Turkey Tracks: October 11, 2010
The Camden International Film Festival
Small Towns, Big Films
One reason I’ve gotten a bit behind on this blog is that we spent last weekend at the 6th annual Camden International Film Festival, or CIFF. This year it was clear that this festival has made a name for itself. We’ve enjoyed this CIFF weekend since we moved to Maine, and it’s really exciting to see how CIFF has grown, how it has acquired now major sponsors, and how well attended it is by people in the industry.
The films are all documentaries. And, from Thursday to Sunday night, about 45-50 films are screened in venues in Camden, Rockland, and this year, at the CellarDoor Winery in Lincolnville. The Winery held VINFEST this same weekend, and the final film, by Ian Cheney (KING CORN and THE GREENING OF SOUTHIE)–a work in progress–was viewed under the stars or from the inside of the hugest tent I’ve ever seen. (The film is about the loss of darkness with the growth of urban development and light pollution.)
What makes viewing each film special is that often the film is followed by a question and answer period led by representatives from the film–the director, sometimes producers, sometimes a panel of people who are experts in the film’s area of coverage. Viewers often can find out what has happened since the film was finished. And, if the film is about particular people, sometimes they are in the audience and come forward after the film is finished so we can meet them. It can be an exciting experience.
We always have a terrible time choosing which films to see because films that look really promising often overlap. And, we can only see so many movies in any one day before becoming brain-dead and having major fanny fatigue. But, many of the films shown will go on to a general release in about a year and can be found on Netflix. You can preview the films shown this year at www.camdenfilmfest.org. And, each has a web site where you can read more about the film.
Movies that stood out for us were as follows: you may want to try to see them next year some time:
BUDRUS–the opening film on Thursday night was about a nonviolent Palestinian protest to having their land taken by Israel during its building of its perimeter wall.
MY PERESTROIKA–a film about 40-something Russian adults who attended the same local elementary school and who lived through the tumultuous time of enormous social change in Russia.
DREAMLAND–a film about Iceland, where the development of cheap energy (electricity from abundant rivers) led to Alcoa aluminum locating plants there that would begin to spoil untouched, gorgeous land. Visually stunning.
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 9–an innovative, lyrical, artistic film by a middle-Georgia (Ft. Valley and Forsyth) man. This film is quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The title is taken from Robert E. Lee’s last orders to his troops at Appomatox, and the film, like Lee’s orders, is a confession of failure. In the case of the film, it is a failure to understand the urban world, and it is the mourning of the loss of a deep attachment to the land.
ON COAL RIVER–Massey energy has removed over 500 mountains in West Virginia (and in other states) in order to take out coal. The mountain tops are dumped into the valleys, which pollutes the water and the air and which sickens nearby people. The land is utterly despoiled. This is a shocking and scary movie that lets one know what AVATAR was really about. The equipment is huge, just as it is in AVATAR. As with DREAMLAND, local politicians have sold out the little people.
SUMMER PASTURE–nomad herders in Tibet take their yaks to summer pasture in China. Their way of life is changing rapidly, as life has changed for other migratory herders across the world. The novel, WOLF TOTEM, by Jiang Rong, details a similar story in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.
I am already looking forward to attending CIFF next year!
Louisa Enright's Blog 
Tankograd, a Russian film by a Danish film-maker, was also excellent…the story of a modern dance company operating in Russia’s most radioactive city. The quiet cough of one of the dancers, evident to the observant, was a reminder that even the most hopeful and creative were on borrowed time.