I've seen three strong features so far. De Nieuwe Wereld (The New World), Detroit Unleaded, and Hank and Asha. The first two I've discussed already at the links. Both are solid films, well made, on 'relevant' topics (asylum seekers in Holland and Arab Americans as normal people.)
But Hank and Asha pulled me right in and kept me there the whole movie. Maybe I liked it more than the other two because it has more sugar in it, but I think it's more than a comfort film. The two key actors are wonderful. These are people I couldn't help but like reaching out into the world. We need a new word for the format. It's epistolary, but instead of letters, we see the selfie videos traded by two strangers (at first), a young man in New York and a young Indian woman studying film in Prague.
This online relationship unfolds as we see the progression of videos in which they share their cities, their apartments, dinners and picnics, fears, and hopes. There's nothing even PG 13 in the whole film. It's sweet. The actors - Mahira Kakkar and Andrew Pastides - are perfect in their parts. I didn't see actors, I saw two people video taping messages to a stranger who might possibly become more - someone they each could talk to about their dreams and fears.
It plays again tonight (Tuesday, Dec. 10) at the Alaska Experience Theater at 6:30.
You can see a trailer on their website.
This is an original film on an idea that I'm guessing is playing out all around the world: Using the internet to meet new people you would never meet otherwise. And yes, there is a serious obstacle to this budding relationship.
I talked to James Duff and Julia Morrison, who together wrote, produced, and directed the film, after the showing. We talked about the film in general, the Bollywood dance scene, music rights, and the pros and cons of micro-budget films.
And then we talked a little more and I had to turn the video back on when James told me the timeline for shooting the movie. It makes the actors' performances, and the script writing and editing all the more remarkable. It isn't uncommon for movies to shoot scenes out of sequence. But it's less common for the two lead actors who carry most of the movie to not ever meet until after the movie was finished.
My sound card ran out of memory and so we stopped.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Monday, December 09, 2013
AIFF13: Detroit Unleaded - Loving, But Honest Look At Arab-Americans
How can I say it's an honest look? What do I know about Arab-American families? Got me there, not much. But it feels true from what I know about a lot of other immigrant cultures in the US.
This plays again tonight - Monday, Dec. 9, 2013 at 8pm at the Bear Tooth - The film maker will be there.
There's much to like in this film. Second generation Arab Americans are the main characters. A host of different people. Here are some themes that got explored so nicely in this first film by Rola Nashef.
Nothing momentous happens (well, it does, but it's the context, not the focus). It's the focus on every day details of life working at this fading gas station struggling to stay open - the 'o' in the neon sign no longer works -
There's a very poignant developing relationship between a girl/woman whose brother forbids her to attract any attention from any guy and the gas station guy.
While the facade is of Arab-Americans, this is just a story about human beings, told with love and care.
Here's part of the Q and A with the film maker, Rola Nashef, after the Sunday showing.
And here's the trailer:
This plays again tonight - Monday, Dec. 9, 2013 at 8pm at the Bear Tooth - The film maker will be there.
There's much to like in this film. Second generation Arab Americans are the main characters. A host of different people. Here are some themes that got explored so nicely in this first film by Rola Nashef.
- Loving, but always working, husband and wife.
- Mother and son relationship when the father is gone.
- Young man and young woman relationship.
- Struggles of a small business to survive.
- Working in a bullet proof cage in a gas station/store in a high crime neighborhood.
- Second generation immigrant and mostly American, but still strongly influenced by the old world culture.
Nothing momentous happens (well, it does, but it's the context, not the focus). It's the focus on every day details of life working at this fading gas station struggling to stay open - the 'o' in the neon sign no longer works -
There's a very poignant developing relationship between a girl/woman whose brother forbids her to attract any attention from any guy and the gas station guy.
While the facade is of Arab-Americans, this is just a story about human beings, told with love and care.
Here's part of the Q and A with the film maker, Rola Nashef, after the Sunday showing.
And here's the trailer:
AIFF 2013: Monday Festival Planning, So Much Easier
First, there are a lot fewer films to see.
Second, I've seen some of them already so I can speak more knowledgeably about them.
Both the films in the War Docs program should be good at 6. Fatigued is billed as a US/Afghanistan film about being deployed to Afghanistan. Gold Star Children is about US kids who have parents away in war or who have died in war. Fatigued is in competition but Gold Star was highly recommended too.
There's a workshop with local Cinematographers Sprocketheads at the Inlet Towers at 6:30. The advantage there is interacting with film makers, and since a lot of the visiting film makers are staying there, you should be able to meet them too.
Furever starts at 7 at AK Exp - a feature length doc on people who freeze dry or otherwise preserve their pets. Also in compeititon.
8pm AK Exp - Quirky Short Docs Program has two shorts in competition Slomo and The Words I Love. I just like the concept of The Words I love - a Thai film maker living in New York asks strangers what unknown English words mean. I've done that in reverse in Thailand. The film maker will be there as well. I'm looking forward to that one particularly.
Then there's Detroit Unleaded at 8pm at the Bear Tooth. This is an example of films taking us into other worlds we normally wouldn't ever enter. In this case, the Arab-American world in Detroit. A young man's college career ends before it begins when his Dad is killed in a robbery at the family gas station and he has to take over running it. This was a solid movie with great acting. The director, Rola Nashef, was at the screening Sunday and will be there Monday at the Bear Tooth 8pm. I'll put up some video of her Q&A and link it here when it's ready.
A heads-up for Tuesday night: Hank and Asha is a delightful film that everyone should go see. It's delightful, uplifting, holds your attention, and has some real substance too. The acting is superb.
Second, I've seen some of them already so I can speak more knowledgeably about them.
Both the films in the War Docs program should be good at 6. Fatigued is billed as a US/Afghanistan film about being deployed to Afghanistan. Gold Star Children is about US kids who have parents away in war or who have died in war. Fatigued is in competition but Gold Star was highly recommended too.
There's a workshop with local Cinematographers Sprocketheads at the Inlet Towers at 6:30. The advantage there is interacting with film makers, and since a lot of the visiting film makers are staying there, you should be able to meet them too.
Furever starts at 7 at AK Exp - a feature length doc on people who freeze dry or otherwise preserve their pets. Also in compeititon.
8pm AK Exp - Quirky Short Docs Program has two shorts in competition Slomo and The Words I Love. I just like the concept of The Words I love - a Thai film maker living in New York asks strangers what unknown English words mean. I've done that in reverse in Thailand. The film maker will be there as well. I'm looking forward to that one particularly.
Then there's Detroit Unleaded at 8pm at the Bear Tooth. This is an example of films taking us into other worlds we normally wouldn't ever enter. In this case, the Arab-American world in Detroit. A young man's college career ends before it begins when his Dad is killed in a robbery at the family gas station and he has to take over running it. This was a solid movie with great acting. The director, Rola Nashef, was at the screening Sunday and will be there Monday at the Bear Tooth 8pm. I'll put up some video of her Q&A and link it here when it's ready.
A heads-up for Tuesday night: Hank and Asha is a delightful film that everyone should go see. It's delightful, uplifting, holds your attention, and has some real substance too. The acting is superb.
Monday, December 9th
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Documentary Program | 98 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater |
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Event | 90 min.
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Inlet Tower Hotel & Suites |
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Amy Finkel 2013 | Documentary | 81 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater |
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Documentary Program | 68 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater |
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Rola Nashef 2012 | Feature
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Sunday, December 08, 2013
AIFF 2013: Mt. Rescue And 1st US Everest Climb
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| Post film talk |
High and Hallowed: Everest 1963 - had film from the original climb and a repeat climb 50 years later. It included extensive interviews with some of the original climbers and put the climb into the context of history and the changes the mountain has seen since then. It showed the almost Disneyland line of climbers on the ropes today, going to the top.
Mt. Rescue was similar in structure (as was Icebound opening night) in recreating the original rescue and interviews with the rescuers today.
But what made this special was what you get a film festival. The daughter of one of the rescuers and another of the rescuers were both there to talk and answer questions afterward.
The surfing film looked pretty full, I'm waiting for the start of Detroit Unleaded.
AIFF2013: Surfing From Sitka To Homer - Video Intro with Fred Dickerson on Alaska Sessions
A month long winter surf trip from Sitka to Homer. Why haven't I seen the Alaska Visitors' Bureau hyping this vacation package instead of cruises?
The director of Alaska Sessions: Surfing The Last Frontier gives a brief intro in the video below.
The movie plays Sunday, Dec. 8 at 1pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.
The director of Alaska Sessions: Surfing The Last Frontier gives a brief intro in the video below.
The movie plays Sunday, Dec. 8 at 1pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.
AIFF2013: Sunday Planning - Surfing, Mountain Climbing, Iran, Mexico, Internet Dating, And More
Tonight (well, it's already Sunday morning) I'm getting 8 hours sleep, so I need to do this quick.
NOTE 1: Everything except Everything Is Fine Here (6pm at Museum) and Hank and Asha (8pm at Bear Tooth) is at Alaska Experience Theaters.
NOTE 2: The full schedule with times, locations, and links is below the text.
Sunday starts with an easy choice
11am Mountain Climbing docs. It's the only thing on and Grand Rescue is one of the Docs in competition.
1pm is an Alaskan Surfing movie Alaska Sessions: Surfing The Last Frontier. I have a brief video with the director Fred Dickerson here. Fred will, I'm sure, be at the showing. But
1:30pm is Detroit Unleaded, one of the Features in Competition. And one of the film makers is scheduled to be there. About an Arab-American working in a gas station. (Like that tells you the whole movie. But I haven't seen it so can't tell you more.)
Problems after that.
3pm Reel/Real Life Shorts - starts with Anatomy of an Injury and Fucking Tøs (Damn Girl) both of which are in competition. Second from the end is Reel Life - a ten minute British short that I got to see already. This is like punning in the language of film. It's a lot of fun and raises good questions about film making. Definitely worth seeing. Don't read anything about it. Anything about the movie is a spoiler. Just see it. The director Laurence Relten is scheduled to be at the festival, but for the 3pm showing next Saturday (Dec. 14).
The problem is that 9 Full Moons is at 3:30. This is a feature that I'm told is good plus it has an extra bonus for Anchorage folks - Cindy and Malcolm Roberts' son Bret is the male lead.
A second showing of Mine Games has been added to the schedule, replacing The New World, which had had three showings. After seeing Mine Games and The New World yesterday, I think the original programers got it right. But tonight I need to sleep. If you like eight young adults for a fun weekend in an isolated house in the woods that begins with a car accident, one guy who is repeatedly asked if he's taken his meds, an abandoned mine with dead bodies, young men acting out, consumption of magic mushrooms, plus a gratuitous sex scene, then don't let me stop you from going to Mine Games. It's just not my taste. See my video with Director Richard Gray who will be there Sunday too.
Then to the museum:
6pm - Everything is Fine Here - an Iranian feature and the director is scheduled to be there with a local translator.
The Mexican Shorts at 7:45pm should be very good and they are only showing once. I could end up there. And Harlem Street Singer at 8:15 is one of the docs in competition and should also be dynamite. It at least shows again next Sunday at 1pm.
I'm planning on Hank and Asha at 8 at the Bear Tooth. This is one of the features in competition and the director is scheduled to be there. This promises to be a feel good movie about a couple who meet and date online.
So, no, I'm not going to give you a must see list. You have to make your own choices, but there are lots of good ones.
NOTE 1: Everything except Everything Is Fine Here (6pm at Museum) and Hank and Asha (8pm at Bear Tooth) is at Alaska Experience Theaters.
NOTE 2: The full schedule with times, locations, and links is below the text.
Sunday starts with an easy choice
11am Mountain Climbing docs. It's the only thing on and Grand Rescue is one of the Docs in competition.
1pm is an Alaskan Surfing movie Alaska Sessions: Surfing The Last Frontier. I have a brief video with the director Fred Dickerson here. Fred will, I'm sure, be at the showing. But
1:30pm is Detroit Unleaded, one of the Features in Competition. And one of the film makers is scheduled to be there. About an Arab-American working in a gas station. (Like that tells you the whole movie. But I haven't seen it so can't tell you more.)
Problems after that.
3pm Reel/Real Life Shorts - starts with Anatomy of an Injury and Fucking Tøs (Damn Girl) both of which are in competition. Second from the end is Reel Life - a ten minute British short that I got to see already. This is like punning in the language of film. It's a lot of fun and raises good questions about film making. Definitely worth seeing. Don't read anything about it. Anything about the movie is a spoiler. Just see it. The director Laurence Relten is scheduled to be at the festival, but for the 3pm showing next Saturday (Dec. 14).
The problem is that 9 Full Moons is at 3:30. This is a feature that I'm told is good plus it has an extra bonus for Anchorage folks - Cindy and Malcolm Roberts' son Bret is the male lead.
A second showing of Mine Games has been added to the schedule, replacing The New World, which had had three showings. After seeing Mine Games and The New World yesterday, I think the original programers got it right. But tonight I need to sleep. If you like eight young adults for a fun weekend in an isolated house in the woods that begins with a car accident, one guy who is repeatedly asked if he's taken his meds, an abandoned mine with dead bodies, young men acting out, consumption of magic mushrooms, plus a gratuitous sex scene, then don't let me stop you from going to Mine Games. It's just not my taste. See my video with Director Richard Gray who will be there Sunday too.
Then to the museum:
6pm - Everything is Fine Here - an Iranian feature and the director is scheduled to be there with a local translator.
The Mexican Shorts at 7:45pm should be very good and they are only showing once. I could end up there. And Harlem Street Singer at 8:15 is one of the docs in competition and should also be dynamite. It at least shows again next Sunday at 1pm.
I'm planning on Hank and Asha at 8 at the Bear Tooth. This is one of the features in competition and the director is scheduled to be there. This promises to be a feel good movie about a couple who meet and date online.
So, no, I'm not going to give you a must see list. You have to make your own choices, but there are lots of good ones.
Sunday, December 8th
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Documentary Program | 96 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
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Frederick Dickerson, Matthew McNeill 2012 | Documentary | 87 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
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Rola Nashef 2012 | Feature | 90 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
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Shorts Program | 98 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
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Tomer Almagor | Feature | 103 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
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Richard Gray 2012 | Feature | 96 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
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pourya azarbayjani 2012 | Feature | 75 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending
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Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center | ||||
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samit kakkad 2012 | Feature | 94 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||
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Mexican Film Program | 87 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||
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James E. Duff 2012 | Feature | 73 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending
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Bear Tooth Theatre | ||||
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Trevor Laurence, Simeon Hutner 2013 | Documentary | 77 min.
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Saturday, December 07, 2013
AIFF2013: De Nieuwe Wereld (The New World) Very Satisfying
This was the first feature I saw and it was satisfying on all levels - good story, nice film making, sensitive human relationships.
The highlight for me was when the main character Mirte, a cleaning woman at a Dutch immigration detention center at the airport - not quite in Dutch territory - is cleaning a
glass wall. On the other side, an African detainee that she has found a connection to through their common loss of a spouse, mimics her cleaning motions with his head and body in a beautiful playful dance. [Dec 8: found it on the trailer, added screenshot]
But there were many other parts that were so well done. The slow and painful opening of Mirte, whose son is living with his aunt and uncle and we someone have to figure out that Mirte has recently lost her husband.
There is the inside view of the detention center. Another review called it a "reception centre for asylum seekers," but it looked more prison - even if clean and modern - where people wait for the Dutch to decide if they meet the guidelines for getting asylum. We see the difficult job of questioning the asylum seekers, interactions among the staff, and the pain of sending people back.
But we also see Mirte's struggle to take her son back in and their easing of tension.
And there's her motorbike which probably has some symbolism, but I haven't had time to think that through.
Very satisfying film. It will show again Wednesday 7pm at Alaska Exp Theater.
It turns out it was scheduled three times at the festival - two showings is normal - so Mine Games, which was only scheduled once, will take The New World's spot Sunday, Dec. 9[8], at 5:30pm at Alaska Experience Small Theater.
The highlight for me was when the main character Mirte, a cleaning woman at a Dutch immigration detention center at the airport - not quite in Dutch territory - is cleaning a
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| Window Cleaning scene from De Nieuwe Wereld trailer |
But there were many other parts that were so well done. The slow and painful opening of Mirte, whose son is living with his aunt and uncle and we someone have to figure out that Mirte has recently lost her husband.
There is the inside view of the detention center. Another review called it a "reception centre for asylum seekers," but it looked more prison - even if clean and modern - where people wait for the Dutch to decide if they meet the guidelines for getting asylum. We see the difficult job of questioning the asylum seekers, interactions among the staff, and the pain of sending people back.
But we also see Mirte's struggle to take her son back in and their easing of tension.
And there's her motorbike which probably has some symbolism, but I haven't had time to think that through.
Very satisfying film. It will show again Wednesday 7pm at Alaska Exp Theater.
It turns out it was scheduled three times at the festival - two showings is normal - so Mine Games, which was only scheduled once, will take The New World's spot Sunday, Dec.
AIff2013: Animation and Global Shorts and Tweets
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| Animation Audience at noon |
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| Animation Hotline |
The festival hashtag is
Mine is @Whisper2world.
Animation Hotline was my favorite so far. The visuals were original and abstract and
perfect and basically, it was illustrations of people calling into a hotline. Really well done.
The Rose of Turaida also had great visuals.
Rose and Hotline had lots of beautiful abstract visuals which don't really work when you stop it for these stills.
And Lost and Found . . .
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| Lost and Found |
AIFF 2013: Australian Director Richard Gray On Mine Games - Saturday Night 9:45pm
I caught Australian film maker Richard Gray after Icebound Friday night at the very noisy Bear Tooth lobby. Here he gives a brief overview of his film Mine Games which he describes as a psychological thriller. It was filmed in Washington State, in part in lava tubes under Mt. St. Helens. He's got some actors with serious film credits in it: Alex Meraz from the Twilight Sagas, Joseph Cross who was in Lincoln, Flags of Our Fathers, and Running with Scissors, Briana Evigan, and Ethan Peck.
AIFF 2013: What To Do Saturday? Start With Animation At Noon
Below is a list of the Saturday Schedule from the Festival Website.
I'm going to start with Animation at noon. All the animated films in competition are in this program. (Almost all the animation are in this program.) Not as many animated films as previous years, it seems, but I didn't go back and count.
I might stick my head in at the beginning of the environmental docs - the first one, Backyard, is in competition. Then to the shorts program - three are in competition - Jonah, Life, and Separation Sonnet.
Not sure what I'll do next. McConkey should be an interesting film - about an extreme skier who pushed the limits too far eventually - at the Bear Tooth. But Mine Games plays at 9:45pm at the Alaska Experience Theater. I interviewed the film maker last night after Icebound, and I'm inclined to go there. (I'll link to the video as soon as I get it up.)
But I've found that at the festival, things happen, and I end up seeing films I hadn't expected to see. Don't get too hung up on your plan.
√ means it's in competition
* means film maker scheduled to be there
I'm going to start with Animation at noon. All the animated films in competition are in this program. (Almost all the animation are in this program.) Not as many animated films as previous years, it seems, but I didn't go back and count.
I might stick my head in at the beginning of the environmental docs - the first one, Backyard, is in competition. Then to the shorts program - three are in competition - Jonah, Life, and Separation Sonnet.
Not sure what I'll do next. McConkey should be an interesting film - about an extreme skier who pushed the limits too far eventually - at the Bear Tooth. But Mine Games plays at 9:45pm at the Alaska Experience Theater. I interviewed the film maker last night after Icebound, and I'm inclined to go there. (I'll link to the video as soon as I get it up.)
But I've found that at the festival, things happen, and I end up seeing films I hadn't expected to see. Don't get too hung up on your plan.
√ means it's in competition
* means film maker scheduled to be there
Saturday, December 7th
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Animation Program | 120 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||||||||
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Event | 180 min.
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Inlet Tower Hotel & Suites | ||||||||||
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Documentary Program | 94 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||||||||
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Shorts Program | 92 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||||||||
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Jaap van Heusden 2013 | Feature | 83 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||||||||
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Documentary Program | 95 min.
screens with...
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||||||||
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Shorts Program | 112 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||||||||
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Documentary Program | 85 min.
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Alaska Experience Theater - Small Theater | ||||||||||
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Steve Winter, Murray Wais, Rob Bruce, Scott Gaffney, David Zieff 2013 | Documentary | 109 min.
** Note: Filmmaker attending [I heard that he wouldn't be able to come, but I'm not sure]
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Bear Tooth Theatre | ||||||||||
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Alaska Experience Theater - Large Theater | ||||||||||
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