Day 4

Hotel Seneca - the official festival hotel

Bahai Temple

It was a hot humid day. I had to stop wearing my thick jacket as it turned out to be a shirt and jeans day for most people. I ventured into the underground and tried buses also today. The day as less hurried as I have seen the early films already in the neighbourhoods I can easily get to. But late afternoon, the weather changed - and very dramatically. This evening, one of the CIDF volunteers, Raoul, took me, Greg and Bill Wolbach to Wilmette Theatre where Bill's film, Row Hard No Excuses played. We drove past the lakes, Loyola University, North Western University and through the most amazing nehgbourhoods with houses that totally took my breath aware. We also past by the Bahai Temple which was amazing. And Wilmette Theatre was a cute neighbourhood theatre in a swanky suburb. I found that here, popcorn has topping sprinkles like onion & garlic, jalepeno, cheddar etc.

Brrr....after the screening, its gone freezing. Snow flutters are expected. I didn't get dinner so I walked to the neighbourhood deli to get a sub but man, it was so cold.

Love the central heating in the USA. Anyway onto today's films:

Hothouse A chilling and humanizing film about Israeli prisons have become the breeding ground for the next generation of Palestinian leaders as well as the birth place of future terrorist threats.The Israeli government sees the prisoners as being no more than "security prisoners," suicide bombers and terrorists, but the 10,000 Palestinian prisoners themselves believe that they are freedom fighters and resisters in a land under military occupation. The jails serve as prisoner-organized training grounds where cellblocks are divided into Hamas and Fatah communities, and jailed leaders inspire men and women to study, hone their political skills and organize resistance from inside. The extraordinarily frank and sometimes shocking conversations with jailed Hamas and Fatah leaders-including the Hamas leader of the West Bank who is elected to Parliament from his prison cell, a woman proud and unflinching of the number of children killed in a suicide bombing that she arranged and a man who dreams of marrying, having kids and then sending his wife and kids out as suicide bombers as being the ultimate sacrifice he can make in the name of religion. *****

The Wise Cat Catches the Mice This gorgeous and lyrical film takes you into rural China that shows - through beautiful cinemtography, wonderful music and snatches of conversations with the peasanst and villagers and causes you to consider the impact of the so-called "new economic miracle". A film that does not require much of the spoken word to convey the story. *****



Row Hard No Excuses John Zeigler and Tom Mailhot are not satisfied with their lives. They feel that they still have something they need to achieve, something to make their fathers and families proud of them. Instead of a simple goal, they decide they want to win the Atlantic Rowing Challenge, a three thousand mile race across the Atlantic in a rowboat. They are among the oldest competitors and spend three years (and personal savings) to make their dream of winning possible, but once on the water, their boat and their bodies are subjected the extremes they hadn't even considered. It is both an inherently exciting sports and adventure story as well as an intimate portrait of the two-man crew and a deeper exploration of their personal quest. Father and son, Bill and Luke Wolbach, have made an absorbing and satisfying film even for those of us who are not sports or rowing fans. *****