After I wrote my last blog-entry I hoped to post a few more spontaneous impressions live and direct from the festival, but later this weekend I was not able to get an open wifi-signal anymore. There are times a cell-phone could really come in handy, but if I think about it: there hardly was any time left to play with laptops or write reviews anyway. We even could not find much time for lunches or dinners. The weekend is always short. The selection of interesting films is huge. And to see them on the big screen is often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. How could we waste the precious film-time by sitting in the sun and writing blogs?
This year was the Maryland Film Festival’s 10th anniversary. It opened on the night of Thursday, May 1, 2008 with a short film program presented at the MICA, the Maryland Institute College of Art, followed by an opening night party with food & drinks in the lobby.
Six short films were presented by the director of the Maryland Film Festival Jed Dietz and the famous Barry Levinson. Below and also in my following articles I am going to share a few words about the films we have seen last weekend. As usual, my reviews and ratings are nothing but a personal journal to capture my impressions and does not claim to be of any academic or journalistic relevance or value.
Rating Legend:
- 10: perfection, bliss, essential, top-of-all-times, life-changing
- 9: superb, excellent, can-watch-over-and-over-again
- 8: great, impressive
- 7: very good
- 6: good, above-average
- 5: average, okay
- 4: below-average
- 3: poor, wanted to leave, but watched the whole thing once…
- 2: dreadful, awful, “let-me-out”, had to leave early before it was over
- 1: abysmal, should be destroyed or locked away forever
Gnatural Wonders
Directed by Bennett Battaile
The trained gnats at the Gnat Training Research Lab show us what they are capable of in this 3-D short. (from the filmfest-guide)
Not much more to add really. This humorous piece was only 1.5 minutes short and featured a beautiful gnat-animation in 3-D. When the filmmaker introduced this film he said it took him longer to get up to the stage than the film would run…haha.
Doxology
Directed by Michael Langan
This humorously allegorical animation explores the relationship between the terrestrial and the celestial via singing tennis balls. (from the filmfest-guide)
I loved this film! It was one of my favorite shorts this year. It was extraordinary, brilliant, surreal, and incredibly funny. I would love to see it again sometime.
My Olympic Summer
Directed by Daniel Robin
Against the backdrop of his own failed marriage, the director re-examines old 8mm films of his parents as seemingly blissful newlyweds, while revisiting the international drama of the 1972 Olympic Games that gave their marriage a new beginning. (from the filmfest-guide)
This film moved and convinced me to be very personal family-historic document, but although he used actual family footage and contained some real-life facts, the story itself was in fact mostly fictional. It is fascinating how the filmmaker re-constructed and transformed authentic material and evidence of an era into a new, convincing, vulnerable truth. Very well done.
Salim Baba
Directed by Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
Salim Baba is a portrait of a man in Kolkata, India, who has devoted his life to screening films for the poor children in his neighborhood using a rickety Lumiere rear-projector, and an even more rickety portable theatre. This Oscar-nominated short examines the power of cinema in unexpected places. (from the filmfest-guide)
The power of cinema in unexpected places. And how unexpected this place and environment was. This film documents the dream of cinema and the love for it, transcending all limitations and difficulties you may have to face. It was not only fascinating to see him how he continues this old family tradition, maintains the equipment and keeps the projector and portable theatre working. I was especially impressed by his creativity and inventiveness to get the most out of the circumstances and with the little means available to him. It’s such a natural and almost innocent way to approach challenges, one that seems forgotten in our modern high-tech society: a true lesson can be learned from this. Not only the subject was very interesting, the way his story was presented was very beautiful, too.
Help is Coming
Directed by Ben Mor
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, three youths survey the desolate wasteland only to find a suspicious-looking package. (from the filmfest-guide)
This film was almost as disturbing as an Aphex Twin video, no: even more disturbing because the story is true and the masks are even scarier. Very good – the administration can’t be addressed too often.
Politics of Preschool
Directed by Heidi Van Lier
A preschool girl attempts to gain social status and happiness through a materialistic strategy, only to find she’s been trumped. She sets out to destroy the competition by any means necessary. (from the filmfest-guide)
This film was very funny, very intelligent, but with so much truth, politics and social status it was a little disturbing, too. :-) I enjoyed this film.
