festival hits

You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I'm sure I would have played his mother. That's the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.

Lillian Gish (1893–1993) actor of stage, screen and television

yesterday was the last day of the cleveland international film festival (ciff), today I'm hoping that life will return to normal. I'm not complaining, it was been an amazing week even if I fell behind on everything!

this year I volunteered at the film festival - which afforded me the opportunity to see many more films than I normally do when the film festival comes to town. but, even better than being able to see more films, volunteering at the festival provided me the opportunity to meet all sorts of new, wonderful people and to feel a part of a really special community event.
here's the list of films I saw, where they are from, and, if documentary, the subject of focus - roughly in order seen:

1. sin by silence - documentary, usa, domestic violence; criminal (in) justice system
   
2. generation rx - documentary, usa, the medicalization of childhood
   
3. herb and dorothy - documentary, usa, the love of art
   
4. dancing forest - documentary, uk, togo, france, successful grassroot development in africa
   
5. rooster's breakfast - slovenia
6. bahrtalo! comical documentary from hungary, russia & germany, the 'realities' of life in eastern europe
   
7. forgotten transports: to estonia - documentary from czech republic, incredible story of a group of czech women who survived the camps
   
8. trinidad - documentary, usa, the story of a frontier town which is regarded as the 'sex-change capital of the world'
   
9. between the folds - documentary, usa, exploring the artistry of paper folding
10. sing opera! - documentary, usa, showcasing an opera which stars 65 children
    
11. tricks - poland
12. war child - documentary, usa (primarily set in sudan), the incredible story of emmanuel jal and a story of the transformative nature of music
    
13. various independent shorts - from a number of countries
14. a place to live: the story of triangle square - documentary, usa, the story of the nation's first affordable, multicultural glbt housing development
    
15. a deal is a deal - united kingdom
16. chef's special - spain
17. the way we get by - documentary, usa, the lives of a group of seniors in bangor maine who have dedicated their lives to greeting us troops returning from war zones
    
18. of parents and children - czech republic
19. blind loves - documentary from slovakia, the lives of a group of blind people looking for love and happiness
    

fortunately none of the films I saw were losers, not surprising since film festivals try to showcase films that are at the cutting edge of the art form and give small films the start they need to contend with the overwhelming dominance of mainstream hollywood movies.

there were a number of films I wish I had seen, but hopefully they will be available elsewhere in the months ahead. in the past, I've been fortunate to find the cleveland public library will often have copies of films that I regretfully missed at the ciff. of course, there is cedar-lee theater and cinematheque which always bring independent films to town.

this year's film festival broke all sorts of attendance records and by the quality of the films I saw this year probably also broke some other sort of record too.

okay, time to start that process of returning to a non-celluloid life!

photos: top: a view of terminal tower from inside the tower city mall where the 33rd cleveland film festival was held; the producer, director, one of the women featured, and local community sponsor of the powerful and must see documentary sin by silence. I have made a commitment that when the film is released on dvd to buy at least one copy to contribute to the local high school. I hope the film airs on pbs, it is perhaps one of the most effective and powerful stories I've seen focused on the crisis of domestic violence. march 2009

oh by the way, for all you trivia freaks out there, did you know that today is the 45th anniversary of jeopardy! created by game show maven (and entertainer) merv griffin the original jeopardy! first aired on march 30 1964. by the way, current host alex trebek has been hosting the show since 1984 - not a bad gig. I confess, I'm a jeopardy! junkie; although I love playing along with the show, there is no way I would try out - it would inevitably be a case of this if I did.

the song gua by emmanuel jal - telling part of the story of war child