Alright, below are some of my favorite films from the film festival this weekend. I don't know if this is interesting to you at all, but I love a great movie, especially ones that aren't totally mainstream, so hopefully you will enjoy some of these as much as I did!
Very Young Girls - about prostitution of young girls in the states. Definitely brought to light a subject often overlooked in our own country.
Pray the Devil Back to Hell - recounts the experience of a group of Liberian women who came together to bring peace to their country. Amazing inspiring movie.
The Cake Eaters - quirky, small-town drama that explores the lives of two families coming to terms with love in the face of loss. Liked the movie a lot, but not my favorite in light of how powerful most of the true story documentaries were.
Six Seconds of Freedom - the story of the Angola Prison Rodeo told by the prisoners. Basically, they get no practice and are thrown into the arena, quite an entertaining movie.
Volcanic Sprint - the epic story of Africa's most grueling mountain race and the local athletes who risk all for glory. Great story of a marathon length race that starts in the village and scales at 15,000 foot peak and then they have to run back down, some of them in plastic sandals! They have over 500 participants because the prize money equals four years of salary for the average villager. Pretty inspiring.
My two favorites of the festival were:
Made in America - a film that chronicled gang warfare in Los Angeles between the Bloods and the Crips, dating back 40 years. A very sobering, eye-opening and powerful film. (It is on Netflix)
The Choir - AMAZING movie! Another about prison life, but more inspiring than the previous. Take place in the most dangerous prison in South Africa, a group of men formed a choir which offers them a makeshift family and a chance to grow beyond their circumstances.
My favorite of the fest,
The Choir.
The flicks below are ones that got great reviews, but I did not see myself.
Please Vote for Me - about an elementary school election in China.
Where the Water Meets the Sky - Set in a remote town in Northern Zambia, this movie tells the story of twenty-three women who are given a unique opportunity: to make a film as a way to speak out about their lives and challenge the local traditions which have until now, kept them silent.
Les Femmes de la Brukman - During the 2001 economic collapse in Argentina, the seamstresses at Brukman’s clothing factory took over the operation the owners had abandoned. This film follows these courageous women over many years, their struggle to get the operation running again, their expulsion from the factory, months of battling to get it back, and tangles with the law.
Man on Wire - On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman called Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire suspended between New York's twin towers, then the world’s tallest buildings. After an hour dancing on the wire, with no safety net or harness, he was arrested and thrown into an underground prison. Until that moment no one but Petit and his team of accomplices, who had spent months planning their illegal 'coup' (as they referred to it amongst themselves), knew anything about it.
Kicking It - It began in 2001 as a wild idea by a Scot and an Austrian -- to give homeless people a chance to change their lives through an international street soccer competition. The word went out on the streets. Five years later, 20,000 homeless people from 48 countries were training hard and competing to represent their country in the 4th Annual Homeless World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa.
Fields of Fuel - Unveils a curtain of deception covering America's crippling dependence on foreign oil as it explores one possible solution to the coming energy crisis: 'biodiesel' is an economical and sustainable alternative fuel widely used in Europe.
Happy movie watching!
Keelan walks ups the stairs and arrives to this!
First reaction, shirt off!
The scene
The Tahoe locals....me, Keelan, Paul Bancroft and Liz
Kari Larsen (flew in from Denver), me, Katharine Lange, Lindsey Gourley and Katie Stevenson
Aunt Liz showing off her new niece and her new haircut.
Meredith with her 2 day old babe. Damn, hot momma!
My favorite of the fest, The Choir.
A photo from Heart of Fire
A pic of Jason Crigler the "star" of the documentary, Life. Support. Music.
Trying to get out of the heat whenever possible.
Suddenly rich (and sweating in the heat!) with black market Burmese currency. The money is worth hardly anything, so you have to carry bundles of it around with you!
Signs of old British rule and poverty from our guest house in Yangon, formerly Rangoon.
Monks at Shwedegon Temple
Shwedegon Temple in Yangon
Street fruit vendors in Yangon
A child monk and beggar in Bagan, Myanmar
Mom and daughter with Thanaka, a paste made of ground wood and worn by many Myanmar women. It is used for cosmetic beauty as well as for a cooling sensation in the heat and works as a sunscreen of sorts.
Older women puffing big Cheroot cigars!
Unsuccessfully bidded as a World Heritage site, Bagan has over 1000 temples within a 16 mile radius, all constructed in the 1000s to 1200s.
Vendors everywhere.
Bagan....... it was well over 100 degrees out for the trip.
Lots of smiles despite the oppressive regime
Chels.
Hand rolling Cheroots.
Mt. Popa, a side day trip from Bagan. It is a crazy site, a volcanic peak with a Buddhist monastery located on top.
Chels with the masses who constantly wanted their pictures taken, walking to the top of Mount Popa.
Friendly, smiling kids.
Harvesting palms for a local drink.
Rush hour on Inle Lake in Northern Burma
Typical Burmese early morning scene.
Dugout boats with V8 truck engines mounted on the rear were the standard mode of transport
Inle Lake floating market
Fishing on Inle Lake
One can easily see how a cyclone would tear through these types of living quarters
Fresh corn on the streets.
Vibrant colors seemed to be everywhere you looked
Swimming with the locals...
Taking the Yak bus home after school!
Only a small population in Myanmar has these elongated necklaces.
Not afraid to pile it on. This picture says it all about Burma.
