UPDATE Dec 7: Note two changes I've made to the schedule. Last Days of Shishmaref plays Saturday Dec. 13 at the Fireweed (originally I had Museum) and
Upstream has a Tuesday Dec. 9 showing at the Museum that I missed the first time around.
Here's a list of the documentary films that are in competition (for awards in the festival - more on what the categories mean here). Short Documentary Reefer Madness Leave Her To Die Splitting Hairs Health, Peace, and Happiness Monster Dudes City of Cranes
Feature Documentary Crawford The Last Days of Shishmaref Ballou Upstream Battle Nashville State of Mind Diamonds in The Rough The Wrecking Crew
Below I've simply copied the text from the AIFF Website, but I've taken only those documentaries in competition, the ones on the schedule above. I'll try to make a schedule for the short documentaries too.
NOTE: Diamonds in the Rough and Upstream Battle (N. California Salmon fisheries) are only shown one time each! The others all get two showings.
Samantha Gibb, daughter of Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, and her band move to Nashville after her father’s death. They enter Nashville’s Alternative music scene with some of the best local musicians on the scene. This peek into the lives of musicians/song writers who struggle to follow their dreams features guest appearances by industry professionals like Hank Williams III, Jody Williams, Dan Keen, Doc McGhee and Scott McGhee.
Monday, December 8 at 5:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
Wednesday, December 10 at 5:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
The talented Ballou High School Marching Band overcomes a negative environment filled with guns, drugs and violence through music, dedication and personal sacrifice. On their way to a national band competition, band members must first learn how to play instruments and overcome personal losses due to the neglect of an impoverished community just three miles from the Capital. Celebrities including Rev. Jess Jackson and Colin Powell speak to the importance of a small marching band that becomes an award-winning band. Thursday, December 11 at 7:45 PM - Anchorage Museum
Saturday, December 13 at 2:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
Months after arriving in Crawford, Texas, population 705, George W. Bush declares his candidacy for President and uses the town as the perfect set-piece to project a folksy image. Crawford explodes overnight. Souvenir stores open. Their Baptist pastor calls it a miracle. But with the Iraq War and the arrival of 20,000 protesters in Crawford’s backyards, conflict mounts in the town itself, pushing a progressive teacher and her student to the brink – and beyond. Soon, tourists stop coming and the stores are boarded up. But the human impact of political stagecraft is far graver. Now, through the eyes of Crawford’s colorful, dynamic people, comes a unique reflection on the last seven years. Thursday, December 11 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Directed by Brett Mazurek Narrated by Michael Franti
A group of young rappers in Uganda use hip hop to spread awareness about the political and social troubles engulfing their country, and to bring about positive change. Silas and Krazy Native are the two members of the Bataka Squad, rapping in their native language. Silas’s family was forced to flee to Canada when he was twelve, with his father subsequently falling victim to politically motivated murder. During Silas’s exile, Krazy Native rises to become one of Uganda’s most successful contemporary hip hop artists. When Silas returns to his homeland to set up a charity foundation for young people, he and Krazy reunite for the first time in ten years. Their journey goes from the riot-torn streets of the capital, Kampala, to the smallest villages in the countryside; from the Pearl of Africa Music Awards to the Global African Hip Hop Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa; and finally back across the Atlantic as Silas and Krazy bring their music and their message to the United States. On the way, a host of other young rappers tackle subjects ranging from genocide to AIDS in their music. Sunday, December 7 at 12 noon - Bear Tooth Theatre
Netherlands • 88 mins. • English - Snowdance selection - In Competition and Iñupiaq with English subtitles • 2008
Directed by Jan Louter
While politicians, scientists and environmentalists debate the effects of global warming, the Iñupiaq Eskimo community of Shishmaref in Northwest Alaska, just under the Arctic Circle, faces the real world consequences of climate change every day. As the ice beneath the small village melts, homes fall into the ocean. The situation is so severe that it has been predicted that the entire village will disappear within the next 10 years. How can you move an entire way of life? And should these villagers go to the edges of a city, or retain their rural ways? The transience of the Iñupiaq’s traditional way of life becomes apparent in the face of climate change, satellite television and mail order shopping. Here, the icy landscape — its water, smoke, steam and sky — is beautifully photographed, as are the village’s inhabitants. Sunday, December 7 at 6:15 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Saturday, December 13 at 12:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
The director is confirmed to be in attendance at these screenings.
“The Wrecking Crew” was a group of Studio Musicians in Los Angeles in the 60s who played on hits for the Beach Boys, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Sinatra, Sonny and Cher, Jan & Dean, The Monkees, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, the Mamas and Papas, Tijuana Brass, Ricky Nelson and Johnny Rivers. They were Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. Sometimes they would lay down some instrumental tracks and if the song became a hit, they would record an album and put a group together to hit the road. This happened many times — the Marketts, Routers, and T-Bones — and the next day they would do the same thing and call it another name. Just call them “The Wrecking Crew.” Friday, December 12 at 7:45 PM - Anchorage Museum
Sunday, December 14 at 12:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
Germany • 97 minutes • English • 2008 - In Competition
Directed by Ben Kempas
Native Americans in Northern California fight for their fish and the survival of their culture. An energy corporation is messing up their river with a series of hydropower dams, contributing to one of the worst fish die-offs in U.S. history. To confront their opponents, tribal members first travel to Scotland, then to the second-richest man in the United States. The dam owners praise hydropower as a low-cost, climate-friendly source of energy, a valuable resource they say they can’t afford to lose. Yet, the tribes at the Klamath River may trigger the largest dam removal project in history. A long-term documentary with incredible access to tribal members, utility managers, and farmers in the basin — all fighting for water. Saturday, December 13 at 3:15 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Tuesday, December 9 at 7:30 PM - Museum **(added 12/7)
For parents who want to go to the Anchorage film festival, Saturday is an opportunity to go to movies, with your kids, for free. Loussac Library will be the venue all day for movies for the family. I've copied the list below, but if you want it in color with pictures and links, go to the AIFF Mixed Media page.
Iron Giant
USA 86 min. • Animated Feature
Directed by Brad Bird A giant metal robot falls to the earth, scaring the townsfolk of a small town in Maine in 1958. After befriending a boy named Hogarth, the unlikely duo ultimately saves the residents from their own fears and prejudices. Based on Ted Hughes' 1968 novel The Iron Man.
10:30 AM
Family Animation Program
An eclectic mix of animation films make up this collection, which is designed for a family audience, including young children. It is a mix of films with entertainment and educational value, most of which incorporate humor. Parents will enjoy the film programs along with their children. Some of the films have subtitles, but are still accessible to younger audiences through imagery and action.
Come Back Sweet Heart - The filmmaker Chang-Pei Wu states, “My art work is always about the search for an answer in my life. By creating this animation, I’d like to explore the meaning of give and take between the people I love and me.”
Maggie and Mildred - Maggie and Mildred have been best friends their whole lives. Well, at least one of their lives.
12:30 PM
Little Miss Dewie: A Duckumentary
USA - 29 min - Documentary
By Mira Tweti & Sarro
A funny and insightful story about life with the grandest of ducks, and the animal welfare consciousness living with her entailed, is ready for the world.
2:00 PM
Eating Alaska
Alaska/USA - 56 min
Directed by Ellen Frankenstein - Snowdance selection
Public Broadcasting A documentary about a vegetarian, who moves to Alaska, marries a fisherman and hunter and begins to wonder what the “right” thing to eat is on “the last frontier.” What ensues are humorous and enlightening adventures in eating as the filmmaker heads to the woods and mountains with women hunters, communes with the Alaska vegetarian society, talks moose meat with a group of Alaska Native kids in a public schools in the Arctic and more, all in search of a meal that makes sense politically, socially, spiritually and tastefully. This wry look at what’s on your plate explores ideas about eating healthy sustainable food from one’s own backyard, either urban or wild, versus industrially produced food shipped thousands of miles. The 60-minute film is a collaboration of an independent filmmaker with KTOO-TV.
2:30 PM
Student Film Forum
Please join us for a mix of local short film productions from students and young adults. Student filmmakers from Mediak, and Service High School will be present to introduce the films and field questions about their films.
Tonight was a volunteer orientation for the Anchorage International Film Festival. I didn't count, but I'd guess there were at least 50 volunteers, probably more.
People got to sign up for various tasks. The conference organizers looked relatively calm considering things start in a couple of days.
In a previous post I wrote about the different classifications of films. The "Films in Competition" are the ones selected by the pre-screening committees to be in the running for awards - Golden Oosiks. Below is a table of the Feature films that are in competition - when and where they will be shown. You can double click the image to enlarge it. The intent here was to help people who want to focus on the Features in Competition and figure out to see them all.
Below is an eclectic collection of information about the six Features in Competition. I've tried to match the title colors to the colors in the chart above - but the light colors don't show up that well on the white background. I haven't seen any of these films. In any case, this should give you some ways to get a sense of the films.
[Technical note: I feel kind of dumb. I've never put a link in a picture before. Never thought about doing it. But I needed to here, so I tried, and it worked. So, most of these pictures link to the sites they came from rather than enlarge. (The schedule above enlarges!) If you see a little hand when you move the cursor over them you know it's a link.]
Features in Competition:
1. Bart Got a Room USA 80 min • Comedy • 2008 • In Competition Saturday, December 6 at 5:45 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Thursday, December 11 at 7:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Here's the director Brian Hacker explaining the film at the Tribeca Film Festival. For a more entertaining discussion of the film, see this video of minor actor in the film Brandon Hardesty talking about being in the movie.
2. Chronic Town
USA/Alaska - 94 min. - Dark Comedy • 2008 - In Competition Directed by Tom Hines Written by Michael Kamsky Saturday, December 6 at 7:55 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Friday, December 12 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
This is an Alaska themed movie, shot, at least in part, in Fairbanks. The director was born in Fairbanks when his father was stationed there in the Air Force, but did most of his growing up Outside. What I saw of the trailer seems to have some of that “Outsider gee whiz I’m in Alaska feel” but it also looked like a real movie. And we have to give him lots of credit for really shooting it in Fairbanks. Here’s a bit from an email interview when he was headed for the Sundance Film Festival.
What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in either developing the project or making the movie?
We faced a lot of challenges in making the film, but I think that's what made the film so worth making. Most of our crew was from LA, but we had some great Alaska crew that kept all of us LA knuckleheads from freezing to death. Our Gaffer, Greg Kern, was from Anchorage and he brought his Key Grip, Billy Marr, over from Valdez, AK. Billy is not only a Key Grip; among other things he also picked up survivalist skills from a past career. When we were shooting JR with his shirt off during one scene, it was about 25 below freezing. Billy informed us that we had about 45 seconds until the exposed skin cells would begin to die.
3. Coyote (Coyote) USA • 95 min - Action/Drama • 2007 • In Competition Written & Directed by Brian Peterson Producer, Writer & Editor Brett Spackman Friday, December 12 at 7:45 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Sunday, December 14 at 7:15 PM - Fireweed Theatre
COYOTE holds a special place in my heart because I feel it sheds a new light on the humanity behind the immigration issue. This issue is important to me because my parents came to the U.S. from Mexico, where my dad started as a migrant worker. I grew up very aware of this issue and have always looked for ways to share the stories I heard growing up.
Growing up in South Texas, I remember hearing in school about “wetbacks” and “illegals” being caught and sent back to Mexico. As an 8-year old, the thought of having my family ripped apart was unsettling to say the least. I would hound my poor mom endlessly for proof that they would not be taken away. She always reassured me that they had papers and permission to live in the states. This is where I learned of the intricacies involved in permissions, governments and paperwork in order to chase the American dream.
4. Half-Life USA • 116 min • Drama • 2008 • In Competition Written & Directed by Jennifer Phang Saturday, December 13 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Sunday, December 14 at 4:45 PM - Fireweed Theatre
The website looks really classy, but ultimately doesn't have much hard information. This is NOT the New Line Cinema feature of the same name. The IMDB site says
As troubling signs of global cataclysms accelerate, a brother and sister react to their father's desertion and the powerful presence of their mother's new boyfriend
and a commenter who apparently saw the film at Sundance compares it to Donnie Darko and Pink Floyd's The Wall.
Best of Sundance, 16 February 2008 7/10 Author: chuck-391 from United States The film explores major-themes in Multiculturalism and the human angst for the 21st century. What is specifically startling is how vibrant the aesthetic approach is in production value. Although reportedly not a high budget project, Phang's mis-en-scene is breath-taking. Also worth noting is the extremely likable performance by Alexander Agate, who rivals any child performance to date (reminded me of the powerful performance by Anna Paquin for THE PIANO.) While the pacing may not be for everyone, I think this is a film for the type of audience who enjoys a cerebral experience similar to DONNIE DARKO or Pink Floyd's THE WALL. The original score takes a post-modern approach of incidental music, which is very innovative in keeping the film from being too sentimental.
5. How To Be
UK/England • 85 min • 2008 • In Competition Written & Directed by Oliver Irving Produced by Justin Kelly Wednesday, December 10 at 5:30 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre Friday, December 12 at 7:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
There are good actors in this, the trailer looks interesting, but the website and blog are more promotional than insightful. Here's the trailer.
Australia • 77 min • 2007 • Arthouse • In Competition Directed by Neil Mansfield Produced by Toby Ralph Saturday, December 6 at 2:30 PM - Anchorage Museum Wednesday, December 10 at 8:00 PM - Anchorage Museum
The website describes this movie as:
Streetsweeper is an idiosyncratic Novocastrian feature film. Shot in three days and made for virtually nothing, it is a bold portrait of an eccentric pedestrian in an urban Australian landscape…
I was wondering what sort of post-modern school of philosophy Novocastrian referred to so I looked it up. It means: "A native or resident of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia."
I guess it’s what archaeologists do, they go and they try and piece together what a society is like from the fragments that are left behind
In the film’s credits Mr Mansfield thanks “the people of Newcastle for being themselves”, as many of the scenes include exchanges between the actor and pedestrians. It was an approach the director was worrying about up until the night before the first day of shooting.
“I actually started to panic and think ‘hang on, we’re about to make this film with only one actor, and maybe I need to get some other actors to pretend to be pedestrians and set up more conventional encounters’,” he said.
Fortunately additional actors were not enlisted, resulting in a film in which chance encounters with the public enhance and even change the way the story unfolds.
“Part of my philosophy was if you go out on the street, and stand there long enough, something interesting happens,” he says. “The timing of some of these pedestrians was absolutely incredible.”
Something about the website tells me that this film is going to be quirky and different - the kind of film I like. (There are shots from the film, but I couldn't get their Quicktime player to work on my Mac.) It is a well made website, but it has much more authenticity about it than say the one for How to Be which is blatantly promotional. This looks like the kind of film, film festivals were made for.
And the filmmaker is coming to the Festival. From his blog, Nov. 29, 2008:
Domestic Economic Crisis averted. Just. So, yes, I’ve finally paid for my return ticket to Anchorage, Alaska. I am going next Sunday and will be back in just over a week. (Yes, I know.)
The price of the ticket/s kept fluctuating whilst I was waiting for my new passport to arrive, which also cost me… Anyway, I ended up having to take my money box down to the bank to get all my coins counted just so I could cover the return air fare. And I ended up with about $1.50 to spare (including a New Zealand 20c piece, an Indian Rupee and an American Dime!?) and at this point in time this is all the money I have: so it’s going to be a quiet weekend indoors listening to the rain pour down the gutters I still can’t afford to fix. NM
[After all these years I still end up having to “shop with coins” at least once a year: bring on the recession.]
Note: There is another movie called Streetsweeper coming out in April about a guy on a giant sweeper machine in San Diego. A much different film. There's a review on Worldsweeper - a website with the logo "World's Largest Power Sweeping Resource."
If you look at the program guide for the Anchorage International Film Festival, the films are divided into different categories. I get the
Features - 'fiction' films over about 55 minutes
Documentaries" "non-fiction" films over about 55 minutes
Shorts - 'fiction' films under 55 minutes
Short Documentaries - 'nonfiction' films under 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.
But there are other distinctions I didn't quite understand, so I've been emailing and talking 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 - Committees 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.
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 Chinatown that will be shown next week.
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.
Audience Awards - All feature length films (over 55 minutes) are eligible for the audience award which is voted on by . . . well, you know who. This is new this year. 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 Sat. December 13. I'm not quite sure the logistics of how people will vote, but we'll find out. Other film festivals must have figured out how people who don't see all the films can vote reasonably fairly.
Last year I didn't understand any of this. When I was picking my own favorites, I hadn't taken into consideration the category of films in competition. I'm pointing this all out here so others can understand it. Before the Festival begins I'm going to 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. I'll post the schedule for the Feature Films in Competition soon.
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'm going 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 2011 - for an overview of posts I do on the festival this year. The 2010 tab is also still up if you want to check on last year's festival. [UPDATE: And now there's a AIFF 2012 Tab]
[UPDATE: October 5, 2016 - This year's Festival website says the selected officials will be announced on October 14, 2016. I've started a page the 2016 Festival, which you can see in the tabs above.]
It was a bit chillier today - about 10˚F (-12˚C) when I walked to class today, but the sun was out. It's getting lower on the southern horizon, so if there are any big trees or hills south of you, you end up in the shade. Here's a bit of woods as I walked the bike trail across campus.
The creek is moving fast enough to keep flowing and doesn't usually freeze up unless it stays really cold for a long time.
But I wouldn't want to dip my foot in it.
See, there's the sunlight, up in the tree tops.
And there were several bikers taking advantage of the well groomed trail on campus.
Finally, I got to the Art/Theater building. My fingers getting pretty cold from pulling off the gloves to take pictures.
Some of the other students are doing really spectacular animations. One has a hummingbird flying - he's really nailed it. I guess I just have to do a lot more frames so the movement isn't so jerky. Someone else has a woman walking/dancing. It's sketched out and really looks natural. Well, mine isn't nearly as polished. I need to do more work, but it will never be like theirs. But the point will get across.
On the way home, a few hours later, I chose the indoor route. You can get most of the way across campus inside. There's also a shuttle bus - I should have gotten a picture - but I figure I can walk almost as fast and I need the exercise. Anyway, as I was taking this picture of the hockey team practice (it's for you especially Ropi) I heard a voice asking, "Is that going on the blog?"
And there was PJ, still getting used to being retired, who was moving books. So, this one is for Mimi.
[Update Jan. 24, 2009 Thai Time: Roland Burris was appointed Illinois' junior Senator on January 15, 2009 to replace Barrack Obama. The appointment of Burris, an African-American, means that there is still one Black member of the US Senate. (I see that I missed this because it occurred while I was at the Petchabun meeting and out of internet contact for several days.) Today's announcement that Hillary Clinton has been replaced by Kirsten Gillibrand means the number of women in the US Senate stays the same as well.
[Update Dec. 16, 2008: I got through to the Congressional Black Caucus office today to confirm that Donna Christian Christensen, delegate from the Virgin Islands, will return in the 111th Congress and that no new Black representatives were elected from districts that didn't previously have Black representatives. That means that after this election the number of Black members of the US House of Representatives is down by one (William Jefferson lost his election) and the US Senate lost its only Black Senator when Barack Obama was elected President. By my count that means there are 39 African-American members of the US House of Representatives, plus two more African-Americans who are non-voting delegates (from Washington DC and the Virgin Islands).]
[Update Dec. 7, 2008: Black Louisiana Rep. William Jefferson was defeated yesterday in his bid for reelection by Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao. That means one less black congress member, but it also means the first Vietnamese-American congress member.]
Short, not completely confirmed answer, is 40 39 [see update on Rep. Jefferson above.] But there are a number of qualifications. Read on for the details.
In February I posted about the difficulty in getting a simple number count of African-American Congress members. I went through several lists and put together a table where I calculated there were 40 voting House members and one US Senator. That Senator resigned recently so he could concentrate on being president-elect and his replacement is still to be appointed.
After the November election, I thought it was time to attempt to update the table. It wasn't easy. The Congressional Black Caucus site, the one I would expect to have the information, still has the 110th Congress listed. That's fine, but it would be nice if they had something about who were reelected or whether there were new members. Maybe that's too political and they wouldn't want to have to mention if someone lost an election.
In any case, I could find that all but two members have been reelected. In a couple of cases the member had died and been replaced by an African-American since I last posted. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was not replaced until after the November 4 election, by a later special election. Her successor - Martha Fudge, also an African-American - was elected to fill in the rest of the term on November 18 as well as starting the full term in January. The exceptions were Donna Christian-Christensen, the non-voting member from the Virgin Islands. I simply couldn't find any information online on that election. The second is Louisiana Congressman Willian Jefferson. Although he's under indictment, that isn't the reason he wasn't reelected. Hurricane Gustav caused the cancellation of the primary in his district. The primary was postponed until the regular election day. Jefferson won the Democratic primary and the final election will be Dec. 6, 2008.
I had to check each candidate's election separately. I used my list of Congress members and relied on Sourcewatch to see if they had been reelected. Sourcewatch had a nice state-by-state breakdown with pictures of all the candidates. I did not, however, go through all states to see if there were any black faces that were new. It was tedious enough as it was and that seemed a dubious task.
They are listed in order of seniority which was how the original encarta list had them.
[Run your cursor over the top tool bar for controls to print, email, magnify the chart, etc.] Black Members of 111th Congress
While searching I found this August 2008 report on from the Congressional Research Service on African-American Congress members. It has more information about each member beginning in 1870.
A record number of 90 women serve in the 110th Congress: 74 in the House, 16 in the Senate. There are 42 black or African American Members in the House, including two Delegates, and one black Senator, the same as the record number in the 109th Congress. There are 30 Hispanic or Latino Members serving: 26 in the House, including the Resident Commissioner, and three in the Senate. Eight Members (five Representatives, one Delegate, and two Senators) are Asian or Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. There is one American Indian (Native American), who serves in the House. This report will be revised at the commencement of the 111th Congress.
[Update: January 30, 2009 Thai Time: Ragini at Just Jackfruit has put together the information I was originally looking for when I found myself having to create this table to figure things out. H[Sh]e gives the percentage of Blacks, Hispanics, Asian Pacific Islanders, and American Indians and Alaskan Natives, as well as women in the US and in Congress.]
We saw an Iranian film at Out North last night The Fish Fall In Love (Mahiha Ashegh Mishavand) by Ali Raffi. The main focus was a restaurant run by a woman and her female helpers. It was a delightful film - it was good we ate before we went because the food looked fantastic. (There's a trailer for the movie in the link. J wanted to go eat after the movie at the seaside fish shack in the trailer. Me too. But that is NOT the main restaurant in the movie.)
We recently saw another Iranian film -Border Cafe - with a woman owning a restaurant. I don't want to jump to conclusions based on two films, but given how few Iranian films we get to see, I'm guessing this is more than a coincidence. Both films took place far outside Tehran. In the first film, a woman starts the restaurant after her husband dies and she doesn't want to move into her brother-in-law's compound. In last night's movie, the woman starts the restaurant when her beau disappears, and she apparently (since that wasn't shown) moved into his abandoned house where she has the restaurant until he reappears some 20 years later (which is where the movie begins.)
As I said when I wrote about Border Cafe, while Iran is a major topic of our national foreign policy makers, Americans have precious little contact with what is going on in Iraq. These two films, by Iranian film makers, give us a relatively non-political glimpse of life in Iran today. I think most Americans would be surprised at how 'normal' things look. I think about when we were in China. I heard the story about how the Chinese government began allowing American films on television reasoning people would see how violent and decadent the US was. Well, viewers saw the gangsters and druggies, but they also saw inside people's houses and that everyone had a car. These films give a similar view into Iran.
We've had more snow since I cleared the driveway Wednesday.Yesterday the snow plows cleared the street and I had to do a little more shoveling - not a good idea - to get the van off the street and into the driveway. Since then we've gotten a few more inches. Here's the deck - then and now - and the trees in the back yard. There are still a few stubborn leaves.
Rand has been working pretty hard to get the 'real' website up. From what I can gather, the person who was going to do it, didn't, and so Rand ended up creating it in the last couple of days. It's a big improvement over the early abbreviated version. It isn't as aesthetically pleasing as we might like, but all the information you need is there, with easy navigation, and lots of links. And if you find any important glitches let Rand know.
Here's the AIFF Main Link. On the other pages, for now, you have to go all the way down to the bottom to get back to the links.
The eagle-eyed might notice that this blog is linked on their main page. What's up with that? Well I blogged the festival last year and they liked what I did and asked if I would be the official blogger. 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. They also threw in a free pass for me this year.
I probably won't say anything terrible about a film, but I did rant about one film last year 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.
And maybe if enough people come in from the Valley, they can work with the organizers to have a Valley venue too next year.
