Leaving LA

We had to wait as this Southwest plane landed before we could taxi and take off.

The airport in LA is just south of the Marina del Rey which you can see in this picture looking north.

And here's the LA area from the north end of the Santa Monica Bay on a very clear day.

And here's looking down at the water with, what I assume are big kelp beds below the water.  We're cutting in over Malibu just after this.   And after going inland a ways, getting north of the LA suburbs.

The drought meets agriculture.

Back On Bike, Feels Good

After wearing the boot for a month, I can finally get back on my bike and get some exercise.  I'm starting gently.  The tendon feels ok, but there have been lingering new problems with other parts of the heel.  I'm guessing from the boot.  Had to work a little harder and breathe harder, but better than I expected after a month.  Fortunately, it's easier here in LA where we're visiting my mom, who's doing well.











Sun was just starting to set when I got to the end of Rose Ave where it hits Venice beach.  Sorry I couldn't stay longer.  Catalina was clear across the water.   Turned around and went home.  Didn't want to push things.

AIFF 2014: Talk toFestival Director and Director of Film Programs Now (10am-11am) On Talk of Alaska

From Alaska Public Media's Talk of Alaska:

In the dead of winter, film makers from far distant lands come to Alaska because we have a festival. It’s been around for 13 years, and it shows more motion pictures in a week than it is possible for any one human being to see.  A look ahead at the program for this year’s Anchorage International Film Festival is just ahead on the next Talk of Alaska.
HOST: Steve Heimel, Alaska Public Radio Network
GUESTS:

• Jim Parker, Director of Film Programs, Anchorage International Film Festival

• Laura Moscatello, Festival Director

• Callers Statewide

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

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.

AIFF 2014: Questions (and Answers) People Should Be Asking About The Festival

A lot of people don't even know what questions they should be asking.  So I'm listing them out here (with the answers) to help you find out what's happening at the Anchorage International Film Festival and how to take advantage of all the great films that will be in town Dec. 5-14, 2014.

Below are links to posts with general information about the Anchorage International Film Festival.  This is a revision and update of a post I first put up about five years ago and updated again last year.  I've been checking the links to be sure they too are current for 2014.  But it's still a work in progress.


Q: Where's the official Anchorage International Film Festival website?  Click the AIFF2014  link here.


Q: What do all the categories mean? ("official selection;" "films in competition," etc.) This post defines key festival jargon you'll see in the program or on here..  It also covers the process for how films get selected for the Festival and how the winners get chosen.

Q: What  films are the best films this year (2014)?
Films in Competition are the ones chosen  to compete for the Golden Oosiker awards.  I'm working on lists of the films in competition for each category - something about each film and when and where they will play.  [For the film categories I have up for 2014, you can find the films in competition posts listed at my  AIFF 2014 tab.  Films in competition are marked with a check (√) on the Official AIFF website.]

Films in Competition  - Features 2014
Films in Competition -  Documentaries 2014
Films in Competition -  Shorts 2014
Films in Competition -  Animation 2013  (2014 never made it to a list)
Films in Competition -  Super Shorts 2013  (2014 never made it to a list)

But often there are other films that I thought were as good or better than the films in competition.  And there are some films, which for various reasons, are not eligible for prizes, so they aren't 'in competition, but they're good.

Q: Who won in each category?  None yet this year, but here are the previous winners.
2014 Winners - Official Winner list compared to my list (with my comments on the Features)
2013 Winners -  Official Winner list
2012 Winners - My 2012 winners Official compared to AIFF 2012 Winners Page
2011 Winners -  My 2011 winners (none) - Official AIFF 2011 Winners Page
2010 Winners -  My 2010 winners post -  Official AIFF 2010 Winners Page
2009 Winners -  My 2009 winners post -  Official AIFF 2009 Winners Page
2008 Winners - My 2008 winners post  -  Official AIFF 2008 Winners Page
[Note:  'My winners' are films I liked best.  Sometimes I've only discussed one category, sometimes more than one.  Sometimes my comments on a particular film  are buried in posts even I can't find.]


Q:  Short films are grouped together into 'programs.'  How do I find which short films are playing together in the same of program?
Animation Programs  2014 [There's only one program for 2014. There's also an animation in the Mexican Consulate's films- Eskimal.]
Made In Alaska  2014 (I guess this replaces what used to be called Snow Dance.  There are eight programs)
Short Docs 2014
Super Short Narrative 2014  (There are four programs, including one of Mexican films)
Family Program 2014


Q:  What is FG?  
The short answer:  Festival Genius.
The longer answer:  It's a film festival software program that AIFF has acquired that makes it much easier to find out when and where the films will be shown.  It takes a little bit of time to figure out how it works.


Step 1:   You click on the blue FG icon  on the AIFF website, or  you can click here.
Step 2:  Then you can choose films.  That opens up four more choices.  For starters look under category, then click the blue box (see green arrow) and a drop down window will give you a long list of choices.  Or you can pick countries.  If you leave three of the boxes at their starting setting ("all ...) then you'll see all the choices.  You can combine settings in boxes - say animation category and Mexico for country and that should pull up just one film.  If you know the name of the film you want, you can put it into the Film Search window on the right.

Step 3:  If, instead of films, you pick schedule, you can see what will show for that day or that week.

click to enlarge 

If you click on schedule, you'll get screening choices (red box) by week, by day, or grid.   Week and Day give you a list of films for the time period.  Grid will give you a table.

You don't have to sign in (I don't because they want too much personal information for me), but if you do, you can make your own schedule and review films, etc.



Q:  I'm not interested in the festival, but if there are any films on my favorite place, food, sport, etc.,  I'd go.  Are there any?

Festival Genius - see above -  allows you to look at a list of countries  and then see what films are being shown from that country.  Click on the blue spot for the country window and it will open a list of countries.  Then pick a country, and wait until it loads the films from that country.  Make sure you have "all events" and "all films" in the event and film windows.

Also note the red box in the lower left.  The film festival (2014) spans two calendar weeks and so you have to check for each week.  Just click on the week and it changes.

To find out about films of special topics, you need to look through the films themselves. I'll try to make some lists of topics if I see any patterns and I'll link here.  There are family films,  Alaska films, Mexican films sponsored by the Mexican Consul, Chinese films sponsored by the Confucius Institute at UAA, and the Gayla films.

How do I find your blog posts on specific films or film makers?  In the AIFF 2014 Page - It's a tab under the orange heading at the top of my blog - I'll have an index of posts by category and an index of posts in reverse chronological order.  Here's a link to that tab.   You can see them in the archive on the right side.  They'll mostly be in December, with some in November and I try to start them with AIFF2014.


Do you have videos of the Festival? - I'll add the video posts as I get a chance to make and edit them.   I'll list the posts with video in the AIFF2014 Page.  I already have some video of Attila Szasz, the director of The Ambassador to Bern,  which I got in a Skype interview with him in Budapest.   It's not edited yet.



Where will the films be shown?
Locations:

 Bear Tooth, is the main venue.

1230 West 27th Avenue (West of Spenard Road) - 907.276.4200

Alaska Experience Theater
333 W 4th Ave #207, Anchorage, AK 99501 (907) 272-9076
There is a large and a small theater there

Anchorage Community Works** This was a new venue last year

 349 E Ship Creek Ave

Anchorage Museum
625 C Street

Marston Theater (Loussac Library) Family Programming on Saturday Dec. 14
3600 Denali St.

There are special events at other venues.  You can check all the venues next to window where you check the countries (see screenshot above).

Q:  What workshops are there?
There are five workshops with film makers.  These are chances to interact with film makers and learn some aspect of the movie craft and industry.

Q:  What are your criteria for a good movie? When I made my picks for the 2008 best films, at the end of the post I outlined my criteria. The link takes you to that post, scroll down to second part.  I also did a post in 2012 on what I thought makes a good documentary.


Q:  Should I buy a pass or just buy tickets as I go?  

Tickets are still only $8 per film.  "All films passes" are only $100.  So, if you go to twelve films, the pass is cheaper. But there are other benefits to the pass.   You also get priority seating with your pass.    That means you go into the theater first at the Bear Tooth.  You do have to get a ticket (free when you show your pass) for each film at the door and only a certain number of seats are held for pass holders.

And if you have a pass, you'll go see more films because you'll think "I've paid for them. I should go and get my money's worth."
All Films passes get you into Workshops, and discounts for a few extra events, like the opening night film (which is actually $30 a ticket) and the awards. These extra events also have food.

Another option is to volunteer and get a pass to a movie.

You can buy tickets at the venues.  You can also get advanced tickets at the venues.
You can also buy them online.  Tickets are already available.

Q:  What about family films? 
Saturday, December 6, at 11am at Loussac Library - in the Marston Auditorium..  This is a free event.  You can see the family program here.  (As I'm posting this, there is no list of films yet at this link, just the time and place.)

Q:  Any free events?
Yes, there are.  Besides the family films (right above), Made in Alaska, and two of the workshops.  You can see them all here.

Q:  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:

 I sort of accidentally blogged about the  2007 festival  and the AIFF people liked what I did and asked if I would be the official blogger in 2008. 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.  The Festival has a link to my site.  They also threw in a free pass for me in each year since 2008.

I probably won't say anything terrible about a film, but I did rant about one film in the past 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.

I did a post a couple of years ago for Film Festival Skeptics who might be sitting on the fence and need to be given reasons to go and strategies to make it work.

Q:  How Does One Keep Track of What's Happening at the Festival?
I'll be blogging the film festival every day.  The link below will be my festival posts only, starting with the most recent.  There should also be printed programs in the Anchorage Press you can pick up around town as well and go to the Festival Webpage.

My blog will update every day.  My Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF 2014)  tab on top will have an overview of what's happening each day.


Q:  Are there other Alaskan Film Festivals?  
There are some events called 'festival' that I know of in Anchorage, but they aren't major film events like this one.  There is another organization,  that puts Alaska in its name and used to rent a postal box in Alaska, but has no other connection that we can find to Alaska.  You can read about that at  Comparing the ANCHORAGE and ALASKA International Film Festivals - Real Festival? Scam?

Anyone who knows of other legitimate film festivals in Alaska, let me know.  I've heard stuff about Sitka Film Festival  in February. And there's also an Indigenous Film Festival in February and  there's been an Alaska Native Film Festival.  And there's the Farthest North Jewish Film Festival in Fairbanks.

AIFF 2014: Deciphering Film Festival Jargon: Feature, In Competition, Official Selection, And More

This is an updated version of a 2008 post, modified for 2014 Anchorage International Film Festival

[UPDATED November 25:  I've got some clarifications from Jim Parker, AIFF  2014 Director of Film Programming about the film classifications and film selection process.  The changes are marked with strikethrough and [brackets]]

If you look at the program guide for the Anchorage International Film Festival coming out soon in the Anchorage Press, the films are divided into different categories.  I figure out:

• Features - 'fiction' films over about 55 [to 140] minutes [Except Animation Features are 55-120 minutes]

• Documentaries" "non-fiction" films over about 55 [to 120] minutes

• Shorts - 'fiction' films under [10 to] 55 minutes

• Short Documentaries - 'nonfiction' films under  [10 to] 55 minutes

• Animation - Animated films - these can be feature length or short, and while most are 'fiction' I guess you could have an animated documentary - a biography of Mickey Mouse maybe? No, this would be a interesting challenge.

• [Super Shorts (Animated or Fiction) 1 minute to 10 minutes.]

But there are other distinctions I didn't quite understand, so back in 2008 I emailed and talked to several of the people running the Festival (Rand and Tony and a one of the documentary coordinators from last year) to find out what these terms mean exactly and how it all works. All the highlighted terms will be explained, though some show up before the explanation. Patience.

Pre-screening Committees [Programmers]- Committees [Programmers] are selected early on to view all the movies submitted to the Festival in the specific film categories. So, there is a committee for documentaries, for features, for shorts, and for animations. These committees select the films that will become official selections. There are five to ten people on a pre-screening committee. They've completed their work some time ago.

[Clarification from Jim Parker, Director of Film Programming: These are people who volunteer to screen the films that are submitted, and at times they solicit films that they think would be a good fit for our festival.  They will make the ultimate decision about which submitted films are films  selected. This year there are five different sets of programmers:  

• A. Documentaries, includes short and super short documentaries  

• B. Features- They screen and make decisions about which feature narrative (55 to 140 minutes in length) will be included. 

• C. Animation- They screen and make decisions about super-short, short, and feature animated films.  However, this year we have a film (Rocks In My Pockets) that is animated but was entered as a feature and was considered by the feature programmers. 

• D. Shorts and Super-Shorts programmers. 

• E.  Made In Alaska.  This used to be called Snowdance, it encompasses a film of any genre or length that is made in Alaska.] 

• Official Selections - An official selection is any film that was submitted to the festival, was accepted by the appropriate pre-screening committee, and paid the entry fee.

• Special Selections - Special selections are films that the festival invites or solicits after the submission process has ended to round out the program, usually they have to pay a screening fee for these films and often times these films are already in theatrical release and this category applies to classic films as well, such as Wildlike that will be shown opening night this year. 

[Clarification from Jim Parker:  Official Selection- We've made it easier this year.  An official selection is any film that the programmers screened and chose as part of their program.  This year a special selection is a film that I or the AIFF board chose early in the process before the Programming teams started receiving and screening films.  This year the special selections are the Opening night film Wildlike, The Lookalike, and No More Road Trips?   This year we abolished the requirement that a film that received a fee waiver be considered a "special selection" and thus ineligible for jury prizes.  So almost all films are official selections and eligible for jury recognition.]

• Films in Competition - The pre-screening committees are given a rough guide about how many films they can accept as official selections. Of those, they pick what they consider the best. These are then the films in competition and get sent to the jury panels. These films are the contenders for the Golden Oosik Awards. Now, there is some negotiation between the coordinators of the pre-screening committees and director of the film festival to insure that ultimately there is a good balance of genres (they'd rather not have every feature be a comedy for example) and national representation, etc. They have to narrow it down so that the jury panels have time to watch the films and make their choices.

• Jury Panels - Once the Films in Competition are selected the pre-screening committees are done and the films are given to jury panels. The jury panels get together as a group in a theater and watch them all together. I think these also tend to be five to ten people who haven't been involved the selection process before this. They choose the best films for each category. I think they're supposed to have this done by the middle of the next week. These best films win the Golden Oosik awards at the Saturday night awards ceremony. 

[Clarification from Jim Parker: Jury selections.   When each of the Programming teams select their programs they also select their top 5 to 7 films.  These films are "in competition" and will be shown to a jury of volunteers who will determine the top three award winning films. There are juries for shorts, super-shorts, documentaries, features narrative films, Animation, and Made in Alaska. The juries watch all the films, but not usually together.  DVDs are passed around between them.  They almost always have one meeting together where they "deliberate" and choose the best films. ]

• Audience Awards - [None this year - see below]  All feature length films (over 55 minutes) are eligible for the audience award which is voted on by . . . well, you know who. This was new in 2008. The best audience award feature film and documentary will be screened on the last day of the festival, they will be announced at the awards party on Sun, Dec 14, 6:00 PM at the Organic Oasis.  For all feature length films, audience members are little forms with which to rate film.  

[Clarification from Jim Parker:  This year the AIFF dispensed with the Audience Choice Award to lessen the demands placed on volunteers, but it may be brought back in future years. 

Best of the Fest - The jury award winners will not be screened on the last day of the festival, but rather at the Alaska Experience Theater on the Tuesday and Wednesday folllowing the festival.]

When I first blogged the festival  I didn't understand any of this. When I was picking my own favorites, I didn't take into consideration the category of films in competition. I'm pointing this all out here so others can understand it. Now, before the Festival begins I first focus on making it easier for people to know what the Films in Competition are for each category and what the schedules are so you have a chance to see as many as possible. [For 2014 I've already posted about the Feature Films in Competition and the Documentaries in Competition.]

But other people will be more interested in films of specific genres - comedy, drama, etc. Other people will just want to see shorts or animation. And some will be interested in films from certain countries or about specific topics. They won't care if the films are in competition or not. And there are the special presentations which have been invited and may prove to be better than the films in competition. But I tend to start with the films in competition, then, if I have time left over, I'll go onto some other focus. Once the festival starts, I'll report on what I go to.

Check the tab on top - Alaska International Film Festival 2014 - for an overview of how make the most out of the festival and for an index of posts I do on the festival this year.  The 2013 tab is also still up if you want to check on last year's festival.

Nome Airport Daily Hour Closure Until June 1 So Adjacent Gold Mine Corp Can Blast Away

I get press releases from the Alaska Department of Transportation  (DOT) frequently, but usually read them and delete them.  But this one raised an eyebrow:

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) will be closing the Nome Airport daily, Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m.-7 a.m., from Nov. 15, 2014, until June 1, 2015.The weekday, hour-long closure will enable Nome Gold Alaska Corporation, which is located adjacent to the airport, to conduct daily blasting operations. ADOT&PF will be monitoring the blasting activity and has coordinated extensively with Nome Gold Alaska Corporation to keep the airport safe and to minimize impacts to the traveling public.

And who keeps saying that government doesn't accommodate private business?  Sounds like the government has gone out of it's way to work things out.  I don't really know if this will cause any problems with pilots and passengers. There aren't that many large commercial passenger flights into Nome each day.   I can think of a number of questions I'd ask if I had time to pursue this more than briefly:

• How many private and small carriers will be effected?
• How many emergency medivac flights could be affected? [See update below]
• Will they really be blasting every day for an hour?  
• Or do they just want to be able to? 
• What will happen if someone discovers gold next to the Anchorage international airport?

DOT's press release also said they were delaying their recent change in policy about unaccompanied minors.  The old policy let kids travel if they had a note with their parents' permission.  The new policy was going to not allow unaccompanied minors, period.  It seemed pretty Draconian.    I can certainly understand that they've had some rowdy kids onboard, but banning them all because a few were a problem is not an enlightened solution.  They would never do this if they had some trouble with individuals belonging to other categories - like hunters or skiers, or white folks or men.  If airlines can deal with unaccompanied minors, surely the ferry should be able to figure that out as well.

Apparently a lot of people complained. 

"In reaction to the policy announcement, numerous Alaskans contacted ADOT&PF expressing their concerns of the difficulties that the policy would create for families that have already scheduled travel, particularly for the Thanksgiving and winter break school holidays."

One wonders at the mentality of people who make this kind of decision.  They couldn't anticipate that people had already bought tickets for unaccompanied minors?  Why should an adult have to pay a fare for an unnecessary trip just so their totally competent kid can go from Juneau to Haines to visit family or friends?  If they have kids that cause problems, deal with them the same way they deal with adults who cause problems or develop a system to deal with minors, but don't punish all kids and their families. If they had trouble with kids faking notes, then require a cell phone confirmation from the parent.

It would be interesting to see that statistics for unaccompanied minors on the ferries for the last five years, how many problem incidents they had, and what percent of the kids were a problem.  I must say, if all the problems in the world were this minor and this easy to solve, we'd have nothing to do but enjoy life.  (I really didn't even see the pun until I reread the sentence.  Sorry.)

[UPDATE Nov. 22, 2014:  A new press release from DOT says closure will be lifted for medevac flights.  Here's the new release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 21, 2014Contact: Meadow Bailey, (907) 451-2240, meadow.bailey@alaska.govUpdate: Nome Airport will be closed daily, seven days a week, from 6 a.m.-7 a.m. Nome Gold Alaska Corporation will begin blasting operations on Tuesday, Nov. 26.The closure will be lifted for medevac flights. For questions about the blasting operation contact Nome Gold Alaska Corporation:Randy Powelson, (907) 347-9091Cecil Connor, (541) 251-0465 ] 

  

"If a Martian came down and met us they'd think we were all involved in gunplay, most of us had met a serial killer, and many of us are engaging in some sort of espionage . . .

And what he's saying is that life doesn't have to be hyperbolized.  What we actually experiences is good enough."

That comes from an interview with Ethan Hawke in the LA Times today, talking about the character Rick, the stepfather, in the movie Boyhood.  Hawke is responding to critics who say the movie is too mundane.

This is a theme I've been thinking about a lot since I actually see tv news when I visit my mom.  Just this morning I was dismayed watching the local news with  the car crash pictures repeated over and over and the 30-70 mile Santa Ana winds hyped as a serious danger complete with video of a tree knocked over onto two cars.

It's clear that 'the news' has changed over the years.  Excerpted from a piece in Psychology Today article by Graham C.L. Davey, Ph.D.

". .. there is good reason to believe that the negative sensationalism in news has been gradually increasing over the past 20-30 years. So first, we’ll have a look at what negative news is, we’ll then examine the reasons why the broadcasting of negative news has become so prevalent. Then finally, we’ll look at some of the ways in which viewing perpetual negative news might affect your mood, and particularly your tendency to worry about your own specific problems.

. . . News bulletins also have to compete with entertainment programs for their audience and for their prime-time TV slot, and seem to do this by emphasizing emotionally relevant material such as crime, war, famine, etc. at the expense of more positive material.

He writes about his study that showed that watching negative news caused people to "catastrophize."

Catastrophizing is when you think about a worry so persistently that you begin to make it seem much worse than it was at the outset and much worse than it is in reality – a tendency to make ‘mountains out of molehills’!

This is just one study.  But there are others.  From a piece by Jesse Singal New York Magazine, The Science of Us.  He writes that people who watch a lot of negative news coverage aren't necessarily clinically depressed:

“But if you ask how they feel about the world, what they end up with is this malaise: ‘Everything’s kinda bad’ and ‘Why should I vote? It’s not gonna help’ and ‘I could donate money, but there’s just gonna be another kid who’s starving next week.’ 

Is this a contributor to the low voter turnout last week?

”The consequences of this are one thing if you live in an age in which, once or twice an evening, you’ll see a short, bloody dispatch from a war going on across the world. They’re quite another today, when you can have news of every civilian death in Gaza or every Islamic State military advance streamed to you in real time. People could be forgiven for adopting a hell-in-a-handbasket stance toward the rest of the world. 

And what about when the images are repeated over and over again, relentlessly?

That’s a problem, because when people are led to believe things are falling apart, it affects their decision-making and their politics — whether or not their pessimism is warranted. We already know from political-psychological research that the more threatened people feel, the more likely they will be to support right-wing policies. And people who believe in the concept of unmitigated evil appear more likely to support torture and other violent policies.

McLuhan said 'The medium is the message" back in the mid 60's.   The medium still bears as much attention as the message.

Now, let's not be guilty of sensationalizing the dangers either.  Singal also writes:

"Before getting into the effects of all this, it’s important to state what a steady diet of bad news won’t do. It won’t give you PTSD, anxiety, or depression if you weren’t predisposed toward those conditions, McNaughton-Cassill said. Causation is tricky here: It may simply be that depressed or anxious people are more likely to seek out bad news, and bad news could in turn worsen the effects of these conditions in certain ways."

This was the preface, though, to the paragraph above on malaise.

He also writes that people still tend to be positive about their immediate setting - their neighbors are ok, their local schools are ok.  But when you look beyond their personal experiences, their perception of danger 'out there' is definitely biased by the news.

I think about the people who have asked me over the years about dangers I face when traveling.  I was headed to India when there was news about a Dengue fever breakout.  40 people out of 10 million people who live in Delhi were affected.  The odds of hitting a moose driving in Anchorage were much higher.

Rick Steves makes this point strongly:

Q: Is it safe to travel overseas right now?
A: Travelers should understand the risk of terrorism in a cold, logical, statistical way. Your odds of being killed by a terrorist overseas or in the air are 1 in 2,200,000. Your odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 600,000. Your odds of being killed by gunfire in the United States are 1 in 18,900.

He also has a new book called Travel as a Political Act.  His Facebook page hypes the release of the second edition of Travel as a Political Act:

To make travel a political act, sightsee with an edge. Seek out political street art...and find out what it means. Read local culture magazines and attend arts and political events. Take alternative tours to learn about heroin maintenance clinics in Switzerland, Copenhagen's Christiania commune, and maquiladora labor in Tijuana. Walk with a local guide through a slum in a developing country. Meeting desperately poor villagers living with a spirit of abundance, ponder how so many rich people live with a mindset of scarcity. All this week, I’m celebrating the release of the second edition of my book, TRAVEL AS A POLITICAL ACT. I’m sharing my top tips on how to pry open your hometown blinders, bring home a broader perspective, and implement that worldview as citizens of our great nation. Find more tips at http://rickstev.es/E8CXh and find the book at http://rickstev.es/E8D10.

AIFF 2014: Documentaries In Competition - From Seeds and Shields to North Dakota,Coney Island, Mala Mala, Water, and Dismantling Dams

This is an overview of the documentaries the jury selected to be in competition.

How Do Films Get Selected? 
First the films are selected from all those submitted.  Then a certain number from each category is  chosen to be 'in competition'' meaning these are the finalists eligible for an award in the category.

How Many Docs Are There?
The documentary category has, if I counted right, 20 selected films (5 under 30 minutes and 15 over 30 minutes)  and 7 are 'in competition.'  Five are longer documentaries (77-89 minutes) and  two are shorter (20 and 35 minutes).

Most of the documentaries are from the US.  There's one identified as Puerto Rico/US, one as Switzerland, and two as Canada.  Not all that international this year.  


My Goal Here: I haven't seen the films.  So I'm just trying to give you a sense of what the films are and how they are scheduled.  I'm trying to find  interesting info on the films, but I'm also recognizing that time is ticking and there are other categories and films to cover.  And these are just the films in competition.

The documentary category has been very strong in recent years.  Even though films aren't in competition, it doesn't mean they aren't worth seeing.  

So check them all out. Here's a list of all the documentaries selected for the festival.

1)  Coney Island: Dreams For Sale

Alessandra Giordano

USA√

80m

Fri. Dec. 12  7pm    Alaska Exp. Small

Sat Dec.  13 12pm  Anchorage Museum

From the Brooklyn Daily, here's the start of their article on how this film was made:>

"The movie is the first feature-length work by filmmaker Alessandra Giordano, who originally intended to make a five-minute short. Giordano, who hails from Italy, was taking a film course at New York University in the summer of 2008, when the fight over Coney’s future was raging, and a friend suggested that she should visit the area.

“They told me it was a place I would enjoy, a place that’s different and interesting and quirky,” said Giordano.

On that trip, Giordano met one of the main characters of her film, Coney carny Anthony Raimondi, owner of the now-defunct Jones Walk booth Gangster Cigars."

And the trailer:

Adapted from images in Divide In Concord press packet

2)  Divide In Concord

Kris Kaczo

USA√

82m
Fri. Dec. 12  3pm Bear Tooth

Sat.Dec. 13  3pm Alaska Exp. Small

From the film's press packet, here's part of the synopsis:

"Jean Hill, a fiery 84-year-old widow and mother of four, wants to ban the sale of bottled water from Concord. Her path begins when her grandson tells her about the disastrous environmental effects of the empty plastic bottles.
Jean presents a bylaw to ban the sale of single-serve plastic bottles at the 2010 and 2011 Town Meetings. After losing by seven votes in 2011, she vows to continue the crusade with neighbor and Harvard Law Grad, Jill Appel. If enacted, the law would be the first of its kind in the world.
But all are not in agreement with the ban. Merchants are wary of the bylaw. Philanthropist, mother, model and celebrity publicist Adriana Cohen takes the fight to the spotlight, calling the ban an attack on freedom. With billions of dollars at stake, The International Bottled Water Association sends in the cavalry."

 The site also includes words from the director, Kris Kaczo:

"The entire documentary was self-funded. It was tough; our van was broken into and died the day of Town Meeting, our hotel almost burnt down and we had two eerie ghost experiences at the Colonial Inn. But we battled on and feel that we honored the story and the town.
Concord is the home of the American Revolution as well as significant literary and environmental movements. Residents are expected to know about Thoreau. A favorite quote became “Heaven is under your feet as well as over your head.” The film is a tribute to Concord. We do not take sides on the ban. Both sides have compelling arguments. "

I'd note that anyone who would like an answer to Adriana Cohen's question, might want to check out the documentary Tapped which was in  AIFF 2009. 



3) Mala Mala
Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini
USA√ 
87m
Mon. Dec. 8,   8pm Bear Tooth
Wed. Dec. 10  7:30 pm  Alaska Exp Small

From their Kickstarter page:

"As a trans person in Puerto Rico, not only does your experience beg the question “am I Puerto Rican, am I American, or am I both?” but also “am I a male, am I a female, or am I both?” This vagueness, this in-betweenness is what most fascinates us as filmmakers, and with this project we hope to share the stories of people who's voices may not otherwise be near enough to reach your ears.

At its core, this film is a people piece.  We are interested in the relationship between the internal and external being, the dynamics between performance and gender, and the power of self-discovery." 

Excerpt from an interview with the designer/fashion website Oak:

"OAK: What do you think was the biggest revelation, or biggest thing that you learned about the trans community and yourselves, when you reflect on the entire experience?

DS: One thing for me personally is that I feel so much more confident in terms of how I understand my own gender. I’ve started to look at certain aspects of myself as maybe being a bit feminine, and I love those parts of myself now. And thinking about myself along those lines puts me in a more complex and interesting position than someone who identifies as something that exists inside a box. I think I’ve learned a lot about the ways we can play with, and grapple with, and fuck gender. Deconstructing gender gives us more room to play with it and understand it and have fun with it.

AS: For me, throughout the project, I think [our subjects] didn’t realize we were watching them living [over the course of 2 1/2 years]. It was like studying. I don’t think we normally do that to other people, so it was kind of a privilege being [so present] in these private lives. One thing about it was that we were seeing their transformations. They had something they desperately needed that was either going to lead themselves to killing themselves, or total depression, or to [becoming who they were]. And we were able to meet them on the other side, and see them about to become what they wanted to become. That power of choice was something I really didn’t understand fully until I met them.

DS: During one interview Ivana told us that in school people would ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she would always say a police man just to get by. What she actually wanted to say was that she wanted to be a woman when she grew up. That really reminded me that the trans experience is universal in a sense that it’s achieving a goal, and becoming what you want to be. It’s no different than that."

4)  Seeds of Time
Sandy McLeod
USA√

Adapted from images at Seeds For Time website

77m
Sat Dec.6  1pm  Anchorage Museum
Thu Dec. 11  5:30pm  Alaska Exp. Small

From the California Academy of Science about McLeod's visit there:

. . . It began in 2007, when McLeod discovered an article in the New Yorker about Cary Fowler, Senior Advisor to the Global Crop Diversity Trust. McLeod was immediately hooked on the story. For the filmmaker, it was time to buckle down and learn about agriculture—both pre- and post-industrialization. “You immerse yourself in the subject,” she explains. “You come to it like an audience member, not knowing much and learning all the time. It was a great learning experience.”

McLeod challenges the audience to think about the industrialization of our food system. “We don’t grow for nutrition to begin with: why? Everything nutritional is taken out, including the antioxidants. Taking out the nutrients can cause the food to go rancid, so then you have to add preservatives. If you just took the whole grain and milled it with all that good stuff still in it, we would have all the nutrients.” She points out that vitamin companies profit from the ‘enriching’ process of reintroducing vitamins, and also reminds us that the entire processed foods industry is not about creating nutrient-rich foods, but about monetizing food production.

These discoveries made McLeod an advocate of sustainable agriculture. She champions the concept of seed vaults—the process of cataloging information about the variety of seeds on the planet and saving physical samples for perpetuity. She discusses the idea of a seed library from which users could ‘check out’ seeds, cultivate the plant, and then re-file the next generation of seeds. “Growing the same things in different environments will help to get some diversity back.” She is also a proponent of citizens getting involved in policy changes that protect seed diversity, limit the amount of food processing, or otherwise help us return to a more robust food systems model. “Resilience is what you need. We cannot sustain this, it’s not sustainable, how do we get it to a place where it supports itself.”

A movie about saving earth's genetic kitchen in the face of climate change.  Nothing too serious here.  You can see the trailer here.

Here's a bit from the director's statement:

"When I met Cary Fowler a whole new world opened up to me. I realized that, although I thought I knew a thing or two about food, the issues that he was grappling with were entirely new to me. And that those issues, largely concerning food security, are issues that anyone who likes to eat should not only know about, but have a say in too.

Cary Fowler is a guy who has almost single-handedly created something of great value for the Global Community. I can’t think of many other global projects that have that kind of absolute value for all of us that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault holds."

More on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault here.




5)  Shield and Spear
Petter Ringbom
USA√
89m
Sat. Dec 6  5:30pm Bear Tooth
Sun. Dec 7 1:00pm  Alaska Exp. Large

Excerpt from OKayafrica just before the African premiere of the film in Durban, South Africa July 2014.

". . . In gaining that trust, Ringbom has tapped into many of the important dialogues taking place in South Africa, the result being the coherent and incisive conversation central to Shield and Spear.What do you think?

“In some ways the outsider-ship can work both in your favour and against you,” reflects Ringbom. “I think people are more comfortable opening up to a complete outsider. But there’s a duality to it also, where you encounter that question of why are you coming here and taking our stories? It’s something I thought about a lot. It comes with a responsibility not to be exploitative essentially.”What do you think?

Remaining firmly behind the camera, Ringbom has allowed his accomplished cinematography to tell one story, leaving the rest up to the earnest dialogue of his subjects. Together the two combine effectively in capturing the paradoxes present at the heart of any discussions pertaining to freedom in South Africa.What do you think?

“Something which surprised me the most was how emotional this project would be for me,” admits Ringbom. “Maybe it was due to how inspiring, genuine and open the people I met were. All I know is that I haven’t felt this emotionally overloaded in any other project I’ve worked on.”

6)The Strong People
Heather Hoglund
USA√
35m
Sat. Dec. 6  3:30pm Alaska Exp Small   (with White Earth, and other short docs)
Fri. Dec. 12 5:00pm Alaska Exp. Large (with White Earth, and other short docs)

From The Strong People website:

"The Strong People is an award-winning documentary chronicling the largest dam removal project in US history on the Elwha River in Olympic Peninsula, Washington. It is told through the eyes of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe that has long resided in the area, looking specifically at how these dams have affected the life ways of their people. 

The indigenous Klallam have long had their way of life impeded by the dams’ existence. The disruption the dams caused to the river’s salmon runs were not only an economic disaster for the tribe, who relied on the fish for commerce, but also wreaked havoc on the Klallam’s cultural beliefs, of which the salmon are an integral part."

From what I can tell, Heather Hoagland is working at Wander, Wonder, Wilderness in Boston.  Here's what their website says about Hoagland:

"Heather graduated from Emerson College in 2013. She is currently a freelance documentary filmmaker in Boston. Her senior thesis project, The Strong People, documenting the largest dam removal in United States History, has picked up numerous accolades at film festivals and events worldwide. Heather’s passion lies in creating cross platform projects concerning environmental issues. An avid runner and cyclist in the city, your only chance of seeing her is in brief glimpses as she zips around the city to her next destination." 

Here's the trailer:






7) White Earth
J. Christian Jensen
USA√
20m

Sat. Dec. 6  3:30pm Alaska Exp Small   (with The Strong People, and other short docs)

Fri. Dec. 12 5:00pm Alaska Exp. Large (with The Strong People, and other short docs)

This film won  a  2014 STUDENT ACADEMY AWARD Silver Medal in the Documentary category.

From a review by Whitney McIntosh in the Stanford Arts Review:

"Although he initially wanted to interview workers in the oil industry, he met resistance in a suspicious bureaucracy of permission-giving and media-anxiety. He thus “shifted to looking at the way that these industrial processes existed in the landscape,” a landscape both natural and emotional. He said that he “wanted it to be a nuanced, intimate exploration of people, and children,” spurring more prevalent themes of juxtaposing industry against environment, technology against nature. The male oil workers exist in the background, while what are normally peripheral voices of children and family members are brought center stage, and express themselves with remarkable clarity. 

Although Jensen had made plans to focus on a single family, a week before he was to start production, Jensen received a call from the father explaining changed family circumstances and their inability to continue with the film. He recalls, “I had to sort of pivot really quick to do something else. And fortunately I had cast a really wide net when I was doing my research, and I had met a couple children, and there was one child in particular, whose name was James that I met by chance.” We meet James, an adolescent boy living with his father, from the outset of the film. His commentary is unusual and compelling, as he is sharply conscious of the central paradoxes of the circumstances of the town of White Earth, which is slowly growing, but without the infrastructural capacity for this growth."

>


Scheduling
It's often hard to figure out how to see all the films in competition in a category.  At least the documentaries aren't scheduled at the same time (except the two shorter ones  - White Earth and The Strong People which play in the same program so it's easy to seem them both.)

I've made a calendar of the documentaries in competition.

Click to enlarge

This makes it look easy.  But there are lots of other documentaries you might want to see.  And then there are feature films, animated films, shorts, etc.  But this is a starting point.  Once more, here's a list of all the documentaries selected for the festival.

Life Versus Blog

I try to balance life and the blog by blogging about things I'm doing.  And much that I'm doing right now is blog related.  I've got a post on the Anchorage International Film Festival's documentaries in competition (one's that the jury said were the best and are eligible for a prize), but these lists take a long time.

I also did a Skype interview with Attila Szasz whose feature "Ambassador to Bern" is also in competition.  So now I have to edit the video so I can post the interview.  He is in Budapest.  To make this more complicated, I finally got a new computer.  Besides being really slow, I figure that my 7 year old MacBook is going to do worse things, than being slow before long.  And while the changeover is going more smoothly than I expected, it still takes getting used to.  Especially jumping three or four versions of iMovie.

I'm also working with the new Ethics Center in the UAA philosophy department, so I'm working on a paper I hope I can send in for publication before long.  I could share some of that here, but not yet.  An the dark sky above was shot from the office I'm using while another faculty member is away.  So, I'm not hiding or idling, I'm just trying to catch up.  There's also some travel coming up again.  And I'm being careful with my foot now that the boot is off.

I did spend an hour with an Apple "Genius" this afternoon and he helped with a lot of little things that I've been discovering on this computer.  As I say, the transition is going reasonably well.

Here's a shot of yesterday's sunrise.

Hollis French Returns $30,000 Leftover Funds To Campaign Contributors - Giving Money Back

I get press releases every day and usually take note, I might look into one and write a pot about the issue, but I seldom put them here on the blog.  But this one caught my eye and I followed up with a call to Hollis French.  Here's the story from the French office.

"ANCHORAGE: In an unusual move at the end of an unusual campaign Alaska State Senator Hollis French (D-Anchorage) announced today that he will be returning over $30,000 of excess campaign funds to his contributors.   Additionally, French intends to make contributions of $5000 to both the Boys and Girls Club of Alaska and the Alaska Democratic Party.  Refund checks to donors will start going out at the end of this week according to French.

 French's campaign for lieutenant governor came to an end with the formation of the Unity Ticket of Bill Walker and Byron Mallott.  He worked with the Alaska Public Offices Commission to make certain that the disposal of his campaign funds was according to law.

"It isn't very often that you send money back to contributors," said French, "but this was anything but an ordinary campaign.  The campaign funds I accumulated have to be distributed according to law and that's what I've done."

French will carry forward $50,000 of his campaign funds for a future campaign, which is allowed by statute."

So I called French to check on the details.  He's keeping the $50,000 he's allowed to roll over to future campaigns.  This doesn't happen too often, he said, because most campaigns don't have more than $50,000 at the end of the campaign.  But since his Lt. Governor candidacy ended when Democratic gubernatorial candidate Byron Mallot joined (as Lt. Gov candidate) with independent candidate Bill walker as the "unity ticket."  So, after the primary, he had money on-hand and soon nothing to spend it on.

 He's giving back about $30,000 to donors, but not  donations under $100.  The cost of repaying small donations wasn't worth it.  He'll have expenses of $500 - $1000 to figure out all the contributors and write an mail the checks.  Often candidates who have left over money give it to non- profits as French is doing with the Boys and Girls Club and the Democratic Party.  Giving back to donors is apparently rarer. The only precedent he could give me was that he'd heard that Charles Wohlforth had done that when he was on the Anchorage assembly.

I checked with Wohlforth who told me after his second Assembly campaign he had $5000 left over.  He wrote to the contributors and asked if they wanted:

1. a pro rated return of their contribution.  For example, the campaign had spent 80% of the funds, then the contributors could get 20% back
2. Wohlforth to spend the money for:
1.  a copy machine and office supplies
2.  a party for volunteers

There might have been another choice.  His donors overwhelmingly said to spend the money on the copy machine and office supplies. In Wohlforth's case, this was all money below the $50,000 threshold. 


Often a simple idea gets more complicated when you start to implement it.  (I know blog posts do all the time and I'm trying to keep this one from doing that any more than it has.)  How does French distinguish between the donors whose money he already spent and those he hadn't?  He didn't spend much Or will he give them a proportional amount back to reflect what the campaign had already spent and the $50,000 he was keeping for a future campaign?  I didn't think it out enough to ask those questions when I talked to him.

I know that someone will claim this is simply a political move to make him look good.  But you can say that about any good deed a politician makes.  But giving back money you didn't need is a gesture I believe in.  It can be more than a gesture.  I know that government agencies have a reputation for spending all the money they've been budgeted, even when they don't need to.  Their legitimate fear here, is that the legislative body will see they didn't spend what they got and will cut their budget the next year.  Legislatures need to reward, not punish agencies that use their money efficiently.  They also need to be able to carry over leftover funds for future needs.  It's hard to plan and do multi-year jobs well when your budget only goes for a year.

I personally have experience with this.  Back in the early 80's I helped set up a small non-profit to get the Municipal assembly meetings onto cable.  It was supposed to happen but Multivisions was waiting for the assembly to move to the library.  Our group found a young videographer who was willing to work cheap and a very small grant from the assembly to try out televising the meetings for six months.  Some assembly members had real doubts - both on the left and right.  Nobody would watch.  Only the rich had cable.  Assembly members would grandstand.  It only took about two weeks for all the assembly members to be won over.  They got people calling them up because of things they'd seen on cable.  People stopped them in the market because they'd seen them on television.  They learned that poor folks did have cable because it was much cheaper than taking a family to the movies or other entertainment.  And assembly members couldn't grandstand for six hours - they quickly forgot about the cameras and acted as they always did.

At the end of the six months, the assembly was ready to take over the funding and our group could bow out.  We had about $300 left over - we used all volunteer camera operators and only the guy who provided the equipment got a modest payment - and we presented the assembly with a check and just asked that they use it support public access to government through cable.  Now, except for the videographer, we all had other jobs and had no interest in keeping our organization alive.  So we didn't worry about next year's budget.

So, talk to your legislators about rewarding agencies - both government and non-profits - for using their money efficiently.  Let them give the surplus back without penalties.    Set up conditions where they can carry it over to the next year and certainly don't penalize them by cutting their budget the following year.

So Kudos to Hollis French for making this gesture.  Symbols do matter.  If readers know of other situations where left over money was voluntarily given back like this, please let me know.