I missed all weekend--days 2 through 5--for Silentfest, but I was back at Docfest full time starting Monday.
First up was the shorts block WTF Literally! Truth is stranger than fiction.
THE AFGHAN BRUCE LEE: Exactly what it sounds like, a profile of an Afghan dude who practices karate and wants to be an action start. He even sorta looks like him.
THE DUEL: A father's mental breakdown is retold in this stylized reenactment.
HAFE: THE STORY BEHIND: The totally real and medically document phenomenon of High Altitude Flatus Expulsion. You know, when the lower pressure at high altitude makes you fart.
INERTIA: Earth + Space Shuttle Endeavor are true loves. Ah, how sweet!
PHENOMENALITY: The life of Ric Friar, surfer, big wave pioneer, a man who risked death to find his life. He also dated Twiggy, made a fortune in manure as the "King of Poo" and just had an amazing, crazy, creative life.
THE SANDMAN: When he arrives, people go to sleep. He's a doctor who, while personally opposing the death penalty, attends and participates in executions as the overseeing physician. An interesting portrait of a man with a strange calling. Although often I want to shake him and scream, "what are you doing!?" the fact is I think his views on capital punishment mirror a lot of my own. I'd rather it not exist, but if it exists I'd rather it's administration--through all levels--be dealt with by people who have serious moral objections to it. The alternative is a death penalty administered by people who think executions are cool.
THE WIZARD OZ: Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, wizard, unicorn rancher, mermaid investigator, and next door neighbor to a serial killer. That's a pretty odd life.
THE YOWIE: The search for...basically Australia's version of Bigfoot? They claim to have found him. I couldn't see it. But they're pretty fun.
THE AFGHAN BRUCE LEE: Exactly what it sounds like, a profile of an Afghan dude who practices karate and wants to be an action start. He even sorta looks like him.
THE DUEL: A father's mental breakdown is retold in this stylized reenactment.
HAFE: THE STORY BEHIND: The totally real and medically document phenomenon of High Altitude Flatus Expulsion. You know, when the lower pressure at high altitude makes you fart.
INERTIA: Earth + Space Shuttle Endeavor are true loves. Ah, how sweet!
PHENOMENALITY: The life of Ric Friar, surfer, big wave pioneer, a man who risked death to find his life. He also dated Twiggy, made a fortune in manure as the "King of Poo" and just had an amazing, crazy, creative life.
THE SANDMAN: When he arrives, people go to sleep. He's a doctor who, while personally opposing the death penalty, attends and participates in executions as the overseeing physician. An interesting portrait of a man with a strange calling. Although often I want to shake him and scream, "what are you doing!?" the fact is I think his views on capital punishment mirror a lot of my own. I'd rather it not exist, but if it exists I'd rather it's administration--through all levels--be dealt with by people who have serious moral objections to it. The alternative is a death penalty administered by people who think executions are cool.
THE WIZARD OZ: Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, wizard, unicorn rancher, mermaid investigator, and next door neighbor to a serial killer. That's a pretty odd life.
THE YOWIE: The search for...basically Australia's version of Bigfoot? They claim to have found him. I couldn't see it. But they're pretty fun.
Then the next show started with the short THE COLLECTION. That collection is the mother lode of printing plates for movie advertisements in newspaper. And it's awesome. Just as a movie fan, it's a sight to behold.
And then the feature, a very different sort of sight to behold, TOKYO IDOLS. Young Japanese girls who are pop music and Internet stars, and the adult men who spend way too much to follow them around. Ri Ri makes an interesting heroine, a teenage girl who never really wanted to be an idol, but saw it as a way of getting started in a music career (I don't know if something is lost in translation, but the distinction she makes between "idol" and "singer" says just about all you need to know about the industry.) Then there's the men who have given up salaried careers and blown way too much money just to follow their favorite idol. Oh, and I learned that for at least some Japanese men, a handshake is a deeply sexual experience. Interesting, and well photographed. But this is an example of what I call a "feature length short." In that it was interesting enough for about a 20 minute short, but not enough for a feature length film. Really, this should've been a short and THE COLLECTION should've been expanded to feature length.
Total Running Time:193 minutes
My Total Minutes: 429,591
My Total Minutes: 429,591
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