Anyways, I was more than delighted to have been an attendee at True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri. I was a volunteer for Saturday and Sunday at the Jesse Hall Auditorium, where I served as an usher, helping people get seated when needed and also passing around a tip hat for bands and solo musicians that played before showings, all of whom I was able to see were great (like this guy).
The people I worked with were very kind, and helped the showings run super smoothly and as expected. I would love to work with them again if I volunteered next year (which I'm easily learning towards). And we all got to see the movies playing in the auditorium for free! ...given that there were seats available, because although there were TVs right outside the auditorium doors projecting the view of the theater screen, the audio was super muffled unless on of the doors was open and subtitles were virtually unreadable. Thankfully, most shows I helped with had seats open which is where 3/4 of my viewings came from.
But let's get into what you're really here for: the films. I actually only got to see 4 films this past weekend, mainly because I got in town a bit later into the festival's run and had volunteer commitments. Regardless, I'm still happy with what I was able to see.
The first film I watched (the only one I saw outside of my volunteer hours) was Boys State, which I actually save my thoughts on for a review probably coming next week.
Second up was Time, the story of an African-American mother whose husband has served 20 years of a 60 year sentence for a bank robbery. She's filmed everyday from a home-video camera since the day of his sentence, with scenes set in the present being filmed by the documentary's director. It's a powerful story, but I felt that much of the experimental filmmaking felt out of place for this and even distracting from the narrative at times. Regardless, I still found this to be an effective enough film that I'd recommend checking it out. It releases this fall from Amazon Studios for those interested.
Third was Mucho Mucho Amor. I had no clue who Walter Mercado even was until the second the film started, but now that I do I can safely say that I appreciate him as much as everyone else has. The film documents his career, disappearance from the spotlight, and current life mainly with interviews with famed Puerto Rican astrologer. It is technically the typical doc we've seen been done before, but its overview of Mercado is so delightful that I can forgive it. The film comes to Netflix sometime this summer.
The fourth and last film I watched was Sunless Shadows, the story of young Iranian girls serving time for having committed murder (mainly out of anger due to being abused), documenting their lives in a detention center, their regrets and their connections to one another. So yeah, this one's pretty depressing. I can't say that all of it fully pays off, but I still cared for the girls enough to the point where I truly felt sorry for them, and the film's portrayal of Iran's patriarchal society and what it drives these women into is devastating. I'm not sure when this one's U.S. release is, but if I find out I'll come back and edit this.
I also got to see snippets of Dick Johnson is Dead, which seemed like one of the best films at the festival from what I saw. I also watched a good, hefty chunk of Feels Good Man, but I wasn't in the theater then and the film had already started by the time I showed up, so I ended up just watching the film of it without any clear audio. It certainly looked visually intriguing, however, and I'd be interested in checking it out later on if given the chance.
One last note is that I was able to see film directors for the first time... even though I didn't get the chance to introduce myself to them, but still actually seeing them was really great! The director of Mucho Mucho Amor even meet with our volunteer group briefly after the film's post-screening Q&A was done, and he gave us free pins like the one below!
So overall, I loved my first film festival. I got to work with some great folks, and when I was just in the theater getting ready to watch a movie, just looking around the dark room, seeing everyone else waiting quietly for the feature to being, I felt like I was at home. I'm certainly looking forward to this festival in 2021, and I can't wait for my next film festival.
The people I worked with were very kind, and helped the showings run super smoothly and as expected. I would love to work with them again if I volunteered next year (which I'm easily learning towards). And we all got to see the movies playing in the auditorium for free! ...given that there were seats available, because although there were TVs right outside the auditorium doors projecting the view of the theater screen, the audio was super muffled unless on of the doors was open and subtitles were virtually unreadable. Thankfully, most shows I helped with had seats open which is where 3/4 of my viewings came from.
But let's get into what you're really here for: the films. I actually only got to see 4 films this past weekend, mainly because I got in town a bit later into the festival's run and had volunteer commitments. Regardless, I'm still happy with what I was able to see.
The first film I watched (the only one I saw outside of my volunteer hours) was Boys State, which I actually save my thoughts on for a review probably coming next week.
Second up was Time, the story of an African-American mother whose husband has served 20 years of a 60 year sentence for a bank robbery. She's filmed everyday from a home-video camera since the day of his sentence, with scenes set in the present being filmed by the documentary's director. It's a powerful story, but I felt that much of the experimental filmmaking felt out of place for this and even distracting from the narrative at times. Regardless, I still found this to be an effective enough film that I'd recommend checking it out. It releases this fall from Amazon Studios for those interested.
Third was Mucho Mucho Amor. I had no clue who Walter Mercado even was until the second the film started, but now that I do I can safely say that I appreciate him as much as everyone else has. The film documents his career, disappearance from the spotlight, and current life mainly with interviews with famed Puerto Rican astrologer. It is technically the typical doc we've seen been done before, but its overview of Mercado is so delightful that I can forgive it. The film comes to Netflix sometime this summer.
The fourth and last film I watched was Sunless Shadows, the story of young Iranian girls serving time for having committed murder (mainly out of anger due to being abused), documenting their lives in a detention center, their regrets and their connections to one another. So yeah, this one's pretty depressing. I can't say that all of it fully pays off, but I still cared for the girls enough to the point where I truly felt sorry for them, and the film's portrayal of Iran's patriarchal society and what it drives these women into is devastating. I'm not sure when this one's U.S. release is, but if I find out I'll come back and edit this.
I also got to see snippets of Dick Johnson is Dead, which seemed like one of the best films at the festival from what I saw. I also watched a good, hefty chunk of Feels Good Man, but I wasn't in the theater then and the film had already started by the time I showed up, so I ended up just watching the film of it without any clear audio. It certainly looked visually intriguing, however, and I'd be interested in checking it out later on if given the chance.
One last note is that I was able to see film directors for the first time... even though I didn't get the chance to introduce myself to them, but still actually seeing them was really great! The director of Mucho Mucho Amor even meet with our volunteer group briefly after the film's post-screening Q&A was done, and he gave us free pins like the one below!
So overall, I loved my first film festival. I got to work with some great folks, and when I was just in the theater getting ready to watch a movie, just looking around the dark room, seeing everyone else waiting quietly for the feature to being, I felt like I was at home. I'm certainly looking forward to this festival in 2021, and I can't wait for my next film festival.
I should also mention that a short film played before Time which was about a young black chorus just singing over shots of their life in their town, but I don't remember what it is called and can't find anything on the internet about it, but if I do find information on it I'll either update the post or just leave another comment.
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