The Alaska Shorts at noon was a great four film program. All the films were technically well made and all told important stories. I thought I'd given up on staying up late to post about the festival, but I feel compelled.
All of these were worth watching and you can learn more about them all here.
I'm going to focus on True Colors - Film maker Brad Hillwig said he wanted to do a film about Anchorage having the most diverse schools in the country. He focused on Bartlett High School, its diversity, how the school works to make that diversity part of the curriculum, and highlighted two of the outstanding students - a Filipino/Pacific Islander football player and the daughter of an African, Muslim immigrant. It was an inspiring film in lots of ways. One of the students - Oumi - was there which was exciting too.
There were film makers representing all the films there
Ariel: Back To Buenos Aires was amazing. It was beautifully filmed - with the tango scenes and the Buenos Aires street scenes not just adding color but meaningfully adding to the story. A few times the camera goes around and around the subjects in a way that is beautiful and heightens the emotional pitch of the scenes.
The content is powerful! A sister and brother in their 30s, fly to Argentina where they were born. The older sister, on the plane, tells her brother she suspects he was adopted because she doesn't remember her mom being pregnant with him. Anyone who know the history of Argentina will quickly figure out where this is leading.
A powerful film, made even more powerful by the cinematography and editing so good you don't even think about it.
I'm sure this will be one of the top films at the festival and they will show the award winning films again the week after the festival. Be sure to see it!!
Citizen Sleuth was also interesting. A film maker making a film about a Crime podcaster. We see a sincere podcaster digging deep into a car accident death that she suspects was murder.
