I have been a total film slut this past week, seeing as many films and film conference panels as I could. This film festival has really delivered in its 10th year. I've seen something like 15 films maybe 18 and won't bore you with all the details, but there have been some highlights for the Film Conference and the Festival. On the star-gazing tip, I saw Robert Duvall, met Robert Rodriguez, saw Woody Harrelson and Wiley Wiggins (both of whom are total hotties), saw Tony Shalhoub, met and served a pint at BD Riley's to Pauly Shore & Bob Odenkirk, and best of all met Wavy Gravy, a hero of the psychedelic era. I'll post on the documentaries first, then maybe narrative stuff tomorrow.
Go Further is a Ron Mann documentary featuring Woody Harrelson and a cast of "green" friends on a hilarious and thought-provoking 1300-mile bike tour from Seattle to LA. Followed by a film crew and a hempseed oil-fired bus, hilarity ensues as they ride, meet ordinary folks and stop along the way to speak at colleges on "living with a light footprint," using renewable energy sources, recycling, eating organically and such. It avoids being preachy while delivering an important message, and participation by a former production assistant (i.e. coffee go-fer) from the Will & Grace set, a decidely NON-green regular guy hooked on cigarettes and junk food, trying to survive while surrounded by militant vegans is hilarious. This should see wider release thanks to Woody's participation. See the Chronicle article on it as well.
My Flesh and Blood is an unforgettable look at a mother of 2 who adopts 11 more children, each with special needs ranging from severe burns to missing limbs to terminal illness. Far from the tear-jerker it might have been, documentarian Jonathan Karsh paints a portrait of unforgettable charcters with a dramatic arc rarely seen in scripted narratives. Wow. I was blown away. Due to air on HBO/Cinemax later this year or early 2004. It's in IMDB and I hope it finds video release.
Flag Wars won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature and I think it deserved it. It asks, but does not always answer hard questions about the gentrification of an older, predominantly afro-American neighborhood in Columbus, OH, and follows the progress as gay couples move in, put up a rainbow flag and start to rehab. Compelling and poignant cinema verite, absent the usual interviews and "talking heads" that might have broken the flow of the saga.
A Certain Kind Of Death details in gritty, disturbing fashion the kind of death we never really think about: people who die alone, without family nor friends to take care of the arrangements, or even find the body. Filmed with members of the LA Coroner's Office and various LA bureaucracies, the bodies (and remaining possessions) here are sort of grisly "batons," handed off till they finally get "county dispo." Part detective saga, part social commentary, the film is gritty and disturbing, but as compelling as a train wreck. See a short Chronicle review on it as well.
Where were you 10 Years Ago Today when the web, as we know it burst into existence?
I remember downloading Mosaic in late 1993 after reading a gushing editorial on it in PC Week. I had just started at a little company called Tivoli and had a fast internet connection (256 kbps, a partial T-1 line at the time) for the first time. The guy who wrote the article was a major editorial voice at PC Week (now execrably renamed "E-week"), Peter Norton maybe, and he said something like "...not only is this the best free software I have ever seen, it may be the best piece of software I have ever seen..." or words to that effect.
I downloaded the source code, compiled it for SunOS (Yikes, what a geek I was!) and quickly agreed; I haven't stopped surfing since.
That December, an article on the front page of the business section of the NY Times, timed to hit during the first "Internet World" trade show, drew national attention to this new thing, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Where were you 
