bleary-eyed full-frame wrap-up

this weekend i immersed myself in the full frame documentary film festival. it's been several years since i attended, but with press pass in hand i decided to see as much as i could this year. charlotte also had a pass that got her into all the screenings, so we saw a lot of films together.

the festival started thursday night. after divaville i headed over to the theatre to pick up my press credentials and figure out how everything worked. the instructions indicated that i would need to be in the "other passholder" line a half-hour before any screening i wanted to attend, at which time seating cards would be handed out. (how many seating cards were issued depended on the size of the theater, how many individual tickets had been sold to the screening, and how many 'priority passholders' chose to attend that particular film.)

there were six screening venues, and though i knew where they all were it took me a few minutes to figure out where all of the lines were supposed to form. (the line for cinema one at the carolina theatre, for instance, was set up in a conference room in the civic center, while the line for cinema two was right in front of cinema two.) the only screening i wanted to see that night was for alan berliner's new film, "wide awake", and on my way out to the civic center plaza to wait in line for fletcher hall i ran into charlotte and skip. as the show started at 10:30pm, we grabbed a cup of coffee from the coffee truck and proceeded to wait in line.

we had no problem obtaining a seating card (fletcher hall seats over 1,000 and there were only a couple hundred in line) and got really great seats for the show. the film was berliner's study of his own battle with insomnia (great topic for a late-night movie, eh?) and it was incredibly inventive. he used footage from old educational films and such (he had used some from skip's archive) and created a very entertaining, very creative, and very personal film. it went beyond his stuggles with insomnia, and explored how his obsession with sleep affected his whole family. it was one of my favorites from the entire festival.

though i didn't get home until 1am i had hoped to get up early and see another film before going to work. i didn't make it, of course (i've been utterly exhausted since our pledge drive ended over a week ago), and the first thing i managed to see after arriving back in durham after work was a film called "the boy in the bubble". this screening was in the durham arts council, and though that venue only seats about 200 we still didn't have any problem getting in. in hindsight, i now realize the line was so short because the eventual grand prize winning film, "iraq in fragments", was being shown at the same time at the carolina theatre.

anyway, "boy in the bubble" was a very created-for-tv documentary about, well, that boy in the bubble. after seeing alan berliner's documentary the night before, this hour-long film seemed too clean, too edited, too predictable. the subject matter was interesting enough, and the film was good, but it just wasn't anything that pushed the boundaries of filmmaking, in my not-so-educated opinion.

charo and i decided to abandon the second film on the bill at that screening (a film about ALS -- there are only so many films about diseases that you can watch in one day) and headed to the civic center to wait in line for a short film about an outsider artist in brunswick county called "mary's gone wild." we love outsider artists, but charo & i didn't particularly care for this short film. it was about 10 minutes long, which seems like it would have been plenty of time to give a better feeling as to who mary is and why she makes this crazy art, but both charo and i left feeling a little disoriented.

many of these films, by the way, were up for audience awards, and we were asked to vote at each screening. we were handed ballots on the way in and were asked to 'tear through the number' (between one and ten) printed on the ballot which indicated our opinion of the film. i voted every chance i got, but i didn't see charo vote at all.

we skipped out on the second artist film in that screening and headed over to american tobacco to stand in line for "songbirds", a 'musical documentary' about female prisoners in england. first of all, i have to say that i love the american tobacco complex and am really happy that the festival is taking advantage of this newly-renovated area. i think it helps create a good impression of durham for the thousands of out-of-towners who come to this film festival. (a better impression than, say, the decrepit arts council which seems to be falling apart at the seams. or the torn up roads in the center of downtown, which made walking from the theatre to american tobacco pretty difficult.)

ok, back to "songbirds". this was the only film that charo and i disagreed on. the filmmaker interviews these female prisoners about their lives and their crimes and then cuts away to these same ladies performing what is essentially a music video about their lives and crimes. the music was typical overproduced pop (which ranged from hip hop to alt.whatever) and the ladies sang their own songs (though the credits revealed that they had help with the lyrics). i found the style very innovative and enjoyed the musical perspective of these ladies' stories. charo hated the music (passionately) and also didn't like how disjointedly the filmmakers seemed to cut from interview to video and back to interview again. we argued about this film the whole weekend.

i was pooped after this film (also, the seating at the american tobacco screening room was really uncomfortable and it was COLD in there, and i was kinda grumpy about that), but charo had enough energy left to go see "trannyshack". she later told me she really enjoyed that.

the next morning charo and i met up for the screening of "a stranvinsky portrait" (which i had talked up on-air last week) and to see the director, richard leacock, get his career award. i knew this was going to be a jam-packed event (there was a star-laden panel scheduled afterward, which was sure to draw more people) so we got in line almost a full hour before the screening began. it was at this point that we started to muse over whether we'd spent more time in line than actually seeing movies. the good thing about these lines, though, was that everyone was really friendly and i never even pulled out the book i brought to pass the time. also, we were almost constantly running into people we hadn't seen in ages. while waiting in the stravinsky line charo encountered a guy who she had barely known in college, but who recognized her immediately. this don't i recognize you?-thing happened to both of us a couple of times throughout the weekend, and was pretty neat.

so, we got into the screening only to find out that leacock didn't want to show the stravinsky film ("i hate film -- that was the old me. i'm fully digital now. so i want to show something that represents me now.") and instead screened a work-in-progress (the film is called "a musical adventure in siberia") about a long-lost prokofiev symphonic drama that was staged for the first time in siberia several years ago. honestly, i was disappointed not to be seeing the stravinsky film (especially since i'd hyped it on-air!) and thought the prokofiev thing was not very good. in know it was a work-in-progress, but it was difficult to follow and i really don't think leacock had the greatest grasp on digital technology. the audio was overblown in many instances and it just didn't feel right.

still, charo and i decided to see a couple of leacock's short films after the panel concluded. actually, we grabbed some lunch first (chicken souvlaki from george's tent in the plaza) and ate it in line, as the theatre that was showing the shorts only holds 75 people. the first short was called "jazz dance" and OH MY GOD it was so good. it was filmed in 1954 and leacock so brilliantly captured the excitement of a live jazz hall. the musicians, the exuberant dancers... and knowing that he was using giant wind-up cameras loaded with one-minute of film (he got up and spoke about his process before the screening began) really blew my mind. i was grinning through the whole 20 minute film. it was amazing.

charo stayed for the second short ("toby in the tall corn") while i left to go wait in line for doug block's "51 birch street". (charlotte had a baby shower to go to that afternoon, so i was on my own for several hours.) while in line for this screening at the arts council i ran into someone i hadn't seen in a decade and just reveled in the fact that this festival was not only bringing together so many people from all over the country but, in fact, from all over town.

indicentally, there was another film showing at the same time as "51 birch street" that was i was tempted to see. it was called "the refugee all-stars" and it eventually went on to win one of the festival awards. still, i am not AT ALL sorry i chose to see block's film. "51 birch street" was the only film i saw this weekend that moved me to tears. i hope you'll watch the trailer and poke around the site a little. it was such a moving film, and i think it spoke volumes that ross mcelwee was in the front row and albert maysles attended as well. both asked questions of the filmmaker during the Q&A afterward. i gave "51 birch street" a 10 on my ballot as i left. amazing.

i had a half-hour to kill so i grabbed a burger at joe & jo's (where i ran into a filmmaker friend at the bar) before heading back into line to see "the intimacy of strangers" and "john and jane toll-free". i figured that arriving 45 minutes prior to showtime would be plenty, but the line for cinema one was already huge. i found myself in line next to that guy who recognized charlotte from college, and though charlotte was still at the baby shower i hit it off with this guy and his friend and the time passed really quickly. the seating cards were handed out but the three of us were too far back in line to get one. the ticketing manager told us there was only a minutely slim chance we'd be able to get in to this screening and though we were welcome to wait we really shouldn't expect to get in. there was nothing else to go wait in line for, though (all of the other screenings had started an hour prior), so we just decided to stick it out.

the screening was scheduled to begin at 8, and as 8:00 approached they counted the seats and let a few people in. then a few more. finally we were within spitting distance of being at the front of the line and i said, "i have a good feeling. i think we're going to get in." and we did. we missed the entire first film (though it also won an audience award, and i saw it on sunday when it was re-screened), but the three of us managed to even all find seats together for "john and jane." (which i enjoyed, though i expected a more campy look at this crazy scenario america has created by outsourcing our customer service to india scenario. instead it was a pretty poignant study of the kinds of people who take these jobs, hoping to raise themselves out of the poverty that surrounds them by selling pancake molds and other unnecessary stuff to americans.)

charo had returned by the late showing and (after waiting in yet another line) we watched a weird little short called "surveillance 3" by a local filmmaker, and a film called "in the pit" about a giant bridge being built in mexico city. the workers that were building this immense bridge were really fascinating and the filmmaker's captured their unique personalities. i got scared for these guys, dangling hundreds of feet in the air, bending rebar and pouring concrete. there was an amazing aerial shot at the end that showed the phenomenal length of this bridge, and how much more work there was to do. i was so tired by that point, though... i enjoyed "in the pit" a lot but could feel myself nodding off a little towards the end.

ok, so now we're up to sunday. the final day of the festival. and again, both charlotte and i had grand plans to get up in the morning and see an early screening, but we were both plum tired and only managed to meet up at 11am for "wordplay", a documentary about will shortz and the national crossword puzzle championship. honestly, this film was a breath of fresh air for me. it was very funny, featured crossword-loving celebs (jon stewart, bill clinton, ken burns) and did a great job focusing on the average citizens who are crossword fanatics and compete in the annual tournament. i laughed a lot and really enjoyed myself. (i find that i really enjoy word documentaries, like "spellbound" and "word wars".)

when this film let out, the awards ceremony and barbecue are underway in the armory. my press pass allowed me a free lunch, but charo's pass would have required her to pay. we saw the line of people snaking out of the armory and decided instead to go see a little of the durham art walk, which is also coincidentally going on this weekend. we visited one of our favorite photographers who was exhibiting at blue coffee, and then, for some reason, decided to bail on the art walk and go to the mall. i know, that sounds weird. but i think we just needed a change of scenery to get us through the end of this film madness. charo helped me pick out a new pair of jeans (earlier in the day she said the pair i was wearing was too baggy) and new denim jacket (allowing me toss out my old one, the last piece of XL clothing i owned).

we headed back to the theatre to learn which which films had won the awards and strategized about what we wanted to see. we opted for "no umbrella" (an amazing 20-minute film about voting irregularities in cleveland during election day 2004), "the intimacy of strangers" (which i mentioned earlier as having missed while waiting in line for "john and jane" -- it's a very creative film which consists entirely of overheard cell phone conversations) and "iraq in fragments."

i had successfully avoided political documentaries all weekend long (i knew i'd flame out and not be able to make it through the weekend if every since doc i saw was h-e-a-v-y) but i had heard so many great things about this iraq film that both charo and i knew we'd be fools to miss it. and everything we heard was true -- "iraq in fragments" was amazing (and that's why it won the grand jury prize of the festival). it showed iraq in, uh, fragments. the film was in three parts. one focused on a 10 year old boy in baghdad, the second on sadr city and the third on the kurds in the north. amazing filmmaking, very personal. very touching. very scary, actually. (during the sadr section i found myself reacting to the iraqi's violence towards america by thinking to myself, "we are all so fucked.") the footage was exquisite and i feel honored to have felt that proximity to these iraquis through the film.

and that was it. when the credits had finished rolling, we walked into the civic center plaza and both charo and i said "we want more movies!" it was an exhausting weekend, and sure there were some frustrations (over waiting in line, mostly) but we both had an amazing time. in fact, i would like to go back and do it again, and choose entirely different films. it would become a whole new experience. i probably would choose to see the al franken film (he was here for Q&A, too), maybe the new ken burns work-in-progress (he was here, too) and maybe the hip-hop movie. i would have liked to see "air guitar nation" and the dexter romweber doc, and many of the katrina films. there's just too much for one person to do. which, i suppose, is a good thing.

Posted by xta at April 10, 2006 01:59 PM | TrackBack