I checked on the Awards ceremony today.
It's at 8:30pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.
I couldn't find it online, on the Facebook page, or in the program where everything Saturday is listed.
It is listed on page 17 of the Festival Program.
I checked on the Awards ceremony today.
It's at 8:30pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.
I couldn't find it online, on the Facebook page, or in the program where everything Saturday is listed.
It is listed on page 17 of the Festival Program.
Starting at the E Street Theater
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Family Dynamics Shorts Block
"Encore Presentation of Top Festival Films (Times and Films TBA)"
The printed schedule says:
11:00 am Local Favorites
2:00 pm Best Shorts
4:00 pm Best Narrative Feature
6:00 pm Best Documentary Feature
All at the Museum
I don't see an award ceremony listed anywhere, though there is a final night dinner (see poster at the end of Saturday above.) Maybe they'll announce winners there. But check out the Sunday schedule online page.
Two more days of festival. Well only one more for us. Not that long ago, the Festival website said the festival was Dec. 6-14 and we made our plane reservations for December 15. Then the more recent edition of the website moved it to December 15.
This festival has been filled with crazy good documentaries - Champions of the Golden Valley, Ultimate Citizens, Porcelain War, 76 Days Adrift, The Empathizer, Diving Into the Darkness - and I heard Unearth was also great. And I thought Queen of the Ring was also quite good, but not quite at the level of those others.
Today we saw two more: So Surreal: Behind the Masks and The Cigaret Surfboard. The basic 'discovery' in Surreal, was how Yupik Alaskan Native masks along with Native Masks from British Columbia had a huge influence on the surrealist artists early in the 20th Century. This was something I'd learned some time ago. But the film combined a number of themes - the spiritual meaning and use of Alaska Native masks, the history of how the churches and white government banned the ceremonies in which masks were used and confiscated them, how the Surrealists discovered these masks and were inspired by them, and a detective tale of where some of the masks were today and how to get them repatriated. The magic of the film is how seamlessly all these themes were intertwined.Perry Eaton (center) and Drew Michael, both Alaska Native mask makers featured in the film, talk afterward about masks and the film.
But I also was very pleasantly surprised by how good Cigarette Surfboard was. I'm biased. I grew up near Venice Beach, and while I was too lazy to lug a surfboard around (they were big heavy monsters back in those days, and none of my friends were surfers) I was an avid body surfer growing up.
Not only is the tobacco full of chemicals, but the filters are not biodegradable. So Taylor decides to make a surfboard using cigarette butts to draw attention to the pollution they cause. The first one - in the photo - was two heavy. But he got it down in weight and then got professional surfers to use the boards as a way to get the environmental message across. The basic question people seemed to ask when they saw these boards was "It must take forever to collect all the butts." They get told, "Not really, they're everywhere."
So this is an environmental movie and a surfing movie. We see lots of people riding the waves on their cigarette surfboards.
Taylor also visits surfers in different parts of the world. In Ireland one former surfer decided flying around the world to go surfing, while fun, was not environmentally defensible, and he switched to sustainable farming that won't harm the ocean. In southwest England, a group of surfers had successfully lobbied - with surfboards at Parliament - to end the practice of dumping raw sewage into the ocean.I'm falling behind. Last night's showing of Diving Into The Darkness was fantastic, highlighted by the fact that the director and person highlighted in the movie were there - Nays Bahai and Jill Heinerth.
But I'm swamped today and so I'm taking the easy way out by just posting a copy of the AIFF program for Friday,
It was a full house at the E Street Theater Wednesday night for The Strangers' Case. The film is packaged with five chapters: The Doctor; The Soldier; The Smuggler; The Poet; and The Captain. They all converge in this story that starts out (after an opening scene in a Chicago hospital) in a hospital in Aleppo, Syria. The doctor goes home to a birthday party and a bomb blast. The soldier is upset when ordered to shoot a group of men accused of being terrorists, because it include a boy who wrote graffiti. The smuggler sells spots on a boat from Turkey to Greece, cash only, no guarantees. The poet is a refugee who is trying to get his family to Greece. The captain is in the Greek Coast Guard who goes out everyday to look for and rescue boat people. You can see the trailer in the previous post.
The only actor I knew was Omar Sy, the great French actor who's played in television series and many movies. It was particularly poignant given that Assad's regime in Syria was overthrown just this week. A film you should look out for.
At the film was Ash Avildsen, whose own film, Queens of the Ring, plays tomorrow night. I asked him for a quick intro to his film at after the showing of The Strangers' Case. It's below. At the end you can see his demonstration of appreciation for The Strangers' Case.
[I'll add the video tomorrow morning. It's still uploading to Youtube and I need some sleep.DONE!]
I've seen so many really good films. The documentaries are particularly strong this year, though The Strangers' Case is a narrative feature. I'm hoping that having Omar Sy in the film will help it get wide distribution.
Thursday's Schedule
9:00 AM: Sonic Storytelling: Music Licensing and Artist Collaboration in Film Alaska Experience Theater
Moving to the E Street Theater now
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Coffee Talk/Panel
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Doc Shorts #2
"Uphill (2024) release date is Thursday, December 12 starring Adam D Boyer, Victoria Summer Felix, Matthew Rush and directed by Adam D Boyer. A decade after high school, three old classmates reconnect and reevaluate their lives while hiking a mountain in Alaska."
Screenshot from Press Page Photo |
"Jill Heinerth (born 1965) is a Canadian cave diver, underwater explorer, writer, photographer and film-maker.[4] She has made TV series for PBS, National Geographic Channel and the BBC, consulted on movies for directors including James Cameron, written several books and produced documentaries including We Are Water[5] and Ben's Vortex, about the disappearance of Ben McDaniel. . .In 1998, Heinerth was part of the team that made the first 3D map of an underwater cave.[8]
Heinerth became the first person to dive the ice caves of Antarctica, penetrating further into an underwater cave system than any woman ever[5][dead link] In 2001, she was part of a team that explored ice caves of icebergs[9] where she and her then husband Paul Heinerth "discovered wondrous life and magical vistas" and experienced the calving of an iceberg, documented in the film Ice Island.[10]"
As our friendship deepened, I discovered that Jill's story was profoundly deep, both literally and figuratively, and how the personal side of her story was immensely captivating. Yet, this remarkable story had largely remained confined to short video formats. Given my unique position at the intersection of the filmmaking and diving realms, I found the call to tell her story irresistible. What followed was a year of intense collaboration, a creative partnership that would prove invaluable as we tackled the herculean challenges of principal photography.I had no intention of being a passive observer while my colleagues risked their lives to capture the story on film, especially when it came to the underwater sequences. So I undertook the gruelling journey ofbecoming a certified cave diver on a rebreather, something which had never been done before amongstfilm directors. I descended alongside the cast and crew into the depths of the caves, well beyond the reach of recreational divers. It was an arduous yet exhilarating experience to dive, work, and learn alongside some of the world's most renowned cave divers. Despite the monumental difficulties and inherent risks in directing a crew of cave divers, I would embark on this adventure again without hesitation.
8:00 pm (still at the Bear Tooth) Queen of the Ring
"From writer/director Ash Avildsen and based on the book by Jeff Leen, Queen of the Ring tells the incredible true story of Mildred Burke (Emily Bett Rickards), a single mother from a small town who went on to become the first million-dollar female athlete in world history. Mildred was a woman determined to make a name for herself as a female wrestler at a time when it was illegal across most of the United States, becoming a three-time women’s world champion from the 1930s through the 1950s despite all the challenges. At the same time, her personal life was not without its challenges, especially once she meets promoter Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas), with whom she falls in love, gets married, becomes aware that he’s cheating on her with several of the other female wrestlers on his roster, and decides to stay married as a business arrangement, so that she doesn’t get screwed out of her own money. Through everything, she perseveres, becoming a pioneer in the sport that she loved. . .
"How did this project come your way? Was this just an audition that came up?
RICKARDS: I received the script in my inbox. There was no audition, just a talk with (writer/director) Ash [Avildsen] and questions about whether I had wrestled. The answer was no. And how comfortable I was with physicality, which was very comfortable. I felt very capable of this woman. I’m really grateful that Ash sent me and gave me this opportunity because I wouldn’t have known who this woman was. And I had never gotten to go under such a physical transformation for a character before, one that was not only energetic, but had to have the body structure to find the energy. It has really opened up my eyes, in terms of my process and acting. It just makes me hungry for more. It’s a cycle."
Grammar note: I wasn't sure where the apostrophe should go in The Strangers' Case. Before or after the final s? I checked the program and put it before the final s. But that makes it singular, which, after seeing the movie didn't make sense. There were a lot of 'strangers.' And I see now that the trailer spells it Strangers'. So I've fixed it.
The program also misled me on this last film. The title in the program is Queen of the Ring. But the title on the trailer is Queens of the Ring. Colider also has it singular. So I've changed it where I can find it, but it takes too long for me to upload video to YouTube to change it on the video tonight.
[Update: Dec. 12, 2024, 11:52pm: I saw Queen of the Ring tonight, and the title on the film was QUEEN, no S. So I've changed what I could. Editing the video and uploading it again will take a bit more time. Also, I left an 'l' out of Ash Avildsen's name. But I've fixed that too.]
[ACS has been promising fiber optic for two years now, but until then I'm stuck with painfully slow internet.]
There's just one picture on the schedule for tonight.
E Street Theater
315 E Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99501
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM: Feature Narrative: The Strangers' Case – Event Tickets
Whether you know Omar Sy from Lupin or Jurassic World or X-Men: Days of Future Past, you know this amazing French actor.
And just a couple of days after Assad has been overthrown and has fled Damascus, we have this film about Syrian refugees.
"Beloved French actor Omar Sy stars in the debut feature from longtime producer Brandt Andersen in The Strangers’ Case, a searing and international ensemble that is world premiering at the Berlin Film Festival on Friday. [That was last February]
Sy stars along with Yasmin Al Massri in the film, which is an extension of Andersen’s Oscar shortlisted 2020 short Refugee also starring Sy and Al Massri. It’s playing as a Berlinale Special Gala title later this week.
The film follows the chain reaction of events involving five different families in four different countries after tragedy strikes a Syrian family in Aleppo: a doctor (Al Massri) and her daughter, who come home following a chaotic shift at an Aleppo hospital; a soldier who witnesses heinous crimes towards men, women and children in the service of the Syrian regime; a smuggler in Turkey (Sy) who tries desperately to make ends meet for his young son while also trying to save enough money to afford his own escape; a poet from a Turkish refugee camp who barters for space on an overcrowded boat with his young family; and a Greek coast guard captain who spends his days and nights rescuing sinking lifeboats full of migrants."
"The international scope and grueling human cost of the global refugee crisis lends itself to contemporary epic filmmaking of a particularly sober stripe, as seen mostly recently in Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” and Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated “Io Capitano.” Shorn of their ripped-from-the-headlines urgency, such stories of humans crossing vast distances and facing hostile odds in pursuit of a better life are as old as time itself. A muscular, assured debut feature from U.S. producer-turned-director Brandt Andersen, “The Strangers’ Case” stresses the sprawling scale of the situation with a chaptered structure that pivots between multiple involved parties in the refugee’s journey, from warmongers to traffickers to rescuers to the displaced victims themselves. . .
“The Strangers’ Case” is titled for a prescient, Shakespeare-written speech from the play “Sir Thomas More,” in defence of those displaced from their country and barred from others: “Would you be pleased to find a nation of such barbarous temper that, breaking out in hideous violence, would not afford you an abode on earth?” Brandt’s debut hasn’t quite the Bard’s poetry, but the plaintive conscience is present and correct."
Alaska Experience Theater
333 W. 4th Avenue (NW corner of 4th & C St. – enter on C), Anchorage, Alaska 99501
9:00 AM: Documenting Reality: The Truths and Trials of Non-Fiction Filmmaking
There are a lot of shorts programs today. Sunday had some excellent shorts that I'll try to highlight in a later post. I'll be doing my elementary school volunteer time in the morning so I'll miss the morning shorts programs.
E Street Theater
315 E Street, Anchorage, Alaska 99501
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM: Other Worlds Shorts
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Cinematic Variety Pack #1 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Cinematic Variety Pack #1 – Event Tickets
From the Seed and Spark - what appears to be a crowdfunding site for films
"This project shines a light on the often fraught relationships and opposing perspectives that are still so prevalent between 2nd-gen Vietnamese and their immigrant parents. I was inspired to make this film after comparing my own connection to Vietnam with my mother's, who still refuses to go back. . ."
I find this kind of cross-cultural films fascinating. Looking at the kids of immigrants going back to the country their parents fled from 30 or 40 years later. Maybe because I went to Germany as a student 25 years after my mother fled Germany which was 30 years after my father had gotten out.
Bear Guardians - "Bear Guardians is a portrait of a father and daughter wildlife rescue team that cares for sun and moon bears in Cambodia. Follow their work with two amputee bears who have lost limbs from being caught in snare traps."
Now switching to the Bear Tooth Theatrepub
5:30 pm: SPOTLIGHT SELECTION SHORTS #1
8:00 PM: Narrative Feature: The Way We Speak – Event Tickets
The teaser for this has been shown before a lot of the programs this weekend, and it's a bit cryptic. It feels like it was put together by people who knew what the film was about, but it left me scratching my head and not sure I wanted to see it.
So I've found this interview with one of the actors, Peter Fabian. (He was Howard Hamlin in Better Call Saul.)
And here she's talking with three young film makers. On the right is AIFF Board Chair, Rich Curtner.
There's a lot to see Saturday from 9am until 10pm. At the Bear Tooth, the Museum, and even coffee with film makers at the Alaska Experience Theater.
The focus has been on the two films at the Bear Tooth Saturday. One is an Alaska focused film on fishing in Bristol Bay and the other has skiing and mountains. Both those kinds of films do well at AIFF festivals, which, I'm sure, is why they're at the Bear Tooth. And Champions of Golden Valley is essentially sold out already. Unearth has some seats left in the balcony.
But for my money, the film to see will be Porcelain War, at the Museum at 6pm. It premiered at Sundance and has won many awards. It's a film about Ukrainian artists fighting the war with art. There's a trailer down below.
So basically, I'm presenting Saturday as chronologically as I can - given that there is overlap between the Bear Tooth and the Museum at 12:30pm
Things start off early at the first of the festival's "Coffee Talk and Panels" at the Alaska Experience theater.
"Debut Dreams: The Journey of First-Time Directors"
SATURDAY December 7th at 9:00AM
Alaska Experience Theater
First features are filled with passion, challenges, and the thrill of discovery. This panel brings together debut directors who dared to dive into filmmaking, sharing insights into their creative processes, struggles, and triumphs. Hear how they’ve shaped their visions into powerful first features and what advice they’d give to those taking their own first steps.
And then at 10am at the museum.
At 10 am: Ultimate Citizens
From the film website:
ULTIMATE CITIZENS is the story of Jamshid Khajavi, an extraordinary 65-year-old Iranian American public school counselor who uses the sport of Ultimate Frisbee to help children heal. In an America where many families are quietly, barely getting by, Mr. Jamshid coaches an underdog team of kids on their way to compete in the world’s largest youth tournament. ULTIMATE CITIZENS is a celebration of resilience and belonging, and the third independent feature documentary from award-winning filmmaker Francine Strickwerda.
It first showed in May 2023, and has been at (and won awards at) a number of festivals this year. The AIFF/Goelevant site says it was filmed at Seattle’s Hazel Wolf K-8 school.
Then come two shorts programs. The first conflicts with Champions of Golden Valley at the Bear Tooth.
12:30 PM – 2:30 PM: International Gems – Event Tickets
Ivania – 12:00
Complications – 14:00
K.O.- 27:00
Pioneras – 14:30
Monte Clerigo – 27:30
Meanwhile, at the Bear Tooth:
Two Documentaries,
12 Noon: Unearth
"Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has signed on to executive produce
Picture from Rogovy Foundation
“Unearth,” a new documentary that will make its world premiere at DOC NYC on Nov. 16.Directed, produced and shot by Hunter Nolan, “Unearth” tells the story of two sets of siblings — the Salmon sisters and the Strickland brothers — who live in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. Both sets of siblings are alarmed when they learn of and fight against advanced plans for a Pebble Mine — a massive open-pit gold and copper mine — in the vicinity of their homes. The Salmon sisters, Native Alaskans, work on the regulatory front, pushing the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to block the project, while the Strickland brothers, independent fishermen, expose the truth behind what the Pebble Mine developer is telling the public. The 93-minute doc reveals systemic failures in mining and the balance between the need for materials and their environmental costs." (From Variety)
November 16 wasn't that long ago, so AIFF audiences will be among the first to see this Alaska based film. You can learn more about the film at the Rogovy Foundation website.
As of Thursday night, there are some seats left in the balcony at the Bear Tooth.
2:30 pm Champions of the Golden Valley
Picture from Champions of the Golden Valley website |
This film got front page coverage in the Anchorage Daily News yesterday so I won't spent much more time on it here. From their website:
"In the remote mountains of Afghanistan, a newfound passion for skiing attracts young athletes from rival villages to the slopes. With minimal gear and makeshift wooden skis, the determined coach Alishah Farhang organizes a ski race like no other that unites the community in a moment of joy and triumph, just before the country’s collapse
Champions of the Golden Valley captures the spirit of a classic underdog sports story with the heartfelt portrait of a community finding hope amid disrupted dreams. Revealing a stunning unseen side of Afghanistan, it is an uplifting exploration of what it means to be a champion – in all its forms."
As of Thursday night, the Bear Tooth map shows one seat way up in the far corner of the balcony.
For those who have tickets at the Bear Tooth, Golden Valley ends at 2:30pm, and you could make it to the 3pm Alaska shorts at the Museum. But there will be a number of film makers at the conference. If Golden Valley has representatives coming, there will surely be some questions and answers afterward. But if you miss the first or second short, there are more in the program.
3:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Made in Alaska Shorts #1 –
The Gingerbread Man – 9:03
The Glacier Pilot – 10:00
Footprints on Katmai – 21:50
The Grace – 13:00
Mending the Net – 11:36
5:30 PM – 6:00 PM: Alaska Jewish Museum Presents – Demon Box – This film is free at the Museum, it's not clear if you have to buy tickets in advance to be sure you get in. The IMDB page says:
"After festival rejections, a director revises his intensely personal short film about trauma, suicide, and the Holocaust, and transforms it into a painful, blunt and funny dissection of the film and his life."
It also has a short trailer, that I don't see a way to embed here. I'd note that Leslie Fried, the director of the Jewish Museum in Anchorage has unfailingly nominated excellent films every year.
There's still more on Saturday at the Museum
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Documentary Feature: Porcelain War at the Museum
This is a Ukrainian movie and from what I can tell is one of the movies to see at the festival. From the NYTimes:
"The latest documentary dispatch from Ukraine, “Porcelain War,” brings a message of hope rooted in art. Making art does feel like an act of resistance during the Russian invasion, when Kremlin propaganda attacks the very existence of Ukrainian culture. But what’s intriguing is that the directors, Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, also celebrate Ukraine’s military defense, making for a jangly mix of idyll and warfare.
Slava, who appears in the film, is both a ceramist and a member of an Ukraine special forces unit who gives weapons training to civilians turned soldiers. His partner, Anya, paints the whimsical figurines he creates, and the irrepressible couple weather the war in bombed-out Kharkiv with their more anxious pal Andrey, a painter and cameraman."
"The film has won 30 prizes around the world, including the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at Sundance. This past weekend, it earned the Grand Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival in New York, as well as the Best Documentary Editing Award. And at the Heartland International Film Festival in Indianapolis, it won the Documentary Feature Grand Prize, which comes with a $20,000 cash award."
8:00 PM – 10:00 PM: Narrative Feature: Midwinter at the Museum
"Nadine is tired and her whole body aches with inflammation and she can sleep. Her son Goldie keeps her active beyond her energy level. Her husband Jack owns a large ad agency and has been a loving husband who has recently expanded his romantic life beyond his marriage to include co-worker Maeve...who happens to be the ex-partner of his sister-in-law Lena. Lena is a burgeoning music writer who, getting over a break-up, takes on an assignment writing about one of her favorite queer indie artists, Mia Hawthorne. Mia is out in the Berkshires, in search of inspiration, a bit frustrated with a high-class problem: the record label wants her to have a co-writer. The mundane poetry of life ensues.
Ryan Andrew Balas
Director, Writer" (From TMBD)
Midwinter is also streaming on Netflix and other streaming sites, so if it's been a long day already, you can watch it at home.
I've been covering AIFF since 2006. Pretty extensively for many years, less vigorously in recent years. This year will probably be the sketchiest. [After writing the rest of the post, I realized that because of huge gaps in the AIFF websites compared to recent years, I probably need to do more. We'll see what my schedule and energy level will allow]
The festival board hired two film makers from California to run the festival ths year. They've had films in our festival in the past and liked it here. I was excited and ready to cover the films that are coming.
I checked the website and had some questions.
1. Are there no all film passes this year?
2. How do I search to find a list of countries different films come from?
There were some other issues - like finding easy links to learn more about individual films. There is a giant mosaic with pictures from all - I think - the films. When you click one, you get more about that film. But I couldn't find any pattern - dates, types, etc. While some have the film name in the picture, for most you're just randomly guessing based on that one picture. And then shorts that were part of programs - when I searched by their names - just got me to the program, but nothing more than the name of the film.
My first email to the festival directors got a warm, enthusiastic response, which confirmed that there were no all film passes. Instead there are 'badges' if you donate $100 or buy $100 worth of tickets. Well the first 100 people to spend $100.
My second email which lamented, fairly strongly, the lack of passes, and which asked if the website person could switch on 'countries' so we can search films by the countries they come from, and mentioned that I was having trouble finding information about individual shorts, was never responded to.
So, regular film festival attendees, here's why I find these issues problematic.
Passes
1. Price: There have been festival all-film passes since I started going regularly back in 2006. The price has gone up slightly over the years, but has been a great way to see the films at the festival with minimum hassle and at a great price.
The passes last year were, if I remember correctly, about $120. That got you into all the films.
Going through the daily events calendar this year, I count 43 events. (I see that Demon Box is free and I'm not sure how may others are). And some are timed so you'd miss the end of one or the beginning of the next one. Or there are two films playing at the same time. Not sure if any are shown a second time. The directors did say that the last film was sold out already and they were looking to show it again. So say someone goes to 35 events. At $12 per ticket, that's over $400. And that doesn't include a $1.50 booking charge (more than 10% of the ticket price) when you buy online.
So, the most loyal AIFF fans, the ones who get all films passes, are facing an almost 400% increase in fees, plus the inconvenience of now having to book each film. I'm hoping that, in fact we'll be able to get our tickets at the venue.
2. Time - Buying a pass meant you could just go to all the films. You didn't have to individually buy tickets on-line. You didn't have to look everything up in advance to figure out which movies you wanted to see.
Going thru and ordering tickets one by one online is a real time consumer, which happened when I bought tickets for the opening night feature at the Bear Tooth. It appears that on Goelevent at least there is a chance to put films in your cart and buy them at a time in checkout. Getting rid of the passes just adds hassle for the folks who are the biggest AIFF fans. That includes people who come from out of town to 'do' the festival.
At the Bear Tooth, in the past, you also had to make specific reservations to be sure you got a seat. At other venues there was always the chance a program was sold out, but that happened only rarely.
3. Festival Culture - I'm not sure how many passes were sold each year, but I'm guessing at least 100. Those folks got to know each other because they ran into one another at so many films. They populated films that otherwise would have had one or two, or zero viewers. The new badges are being promoted as VIP status symbols. [And you have to click the popup to get rid of it each time you open the site.] I know for myself and most of the other regular all-film pass holders, the pass was merely a convenience, not a status symbol. OK, for some maybe they liked others to see them wearing a pass, but for most of us, it was more like wearing a team sweatshirt than a status symbol.
If money is the issue - though it seems that hasn't been a serious issue in the past - then the price of passes could have been increased. Even to $200. And most of us would have paid without a serious gripe. But eliminating the passes raises the entry fee enormously for former pass holders, forces us to spend more time picking films and buying tickets each time, and is something of a slap in the face to the most loyal festival goers.
I don't know who was consulted before this decision was made, but it's a huge change for a core group of loyal festival attendees.
This is just a big change in the culture of the festival.
Search Options
1. Being able to click on a film name and get to learn about the films. There were various ways you could do this in the past. But not this time.
First, you need to realize there are two different (but linked) websites. One is the AIFF site. The other is Goelevent AIFF pages. Goelevent is a national organization that specializes in websites and ticket sales for film festivals.
Below is the schedule of events for Saturday Dec. 7th. [This is on the Goelevent site] There are names of films, but they aren't linked to a page where you can see more about the film to decide if you want to watch it. You'll have note the names of the films and go back and search each particular film.
But there is no search function on the Anchorage International Film Festival site. You have to switch over to the Goelevent page for AIFF to search and even get to the page above.
You get there by clicking on Purchase Tickets on the main AIFF page.
"No events found matching your criteria. Please adjust your search."
Notice how there really aren't any extra spaces between the words. You have to guess where one title ends and the next begins. For most, it's fairly obvious, but not all. I'd note that in Thai, the words run together without spaces in between. Kind of tough for people learning to read in Thai. That's what this reminded me of.
And there are no links.
I could find no information on the shorts themselves.
This takes us back to the dark ages when the festival website didn't tell you much. But the festival director who was in change of the website in those days jumped on any suggestions I made to make it easier for folks to use the website.
In those days, there was a lot more work for a blogger like me to do, to let people know about what films were available, which ones to see, when etc. But a lot of that - including trailers of most of the films - were posted on recent AIFF websites. I didn't have to gather all that myself any more, to post on my blog.
And I got spoiled because I didn't have to work so hard. But here we are again. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year.
Searching by Country
Compared to the other issues listed above, this seems like a minor issue. But for many people, the films are opportunities to learn about different cultures, to see films that take place in countries they've traveled to, or lived in, or come from. There are over 100 languages spoken in the homes of Anchorage School District students.
Every year I've been doing posts that highlighted the countries that films come from. That will be much harder to do this time. Not sure I'll manage without the search by country plugged in.
By knowing that there are films in their language, they can come to the festival and enjoy their own culture. Granted that streaming sites like Netflix offer films from many different countries now, but it's different in a theater.
Can't do this this year. Two years ago I sent an email to John, the festival director who did oversight over the website, and asked why I couldn't search by country that year. Within 20 minutes he emailed back and said, "You can now. I turned it on."
That's it folks. This is my film festival gripe post. Actually, it's a feedback post to the festival directors on how to make the festival work better. I realize it's too late to reinstate festival passes, but the fixes to the website are critical to making it easier for people to navigate, find out about the films, before buying tickets. Past directors welcomed my testing the website so they could fix it, which is my purpose.
But now I realize there's a lot of work for me to do to help fans figure out what films to see. It's more like the old days. But my life is busier than it has been for a while. And I'm no longer willing to stay up until 3am writing posts each day.
But the president of the festival board assures me there are great films to be seen and I'll do what I can to figure out which ones they are and let you know.
from Fog 24 Gallery |
A letter from the Rogers Park Community Council alerts neighbors of a Department of Transportation proposal to put a highway above Chester Creek. There's a meeting at the Senior Center - which would, if I read the map right, be under the viaduct.
Meeting to discuss is
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024
FROM 4:30PM TO 6:30
SENIOR CENTER
And I'd be remiss if I didn't remind folks that the Anchorage International Film Festival begins Friday, Dec 6, 2024 and runs through Dec.15.
This image is from the page labeled 'FILMS'. It keeps going well below this screenshot.
There are always great films as well as some that are not so great. But everyone has different tastes so there will be something for everyone. Films will mostly be at the Bear Tooth and the Museum.
There is also a change in the festival organizers this year. I described that a little bit back in September and you can see that post here.
I'll cover more about individual films soon.
There's a new tab up on top under the orange banner for AIFF2024. That will be an overview of the Festival and an index of my posts about the festival.