PDX Film Fest 2007: April 2007 Archives
Also viewed by this guy yesterday was the film "Growing Awareness" by Jade Ajani. This is the film you need to show to all of your friends and relatives whose eating habits might be questionable. It is a thorough examination of the evolution of Organic Farming in our region (although the concepts are universal).
By speaking to a wide variety of sources involved in Organic Farming, a story emerges of how small farmers, abandoned by banks who would no longer loan them money for operating costs (money which was always repaid), turn to a business model called Community Supported Agriculture.
From the festival program: "[In the CSA model] consumers buy shares of a local farm's harvest, receiving a weekly supply of fresh food throughout the season."
Essentially, local consumers replace the role of the bank by loaning the farmer enough money to operate the farm. Then they get their money back in the form of delicious food.
The film makes a strong case for CSA farms, citing their sustainability, the incredible quality of the organics they produce, the reduction of petroleum use due to local distribution and other factors, and, one might argue most importantly, the strengthening effect that such a model has on communities.
In regards to the quality of the produce, Ajani makes this more than evident with his beautiful cinematography. The rich, vivid colors of the vegetables speak to your stomach, while the thoughtful commentary addresses your reason. I believe this film was shot on video, but the quality is very close to celluloid.
Ajani keeps the musical scoring to a minimum, which I greatly appreciate. The moments when he does allow some music to come through are appropriate and well done.
One aspect of this film that makes it an appropriate pick for a "Documentary AND eXperimental Film Festival" is the repeated shots of large, industrial fields taken from a moving car. These shots are so hypnotic and fascinating in their stroboscopic nature that they could be extracted from the film and made into an award-winning experimental film in their own right.
Ajani's loose style of storytelling delivers many individual characters' experiences to us, while still making them adhere to a central, united narrative (the struggle and evolution of small organic farms). K Records' Calvin Johnson makes a brief cameo appearance that garners lots of laughs from the audience.
My only criticisms of this film are that it feels as though it could made a little tighter. The running time is currently 90 minutes, and that could be brought down to around 70-80 minutes without sacrificing much. Also, there is a derisive comment made about George W. Bush that seemed unnecessary. Republicans have a right to eat healthy and local too, even if some of us might disagree with...everything else they do?
This issues addressed in this film are extremely important to our society and it's hard to imagine someone else doing a better job at bringing them to the screen. See this film if you can, but more importantly, find a CSA farm in your area!
I'm going to finish blogging about today's films tomorrow morning, so here are some pics in the meantime:
The Face of the Fest
Full house for the Invitational
Lunchfilms is a series of films commissioned by Mike Plante. The concept behind the series is that Plante would buy a filmmaker lunch and then that debt would be repaid with a film for the same cost. A few rules were also agreed upon at each of the lunches, but judging from the results, they were not strictly adhered to.
I'm just going to cover my favorites from the bunch.
Bill Daniel's film was a trailer for a project that I hope he is really working on. It looked like he had discovered some kind of clan of nomadic van people and gained their trust. Their modified vans looked like what the more chilled out folks will have in the Mad Max future.
The rules for Cam Archer's film included "no irony," which I assume was meant to be ironic. Cam conducts a pseudo-academic interview of himself over some experimental footage. Both the questions and answers were hilarious. This was my favorite film of the series.
Ben Coonley is right. We do need to remember how funny cats are in these dark times.
The Zellner Brothers film "Pardon My Downfall" was like Hillbilly Noh Theatre. It was very beautiful and mesmerizing.
"Diamond Dave" by Elizabeth Skadden offered an interesting look into the lifestyle of a 50s recording star who lives in Hollywood on a property that includes a decaying movie set. Dave had the hustler's spirit and did a lot of name dropping, but in a very entertaining way.
I feel like I'm using the wrong verb tense in this post, but I'm very tired and I don't want to correct everything, so hopefully no one will notice.
The last of my favorites was "When the World's On Fire" by James Clauer. This experimental documentary, set in Tennessee, reminded me a lot of my home state of South Carolina. That being the case, I was very impressed by what Clauer did with that setting. He made the deep rural South feel very fresh to me, presenting it in a way I have never seen it before by using some intense psychedelic editing. This film also reminded me a bit of "Gummo," with its focus the weird events in a low-income community.
I wouldn't call this project a total success. Some of the films were unimpressive. However, there were some exceptional films in the bunch that might never have been made without this project. Seeing as how the whole series cost Plante $622.71 in lunches (plus tip) it seems like it was a worthwhile investment.
Hey youse guys! dalas here, checking in from PDXFF. I actually just watched three programs, but I didn't get to log on to the NET until now, so I will work on posting my reactions.
The first program of the day was "Friends & Neighbors," which was a showcase of experimental short films by folks from round these parts. I'll cut right to the chase and give you brief impressions of the films.
The first film was "Ring! Ring!" by Arman Bohn. In this film, a series of mysterious packages arrive on the doorstep of a musical composer. There was a very Lynchian tone to this film. Sort of an air of strange suspense. Also, watching Lost has gotten me in the habit of spotting books. The protagonist in this film was reading one called The Mysterious Island, and the chapter he was reading was "The Abandoned." LOST IS EVERYWHERE!
Up next was the first of Mack McFarland's "Kinetoscopes for the 21st Century." All of the films from this series were very entertaining. In the first one, the audience is squashed like an ant (from the ant's POV). Another features a very absurd puppet show of sorts. The one with the feather almost gave me an acid flashback. You can watch them yourself at kinetocast.com
We then watched "October of This Year," by Rob Tyler, which documented the Portland ice storm of 2003. I was not in Portland for this event, but it looks like there were some serious amounts of solidified water. This film had a very interesting aesthetic to it. I couldn't tell if it originated on on film or if it was video treated to look like film. All in all, it just reminded me of all the ice bergs melting. BUMMER.
"Invitation," by Morgan Currie was next. A very somber and meditative documentary about the impact of Hurricane Katrina. The opening shots of people working in the rubble gave me the strong impression of a wounded animal dragging itself back to its den to recuperate. Currie found some very interesting survivors to interview and their perspective was enthralling. I thought this film had the quality of a good Maysles documentary.
"Isi," by Chris Larson felt like a stochastic kaleidoscope of organic imagery. I can't explain it much beyond that.
Gordon Nickel's "Conquest Blues" lightened the mood a bit and was very well edited.
I'm hurrying now, because I need to get dinner before the 9pm show.
"Transit," by Melissa Gregory Rue was what we used to call a found footage montage, but maybe we're supposed to call it a "mash-up" now? Maybe not. An interesting spiritual journey nonetheless.
Jesse England got a big laugh with his film "Steve Winwood is Hungry for Breakfast." I've watched it several times before and I still find it funny.
UrHo homie E*Rock screened his music video "I Love Your Music." I Love Your Music Video, Eric. It helps that I really like it when computers sing in music.
"Dear Alphabet" by Marina Budovsky was like a Tool Video + The Residents' film "Vileness Flats" + an Edward Gorey book + Sesame Street. It was beautifully made.
Morgan Hobart's "Soft"? A sepia toned organic memory MICRO BLAST.
Grace Carter and Holly Anders showed their film "Nora," which was inspired by a theatrical project and the movie "Psycho." It felt like they were using a Matthew Barney-style ritual to reclaim the power that Hitchcock attempted to take away from women in his films. The film was very stylish and well produced.
OK, dinner time! I'll try to get my posts up regarding the other two programs I saw today ASAP.
Oh, and hey, there is plenty of room in this theatre, so please come down and watch these films!!
the pdx film fest opening night party takes place at audio cinema. there will be art there too.
Here we are just a few days away from the PDX Film Fest and we're planning to Blog The Shit Out Of It again. Here are a few links to get started:
About the Hollywood Theatre.
A mention in the NY Times
And a short blurb from the press release: The Portland Documentary and eXperimental Film Festival (PDX Film Fest for short) is gearing up for yet another go around, this year taking place April 25-29, 2007 at the historic Hollywood Theatre. Founded and organized by local filmmakers, the festival will showcase provocative, artistic, and firmly uncompromising films from around the globe. The festival is an offshoot of Peripheral Produce, a video distribution label and screening series started by Portland filmmaker Matt McCormick. Since it's inception in 1996, Peripheral Produce has grown from a small, DIY project into an internationally respected venue and outlet for contemporary experimental cinema.
Note: Everything below this entry is from another Blog The Shit Out Of It project.
