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Saturday, June 7, 2008

Film Festival Day 3 (Tolerance...bah!)

Late yesterday afternoon I wandered off to the Film Festival for an afternoon and evening of quality cinema.

Film 1 was Werner Herzog's documentary about a trip to Antarctica called Encounters at the end of the World. Herzog's docos are not ordinary and this is the same. It takes a series of quirky encounters and events and tries to contrast the wonder of Antarctica with the human element. A combination of authority imposing order and care (sometimes a little too much) with the fact that most of the inhabitants have run as far as they can from the rest of humanity. Beautiful vision but you are never sure if he is making fun of the people or just giving them a voice.

Film 2 should have been a magic film...but for me it wasn't. Rain of the Children is a documentary film maker trying to make peace with one of his earliest subjects. His story of a woman born around the turn of the century and her life was at times both magical and heartbreaking. What irked me was his constant use of a voice-over as the main subject spoke of her reasons for behaving certain ways. For me this was the most annoying piece of the film. These women kept quiet about their motivations and secrets because that was their way (all our grand-mothers or great-grandmothers were the same). To take a series of stories from the descendents in the community about why she did something and articulate it as if she is speaking drove me nuts. I understand the search for meaning in someone else's actions but don't try to pass it off to me as them speaking beyond the grave. So I walked out about an hour into the film.

Subsequently, rather than wait around an hour and half for the next film...I went home.

Hopefully, todays efforts will be better Three Blind Mice by Matthew Newton and Salute look fabulous.

Progress Update on the Film Festival Socks. I have turned the heel on Sock 1 and now concentrating on the gusset decreases.

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