It’s amazing how quickly you settle into the rhythm of a film festival – the best ones soon create a sense of community, as people with lanyards and laminates scoot past each other in the hall, on the way to have mind-expanding or -numbing experiences, and to talk about them afterward, all in the certain knowledge that there may well be someone sitting two feet away for whom the film you just hated or adored has been a labour of love for the past ten years.
Day 2 of Full Frame was sunny and warm, so driving into Durham didn’t feel like negotiating a military assault course. Once ensconced in the remarkably efficient surroundings – the Durham Convention Centre (2 screens) is between the Marriott Hotel and the Carolina Theatre (3 screens), and each is accessible from the other – the day went like this:
Shouting Fire – a polemical film about recent encroachments on freedom of speech
Saint Misbehavin’ - the wonderful movie of Wavy Gravy’s life. (See my post here.)
The Yes Men Fix the World – Culture jamming jesters speak truth to power; show a little bit of how they go about doing it, and are honest enough to admit the anxiety it induces.
Smile Til It Hurts – An overview and evaluation of the travelling dance group ‘Up with People’, famous for their Superbowl appearances, the cheesy delight they brought to some parts of the audience, and, if their defenders are to be believed, ending the Cold War. On the other hand, plenty of people who were once involved now suggest that the movement had more than a few cult-like dimensions.
Food, Inc. – A long hard look at the transformation of food culture in the US over the past fifty years. This is a powerful and provocative film of the kind that leaves you wondering if we are already living in the kind of dystopian future prophesied in films like ‘Logan’s Run’. Eat local.
Love on Delivery - A short film about love. Thai brides in a Danish fishing village. 575 of them. As my genial co-host says, it’s a story as old as the human race itself.
Picks of the day – for me, the Wavy Gravy film was delightful, inspirational, and honest enough about the failings of the sixities to be worth more than one repeat viewing. For Jett it was interviewing Oded Adomi Leshem, director of ‘Voices from El-Sayed’, a film which he considers to represent the height of the state of documentary art. You can listen to that interview at the end of our podcast for Day 2, which will be posted here later today.
