Film Festival Picks for 2010

[bcholmes]

Over the last few days, I've been running around going downtown to the film festival box office to jump through the hoops that are necessary in order to get advance tix. I'm not a fan of the process that they've set up; there's nothing that couldn't be done better with a good web app. But, anyway.

Friday the 10th, 9:15PM: Marimbas From Hell. This is the film I'm most "meh" about. It's a second-choice, and it happens to be the second choice of a film I really, really wanted (The Places In Between, a film about hybrid identity, and being from two worlds. Topics I can never get enough of).

Don Alfonso loses his job playing the marimba, an indigenous, traditional Guatemalan instrument, at a hotel in Guatemala City. The marimba is considered old fashioned and there is little interest in hearing this type of music. He approaches musician Blacko and proposes that they fuse the sound of the marimba with heavy metal.

Sunday the 12th, 9:15AM: Windfall. Don't know what I'll make of this documentary which appears to be a cautionary tale of believing too much in wind power. I guess I'll find out.

After wind turbines are proposed for installation in upstate New York, the community’s excitement turns to suspicion over what the project entails. This eye-opening story exposes the dark side of wind energy development and the potential for financial scams.

Sunday the 12th, 2:45PM: How To Start Your Own Country. I think that micro-nations are interesting.

Shapiro's documentary about micro-nations, tiny countries seldom recognized by the outside world, mixes comedy and compassion with a serious analysis of the concept of statehood and citizenship.

Sunday the 12th, 9:45PM: Tears of Gaza. Oddly, I hadn't really noticed this film as I was going through my first picks. It was only while I was choosing second-choice films that I came across it, and sorta regretted having already written down my first choice picks. As it turns out, in one timeslot I received neither my first-choice nor second-choice pick and was left with a voucher. So I found a showing of this film that fit on my schedule, and after many line ups later, I got to exchange my voucher for a ticket.

A powerful and emotionally devastating record of the impact the 2008-2009 bombings of Gaza had on the civilian population.

As might be apparent, Sunday the 12th is gonna be a busy day for me.

Monday the 13th, 8:45 PM: Autumn. There are so many good Indian films that come to the festival, I usually find at least one Indian film that I want to see.

Shot in striking, widescreen images in India's Kashmir region, Bashir's debut tells the story of Rafiq, a young man struggling to come to terms with the loss of his older brother, who has disappeared in the ongoing border conflict.

Tuesday the 14th, 6:00PM: As If I Am Not There. A nice, cheery "horrors of war" story. It's interesting that if I'm presented with a choice between a happy film and a dark film, I usually default to the assumption that the darker film will be more interesting.

As If I Am Not There relates one woman’s experience of the horrors that took place at the beginning of the Bosnian War. Disturbing and powerful, the film is an important testament to the survivors of the atrocities in the former Yugoslavia.

Thursday the 16th, 9:15PM: Outbound. Sounds interesting. No idea if I'll like it or not.

Matilda, a feisty woman-child with a sordid past, is out on prison leave. Are twenty-four hours enough to make up for her mistakes and skip out of the country in time for a brand new life?

A lot of the films I choose fall into a few categories: documentaries, films made outside of Canada/USA, or very political films. I think this film got on my radar because it was Romanian.

Saturday the 18th, 9:30AM: Pink Saris. The description sounded interesting.

Acclaimed director Kim Longinotto is often drawn to tough women. Now she follows Sampat Pal Devi, the leader of the “Pink Gang,” who brings her own brand of justice to the streets of Uttar Pradesh, India, combating violence against women.

Sunday the 19th, 12:15PM: I am Slave. In retrospect, I'm less certain that this film was a good choice. I suspect that it'll be lurid and manipulative, whereas when I chose it, I was hoping that it'd have an interesting analysis of the underground slave trade.

From the award winning team behind Death of a President and The Last King of Scotland, and inspired by real life events, I Am Slave is a controversial thriller about London’s shocking slave trade, and one woman’s fight for freedom.

Sunday the 19th, 6:00PM: Screaming Man. Another cheery "horrors of war" film. The premise sounds a bit like Hotel Rwanda, but we'll see.

One of Africa's preeminent film artists, Haroun returns to themes of family and loyalty in war-torn Chad. A father and son work together at the pool of five-star hotel, but the civil war forces life-and-death choices upon them.

So that's my list. Every time I went down the list, the title, Film Socialism kept jumping out at me. And I probably would have considered it except that it's a film by Jean-Luc Godard whose films I hate hate hate hate hate.