Tag: Camden International Film Festival

Books, Documentaries, Reviews: Semper Fi: Always Faithful

January 23, 2012

Somehow I seem to have not shared with you the amazing weekend in late September/early October we spent at the Camden International Film Festivalk or CIFF, as we know it locally.  We’ve attended almost since it began–maybe missing the first year.  Every year it gets better and better, and it’s been fun watching many of the films we’ve seen go on to national prominence.  CIFF’s national and internationational reputation is growing, growing, so that helps with the quality of the films submitted.

Many of the films have the power to blow holes in the watcher’s head.  This year we saw a number of those.  Among them was SEMPER FI:  ALWAYS FAITHFUL–the story of one of the largest water contamination disasters in U.S. history.  The location, the Marine base Camp Lejeune, where the Marines, for DECADES, covered up the fact that the drinking water was lethal.  The tip of the iceberg here is that this kind of pollution is likely to be found at many military bases and is, also, being covered up.  The hook of the film is that Marine (myth?) is that the Marines are one big family where family members are loved and protected.

Here’s a recent Washington Post story about the film.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/documentary-reveals-how-contaminated-water-at-the-nations-largest-marine-base-damaged-lives/2012/01/10/gIQAfpy4GQ_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

And, here are some other titles to watch for or be aware of:

HELL AND BACK AGAIN–the CIFF opening night film about a 25-year old career soldier whose wounds in Afghanistan mandate his return to a civilian life and to a life where his physical well-being is compromised forever–something young soldiers, who are willing to die during service, somehow, never see coming.

DOWNEAST–this story of the struggtle to replace a closed canning factory way up “downeast” with a lobster-packing business–which replaces 128 lost jobs with new work–garnered a standing ovation from the audience–especially when the audience realized the new owner and his family were present in the audience.  Entrepreneur Antonio Bussone runs headlong into entrenched local politics–to include those on the local boards who also work with lobsters and who do not want his business to come to fruition.  The film is an excellent look at the complexity of local change, of what happens when businesses close locally and move elsewhere–in this case to Canada.

A “SECRET CINEMA” early screening of an unnamed film about a social movement in South Africa protesting evictions from squatter homes near major cities.

Another “SECRET CINEMA” early screening about “the unregulated international machine that produces–though ambition, emotion, greed, hope, disillusionment–beauty.  Set in Russia and Japan (Russian girls are chosen to go to Japan to work as fashion models), the film details the terrible exploitation that occurs to under-age Russian girls.  In many ways, the practices detailed in the film play into the sex trade.

UNFINISHED SPACES–a film set in Cuba about architects chosen in the early 1960s to design and build Cuba’s National Art Schools.  The amazing buildings were halted before they were fully completed–for political reasons–and are now being completed.

BETTER THIS WORLD–a chilling film about two young men from Midland, Texas, who attend the 2008 Republican convention with the goal of protesting.  But, they have been drawn into these actions by a man hired as an undercover government informant.  They are arrested by a zealous prosecutor on terrorism charges, though they did nothing violent.  (They made molatov cocktails, but abandoned them.)  One is turned against the other through threats of prison time and promises of plea bargains.  It’s a terrible story that every American should know.

A program of short films started each day, and for the first time we attended and enjoyed them.

Turkey Tracks: The Camden International Film Festival

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!