Image via WikipediaBob and I participated in the 2011 True/False Film Festival in Columbia. Bob has done this on his own for years, two years ago I participated a bit, last year I was still recovering from cancer and this year, went full out and saw 11 movies! The True/False Film Festival is all documentary films. 2009 True/False is documented here.On Friday we saw two movies, Resurrect Dead, and La Bocca del Lupo . Resurrect Dead was a film about the Toynbee Tiles. These mysterious tiles have appeared in roadways in the east and midwest US and in various parts of the world. La Bocca was a love story.
Saturday was the marathon day! We saw five films! Life in a Day, a film about July 24, 2010, The Interrupters, about a group of former drug lords and gang leaders who have dedicated themselves to ending violence in Chicago streets, The Black Power Mix Tape, a set of films was found in a Swedish radio station basement about the Black Panthers. This film showed me a side that I didn't know... about the social reforms the Black Panthers were a part of. Project Nim was about the chimp who learned sign language and what happened to the chimp after the project, and then Shut Up Little Man. This film was about a couple of men who audiotaped their neighbors tirades full of cursing and name calling. It became a cult thing and this film documents the men who were being taped.
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| Director of Nim and Nim's caretaker |
Sunday was a four film day. We saw Blood in the Mobile, which is about the mining of minerals to make our electronics, especially our cell phones. We saw 14 year old boys crawling deep into the earth to mine these minerals, getting paid little, with militant groups making a huge profit which they use to fund their civil wars. Next we saw El Bulli, Cooking in Progress. This was about a famous chef's restaurant and the creative process they go through to develop new cooking techniques. Beautiful, exotic food. Armadillo was about the Danish forces in Afghanistan, and our last film was Buck. Buck is about the original horse whisperer. Fabulous and my favorite of the event.
We had a lot of opportunities for Q and A with directors or the main people in the films. It was incredible to meet the director of Project Nim and Blood in the Mobile. Such brave people!
Already looking forward to next year's festival. I highly recommend it!
