AFI Docs 2017 - Icarus

The opening night film of AFI Docs 2017 was Icarus. I must say, I was surprised to see them pick a sports film as the opener, but as I learned more about the film, the choice began to make more sense. The film starts out as a sort of Supersize Me on steroids (and I mean literally on steroids). Amateur endurance cyclist Bryan Fogel decides he's going to start doping to show how Lance Armstrong and other athletes have managed to use performance-enhancing drugs undetected, despite a system that tests them frequently to prevent that.

But then Fogel's American specialist decides he doesn't want to risk his reputation by helping Fogel do this and refers him to a Russian specialist, Grigory Rodchenkov, head of the Russian anti-doping lab. The film begins to pivot to be not about Fogel at all.

Rodchenkov is quite the character - he's brilliant, hilarious, a dog-lover, and generally incredibly cheerful. Fogel and Rodchenkov quickly become friends, even visiting each other in their respective countries so that Fogel can give Rodchenkov his pee to create a profile for him that will help Fogel cheat the testing system while doping.

A little ways into their relationship, Rodchenkov casually mentions "have you seen the film about me?" He is referring to a German film that claimed that basically all Russian athletes in the Olympics and other international competitions have been doping for decades and that Rodchenkov is the brains behind the state-sponsored operation.

As those claims get picked up, examined, investigated, etc, the film starts to turn more thriller, and the film becomes a window into the Russian psyche and what they'll do to win - something that has much broader implications for us here in the US right now. Not only that but Rodchenkov begins to suspect his own life may be in danger when Russian officials ask him to resign. Without giving too much away (even though it's real, googleable events), the film from here becomes devoted to keeping Rodchenkov safe and also getting out the truth about the Russian doping situation.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. I will say that I think it's maybe 20 minutes too long, and there were times I was a bored. But Rodchenkov is a wonderful character, and there were also times I was completely riveted. I am not a particularly sports-inclined person, so my personal reaction was essentially "all this just to win some games?" I realize that sports is a multi-billion dollar industry, but that fact itself bothers me when we live in a world where people are starving or dying in conflicts. During the Q&A people kept saying "this is such an important story" and to be perfectly honest, I kept thinking to myself "is it though? There are so many much bigger issues that threaten the lives of millions in this world." To me the only way it's important is as a lens into the lengths Russia will go to achieve their goals. If they'd go this far and game a very detailed system to win some medals, what lengths do you think they've gone to in order to influence America's election? That said, not every documentary has to be really important. Sometimes a film is worth watching because it's an enjoyable story and I would recommend this film for that purpose. I am hoping that they continue to fine tune it before it's released on Netflix though - apparently it's changed a great deal between Sundance and AFI Docs, and I think it could still use some tightening up. But even if not, it's definitely worth watching.

AFI Docs - An Inconvenient Sequel

I have to first admit I never did see An Inconvenient Truth, but I'm not someone who needs to be convinced of the urgency of climate change. At AFI Docs this weekend, I did have the privilege of seeing An Inconvenient Sequel, the 10-years-later look at how much more urgent it's become. The film follows Al Gore as he educates people on how to be climate activists all over the world, and then to Paris where we watch the drama of that climate agreement play out. Unfortunately, we Americans are all too aware of the fact that Trump is trying to pull the US out of that climate agreement, a fact which was not in this film but which the filmmakers said would be added to the end of the film before it hits theaters at the end of July.

The film is quite well done. Some of the imagery and information shook me to my very core, and yet the film has a good amount of comic relief and several messages of hope. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll have a rage blackout or two... All the feels that good documentaries can cause. But I think, unfortunately, because of the fact Al Gore is the main character, the film will really just be preaching to the choir. I don't think any conservatives are going to watch the film. That said, a strong box office showing can still show public support for this issue. And there are interesting bipartisan moments, like when Al Gore goes to Georgetown, Texas, which will be one of the largest towns in the US using 100% renewable energy very soon, and yet the mayor is Republican, as is probably much of the town. Honestly, someone should probably make a short documentary about that town - that might go a lot farther convincing people on the conservative side that renewable energy is beneficial.

Definitely I recommend seeing the film when it comes out July 28th (select theaters) or August 4th (Nationwide).

AFI Docs 2017 - No Man's Land

I must admit I was a little hesitant to see No Man's Land. The film is about the armed standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, led by the Bundy brothers. Part of me didn't want to give these radicals any more attention than they had already gotten. But I went and saw it anyway, and I'm so very glad I did.

Documentarians tend to be a relatively liberal bunch, myself included, so I was mostly expecting to be angry. At a panel about documentary in service of civil discourse this morning, one of the panelists said, "the best thing I can hear at one of our community events is 'I never thought of it that way before,'" and that's exactly the reaction I had to this film. And part of what attracted me to the documentary field in general was the ability of documentary to help people see others' perspectives, but I still hadn't really ever seen a documentary about conservatives that made me see their side of things before. For example, I loved the film Jesus Camp, but I left it mainly feeling like those people were completely out of touch with reality.

This film was different. In our incredibly polarized society right now, this film showed all sides of the argument equally and fairly. Their access was amazing. And what struck me the most were the number of things I had in common with the militiamen. For example, some of the issues that come up that some of the characters oppose are things like the Patriot Act and the militarization of the police force, things every liberal I know is against. These men feel their way of living is being taken away - a feeling most people I know in the cities share, albeit in different ways. And while I don't think fear of change is productive, most Americans agree that things are changing primarily for the worse: there aren't enough jobs, wages suck, we're running out of options, and people are angry. This is a feeling it seems most Americans share right now.

When it comes down to it, these people want what is best for their families. They want to do more than survive, they want to thrive. And even survival feels increasingly difficult for many Americans right now. That feeling that the government isn't listening to the people anymore is something most Americans can relate to and the desire for drastic action to get them pay attention rumbles within many of us. What we differ on is how to achieve this, and that's where it does start to feel a little hard to stomach. I fully believe in peaceful approaches. I'm a strong advocate of gun control, and I think any militia that thinks even their automatic weapons can stand up against the government's drones, tanks, missiles, etc, seems naive at best to me. Situations with weapons involved can escalate unnecessarily, as it did in this standoff, which led to one of the leaders of the militia getting killed. People in the nearby towns were scared. They felt like they were being bullied, which is ironic because on of the militia leaders later says (without irony) to the camera something to the effect of "the government can't come in here and bully and intimidate people with weapons."

Anyway, the point is, this is a riveting film, and one that is incredibly fair to everyone involved. Every character is treated with respect. There are some really great insights from both sides. And it shows how truly complex this situation was. It really made me think and it inspired me to try to find the commonalities I have with people on the other side of the political spectrum, which is something I think we all should be doing if we're going to keep American democracy in tact. I definitely recommend the film.

AFI Docs 2015 - The Wrap Up

So AFI Docs is over but they are re-playing some festival favorites today. Best of Enemies was great but by the time this post goes live, that screening will have already started. So I will just highly recommend that you go see Radical Grace tonight at 5:15pm. Full review of that film is below.

The Russian Woodpecker

This film was definitely one of those stranger-than-fiction kind of documentaries. It's about a Ukranian artist who investigates a conspiracy theory about the Chernobyl explosion. Part investigative journalism, part experimental art piece, it's a pretty unique film. The artist is a very interesting character, the lack of trust amongst everyone that is participating in the film is very interesting, and it was beautifully shot. It gives a fairly good background on the situation and Ukraine/Russia/Soviet history, some of which is extremely interesting (ie the Russian Woodpecker signal that the film is named after). But I felt a little mislead as to what I was expecting. I was sort of expecting a gripping mystery a la Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles and it wasn't quite that. It felt a little disorganized / jumping about at some points, probably because they're trying to cover so much history and such a complex political situation while also addressing this conspiracy theory. Overall, I would say watch the film. In talking with various people about it, it seems people who didn't have much in the way of expectations really enjoyed it, but a few of us who had certain expectations based on what we read or saw about the film found ourselves a little disappointed.

Requiem for the American Dream

I fell asleep. And let me reiterate that until a certain film at Full Frame a few months ago, I had literally never fallen asleep in a movie theater (or even watching a movie at home) in my life. It doesn't take much when it comes to video to keep me awake, even if I'm not really interested. The visual and auditory stimulus alone is usually enough. But this film was 75 minutes of Noam Chomsky droning on, with b-roll and motion graphics to cover it so that it's not just a talking head the whole time. Now, I love everything Noam Chomsky was saying and a lot of it was so important. But presented in that way, as basically a 75 minute lecture, was just not the right way to go. They should've broken it down into 10 web shorts (most of the film addresses "10 principles"). That could've been a really interesting web series. As a feature, not so much...

How to Dance in Ohio

How to Dance in Ohio is a charming film about teens and young adults on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum learning social skills, particularly in preparation for a formal dance. You really get a sense of the struggles that kids on the spectrum and their family go through, and you admire their perseverance as these kids who struggle with basic life skills try to learn to live more independently. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will learn a lot about autism. A friend of mine said he saw so much of his grandson, who has aspergers, in these characters, and he thought it was a moving and accurate depiction of what these kids and their families go through.

Most Likely To Succeed

After the abomination that was Requiem for the American Dream, I was a little worried that this film was going to be a feature-length lecture on our education system in the U.S. But I was very relieved that it wasn't. The film is interesting, funny, and well-done. Most of all, it's really really really important. After discussing in depth how our current system is outdated and not preparing students for today's workforce, it primarily focuses on an alternative public high school called High Tech High in San Diego. To even try to explain the model of this school is long and complicated so I'll just say "see the film." There were times when they briefly examined other schools/teachers changing curriculum in revolutionary ways, but I almost didn't like that because it felt like it incongruous to the overall story of High Tech High. I think they filmed at a TON of schools and ended up picking High Tech High to focus on after the fact, and that's sort of what it felt like whenever they switched to other schools. Although I did love the scene at a different school where the top straight-A, high strung, get-into-Harvard type students didn't care about learning in a better way, they just wanted to make sure they could ace the standardized tests to get into the best colleges. I guess that's the catch-22 of the system - you can't really change the model that lower schools are built on until the college admissions process changes. But luckily that's starting to happen a little. And coincidentally there is a statistic at the end of the movie that says 98% of High Tech High kids went to college. Definitely a must-see!

Radical Grace

This film was an utter delight. Radical Grace is about activist nuns, women religious who are actually doing Christian social justice works similar to those of Jesus instead of being hypocrites like many Christians, and the persecution they faced because of it. They were censured by the Catholic Church and investigated for 6 years. Then there was the guy who said that these nuns, for doing social justice work, are worse than pedophile priests... Yikes! But the nuns in the film are an inspiration - they're sassy, kind, fun, HILARIOUS, and incredibly hard-working. Again, you will laugh, you will cry. You will be incredibly moved by the visible impact they're having on people in the film. It was such a relief for me to see religious people practicing the values they claim to uphold, and it gives me hope that religion can be a vehicle for good instead of just a vehicle for hatred, greed, separatism, and violence. Catch an encore screening of it tonight at 5:15pm at the AFI Silver!

AFI Docs 2015 - Shorts

I finally went to a shorts program! I always mean to but inevitably never do because I'm drawn to features that conflict with it. At Full Frame, though, I had heard such wonderful things about Giovanni and the Water Ballet that I finally made it a priority. I attended the water-themed shorts program.

The first film was Waterlillies, which is about older Irish women learning how to swim for the first time. It was very endearing, the women are very funny, and you are happy for them that they are doing this sort of empowering thing for themselves. The underwater, slow-motion photography was beautiful. That said, as I find with many shorts, it was too long. I think it could've been just as delightful at less than 10 minutes, as opposed to the 16 minutes that it was.

The second film was Object, which I hated. It is very abstract, yet the subject matter isn't all that abstract. The essential goal of the film is to put you in the position of a rescue diver in a frozen lake in Poland. While I did get a sense of the anxiety and danger, I did not know they were rescue divers. Especially based on the title, I thought perhaps they were some kind of underwater archeologists. But apparently, in Poland, rescuers refer to bodies of missing persons that they are looking for as "objects." When you do finally see a body, it's so brief that I wasn't totally clear that I was seeing a body. It's in one brief shot in which it's just a silhouette in murky waters and then it's in another shot in the reflection of the diver's mask. I honestly thought maybe it was a statue at first, since I thought they were looking for objects, and then even when I was pretty sure it was a body, I was unclear as to why he came up without it (apparently they're not allowed to actually remove them from the water...?). It was also way too long. A more traditional documentary about rescue divers, in which you really get a sense of the trials and tribulations, including probably the emotional toll of finding dead bodies, would be really interesting. But I was just bored and confused by this film and it felt like it was being experimental and slow for the sake of it and because it's trendy right now.

Giovanni and the Water Ballet was the third film and it was every bit as delightful as I hoped it would be. It's about a young dutch boy who wants to be on a synchronized swimming team. In order to do so, he must pass an exam and from there, his ultimate dream is to be the first boy to perform in the national synchronized swimming championships. The film ventures outside of the pool quite a bit, and also examines his relationship with his very supportive "girlfriend" (it's very innocent - they haven't even kissed). While the swimming was certainly impressive and entertaining, these scenes with his girlfriend were, for me, the most delightful parts of the film, as the two are hilarious and adorable.

The last film was Women in Sink, which was an interesting piece about Jewish-Arab relations in Haifa in Israel, as told through conversations with women as their hair was being washed by the filmmaker in a salon. The filmmaker started out with an agenda to show that Arabs are mistreated but instead got a dose of hope, as most women seemed to say that, at least in Haifa, it wasn't so bad. The filmmaker did a great job of getting these women to open up on camera. The only thing I didn't love was that it really was just a static shot from above of the women's faces while their hair is being washed and their chatting. In between, there these lovely, brief moments of shots of the salon, and I wish they had shown more of the salon life rather than having it be so talking-head-heavy, especially since it clocked in at 36 minutes. That's a lot of talking heads, and while the subject matter is certainly interesting and made it feel less long than it was, it would've been nice to have a little more visual substance.

AFI Docs 2015 - Day 2

Ok, I have to say it: I officially miss Silverdocs. I may have expressed this feeling before but the last few years I've only been able to attend opening night just because I was too busy at work, so I hadn't actually really experienced the change yet. The name change and the shift to an emphasis on politics don't bother me. What bothers me is how spread out the festival is now. It used to be so easy to get from film to film to film and have such a strong sense of community. Now, not only is there virtually no sense of community, I find myself choosing films largely based on geography rather than what I really want to see, and only seeing 2 films in a day because I just can't go back and forth between the city and Silver Spring.

I realize no one is asking for my advice, but I'm going to give it anyway: Have the opening night and closing films at fancy venues in the city to maintain the glitz and glamor that the new festival seems to be trying to embody, and do your event at the white house and maybe one by the capital or something for the politically-related events, and then do the rest in Silver Spring. And bring the conference back to the way it used to be (and in Silver Spring), because the old conference portions for the years I was privileged enough to go were invaluable.

Ok, moving on to the actual films. On Day 2, my first film was Frame by Frame. It had such potential to be a great, important film. But it did not live up to that potential. The film is about photojournalists in Afghanistan. Photos, having been outlawed by the Taliban, are a new medium to most Afghans, and it's incredibly important that they have native photojournalists to tell the story of Afghanistan so that all the perspectives are not that of outsiders, but of people who understand the country and can give Afghans a voice. Of course the characters and subject matter are compelling, but the film dragged in many spots and I didn't feel as much of a sense of urgency about the issue as I think I should've felt. And it didn't seem to me that the issues these characters faced were different from the issues foreign journalists in Afghanistan also face: the very real threat of physical violence from terrorists, not being allowed to photograph certain subjects (particularly related to women), etc. So the particular angle that is supposed to make this film different (that it is specifically about Afghan journalists), didn't really make it that different from any other film about conflict photographers. The other thing that I found sort of unfortunate is that a film that is all about giving Afghans a voice to show outsiders what the real Afghanistan is like was made by two outsider (white) women... Of course, the photography was beautiful, and I think seeing the photographers' work was actually one of my favorite things about the film. But overall, I really didn't feel like this film lived up to my expectations.

From This Day Forward is a touching story about an adult man who, while married and the father of two children, decides to make the transition to living as a woman. It is told by her daughter, now an adult, trying to process everything that she sort of intentionally didn't process as a child. I was filled with awe and admiration for this family, particularly for their mother, who stayed with her spouse through this. The complexity of the situation is captured in a lovely, intimate way and I really felt like I gained an understanding for everyone's viewpoint and can relate to all the characters and what they went through, despite having never been in a remotely similar situation. I felt the pacing could be improved in some spots, but that might not be totally fair since Best of Enemies the night before gave me such high standards for pacing. But overall it was a lovely film, and I definitely hope a lot of people will watch it to help bring greater understanding and empathy for transgender people and their loved ones everywhere.

AFI Docs 2015 - Best of Enemies

AFI Docs 2015 started out strong on opening night with the historical documentary Best of Enemies, about the 1968 televised debates between arch enemies William F. Buckley, Jr. and Gore Vidal.

The film was perfectly-crafted. It was riveting, funny, tense, sad, and above all, poignant. Having been born in the 80s, I was not alive during the debates and so I went in knowing very little about them, or even about either of the debaters, though I was ever so slightly more familiar with Vidal than with Buckley. But the film did a great job of giving viewers a background into who both of them were, what was going on in the larger context of politics/the US at the time, and how these debates, despite living up to a higher standard of intellect than current pundit television, were pretty much the starting point on the path to the terrible, divisive pundit television we have now.

I will also say that it was some of the best editing I have seen in a long time. It was very well-paced. Nothing felt too long or like they skipped anything important. Honestly, it set the bar so high for the pacing of a film that it has made me hyper-aware of the pacing flaws, however minor, in almost all of the other films I've seen at the festival.

And while I'm not actually the most fond of the theater at the Newseum (if you get stuck under the balconies in certain spots, the balconies actually block parts of the screen! Who designed that?!), in this case, I don't think a more perfect venue exists for the subject matter, being a story about both politics and journalism.

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - Day 3

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Peace Officer

 

Peace Officer is the most important film you will see this year. While it doesn’t address the racial aspect of police brutality that is a prominent issue right now in the US, it shines a stunning light on the militarization of the police force and how the police are in many cases escalating violence unnecessarily. It’s also told in the most gripping way – by reconstructing crime scenes with the film’s protagonist, William “Dub” Lawrence, a former Sherriff who bought the SWAT gear and trained some of his men in the very tactics that eventually led to the death of his son-in-law. What’s particularly astonishing is how Dub finds evidence - lots of pieces of evidence, some damning to the police involved - that the police officers investigating the events didn’t find, months or more after the fact. The thing that struck me the most was that it really seems like something that could happen to anyone: the cases they follow in this film were mostly minor infractions, and they even tell of a situation where officers raided the wrong house on a military AWOL charge and the owner had come to the door with a baseball bat. The officer told the owner something to the effect of “it’s a good thing you didn’t come to the door with a gun, or I’d have wasted you.” Really that guy is lucky that he didn’t get shot, as the film shows other situations where people with golf clubs or other weapons, thinking their house is being invaded, get killed. The film ends on a slightly hopeful note, though: despite all the unnecessary death, the Utah legislature made some changes to the oversight and accountability of investigations at the hands of police, and advocates are trying to get further measures enacted.

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(T)error

 

This is the second most important film you’ll see this year. It’s essentially about the FBI entrapping people. I actually don’t want to go into too much detail because there’s a bit of an unexpected plot twist that makes the film much more enjoyable (the first half is honestly pretty boring) but I will say that these filmmakers had unprecedented access to an FBI informant who let them film him on a mission and the results are terrifying. It's also interesting because they basically frame the informant (and any informant, really) as a sociopath. It’s definitely a must-see.

Deep Web

 

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Can you sense a theme? I had an entire day full of films about distrust in government and I left feeling very depressed and angry and helpless. Deep Web is about, well, the "deep web" - the semi-secret, open web, particularly a marketplace called The Silk Road, a sort of anarchist internet utopia which was used for selling illegal drugs, among other things. It follows the story of both the Silk Road and also Ross William Ulbricht, who is arrested for his involvement in it. The scary part is how this guy sort of becomes the government’s scapegoat and takes the fall when he clearly wasn’t the only person operating this thing and how he doesn’t seem to be getting a fair trial. Also, the whole war against drugs is highlighted in a way that really shows the absurdity and uselessness of it all, since new sites immediately replaced The Silk Road when it was taken down.

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - Day 2

The Farewell

The Farewell was a not very short short. It was, just like Kings of Nowhere, beautifully shot and meditative, with charming moments. But it was also really boring and way too long. If this is the filmmaking style that's in vogue now, count me out.
 
Overburden

Overburden is a touching but depressing film about coal mining in West Virginia (particularly mountain top removal), told from the perspective of two women on either side of the issue (one for, one against). It's a deeply personal look into the effects that coal has on individual people, which most of us who don't live that life wouldn't get to see without this film. I can legitimately say that I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I got excited. It was all the feels. It did me feeling a little hopeless, even though there were some victories. But unfortunately that's the way life is often times, and this is a documentary after all. And it's also nice to see a film that is offering actual solutions instead of just presenting a problem.

Crooked Candy

This was a great example of what a short film. It was actually short, it was paced well, nicely shot, and it probably took the filmmaker a few days to make. It definitely made me want to go out and find a compelling short that I could film in a day or two, especially since this film has hit a lot of the major festivals.

Curious Worlds

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Curious Worlds is a film about artist, David Beck. The film is worth seeing just to see David’s works, many of which are in private collections so you wouldn’t get to see them on your own. The intricacy of every piece is astounding and the film does a great job of helping you to appreciate his work – a woman behind me gasped literally dozens of times throughout the movie at the awe of it all. That being said, the film was much too long and got a little boring. I almost fell asleep and the only thing that kept me awake was not wanting to miss a cool piece of art.

The Land

 

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The Land was a short. I didn’t see the corresponding feature because I was just a little burnt out after two features and two shorts, so I took a break. But The Land was exactly what I needed to perk up my mood a bit. It’s about an adventure playground in Wales where the kids can play with things like fire and tools and rope swings and they can climb trees freely. They’re supervised, but the supervisors only really make suggestions and don’t step in unless it’s a true emergency. The motto the woman who started it quotes is, “broken bones are better than broken spirits.” The kids are hilarious, too. It’s a super entertaining film and it shows that letting kids learn and make mistakes is important, and they usually seemed to make the right decisions in the end. Apparently there are adventure playgrounds all over the world, even a few in the US.

3 1/2 Minutes

 
3 1/2 minutes is about the murder of teenager Jordan Davis, the dangers of Florida's "stand your ground" law, and the trial of his killer, Michael Dunn. It's obviously incredibly timely with everything going on in the country right now. It's also pretty terrifying how obliviously racist Michael Dunn is - Michael Dunn probably didn't think of himself as racist, but his lack of self-awareness of his racism is exactly what made him so dangerous and what ended up killing Jordan Davis. The filmmakers were the one crew allowed in the courtroom, so they had great access. They also obtained footage from when Michael Dunn turned himself in, and phone calls to his fiance from prison, in which he says crazy ignorant things about the kids like "they're gangster rappers."

The Wolfpack

The Wolfpack is one of those stranger-than-fiction scenarios. It's about a family with 7 children (6 boys who all look virtually identical, just slightly different ages) who were basically sequestered in their Manhattan project apartment by their not-entirely-sane-and-sort-of-abusive father, never really allowed to leave, and living their life through movies. It's delightful to watch them re-enact their favorite films. They were particularly fond of Tarintino so there was a lot of Resevoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. But the film is serious too. It's a life I could never imagine living, and how they managed to turn out relatively well-adjusted is astounding to me. The filmmaker apparently stumbled upon the boys on the streets of NYC one day, on one of their rare outings, and they were all dressed identically and had long ponytails, which piqued her interest. Quite the story to stumble upon.

Full Frame Documentary Film Festival - Day 1

This year I had the pleasures of attending Full Frame for the first time. Overall I very much enjoyed it. It's a little more exclusive than I wish it was (getting into the parties requires you to know someone or be a filmmaker, even if you have a pass). Also, I had a 15-film pass and 15 films is way too much for such a short festival, especially since Thursday and Sunday weren't full days due to the drive. It meant seeing a film in every available slot for which I was there, including 5 films in one day on Friday and Saturday. I learned that 3 films in a day (or, 3 plus a short) is pretty much my limit and I ended up skipping a few. I did see 4 in one day but I hated myself for it.

Also, shout out to the Moorehead Manor B&B. It was an amazing place to stay - lovely old mansion with some of the most delicious breakfast I've ever eaten. The owners were so nice and there were always fresh baked goods out. It was one of my favorite places I've ever stayed.

Day 1

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Kings of Nowhere

Kings of Nowhere was a beautifully shot film about a very interesting subject that was really boring. I fell asleep. I don’t think I have ever fallen asleep during a movie at a theater in my entire life. And it was the first film I saw, so it’s not even like I was burned out on movies at that point. The film is about three families in a town that has been abandoned because it mostly flooded when a damn was built nearby. While the film is very meditative, there are some truly beautiful moments, and the subjects can be quite funny, nothing really happens. At all. The whole time. They even allude to violence that has them somewhat living in fear, but they never fully explain it. I won’t say I disliked the film. Parts of it were magical, but it was way too long and it did not deserve the Jury Prize for the festival in the least bit.

The Circus Dynasty

Circus Dynasty is an intimate look at two European Circus families, who everyone is hoping will merge through the relationship of the son of one family and the daughter of the other. While I enjoyed the film, it left me puzzled at times as to what style they were going to. Parts of it were beautifully shot and had a dream like quality, while most was very verite. Sometimes they had very intimate access to the subjects but a lot of the times the filmmakers seemed to keep their distance. I know it's hard to be all up in people's most intimate moments with a camera like that but if you're going to go for it, you gotta GO FOR IT. I think perhaps the film was shot in bits and pieces, as sometimes happens in documentary when stories span years. That being said, it was a sweet film with some awe-inspiring acrobatics that really tugs at the heartstrings and I will admit I got a little teary at the end.

SXSW - Ex Machina

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The one and only film I managed to see at SXSW was Ex Machina, a sci-fi thriller that addresses big moral questions but leaves it largely up to the audience to decide the answers for themselves. In the film a young programmer wins a trip to his billionaire boss’ reclusive estate to play the human part in a Turing test against the AI robot, Ava. It’s a beautiful, quiet, tense film all the way through. Even the peak of the action maintains an almost calm quality. The simple aesthetic and spectacular visual effects immerse you in this not-so-distant-future.

Without giving too much away, I simultaneously liked and found suspicious every single character in the movie, so I really wasn’t sure where the plot would take us, who would “get their way” so to speak. I won’t say I was surprised by the way it ended but I enjoyed the fact that I wasn't really certain until the end.

My SXSW

This year I had the privilege of finally attending SXSW. I went for all three festivals (Interactive, Media, Film) and was there for all 10 days. It was intense. This was my SXSW:

• Those moments when people you've literally just met are so supportive of you and offer to put you in touch with so-and-so who might be able to help you with such-and-such.
• That moment when some kind strangers let you squeeze in next to them on the rail so you have a primo spot to see Future Islands and The Flaming Lips (the show you happen to be most excited about for the whole festival) and you bond.
  

  
• Those moments when you're waiting in line and it feels endless and you're thinking "I paid $1600 for this Platinum pass! How does that not give me line-skipping privileges?!" and wondering what it takes to be a VIP.
• Those moments when you think there's going to be a line but there's not and you waltz right in to whatever amazing thing you are attending.
• That moment when you’ve decided to take it easy for a night to recover a little and you’re in bed by 11pm but then can’t sleep, despite being completely exhausted, because your body is now used to staying up until 3am.
• Those moments where the panelists just say the perfect thing.
  

    

  
• That moment when someone you met on Friday invites you to his birthday dinner on Tuesday.
• That moment when you run into your college roommate from freshman year completely by chance in a food truck lot at 1:30am.
• That moment when you're so sunburned that it hurts to wear clothes.
  

  
• That moment when you're so hungover that it hurts to exist.
• That moment when you throw up in a trashcan outside your friend's apartment the morning after drinking and realize why people who live in Austin hate SXSW.
• That moment where you're sitting on a floor blindfolded with a bunch of strangers and eating an apple and thinking "this panel was not what I thought it was going to be."
  

  
• That moment when you really wish people would watch the show instead of recording the whole thing on their phone because you came here to see the artist in person and not through the person in front of you's screen.
• That moment when grown men scream like teenage girls over a musician.
  

  
• That moment when you're eating free ice cream in the rain.
• Those moments when no one will dance and you're so frustrated on behalf of the band because they're not getting any energy back from the audience.
• That moment when someone crowd-surfs and you really wish you weren't wearing a skirt so you could too. 
  

  
• That moment when you really wish people would stop crowd-surfing so you could enjoy the band without getting kicked in the head.
• That moment when some guys behind you are bitching loudly and you turn around and offer them a hug because their harshing your good mood and you actually turn the mood around and then you're toasting to how awesome life is
• That moment when you can tell you're getting sick because your body just doesn't want to do this anymore but there's still several more days of the festival so suck it up and take some vitamins.
• That moment when the party ends very abruptly and the staff is all "get the fuck out" and even take your drink away that you paid for before you can finish it because they are so over SXSW.
• That moment when someone friends you on Facebook and you realize you already have 11 mutual friends.
• That moment when you hang out and eat cupcakes with the band you just saw and wishing one of them a happy birthday.
  

  
• That moment when you get a Lyft driver for a second time and realize that's how long you've been in town.
• That moment where you realize you only saw one movie the entire time you were here.

• That moment when the Mexican restaurant hands you what you think is a poncho to keep dry from the rain and it turns out it’s just a trashbag but you poke a hole for your head and wear it anyway.
• That moment when people are dancing in the rain on 6th street and you would join them if there weren't so many cameras filming it and you didn’t want to be recorded literally wearing a trashbag.
• That moment where you pay $5 for a poncho so you look slightly less ridiculous than you do in a torn up trashbag and get the last ponchos at the store and everyone behind you in line hates you.
• That moment when you see a sign that says free ice cream and realize how jaded you are because at first you don't believe them.
• That moment someone you met 20 minutes ago tells you he thinks he loves you.
• Those moments when the audience does dance and it makes it a noticeably better show experience.
• That moment when you have to say goodbye to the wonderful people you've just spent 10 days with and you get a little emotional.

Check out the rest of our pictures here. And come back later for more on the specific bands we saw and loved!

Silverdocs - The Waiting Room

In honor of today's healthcare decision, I'll finish up my Silverdocs review with The Waiting Room, which was probably my favorite film of the festival (though I will admit it was really hard to pick a favorite this year).

I will admit I was a little reluctant to see this film - I thought it would just make me angry because of the pathetic state of our healthcare system in this country. But I went to see it with my coworker and I'm so glad I did.

The film follows several characters - both patients and medical staff - as they go through a public emergency room in Oakland, CA. The film makes it feel as if you are experiencing one day but in reality they filmed over a few months so the patients and doctors that were chosen may not have been there on the same day. But they did a really amazing job of choosing the characters - particularly the sassy nurse(?) who checks people in and takes their vitals. She is possibly one of the best caregivers I've ever seen: making people laugh, making them feel less anxious and even occasionally calling them on their bad behavior in such a way that makes them actually be nicer people. And they follow a few youngish doctors who are really doing their best to help people: from the dramatic traumas that come in via ambulance to the less exciting but pervasive problem of treating those who end up using the emergency room as their primary care because they don't have insurance and end up waiting until they run out of medicine. We see one doctor calling in personal favors to get a middle-aged guy who had a stroke an appointment at a private neurologist since the public hospital didn't have any appointments for several months (he still couldn't get him in sooner than one month in advance and the man could barely walk). "He's got his whole life ahead of him," the doctor pleads.

Throughout the film you also really get a feel for the diversity of the patients and their circumstances that have led them to be in the waiting room of a public hospital (lost jobs in many cases, substance abuse in a few, ambulatory care, and just plain poverty in other circumstances), as well as their feeling of helplessness as they wait and wait and then wait some more.  A father struggles to hold back tears as his little girl has a fever of 104, a couple has come in because the guy has a testicular tumor, a man suffers through severe back pain from back spurs, there were a couple of shooting victims in the film (one guy has come because he has a bullet in him from several days before).

And you get a sense for how the hospital works in general: how they prioritize people, how the waiting room gets so backed up (particularly when traumas come in by ambulance), why it often takes so long to get beds open for people (some of the pateints, particularly if there's substance abuse involved, have nowhere else to go and a public hospital can't release them without a discharge plan). Overall I thought the film did a great job of showing all sides of the experience, the problems that the hospital faces, etc. And the film was just really entertaining and heartwarming. It was everything a documentary should be.

Granted, I will say, just as my own side note: I unfortunately had to go through my own emergency room hospital situation with my boyfriend this week (hence the delay in reviews, sorry) and we were at what is generally considered a really good private hospital, yet I didn't feel like the situation was any better. It still took forever for me to figure out where to go in both the emergency room and then after his surgery, it took forever for him to get a bed once he was out of trauma (and he was literally in the hallway of the Emergency room with as many other people as they could fit along the hallway wall) and generally speaking everything took forever all the time. It also felt like, as we got closer to his release, the hospital's care got worse and worse - maybe because they knew they weren't going to be able to squeeze much more money out of him (just a guess). And there were plenty of people there without health insurance and with substance abuse problems. So I don't think being a public or private hospital necessarily makes much of a difference in service.

Silverdocs - Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey

Silverdocs opened with Don't Stop Believin, Ramona Diaz's (second from the left) film about Arnel Pineda, a Phillipino singer who got discovered on YouTube by iconic American band Journey and is now their lead singer. It was great to have such a joyful film to kick off the festival, and it was cool seeing Neil Shohn (fourth from the left) in the flesh - I can't believe Arnel wasn't there himself, though. That was kind of a disappointment.

The story follows Arnel on his first tour with Journey, then when he goes back to the Phillipine's afterwards. They interweave this with Arnel's personal history as well as the band's history. Arnel really is a great singer and while he doesn't seem like an obvious choice for Journey, you sort of get used to seeing them together after a little while and he gives a little international flavor to the all-American classic rock group.

The film is so much fun! And for a high pressure, extensive national tour, there's not much drama. My main critique would be that the film could be about 15-20 minutes shorter (precisely because of the lack of drama). It starts to feel a bit repetitive after a while and some stuff could definitely be taken out without hurting the story. But the music is great, Arnel is a loveable character and it was a really nice look inside the band Journey. Overall an enjoyable film and an interesting story that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't a documentary.

Silverdocs - Guggenheim Symposium

Tuesday night at Silverdocs was the Guggenheim Symposium, in which they honored filmmakers Joe Berlinger (right) and Bruce Sinofsky (left). I had been to a really interesting panel last year at Silverdocs where Joe Berlinger talked about his long-running legal struggles with Chevron over his film Crude. What Berlinger went through with Chevron is completely horrible, though that's a post for another day. But the most amazing thing about these filmmakers' prestigious career is the story of a decades-long fight to get three wrongly-convicted kids out of prison through their film trilogy Paradise Lost.

This wasn't supposed to be a trilogy. They set out to make the first film in 1994 about the West Memphis Three thinking they were making a film about 3 guilty kids but during the process of filming they soon came to realize that these kids weren't guilty at all and that they weren't really getting their due process in court. The boys were convicted: one of them sentenced to death and the other two to life in prison. In 2011, after 18 years in prison, the three men are being released due to new DNA evidence that was introduced in 2007. The reason this is an extraordinary story, though, is because none of this probably would've happened if it weren't for Berlinger and Sinofsky. They knew the boys were innocent and they never let it go. They persevered and got attention for the boys' cause. If it weren't for them, the case probably would've disappeared into history and these boys would've rotted in prison for the rest of their lives (or in one case, been executed).

You can see the Paradise Lost trilogy, as well as the rest of Berlinger and Sinofsky's body of work, at Silverdocs next week starting on Tuesday, June 26th (see the schedule here).

Another Earth trailer + Cinematic Orchestra

I know, I know, I'm WAY behind on blogging. I still have tons of Bonnaroo stuff to write about and now Silverdocs too. I promise I will get to that but first I just want to post this trailer for the movie Another Earth because I have been completely mesmerized by it and by the music they used (props to the trailer editor and/or music supervisor). They used the haunting yet simple song "That Home" by The Cinematic Orchestra and it really is one of the best uses of music in a trailer I think I've ever seen and I can't wait to see what looks like a tragically beautiful and original film.

That Home [mp3] - The Cinematic Orchestra ( Amazon / iTunes )

Silverdocs - More films

 So I just wrapped up a week of seeing TONS of awesome films at the Silverdocs Film Festival. Here are the rest of the films that I saw while I was there:

The Price of Sex is a documentary about sex trafficking, particularly in Eastern Europe. While I did learn some, and it certainly is a sad story that needs to be told, I found the film frankly just too depressing. Filmmaker Mimi Chakarova takes her documentary to the next level by going undercover in some dangerous situations, but the thing that she's missing is what many doc filmmakers miss when they make issue films and that is a solution to the problem. Obviously, this is a complex problem but the film left me feeling like there was just no hope for shutting down or even really reducing sex trafficking and offered me no way to try to get involved in being part of the solution (except a little "donate to this organization" card at the end).

The Loving Story was a very nicely told story about the aptly-named Mildred and Richard Loving, a white man and black woman who were exiled from the state of Virginia in 1967 just for, well, loving each other (sorry, I couldn't resist) and getting married. In an uplifting story told through a large collection of archival footage, the courageous but private couple goes on to win their Supreme Court case (Loving v. Virginia) and end anti-miscegenation across the country.

Better This World is a documentary about two boys, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, who were arrested at the 2008 Republican National Convention and charged with domestic terrorism for making Molotov cocktails. The twist of the story, though, is the FBI informant who recruited these boys and encouraged them to use violence. The film shows the true impact the war on terror has had on civil liberties and political activism in the US since 9/11. Everybody who is politically active should watch this film.

Where Soldiers Come From is the story of a group of friends from small-town Michigan who join the National Guard and end up getting sent to Afghanistan. It follows them as they make the decision to join, as they get their orders, while they're in Afghanistan and then back to the US to try to readjust to civilian life. Filmmaker Heather Courtney does a good job of portraying the boys as well-rounded characters and highlighting the struggles of both the boys and their families when the guys return. The film is very informative about the lifelong after effects of TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury), which is a problem that many soldiers come home with and which has only really been discovered in recent years. She also did a nice job of highlighting the boys' families and their anxiety as their boys are in combat.

Our School is a documentary about Roma ("gypsy") children in Romania as Romania struggles to integrate them into their school system. I had no idea that Roma were so discriminated against in much of Europe and we learn that prior to trying to integrate the kids into the regular schools, the Roma children had been taught in separate "schools" that had very little resources and really couldn't be considered schools at all. The film follows school officials, teachers and the kids as each struggle to adjust to each other, sometimes successfully and sometimes not so successfully. My favorite part of the film is the children. The kids are adorable and often hilarious. They are what really make this film a joy to watch.

The Learning follows four Philippino women as they come to the US to teach. It's a classic fish-out-of-water story as these teachers fly half way across the world to teach at inner-city schools in Baltimore, Maryland. The film follows them as they wrestle with being away from their families and everything they've known, and as they deal with problem kids in one of the most under-funded school districts in the country. However, the overall tone of the film is uplifting, as the teachers find home away from home, make a difference in kids' lives and send money back to their financially-struggling families back in the Philippines.