Was very glad that this film won an award. To sum it up in three words: Music can heal.

Poetry in Motion directed by Ron Mann 1982

A standout section of the film for me was when Charles Bukowski compared writing poetry to taking a beer shit.  Most poetry should be flushed away.  There’s some good poetry out there, but I’ve found myself shying away from most poetry, and most poetry readings.  A lot of it is too pedantic and overwrought.

Bukowski provides the spine of the film with his anti-narrative ranting against poets.  I enjoyed the film on many levels, especially because it covered so many different styles of poetry, featuring a variety of poets.

Ron Mann introduced the film, telling us that he shot over 100 hours of footage.  Anticipating the question of how he chose which poets to include from such a huge library of materiel, he said that some poets wrote great poetry and were poor performers, while others were great performers who wrote horrible poetry.  Using that as a measuring stick, he was able to find a middle ground and create a great film.

I’ve never been a fan of the over the top avant-garde jazz, preferring Coletrane and Davis to some of the other “weirder” musicians.  This film was enjoyable, as it exposed me to music I would never had otherwise heard.

Watch Cecil Taylor Bill Dixon – Imagine the sound on youTube.

Coober: A Desert Speedway Story

The description for the film alludes to a big race that promises a celebration by the community and lots of fun.

The race never really happens, people just talk about how great it is.   I think that is the success of the film.  Promise never realized.  This is a broken town full of tough, proud people, but it’s also a dying town.

I Love Alaska directed by Lernert Engelberts & Sander Plug,  2008

I was talking to one of the BSDFF staff members about this film.  He said he didn’t like it.  I told him that I’m fascinated with communication, and that I loved it.  he said, “Yeah, but there was no communication”.  I agree with him in that there was no communication between user #711391 and her husband, which is why the searches took place, and that if they had communicated better, their relationship may have been better, and the searches may hev been less interesting.

Because the movie was so intimate, it was at times difficult to watch.  User # 711391 is lonely, desperate, paranoid, and not very aware of the world.  The minimalism here is incredible, building a character around user #711391 that is fascinating.  I cannot say enough about how much I enjoyed this movie.

Thankfully, you can watch it online.  Links below.

Official site

Episode 1

Episode2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Episode 13

Jennifer directed by Stewart Copeland, 2008, WINNER Best MiniDoc 2009

Growing up in a family of educators, watching this film for me was great.  What an achievement for Jennifer to have been able to pull off what is probably the most memorable lesson ever in these students’ lives.

An interesting companion piece to the film would be to track down those kids today and get their memories of the day.

Stewart Copeland

Official site (view film)

The Oldest Tree directed by Dale Elrod, 1997

The oldest tree in the world gets cut down by a scientist.  That’s the film.

Beautifully shot, with a “gotcha” that isn’t terribly surprising if you have a cynical view of humanity.  The problem was that Elrod tried too hard to be “poetic” in the film.  The Bristlecone is a fascinating tree and the story of Prometheus (aka WPN-114) is one worth telling.  This film only gets it part right.

Crude Independence directed by Noah Hutton, 2008

Hutton does a good job telling the story of Stanley, ND with an objective eye.  He first introduces us to the town and its people before the oil men show up and change the town forever.  He portrays all sides equally, giving the point of view of the land owners, mineral rights owners, oil workers, company owners, townsfolk, all who have a slightly different take on what’s happening in and to Stanley.

The film, using many long shots of the North Dakota plains, allows the story to seep in and the viewer begin to ask his own questions about oil dependence and consumption in the United States.

Official site

South: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition directed by Frank Hurley 1919

Incredible story about the ill-fated expedition.  The silent film was accompanied by a live performance by the Alloy Orchestra, which made it one of the most amazing film going experiences I’ve ever had.

Goth Cruise directed by Jeanie Finlay, 2008

Not sure what I expected from this film, but I didn’t get it.  More about defining what a goth is than anything, just happened to be set on a cruise ship to frame that definition.  I walked away knowing that goths are professionals, own homes, have families, not groundbreaking stuff.  The film held my attention, though, and I enjoyed it for what it was.

Official site

I Think We’re Alone Now directed by Sean Donnelly 2008

Obsession can sometimes lead to delusion.  Very interesting movie about a couple of very interesting people.

Official site

Mellodrama directed by Dianna Dilworth, 2009

This film could have been amazing.  The problem with “Mellodrama” is that there *was* no drama.  Show me, don’t tell me, and there was a lot of showing going on.

Had the people talking been illustrated with more examples and they talked less, this film may have been stronger.  Not sure how that could be accomplished without some heavy editing.

The Wilma

Originally uploaded by BigSkyDocFF

Thriller in Manilla Directed by Joe Dower, 2008

I was too young to remember the details of these fights when they aired, but remember them being on TV.

I never realized how much of an asshole Ali was, betraying his friend after Frazier supported him for years when he couldn’t box. Ali was the most barbaric poet in the world – rasicst and mean to his friend.

Ali did say, afterwards, that he said some things he shouldn’t have. That doesn’t make up for the damage done to their friendship. A well-told story using interviws and archival footage.

We are Wizards, Directed by Josh Koury, 2008

Never having read the Harry Potter series, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this film. Its main focus was on Wizard Rock, with bands like Harry and the Potters in the forefront of the movement. The film also delved into the Harry Potter boycott, started by a 16 year old girl who ran a fan site on the interwebs that was sent a cease and decist letter by Warner Brothers.

I really enjoyed the film as it took me into a world I’d never experienced before, and erased preconceived notions about what a Harry Potter fan is.

Omen, Directed by Oksana Sokol, 2007

Cinemetography really captured the movement of the art as it is being made. Watching the flow of the paint as it came out of the can, listening to the words of the artist – very inspiring.

Number One With a Bullet, Directed by Jim Dziura, 2008

Well told story about gun violence and its consequences. Anti-gun without being preachy.

Some things I scratched in my notebook as I watched: “Violence begets violence.”

Tupac compared to JFK, Martin Luther King, John Lennon.

“Hip hop doesn’t show this” (from a doctor in a hospital emergency room.)

I’m live blogging the festival as I experience it via Twitter.  Find me there, I’m @marcmoss.

See you in the theatre.

Matt McCormick’s new film, The Subconscious art of Graffiti Removal, makes the argument that the act of removing graffiti, and the end result, is itself art.

“Graffiti Removal is the act of removing tags and graffiti by painting over them and Subconscious Art is a product of artistic merit that was created without conscious artistic intentions.”

So that makes Missoula’s Greyman one of our most prolific street artists, right?

Hit the link for an excerpt from the film, as well as a couple of other short films on the subject.

The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal

Mother Lode Theatre for the premiere of Butte, America

Growing up in a union household in a workingman’s town, I felt a strong bond with Butte, MT the first time I visited it. My father was the union president for the Fraternal Order of Police in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and he did his time working a union job in the rubber shops of Akron at Goodyear and then at Firestone, just as his father had.   My grandfather helped form the first unions in the Akron rubber shops.

I remember listening to my ‘ole man tell stories of the difficult conditions when he was building tires, conditions that the union always fought to improve. And I remember him telling me, that even as union power in America began to decline, that it is because of unions that American workers have many things that we take for granted, like eight hour days and five day work weeks.

Remembering this, I very much looked forward to seeing Pam Roberts’ and Edwin Dobb’s finished documentary film, “Butte America”, which premiered in Butte last Saturday.

Roberts, a Montanan, but not a Buttian, sought to tell a Montana story that had national significance, and she found her story in the dusty hills of Butte.

She knew the challenge ahead of her and recruited Edwin Dobb, a Buttian who wrote the 1996 Harpers article Pennies From Hell: In Montana, the bill for America’s copper comes due. Dobb, who returned to Butte after a 25 year hiatus, was dragged “kicking and screaming” into the project, wary of “entering into such an extreme collaborative process”, being used to working alone as a writer. The time away gave Dobb perspective with which to help craft a compelling film.

The duo formed a good team, creating a movie that spans 120 years of history — the rise and fall of the labor unions in Butte, and, by extension, in America. They capture the “feel” of Butte well, illustrating the ambivalence of a town’s dependency on “The Company” via footage with former miners, old timers who worked underground before they were “turned into truck drivers”, or just quit mining altogether when the pit mines opened, because their spirit was broken, their livelihood stolen from them. They were proud men who did hard work in the mines underground, and they helped to build America.

But the story is more than just a story of workers and a boomtown gone bust. The story is a human one about the bonds that hard work can forge within a community, how hard work can actually become the defining element of a community. Those bonds and that sense of identity can be destroyed when work dries up. In the case of Butte, the work dried up as a result of corporate greed, when finally, mining left the town forever.

More than this, though, is Butte’s story – a story of survival. Montana’s own Pat Williams introduced Roberts and Dobbs, speaking eloquently about Butte and its spirit of survival.  Pat told the story of how he was able to get a job in the mines of Butte taking care of the miner’s tools, noting that it was because of his grandmother’s relationship with a local alderman that he was able to get the job.  The crowd laughed knowingly, and it was that sense of camaraderie among those in attendance that I most enjoyed about the screening.

The theatre was packed – a 1,200 seat building sold out.  Some people were dressed to the nines, and Buttians young and old settled in for an evening of celebration of their town, their history and of themselves.

One difficulty Roberts and Dobbs faced in making the movie was the lack of first-hand accounts available. Many of the people who were alive during Butte’s heyday are dead. Killed in the mines, or by miner’s consumption. Half of the characters in the film have died since the film was made. Those who are still living were in attendance, though, and stood to be recognized, to wild applause.

Roberts gracefully used the live resources available to her to create a beautiful film that blends archive film footage and photographs, donated home movies, and recreations, telling an important story in American history.  The screening was a gripping one.

Now that the film is finished, it will be shown over the next year at various places across the country.  There are talks in the works with PBS for distribution of the film. Roberts and Dobbs will also work to get the film into the hands of students in local communities, along with footage not included in the film, to create learning opportunities for students and encourage them to become more involved in their community through history and community pride.

Pam has been working on the film with co-writer and co-producer Edwin Dobb since its inception in 2000. Along with the following screenings, the film will also be shown nationally on PBS and on Montana public television in the fall of 2009. To view links to the “Butte, America” press kit or to catch a sneak peak of the film

“Butte, America” Screening Schedule:
Mother Lode Theater (Butte) – January 17th @ 8:00 pm
For more information call 406.723.3602

Emerson Theater (Bozeman) – February 6th @ 7:30 pm
Q&A with filmmaker and Butte historian
For more information call 406.587.9797

Myrna Loy Center (Helena) – February 21st @ 6:00 and 8:00 pm
Q&A with filmmaker and Butte historian
For more information call 406.443.0287

Butte, America Teaser & Press Kit [link]

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival – Closing Night

Originally uploaded by love not fear

The festival has come to a close. I watched over 21 films this year. In the coming days, I’ll be reviewing them here, so drop by and see how they were. In the meantime, you can check out my ratings of the films.

Thanks to the organizers of the festival, once again, for a great week.

Photo: Tom Fullum/Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

For Immediate Release

February 19, 2008

Media Contact: Nancy Walton (406) 728-5573

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Announces 2008 Award Winners

Missoula, Montana – The 5th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is pleased to announce its festival award winners, each of which will be screened during a special encore presentation Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at Missoula’s historic Wilma Theatre.

Best Feature:

JIMMY ROSENBERG: THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE TALENT, Directed by Jeroen Berkvens

Best Short:

CONVICTION: THE TRUE STORY OF CLARENCE ELKINS, Directed by Mike West & Bill Ward

Big Sky Award:

CLASS C, Directed by Justin Lubke & Shasta Grenier

Artistic Vision:

WHEN CLOUDS CLEAR, Directed by Anne Slick & Danielle Bernstein

About WHEN CLOUDS CLEAR, the Feature Jury writes, “The filmmakers’ aesthetic choices – in cinematography and structure – create a visceral sense of place and an intimate portrait of a strong community unified in one common cause. With a fresh perspective on a familiar story line, the film doesn’t give its subjects a voice as much as let them speak for themselves.”

Artistic Vision:

YA SHADAD, Directed by Keren Shayo

The feature winner will receive a $1000 cash prize sponsored by Indiepix Films. The winner will also receive a complimentary copy of Media 100 Producer Suite video editing software, bundled with Boris Red, courtesy of Media 100/Boris FX.

The short winner will receive a full copy of Boris Red integrated 3D compositing, titling, and effects application for Mac/PC operating systems, courtesy of Boris FX.

The Big Sky Award winner will receive complimentary Avid Media Composer video editing software, courtesy of Avid.

One Artistic Vision Award winner will also receive complimentary Avid Media Composer video editing software, courtesy of Avid.

Awards Night Screening Schedule:

All Screenings will be held in the Wilma Theatre, downtown Missoula, Montana, Wednesday, February 20, 2008. Tickets are $7 available at the box office starting Wednesday at 10 am or at the door before the screening. Plan to arrive at least 20 minutes early for tickets at the door.

6:15 pm – CLASS C (Directors in-attendance)

8 pm – CONVICTION: THE TRUE STORY OF CLARENCE ELKINS

9 pm – JIMMY ROSENBERG: THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE TALENT

10:30 pm – WHEN CLOUDS CLEAR

Feature Jury

Deborah Barkow – Documentary/TV Editor, Skylar Browning – Arts
Editor, Missoula Independent, Simon Kilmurry – Executive Director,
The American Documentary/P.O.V.

Short Jury:

Hart Perry – Filmmaker, Dana Heinz Perry – Filmmaker, William Marcus
- Director, Broadcast Media Center at the University of Montana

Big Sky Award Jury:

Danielle DiGiacomo – Head of Acquisitions/Indiepix Films

Brian Liu – Founder and Creative Director, ToolboxDC

Contact:
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
131 South Higgins Avenue, Suite 307
Missoula, Montana 59802
(406) 541-3456
www.bigskyfilmfest.org
——————-

This announcement is from the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, a project of the Big Sky Film Institute. http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org

Finding Normal

Listening to the Q+A session after the film, it was good to hear that some of those depicted in the film have seen the film and liked it. They were present at screenings of the film in Portland and were able to interact with audience members, validating their process and strengthen them at the same time. Lindstrom said that he made the film because he believes in the program’s strength, and that it deserves to be replicated in other communities. He admitted that there were ethical concerns of following individuals on such a fragile journey, and, to his credit, said that their recovery was the most important thing. He said that if he thought at any time that their recovery was in jeopardy, he would have backed off. This responsible approach validates the folks in the program, giving them strength, and, by the director’s own accord, telling them that they are important and valuable human beings.
The director Brian Lindstrom took great care in patiently setting up the story of each character involved. The film follows three of the people involved in the running the mentoring program, David, Jill, and to a lesser extent, Randy. Their stories are told through their interactions with the people entering treatment. The film focuses upon three key individuals, a 36 year old white kid (who I thought would surely drop out of the program by the end of the film — he didn’t), Peni, a recovering drug addict (Peni eventually drops out), and a black ex-con who was to me the most ready to change from the very beginning of his introduction into the program.

David, the main councilor, is amazing as he non-judgmentally walks new inductees through what they can expect as they enter into the program, telling them in a no bullshit way what they’re up against. At the same time, David validates their addiction and fear of overcoming it through personal stories. David, like Jill and Randy, believe that people can change, and believe that the change is so profound and so worth it that they are willing to do everything in their power to help those who want help.

Jerky camera work and editing throughout the movie seemingly paralleled the confusion of someone entering and participating in a recovery program. Cutting back and forth between letting those in recovery tell their story, and letting those running the mentoring program tell their story, the film does a good job of depicting the difficulty of overcoming addiction. Around about the half-hour mark in the 77 minute film, I began to get fidgety. Lindstrom’s choice to attempt to tell two distinct stories is the film’s largest fault. Attempting to blend both the stories of the people in recovery as well as the stories of the people running the program proved to be too big a task and weakened what could have been a stronger film. Had he chosen to focus on one or the other of the stories, the secondary story would have told itself, and with more grace. The stronger of the two stories in the film as it stands is that of David, Jill and Randy.

The three mentors have been through so much in their lives, and have beaten their addictions in order to create new lives for themselves. The power of this accomplishment leads them to want to reach out and provide that opportunity for others, and that, to me, was the story the film was telling most eloquently. During the question and answer session after the screening, Lindstrom’s comment about “..what David, Jill and Randy had to deal with…” as they provided help to those in the program spoke to this idea that the film really should have been more focused upon the program itself, and those who created and run it.

Butte, America

Growing up in a union household in a workingman’s town, I felt a strong bond with Butte, MT the first time I visited it. My father was the union president for the Fraternal Order of Police in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and he did his time working a union job in the rubber shops of Akron at Goodyear and then at Firestone, just as his father had. I remember listening to him tell stories of the difficult conditions when he was building tires, conditions that the union always fought to improve. And I remember him telling me, as union power in America began to decline, that it is because of unions that American workers have many things that we take for granted, like eight hour days and five day work weeks.

Remembering this, I very much looked forward to seeing Pam Roberts’ rough cut of her work-in-progress, “Butte America”. Roberts, a Montanan, but not a Buttian, sought to tell a Montana story that had national significance, and she found her story in the dusty hills of Butte. She knew the challenge ahead of her and recruited Edwin Dobb, a Buttian who wrote the 1996 Harpers article Pennies From Hell: In Montana, the bill for America’s copper comes due. Dobb, who returned to Butte after a 25 year hiatus, was dragged “kicking and screaming” into the project, wary of “entering into such an extreme collaborative process”, being used to working alone as a writer. The time away gave Dobb perspective with which to help craft a compelling film.

The duo formed a good team, creating a movie that spans 120 years of history — the rise and fall of the labor unions in Butte, and, by extension, in America. They capture the “feel” of Butte well, illustrating the ambivalence of a town’s dependency on “The Company” via footage with former miners, old timers who worked underground before they were “turned into truck drivers”, or just quit mining altogether when the pit mines opened, because their spirit was broken, their livelihood and stolen from them. They were proud men who did hard work in the mines underground, and they helped to build America.

But the story is more than just a story of workers and a boomtown gone bust. The story is a human one about the bonds that hard work can forge within a community, how hard work can actually become the defining element of a community. Those bonds and that sense of identity can be destroyed when work dries up. In the case of Butte, the work dried up as a result of corporate greed, when finally, mining left the town forever.

Roberts acknowledged, in the Q+A session after the showing, that one difficulty she faced in making the movie was the lack of first-hand accounts available. Many of the people who were alive during Butte’s heyday are dead. Killed in the mines, or by miner’s consumption. half of the characters in the film, Roberts told us, have died since the film was made. Roberts gracefully used the live resources available to her to create a beautiful film that blends archive film footage and photographs, donated home movies, and recreations, telling an important story in American history. Though the film is technically unfinished, (the movie still had many editor’s marks like running times and other video notations), the screening was a gripping one.

Roberts intends to put the finishing touches on the film, including more voice-over narration and more original scoring, in time for a spring 2008 release. I’m looking forward to seeing the final version.

Live for fun Spread joy

Originally uploaded by love not fear

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. The opening of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. I’ll be running projection on a handful of films, as well as helping out in any other way that I can. Check back here for quick movie reviews, musings and other thoughts. Now through February 20th.

Check out my want-to-see calender, sign up for your own calender, see some films.

Gots to go.