Audience Member
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[size=3][b]What the Festival Is[/b][/size]
Now recognized as the premier documentary film festival in the United States by both The New York Times and indieWIRE, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (formerly the DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival) celebrates the powere and artistry of documentary film. The festival was founded in 1998 by Nancy Buirski and is presented in association with The New York Times. Full Frame is an international home for documentary filmmakers. The festival embraces the documentary as an essential art and champions the documentary filmmaker as an important witness to society.
[b][size=3]My Take[/size][/b]
I hadn't heard of this festival until back in November of 2004, and I was glad to learn that there was such a large film festival in my area (Durham, NC, about half an hour away from my house). I had heard that you could become a volunteer and receive a Volunteer Pass (about a $150 dollar value). So, I willingly applied and was able to get in. Then, once meetings had started, we were able to preview some docs that were going to be screened at the Festival. Over the course of the following months, anticipation rose greatly, and everyone was ready to become apart of such a prestigious festival.
The festival finally arrived and was swung into full gear. The filmmakers, the filmgoers, the staff, the volunteers, locals---everyone was there. On opening night, we (volunteers) were actually able to get into the Opening Night film---[b]Bearing Witness[/b]. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't denied a single event (including [i]An Evening With Martin Scorsese[/i]). The people I met, the events, everything was great. It was truly an experience of a life time.
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The Films[/b][/size]
There were over 100 films at the four-day festival.
[b]Films Seen (out of 10):[/b]
-[i]Hardwood[/i] (6)
-[i]Bearing Witness[/i] (7.5)
-[i]Mighty Times: The Children's March[/i] (8.5)
-[i]Winter Soldier[/i] (8)
-[i]Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room[/i] (9)
-[i]39 Pounds of Love[/i] (9.5)
-[i]For a Miracle[/i] (7)
-[i]Murderball[/i] (9.5)
-[i]Shake Hands With The Devil[/i] (8)
-[i]Same Sex America[/i] (7)
-6 Short Films by Vittorio De Seta (first time screened in US) (10)
-[i]The Children of Leningradsky[/i] (9)
-[i]Gray Matter [/i](5.5)
-[i]After Innocence[/i] (9)
-[i]Wetback: The Undocumented Documentary[/i] (9.5)
[b]Films to Look Out For In Theaters[/b]:
-[i]Murderball
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[/i]"Murderball" is like a documented sports movie, but with a crisp edge and a heartfelt story. The tradgedies don't lie with how the quadriplegics came to be that way, but how they handle it. An adrenaline rush of a doc.
-[i]Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
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[/i]"Enron"combines the Rock 'n' Roll style of Michael Moore with the down-to-the-facts style of a mathematical documentary. This will be the uncontroversial Fahrenheit 9/11 of this year.
[b]Award Winners:[/b]
[u]Full Frame Grand Jury Award (Split)
[/u]Murderball
Shape of the Moon
[u]Full Frame Audience Award
[/u]Murderball
[u]Full Frame Jury Award for Best Short
[/u]Good Times
[u]Honorable Mention
[/u]Max by Chance
[u]Full Frame Content + Intent = Change
[/u]After Innocence
[u]Honorable Mention[/u]
Occupation: Dreamland
[u]The Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award
[/u]Our Brand is Crisis
[u]Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award
[/u]The Self Made Man
[u]Honorable Mention[/u]
Hardwood
[u]Seeds of War
[/u]Why We Fight
The 3 Rooms of Melancholia
[u]Full Frame Spectrum Award
[/u]Wetback - The Undocumented Documentary
The Color of Love
[u]Full Frame Women in Leadership Award
[/u]The Education of Shelby Knox
For descriptions of awards, go to [url="http://www.fullframefest.org/"]www.fullframefest.org[/url]
[size=3][b]Martin Scorsese
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[/b][/size]When first joining up with this film festival, I thought I had little chance of being able to see the filmmaking legend that is Martin Scorsese. However, when the day came up (Saturday) for Scorsese to be there to present his Tribute to Vittorio De Seta, I was able to get in without a hitch. Scorsese has a great knowledge of cinema (as expected) and a good eye for framing (when talking about other people's work as well). He clearly understands the messages being communicated through every shot of De Seta's 10-minute documentaries (which are beautiful). Sorry if this sounds like hero worship, but the man knows film.
Then onto the main event---An Evening with Martin Scorsese. I had waited over an hour outside hoping to get a chance to get in, and with great luck, I got not only a seat, but a seat in the First Balcony (there were two and volunteers usually had to sit in the Second Balcony). It started by showing clips for about 15 minutes from Mean Streets, Raging Bull, the King of Comedy, and Goodfellas. When asked about each one of these, he explained as follows...
Mean Streets - The scene in the back of the bar when De Niro is talking to Keitel about the 20 bucks he owed someone that he was supposed to pay Tuesday. Scorsese explained that the entire monologue from De Niro was improvised and his idea to do in the first place, saying that it would "better establish the character." He also said that all the names mentioned by De Niro in this monologue were real people that both filmmakers had grew up with living in New York City.
Raging Bull - The scene in which La Motta is being pounded and pounded by Sugar Ray until the match is called for Ray. Little was said about this clip other than the television announcer was an actual announcer from the 40s and 50s of televised boxing.
The King of Comedy - First a clip from the FBI agents and a lawyer arguing, and then another one of De Niro being arrested for kidnapping by those same FBI agents. As it turns out, the lawyer was actually Scorsese's lawyer at the time, and the FBI agents were real FBI agents. The main agent was camera-shy and had to be poked by his fellow agents whenever it was his turn to say a line.
Goodfellas - Two clips---the first one is the famous entering into the Copacabana shot and the second one of Pesci, De Niro, and Liotta going to Pesci's character's Mom's house where a feast ensues. When questioned as to why Scorsese had never really done another long tracking shot like the one mentioned again, he responded that this entire shot tells a story, and that it shows that this is the highest that Liotta's character will ever be in the mafia. And about the second clip, he revealed that almost that entire dinner table conversation was improvised by the actors and Scorsese's mother, including Pesci talking about the painting---"I like this one. One dog's going one way, and the other's going the other way. Then this guy's like, "whaddya want?"
Then they continued on to show a clip from Scorsese's documentary "Italianamerican." He said that he wanted to illustrate the life of Italian-Americans by simply setting up the camera and talking and interacting with his parents.
Then it got to questioning time (only 4 were asked, one not being mine---"What one film had the most influence on you as a filmmaker and why?"). The first question was a waste, as it wasn't really a question but instead a statement, "I feel like I've been punched in the face with violence...but I love your movies." I'm wondering what films of his she had seen. None of the questions were that interesting other than "What makes a film worthy of nomination by the Acadamy Awards?" Scorsese answered that it was completely subjective, and it's completely up to the Acadamy. So not that interesting of an answer for an interesting question, but I don't know how else one might respond.
So that's all for this "report." If you have any questions about a certain film and what made it good or mediocre in some cases, simply ask and I shall respond.
Feel free to give me opinions (other than the shotty writing).
(Ratings of personal favorites above report, seems RT doesn't have 39 Pounds of Love in their database. This saddens me)[size=3][size=2][size=1] [/size]
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Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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