AIFF 2012: Passionflower, Fairbanks Nigerians, Scottish Cons With Scissors, Elder Ping Pong, Havana, and Lots of Duct Tape

My Saturday at the film festival was one very satisfying movie after another.  [Check the AIFF 2012 Tab above for what's on today.]

I'll start with two movies that will show again today (Sunday Dec. 9) that are very well worth watching.

Passionflower plays today (Sunday Dec. 9) at 3pm at Alaska Experience Theater.

For some reason I do not understand at all, this film was not selected to be in-competition.  It deserves to be.  I chatted with the director Shelagh Carter briefly the other night - the video is here - and that's the only reason I went to see it tonight.  This film isn't easy, and it doesn't offer any easy solutions.  Nevertheless, even though this film didn't begin until close to 11pm I was wide awake and completely in the film the whole way.  It's the story of a young girl whose beautiful mom is behaving badly.  Today we have a word for this - mentally ill.  Actually, the story is about the mom, for the most part from the girl's perspective.  Making the film even more powerful was that I knew from my chat with Shelagh that the little girl was sitting near me in the theater.  And Shelagh will be at the showing tomorrow as well.  BTW, she's all grown up now, art has gotten her through all this, and she is a professor of film and theater in Winnipeg, Canada.

Alaskaland plays today (Sunday Dec. 9) at 5pm at Out North.

This film takes place entirely in Fairbanks.  It's in the Snowdance category, but it could just as easily have been in the features.  It focuses on a Nigerian family - Dad's a professor of engineering at UAF - and the struggles of the children living in three cultures - the family's Nigerian culture, the general Fairbanks culture, and the black Fairbanks culture.  An outstanding film by a UAF alumnus and with the help of the newish  UAF film program.  Good stuff that tells an Alaskan story that most of us had no idea existed. I do think this film would be improved if it had a title more indicative of the story. 

Now I can talk about the others.  I'll just mention them briefly now and I'll write about some of these at more length later.   All of the films I saw today were good, so I won't keep repeating that. 

It started with a pair of in-competition documentary films - Ping Pong and Cutting Loose.  Cutting Loose was exactly right from my perspective.  Scottish convicts who know how to cut hair, and act as prison barbers, have a hair cutting contest.   But really, the story itself doesn't mean much - it's how they tell the story that matters and they did it well.

Ping Pong highlights eight contestants in the octogenarian world ping pong championship in Inner Mongolia.  An inspirational movie for all of us for whom 80 is getting to be in the foreseeable future.

Most common use of Duct Tape in Quick Freeze films

Unfinished Spaces. Wow!  I was going to go home and get a nap before the afternoon films I had scheduled but Kelly talked me into staying.  For now, I'll just say this is the Buena Vista Social Club for Cuban architects.  More later.

Quick Freeze.  These were the films made since earlier this week (I forget now when), using the three terms - duct tape, sunrise, and hostess.  They were staggeringly good for such a quick turnaround.  I did ask one director if he hadn't started working on an idea before the words were given out and he said, "No."

AIFF 2012: Lapse Director Gilles Guerraz Talks From Paris

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:  Sunday morning (Dec. 9) at 11:15 am Native Tongue short film program plays at the Alaska Experience Theater.  

This is a strong set of four short films.

 I've posted an email exchange with Mossadegh director Roozbeh Dadvand and I've posted a video with Calcutta Taxi director Vikram Dasgupta.

I've even posted a link to the whole third film - Suddenly Zinat . . .  


I chatted with Lapse director Gilles Guerraz and one of the writers, Grayson Wolfe, via skype.  Lapse was missing from this program last week - they had trouble with disc/project compatibility.   I'm putting some of the skype chat up now.

In the video portion below we talked about how he budgeted the film (Ulule helped), the crew, learning by doing, and the camera.  Gilles speaks slowly, but it's worth the effort to listen.



Grayson Wolfe, one of the writers of Lapse, wrote on his blog about watching the final version of Lapse at the Cannes Film Festival.

I watch Lapse again.  No English subtitles this time, and I enjoy it even more.  On a second viewing, I can’t find anything about it I don’t like.  This time I pick up on more subtleties, things I missed when I was reading subtitles.  The film works without dialog, a definition of pure cinema.  I am very impressed with Vincent Londez’ performance, the lead actor.  I wish I had promoted it more.  Not that I had the time, of course.

AIFF 2012: Paul And Bryant Make Out With Everyone

When they told me the title of the film, it didn't register.  I realized why when I checked out the program where it is listed as P.N.B.M.O.W.E.   Paul Jones and Bryant Mainord are local film makers and their film is in competition in the Snowdance category.  They told me a little about the film Friday night at the film makers reception.




It plays

SATURDAY  10 PM at Alaska Experience Theater.

AIFF 2012: Growing Up With Mentally Unstable Mom - Shelagh Carter Talks About Passionflower

  [Check the AIFF 2012 Tab above for what's on today.]

I got to talk to Shelagh Carter Thursday night.  Her film Passionflower is about a young girl whose mom's mental illness makes this difficult.  It takes place in Winnipeg.  But let her tell you.  It shows

Today (Saturday Dec. 8) at 10:30 at the Alaska Experience Theater and

Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3:00 pm at Alaska Experience Theater


It was a little noisy in the Bear Tooth lobby when we did the video.

AIFF 2012: From Miss India to Kenyan Runners

  [Check the AIFF 2012 Tab above for what's on today.]

I saw two films Thursday:

Things I Don't Understand  seems to fit well here at What Do I Know?  I'm too tired to write usefully about the film now.  It shows again Saturday night at the Bear Tooth.  There are a lot of characters with issues, including a musician who turns down a paying job as a coffee bean because he has to be true to his art.  You can see the trailer at the film's website.   The small Alaska Experience theater was full - about 30 people.

The World Before Her - is an Indian-Canadian documentary that looks at the boot camp to train the dozen or so finalists for the Miss India contest and a nationalist Hindu camp for young women.  The juxtaposition of the new and old India makes for a stark contrast.  For me the most interesting characters were the young woman of ambiguous gender and her father.  She is the trainer at the fundamentalist camp and pushes the campers hard as she espouses an extreme Hinduism.  Yet  she does not plan to get married and describes herself something like half woman and half man.   Her father will have none of this because a wife's place is in the house. 

Then I went off to the film-maker reception at the Spenard Roadhouse where I talked to a few film makers.   Mark Mudry is in the video below.  His film Where Dreams Don't Fade, about Kenyan runners, will be screened

Friday Dec. 7 at 10pm at the AK Experience Theater  and
Sunday Dec. 8 at 7pm at Out North

AIFF 2012: Dan Mirvish Created Eisenstadt - A Fake Journalist Who Leaked Palin's Africa Is A Country

Mirvish's fake McCain advisor leaker Martin Eistenstadt

 [Check the AIFF 2012 Tab above for what's on today.]

Between Us  film maker Dan Mirvish, it says in the Dan Mirvish Director's video,  is a shameless self-promoter.

I'd seen Between Us and liked it a lot and wrote a very positive if short review.  Dan saw it and emailed me and soon we were chatting over skype - some of which you can see below in the video.  He mainly talks about the film but mentions in the background creating Martin Eisenstadt, a character who admits to being the McCain staffer who leaked the story that Sarah Palin thought Africa was a country that MSNBC picked up as a real story.(Link goes to Martin Eistenstadt video.)

Between Us plays again Friday at 8pm at the Bear Tooth.  Go see it.

Some interesting points - the play the film is based on was in two acts:  1.  The midwest house and 2. the NY City apartment.  In the film they switch back and forth as both evenings unfold.  Falling off the ladder in the movie was inspired by Dan's falling off a ladder while remodeling and breaking his leg.

A part that I didn't get on video answered my question about the links to Virginia Wolfe.  He told me there is a whole genre of Virginia Wolfe movies that include two couples that argue, such as Polanski's Carnage.


This video is really long for me (17 minutes).  I finally decided to just let it run almost unedited.  I don't see my role here as producing video as entertainment, but as documentation.  So I don't want to cut out some part that might be important to someone researching Mirvish in 20 years when he's a household name, and he will be if he keeps this up.  

Most People Don't See Government Until It Stops Working: Reality Catching Up With Republicans

When government works, for most people, it's invisible.  We drive on government built roads. We (particularly white men) can mostly do our daily tasks without much fear of crime because of police and the courts.  We get clean water out of the faucet and most food is free of immediate health hazards* because of government food inspections.  We can take weather into account in our planning because of the US weather service.  The list goes on and on.

In most cases, it's only when government stops functioning normally, that we notice it.  Street lights are out and potholes don't get fixed.  The water is dirty or stops running at all.  Crime goes up.  And hundreds of things we take for granted can no longer be relied on.

We are approaching the so called Fiscal Cliff - when the Bush tax cuts and automatic sequestration (budget cuts) take effect at the end of the year if no budget deal is worked out by Congress and the President.

There's already been plenty of attention to the fact that Republicans will lose their fight big time if the Bush tax cuts expire.  Not only will taxes go up for the wealthy (which Obama wants but the Republicans don't), but they will go up for everyone.  And Republicans are likely to bear the blame.

But less noticed is the potential effect of sequestration.  When government stops working is when people will start to realize all the things their taxes pay for.  And that's when the fifty year war against government waged by the Republicans will be exposed to all but the most ideologically blinded.  It's then that people will realize how much benefit we get when people cooperate to do those things they can't do as individuals and which the free market can't provide without government help.  Things like public health, public roads, public parks, public safety, public education, utilities like electricity, water, and sewers, and the list goes on and on.  We've already seen what happens when government doesn't play it's role to monitor financial institutions.

When these government services start to disappear and the private sector can't replace them fairly and humanely, people will begin to understand all the things they get because of the public sector and because we share the expenses for our mutual benefit through various fees and taxes.

I'm not saying it's perfect, not by a long shot.  But neither is the private sector.  That's clear to anyone who has flown on any airline lately or had a $30 late fee plus hefty finance charges added to their credit card bill because it was two days late, or was pressured into a no-down payment home loan only to lose their house down the line. Or has seen the pollution left over by unregulated private corporations.

Obama's win, along with the Democrats picking up seats in both Houses of Congress, plus the approval of same sex marriage by voters in three states, was the first Republican ideological balloon to be burst by the prick of reality.

The result of their "Just Say No" legislative strategy now bringing us close to automatic tax hikes,  not just for the rich, but everyone else as well, is the second balloon to soon burst.

And when people start seeing how much their lives have been enhanced by collective cooperation through government - because  these programs will get cut back or disappear  with automatic budget cuts - the third balloon will burst.  They'll see how much that we take for granted exists because of government.  And then the Republican "Government is the Enemy" balloon will burst.

I realize that for many men, competition is everything, and for some, the personal impact of losing is painful enough that they will sacrifice their family and community to not lose.  And the nature of our electoral politics probably means that those who get elected are more competitive than the average.  But if the Republicans can't swallow their pride and say 'uncle,' they will lose more than the Democrats and we will all wake up in a new world in January. 

But Congress can  pass new laws then to start cleaning up the mess.  And the most politically palatable new laws for the Republicans will be tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year.  They couldn't possibly hold up those cuts if those above the threshold are excluded, could they? Will they really do this so then they can say they are cutting taxes rather than raising them now?  Just for ego?

And putting money back into the budget will be more difficult, but if they persist in their government scapegoating, they will be known in the future as the party that destroyed the United States. 


*I understand that there are hazards and hazards and that while the government is monitoring traditional food borne diseases, they are less vigilant of long term chemical hazards in our foods.

I also understand that both parties have good and not so good characters and that neither has a monopoly on rightness or stupidity.  But at the present, in my view, the Democrats' models of the world are much closer to how the world really works and Republican stupidity is in greater supply than Democratic.  

Thai King's Birthday Message Good For Us All To Heed

King Bumiphol's 85th birthday today (Dec. 5) is a holiday in Thailand.  The king is not well and there are many questions about what will happen when the world's longest reigning monarch is gone. 

But today he made a public appearance and offered these words to the Thai people - facing considerable political conflict - which is also applicable to many other parts of the world:

"I always believe that your compassion and good wishes to one another will be a significant factor in creating a unifying force in any group and also in the country," His Majesty said.

"If Thais truly hold these values in their hearts, they can be assured that the country will be safe and will survive regardless of what situation the country is in. Dharma will protect you from all harms,'' he said in his brief address from the balcony at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall.

As the country is struggling with a deep political division, the King mercifully granted the general public a rare audience and graciously offered his sage advice for all Thais to live in harmony while expressing gratitude for their unwavering faithfulness.

"The wishes and oaths of allegiance that you have taken are so evident. I thank you and all Thais who have come here en masse.

"The compassion, good will and unity that you have demonstrated today make me happy. You have greatly boosted my spirits,'' the King said before the huge gathering of his loyal subjects at the Royal Plaza. [From The Nation]

AIFF 2012: No Minors Were Kissed In Shouting Secrets

Korinna Sehringer's Shouting Secrets was an audience pleaser Sunday night.  It was the story of family gathering together when the mom has a stroke.  It's an oft told story that reunites everyone, tensions raised by dealing with the possibility of Mom's death, to pick old scabs in their relationships or to finally heal. 

Lots of secrets were shouted in and around the hospital.  The story was good, the pacing was good, the music was good. What makes this film special for me, is that the family is Native American, acting like any American family. This is a film about a family dealing with its issues.  The family just happens to be Native American. 

Here's Sehringer in video taken before and after the film was shown. (The title of the post gets explained in the video too.)





From my white perspective, I didn't see anything that I think might be offensive to Native Americans, but that said, for some Native Americans (or fill in any ethnic or religious group you want) just the fact that the movie was conceived and directed by someone from outside the group would be offensive, and there may well be problems I just missed.  But it had Native Americans in most of the roles and Sehringer said Native American feedback had been good.

This is just one more film festival example of good films, films often better than what gets distributed to theaters, that have to struggle to be seen.

It plays again Friday at 3pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.  Background note: It's hard for an interviewer who hasn't seen the film (and even for one who has) to ask questions of a director she hasn't already answered many times. The trick is for the film maker to try to sound like it's the first time. I talked to Korinna briefly on video before the showing. Then afterward she answered questions from the audience. Both cover similar ground. So I've just edited in a little of the pre-screening interview onto the after-screening Q&A.

AIFF 2012: Go Ganges - Respectfully Irreverent Trip Down The Ganges

Somewhere in the film Go Ganges, JJ says something like, "At some point you just have to accept all the confusing differences and embrace them and then it's wonderful."  (That was a very rough paraphrasing.)

It's that willingness to go with the flow, to be curious about India, to try to understand some Hindi and to get permission from the holy man and from the river itself before taking off on their adventure,  that both allows them to have thoroughly enjoy themselves in the often difficult conditions of India and to make a movie that reflects their affection for the country.  Doing some yoga and learning some Hindi is one level of commitment, but when you put a plastic tube up your nose and pull it out your mouth, you show you're willing to go the extra kilometer. 

And knowing that, their humor - most aimed at themselves - is warm and friendly.  This is a wonderful way to see India and to see how audacious ideas which seem crazy to normal folks aren't necessarily crazy. 

A delightful sequel to Paddle to Seattle and good for the whole family.

It shows again Saturday at 4pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.  This is definitely a feel good movie.

Here are JJ and Josh answering questions after the film: