"In the world which is upside down, the true is a moment of the false."
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| rock and roll means fuck "In the world which is upside down, the true is a moment of the false." |
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Monday, September 08, 2003 whew. after four days of no sleep, cold pizza and warm beer, ciiff6 is in the books. this year's fest was a very different animal than last year's edition. it was considerably smaller in scope (last year we screened 87 films in 6 days, this year's numbers were 35 films in 4 days) but was a pretty major success nonetheless. (we had a budget about one third of what we had last year. the grant money we received from cac just doesn't exist anymore. i sure hope those iraqis become the free-est folks on the freakin' planet.) anyhoo, some highlights from this year's fest: senorita extraviata , an unflinching feature length doc about the continuing mystery of the young women, mostly workers at the infamous maquilladores of jaurez, who keep being kidnapped and killed in horrible, horrible ways. the film, by the incomparable lourdes portillo, is really difficult to watch at times, but absolutley riveting in its unflinching and relentless quest for answers. these are crimes that could be solved if those capable of doing so really wanted to solve them. pretty sick actually. an amazing film all around. an important film. decasia. oh, my. what to say about this film? is it an absolutely brilliant synthesis of moving pictures with avant garde symphony or an excercise in highbrow hipster wankerism? honestly, i can most sincerely make both arguments. being somewhat of a supreme filmgeek, i can appreciate what the the filmmaker and the composer are trying to do here. i really can. i think what they have produced is brilliant. it's beautiful. it's kinda creepy. it has to be seen to be believed. i can also see how anyone could say that "it ain't nothing but a bunch of goddamned splotches on film with music that makes me feel like i'm havin' some sorta bad trip". i can totally understand how someone could see this film and say, "i've always heard of shit like this, but, damn, this shit is kinda freakin' me out." as for the visuals, the whole schtick is the violence that has been done to the film itself. these are all films that were found in basements and such and has been soaked, burned or just simply rotted away. hence, the whole "symphony of decay" thing. i love the film, but i can appreciate how some folks would consider it nothing short of a massive waste of time. you either get it or you don't. love it or hate it. there really is very little middle ground with this one and i seem to have a foot in both camps. we lost about a third of the audience before it was over. i expected to lose more than that. tom hits his head is a freakin' gem of a short. the word that comes to mind is "clever". cleverly written. cleverly photographed. very clever art direction and design. cleverly acted and very, very cleverly edited. simultaneously funny as hell and creepy as fuck. it's a winner. yes? oui? ya? is a genius little retro reconsideration of "found" film. funny. cheesy. oddly erotic. visually and sonically yummy as hell. very, very fun. there were some lowlights as well. i'll spare them for this evening however as it's 2:30 in the am and i have absolutley got to get some snoozes. i've got lots o' cool pics to post as well. i missed shrub's speech but i've got it on tape. i'm sure i'll have something to say about that soon. 87 billion more bucks for the war that just keeps on giving? i need to sleep on that one for a bit. galaxie 500: "fourth of july" " i stayed at home on the fourth of july. i pulled the shades so i didn't have to see the sky. i decided to have a bed-in, but i forgot to invite anybody. " posted by downtown | 5:44 AM |
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Cost of the War in Iraq
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