From October 15th up until the 29th, I volunteered at the Chicago International Film Festival. Let me just say, that it's been quite a while since I last attended a film festival. The last film festival I attended was the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2011. Karlovy Vary was the first film festival I ever attended and I remember really enjoying it. I watched many films that would probably not be shown anywhere else and reveled in the beauty that is Karlovy Vary. Since then, life got busy for me and I hadn't had the time to go to another film festival. It wasn't until a while back, I decided to sign up as a volunteer for the Chicago one. It was an honor helping out the amazing team behind that festival and I would do it again next year if I had the chance. I met great people and made some great memories. Did I mention one of the perks was seeing a lot of films for free? (I should have mentioned that from the start) And because I intend to use this blog as a way to write out my thoughts on films and other career related experiences, I thought I would share my personal favorites from this year's festival.
HECTOR, UK: Hector is about this homeless man named Hector (duh) who decides to go find his siblings for the Christmas holiday. It's a charming movie and is well worth a watch if you happen to stumble upon it. Yes, it goes in the 'finding your real family' route that many do but just watching Hector go through all of this leaves a good feeling once the film is over.
DANNY AND THE HUMAN ZOO, UK: Okay, so I didn't see this all the way through due to the time but from what I did see, I enjoyed it. Danny and the Human Zoo is a made for TV movie from the UK about this boy named Danny who can do impressions really well. He gets a manager who then exploits him to say the least. In America, the words 'made for TV movie' usually gets a bad knee jerk reaction from cinephiles. When we think of 'made for TV movie' the first thing that comes to mind is Lifetime Original Movies. Yes, there is the exception of HBO making good made for TV movies but they're not the first ones that come to mind. UK TV films seem to try harder and if you told me that this was under that category, I wouldn't really believe it. The bit I saw, was great and I will be sure to hunt a copy of this film down. P.S. For the Harry Potter fans out there: Evanna Lynch is in this and she gives a blowjob to the hero of this film. Yes, that image is still in my head and my childhood died a million times.
A LIGHT BENEATH THEIR FEET, USA: Woohoo! Hometown represent! Okay, more like a nearby suburb that I am pretty familiar with. This film was shot in Evanston and stars the actress who plays Pensatuckey in Orange is The New Black. Here she plays a woman with bipolar disorder and she knocks it out of the park. I love how this film doesn't sugarcoat mental illness (looking at you Silver Linings Playbook) and how her daughter deals with that fact. Her daughter is college bound but is torn between attending to Northwestern so she can stay close to her mother or going far away to UCLA. If there is one complaint I did have with this film, is the daughter's high school drama subplot. But the rest of the film is solid and I do hope it gets a bigger audience.
BITE, CANADA: Oh boy, this is a film that had me torn even when it was over. It's about this woman who is about to get married but discovers a bug bite from her bachelorette party that doesn't seem to go away. Let me just say that most of the audience (myself included) spent more of the time laughing than being scared. I am unsure if this was supposed to be intentionally campy and bad or if the filmmakers were actually trying to be terrifying but backfired. In a strange way, I still recommend it just so I can see what other people think of it.
MONSTER WITH A THOUSAND HEADS, MEXICO: This year, Mexico had many entries in the Chicago Film Festival including the much talked about The Thin Yellow Line. The only one I really was able to see was this film. This film is about a woman whose husband is terminally ill but their health insurance will not cover his treatment. What does she do? She holds the doctor and insurance people hostage until they can treat her husband. I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire film and wondering how far this woman was going to go to help her sick husband. My parents would often say how health insurance in Mexico is just as bad as it is in the U.S. and maybe even worse. After seeing this film, I believe it but at the same time I ask myself: has anyone in the US done this yet?
UNDERGROUND FRAGRANCE, CHINA: Underground Fragrance was this year's New Directors winner at the festival. Much like Monster With A Thousand Heads, this film also delves into a problem that is very common in China but regarding with the construction and living. It is about this young man who becomes temporarily blind after an accident while helping with a construction site. He lives in this underground apartment with other people and develops a relationship with a young lady who works as an exotic dancer. The other story at play is a couple trying to sell their land but can't seem to get it anywhere. I love the realness of this film and the ending is perfect. When I saw this film, the director was there for a Q and A and was asked if he intended the film to end the way it is. He mentioned that he had three different endings but chose this final one. Honestly, for what the film is, it was the best ending. Go see it to see if you agree.
A CHILDHOOD, FRANCE: Think of this film as the French version of Boyhood. Except, it wasn't shot over 11 years but it would make a great double feature with Boyhood. A Childhood won the top prize and rightfully so (although not my favorite but I'll be getting to that soon). It's about this boy and his brother who practically raise themselves because their mother is too busy partying and getting high with her abusive boyfriend. The child actors in this, make the film work. If they had picked different children, it would have gone downhill very fast.
And what was my personal favorite film at this year's Chicago International Film Festival?
MUSTANG, TURKEY: Do you remember The Virgin Suicides? Mustang is pretty similar to that film (also directed by a woman) but it's set in Turkey and add super conservative Islam to the mix and there you have it. The film centers around five girls who play with some boys after school is out for the summer holiday and word gets to their grandmother. Their uncle decides, despite the fact that they were not fooling around with the boys, that they will never leave the house again until they're married off. Add to the fact that they take away anything that may corrupt their purity from books to clothes to the computer. We follow the girls and how they deal with their new situation. I really like stories that challenge society at large and it was nice seeing it from a different point of view. I am more familiar with the Christian point of view of remaining pure until marriage and I did know some Muslim women growing up. They would often talk about how some families are very strict with dating and how a girl must conduct herself around boys. I recommend this film to all women and I hope to see more from this director if this is what she creates.
That's it for the film festival! Now, back to go moping and wishing it was next year already. Or, I could just get tickets to upcoming film festivals. I'm ready for the Polish Film Festival.