From the moment I saw the taxidermied moose in its glass case at Missoula Airport, I realized, "You're not in Park City anymore, Danielle." After checking into my hotel, I had a couple of hours to wander around the town, pick up some postcards, and soak in the surreality of David Lynch's birthplace before the afternoon filmmaker reception. There, I immediately connected with my fellow juror, Brian Liu, a graphic designer/photographer/filmmaker (his documentary about the land mine issue, DISARM, won an award at the festival two years ago). The two of us deliberated and awarded the Big Sky Award, which celebrates films focused on the American West.
After a long chat and some run-ins with filmmakers, we were off to the Wilma Theatre, an ornate cinema that allegedly inspired the "theatre scenes" in Blue Velvet and Eraserhead. Perhaps I was colored by this knowledge, but the whole town did seem, well, "Lynchian." While there were no backwards-talking midgets and delectable pies there, the combination of dramatic mountain landscapes, small town bars, and lodge-like restaurants with elk and bison on both the menu and the wall had me waiting for Angelo Badalamenti's score to pipe in through the atmosphere.
I finally got to see David Sington's remarkable filmic incarnation of the American space age, IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON, which premiered at Sundance in 2007 and had a disappointing theatrical run last fall. As I wrote on another blog, the film (which is nominated for the Audience Choice Prize at the inaugural Cinema Eye Honors in Nonfiction Film ) is not only stunning (the original footage shot from the spaceship is gasp-able) but also contains a dramatic narrative arc premised on the strange tension we feel that the lunar module just might not land safely on the moon, that it might NOT reconnect to the ship, that the whole thing might just explode into the atmosphere. (Of course, we know that it did not, yet we -- or perhaps, just me -- are still nervous). As well, stellar use of archival footage gives a sense of that singular cultural moment in which our country chose to send its men into the universe, to make that "one giant leap for mankind," while deep, and often hilarious, interviews, develop the astronauts as distinct characters.
This was followed by the docu-bio LYNCH, an appropriate choice, obviously. I was too busy schmoozing in the basement to watch it, but it was later the subject of cocktail party banter. Most folks I talked with agreed that it was lacking in depth and only a narrow snapshot of one of our most fascinating modern auteurs. The film had a small theatrical run (playing at the IFC in New York). Like many regional festivals, premieres are hard to come by here, so many of the "higher-profile" films have done a theatrical or festival run already. Yet, also being a regional fest, the industry presence is sparse, and new and local eyeballs, outside of Harvey Weinstein's inner sanctum, get to see work otherwise unavailable to them on the big screen.
That said, there were quite a few premieres on the program, a number of which were locally made and focused. The vibrancy and loyalty of the local community was evident in the popularity of two Montana-made films LITTLE RED TRUCK and CLASS C. I didn't see LITTLE RED TRUCK (though I did see a little red trucked parked outside of the film's reception), about a local childrens' theatre, but Class C, which Brian and I honored with "The Big Sky Award," while not flawless, was a compelling and well-shot portrait of girls' basketball teams in rural Montana. Not the classic "competition film" I thought it would be, it instead illustrated the dying culture of small-town Montana and more largely, the American West.
A mix of other festival winners were also well attended. AJ Schnack's film (KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON) was one of the best attended of the whole fest, and, dare I say, deservedly so. I ducked in during a happening party, and as always, it put me in a good mood. People were overflowing with praise at the afterparty, in particular the filmmaking team behind THE VILLE, which was the best short film I saw. Shot on 16 mm, with voice-over narration, it had a similar feel to ABOUT A SON, yet it focused on the racial segregation of St. Louis, and featured the best use of a red wagon I've seen in years.
Other crowd pleasers were jump rope feel-gooder DOUBLETIME, and another doc in the “quirky, lesser known sports category, HELL ON WHEELS, Texas filmmaker Bob Ray's exploration of the burgeoning roller derby scene and its rather divisive rebirth. Lines were also out the door for Yung Chang's IDFA-nominated, Sundance-sold UP THE YANGTZE, a beautiful film about China's Three Gorges Dam.
On Monday morning, at high noon, "The Business of Documentary" panel, moderated by yours truly, went down. A thick and curious crowd was nice enough to take me seriously as I attempted to facilitate an intelligent discussion that touched on everything from fiscal sponsorship to music rights. And my panelists were stars, each bringing a different perspective and breadth of experience to the table (literally). So thanks Simon (Kilmurry, Executive director of American Documentary | P.O.V.), Gita (Saedi, Producer at Kartemquin Films), Mike (Steinberg, Director of Webster University Film Series), and David (Fassio, Founder, Modern Digital).
I was happy to get to know Simon, who juried the Best Documentary Feature competition, a little better, after glimpsing him at festivals throughout the year. Turns out we have a similar sensibility and he signed on to guest lecture at my NYU course in Contemporary Documentary. The award winners really reflected the diversity of the programming (and here is the requisite shout-out to the warm and dedicated festival directors, Damon Ristau and Doug Hawes-Davis). Dutch filmmaker Jeroen Berkvens' JIMMY ROSENBERG: THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE TALENT, about the ruined adulthood of a young musical prodigy, was awarded Best Documentary Feature by Kilmurry and his co-juror, the talented editor Deborah Barkow, while my new pals and fellow chicken-fried steak lovers Anne Slick and Danielle Bernstein were award the Artistic Vision Award for WHEN CLOUDS CLEAR, about the fight against a copper mine in Ecuador. Mike West and Bill Ward's CONVICTION: THE TRUE STORY OF CLARENCE ELKINS picked up the award for Best Short Documentary, with the Israeli film, YA SHADAD, receiving the Artistic Vision Award for Short Documentary. (This competition was juried by the incomparable Dana Heinz and Hart Perry, who were honored throughout the festival for their decades of work).
My festival ended on a high note, with a swanky jurors dinner at the local high-end restaurant (I sampled elk, bison, and local Montana syrah), and a midnight dip in the hotel hot tub. And one last photograph -- the airport's stuffed moose.
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