AIFF2017: Pale Blue Dot - Audience Reaction

I saw "Pale Blue Dot" last week and it plays again

Today (Saturday, Dec. 9) at 

2:30pm in the 

Alaska Exp Theater. 

 I think I'd rank it right after "The Drawer Boy" among the best features that I've seen.

It takes place in rural India and middle aged man, happily married with a son he loves, gets distracted by the idea of death after several friends and relatives die unexpectedly.  I communicated with the director Girish Mohite via Facebook before the festival.  He told me it was based on a Hindu legend and was about death and the meaning of life.  I was a little concerned about it being too abstract and esoteric, but it turned out to be a charming movie with interesting characters.  It's also a way to take a 90 minute trip to rural India.

 I posted about the legend and included the trailer last week.


Girish had asked to tell him how it was received, so I asked audience members if they would talk about it as they came out of the theater.  Here's what they said:

AIFF 2017: On Tap For Friday

Hard decisions again.

Martini Matinee offers a good selection of shorts:  Brainstorm, Cigare, Baggage, Conspiracy PIE, Second to None, Gator Aide, Happy End, and Game.

Game is probably my favorite narrative short.  But Brainstorm is very well done too.

You can link to each program by clicking on the colored bars.

I haven't seen any Animation yet this festival, so I'm looking forward to that since I've already seen Painless, one of the features in competition.  The director, Jordon Horowitz, will be there to answer questions.  Here he is Wednesday night telling me about the film.

[Sorry,the titles in the movie disappeared.  I'll try to figure out why and fix it.] Friday, December 8

2:00pm

Martini Matinee 

5:00pm

Short Docs 1: Stories of Redemption LIMITEDDim The Flourescents 

6:00pm

Half Life in Fukushima LIMITED

7:00pm

Shorts: Love and Pain 

7:45pm

Animation at Night Painless 

9:00pm

A to B Rollerski Late Night Lounge: Alaskana Party 

9:45pm

Muse LIMITED

The director of AtoB Rollerski was here earlier in the week.  I'm not sure if she's still here.  Her film is about a Latvian Olympian who roller skis from Arctic to Baja.  

Muse is a feature about an artist whose muse expects a lot..

AIFF 2017: Thursday Options

Here's what Thursday's program looks like - some hard choices to make.

Thursday, December 7

6:00pm

Don't Come Back from the Moon LIMITED AK Exp theater LargeShorts: Global Village   LIMITED E Street Theater

6:15pm

Made in Alaska: Shorts LIMITED AK Exp Small

7:45pm

Voyage of the Southern Sun LIMITEDE Street Theater

8:00pm

Gay-La Movie : Check It LIMITEDAK Exp Large

8:15pm

Short Docs 3: Compelling Characters LIMITED AK Exp Small

Firs Choice, the first three.  Haven't seen the Feature (Don't Come Back...), click on the pink/purple bar and get the description.
Global Village Shorts has some great shorts ranging from funny to sad to inspirational.  You can't go wrong with this group.  The benefit of shorts is that if you don't like one film, it will be over soon and you get another chance.  There's a comedic look at the problems of adultery (7 Beds - Spain), and then Pastries (Italian) looks at how stereotypes and tender egos lead to problems.  Real Men Don't Cry  is a father/son ice hockey story from Spain.  Yochi (Belize) is a bit of an advocacy film, but done well, brothers, poverty, the how the  international trafficking in wild birds exploits poverty.  Good story, well done.  Good Luck Orlo (Slovenia/Croatia) was the one that was a little hard to follow, yet it was well done.  Here's a link to the film's website which clarifies things.  And The Geneva Convention (France) was probably my favorite.  A group of teens ready to attack one guy, and the mediators.  Well done.
Obviously, I really like the Global Village program.  I don't think you can go wrong with that one.

Click on the colored bars above for more info on the films.

I haven't seen the Short Docs 3 program, but I know there are good films there and it's probably where I'll be at 8:15.

AIFF 2017: I Just Need To Tell Everyone How Amazing "The Drawer Boy" Was

I'd heard from some programmers that The Drawer Boy was good.  The trailer looked promising and the fact that it was an adaptation of the most produced Canadian play was promising.

It was very good.  A group of actors descends on this dusty rural Canadian farm community.  Miles knocks on the door of a farm house and tells the man who answers that he's an actor and his group has come from Toronto to learn about farmers and write a play about farmers.  He needs a place to stay and in exchange he'll be a free farmhand.

But then near the end was as powerful a scene as I can recall watching.  I was pulled right out of my seat in the theater and into the story on the screen as I watched the drama unfold, the untold story pried out of Morgan's heart.  I wasn't in the theater any more; I was in that farmhouse kitchen sitting on the edge of my chair next to Miles wondering what was coming next.

I don't understand why this film was scheduled only once.  I'm hoping that it wins an award and is shown again as part of Best of The Fest.  There have been some very good films in the festival, but this one is more than special.

I know I owe you more of an explanation, but I'm still processing.  I can offer you the film's director, Aviva Armour-Ostroff answering questions after the showing.

AIFF 2017: Wednesday Decisions Are Easy

The only decisions you have to make are whether to go or not go. And everything is at the Bear Tooth.  Very easy. Tuesday I had to decide between "Saving The Animals" and a workshop with Dan Mirvish.

The after school is a showing of student made films.  When I've had the chance to see these in the past, they were always worthwhile. There are some free tickets to be had at Bosco's, other wise they're  only $5.  Free with a festival pass.

Grand Unified Theory, based on the trailer, is a complicated family dynamics film.  Click on the colored bars below to get more information.

Wednesday, December 6

3:45pm

After-School Special LIMITED

6:00pm

Grand Unified Theory 

8:15pm

Proper Binge    

The trailer for Proper Binge convinced me this is not my type of movie.  It starts with a woman  Way to much fighting and anger.  But I think it's an Alaska feature, so it's getting a choice spot in the festival program.  Makes me think about how much I miss the days when the Mexican Consulate sponsored several Mexican films at the festival.

Looks like you have to go to Youtube to see it.  Be ready for non stop expletives, fights, drunken staggering, various displays of anger and frustration, and blood.

AIFF 2017: Some Of The Film Makers I've Met This Weekend

It's been a film-packed weekend.  Not much time to post about everything, but here are some of the people I had a chance to meet.  Meant to get this up already, but busy trying to catch up with movies, blogging, sleep, and the rest of my life.

Emily Pando (director) and Jesse Amorratanasuchad (cinematographer - I think I got that right) whose short "8 A.M." showed Saturday morning in the program Love and Pain.  It shows again Friday Dec 8 at 7pm at the AK Exp Theater.

"8 A.M." plays on one well used trope - the alarm clock and groggy sleeper - and one well used premise - the audience knows that someone is going to die but the characters don't.  But in this case they use an incredible set of twins who act as the Greek Chorus.  A very well done film with an important message.  You can see a little more - including a screenshot with the twins - on my Shorts in Competition post.

I met Jason Mott between films in a film maker meet and greet session.  It turns out he's the winner of the film festival's screen writing contest.  His script is called Endings LLC about a company that helps plan people's demise.

Jason's from North Carolina and is a novelist.  He mentioned two books - The Returned and Wonder of All Things.  I looked them up and they are available at Loussac.  Actually, he was being modest.  There are several more titles with his name on them.

Here's AIFF director Rebecca Pottebaum hamming it up with volunteer Pablo who sold tickets this weekend at the Alaska Experience Theater..









And here's John Zahs, the subject of the documentary Saving Brinton which played at the Bear Tooth Sunday evening.  It was a great film festival film that looked at John's successful efforts to save and restore films of the Brinton family that were found when the estate was sold.  These are films from the first decade of the 20th Century and some are the only existing copies.  I've got video of his Q&A after the showing along with some of his saved movies.  He said it would be ok to post them here.  So when I catch up, I'll get them up.  You can see more about the film and the trailer at my post on the Docs In Competition.

And, again I think I have this right, here's Dita Gruze who is the co-producer and film editor for the documentary A to B Roller Ski about a Latvian Olympic champion's trip from the Arctic to Baja on roller skis.  It plays again Friday Dec 8 at 9pm at the AK Experience Theater.













Here's AIFF President Rich Curtner (right) introducing Yochi Executive Producer Craig Holden for Q&A after the Shorts program Global Village in which Yochi played.



There's more on video, but that takes me a little longer to turn around.

AIFF 2017: My Guide To Tuesday Dec. 5, 2017

Tuesday Dec 5, 2017 -

More choices makes this another difficult day.  

Short Docs 3 has three film in competition - Ghost of the Arctic, Ten Meter Tower, and The Collection.   But that's just the programmers' choices and there were films not 'in competition' that I liked better than some 'in competition.' 

I've got more on these (and the other short docs in competition here.  Including my personal problem with Ghosts of the Arctic.   

Ten Meter Tower is wonderful.  Despite people's diverse tastes,  I would guess that 90% of viewers will like it.

Click on the purple/pink  Life Hack link below and you'll know as much as I know about it.

The Last Animals is doc in competition.  From what I can tell is a very well funded and marketed film that strongly advocates for saving endangered species.  You can see more about it and the trailer at this post on the docs in competition.

But it's playing at the same time as a workshop by Dan Mirvish.  I've never met him face to face, but I did a Skype interview with him in 2012 when his film Between Us played at AIFF.  It's a loooong video (for me) but if you watch some of it you can get a sense of whether you want to go to the workshop.  I'd recommend the workshop simply because you get to see an accomplished film maker live talking about what he does.  

For me, there's no hard decision at 8pm - AlphaGo, another documentary in competition.
But others might not agree.  

The colored bars are linked so you can see the details - location and short descriptions.  Or go directly to the AIFF Sched for Tuesday,

Tuesday, December 5

3:00pm

Short Docs 3: Compelling Characters LIMITEDLife Hack LIMITED

5:30pm

The Last Animals "The Cheerful Subversive's Guide to Independent Filmmaking" - A Workshop with Dan Mirvish 

8:00pm

AlphaGo Guilty Pleasures: Beastmaster LIMITED

    

AIFF 2017: Videos of Yasmin Mistry (Family Rewritten) and Ida Theresa Myklebost (Unwelcome)

Both these films play today

Monday, Dec 4, 2017  

Short Doc Program Against The Grain at 

3pm at the Alaska Experience Theater small.  

and these two film makers will be there.  

Here's Yasmin Mistry:

Family Rewritten is about a girl in the foster care system who has cystic fibrosis.



Here's Ida Theresa Myklebost:



"Unwelcome" is narrated by a young Syrian refugee in Greece.  Myklebost is a Norwegian television journalist who covered the Syrian war.  This is her first film.
"Unwelcome" plays again

Sunday, 12:30pm at the 

AK Exp Small as part of the program 

Short Docs 2: Against the Grain.

AIFF 2017: Shawn Convey Talks About His Film "Among Wolves"

I had a Skype conversation (audio only) Friday about the making of the film Among Wolves.  

This is a film about Bosnian war vets who have made one of their projects to protect a herd of wild horses.  I only saw the trailer and read the synopsis, but my main questions was how did an American film maker come to make a documentary in Bosnian  (Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian are all "mutually intelligible standard varieties" according to Wikipedia.)  He said he lived in Mostar for four years and I think he spent more time in Bosnia altogether. Long enough to get the trust of this group.  So those were the kinds of questions I asked.  Here's about five minutes of our conversation.  Basically it covers how he found this subject and made the film.

The film shows Monday, December 4 at the Bear Tooth at 8pm.  Shawn is scheduled to be at the Monday night showing.




Just to help out, here's a map of most of the former Yugoslavia.  This film takes place in Bosnia and Shawn lived in Mostar for 4 years.

AIFF 2017: Opening Night Shorts

There was a full house Friday night for the Opening Night Shorts program.  We had to find seats in the balcony.

My internet has been down, so this is a catch up post from Saturday night before Broken Ghost.

Below are  directors Semara Lerman (Iron) and Jeannie Donahoe (l) (Game) talking about their films.  I've got some video, and I'll get that up when I can.

My favorite short Friday night was Game.  Everything was right.  Donahoe got a funding from Lexus Films (yes, their part of that Lexus and Toyota).  I got to see the film ahead of time online and that copy also had Weinstein Company in the credits.  But in last nights copy it was gone.  I talked to Jeannie afterward.  She said Weinstein is coming off all the films and they really hadn't had any connection with them at all.

Cold Storage was also lots of fun, though I would have ended it after the post cards.  I'd note that the filmmaker is part of a film dance group, which helps explain it a little.

OK, the video is ready:



I need to get off now.  I'll put up more later.

AIFF 2017 - Homework Assignment Before Seeing "Pale Blue Dot" ('Sarvanaam' in Marathi) SUNDAY

I've been chatting with Girish Mohite via Facebook Messenger about his film, Pale Blue Dot, which plays at the Anchorage International Film Festival

Sunday, Dec. 3 AK Exp Theater Small 11:45am   and
Sunday, Dec. 9 AK Exp  Theater Small  2:30pm

I would note that this film has only been shown publicly in India at its world premiere at the Mumbai International Film Festival.   This will be the first public showing of the film outside of India.  This is one of the Features in Competition.


In our first exchange, he told me the film was based on an ancient Hindu legend.  I asked for more information and he sent me a link to Wikipedia:

"The son questions his father - First Valli The Upanishad opens with the story of Vajasravasa, also called Aruni Auddalaki Gautama,[24] who gives away all his worldly possessions. However, his son Nachiketa (Sanskrit: नचिकेता) sees the charitable sacrifice as a farce, because all those worldly things have already been used to exhaustion, and are of no value to the recipients. The cows given away, for example, were so old that they had 'drank-their-last-water' (पीतोदकाः), 'eaten-their-last-grass' (जग्धतृणाः), 'don't give milk' (दुग्धदोहाः), 'who are barren' (निरिन्द्रियाः).[25] Concerned, the son asks his father,  

"Dear father, to whom will you give me away?"

— Nachiketa, Katha Upanishad, 1.1.1-1.1.4[26][27]

He said it a second, and then a third time.
The father, seized by anger, replied: "To Death, I give you away."  

Nachiketa does not die, but accepts his father's gifting him to Death, by visiting the abode of Yama - the deity of death in Indian mythology. Nachiketa arrives, but Yama is not in his abode. Nachiketa as guest goes hungry for three nights, states verse 9 of the first Valli of Katha Upanishad. Yama arrives and is apologetic for this dishonor to the guest, so he offers Nachiketa three wishes.[28] 

Nachiketa' first wish is that Yama discharge him from the abode of death, back to his family, and that his father be calm, well-disposed, not resentful and same as he was before when he returns. Yama grants the first wish immediately, states verse 1.1.11 of Katha Upanishad.[28] 

For his second wish, Nachiketa prefaces his request with the statement that heaven is a place where there is no fear, no anxiety, no old age, no hunger, no thirst, no sorrow.[28] He then asks Yama, in verse 1.1.13 of Katha Upanishad to be instructed as to the proper execution of fire ritual that enables a human being to secure heaven. Yama responds by detailing the fire ritual, including how the bricks should be arranged, and how the fire represents the building of the world. Nachiketa remembers what Yama tells him, repeats the ritual, a feat which pleases Yama, and he declares that this fire ritual will thereafter be called the "Nachiketa fires".[29] Yama adds that along with "three Nachiketa fires", anyone who respects three bonds (with mother, father and teacher), does three kinds of karma (rituals, studies and charity), and understands the knowledge therein, becomes free of sorrow.[29] 

Nachiketa then asks for his third wish, asking Yama in verse 1.1.20, about the doubt that human beings have about "what happens after a person dies? Does he continue to exist in another form? or not?"[29] The remaining verse of first Valli of Katha Upanishad is expression of reluctance by Yama in giving a straight "yes or no" answer. Yama states that even gods doubt and are uncertain about that question, and urges Nachiketa to pick another wish.[30][31] Nachiketa says that if gods doubt that, then he "Yama" as deity of death ought to be the only one who knows the answer. Yama offers him all sorts of worldly wealth and pleasures instead, but Nachiketa says human life is short, asks Yama to keep the worldly wealth and pleasures to himself, declares that pompous wealth, lust and pleasures are fleeting and vain, then insists on knowing the nature of Atman (Soul) and sticks to his question, "what happens after death?"[30][32]"

He also sent me this synopsis of the film.  I don't think this is a spoiler, trust me.

"A specific name underlines the existence of a given individual but Sarvanaam i.e. an Eternity is a collective notion. Even while living this life making an effort to  preserve one's own identity, often the destiny plays its cards in such an incomprehensible manner that one is imperatively left with no alternative but to ignore one's own personal existence or unique identity and dissolve oneself in the mighty oblivion of the Sarvanaam, the eternity.  The film 'Sarvanaam', the Pale Blue Dot makes you aware of this insurmountable truth.
Thus, the existence of LIFE is PALE BLUE DOT.
'Death' is an ultimate truth. Each one of us is radically aware that at some or the other point of time in life, the death, is going to come to meet us and end our role. But even then every human being feels afraid of the death of his near and dear ones rather than being frightened of one's own death. That is why, every individual gets disturbed when the same death starts lingering around in the lives of your near and dear ones. This close shadow of the death destroys the peace of mind of every individual howsoever invariable truth it may be. An approaching shadow of that evil arouses a feeling of unacceptable injustice in his mind and he leaves no stone unturned to unveil the answer of this riddle. The unbearable sorrow of this inhuman destiny and the agonising journey of every human being's life saga is the gist of the Marathi feature film 'Sarvanaam'."

Below is the trailer. I'd note that Girish sent me this and gave me permission to put it on Youtube so I could get an embed code to post it here.

AIFF 2017: Animation in Competition - A Very International Group

I've never been able to do overviews of the films in competition in all the categories before.  This one and the previous one - Made in Alaska - are a little short changed, but time's running out.

As I put this together I had a couple of thoughts:
1.  This is the most international category of the festival - Taiwan, Korea, Canada, Ecuador, Iran, Czech Republic, Turkey, Japan, Venezuela, and USA
2.  These will be the hardest to see - most are only shown once in slots that will be competing with longer films.

I'd note that the animated films are often the most original and beautiful.

So if you want to see these, you need to mark these dates and times and schedule them.

The animated films in competition are spread over three different programs - Animation 1, Animation 2, and Family Films - and that's how I've organized and color coded them for you.

Two of these films will also be shown at the Martini Matinee - I've marked them in green.

There's a mystery category called Animation at Night.  It's Friday Dec. 8 at E Street Theater, 7:45pm
The films in this program have not been posted yet.

Animation 1

Sat. Dec 2, E Street Theater 2pm

BAUMU
Shao-Chun Chung
Taiwan
9 min 30 secs
Animation 1
Sat. Dec 2, E Street Theater 2pm

he Realm of Deepest Knowing
Seeing Her Kim
Korea
3 min 30 sec
Animation 1

Animation 2

Sat Dec 9 E Street Theater, 7pm

Twice Upon a Time
Vojin Vasovic
Canada
15 min
Animation 2


Afterwork
Luis Uson
Ecuador
7 min
Animation 2
Sat Dec 9 E Street Theater, 7pm

Cigare
Tom Tassel
Canada
6 min
Animation 2
Martini Matinee

Genesis
Abtin Mozafari
Iran
10 min
Animation 2

Happy End 
Jan Saska
Czech Republic
6 min
Animation 2
Martini Matinee Fri Dec 8 Bear Tooth

RIPrivacy
Aycan Basar
Turkey
5 min
Animation 2

South Forest
Wenru Huang
Japan
7 min
Animation 2

Family Films

Sat Dec 9 Loussac 12pm

Bakiro
Miguel New
Venezuela
15 min
Family Films
Sat Dec 9 Loussac 12pm


Light Sight
Seyed Tabatabaei
Iran
7 min 30 sec
Family Films

Navajo Tales
Dallin Penmen
USA
4 min 2 sec
Family Films


Undiscovered
Sara Litzenberger
USA
2 min 30 sec
Family Films

I've done this post fairly quickly, with the help of a 40 minute delay (so far) of our flight back to Anchorage.  If you catch any errors, let me know.