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.