FilmClick

Stony Brook Film Festival
7.16.08 – 7.26.08
Stony Brook, Long Island, NY 

About 365 days ago, I was an eager, wide-eyed little intern running around the Stony Brook Film Festival up at SBU’s Staller Center for the Arts.  I bustled about handing out press kits and SWAG bags while trying to schmooze it up with all the big film muckety-mucks.  Ah, those were good times.  About 7 days ago, I had the wonderful privilege of attending the Festival again, this time as a proud alum of both Stony Brook University and the Festival, not to mention an official FilmClick ambassador.  And this year, it was even better times! 

2008 marks the Stony Brook Film Festival’s 13th year, and in its relatively short lifetime the Festival has established itself as one of the not-to-be-missed film events on Long Island.  Not only did the SBFF offer a great selection of films this year – ranging from international shorts, to Mary Stuart Masterson’s directorial debut, to numerous features staring major talents like Ellen Burstyn, Ellen Page, Susan Sarandon, Sienna Miller, and James Franco – but, as in previous years, they also offered exceptionally reasonable ticket prices, after-screening receptions with the directors, and a refreshing, personal atmosphere with the Festival director, Alan Inkles, personally attending and introducing many of the film screenings.  

And Then She Was Gone
 

Jacqueline Pennewill and Pete Konczal direct this visually striking, intoxicating, and moving short about Savannah, Georgia – a town textured with ghosts and nostalgia.  Washed in sepia tones and shot with arresting cinematography, the film beautifully visualizes the story of a young woman who meets a mysterious specter in a park with scenes that are evocative of a conjured, waking dream.

On Broadway

I had high hopes for writer/director Dave McLaughlin’s feature film On Broadway.  The presence of Eliza Dushku and Will Arnett in the cast lineup was enough to coax me into buying a ticket, but it was the storyline of a wanna-be playwright struggling to stage his play about a family funeral in the backroom of his neighborhood pub that filled me with high expectations.  Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say that On Broadway did not deliver.  The dialogue felt forced, the story fell flat, and not even the always-hilarious Will Arnett could provide enough spark to revive the flat line that this movie would register if hooked up to a pulse monitor.    

For A Few Marbles More
 

If A Fistful of Dollars, The Little Rascals, and Peanuts were to somehow miraculously have a lovechild together, that child would like a heck of a lot like the Dutch short For A Few Marbles More.  Combining the essence of a western, tough-guy shoot ‘em up with pure kid power, writer/director Jelmar Hufen puts together a delightfully fun and funny little film about a group of ten-year-olds who team up to reclaim their playground from two aggressive drunkards.  

Tru Loved
  

Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film
7.2.08 - 7.13.08
New York, NY

I spent my July 4th celebrating at the Japan Society on the Upper East Side with a sold-out crowd of film maniacs, laughing our guts out at the ridiculous Dainipponjin, Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto’s new film about Tokyo’s most underappreciated hero of the same name.

Dainipponjin

Deadpan humor fills the long takes in between the action, until Dainipponjin, literally translated as “Big Japanese Person,” rushes to the nearest transformer station, electrocutes himself until he is the size of one of Japan’s iconic corporate-neon-clad skyscrapers and fights various “baddies,” monsters of similar size that occasionally wander into the city. Needless to say, totally ridiculous, yet there are countless occasions for social comment, and Matsumoto misses no opportunity. Watch for this awesome and unique piece of cinema. It’s just been scheduled for release in the states, under the title Big Man Japan. The plot is pretty darn close to Will Smith’s new movie, Hancock, but trust me, definitely seek out this one instead.

The Japan Cuts program, a selection of new and recent Japanese films currently playing at Japan Society’s Lila Acheson Wallace Auditorium isn’t the only Pacific cinema event these past few weeks in New York, though.

For more information about the film festival, please visit: http://www.japansociety.org/content.cfm/japancuts

New York Asian Film Festival
6.20.08 - 7.6.08
New York, NY

The New York Asian Film Festival, in conjunction with Subway Cinema, powered through an epic selection of films from the usual suspects, including Hong Kong, Japan, and the newly emerging production mecca of South Korea. But apart from the expected, it was nice to see offerings from Vietnam, Indonesia, and another major new player in world cinema, Thailand. A member of the Thai royal family, Prince Chatrichalem Yukol, directs a two-part historical epic showcasing the production value and technical skill of mainstream Thai films, though I’d still take Apichatpong Weerasethakul any day.

The Kon Ichikawa films are going to kill next weekend at Japan Society, and this year’s Takashi Miike pieces are apparently a fine continuation of his superhuman career. I caught the legendary actor, Tatsuya Nakadai, giving a press conference at Film Forum thanks to an invitation from my friend at Janus Films. The world-famous actor was discovered by Masaki Kobayashi in the 1960’s and became a frequent Kurosawa lead as well. His sense of humor and sharp wit made for a warming experience. M, by Korean auteur Lee Myung Se is also supposed to have brought down the house (Manhattan’s IFC Theatre, to be specific, where Mr. Lee gave a Q & A afterward), but it was the Johnnie To retrospective that was the shining star of this extravaganza. Mad Detective, in its New York premier, was a dark yet humorous take on what it really means to be “mad,” starring Lau Ching-wan, while Sparrow revels in its formal beauty as Simon Yam and his crew of pickpockets dance their way through a shiny and visually rhythmic Hong Kong.

Sparrow

To’s production coordinator was on the other end of a cell phone before the film screened, speaking to the audience: “Enjoy the film,” he said, “It’s unique. There is only one drop of blood in the entire thing.” When referring to Asian Cinema, that’s something you sure can’t say too often.

For more information about the film festival, please visit: http://www.subwaycinema.com/

by Michael Prall, FilmClick Staff, mprall@filmclick.com

Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
6.12.08 – 6.26.08
New York, NY

Some films are made to make artistic statements, many more are made to make millions, and a small few are made to make a difference in the world.  The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival celebrates these latter category films that put a human face on threats to individual freedoms, while also celebrating the power of the human spirit to survive and overcome.  Utilizing the power of cinema to inform and galvanize the public, the HRW International Film Festival has become a leading venue for world-class fiction and documentary films, and strives to initiate global change and make a difference, one film at a time.

The Dictator Hunter

***
“If you kill one person, you go to jail. If you kill 40 people, they put you in an insane asylum. But if you kill 40,000 people, you get a comfortable exile with a bank account in another country, and that’s what we want to change here.” – Reed Brody, Counsel, Human Rights Watch
***

Known as the HRW’s “Dictator Hunter,” Reed Brody works tirelessly as a lawyer and outspoken human rights advocate.  In Klaartje Quirijns’s powerful documentary, The Dictator Hunter, we follow Brody and his team in their groundbreaking and precedent-setting legal case to bring the cruel ex-dictator, Hisséne Habré, to justice.

For most of the 1980’s, Habré lead a reign of terror in Chad that lead to the imprisonment, torture, and ultimate death of countless victims.  Souleymane Guenguenge is one of the fortunate few to have survived Habré’s rule.  After spending two horrifying years in one of Habré’s prisons, Gruenguenge lost his vision but not his fighting spirit and thirst for justice.  Now living in the United States, Gruenguenge works closely with Brody as one of the few remaining survivors spearheading the case against Habré.

Quirijns’s film is as intriguing and suspenseful in its documentation of Brody’s harrowing legal struggles as it is compelling and heart wrenching in its telling of Guenguenge’s own struggles, both within the case and as a survivor attempting to start life anew.  In every aspect, The Dictator Hunter succeeds in depicting the resiliency and determination of the human spirit as it stands toe-to-toe against some of the world’s greatest injustices.

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

In this emotionally-charged and gripping documentary, filmmaker Lisa Jackson turns an unflinchingly eye upon the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo and how sexual violence is used as a weapon of warfare by its clashing factions.  Jackson, herself a survivor of rape, attempts to shatter the silence that has, until now, surrounded this national travesty of widespread rape which is inflicted upon Congolese women, both old and young alike, in epidemic number. 

The staggering power of Jackson’s film resides in the raw emotionality she elicits in her interviews with national activists, local peacekeepers and physicians, several of the women survivors, and even a number of the combatant rapists themselves. 

The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo was honored at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival with its Special Jury Prize, and will also be featured on HBO throughout the remainder of 2008.  Be sure to check your listings for this film, as its gripping portrayal of courage and grace by these victimized yet resilient and courageous Congolese women, is one to not be missed!

This year’s New York festival also featured a special photo exhibit held in the Walter Reade Theater’s Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery.  The exhibit featured the work of Dutch photographer Kadir van Lohuizen and focused upon the salient and highly controversial topic of human rights violations in China.

For more information on the work done by the Human Rights Watch and the HWR International Film Festival, visit: http://hrw.org/iff/

For more information on Kadir van Lohuizen’s photographs, visit: http://china.hrw.org/

By Meghan Chandler, FilmClick Staff, mchandler@filmclick.com

Asbury Shorts New York
5.17.08
New York

Melvin van Peebles, this year’s New York host of the touring festival, said of the first half, “That was the most fun I’ve had with my clothes on in years.” Perhaps a bit off-color, but the comment was fitting for the giddy mood and in fact wasn’t too far off the mark. Manhattan’s Director’s Guild Theatre is a classy venue with a touch of unhinged humor, as characterized by the photos on the wall of historic DGA members. The images represent artists both serious and silly at the same time, including John Landis, Sydney Pollack, and Billy Wilder. So it’s no surprise that Mr. van Peebles was able to lighten us up with his sardonic quips and our laughter continued throughout the entire night, prompting the fest director to call us “the best audience the New York screening has ever had.”

For the last 28 years, Asbury Shorts has screened on the road and in New York a handpicked selection of recent award winning shorts from festivals around the world. Their mission was to present those amazing and funny short films at a cinematic venue (many of them even projected on film) that are too often only seen on YouTube or as DVD Extras.

This year’s selections were astounding, entertaining, and straight from the heart. Indie darling Jason Reitman had a funny piece called Consent, with lawyers duking it out over a couple’s sexual agreement. There were clever animations by Kimberly Miner and Signe Baumane. The YouTube favorite, Spider by Nash Edgerton, built us up slowly until its spine-tingling ending. Australian Rob Carlton’s piece about favoritism toward his twin sons was hilarious, and renowned independent giant Bill Morrison’s tender mixed media piece about the loss of archived film reels nearly made me cry my eyes out.

The standouts were definitely last year’s Tribeca Short Films competition winner, The Super Powers, about a couple who saves their marriage and a local shop owner at the same time, and a Belgian film called Tanghi Argentini by Guy Thys, about re-lighting the fire of passion. This film was absolutely beautiful, and with an Oscar nomination and several wins worldwide, obviously Asbury Shorts isn’t the only film showcase that thinks so.

For more information about the film festival, please visit: http://www.asburyshortsnyc.com/

by Michael Prall, FilmClick Staff, mprall@filmclick.com

Brooklyn Arts Council International Film Festival
4.29.08 - 5.9.08
New York

May’s festival scene isn’t complete without a trip across the bridge to New York City’s more eclectic and, arguably, more exciting borough. The Brooklyn Arts Council’s annual film festival is a mainstay for local film lovers, especially the ones interested in work by unknown artists and neighbors. I was pleased to attend the “Brooklyn Filmmakers” section of the fest, which screened on a Friday night at the prestigious (yet still undiscovered) Brooklyn Museum. This museum is perpetually host to a rich variety of exhibits, currently featuring the trippy and ultra-hip pop art of Takashi Murakami. The screening itself, in the Cantor Auditorium, featured a few gems of its own.

Locals Tamara Yadao and Sara Sun showed experimental videos showcasing rich and personal documentary colored by the Asian American experience. It was a fitting prelude to the feature doc, a heartfelt journey by Doan Hoang who returns to Vietnam in search of a pre-war family history. Many films missed the mark, typical of a local filmmakers exhibition, but nonetheless, that admirable independent spirit was in the air.

A gorgeous and smart film by Daniel Garcia and Rania Attieh,  Almost, Brooklyn, gives us an old man doing just what audiences did, crossing the bridge. “I’ve lived in Manhattan all my life, and I’ve never been to Brooklyn. Take me there,” says the old man, armed with an 8mm camera, to the South Asian cabbie. The film, a pet project of the living legend and Iranian new-waver Abbas Kiarostami, ushers the audience through a surreal and very telling sojourn in the magical borough.

Another shining star was the world premier of Jasper Goldman and Loren Talbot’s documentary, City of Water, which reminded New Yorkers that although they are surrounded by waterfront, it’s sadly very hard to actually make physical contact with it. It was inspiring and said much about how effective community initiatives can be. Cheers to this magical borough, and the Brooklyn Arts Council that keeps its creative spirit alive.

For more information about the film festival, please visit: http://www.brooklynartscouncil.org/documents/771

by Michael Prall, FilmClick Staff, mprall@filmclick.com

Be Film The Underground Film Festival
4.28.08-5.3.08
New York

The quietest fest around town these days is definitely Be Film The Underground Film Festival. Screenings for the week-long festival took place in Midtown’s Dolby Screening Room and the Park Avenue Screening Room, two very intimate Manhattan settings that didn’t provide for a lot of riotous action. The films largely spoke for themselves, though. International award winners abounded, especially in the animation category. “We only show shorts” and “Shorts = better” are the fest’s mottos . Not true in my opinion, but certainly not a serious drawback for those of us who’d already attended three festivals over the course of the week and still planned to try and catch Hou Hsiao Hsien’s Flight of the Red Balloon at some point.

Pravda provided a nice free bar but unfortunately, there was no coffee to be had. Midtown’s not great for finding a fast and cheap cup of joe. Be Film takes its shorts very seriously, and actually held an entire program of “viral videos”. Those ubiquitous inbox denizens that humor and amaze you when the cubicle walls start closing in.

Apparently I had attended “sexy night” or so they told me, considering the program’s films all centered around sex. After both halves were over, I assumed it was a loose interpretation of theme, considering the variety of material covered. I was especially impressed by the diversity of films, in particular an Israeli short called Pralines, a French one called My 13, and a CG3D called Berni’s Doll, which took home Be Film’s Best Animation award. There were also an influx of Scandinavian films this year, and many received awards.

Sponsors provided many of the awards, which included an editing class at Manhattan Edit Workshop, a case of champagne from the Pravda company, and roundtrip JetBlue tickets. Upon leaving the festival, as if I wasn’t drunk enough on film as it was, there was a parting gift of Pravda vodka and two tasting glasses. Now, with all these festivals to catch up with, how do they expect me to find a date?

For dates and showtimes, visit: http://www.befilm.net

by Michael Prall, FilmClick Staff, mprall@filmclick.com

East Bay Express 24 Hour Digital Film Festival
April 22, 2008
Berkeley, CA

Growing in popularity, “Iron Chef” style film competitions are springing up in major cities on a regular basis. The competitions usually involve a basic theme and/or common props that must be incorporated into the finished film and submitted under a tight deadline. The frenetic pace and common goal leads to a very fun, lively, yet stressful shoot. Perfect for friends to enjoy together. Local newspaper East Bay Express held one this weekend to commemorate Earth Day.

For the Earth Day theme, the filmmaking teams had to follow the general guidelines: 1. Film must be set in a dystopian future; 2. Five of the following items must be used: a vial, a picture of Bush, a gauze, a particle respirator, army men, a candle, and/or a VHS tape; 3. A line of dialogue from various films; and 4. An East Bay Express news rack.

Some teams incorporated the items into the plot of their films, while others used it as background. The ones that used the objects the best were those that incorporated it into the plot without making it the centerpiece. The films I liked most would standout on their own, seen separately from the context of the film fest.

Tone is also very important. Some films go for camp, some go for a more art house look, while others try to create more of a narrative. I’m a big fan of camp for these, as random, non-sequitur humor lends itself well to conditions like these.

Team The Collective’s How to Survive Climate Change, a send-up on old government public alert type films from the Nuclear Era scare, won the top prize and was an easy choice. It had a camp, but not overly camp tone with some well composed shots.

Team The Scruff’s Earthday 2012, a short involving dolls, took second. This probably had the darkest tone out of all the films shown; yet seeing it acted with puppets really lightened it. Having a spaceship also helped, and who can resist a film with spaceships and dolls anyway?

Team Smarmy Pedantic’s Earthday, took third. This was one of the most camp entries, involving three people in an enclosed area, lots of jump cuts to dialogue to keep it moving along, and was largely dialogue driven. I’m not sure how much was improv, but it feels like a fair bit.

Two films that didn’t get awards that I enjoyed were The Contingency Plan and a film that didn’t make it in on time but was shown anyway. The Contingency Plan created a drama with the most artistic shots and had the highest production value. The late film was the campiest entry, and received the best reaction from the audience.

In the end, these types of competitions are great at generating a creative atmosphere and a sense of fun. You can tell that the crews had a great time making these films. Watching these, you can’t help but think of the type of film you would make under similar conditions. I highly encourage anyone interested in film to enter these competitions.

By Courtney Sid, FilmClick Staff, csid@filmclick.com

Philadelphia Film Festival
4.03.08 – 4.15.08
Philadelphia, PA

The City of Brotherly Love became a cinephile’s utopia when the Philadelphia Film Society presented more than 149 films over 13 days at the 17th annual Philadelphia Film Festival. Spread across 6 different venues throughout the Old City Cultural District, the festival had the lovely Philly streets abuzz with eager filmgoers seeking the best in independent and international film. While boasting quite the impressive lineup, one standout among this year’s cream of the cinematic crop had to be Rodger Grossman’s What We Do Is Secret.

Making his directorial debut with this film, Grossman masterfully chronicles the tumultuous rise and fall of LA punk rock icon Darby Crash and his band, The Germs. Weaving together poignant interviews, live performance sequences, and just the right amount of humor to cut through the darkness, Grossman crafts a captivating biopic that allows its star, Shane West, to shine in electrifying brilliance as the troubled Crash. So impressive is West’s performance, the Philadelphia Film Society in fact recognized him with its Rising Star Award for the festival. Both West and Grossman were present at the well-attended screening, where they fielded questions from the appropriately punk-attired, enthusiastic, and absolutely riveted audience.

by Meghan Chandler, FilmClick Staff, mchandler@filmclick.com

San Francisco Women’s Film Festival
4.09.08 – 4.13.08
San Francisco, CA

I was able to attend two of the days for the SF Women’s Film Festival. They had different themes and venues for each of their showings. Their Berkeley show appropriately had documentaries and was about activism. They also had programs aimed at children, LGBT, experimental work, and suspense. The shows took place all around the Bay Area, making it fairly accessible for anyone living in the area.

Reception (4.10.08)
The reception for the film fest was held at the Varnish Fine Art Gallery in SF, which was an intimate venue. Audience was mostly female, but the films shown weren’t the stereotyped “chick flicks.” They were interesting films produced by women and mostly about female subjects. A technical difficulty didn’t let one of the films finish just before its climax, but other than that, the reception and films made for a laid back night.

What I enjoyed the most was that three of the following films were about subjects I didn’t know much about, so it really gave me insight into another way of life. I thought the programming was well done for exposing viewers to these subjects.

Women + Art = Revolution
An interesting piece that covered the Feminist Art Movement. Not knowing much about this subject, it was interesting to hear about what it was like for women who were trying to make it as artists. The female artists who wore gorilla masks to bring more awareness to their cause and not their identities were definitely intriguing, and I’d like to learn more about it. This was still a work in progress, but I would definitely like to see the end product.

See What I’m Saying: The Deaf Entertainers Documentary
This documentary has the most potential, since it was able to focus on four subjects, each of which probably could’ve been the focal point on their own. Characters included: a pop singer, a Julliard acting teacher, an actor/comedian, and a rock band. You would imagine that being deaf would hinder their success in these fields, since a large part of performance is interacting with the audience. However, they all overcame these stereotypes in their own way. This documentary was also a work in progress.

Exposing Homelessness
This was the showcase piece of the night that focused on three female photographers who all used to be homeless. The film went into their background a bit, but focused more on one of the photographers, whose history was interesting, but left the other two photographers’ stories somewhat uneven. I liked it but it feels like there was more to the story than was told about the situations that lead to the other two women being homeless.

Children’s Animation (4.12.08)
This was held at the Variety Screening Room, which was a more appropriate film venue. This event was co-sponsored by the SF Children’s Film Festival. I saw some of their works at Wondercon a few months back. The films they showed at this event were animations made for children, but could appeal to anyone. They made me nostalgic for old PBS cartoons.

Seventeen films were shown in all, ranging from one to thirteen minutes in length. All were produced by women. Nothing seemed to drag, so the pace of the presentations flowed. Audience consisted mostly of children and their families, but like their other show, it doesn’t cater directly to one specific audience. Adults enjoyed the films and animations just as much as the kids did.

I felt the films The Girl Who Hated Books, Zoo Logic, and Hold the Mustard were something pulled directly from my childhood. Many of these films could probably be adapted to children books.

There was a short QA with the filmmakers of Bubbleman, Tubby the Yellow Sub, and When You Dream held afterwards where they spoke about what went into the making of their films.

by Courtney Sid, FilmClick Staff, csid@filmclick.com