AIFF 2013: Travel The World Through Film 2: From India to USA

The film festival gives us a great chance to meet people from around the world, in their own worlds.    The previous post went from Afganistan to Germany.  Here's the rest of the alphabet. 

Below you can see what's offered by film makers from other countries.  The links will take you to the Festival Genius page with a description of the page and when and where it will be shown. 
√ = film in competition    *= film maker scheduled to be there
I don't claim to have gotten every non-US film or gotten all the films in competition or all the film maker talks. 

You don't need a passport to travel this week. 


India
Delinquent Dancers (feature)
Butterfly Dreams (short narrative fiction)


Iran
Everything Is Fine Here (feature) *film maker coming from Iran

Luxembourg
Mr. Hublot  (animated short √) (also France)

Martinique
Maybe Another Time (very short narrative fiction)


Mexico (Sponsored by the Mexican Consul General)
Shorts Program: 

• El Rey de Otra Pelicula
• Enraizado | Steve Granados
• En un Minuto
• La Noria | Karla Castañeda 2012
• La Tiricia | Ángeles Cruz
• Solda

Juventud (Youth) (feature)

Vuelve A La Vida (Back To Life)  (Feature)

Mozambique
The Guide (documentary √)

 Netherlands
The New World (feature)


New Zealand
Stalled (short narrative fiction) also New Zealand and Switzerland
Antarctica (doc)  with Antarctica

Paraguay
7 Cajas (Seven Boxes) (feature)



Russia
Jonah (short narrative fiction √)
http://anchorage.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/film_kirillmodylevskiy_anchorage2013


South Korea
Ahco on the Road (animated short)

Sweden
Coffee Time  (short doc)


Switzerland 
Collectors  (animated  super short)
Stalled (short narrative fiction) also New Zealand and Canada


Taiwan
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?    (feature)

The No Name Painting Association (short doc)  (China)


USA
All the rest of the films (except for the oces I''ve missed.

UK
Reel Life (short narrative fiction √)  *

AIFF 2013: Take A Trip Via Film Part 1 - From Afganistan to Germany

Use the festival to take some short trips to other countries.  

I've gone through the Festival Genius and sorted by country.  It means it was made by someone from that country, it does not necessarily take place in that country, but probably does.

I've linked to the Festival Genius description which also has the times and dates the film will be shown.  Shorts are shown in programs with other shorts.

Have a good trip, or two, or three.

Here's the group:  A-Ma    The rest of the alphabet will be up shortly.


Afghanistan/USA
Fatigued  (short doc)

Antarctica
Antarctica:  A Year on Ice

Australia

The Rose of Turaida (animated super short)

Alaska Sessions:  Surfing The Last Frontier (Doc) 

Suspended (short narrative fiction)

Mine Games (feature)


Canada

Yellow Sticky Notes  Canadian Anijam (animated short)

Tales of the Organ Trade  (doc - I reviewed it here)

“Gaspé Copper” d’Alexis Fortier Gauthier (bandeannonce) (short narrative fiction)

Magnetic Reconnection  (short doc)

Stalled (short narrative fiction) also New Zealand and Switzerland

The Animal Project (feature)

Mourning Has Broken (feature)

Pottery Wars (short doc)

Hasard (short narrative fiction) (also Germany)

Santa's Claw (short narrative fiction)

The Trap (super short narrative fiction)



China
The No Name Painting Association (short doc)
Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?    (feature)

Denmark
Life (short narrative fiction √)
Fucking Tøs (Damn Girl) (short narrative fiction √)
(Both are in the same program - Reel/Real Life Shorts)


France
Mr. Hublot  (animated short √) (also Luxembourg)
Himalayan Gold Rush (doc √)

Germany
The Fusion (short narrative fiction)
Great (short narrative fiction)
Hasard (short narrative fiction) (also Germany)

Thai Demonstrators Pull Back To Honor King on His 86th Birthday

The speech is in Thai, but you can hear how weak the King is as he reads it.  It's slow.  I'll try to get a translation up when I find one. 



New Mandela's analysis of the speech begins:

"King Bhumibol Adulyadej delivered the much-anticipated speech this morning to mark his 86th birthday anniversary at his seaside residence in Hua Hin. Evidently frail, the King managed to read the script throughout, though at time some parts were lost and inaudible. With his shaky voice, the King emphasised what seems to be a traditional quality of the Thai people: unity. He said (unofficial translation by author

 Thailand has been a peaceful nation for a long time; this is because of the existence of national solidarity and because members of society have performed their duty in a complementary manner with each other for the interest of the whole nation. Thais ought to recognise this (situation?) and must continue to perform at the best of their intention for the achievement of common interest; that is safety and security of the Thai nation."

The rest is at the link.


The King has been the rock of Thailand over his long reign (the longest of any monarch in the world today.)  When I was a Peace Corps volunteer I saw him on a few occasions when he celebrated holidays.  I particularly remember a plowing ceremony in Bangkok.

Throughout his life he traveled the country and met with farmers and hill tribe members and worked to improve their lives.

You'll notice all the yellow shirts among the people.  Yellow is the King's color.  Those supporting the current prime minister Yinluck Shinnawat, the sister of ousted prime Shnawat, wear red shirts.  This group challenges the future of the monarchy and what happens when the King dies is speculated by all.  The Prince who is next in-line has led a pretty wild life and is not terribly respected by many Thais.

But on the King's birthday, Thais on all sides, back off their conflict in respect for the King. 


Below is a short excerpt from a video biography of the King focused on his ascension to the thrown in 1946.  It includes an interview with the King about his brother's death which led to him becoming King.





Here's last year's speech.

American Petroleum Institute Thanks Sen. Begich for Keystone Vote

I got this postcard in the mail the other day.

Was I supposed to be happy about this?  I understand having a Democratic Senator in a state where red voters tend to turn out better than blue voters means we have a hybrid Senator who thinks (and probably is right) that he has to support big oil to get reelected.

But who sent it?  The other side gave that info on the bottom.

 

The American Petroleum Institute uses pictures of  pristine snowy mountains on both sides of the postcard.  No pipeline pictures.  No Kulluk oil rigs.  No oil company profit statements.  Just the beautiful Alaskan landscapes.  (Or something that looks like an Alaskan landscape.)  You'd think though they could have found a second Begich picture.   

I'd love to have been an invisible observer at the meeting where they decided to send this out.  What were there motives?  To piss off Begich's Democratic supporters?  To let Mark know this is what he gets when he votes right, but if he votes wrong . . .  

What's the message to his Republican opponents?  

On the simplest level, it's just asking Alaskans to call an thank Mark for his vote.  

Of course, the large coporations give money to everyone who might get elected.  They've got plenty and want that door to open when they come knocking. 

The American Petroleum Institute gave more money to the Democratic Governor's Association, according to Open Secrets, than to anyone else.  Given current disclosure laws post Citizens United, I'm not sure how much money is given, but not identified.  They list political contributions which I'm guessing are for 2012:

"CONTRIBUTIONS: $931,706

Contributions to candidates: $235,970
Contributions to Leadership PACs: $9,500
Contributions to parties: $128,226
Contributions to 527 committees: $558,010
Contributions to outside spending groups: $0"

But you'll notice they gave almost four times as much to 527 committees (that can fund campaigns without disclosing donors, if I understand it right)  than they gave to parties.


And the contributions pale compared to the $6 +  million they spend annually on lobbyists.

AIFF 2013: Super Shorts In Competition - "Doesn't the apple get to tell its side of the story?"

These are Super Shorts.  Under 10 minutes.  Just go see them.  If you don't like one, it will be over in a few minutes and you can start the next one.  The real trick is finding when and where they are playing.  I'll give you a little info that's somehow relevant to the picture and where to find them.  They aren't in their own program, but are mixed with longer shorts.


Group 1:  Reel/Real Life Shorts 
Sunday, Dec 8 at 3 pm  Alaska Exp Large
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 am Alaska Exp Small
(In addition to the two Super Shorts below, this program includes two Shorts that are in competition as well - Reel Life and Fucking Tøs (Damn Girl).  So there are two Danish films in this program.)

Anatomy of Injury 
Danielle Lessovitz
USA
5m    ✓   

From her website:

Danielle Lessovitz is a filmmaker from Kansas City, Kansas currently working in New York City. She is a graduate of Northwestern University where she studied documentary film and sound design for installations. She is currently an MFA candidate within NYU's Graduate Film Program. Her work has been screened at film festivals including Torino International Film Festival, Philadelphia International Film Festival, Rooftop Films Summer Series, and San Francisco Short Film Festival. In 2013 she received a New Filmmaker award from the Philadelphia Jewish Film Society and Best Heartland short at The Kansas City Film Festival for her film, The Earthquake. She is the recipient of a Ben Lazaroff award for screenwriting and received a Ben Wasserman Scholarship for her studies at NYU. Her video installations have been included in a number of public art exhibitions around the country. She is fluent in Italian and looks forward to feature filmmaking.

Sunday, Dec 8 at 3 pm  Alaska Exp Large
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 am Alaska Exp Small
*********************************************


Life* *

Lasse Lorenzen    

Denmark
2m    ✓   

Image and Director Statement from the MKE Shortfest Blog:

Director Statement
Even in the bleakest and darkest of times life will find a way to add color and cheer.

LIFE is in short, a short film about the meaning of life.

The story had been flying around in my mind for quite a while. I always had the urge to show how I experience life in its essence. I remember being a kid and seeing all these extremely serious adult humanbeings who never seemed to have any FUN - and vowing to never end up like that. Now, being an adult myself I do feel that life is very serious and at its core not very fun at all. But the kid in me still pops up and tries to force me to puncture that bubble of adulthood. And often at the most inopportune moments in life. . .

Sunday, Dec 8 at 3 pm  Alaska Exp Large
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 am Alaska Exp Small
**Life also plays in Global Village Shorts:
Saturday, December 7  2:30 pm Alaska Experience Large
Saturday, December 14 1:30 pm Alaska Experience Small

*****************************************************

Group 2:  Global Village Shorts

Saturday, December 7  2:30 pm Alaska Experience Large
Saturday, December 14 1:30 pm Alaska Experience Small

This program also includes one longer short in competition - Jonah. 
 
Separation Sonnet 
Andressa Furletti
USA
8m    ✓

Image from Andressa Furletti's website - Click to enalrge

Saturday, December 7  2:30 pm Alaska Experience Large
Saturday, December 14 1:30 pm Alaska Experience Small
*****************************************************



Life* *

Lasse Lorenzen    
Denmark
2m    ✓ 

Saturday, December 7  2:30 pm Alaska Experience Large
Saturday, December 14 1:30 pm Alaska Experience Small

Also playing in Reel/Real Life Program - see above for more info.
Sunday, Dec 8 at 3 pm  Alaska Exp Large
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 am Alaska Exp Small *****************************************************



Group 3:  Family Film Festival, 
Saturday, Dec. 14 at Loussac Wilda Marston Auditorium
(There's a program that starts at 11am and it repeats at 1pm.  This is a free program.)

Tooth Fairy image from Eugene Film Festival site

The Toothfairy
Rachel Sonnenberg
USA
4m    ✓   


Sunday, Dec 8 at 3 pm  Alaska Exp Large
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 am Alaska Exp Small
*****************************************************



Paradigm
Stephen Boyer
USA
5m    ✓   


This one I found online.  Things have evolved since I started blogging these festivals.  In the beginning, if a film were online, it was disqualified, but things have loosened up.  I once was conflicted about putting a whole film up here, but I've gotten over that.  I shouldn't baby my readers.  If it's out there, they should decide if they want to see it here or at the festival or both.   I understand the word Paradigm, but didn't catch why it's the title of this film. 



Sunday, Dec 8 at 3 pm  Alaska Exp Large
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 am Alaska Exp Small
*****************************************************

Poison Apple
Dane Neves
USA
9m    ✓   

"Doesn't the apple get to tell its side of the story?"  Dane Neves

Here's a video I found about the making of Poison Apple.  It's longer than the film.


Sunday, Dec 8 at 3 pm  Alaska Exp Large
Saturday, Dec. 14 at 11:30 am Alaska Exp Small

 *****************************************************

"I can't believe this guy didn't understand the expectations" - Anchorage Police Chief

Last Wednesday's Anchorage Daily News had an article about a police officer who used the APD's computer system to look up information about people for non-work related reasons.

Reporter Casey Grove writes,

Police Chief Mark Mew said Tuesday that he had warned the recruits on the academy's first day about inappropriate behavior while on duty.
"I can't believe this guy didn't understand the expectations," Mew said.

I've seen Chief Mew in action over the years and I think he's grown a lot and is dedicated  to making Anchorage as safe a place as possible.

But as a teacher, I'd point out that people often don't hear what they are told, especially on the first day.  I know that my students, on the first day, basically wanted to know how much work they would have to do, how many papers, how much reading, so they could figure out if they could do ok in class.

Even if they did hear anything else, there was no guarantee that what they understood was what I had intended.  And if the class wasn't interactive, where the students were forced to think and respond, the odds of them getting other stuff, especially information that was not part of what they already knew, was low.  Even when I told students exactly what they needed to do to prepare for the next week's class, they didn't believe me.  Until they had a quiz the next week and they realized that if they had done what I said, they would have passed the quiz.

So warning recruits on the academy's first day about inappropriate behavior isn't going to impact performance unless they actually listen and understand the details. And while some may get it, the others won't unless they are engaged in the discussion and given opportunities to role play, respond to case studies,  or otherwise actively participate in ways that force them to put their understanding into action. Which allows the instructor and the student to see if the student understood.  Just because you say it, doesn't mean they learned it. 

I imagine though, that the recruits got the information more than that one time from the Chief on the first day.  But understanding how humans learn new ideas (not easily) and new behaviors (by practicing them rather than hearing about them)  will make changing recruits' understanding and behavior more likely.

And there are some whom the academy simply won't reach.  And the academy has to have ways to detect who those people are and help them find more appropriate employment.

AIFF2013: On The Air - Tuesday Dec. 3 10 am and Wednesday Dec 4 at 2pm

TUESDAY


Steve Heimel's Talk of Alaska show will host:

• Tony Shepard, founder, Anchorage International Film Festival
• Jim Parker, volunteer program organizer
• Callers Statewide

on KSKA 90.1 FM in Anchorage and APRN stations statewide on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 10 am.    Here's how you can participate:

• Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air).
• Send e-mail to talk [at] alaskapublic [dot] org (comments may be read on air)
• Call 550-8422 in Anchorage or 1-800-478-8255 if you’re outside Anchorage during the live broadcast

For interested film makers who aren't in Alaska (yet) you can listen online. Just go to  Alaska Public Radio and click the red 'radio stream' on the left. 

Click image to get to Alaska Public Media, then hit the Radio Stream button

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 4 at 2pm. 

Kathleen McCoy, on Hometown Alaska, will discuss both the Anchorage International Film Festival and the Indigenous World Film Festival that will have its 10th Anniversary in Anchorage January 17-18. 

Kathleen's guests will be: 

• Jim Parker, Director of Film Programming, Anchorage International Film Festival
• Steven Alvarez, program director, Indigenous World Film Festival

Kathleen asked if she could add me to part of the program, so I'm scheduled to be on the Wednesday broadcast too.

Participate:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752  (statewide) during the live broadcast (2:00 – 3:00pm Wednesday Alaska time)
• Send e-mail to hometown@alaskapublic.org before, during or after the live broadcast (e-mails may be read on air)

I would also note that you can buy all film passes ($100) for the Anchorage International Film Festival online or at the Bear Tooth (the website says starting Thursday at Bear Tooth, but we got one Monday night already.)   Regular tickets are $8 a film, the opening night includes a party afterward and costs $30 ($15 if you have an all films pass.)  So, if you go to the opening night and see ten more films/programs/workshops, the pass is a good deal.

And tomorrow you can start buying tickets for the Friday opening night showing of Icebound, a film about the serum run to Nome that is memorialized each year in the Iditarod.  I suspect this one will sell out, so getting tickets early is a good idea.  The word premiere shows up, but it's not clear if it's an Alaska premiere or what.  It appears to have been shown on BBC4 in October.

AIFF2013: Animated Films In Competition

These are the animated films chosen by the screening committee to be in competition for festival awards.  They are mostly pretty short and they all play in one program (Animation) twice during the festival.   So, it's best to just go see them and be surprised without too much hype beforehand.  This is just a peek to whet your appetite with no spoilers.  I haven't seen any of them yet - just a few trailers.

Films in the whole program (all 18 short animations, not just the ones in competition) are overwhelmingly from the US, but there are also films from Australia, Canada, Luxembourg/France, and Switzerland.  The films range from 2 minutes to one outlier at 23 minutes.  (And if you want to see all the animated films, there are at least three more animated films that aren't in the animated program:

• The Narrative of Victor Karloch in the Horror Program with another short films (not animated.  There was another that seems to have disappeared.)
• Enraizado and La Noria in the Mexican short film program at Sunday Dec. 8 at 7:45pm.)

 
ANIMATION PROGRAM  - Two Chances To See Them

Saturday, Dec. 7 at 12 noon at the Alaska Exp large theater

Friday, Dec. 13 at 7:30 pm at the Anchorage Community Works* 

*349 E Ship Creek Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501


So, either on Pearl Harbor Day or Friday the 13th.


Here's a preview of the animated films in competition:

*****************************************************


Blue                    
Katelyn Bianchini 
Canada
8m
✓

Blue was Katelyn's senior thesis at Chapman University according to her website.

*****************************************************


Icarus Falls
Jesse O’Brien
USA
3m
✓

Below is  2-D Animitic done in preparation of the eventual 3-D film that, I'm assuming, we'll see at the festival.  I don't see this as a spoiler, but a way to get a sense of how much work goes into one of these very short films and to help understand the process. Jesse's blog, where I got this, shows other steps in developing the visual characters.




*****************************************************


Mister Super Juice
Mike Wellins    
USA

Mr. Juice Swimming - Image from Mike Wellins

5m
✓    

 "Mr. Super Juice is an important infomercial with Mr. Super Juice, himself, extolling the virtues of juicing and juicing machines. Mr. Super Juice speaks the truth when it comes to real juicing and delivers a dire warning for those who still aren't ready to worship at the altar of juice."

From a website Mike shares with his brother Dean, a Disney animation guy:

Mike Wellins has been an artist and filmmaker since age 8. Mike Graduated Merced Highschool and attended California State University, Chico, where he studied Art, English, Computer Animation and film and video production.

*****************************************************


Mr. Hublot
Laurent Witz
Luxembourg/France

Image from Zeilt Productions
(Real image is significantly more impressive}

11m
✓
This one has already won at least ten 'best' awards.  It's visually lush if this still is any indication.

I haven't been able to get very much on these films, but of what I have seen, this looks and sounds fantastic.  Check the Mr. Hublot website for very short trailers too.  




******************************************************



The Innovator
Sean McCarthy
USA
2m
✓

Image from Dances With Films

Metro Active has a long story on Sean if you want to know who made this film.  It begins:

"He flash-mobbed the Oakridge Macy's with a cinematographer in a wheelchair and a crew of 15. He was cuffed and booked for the crime of guerrilla filmmaking. San Jose's Sean McCarthy spreads out from student pranks to the film-festival circuit."

I only got a slight sense of the films in competition.  It's clear that Mr. Hublot should be in this group.  I'm waiting to see the others.  I would note that Richard Cunningham's  "A Clean Break" is in the group, but not in competition.   Cunningham's 'Year Zero' was my favorite animated film in the 2011 festival - with a very original look. And apparently it's being made (finished?) into a feature.   I'm looking forward to seeing his new film.  He's a highly talented film maker with his own unique style and I'll be looking critically at the animated films to see why "A Clean Break" isn't in competition.  I'd also note that last time he didn't win any awards here either.  The films that did were very good, but for me Year Zero was a truly special film which broke new animation film ground. 

Why I Live Here: Cold Beauty

It's good that people Outside (Alaska) believe it's cold and dark here most of the year.  It keeps them from moving up here.  But I'm constantly awed and delighted by the magnificence of Nature and the show it puts on in Alaska is never ending.  Even after 36 years here, I'm awed daily.  Fortunately, most Outsiders think such talk is just Alaskans rationalizing why they live in the cold and dark.   That's right.  Seattle's a nice place if you have to move north.  And there's Calgary and Edmonton if Seattle's too far south.   All much nicer than Anchorage.  Really.

We got home from LA just in time for the temperature to plunge to about -5˚F (-20˚C).  But I shoveled the driveway in the cold sunshine yesterday.  Today when I got back in from finishing the job (well there's a bit more I could do tomorrow) the outside thermometer said +9˚F (-12˚C) and tomorrow it's predicted to be in the 20s.

As I shoveled I kept looking up at these birch trees, dressed in hoarfrost, and I thought about how the new camera can take much better pictures of this than the little one.

"1 dead, four people shot at Ramkhamhaeng University after clashes"

 The headline comes from a Thai Visa post.


I've been vaguely paying attention to the latest round of demonstrations in Thailand, but the headline above caught my attention.  In 2006 I taught a class for a month at Ramkhamhaeng University.  It's an open University with lots of students who wouldn't have a chance getting into more elite universities.

The image is from a Youtube videos that begins on the street in front of the University.  There's a by-pass road above and lots of shops on one side of the street and the University on the other.

It's hard keeping things in Thailand straight these days as you can see if you go to these links New Mandala and Bangkok Pundit that I've had up on the blog several years now. It's not even clear that the man killed was at the University from what I'm reading. 

This is also a reminder of where things can end up when people split on ideological lines and see only their differences and not what they have in common. 

[Feedburner note:  Basically it's been working, but 11 hours after this one was posted, it's still not showing up on blogrolls.  When it didn't go up right away, I pinged it, but that didn't help.]]