Full Frame Day 1: roundup

posted by Gareth Higgins

Through the temperate North Carolina rain we struggled, for you dear listener, and after a night of insomnia-induced extreme tiredness for one of us, your genial co-hosts met at lunchtime, for the first day of Full Frame.  The people are friendly, the venue is perfect (six screens all within the same(ish) block), the films are diverse.  Between us we saw seven features and one short:

‘Mechanical Love’ – humans and robots together in perfect harmony.  An ‘astonishing film’, says Jett.

’24 City’ – a challenging piece about consumerism in China.

‘Voices from El-Sayed’ – Jett’s favourite so far – he’ll post in detail tomorrow.

‘Shooting Beauty’ – a remarkable and deeply moving portrait of disability and creativity.  We hope to have an interview with the film-maker tomorrow.

‘Wounded Knee’ – the story of the 1973 seige, rooted in the wider context of the struggle of American Indians.   See Gareth’s post for more.

‘Eden End’ – a short film culled from images we most readily associate with the American Dream myth of the 1950s

‘Art and Copy’ – a tribute to advertising.

‘Milking the Rhino’ – fascinating examination of the tourist industry being nurtured by indigenous Kenyans and Namibians.  The Massai built and run Il Ngwesi lodge is the kind of safari hotel where you might feel your desire for authenticity is something close to being what it says it is.  But the question lingers: is adopting privatised capitalism in the desert any better than imposing it on the beach?

It’s been a long day, but the state of the documentary art is healthy – I suspect we both feel that some more in-depth questioning of subjects was the major lack of some of the films we saw today; at the same time, and we’re not ashamed to say it, each of us has been brought to tears by a couple of stand out moments.  We’ll tell you more tomorrow.  Thanks for staying with us.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 pm. It is filed under Blog, Documentaries, Film Festivals, Gareth Higgins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.