Day 3
Monday - its sunny and not windy today (yet). Yesterday I was a little worried when I heard the winds were severe and causing flights delays/cancellations. However I understand that this part and parcel of life for a Chicago resident. It can become windy here not unlike Wellington (NZ) but there is a bite in the air. I haven't had time to venture out to look at the Lakes yet and hope to find time early one morning to do so.
It's been interesting so far. What is clearly evident is that there is a real opportunity for multi-platform marketing as a means to promote a film. Yesterday, Greg and Mathew were inundated by requests for the soundtrack to their movie, people were buying chinlone balls from Greg and asking about websites, blogs, information about chinlone etc (ie. community gathering). It was great watching audience members of various shapes and ages play with the ball after the film. The same occured with Les's tea film. Les is a self distributor and tireless at that. He brought his own films and merchadise to sell which were snapped up by eager audiences. People are eager and very embracing of the film-makers and their films.
It has also been good to sit with Gunny and talk to him about the EBS International Documentary Film Festival and KBi's mandate. He travels extensively for his festival and has a keen eye for the films. Film-makers have also been very open about sharing their views on the various films in a constructive manner and this helps to build the CIDF community.
Children of Darfur This tells the children's version of what is happening in Darfur. Heart rending account of the pain and struggles faced by these children made vivid and urgent by the strongest testimonies told by the children and etched in drawings made in the support centres that have opened throughout Darfur
On a Tight Rope Agile orphans from the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang Province, China, learn how to walk and od tricks on a tight rope from two very different teachers. Largely focused on the personalities and stories of its cute half-pint protagonists, the film also is layered with comments about freedom of the media, child poverty and religious persecution by the Chinese government. A stellar soundtarck. *****
Crazy Sexy Cancer Young adults with cancer are not usually spoken about and have been in the media. That is all going to change if film-maker Kristin Carr has anything to do with it. Kristin is an irrepressible young actress, diagnosed with a rare form of incurable cancer, who refuses to wait for ther cancer to kick in. She sets out on a video journal to challenge it and search for new treatment options. In an uplifting documentary, Kristin finds that her "death sentence" forced her to live her life to the fullest. Its a happy upbeat positive film about Cancer. *****
Souvenirs This is a wonderful and funny film about a film-maker who agrees to go on a trip with his father and make a film about the Israeli Brigade, a little known Israeli platoon of soldiers that served in the Wolrd War II with various Allied Forces. Shahar Cohen learns from his father, Sleiman that many Israeli soliders left "souvenirs" behind - affairs with local women that result in illegitimate progeny. Fascinated by this disc losure, Cohen probes his father a little deeper and discovers that his father had a couple of affairs in The Netherlands. During the trip, Cohen's curiosity about his father's other life and the possibility of having half siblings prompts him to appoint a private investigator to track down these women. The journey provides a wonderful study of the funny and touching relationship between the father and son. *****
Have You Seen Andy? On Saturday, August 21, 1976, Melanie Perkins's childhood friend Andy Puglisi disappeared from a public swimming pool in South Lawrence. A police investigation failed to find him or the reason for his disappearance. The case remains unsolved, but Melanie has never forgotten. 23 years later, she decided to search for answers and documents her journey. Picked up by HBO, Melanie's investigations raises sufficient questions to cause authorities to revisit their investigations and open the case again. Her enquiries lead her to a convicted paedophile due to be considered for parole release. Well-researched and crafted, you can feel Melanie's ache and pain as she races to find answers to the questions left unaswered for so long about her friend's disappearance. *****
Tomorrow is going to be a great day for films again so come back for more news then.
It's been interesting so far. What is clearly evident is that there is a real opportunity for multi-platform marketing as a means to promote a film. Yesterday, Greg and Mathew were inundated by requests for the soundtrack to their movie, people were buying chinlone balls from Greg and asking about websites, blogs, information about chinlone etc (ie. community gathering). It was great watching audience members of various shapes and ages play with the ball after the film. The same occured with Les's tea film. Les is a self distributor and tireless at that. He brought his own films and merchadise to sell which were snapped up by eager audiences. People are eager and very embracing of the film-makers and their films.
It has also been good to sit with Gunny and talk to him about the EBS International Documentary Film Festival and KBi's mandate. He travels extensively for his festival and has a keen eye for the films. Film-makers have also been very open about sharing their views on the various films in a constructive manner and this helps to build the CIDF community.
Children of Darfur This tells the children's version of what is happening in Darfur. Heart rending account of the pain and struggles faced by these children made vivid and urgent by the strongest testimonies told by the children and etched in drawings made in the support centres that have opened throughout Darfur
On a Tight Rope Agile orphans from the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang Province, China, learn how to walk and od tricks on a tight rope from two very different teachers. Largely focused on the personalities and stories of its cute half-pint protagonists, the film also is layered with comments about freedom of the media, child poverty and religious persecution by the Chinese government. A stellar soundtarck. *****
Crazy Sexy Cancer Young adults with cancer are not usually spoken about and have been in the media. That is all going to change if film-maker Kristin Carr has anything to do with it. Kristin is an irrepressible young actress, diagnosed with a rare form of incurable cancer, who refuses to wait for ther cancer to kick in. She sets out on a video journal to challenge it and search for new treatment options. In an uplifting documentary, Kristin finds that her "death sentence" forced her to live her life to the fullest. Its a happy upbeat positive film about Cancer. *****
Souvenirs This is a wonderful and funny film about a film-maker who agrees to go on a trip with his father and make a film about the Israeli Brigade, a little known Israeli platoon of soldiers that served in the Wolrd War II with various Allied Forces. Shahar Cohen learns from his father, Sleiman that many Israeli soliders left "souvenirs" behind - affairs with local women that result in illegitimate progeny. Fascinated by this disc losure, Cohen probes his father a little deeper and discovers that his father had a couple of affairs in The Netherlands. During the trip, Cohen's curiosity about his father's other life and the possibility of having half siblings prompts him to appoint a private investigator to track down these women. The journey provides a wonderful study of the funny and touching relationship between the father and son. *****
Have You Seen Andy? On Saturday, August 21, 1976, Melanie Perkins's childhood friend Andy Puglisi disappeared from a public swimming pool in South Lawrence. A police investigation failed to find him or the reason for his disappearance. The case remains unsolved, but Melanie has never forgotten. 23 years later, she decided to search for answers and documents her journey. Picked up by HBO, Melanie's investigations raises sufficient questions to cause authorities to revisit their investigations and open the case again. Her enquiries lead her to a convicted paedophile due to be considered for parole release. Well-researched and crafted, you can feel Melanie's ache and pain as she races to find answers to the questions left unaswered for so long about her friend's disappearance. *****Tomorrow is going to be a great day for films again so come back for more news then.
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