Not too lonely yet because tonight was the opening night of the Jackson Hole Film Festival with films non-stop until Monday. (Luckily the weather isn't supposed to be great!) Now I have been looking forward to this for awhile, I am even volunteering for 12 hours as a ticket checker/usher so I could get the $400 festival pass for free.
The festival opening film, which I had to skip out of work a couple minutes early for (sshhh!), was called Heart of Fire, a great controversial film to kick things off. Based in Eritrea in Africa, it is about a 10-year old girl whose father sells her to become a child soldier. Apparently, this was one of the festival director's favorite films at the Berlin Film Festival so she lobbied to get it to the JHFF for the U.S. debut of the film, beating out L.A. and New York. Pretty impressive!
She opened up the film saying that when one of the Eritrean officials heard that the film was debuting here, he was going to set up a protest, but she was adamant with him that they wanted no violence, so he conceded as long as she agreed to open the film with a statement saying the film is totally fictional and is not even close to an accurate portrayal of the truth or their country. Apparently, all of the original Eritrean actors had so many death threats against them that they all backed out a week before production, so the actual characters in the film are not even actors. One would never know the difference. Great film.
She opened up the film saying that when one of the Eritrean officials heard that the film was debuting here, he was going to set up a protest, but she was adamant with him that they wanted no violence, so he conceded as long as she agreed to open the film with a statement saying the film is totally fictional and is not even close to an accurate portrayal of the truth or their country. Apparently, all of the original Eritrean actors had so many death threats against them that they all backed out a week before production, so the actual characters in the film are not even actors. One would never know the difference. Great film.
A photo from Heart of FireThe next film I saw was an emotional roller coaster called Life.Support.Music. A true story documentary about a musician in New York who suddenly gets a brain hemorrhage while his wife is 3 months pregnant and is basically in a coma for a year. It follows his slow recovery and really the power of love and family despite the worst possible predictions of his future from the doctors. Pretty amazing the powers of the human body. Check out some of Jason Crigler's music, I think I just became an instant fan.
A pic of Jason Crigler the "star" of the documentary, Life. Support. Music.Lots more movies in the next few days, will keep you posted...and if you are in Jackson be sure to check it out!
Chelsea
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