AIFF 2017: Lots of Films - Saturday Suggestions

There's way too much for me to cover today.  Click on the colored bars for more description of the films and the locations.

Family Films is free and it's animated films.  It's kid friendly, but not just for kids.  I might go see that program.  It's at Loussac.

Check It was the Gay-la documentary.

The Music in Film panel is for film makers, but people interested in film might want to go too.

"Join special guest, Liz Storm, and other industry professionals to discuss music licensing for film, copyrights, and distribution royalties."

Pale Blue Dot is a great Indian film.  I posted a homework assignment for it last week, but after watching it, you don't need to know the Hindu legend before hand.  But you might want to read about it afterward.
I did a second Pale Blue Dot post just now with video capturing people's reaction as they came out of the theater after seeing the movie last week.

More comments below the schedule.

Saturday, December 9

12:00pm

Family Films Check It 

12:30pm

Catching Sight of Thelma & Louise LIMITED

1:00pm

Partners in Healing LIMITEDMusic in Film Panel presented by AKIMI 

2:00pm

Tribal Justice plus AKPM Hosted Discussion LIMITED

2:30pm

Pale Blue Dot LIMITED

3:00pm

Between Earth and Sky + Mega Tsunami LIMITEDJourneys to Adaka, Old Harbor New Hope LIMITED

5:00pm

Over the River LIMITEDActors of Sound 

5:15pm

Life Hack LIMITED

7:00pm

Drive-In: CANCELLED Animation 2 AlphaGo The Laplace's Demon 

8:30pm

What if It Works? 

9:00pm

Chasing the Blues LIMITEDShorts on the Edge Late Night Lounge at Tequila 61 LIMITED

Between Earth and Sky is a documentary about climate change featuring Alaska.

Over the River is an Italian documentary about the town of Caselle in Pittare,, and how the young are leaving and the old oral traditions are dying.  

 I talked to   film maker Vanina Lappa via Skype  which you can see here.  

Life Hack was an interesting feature about two people whose lives are disrupted when people hack their phone and computer.  

I'll go see Animation 2 - though at Animation 1 last night computer problems marred the program and we didn't really get to see a couple of films, at least not the way we should have.  This one is also in the E Street Theater so I hope they change computers or whatever it is they need to do.  It was my first time in the theater and it's a good venue - if the films show right.  

AlphaGo is a riveting documentary about a human (the best go player in the world) playing against a new computer program (AlphaGo).  It follows the model of sporting event documentaries as we see the preparation (of the AlphaGo team anyway, not of the Korean champion) and then get nail biting coverage of each game.  It was well done.  A strong contender for best documentary.

What If It Works? is a fun feature.  The synopsis sounds a little strange, but it worked well due in part to strong actors playing interesting characters.  He's OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and she's got multiple personalities.  It takes place in Australia.  

Shorts on the Edge  is the same program as opening night.  

As I'm writing this I'm realizing that I've seen a lot of films this week with two full days left.  

A warning for Sunday evening.  I've live blogged the Awards Galas for the last couple of years.  I might even try to set up a live YouTube feed this year.  Though I've never done that before and I'm not sure I can pull it off between now and then.  But look out for the announcements.  

AIFF2017: Pale Blue Dot - Audience Reaction

I saw "Pale Blue Dot" last week and it plays again

Today (Saturday, Dec. 9) at 

2:30pm in the 

Alaska Exp Theater. 

 I think I'd rank it right after "The Drawer Boy" among the best features that I've seen.

It takes place in rural India and middle aged man, happily married with a son he loves, gets distracted by the idea of death after several friends and relatives die unexpectedly.  I communicated with the director Girish Mohite via Facebook before the festival.  He told me it was based on a Hindu legend and was about death and the meaning of life.  I was a little concerned about it being too abstract and esoteric, but it turned out to be a charming movie with interesting characters.  It's also a way to take a 90 minute trip to rural India.

 I posted about the legend and included the trailer last week.


Girish had asked to tell him how it was received, so I asked audience members if they would talk about it as they came out of the theater.  Here's what they said:

A Break From Movies - Watch Live on YouTube US National Boys Under 18 Soccer Championship

I got notice of this game and live presentation because I know someone on the Washington State team.  It starts about now.  You can watch it here.  Or below.

2017 National League - 18U Boys - 

Field 2- 4pm - Day 2 - 

Washington Premier 00 vs. NCFC Elite 

Here's a link to the US Soccer Youth website.    [UPDATE 2pm (Alaska time):  The game ended in a 1-1 tie.  It seemed to be raining pretty hard most of the game, which should have given the Washington team an advantage since they often play in cold rain.]]

I would mention that there is criticism of soccer programs in the US because they are relatively expensive and require a lot of parent participation particularly for driving to games.  The concern is that lower income kids - particularly immigrants from countries with soccer traditions - are kept out of the professional soccer pipeline in the US.  

AIFF 2017: On Tap For Friday

Hard decisions again.

Martini Matinee offers a good selection of shorts:  Brainstorm, Cigare, Baggage, Conspiracy PIE, Second to None, Gator Aide, Happy End, and Game.

Game is probably my favorite narrative short.  But Brainstorm is very well done too.

You can link to each program by clicking on the colored bars.

I haven't seen any Animation yet this festival, so I'm looking forward to that since I've already seen Painless, one of the features in competition.  The director, Jordon Horowitz, will be there to answer questions.  Here he is Wednesday night telling me about the film.

[Sorry,the titles in the movie disappeared.  I'll try to figure out why and fix it.] Friday, December 8

2:00pm

Martini Matinee 

5:00pm

Short Docs 1: Stories of Redemption LIMITEDDim The Flourescents 

6:00pm

Half Life in Fukushima LIMITED

7:00pm

Shorts: Love and Pain 

7:45pm

Animation at Night Painless 

9:00pm

A to B Rollerski Late Night Lounge: Alaskana Party 

9:45pm

Muse LIMITED

The director of AtoB Rollerski was here earlier in the week.  I'm not sure if she's still here.  Her film is about a Latvian Olympian who roller skis from Arctic to Baja.  

Muse is a feature about an artist whose muse expects a lot..

AIFF 2017: Thursday Options

Here's what Thursday's program looks like - some hard choices to make.

Thursday, December 7

6:00pm

Don't Come Back from the Moon LIMITED AK Exp theater LargeShorts: Global Village   LIMITED E Street Theater

6:15pm

Made in Alaska: Shorts LIMITED AK Exp Small

7:45pm

Voyage of the Southern Sun LIMITEDE Street Theater

8:00pm

Gay-La Movie : Check It LIMITEDAK Exp Large

8:15pm

Short Docs 3: Compelling Characters LIMITED AK Exp Small

Firs Choice, the first three.  Haven't seen the Feature (Don't Come Back...), click on the pink/purple bar and get the description.
Global Village Shorts has some great shorts ranging from funny to sad to inspirational.  You can't go wrong with this group.  The benefit of shorts is that if you don't like one film, it will be over soon and you get another chance.  There's a comedic look at the problems of adultery (7 Beds - Spain), and then Pastries (Italian) looks at how stereotypes and tender egos lead to problems.  Real Men Don't Cry  is a father/son ice hockey story from Spain.  Yochi (Belize) is a bit of an advocacy film, but done well, brothers, poverty, the how the  international trafficking in wild birds exploits poverty.  Good story, well done.  Good Luck Orlo (Slovenia/Croatia) was the one that was a little hard to follow, yet it was well done.  Here's a link to the film's website which clarifies things.  And The Geneva Convention (France) was probably my favorite.  A group of teens ready to attack one guy, and the mediators.  Well done.
Obviously, I really like the Global Village program.  I don't think you can go wrong with that one.

Click on the colored bars above for more info on the films.

I haven't seen the Short Docs 3 program, but I know there are good films there and it's probably where I'll be at 8:15.

AIFF 2017: I Just Need To Tell Everyone How Amazing "The Drawer Boy" Was

I'd heard from some programmers that The Drawer Boy was good.  The trailer looked promising and the fact that it was an adaptation of the most produced Canadian play was promising.

It was very good.  A group of actors descends on this dusty rural Canadian farm community.  Miles knocks on the door of a farm house and tells the man who answers that he's an actor and his group has come from Toronto to learn about farmers and write a play about farmers.  He needs a place to stay and in exchange he'll be a free farmhand.

But then near the end was as powerful a scene as I can recall watching.  I was pulled right out of my seat in the theater and into the story on the screen as I watched the drama unfold, the untold story pried out of Morgan's heart.  I wasn't in the theater any more; I was in that farmhouse kitchen sitting on the edge of my chair next to Miles wondering what was coming next.

I don't understand why this film was scheduled only once.  I'm hoping that it wins an award and is shown again as part of Best of The Fest.  There have been some very good films in the festival, but this one is more than special.

I know I owe you more of an explanation, but I'm still processing.  I can offer you the film's director, Aviva Armour-Ostroff answering questions after the showing.

AIFF 2017: Wednesday Decisions Are Easy

The only decisions you have to make are whether to go or not go. And everything is at the Bear Tooth.  Very easy. Tuesday I had to decide between "Saving The Animals" and a workshop with Dan Mirvish.

The after school is a showing of student made films.  When I've had the chance to see these in the past, they were always worthwhile. There are some free tickets to be had at Bosco's, other wise they're  only $5.  Free with a festival pass.

Grand Unified Theory, based on the trailer, is a complicated family dynamics film.  Click on the colored bars below to get more information.

Wednesday, December 6

3:45pm

After-School Special LIMITED

6:00pm

Grand Unified Theory 

8:15pm

Proper Binge    

The trailer for Proper Binge convinced me this is not my type of movie.  It starts with a woman  Way to much fighting and anger.  But I think it's an Alaska feature, so it's getting a choice spot in the festival program.  Makes me think about how much I miss the days when the Mexican Consulate sponsored several Mexican films at the festival.

Looks like you have to go to Youtube to see it.  Be ready for non stop expletives, fights, drunken staggering, various displays of anger and frustration, and blood.

AIFF 2017: Some Of The Film Makers I've Met This Weekend

It's been a film-packed weekend.  Not much time to post about everything, but here are some of the people I had a chance to meet.  Meant to get this up already, but busy trying to catch up with movies, blogging, sleep, and the rest of my life.

Emily Pando (director) and Jesse Amorratanasuchad (cinematographer - I think I got that right) whose short "8 A.M." showed Saturday morning in the program Love and Pain.  It shows again Friday Dec 8 at 7pm at the AK Exp Theater.

"8 A.M." plays on one well used trope - the alarm clock and groggy sleeper - and one well used premise - the audience knows that someone is going to die but the characters don't.  But in this case they use an incredible set of twins who act as the Greek Chorus.  A very well done film with an important message.  You can see a little more - including a screenshot with the twins - on my Shorts in Competition post.

I met Jason Mott between films in a film maker meet and greet session.  It turns out he's the winner of the film festival's screen writing contest.  His script is called Endings LLC about a company that helps plan people's demise.

Jason's from North Carolina and is a novelist.  He mentioned two books - The Returned and Wonder of All Things.  I looked them up and they are available at Loussac.  Actually, he was being modest.  There are several more titles with his name on them.

Here's AIFF director Rebecca Pottebaum hamming it up with volunteer Pablo who sold tickets this weekend at the Alaska Experience Theater..









And here's John Zahs, the subject of the documentary Saving Brinton which played at the Bear Tooth Sunday evening.  It was a great film festival film that looked at John's successful efforts to save and restore films of the Brinton family that were found when the estate was sold.  These are films from the first decade of the 20th Century and some are the only existing copies.  I've got video of his Q&A after the showing along with some of his saved movies.  He said it would be ok to post them here.  So when I catch up, I'll get them up.  You can see more about the film and the trailer at my post on the Docs In Competition.

And, again I think I have this right, here's Dita Gruze who is the co-producer and film editor for the documentary A to B Roller Ski about a Latvian Olympic champion's trip from the Arctic to Baja on roller skis.  It plays again Friday Dec 8 at 9pm at the AK Experience Theater.













Here's AIFF President Rich Curtner (right) introducing Yochi Executive Producer Craig Holden for Q&A after the Shorts program Global Village in which Yochi played.



There's more on video, but that takes me a little longer to turn around.