Day 3.
Today was a wonderful array of ups and downs. We had a pretty packed schedule today, what with all these films and combined with all that we are very tired! Our schedule basically consists of waking up early, going to sleep late. Waking up early, going to sleep late. It's definitely taking it's toll.
So we wake up around 7:30 this morning, have breakfast at our B&B and head out to our first film that we had tickets to (no wait-list, thank goodness). The film was called The Future. It was directed, written and starred Miranda July. This film was cute and very quirky. If quirky humor is your cup of tea, this film is definitely for you. The idea and story are pretty far-fetched but it's interesting and funny. It's basically about this ultra hippie couple who decide to adopt a cat, whom is narrating this film by the way...the cat that is, and they have 30 days until the cat is in their home. They come to the conclusion that by getting the cat their lives are over...as if they were having a baby, and decide that those last 30 days are the remainder of their days and decide to quit their jobs and attempt a life of free living doing whatever they want. They find out it's quite unsuccessful and a series of events following lead up to the climax of the film, which I don't want to reveal, but it ties together well with all the quirky humor. I rated it a "2 out of 4" for "Good".
An hour after, we wait-listed a film called Pariah. This film has gotten a lot of rave so we were very interested in checking it out and we were able to get in! It was directed and written by Dee Rees. This film was great. It's about a butch teenage girl getting exposed to her preferred world of being with other women but never having experienced it yet and balancing her other world of living as a proper lady in her conservative family. This film really brings you into that realm and puts you in touch with the character as you feel empathy for her as her family slowly starts to become suspicious of her behaviours. Between hiding her true identity from her parents and trying to find love, she falls into this whirlwind of emotions and frustration of her current situation in which she makes a serious move to make things better for herself. This film reminds me a lot of Circumstance, similar plot, lesbian characters and finding a way out in the end, but Circumstance blew Pariah out of the water for sure.
Lots of gay/lesbian themes in all these films...I guess it's the cool, popular thing to do now. I guess I'll have to make one...geez.
So after that we tried to crash a panel called, Power of Story: The Big Idea. We waitlisted but we were so far back in the line it didn't look promising at all. I really wanted to see it but it didn't happen. On to the next. We hopped on a bus to another theater to try and wait-list a documentary called How to Die in Oregon. Now this film definitely catches our attention and has gotten a lot of hype. It's about physician assisted suicides for terminally ill patients in Oregon, the first state that legalized assisted suicides. And in the documentary, someone really dies on camera, it's crazy. So we hope to catch it before we leave, but it not, I'm sure we'll see it out somewhere to rent/watch.
After watching 2 films and waitlisting twice, we were pretty pooped to say the least, so we went to go eat, walk around and kill time before our last film at 11:30pm.
The last film we saw was called The Lie. It was directed, written and also starred Joshua Leonard. This film was okay. Just basically about a hippie couple that go into the working class world, have a baby, and realize that this isn't the life they imagined. The husband tells a lie because he doesn't want to go into work anymore but it's a lie he can never take back or admit to which then leads to the end in which they make a decision to find the lives that they truly want for themselves. It was okay, I really don't have much else to say about it.
I'm noticing a common undertone in all these films. They all deal with themes that are either hush, hush or bring you into a crazy realm that you could never have imagined yourself. It's interesting. What I'm realizing that I'm enjoying the most are the Q&A's after each screening with the directors, cast and crew. To think, you're watching a film and behind you could be sitting the director with their cast and crew, which actually happened to us a few times already. But in these Q&A's, the audience asks the director questions and to hear their answers, their trials and tribulations and their story and journey to finally be able to stand up at that podium is just absolutely inspiring. So many of them are humbled by their success. During the Q&A of The Lie, an audience member complimented the cinematographer on his shots, how he decided to compose his frames, how he's seen his other works and how magnificent and brilliant he is and the cinematographer was just so baffled and humbled by this comment he said something along the lines of, "Wow, thank you so much. A person waits their whole lives to hear something like that, that's amazing." I almost got choked up with that and during many of the Q&A's because all these filmmakers are doing what I'm doing and their making it and I can only get excited to know that I'll be there soon, answering all these great questions and taken aback by any compliments the audience will throw my way. So humbling, I love it.
Ready for another day tomorrow. Awards ceremony early evening, awards show party at night. We're going to the party. ;) Tell you all about that tomorrow...until then...
D. Pamela Matew
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