BEST FILM FESTIVAL EVER!! ;-) The Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival 2013

My Brilliant, World-Traveling Mother discovered this incredible gem of a film festival about ten years ago and brought me onto shortly thereafter. Over the past several years we have watched this lil ole home-grown film fest grow into a 5-day affair featuring movies from 70 countries.

Today we are absolute adventure travel film junkies. The Flag Mountain Film Fest features almost all documentaries on outdoor adventure, cultural and environmental causes, as well as humanitarian issues. You can go to a ridiculous number of movies for a ridiculously little amount of $. Each 3-hour session costs only $10 but you can buy a Film Fest VIP Pass (just love the way it sounds actually!) like The Thurston Girls and get into every session you want for five days as well as attend multiple special events.

How much does the VIP Pass cost? $60. That’s it!

We attended a total of 30 hours of films and special events during a four day period. Every year I come out of the film festival feeling like my LIFE BATTERY HAS BEEN RECHARGED! ;-) In addition, we've become friends with a couple of the film festival directors as well as some of the filmmakers whom we have met over the years.

By the end of the week it feels like we have traveled the world and had a taste of these amazing “moments” of adventures, been inspired by men, women, and kids doing incredible work in the world, and been educated on issues we had no awareness of beforehand.

I basically come out of it wanting to go do AWESOME THINGS IN THE WORLD!

This year’s highlights for me spanned everything from young Norwegian guys doing  Arctic Surfing in a recycled shelter to spending Christmas without Chinese Goods to climbing Pakistan’s K2 to trying to break the world record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.

I’m hoping many of these movies will make it to other film festivals where you live. Most of these films are also available to purchase through the filmmakers. A select few will be picked up by tv networks like HBO and PBS.

Here are just a few of our favorites from this year…..Because many of the sessions were occurring simultaneously we weren't able to see all of the films offered but we did manage to about 80% of the films this year. 

Fav Adventure Films:

“North Of The Sun”

46 Minutes, Norway, 2012

Directors & Producers: Inge Wegge, Jorn Ranum

This is one of my favorite docs from the festival this year b/c it’s a hybrid (part-surfing, part-environmental) and b/c it has the three elements of a truly wonderful film. Great story, great characters, and fantastic video work.

North Of The Sun follows two young Norwegian guys who decide it would be fun to camp out in the Arctic during THE WINTER on a remote beach without any tents or supplies. They make a pact to subsist on free expired food from groceries and to build a shelter out of only items they can find washed up on shore.

Sound a little masochistic? It is yet the two guys seem to keep upbeat through the darkness of an Arctic Winter and will surprise you with their inventiveness.

Beautifully filmed as well from both the ground and the air (one of them just happens to be a bada$$ paraglider as well…is there anything they can’t do?!). ;-)

“Naked Ambition”

87 Minutes, UK, 2012

Director: Joe Wihl

Producer: Oliver Gray

Rowing across the Atlantic. Another two guys (why does it always seems to be the young guys?) charged with testosterone attempt to beat the world rowing record for crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Like many great adventure tales, you see these guys go from being a little cocky and sure they will be the world record to many days later realixing they won’t but just looking forward to making good time and having a great story to hoping they will just survive the trip.

Rowing unsupported across any great ocean is a fine line between keeping your boat light but having enough food and supplies to sustain the trip. If you run into bad weather it can cost you time and possibly, your life.

“K2: Siren Of The Himalayas”

75 Minutes, USA, 2013

Director: Dave Ohlson

Producers: Jason Reid, Andy McDonough

Mom and I are gluttons for mountaineering movies...maybe it's b/c we love high altitude and pushing our bodies to the extreme but we also know that we're not masochistic enough to get into extreme mountaineering yet are drawn to it nonetheless. 

We especially enjoyed this film on the world's most dangerous and mercurial mountain.

"K2" weaves together archival footage from The Duke of Abruzzi's expedition on K2 along with footage from a 2009 summit attempt by some of the most skilled mountaineers in the world while skillfully examining the difficult and humbling decisions that mountaineers must face in giving up summit bids in order to stay alive. This film showing was also a special treat as three of the guys behind the film were there in person to talk about the trials and tribulations of distilling a story down to its essence....after editing through100 hours of footage.

“MaidenTrip”

81 Minutes, USA, 2013

Directors: Jillian Schlessinger, Emily McAllister

I love bigwater expeditions…whether they’re on the world’s longest river or across one of the Great Oceans. Maidentrip follows Dutch teenager Laura Dekker’s attempt to break the world record for the youngest person (and woman!) to sail around the world solo. She started the trip at 14 years old.

It’s no wonder that people were up in arms. It’s scary to imagine a 14 year old driving a car let alone womanning a sailboat alone. Yet she proves herself to be among history’s strongest sailors…not only does she have the technical skills to do it but she is at her best and calmest alone and facing the ocean’s worst. It’s when she’s around people that you see her nerves start to fray.

Accompanied by a beautiful musical score by Ben Sollee? And subtly done animation by The Moth Collective, Maidentrip is an enjoyable and gentle ride. The one issue with following someone like  Dekker at sea is that a solo trip around the world almost appears easy and effortless. Which I know it isn’t. It might have been helpful to have other sailors talking about how scary it can be at sea or how difficult some of the situations can be.

Yet Dekker seems to be having her own sort of slumber party on the boat without much mention of how close you can be to death when you’re alone at sea.

I still very much enjoyed the film. Makes me want to go try it out.

Hopefully it won’t encourage many 10 year olds to try it, too.

*Other Noteworthy Adventure Films to check out….

“The Ridge” 81 Minutes from Spain

Favorite Environmental Films:

“Growing Cities”

90 Minutes, USA, 2012

Director: Dan Susman

Producers: Dan Susman, Dana Altman, Andrew Monbouquette

Super fun road trip following Susman and his buddies as they travel around the U.S. looking at how normal folk are turning unused public lots in large cities into farmable land that both provides job opportunities for urban dwellers while providing healthy, organic fruits and veggies to locals while simultaneously connecting people with the earth and improving the aesthetics of vacant lots. Really enjoyed this one!

“Musicwood”

81 Minutes, USA, 2012

Director: Maxine Trump

Producer: Josh Granger

An elegantly rendered film on a complex battle over the rights to use and/or protect one of the largest unbroken stands of temperate rainforest in the world…situated in remote Alaska. The leader of Greenpeace rallies the world’s top three guitar makers to travel to Alaska to try to convince the indigenous leaders of a corporation to move from clear-cutting to a more sustainable form of logging.

*OTHER NOTEWORTHY ENVIRONMENTAL FILMS TO CHECK OUT:

"The Human Scale" 77 Minutes from Denmark

“Tiny: Story Of Living Small” 63 Minutes from the USA

“Bidder 70” 73 Minutes from the USA

Favorite Cultural Films:

“The Only Son”

78 Minutes, The Netherlands, Belgium, 2012

Director: Simonka de Jong

Producers: Carolign Borgdorff, Suzanne Van Voorst

This is one of the best films I have yet to see which illustrates that difficult clash between a family that is transitioning from a subsistent agrarian culture to an urban and global one.

“Xmas Without China”

63 Minutes, USA, 2013

Director: Alicia Dwyer

Producers: Alicia Dwyer, Tom Xia

This is a fantastic look at a cultural juxtaposition….an American Family trying to celebrate a month of Christmas without any products from China and the filmmaker’s  (Tom Xia) Chinese-American Parents embracing an American Christmas. A provocative and often humorous look at what it means to be an American and Chinese-American, America’s dependence on Chinese products, what Christmas means to us culturally, and how blurry line can be between cultural and national identities can be.

“I Learn America”

92 Minutes, Australia, 2013

Director & Producer: Nicholas Covelli

A very endearing and heartfelt film following the lives of several teenagers trying to navigate their way through high school as immigrants from extremely disparate backgrounds (Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East). In addition to facing the normal challenges of teenhood, they are faced with their own mix of additional personal and cultural challenges (ranging from extreme religious upbringings to gender identity and languages barriers). 

“Vultures Of Tibet”

21 Minutes, USA/Canada, 2013

Director: Russell O. Bush

Producers: Elisabeth Oakham, Annie Bush

Doing any film on Tibet within the boundaries of China is a difficult and dangerous undertaking yet an important one if at the very least to document how the Supernation is impacting ancient Tibetan traditions within its borders.

Bush took three years to carefully take undercover footage (with the blessing and help of Tibetan monks and refugees) of a sacred ritual and how corrupt govt officials are selling tickets to Chinese Tourists to watch it without Tibetans’ approval.

Bush delicately conveys the ritual and its participants and outside voyeurs in a respectful and careful manner. He also protected the identity of the featured monks by doing voiceovers recorded by Tibetan Refugees in Daramsala, India.

“After Effects”

29 Minutes, USA/Haiti, 2013

Director & Producer: Denise M. Stilley

After Effects Trailer from Alma Libre Productions on Vimeo.

Super heartwarming film by Flagstaff local filmmaker Stilley which highlights the relief efforts in Haiti by the non-profit Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corp (NAVMC). NAVMC makes regular trips to help the men, women, and children of this Caribbean Nation in the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake which impacted 3 million people (and was estimated to have killed anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 people). 

*OTHER NOTEWORTHY CULTURAL FILMS TO CHECK OUT:

“Blood Brother” 93 Minutes from the USA

“Tales From The Organ Trade” 82 Minutes from Canada

“Narco Cultura” 102 Minutes from USA/Mexico

“Running Blind” 31 Minutes from the USA

Favorite Extreme Films:

“Petzl Roctrip China”

23 Minutes, France, 2012

Director: Vladimir Cellier

Producer: Petzl

I have seen A LOT of climbing movies over the past ten years between films that have appeared at the Banff, Telluride, and Flag Mtn. Film Fests. Trust me on this one.

I’m always looking for some film which has a unique and refreshing approach to climbing and this one does not disappoint. Focusing on a climbing event in rural China in a giant limestone waterway arch, the film editor of “Petzl Roctrip China” is the unsung hero here (they often are!). He or she has a mesmerizing, rhythmic approach to stitching scenes and dialogue together to a fantastic soundtrack. It becomes a dj-like symphony that you can’t help but bob your head to.

There’s a small story here—which is true of many short climbing movies--but the lyrical ride is a beautiful one and takes you into the heart of a very special place in China.

“Honnold 3.0”

32 Minutes, USA, 2012

Directors: Peter Mortimer, Josh Lowell

Producers: Peter Mortimer, Josh Lowell, Nick Rosen, Alex Lowther

Okay, if you’re not familiar with the world climbing phenom Alex Honnold, then watch this film or any film on him. He’s a tall, wholesome-looking, and unassuming young American guy who just happens to be the boldest climber in the world. Among other feats, he takes on a speed record for climbing the three greatest walls in Yosemite (each of which can take up to a week to do for skilled climbers) in less than….24 hours!

It’s nerve racking to watch Honnold free climb (no ropes, folks) for much of these three climbs. The only thing missing from this is an interview with his mother sharing us how she must cope knowing the risks her son is taking everytime he climbs.

He is ridiculously good and it is ridiculously scary watching him take these chances. There is no margin for error if he slips when he is unclipped.

Does he make it?

Watch for yourself.

*Feel free to leave your comments below~

"Mountain Climbing, Micro-Brews, and Mandolins"

Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival 2011~

by r.s.thurston

My year is joyfully punctuated by a few choice events around the country: an international adventure with Mama Chihuahua, dressing up in feathers and sequins for Santa Barbara's raucous, pagan Carnival-like Summer Solstice Celebration in June, venturing back to Southern Indiana in the late summer to commune with friends and family, and a return to Arizona for the Flagstaff Film Festival in the delicious month of Aspen-turning October.

There are quite a few good reasons to go to the Film Festival (like the fact that it's one of the few places you can drink wine and watch a documentary on base jumping in the Arctic and then hob nob with some of the country's best photographers and documentary filmmakers over fajitas and a local micro-brew).

Mostly I go because the Flag Mountain Film Festival simply ROCKS.

As a few of my close friends know, it's been a challenging year in a few respects (and very fortunate in many ways as well) and this recent trip to Arizona was a tonic for my heart and spirit.

Over the years (and by virtue of the sheer number of hours we've spent in the theatre eagerly absorbing every adventure documentary we can) Mom and I have become friends with three of the festival directors--Ron Tuckman, John Tveten, and Kristi Frazier--all of whom are accomplished peeps and travelers in their own right. I only get to see my Flagstaff friends once a year but it feels like a community I slip right into effortlessly and with great affection!

This past year I had the great privilege of singing and playing my ukulele (pushing my comfort zone a little with my new instrument!) with John's band "Spontaneous Combustion." You know there are few film festivals which offer both the quality of documentaries you would expect to see at Telluride and Banff Film Festivals... as well as feature musical events where you can see the festival directors doing their music thang on stage in the after-hours. Late Friday night at one of the festival events, director John Tveten's band "Spontaneous Combustion" (Tom O'Hara on guitar/vocals and James Frazier on bass) took the stage...with exec director Ron Tuckman playing harmonica and visiting filmmaker Peter McBride (see his film below) on mandolin. The band lived up to its name that night. :)

That's truly the thing that I love about music. Wherever I go in the world, I seem to find a community of brothers and sister among fellow musicians. We're the underdog artists who have been infected with a total love for playing and celebrating music in as many ways possible during our short time here on earth. And music is a bit like dancing, it's a heck of a lot more fun to do with other people.

In short, it was a pretty good dang week. I had the blessed opportunity to play music, hang out with some truly cool folks, watch a few very powerful films about happiness, adventure, and our responsibilities as world citizens.

Mostly, it was a good reminder that I'm on the right path...that this life I've chosen as a writer, photographer, musician and adventurer is the right one. And that as long as I continue to follow the pursuits which bring me joy, I can't go too wrong. :)

After many hours spent in the theatre during the festival, Mom and I both agreed there were four top films for us this year. I recommend checking them all out when they come out in DVD, if they come to a town near you, or if they're available in the near future online:

"Family Of The Wa'a"

USA, 2011, 81 min.

Director: Alyssa Fedele

Producer: David Cumming

This one was an "11" for me. A truly beautiful tribute to the cultural and spiritual legacy of outrigger canoeing in Hawai'i. Hawaiian mover and shaker Kimokeo Kapahulehua sets out to fulfill his uncle's lifelong dream: to paddle the length of the Hawaiian islands via outrigger canoe. Beautifully shot and powerful cultural story for anyone who has felt a connection to the water or to the Pacific Island Culture.

"Chasing Water"

USA, 2011, 19 min.

Director/Producer: Peter McBride

Photojournalist and Colorado Native goes on a personal journey documenting the flow of the Colorado River from source to where it should run into the Sea of Cortez, but sadly no longer reaches. Beautifully edited and paced, the movie combines McBride's still photography along with video clips in a seamless tribute to one of the West's greatest arteries.

Watch the Trailer for "Cold" at Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/23336972

"Cold"

USA, 2011, 20 min.

Director: Anson Fogel

Producers: Julie Kennedy and David Burden

Okay, so I've seen A LOT of climbing and mountaineering docs over the years but this is the first one I've seen to truly address the morbid inner monologue of a climber attempting an 8,000 meter peak (from the point of view of American Climber Cory Richards in a bid with two others to be the first to summit one of Pakistan's giants mid-winter). So often climbing movies glorify and sugarcoat the experiences of climbers merely touching on the sheer misery of cold temperatures, hypoxia, and numbness that dogs climbers minute by minute.

"Happy"

USA, 2011, 80 min.

Director: Roko Belic

Producers: Eiji Han Shimizu and Frances Reid

Feature-length documentary that leads views on a journey across five continents in search of the keys to happiness. Definitely makes you think about what you're doing in your life to cultivate more of that much sought after Vitamin-H! ;)

Oktober Film Fest: 7th Annual Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival
Flagstaff, AZ

Picture left: Karen Custer Thurston, Rachel S. Thurston, Heather Roberto, and Steve Abbey. Picture right; Volunteer Ayala, two of the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival Directors Chris Becker and Ron Tuckman, and Filmmaker David Thanh

God I love Flagstaff!
Mama Chihuahua (MC), the Beloved Badger, and I (the Fire Kitten) all share a love for adventure travel and documentary films. Thanks to MC, we've now made it an annual tradition to attend all four days of the Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival set in historic downtown Flagstaff where she lives. For the past week, we've watched 18 hours worth of movies from around the world.... saturating ourselves, immersing, processing, drinking hot cups of chai, munching on popcorn, then going back for more….


The film festival punctuates our year now with its inspirational, moving, and occasionally hilarious short and feature-length documentaries. This year the Festival offered 49 films highlighting all seven continents. I can't recommend this festival highly enough. I've been going to the Banff Film Festival series of winning films that comes through Santa Barbara for the past seven years and the Telluride Film Festival series for the past two years. I've also worked for a couple of different filmmakers as well as dabbled in documentary filmmaking. The Flagstaff Festival features many documentaries in the same vein: action-adventure films intermixed with socially and environmentally-oriented flics. For only $54 we each bought VIP passes which allowed us to see as many films as we wanted as well as the opportunity to have dinner at a gallery and meet other filmmakers visiting for the festival.

For the past several years, I've been wanting to blog more about this festival and give it its proper due! The five directors—Ron Tuckman, Chris Becker, Cameron Clarke, John Tveten, and Kristen Faxlanger have done another fantastic job at putting together a powerful line-up.

I've highlighted some of the more noteworthy films that were among many of my favorites. Several will be available to rent, one has been picked up by HBO, and a few others may be more difficult to get a hold of. For a teaser, I've included a few of their trailers. If any of these catch your fancy, check out their websites for info around venues where you can see them. And by all means, go check this festival out in Flagstaff for yourself!

There were many headlining films which I wasn’t able to make this year but of the ones I saw…these are a few noteworthy ones:


63 Marathons in 63 Days
USA, 2009. 102 min.
Director: Deborah Carr
Producer: Bradley Carr
Incredibly inspiring movie about a young endurance runner, Tim Borland, who decides to raise awareness for a rare, terminal, childhood disease that is affecting 500 kids in the U.S. by running not one, two, three, four, or five marathons in a row but SIXTY-THREE marathons around the country in sixty-three consecutive days with the support of his wife, kids, and best friend/coach as they travel by rv. The movie seamlessly weaves stories of families and children affected by A-T (which degenerates children’s bodies/muscles with each year) wih Borland’s intrepid mission to selflessly spread the word about A-T through the country. Truly inspiring and very well done.

Blast!
USA, 2008. 74 min.
Director: Paul Devlin
Producer: Claire Missanelli
Such a fun, light-hearted, and suspenseful movie about a team of astrophysicists attempting to build and launch a telescope carried by balloon above the atmosphere to record the beginnings of our universe and distant galaxies. Featuring gorgeous photography,Blast showcases a fun team of scientists that seem to keep their spirits up even when they lose their hard drive (painted white) in the snow along a 120-mile stretch of Antarctic ice. I also loved Blast’s brilliant soundtrack that truly captures the spirit and suspense of their expedition.


The Farm: 10 Down
USA, 2009. 93 min.
Director: Jonathon Stack; Producer; James McKay
The Farm: 10 Down is the perfect example of how you should never judge a documentary by its description. By the fourth day of the festival—and unlike Steve--I had little desire to watch a movie following the lives of several prisoners at Angola, the oldest and largest prison in the U.S. set in the Deep South. It didn’t sound like a fun way of spending my last afternoon at the festival…but I got chills in the first few minutes of being introduced to the characters when the narrator’s deep James Earle Jones’-like bass voice came across like a wise grandfather who’s going to tell you a story and lead you somewhere truly grand. And boy did it deliver.

Although this is a follow-up piece to the original film The Farm shot in 1997, it stands strong even on its own.
The Farm: Ten Down is a brilliant piece and one of my top favorites from the festival. Gorgeous raw, blues soundtrack and surprisingly, a really inspiring look at prison reform from within the walls of Angola where the warden is running a highly-esteemed model of a prison where crime and suicide rates are low and morale is relatively high and where prisoners are given the opportunities to “live” and to treat each other with civility and work their way through the ranks of the prison gaining degrees, playing sports, running a television channel, radio station, and a newspaper. The warden is also encouraging victim reconciliation with prisoners and believes with all his heart that some prisoners are capable of rehabilitation and wants to give them the opportunity to have a second chance and prove themselves as leaders.

These are hardened criminals with major sentences…no one with any less than forty years is sent to Angola. Many are murderers, multiple offenders with life sentences and either one chance or no chance at parole. Truly great testament to prison reform.

This is movie-making at its best: When you’re changed afterwards. When you care about the characters. And When you leave the theatre with a lot more questions than you have answers. And when you can’t stop thinking about the film in the days that follow.


Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
USA, 2008. 80 min.
Directors/Producers: Lisa Merton, Alan Dater
This wonderful doc illuminates the lifelong heroism of Wangari Maathai, the Nobel Prize Winner from Kenya who developed the Green Belt Program which has planted forty-five million trees throughout a largely deforested Kenya. If you thought Wangari was just a glorified Janie Appleseed, the movie clearly shows how her tree revolution has played a part in her lifelong struggle to fight for human rights, environmental rights, civic rights, women’s rights, and democracy during years of rule under Kenya’s dictators. From encouraging women to grow their own food and replant their forests to leading a sit-in of women protesting (and consequently beaten) the imprisonment of their sons being held as political prisoners….Wangari has become the Nelson Mandela of her generation. Not surprisingly, she’s the first woman in East Africa to have received a Phd and one of many brave Kenyan souls who has risked her life to fight for her ideals. Two of my favorite quotes from this fiery woman: “Culture is our coded wisdom…” and, while addressing sexist remarks from belligerent adversaries in the political sphere, “We should be focusing on the only anatomy that is appropriate right now, the one above the neck…” Go girl! This woman is a force to be reckoned with.

Oil + Water
USA, 2007. 94 min.
Director/Producer: Seth Warren
Oil + Water is a fun, playful documentary about two unlikely bio-crusaders traveling from the north point of Alaska to the tip of South America in a renovated fire truck that’s been supped up to run purely on recycled vegetable and animal oils that they glean along the way. The two young kayakers remind me a lot of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure through North and South as they blunder their way through borders, police stops, clogged engines, and bad roads……laughing their way through the whole thing. Amazingly, enough press builds around their pilgrimage that, by the time, they make it to Chile, they’re meeting with the U.S. Ambassador and have appeared in multiple news conferences serving as educators and ambassadors of alternative fuels. It’s amazing listening to these guys that they manage to fix engines and navigate their way out of some bad places…and similarly, their lacksidaisical attitudes cleverly disguise their kayaking abilities and resourcefulness as travelers. I would have liked to have seen a longer movie with more details around how they converted their engine and planned for this trip. Although I loved the lightheartedness of the movie, I feel like it almost glossed over every challenge they had too much….leading the viewer to believe it was just one dang fun trip. Which it probably was but misery loves company and an audience, too. ;)


Sand and Sorrow
USA, 2007. 94 min.
Director/Producer: Paul Freedman
Winner of Best Human Interest Film
Although this was not one of my favorite movies at the festival, I feel I have to mention it as well. It’s been picked up by HBO and will no doubt garner even more press in the coming year. Narrated by George Clooney, Sand and Sorrow, is an utterly depressing look at the history of the Darfur Crisis with excellent interviews with leading scholars (including Pulitzer Prizer Winner Nicholas D. Kristof who will be lecturing at UCSB next week) ….who were so articulate that I found myself rapt by their eloquence and how well they nail the politics behind world governments failing to address contemporary genocides.

Although it was clear that Sand and Sorrow was made by people passionate about the cause and included thoughtful footage and history, I feel like it missed the mark on several levels. I’ve seen multiple war movies and have taken a keen personal interest in the holocaust histories of Eastern Europe, Cambodia, and Africa but the movie in its attempt to shock with photos and stories of atrocities went overboard to the point that all the stories just became one big blur and that, by the end of the movie, I felt completely numb. I would have preferred that they had humanized the victims/survivors by following just a few individuals in their daily lives in the refugee camps so we can actually develop a personal connection to them. It felt like the movie was very much intellectualized where the closest we get to any of the main characters are in interviews with scholars and two Africans who work in the refugee camps.

The second way it falled short was in its failure to humanize any of the soldiers in the Janjaweed. If we are to learn from these genocides we must examine how it is that people are so capable of committing such brutal atrocities against their own people. The Janjaweed were never discussed…their ages, their backgrounds, their motivations, nor the culture of violence that has led to this brutal war.

Its final shortcoming was in its length. It was too frickin’ long. I felt like it became the never-ending movie. There must have been over four false endings where it would go dark and then it would flash back to another story line. The editors needed to be more ruthless and cut this movie down by at least twenty minutes. Minimum. I felt so beaten down by the movie at the end that I was annoyed and drained. Sure the interviews were great but there was a lot of redundancy. Sometimes passion in the editorial room breeds blindness and, when filmmakers are so attached to their project’s message, it’s difficult to “kill the darlings” and cut a film down to make it more powerful.

Lastly, any war movie has to leave the viewer with some hope. War Dance one of my favorite documentaries from 2007 and is a perfect example of how a movie so deftly balanced the themes of light and dark when addressing genocide survivors (in this case child war refugees striving to play in a national music competition). As viewers, we must feel that ultimately, although evil things may be happening, that there is hope somewhere and that there are people making a difference.

It’s a shame really. Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh but Sand and Sorrow just left me feeling that, in the Sudan, that’s mostly what remains…a lot of sand and a lot of sorrow.

Afghan Girls Can Kick
Afghanistan, 2007. 50 min.
Director/Producer: Bahareh Hosseini
An excellent look at two parallel stories…a grass roots school in Kabul designed to get kids off the street and into school and Afghanistan’s first all women’s national soccer team. The Kabul-based school empowers young Afghan Girls through education and encouraging them to play sports, something that is still disapproved of by many Afghans and a pursuit which was banned and consequently banished by the Taliban only years ago. One character who stands out is a teacher from the school who goes around Kabul herding kids she finds working out on the street into the protection/guidance of the school. Second memorable character is Roya, a highly disciplined, talented girl on the National Afghan Football (Soccer) Team.


Fridays at the Farm
USA, 2006. 19 min.
Director/Producer: Richard Power Hoffman
Winner of Best Short Film
Beautifully shot film which was really a complilation of 20,000 images that the filmmaker shot during several season working on an organic farm. I saw this one before at the Telluride Festival and really liked the serene beauty of it and the filmmaker’s poetic narrative on developing a closer connection to the food that his family grows and eats. Not an adrenaline or drama-packed movie but sublime and beautifully-done.

Tibet: Murder In The Snow
Australia, 2008. 52 min.
Director: Mark Gould
Producer: Sally Ingleton
Winner of the People’s Choice Award
Wish I could have seen this one! It looks riveting and was supposedly a very powerful movie. We had plans on the last night of the festival with some Flagstaff friends and couldn’t see this one. From what I’ve heard, it’s highly recommended. Check out the trailer here. http://www.tibetmurderinthesnow.com/story.html

Move of the Wall
Slovenia, 2008. 42 min.
Director/Producer: Igor Urtacwik
I’ve seen so many climbing movies over the years that I’ve found many of them--although filmed beautifully and with clever editing and musical touches--often assume that the viewer cares as much about climbing as the stars of it do.
This one seemed to explain why we should care. Perhaps b/c it was shot by Slovenians, but there seemed to be a different feeling to this one. Some excellent camera angles and beautiful tracking, unique use of Jimi Hendrix, and some great, cinematic moments such as two of the climbers sharing their philosophy of climbing as they play chess at a café in Lubjliana. I really liked this one and was charmed by it.


One Crazy Ride
India, 2009. 87 min.
Director/Producer: Guarav Jani
One of the festival favorites
Directed, filmed, and edited by Indian Filmmaker Guarav Jani who also came to the festival this year with another one of its stars, One Crazy Ride is a fun, romp through one of the most remote regions of northern India, Arunachal Pradesh, He and four of his fellow riders from the motor club 60kph, attempt to cross the remote region by motorbike with dodgy maps, roadmarkers, and questionable roads. The movie gains momentum the further into the jungle that the five friends go as they cross rockslides, rivers, and bamboo bridges and pass through tribal villages which have mysteriously gained unreasonable reputations for being fierce and brutal to foreigners.By the end of the movie, you find yourself cheering for the riders and amazed at the obsessiveness that Guarav Has in doing all the filming himself even when he’s riding alone.

Thank you again to the festival directors (Ron, Chris, John, Kristen, and Cameron), to the sponsors, and all the filmmakers!
We can't wait for next year!