Beautiful day in the snow dusted mountains, and of course a stop at Schatt’s bakery is mandatory. Try the English toffee. But don’t stop there: try the fresh baked, often warm from the oven chocolate chip cookies for sale at the Edison, one of the ML Film Fest’s venues.
Now let’s get to the films.
Shorts Block 2 began our film programming, with another eclectic mix of 8 films. The incredible animation matched the Elmore Leonard-esque v/o on the animated The Lingerie Show, a fresh cinematic short story well worth noting. Next up was the delightful comic tale of almost-adultery, The Truck. Below, the film’s charming screenwriter and producer Maryse Latendresse explained that the dryly comic near-sexual-liason was produced as part of a Canadian 72-hour filmmaking challenge project, and that the story line came out of her desire to, as a writer “write about the things we’d like to do but don’t do ourselves.”
Below, Zach Strum and Micah Vassau director and writers of The Panty Symphonic, along with their music director and co-producer, explained the zany, anti-film-school approach to cinema in their surreal film – where a pair of magical panties creates a semi-feminist ideal, and involves a cellist, a last will and testament, and a man in a tutu in a child’s swimming pool. The piece was shot on VHS, which was an interesting artistic choice. Speaking personally, while recognizing the element of craft the buzzy video medium added to the surrealist vibe, the VHS medium was a bit of a distraction from an otherwise mysterious fairy tale set to music.
A standout: A Night in Tokoriki, a Romanian love triangle with a twist, offered a fresh take on a 21st birthday celebration. Lots of buzz around this one, which took awards at the Berlin film fest earlier this year.
Next up, the feature Baby Bump. How to describe: a Polish Pedro Almadovar-esque chronicle of the tribulations facing an 11 year old boy whose mom doesn’t want him to grow up, but puberty is happening all the same. Visually arresting, somewhat surreal, and a universal insight into the mind of an 11 year old boy.
Playing with this film was the short Infinite Water, a delicious animation of pastel-drawn art created by CalArts grad Sunn Liang, below.
Last but not least, Beware the Slenderman from acclaimed doc director Irene Taylor Brodsky, below, with festival programmer Paul Sbrizzi.
Brodsky chronicles the horrific attempted murder of a 12-year-old girl by her two best friends who lured her into the woods to appease the demonic Slenderman, an internet myth. While the film postulates the internet as a possible cause for the crime, a source of psychological terror for two impressionable girls, the more interesting story is that one of the two perpetrators is schizophrenic, the other, who tested completely normal, an outlier who may or may not have sociopathic tendencies. A cautionary tale of urban myth, impressionable youth, and a judicial system intent on punitive consequences regardless of age, this is a compelling doc that is well worth a view.
The second full day of the fest leaves this impression: eclectic, cutting edge, interesting works that shape a persona for this still-new festival as the place to be to see cinema that is thought provoking and unique. Viewing all the films on tap results in an experience unlike other festivals – a mix of genres and unusual and often surprisingly wonderful cinema that you won’t see anywhere else. Slenderman’s director said she looks forward to saying her film was at this well-curated festival when it was still small – and to participating again as it grows. So do we.