This year I got a chance to see four films prior to the festival start. I loved two I was eh on two, but I'm planning on going to Astoria and seeing some more.
The festival runs from Friday through the end of the month so there is plenty of time to catch something.
For more information and tickets go here.
I'M THE PEOPLE
Anna Roussillon's portrait of a family in rural Egypt over the three years of the Arab Spring. We watch as Farraj Abdelwahid and his family try to scrape by on their farm and ponder events far away that they aren't sure are going to have any effect on them.
Moving documentary probably says a hell of a lot more about people and revolution than all the other documentaries on the events in Cairo simply because the film focuses on the average person over a longer period of time. If you want to know what revolution means to the guys outside the city this is the film for you.
Actually if you just want a really good portrait of a family over time this is a film for you
The film plays the 9th
PIECES AND LOVE ALL TO HELL
This companion to RIP IN PIECES AMERICA this is collection of rants of You Tube videos that were removed as inappropriate. Its a collection of paranoid rants by women (the earlier film focused on men)
How you react to this is going to depend upon how much of the rants you can take. I was worn down rather quickly and ended up walking away from the computer screen I was watching the screener on and just letting it play in the background. Yea its important to know that this much rage and anger is out there but it's a tough slog even at an hour.
This plays with OF THE NORTH on the 10th.
OF THE NORTH
A collection of video images recorded by people in the arctic showing what life is like.
Kind of like watching someone's home movies for 75 minutes with an occasional music track over it. Some of this is really good, some of it it is why did the bother and I was left wondering if ths wouldn't have been better as You Tube clips I could bounce between at my own pace.
This plays with PIECES OF LOVE ALL TO HELL on the 10th
PAWEL AND WAWEL
Strangely hypnotic documentary/essay/experimental film is a record of the filmmaker's trip to Iceland. Static camera shots record people in bars, restaurants and fields, or shots out a window a trip some where.
Decidedly not for all tastes this film this film is the sort of thing that you can fall into and go somewhere else mentally as you try and join everything up. Think of this as a documentary mashed up with performance piece.
Highly recommended for the adventurous if you can see this on the big screen.
This film plays on the 22nd.
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