Diversions LA

Solid gems in Narrative Shorts Block 5 began our day of filmgoing for the fifth and final day of the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2024 in beautiful Mammoth Lakes.

Tiger Hornby directed Night Milk, which gracefully travels through the coercive nature of a shocking, dark lie; intrusive sexual thoughts; and the toxic mismatch of a lesbian relationship – all while offering rich cinematic images.

Anything Helps from Max DeFalco was an hilarious, street-cast short in which an injured, totally broke and totally irresponsible dad launches a ridiculous  scheme to beg for money by pretending he has cancer – all in order to pay for his broken ceiling. The filmmaker’s improv-like discussion of the shoot should be its own film.

Andrew Michalko’s beautifully filmed Goodnight Dream depicts dream adventures from forest to train station in a sweeping and poetic vision of the magic of the mind.

Deep Fake Apology Video offered a hilarious story that proves even narcissism can be funny. Brooke Bundy & Jerzy Rose directed and wrote this spot-on story of the most toxic sister-in-law ever.

Jordan Wong’s I Would’ve Been Happy used quilt and tile designs and architectural language to shape memories of his family’s domestic spaces and the reasons for a broken home in this moving, lyrical film.

Bogotá Story gives viewers a perfectly crafted personal and political setting in which drug violence, car bombs, and daily power outages, intimately affect the course of a young mother and father’s lives in Bogotá, and the hard choice between her family and the pursuit of her dreams. Esteban Pedraza directed this brilliant and startling film I wanted to see more of.

In Shorts Block 6, The Knee Touch from Miles Triplett is a zany romantic comedy a bit reminiscent of the Fridays comedy film franchise from the 80s.  A house party gone wrong features one love interest and one on-the-lam felon too many in a short that exudes energetic joy and fun.

Carson Culver’s Rabbit focused on a dog with a rabbit-killer streak and how life could be should a persecuted bunny thrive in a darkly comic misadventure.

Nazan, another lovely, magic-infused film from Iran, involves a cruel joke about a tree that makes wishes come true, and what happens when that tall tale reveals itself to be true. Mohammad Mahdi Bagheri directs with haunting loveliness.

In Silence We Echo from Alden Doyle presented an abstract rumination on a couple living in a remote location.

Ethan Mermelstein’s Dad Swap would be right at home as part of a Nathan Fielder project. Here the director hilariously posits that his dad acts like jerk and he’s fine with swapping him out for his father’s best friend while filming a reality show sizzle reel. Terrific comic pacing makes this a whacky and touching delight.

Before we could move on to features, the fest, like half of Mammoth Lakes, suffered a blown transformer and power outage. But after a happily conversation-filled delay, a generator was procured and the film show went on with a screening of Offal Broth, a pitch dark and dry comedy.

Filmed in stunning black and white, Nicholas Tuck’s acerbic Brit wit shines in a sly comedy that follows the story of an enormously up and down toxic relationship by an extremely co-dependent pair of flat mates. The filmmakers and actors came in from Birmingham, U.K. for the fest.

Black Box Diaries from journalist Shiori Itō closed the festival. The film reveals Ito’s passionate and courageous investigation and lawsuit, as well as the publishing of her own book about her terrifying sexual assault. Her journey served as a landmark case in Japan, due to the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems that are stacked against women.

Also viewed but reviewed out of order here was The Last Night in the Life of Death, a semi-surreal, Bergman-esque fairy tale about what happens if the role Death plays in the pageant of life becomes unnecessary. Constructed not unlike Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in 7 segments, Death himself takes a trip into his own fate.  With rich and moody cinematography, a series of psychedelic effects, and original soundtrack, the film moves between dark fantasy and experimental project with ease. Worth noting, the director is just 17, so look for more projects to come.

Also viewed: Phillip Thompson’s short Living Reality. The film starts out as a Friends-like sitcom spoof and edges into an exploration of escapism, depression, and the dichotomy between real life and what we watch to escape from it on TV. The contrasting elements of often scary real life and zany, safe TV life are both relatable and poignant.

Last but not least, Jury and Audience Awards were presented in all categories at a fun awards event and after party – details of the event and the worthy winners will be in our final fest story which runs tomorrow.

Congratulations to all the fantastic filmmakers and the festival founder Shira Dubrovner and program director Paul Sbrizzi for another awesome year – the 10th – at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2024.

• written by Genie Davis; photos: Jack Burke

It would be incredibly hard to top the powerhouse slate of films that Mammoth Lakes Film Festival served up in their 10th year this Saturday.

Both hilarious, inspirational, and moving, All I’ve Got & Then Some follows a day in the life of Rasheed, a homeless stand-up comedian living out of his car in Los Angeles. Based on a true story, both the filmmaker and his on-screen persona adhere to the inspirational credo “today is the best day of my life.”  So much charisma and love on the screen makes this film a true delight, as directed and conceived of by Tehben Dean and Rasheed Stephens, and starring Stephens in a script based on a true story.

Having booked his first paid stand-up gig, Rasheed wings his way through an audition, helps out a supportive and vibrant street walker friend, Rose (a screen-grabbing performance inhabited by the talented Avise Parsons), rescues an adorable fellow car dweller from an attack, and traverses the metaphorical and literal minefield of Los Angeles.

Both super fun and inspiring, Stephens led the MLFF crowd at the film’s q and A in a rousing affirmation of “today is the best day of my life,” just as his film embodied that emotion.

Paired with this feature was a laugh-out-loud riff on fitness obsession in Beyond Failure.  Director and star Marissa Losoya is a winner in a fully relatable short about a woman who thinks she can hip thrust her way into a perfect buttocks and away from her negative internal monologue.

In a deeply serious shift to our viewing, Chloé Leriche’s Atikamekw Suns is a hybrid narrative and documentary.

The film hauntingly depicts the tragic true story of five young people from the Atikamekw First Nation community of Matawan, Quebec in 1977, found dead in a van submerged in a river. The cruel and apathetic response of legal authorities left the suspects responsible to walk free, whether the deaths were due to vehicular manslaughter at the least or a murderous act of racial malignancy.

Both poetic and devastating, the film reveals the loss and suffering of family members and the tribal community at large. The passionate and important q and a following the film included both Leriche and Sean Scruggs, the tribal historian of the Piute tribe of Independence, Calif., near the festival’s location. The erasure of tribal heritage and Native American trauma is a key and ongoing issue in both the U.S and Canada, and requires a spotlight.

 Mediha, from Hassan Oswald with a major creative assist from the brave and brilliant protagonist, Mediha Ibrahim Alhamad, is an incredibly important, astonishing film that depicts the amazing, inspiring bravery of its protagonist. Truly compelling and vital, this intense, brilliant film focused on its titular subject.

Mediha is a 13 year old from northern Iraq when introduced, a member of the Yazidi ethnic and religious minority, and survivor of a 2014 ISIS-orchestrated genocide. Through her astonishing video diaries, Mediha and her brothers create an intimate and intensely moving account of their grief and trauma.

In a q and a following this truly must-see film, Hasan, along with Mediha herself, talked about past, present, and future. Mediha is about to commence college in New York, and is heading toward law school, a once almost unimaginable future for the young survivor trapped in a relocation camp in Iraq after her rescue.

There is no way to describe how inspiring and magnetic Mediha herself is, or the film she embodies. The film is a perfectly realized portrait of this passionate burgeoning activist, sure to make her mark on the world, as one would hope her story will as well.

Enormous kudos to MLFF, Hasan, and of course, Mediha herself, for presenting this story and the ongoing crisis for the Yazidi people. It is as important and moving as filmmaking gets.

The film was paired with Cycles, a beautifully narrative take on a documentary short about a generous, caring, divorced mom who is helping to support her kids as an egg donor. The subject is the sister of co-director Tony Oswald, who created the film with spouse and partner Pisie Hochheim. The film follows its subject to a fertility clinic in San Diego, as she movingly grapples with the effects of her donation on both her body and mind.

As a perfect celebration and release from this day of awe-inspiring filmmaking, what could be better than a rousing karaoke celebration with DJ Maurice at Mammoth Lake’s Bar Sierra? Honestly, we can’t imagine a better conclusion to the day’s perfect programming.

Do you wish you were on a cinematic mountain high? It’s still not too late to attend. For more information, click here.

• written by Genie Davis, photos by Jack Burke

A fine Friday unfolded at today’s Mammoth Lakes Film Festival, the third day of this stellar fest in the scenic Sierras.

First though, a quick take on a film left out of yesterday’s reviews, Unnamed, a short paired with yesterday’s evening screening. The vivid story profiles the challenging life of a trans volleyball pro navigating discriminatory Iranian life.

We began our morning today with another Iranian entry, Winter Threshold, a  documentary feature depicting a pandemic period of stressful education and family life and a mother’s deep love for her son, Kasra. The film also turns inward to Mahsa’s dedication to her son’s education and the hope and loss embodied in her own marriage.

Directed with a careful eye for emotional detail by Soudabeh Beizaei, the reason’s for the father’s jail sentence are unclear as to political or criminal enterprise, but it remains an interesting view of Iranian life during Covid lockdowns.

The film was paired with a German- made lengthy short subject about the difficult journey to the U.S undertaken by a Guatemalan immigrant, in a visceral film from German director Alan Rexroth. The 32 min. short #WAY_Aurelio is part of a quartet of films about one’s place in the world.

Narrative Shorts Blocks 3 was a lively mix of themes. A stand-out for me was the beautifully shot and movingly realized story as a father, separated from his estranged wife, spends a weekend camping with his eight year old, emotionally precocious daughter.  A  Tidy House poignantly depicts the breakdown of her father and the young girl’s caring emotional support. Lushly  shot and emotionally perfect.

The Year of Staring at Noses hilariously chronicles filmmaker and star Karen Knox’s nose job over a three year period, with directors Knox and Matt Eastman using a faux audition for The Bachelor as the impetus for alter ego Samantha’s nose job, undertaken as a quest to find love. Witty and wild, the film quotes and makes good use of the famous Goddard quote about the three elements to make a film: a girl, a gun, and a camera.

Gabriel Bellone’s 1 minute hand-cranked 16 mm piece is his emotional, double-time take on his own mother’s decision to call the police on him with a falsified story about his behavior – at age 10. The short piece Mom is conceived of as part of a broad story about policing, and is intense.  Bellone not only shot on 16mm he edited on a Steinbeck for a raw, gritty look.

Directed and written by Louisiana filmmaker Arcos, Quilly is a richly involving story about a toxic and cyclical relationship that in part hinges on the couples relationship with a crudely handcrafted stuffed animal, their pretend-child. Funny, dark, and intimate, this is a short that makes viewers want to see even more. Arcos has presented other exciting entries at previous iterations of MLFF, and is consistently evocative and resonant as a filmmaker.

Jared Greenberg’s The Girl Who Cried is both a tacky laugh track sitcom, horror story about the gaslighting of a sexual assault victim, and a dog – picture the 2010s FX series Willardgone horror in a fun genre mashup.

The Mojave to Mammoth shorts series is a favorite of mine of MLFF, shaped by local area filmmakers. This year, entries featured three docs and two features.

Documentary screenings included the intense and moving 109 Below. Directed by Nick Martini, the film relates the hazardous stories of rescue volunteers who help climbers lost or in trouble on frigid Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. A rescue in 1982 changed two climbers’ lives, with one of those rescued losing his legs but going on to do incredible work at MIT developing prosthetic limbs. One of the rescuers tragically died saving him. The film Is a moving tribute to these heroes on the mountain.

Tracing History was also deeply moving and beautifully shot as a mother and daughter explore their heritage in the area between Reno and Mono Lake. Chinese American filmmaker Jalena Keane-Lee leads views on a journey of reclamation touring the railroad sites built under extremely hazardous conditions by their ancestors generations earlier.

In the thrilling Never Again, director and climber John Cramer takes viewers on a personal journey along a perilous new route up Mt. Morrison’s extremely dangerous north face. While Cramer and two friends initially claim they’ll never take that route again, they nonetheless return three times to challenge their ability to find a better way up to the peak. Amazing images in an adrenaline elevating tale.

Moving in to narrative shorts, Intruder, directed by and starring Cal Arts masters program student Abbs Stoiber, illustrates a literally present shadowy figure of anxiety and doubt tormenting a college student attempting to find her wings. Stoiber is not only a local filmmaker, as a pre-teen she attended acting programs taught by festival founder Shira Dubrovner.

Extinction Story Origin Story, shot in moody and loving black and white and directed by Terrie Samundra, offers a spooky story of a mysterious event changing the world in which two school friends live, as their LA playground becomes a haunted desert that includes footage shot near Fossil Falls. The production was a family affair featuring Samundra’s daughter and goddaughter, with her husband shooting the lustrous film on 16 mm.

The Other Profile from French director Armel Hostiou explores the idea of truth and lies, fake and real, and the myths of storytelling itself that arises when he pursues the creator of a Facebook account that purports to be him and invites women to audition for his next film, supposedly set in the Democratic Republic of Congo.When Hostiou goes in search of his double, he learns new layers to the real and the fake in a country in which the presidents and even the cemeteries are fake. In the bargain, his fake self becomes his co-director of the film the unfolds, creating a mind-bending take  on what constitutes the truth. The film screened with a short that we didn’t have the chance to view.

The Complex Forms is an absolutely stunning film from Italian filmmaker Fabio D’Orta. If Antonioni and Fellini made a horror film together it would be this beautiful and dread-seeped story set in an ancient villa where desperate people have an opportunity to make a great deal of money by temporarily selling their bodies to mysterious entities in exchange. With escalating horrific appearances by these monstrous aliens, three roommates plan their escape. Eerie and gorgeous, D’Orta is a force to be reckoned with creating seamless digital special effects, shooting in richly evocative black and white on a Black Magic 4 that he has made appear like classic film. D’Orta and program director Paul Sbrizzi conversed and translated in Italian.

The feature was accompanied by a poetic short,  Chrystel Egal’s Freerunner which was amazingly filmed on her iPhone also in black and white. Accompanied by a graceful narration, the film depicts Simon Nogueira, a French Freerunner, Parkour champion and poet. With “invisible wings,” he dances he dances on rooftops, in awe inspiring acrobatic moves. The piece is just one of many studies of unique individuals created by Egal.

The evening ended with a filmmakers bowling party at Mammoth Rock n’ Bowl for great conversation plus pizza and beer. Best fest indeed.

It’s not too late to join in the festival experience and fun – for more info and to buy tickets, click here.

– written by Genie Davis; photos by Jack Burke