on Sight at the Edinburgh International Film Festival wrote:
"Unicorns" is so narratively thin, it could be a short, and Meyerhoff's scrapbook style will irritate some, and enrapture others. But in a world of increasingly stentorian female filmmakers, she's one to watch."
. . . Even the live action sequences are scattered with moments of sublime and wistful beauty, notably when Davina and Sterling come across a group of circus performers in the dark. This scene is imagined, as are others in which Davina walks through a forest with a pair of wings, but they’re revealing nevertheless. The film becomes totally immersed in Davina’s way of thinking, using her own myths and metaphors to elucidate her deepest feelings.Both these are much longer reviews.
As the title suggests, I Believe in Unicorns is a film about using fantasy as a means to escape the world. For Davina, this leads to excitement and new experiences but her belief in her visions blinds her to what’s really going on. Despite taking its structure and aesthetic from the American road movie, the film avoids all the usual pitfalls and clichés of that gnere. Instead, it uses nostalgia and familiar imagery to highlight just how far from that kind of situation this really is. These are ordinary teenagers in a dysfunctional relationship, grabbing half-heartedly at the chance for another life.
 |
| From Rocks In My Pocket website |
Rocks In My Pockets
Signe Baumane
USA/Latvia √
88m
3:00 PM Sat, Dec. 6 Museum
5:00 PM Sun, Dec 7 Alaska Experience Large
Can you tell this story might involve mental health? Peter Dunlap-Shohl is a local cartoonist (and AIFF film maker) whose blog on Parkinson's uses animation to help others understand what it's like to have Parkinsons. And to remind others with Parkinsons that they are not alone. I'm hoping this film will prove as enlightening and as funny as Peter's work. Here's a short interview with filmmaker Signe Baumane from Rooftop Films, back in February 2013, before the film was complete:
Usually people want to make and see films about fantasy. They want to have these romantic comedies, scenarios of which could never take place in real life. Since early age I was always wondering how come the things that I read in books about and the things I see in movies never take place in real life. And why is no one trying to depict or tell how it feels from inside. I wanted to focus on how the living process feels inside.The whole interview, which also discusses how the movie was made (by hand) is here.
. . . As to depression. You know, I get depressed sometimes, like twice, three times a year. It hits me unexpectedly and I have to deal with with. I don’t know why does it happen, theres no reason. You go through this cloud of foggy thoughts, slow expression, slow speech, you feel fatigued and have pain inside. I was wondering how would I describe that pain to other people. Not only describe but also visually depict it.
For me, a very honest take on depression is also very funny. The absurdity of it: here is life and it is wonderful – why would you want to die? Still, every 12 seconds of my day I think of killing myself.
. . . Depression has a stigma attached to it. You’re not supposed to be depressed, you’re supposed to be dealing with everything. And you should be dealing with everything but, except, sometimes you cant. I wanted to communicate that moment of truth when you can’t deal.
I need to check on how this made it as a feature in competition without even being selected into the animated category. I've had disagreements with some of the animated selections and winners in past years. This looks to be a dark film, but one with lots of imagination. But no judgments until I see the animated films. And why doesn't this show at the Bear Tooth at all? Are they afraid people don't want to see films about depression? In December in Anchorage? They would sell a lot of beer. But I'm just speculating with no actual evidence. I usually find out that things that seem strange often have a good explanation.
Here's the official trailer:
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