I had a little trouble getting up this morning, plus I had a 2 o'clock meeting with the Healing Racism in Anchorage steering committee, so I was going to miss the afternoon showing of Streetsweeper. But I managed to get to Bear Tooth for the last of film of the Subjective Subtleties. Well, there was NOTHING subtle about AL's Beef.
And now I'm back at Bear Tooth - after my meeting - waiting for Bart's Got a Room, so I actually have a moment to blog and there's free internet connection here.
AL's is my idea of a student film or a prototype film where the film maker is demonstrating the ability to do certain kinds of cinematic events - in this case with a Western back drop - but the film maker wants to do it 'different' so it isn't just one cliche after another. The answer: spoof. So we see the spurs before we see the cowboy - but the feet are barefoot, and the cowboy turns out to be a cowgirl. There's a sheriff/preacher (I wasn't totally clear about all the preachers) who practices throwing knives into a tree, but none of them stick. And then there's all the shooting, and all the bullet holes (in people) and gurgling blood. Not exactly my thing.
But all in all, it was funny and reasonably well done.
UPDATE: I found a couple of the visiting filmmakers who'd been discussing AL's Beef. One question was whether it was serious or not. I left the theater certain it was a spoof. but they said it had one Best Drama at another festival. I'm saying that doesn't matter. How could you have someone barefoot wearing spurs in a serious film? And a little kid walking around beating a drum while people are shooting each other and washing the blood off? Then the question came up, why was she all bloody at the beginning? So I checked - it was the Cape Fear Independent Film Festival, formerly the Sometime in October Film Festival, where it got best drama.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
AIFF - Opening Night Gala at Aviation Museum - Film makers speak
We eventually made it to the Aviation Museum - several old hangers with an old Alaska Airlines 707 in front. Inside people were spread throughout the museum, eating, drinking, talking, and looking at airplane parts.
Shortly after we got there people gathered in the first room and some of the film makers talked a little about their films. A few even had trailers shown on a wall with a propeller on it. My tiny Canon Powershot valiantly attempted to adjust to the dark room. I can just say, it's better than nothing. You get a little sense of what it was like.
Outside it was slightly above freezing, but the snow wasn't too messy.
[OK, I've got a new problem - second time it's happened - but this time there might be some filmmakers looking who can tell me how to fix it. The movie works fine in iMovie, but after almost a minute (in this case) the video freezes in Quicktime version I saved it to, but the audio is good. How do I fix it. First time it ever happened was last week. I cut out the clip that it froze on. It went further and froze on another clip. I cut that out, and it seems to be ok. Any ideas?]
AIFF - First Films Begin at Bear Tooth - Symphony and Camille
I wasn't expecting much from Camille, so I was pleasantly surprised. A good movie isn't about the plot - though a good plot helps - but about how it all fits together. If you know it's got a guy on parole, a girl with red, red hair, and a blue horse and Niagra Falls, that's all you need to know. For the most part the acting was solid and it kept my attention. If there were any deep messages, I missed them completely. Definitely needed some polishing here and there - when the lady pointed out that Dad had forgotten the wallet, for example, we all had a pretty good idea of what was coming.
The animated short that opening things - Symphony (pic above, head not part of movie) - was a beautiful black and white of some sea creature who just misses being someone else's dinner several times to all in synch with the symphony. With my own short animation due Wednesday, I couldn't help but wonder how they did this. [Update: you can see a trailer of it here. Well worth it.]
Friday, December 05, 2008
AIFF - Animated Films in Competition Schedule
Here's the schedule for the animated films in competition.
Boyd was living the good life until Mock came along. Boyd’s new cage-mate is out to shake his tail feathers like they’ve never been shaken before.
USA • 2 min.• In Competition
By Mike Stern
An office worker’s job is made extremely difficult because of his boss’s taste in music.
USA • 5 min. • In Competition
By Erick Oh
The topic of this abstractedly crafted animation applies to anything that struggles to be free. It can be a phenomenon occurring deep within the mind, or an individual confronting the standardized masses.
Canada • 4 min. In Competition
By Chris Dainty & Rita Street
Boyd was living the good life until Mock came along. Boyd’s new cage-mate is out to shake his tail feathers like they’ve never been shaken before.
USA • 4 min. In Competition
By Joaquin Baldwin
A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death.
The film maker is scheduled to attend the screening. Canada • 6 min. In Competition
By Jeff Chiba Stearns
Twenty three hundred drawings on 4x6 inch yellow sticky notes with a black ink pen, Yellow Sticky Notes is a small internal reflection on one’s role as an artist manifests into a discussion about major political and environmental crises.
Canada • 2 min. • In Competition
By Brian Sinasac
Ready for his base jump, Dan, perched high above the desert floor, leaps into the open sky. Malfunctioning equipment means doom for our daredevil, who can only be saved by the use of his head.
USA • 11 min. In Competition
By Jeff Riley
After a series of mysterious goldfish abductions, a secret agent is dispatched with a time displacement gun to bring the criminals behind the “fishnappings” to justice, and possibly save the world!
AIFF - Short Documentaries in Competition Schedule
The short docs in competition only get one showing each. It's possible one or two might be added to another feature, but don't bet on it. Click the chart to enlarge it.
Here again, just to get this up at all, I'm stealing the list from the AIFF site. Remember, on that site, the snowman in the upper left corner is a link back to the main page. Just click on it.
Here again, just to get this up at all, I'm stealing the list from the AIFF site. Remember, on that site, the snowman in the upper left corner is a link back to the main page. Just click on it.
UK, 14 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Directed by Eva Weber
Date completed August 2007
An unparalleled and unique view of London - through the eyes and words of crane drivers.
Singapore - 24 min. - Documentary short - In Competition
Date completed 2008
Details an endearing story of friendship between two terminally ill women involving their families and the staff of the hospital.
Canada, 49 min. – Documentary short feature - In Competition
Directed by Antonia Thomson
Date completed August 2008
An HIV-infected child was abandoned in an orphanage in Northern Thailand Her medical chart read: Leave Her to Die, but one remarkable woman’s story proves that love itself can and is... saving lives.
Reefer Madness
Canada – 23 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Directed by Steve Hanson
Date Completed: May 2008
Reefer Madness follows Canadian graffiti artist, Fatso, on a journey across the continent to track down the rarest refrigerator boxcars shedding some light on the most recent and unlikely movement in freight train graffiti.
USA – 22 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Directed by Lance Bauscher
Date completed 2008
Documents Boise’s avant-garde noise rock band Monster Dudes.
Germany/USA – 28 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Directed by F. Stone Roberts
Date Completed September 2008
Splitting Hairs is a documentary about the American invasion of the World Beard and Mustache Championships.
DELTA Meeting and ...
I've been on a statewide steering committee putting together a plan to help prevent intimate partner violence in Alaska for a couple of years now. We're moving along. Yesterday afternoon and today we met at the Sheraton - piggy backing on another education/health conference that members were going to.
Intimate Partner Violence is a broad term to cover people in relationships - whether high school kids are a married gay couple and everything in between. It does not necessarily mean sexual relationship - not all high school kids are sexually active with their boy friends or girl friends. But it also focuses on these relationships rather than other situations of violence. The prevention people focus on developing communities that promote healthy relationships - promoting conditions that lower the risk factors of intimate partner violence, rather than traditional programs that intervene once violence has occurred.
(
view from meeting room yesterday)Anyway, our project is funded with Center for Disease Control money. A key goal is to have some sort of infrastructure in place to help link people working on prevention, facilitate cooperation on developing programs and materials, finding the resources that are already available, getting better data on what is actually happening, and a few other related things. Each one of these can stir up old wounds, suspicions, misunderstandings. We're looking for ways to take advantage of existing state agencies but also giving the people working across the state access and say without this becoming seen as (or de facto) an arm of the state. We want to slightly formalize the already existing informal networks and make them a little less accidental. Sort of a non-cyber Facebook so people can keep in contact and multiply contacts and access to tools, expertise, and resources.
We were done today a little after noon, so I stopped by the Film Festival hospitality suite at the Inlet Towers. This is available for All Film and All Events pass holders and filmmakers. Rand and Tony were getting things ready. Here Rand is adding some short films to show along with scheduled feature length films.
At the Gala tonight at the Aviation Museum they will be showing three shorts continuously - The King and Dick (The real Elvis meets the real Nixon); Nibbles (something about fishing and mosquitoes I think); and Spin, about a dj.
AIFF - DAY 1: Bear Tooth at 7pm for Camille
Tonight is the opening of the Anchorage International Film Festival with a showing of Camille at the Bear Tooth at 7pm. This is the easy day. There's only one movie to see so there are no agonizing decisions about which venue to go to.
Starting at 9pm will be the "Gala Opening." I never did quite get the word "Gala" but that's what they're calling it. At the Aviation Museum. Entry is $18 (Free with an All Events Pass) to the Gala. You get food and you get to rub elbows with local and visiting film buffs and makers. And you probably get to see the exhibits in the museum as well.
Starting at 9pm will be the "Gala Opening." I never did quite get the word "Gala" but that's what they're calling it. At the Aviation Museum. Entry is $18 (Free with an All Events Pass) to the Gala. You get food and you get to rub elbows with local and visiting film buffs and makers. And you probably get to see the exhibits in the museum as well.
There's a trailer here, but it does have an ad first. (It actually didn't work on my computer.)Official Selection
USA - 91 min - Black Comedy - 2008
Director: Gregory Mackenzie
Cast: Sienna Miller, James Franco, David Carradine, Scott Glenn
Young love has rarely been so twisted. Silas has just been blackmailed into marrying Camille. On their honeymoon, an accident leaves Camille deceased and then inexplicably revived, setting the stage for an undead romance as the couple flees from the cops toward the Canadian border.
Friday, December 5, 7:00 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Anchorage International Film Festival - UFAQs
I'm not sure its cricket to have FAQs if no one has asked any questions so these are UFAQs - Unasked Frequently Asked Questions. This is information people might be or should be asking for. Below are links to posts with general information about the Anchorage International Film Festival.
Where's the official AIFF site?
What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc. )
Workshops - Link goes to a list of the special workshops and a bit about the visiting film maker presenters.
Special Schedules - the official schedule is big and crowded with stuff, so I'm developing some specialized ones to focus on specific groups of films.
Is there any public transportation in this town? If you're here for the festival from out of town and you don't have a ride to the next venue, just tell people around you and I bet they'll find someone going your way. Really, people will help out here, especially if you are a film maker. I'm told the Festival was loaned several vans that will help visiting film makers get from venue to venue.
What about family films?
The Program Guide - the link takes you to a PDF of the Program Guide the festival used to have on their website. It is what they sent to The Anchorage Press which printed it as an insert last week (Nov. 26). So, if you have that fine. If not, you can get one at the link. I also suspect these will be available at the venues.
Videos of the Festival
-At the First Movie of the Festival - Camille at Bear Tooth Dec. 5
-Opening night video at Aviation Museum Gala
Who Are You Anyways? - who's paying you to do this? does your brother have a film in competition? What is your connection to the festival? From an earlier post here's my Disclosure:
The eagle-eyed might notice that this blog is linked on the AIFF 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.
Where's the official AIFF site?
What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc. )
Workshops - Link goes to a list of the special workshops and a bit about the visiting film maker presenters.
Special Schedules - the official schedule is big and crowded with stuff, so I'm developing some specialized ones to focus on specific groups of films.
- Features films in competition
- Documentary films in competition
- Shorts in competition
- Documentary shorts in competition
- Animations in competition
Is there any public transportation in this town? If you're here for the festival from out of town and you don't have a ride to the next venue, just tell people around you and I bet they'll find someone going your way. Really, people will help out here, especially if you are a film maker. I'm told the Festival was loaned several vans that will help visiting film makers get from venue to venue.
What about family films?
The Program Guide - the link takes you to a PDF of the Program Guide the festival used to have on their website. It is what they sent to The Anchorage Press which printed it as an insert last week (Nov. 26). So, if you have that fine. If not, you can get one at the link. I also suspect these will be available at the venues.
Videos of the Festival
-At the First Movie of the Festival - Camille at Bear Tooth Dec. 5
-Opening night video at Aviation Museum Gala
Who Are You Anyways? - who's paying you to do this? does your brother have a film in competition? What is your connection to the festival? From an earlier post here's my Disclosure:
The eagle-eyed might notice that this blog is linked on the AIFF 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.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
AIFF - Shorts in Competition Schedule
The Short films will be shown in groups with other short films and they have names that, perhaps after we see the films, will make sense. I've looked through the groups to find out when the ones in competition will be shown. I'm told they will be shown in the order they are listed. So if one you want to see is first at one venue and another is last at another, you could possibly pull that off. Good to get a pass of some sort rather than pay all the separate admissions if you're going to try that.
In any case, I've gone through them and tried to pick out the Short Films in Competition - those eligible to win prizes at the Award Ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 13.
But, it's possible I missed one or two, and that I haven't gotten all the details exactly right - so when you find something you want to see, double check the official Festival Program Guides at their website. Also, there will probably be a few changes now and again. Click the chart to enlarge it.
I've stolen the descriptions right from the AIFF website. I just don't have time to do more at this point.
In any case, I've gone through them and tried to pick out the Short Films in Competition - those eligible to win prizes at the Award Ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 13.
But, it's possible I missed one or two, and that I haven't gotten all the details exactly right - so when you find something you want to see, double check the official Festival Program Guides at their website. Also, there will probably be a few changes now and again. Click the chart to enlarge it.
I've stolen the descriptions right from the AIFF website. I just don't have time to do more at this point.
Germany – 14 min. - Short In Competition
Directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank
Date completed: September 2007
Germany 1942: In order to protect her son Marianne Meißner tried to make him believe that the Jewish neighbors are going on a journey to “Toyland”.
USA – 20 min. - Short In Competition
Directed by Ben Hicks
Date completed: May 2007
A teenage girl, her childish mother and her younger sister find themselves in a strange restaurant.
Mexico – 16 min. - Short In Competition
Directed by Federico Schmucler
Date completed: 2007
Can a TV reality show change the course of your own life?
USA – 15 min. - Short In Competition
Directed by Susan Cohen
Date completed: May 2008
A journey of self-discovery begins when a woman diagnosed with breast cancer finds herself locked in a bathroom with a stranger during a bridal shower.
The film maker is scheduled to attend the screening.
Belgium – 19 min. - short In Competition
Directed by Jeroen Bogaert
Date completed September 2007
Martha is a passionate dancer. She and her company are at the verge of international success. A coming tour will make her ambitions come true. However, she is 7 weeks pregnant and keeps this delicate matter secret from her colleagues and boyfriend.
Land Gewinnen (Gaining Ground)
Germany – 20 min. - Short In Competition
Directed by Marc Brummund
Date completed: June 2007
A young illegal immigrant couple spends their time furtively avoiding the German authorities, until the wellbeing of their young son dictates that they resolve their untenable situation.
USA, 15 min. short In Competition
Directed by James Baker & Joe Haidar
Date completed: May 2008
:
A 'toon hating executive has a hare raising experience when he meets an out of work toon rabbit.
The producer, Susan Cohen is scheduled to attend the screening.
UK – 18 min. - Short In Competition
Directed by Paul Gowers
Date completed: January 2008
A black comedy. One small random act of malice forces an ordinary man off the safe road and on to a dark journey that he'll never forget.
AIFF - Film Makers Coming to the Festival
Here's a list of film makers who will be at the film festival sometime during the next ten days. This was posted on the AIFF website yesterday. [When you're on their site and can't find the link back to the main page, try clicking on the snowman in the upper left corner.] 
Greg Kern - Chronic Town
Brett Spackman – Coyote
Neil Mansfield – Streetsweeper
Jan Louter – The Last Days of Shishmaref
James Bolton – Dream Boy
Ingrid Veninger – Only
Ryan Piotrowicz – The Project
Matt Yeager - Resurrection County (opening night gala only)
Rory Magnus – Robot Dreaming
Mike Stearn – Distraxion
Jeff Chiba Sterns – Yellow Sticky Notes
Joaquin Baldwin – Sebastian’s Voodoo
Peter Dunlap-Shohl – XT & Me and Susitna Story
DeWayne Austin – Misadventures of Moon Kitty
Camille Ezzell – The Magistical
Andrew Okpeaha MacLean – Sikumi
Susan Cohen – Open Your Eyes and Animated American
Ellen Frankenstein – Eating Alaska
Joan Juster – Alaska, Far Away
Levi Taylor – Way Up North
Troy Henkles – In the Wake of Belgica
Skye Borgman – Junk Dreams
Brad Swenson – Stop and Go
Hanah Kaplan – Tits and Skatin’
Buzz Schwall – Butterfly’s Evil Spell
Tim Anderson – One, Two Punch
Don Reardon – Skid Marks
Donal Foreman - You're Only What I See Sometimes
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