Best of the Fest is "Pray The Devil Back to Hell", a documentary directed by Gini Riticker, 72 mins., about the women who took over the seat of government in Liberia.
It will be shown at the Hooker Dunham on Saturday, March 28th at 7:00,followed by Best in Fest runner-up, "Who Does She Think She Is?", at about 8:15, a film about women artists struggling to be both artists and raise their children.
And don't forget final bidding on art in the Visions show happens between 5:30 and 7:00, same place, while enjoying WFF's catered refreshments.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Final WFF Event!
The 18th Women’s Film Festival Closing Party and Visions Silent Auction final bidding on March 28th
Visions, a non-juried show and silent auction of painting, sculpture, and fine crafts by women from the Brattleboro area will receive final bids between 5:30 to 7:00 at the 2009 Women’s Film Festival Best-in-Fest Closing Party on Saturday, March 28th., at the Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery.
Diverse and multigenerational in nature, professional and amateur artists alike, the Visions art show exhibits a true kaleidoscope of women’s creative spirits. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Women’s Crisis Center.
A wonderful array of refreshments will be served.
Following final bidding, at 7:00, there will be a screening of the film that wins the viewer choice award. Check the website:
Check back here Thursday for the winning film!
Visions, a non-juried show and silent auction of painting, sculpture, and fine crafts by women from the Brattleboro area will receive final bids between 5:30 to 7:00 at the 2009 Women’s Film Festival Best-in-Fest Closing Party on Saturday, March 28th., at the Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery.
Diverse and multigenerational in nature, professional and amateur artists alike, the Visions art show exhibits a true kaleidoscope of women’s creative spirits. Proceeds from the auction will benefit the Women’s Crisis Center.
A wonderful array of refreshments will be served.
Following final bidding, at 7:00, there will be a screening of the film that wins the viewer choice award. Check the website:
Check back here Thursday for the winning film!
Some Audience Responses to the WFF
An experiment taping audience responses on Sunday, March 22, 2009 at the WFF using a low tech flip video camera. Sound and picture quality a bit poor but as you continue to watch, the conversation picks up some momentum and shows audience engagement with the films. Thank you ladies for sharing your candid thoughts and feelings!
Posted by Jacqueline Gens
MORNING AFTER, March 23, 2009 by Joyce Marcel
The films have been shown. The cards have been filled out. With slightly blurry vision and yet elevated consciousness, we await word on which movie will be chosen "Best of The Fest."
Remember, there's a closing party and a final screening of your top choice, along with the closing of the "Visions" silent art auction, at the Hooker-Dunham on Saturday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Here's my personal summary:
Number of films seen: 15 out of 27. I thought I had seen almost all of them, so this final count surprises me.
Personal choice for "Best of the Fest": "La Corona." I've been thinking about why I loved this film, and I've decided that part of it is because, for the time being, victimization is over for the women in the film. There are few men in their lives. There is little violence. We get to see them moving on, even if it's in a desperate pit of a place like a maximum security female prison in Bogota, Colombia. We see their joy and their striving for something better, even if it's only a crown in a prison beauty pageant. The film really centers on the women's personalities, and some of them are unforgettable.
Second choice: "Rain," just because it was so beautifully shot, so wonderfully acted, so honest, and because it tells us something we may not have wanted to know about the underbelly of life in the Bahamas.
Third choice: "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." Even though we have to endure war, rape, theft, brutal dictators and all the rest in the first half of this film, it has a happy ending. So far.
Heroines I had never known about but whom I now adore: Patsy Mink, who brought us Title IX, and the women of "Pray the Devil Back to Hell."
Most unforgettable film: "20 Seconds of Joy." Just because of the amazing footage of Karina Hollekim flying off of one cliff after another. No matter what I might think of adrenaline junkies, the footage makes me feel like I'm flying, and that's thrilling. I'll never understand Hollekim and her friends, but I'll never forget them, either. And I'll probably never stop screaming whenever she jumps off a cliff.
Best historical story: "Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm." This film, with its strange camera angles and unfortunate reenactments, is not a good film. But I love the story. Here's to the female orgasm, whenever and wherever you find it. (Hint: usually somewhere around the clitoris.)
Film genre I appreciated the most: The documentaries about artists. Alice Neel, Kay Ryan, Patti Smith, the creative women of "Who Does She Think She Is" -- It was important for me, as a writer, to watch other artists and their struggles.
Film I wish I had been strong enough to see: "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo." It wasn't just me. I was in the New England Youth Theater on Wednesday, and after "To See If I'm Smiling," which is brutal enough, almost the entire audience walked out before this film. It's just too much pain, I think. Does that make me a coward? Yes.
Film I enjoyed least: "'Bama Girl." Who cares who becomes homecoming queen at the University of Alabama? Not worth 75 minutes of my time.
Ripped from the headlines: "To See If I'm Smiling," the film about female Israeli soldiers coming to terms with their own inhumanity, anger and cruelty. I saw it just days before the men of the Israeli army publicly did the same thing.
And that's it. It's time to thank the Women's Film Festival once again for giving me the chance to write this blog, to thank Jacqueline Gens for her complete excellence in running the site, to thank you all for reading, and a special thanks to those of you who commented.
Say goodbye, Joyce.
Goodbye, Joyce.
Remember, there's a closing party and a final screening of your top choice, along with the closing of the "Visions" silent art auction, at the Hooker-Dunham on Saturday, March 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Here's my personal summary:
Number of films seen: 15 out of 27. I thought I had seen almost all of them, so this final count surprises me.
Personal choice for "Best of the Fest": "La Corona." I've been thinking about why I loved this film, and I've decided that part of it is because, for the time being, victimization is over for the women in the film. There are few men in their lives. There is little violence. We get to see them moving on, even if it's in a desperate pit of a place like a maximum security female prison in Bogota, Colombia. We see their joy and their striving for something better, even if it's only a crown in a prison beauty pageant. The film really centers on the women's personalities, and some of them are unforgettable.
Second choice: "Rain," just because it was so beautifully shot, so wonderfully acted, so honest, and because it tells us something we may not have wanted to know about the underbelly of life in the Bahamas.
Third choice: "Pray the Devil Back to Hell." Even though we have to endure war, rape, theft, brutal dictators and all the rest in the first half of this film, it has a happy ending. So far.
Heroines I had never known about but whom I now adore: Patsy Mink, who brought us Title IX, and the women of "Pray the Devil Back to Hell."
Most unforgettable film: "20 Seconds of Joy." Just because of the amazing footage of Karina Hollekim flying off of one cliff after another. No matter what I might think of adrenaline junkies, the footage makes me feel like I'm flying, and that's thrilling. I'll never understand Hollekim and her friends, but I'll never forget them, either. And I'll probably never stop screaming whenever she jumps off a cliff.
Best historical story: "Passion & Power: The Technology of Orgasm." This film, with its strange camera angles and unfortunate reenactments, is not a good film. But I love the story. Here's to the female orgasm, whenever and wherever you find it. (Hint: usually somewhere around the clitoris.)
Film genre I appreciated the most: The documentaries about artists. Alice Neel, Kay Ryan, Patti Smith, the creative women of "Who Does She Think She Is" -- It was important for me, as a writer, to watch other artists and their struggles.
Film I wish I had been strong enough to see: "The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo." It wasn't just me. I was in the New England Youth Theater on Wednesday, and after "To See If I'm Smiling," which is brutal enough, almost the entire audience walked out before this film. It's just too much pain, I think. Does that make me a coward? Yes.
Film I enjoyed least: "'Bama Girl." Who cares who becomes homecoming queen at the University of Alabama? Not worth 75 minutes of my time.
Ripped from the headlines: "To See If I'm Smiling," the film about female Israeli soldiers coming to terms with their own inhumanity, anger and cruelty. I saw it just days before the men of the Israeli army publicly did the same thing.
And that's it. It's time to thank the Women's Film Festival once again for giving me the chance to write this blog, to thank Jacqueline Gens for her complete excellence in running the site, to thank you all for reading, and a special thanks to those of you who commented.
Say goodbye, Joyce.
Goodbye, Joyce.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
SUNDAY March 22, 2009 by Joyce Marcel
My pick for "Best of Fest" is "La Corona," a film that unexpectedly swept me away. Don't really have a reason; with films, it's all intuitive, isn't it? You're watching something and at some point you realize you're feeling, "Wow! This is great!"
So I'm happy to report that "La Corona" will be shown an extra time today, along with "La Americana," at the 6:30 p.m. program at the Hooker-Dunham Theater.
RAIN by Maria Govan
Other than "A Sense of Wonder," in which Kaiulani Lee writes and then performs the words of Rachel Carson in two of Carson's own homes, "Rain" is the only fictional film I've encountered at the festival. And I loved it.
With documentaries, the discovery (or the lack of - see my comments on "Bama Girl" on Saturday) of the story and the deep truth of it depend on realism.
In a fictional narrative, the director is free to set up the shots. So "Rain" is beautiful frame by frame and shot by shot. Govan uses the colors of the Bahamas to stunning effect, so that her characters are often seen solo against large and luscious swaths of color - the turquoise of the Caribbean, the crumbling yellow wall of a church, the white of the sand.
"Rain" is the story of a lithe young girl named Rain who grows up - painfully innocent - on small, bucolic Ragged Island in the Bahamas, and comes to the big city - in this case Nassau Town - in search of her mother after the loving grandmother who has raised her dies.
The mother, Glory, turns out to be a crack whore living in a world of numbers running, dice-playing, AIDS and drugs. The neighborhood is called "The Graveyard," because no one ever leaves.
Yes, it's a different Bahamas than the one you see from the bloated white cruise ships in the harbor, which seem more like large wormy maggots than pleasure boats in this film.
In fact, in one scene, a preacher warns his congregation - big-hatted black women and besuited men - that dreaded homosexuality comes to the Bahamas on these boats. My instinct was to shake him by the collar of his shiny suit and yell, "You've got people smoking crack in your own community, you dork. You've got AIDS. Wake up to the real dangers here!"
Glory herself is almost completely sunk into a world of hurt. She does not know or care about herself. Her eyes are vacant. Her mouth is open and bewildered. She's lost.
Then this young girl arrives and finally awakens her maternal and self-protective instincts.
Glory is played by a wonderful actress, Nicki Micheaux, who is giving the performance of a lifetime here. When she describes how she gave birth to Rain, squatting alone in a pouring rain, it's absolutely thrilling.
Rain can run, and she finally finds some comfort and nurturing from her track coach, CCH Pounder, a fine actress who shows up often on American television. And speaking of good performances, the grandmother is the richly warm Irma P. Hall. Even the great Bahamanian-American actor Calvin Lockhart has a part - his last before he died.
In fact, newcomer Renel Brown, who plays Rain, is the only one whose emotions appear impenetrable. But that may be because she is a young girl playing a young girl who is being bombarded with negative impressions and is trying to absorb and process them.
In fact, all the acting is remarkable here. You're even impressed by the evil crazy guy who tries to rape Rain - but doesn't succeed.
This is the first feature film from Govan, who was born in the Bahamas and has done several documentaries.
She "examines how different generations of women both support and destroy each other, and reveals how an oppressed community can still find something to hold sacred," writes Jane Schoettle at the Toronto Film Festival Site (http://tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/rain.) "At the same time, she explores the emotional life of a young black girl who must find inner direction and strength while drifting in a world hostile to her.
"With a strong visual aesthetic and an even stronger cast, Rain shakes off our postcard perceptions of Bahamian life to show us the beauty and dark complexity that lies between Ragged Island and the Nassau few tourists see. That it does this with depth, delicacy and nuance makes for a rewarding audience experience, and marks Govan as a talent to watch."
Video interviews with some of the cast can be found at http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com.
This was a beautiful film, as well as an emotional roller-coaster ride. In fact, I was so overtaken by this one that I made it the only film I saw on Saturday.
So I'm happy to report that "La Corona" will be shown an extra time today, along with "La Americana," at the 6:30 p.m. program at the Hooker-Dunham Theater.
RAIN by Maria Govan
Other than "A Sense of Wonder," in which Kaiulani Lee writes and then performs the words of Rachel Carson in two of Carson's own homes, "Rain" is the only fictional film I've encountered at the festival. And I loved it.
With documentaries, the discovery (or the lack of - see my comments on "Bama Girl" on Saturday) of the story and the deep truth of it depend on realism.
In a fictional narrative, the director is free to set up the shots. So "Rain" is beautiful frame by frame and shot by shot. Govan uses the colors of the Bahamas to stunning effect, so that her characters are often seen solo against large and luscious swaths of color - the turquoise of the Caribbean, the crumbling yellow wall of a church, the white of the sand.
"Rain" is the story of a lithe young girl named Rain who grows up - painfully innocent - on small, bucolic Ragged Island in the Bahamas, and comes to the big city - in this case Nassau Town - in search of her mother after the loving grandmother who has raised her dies.
The mother, Glory, turns out to be a crack whore living in a world of numbers running, dice-playing, AIDS and drugs. The neighborhood is called "The Graveyard," because no one ever leaves.
Yes, it's a different Bahamas than the one you see from the bloated white cruise ships in the harbor, which seem more like large wormy maggots than pleasure boats in this film.
In fact, in one scene, a preacher warns his congregation - big-hatted black women and besuited men - that dreaded homosexuality comes to the Bahamas on these boats. My instinct was to shake him by the collar of his shiny suit and yell, "You've got people smoking crack in your own community, you dork. You've got AIDS. Wake up to the real dangers here!"
Glory herself is almost completely sunk into a world of hurt. She does not know or care about herself. Her eyes are vacant. Her mouth is open and bewildered. She's lost.
Then this young girl arrives and finally awakens her maternal and self-protective instincts.
Glory is played by a wonderful actress, Nicki Micheaux, who is giving the performance of a lifetime here. When she describes how she gave birth to Rain, squatting alone in a pouring rain, it's absolutely thrilling.
Rain can run, and she finally finds some comfort and nurturing from her track coach, CCH Pounder, a fine actress who shows up often on American television. And speaking of good performances, the grandmother is the richly warm Irma P. Hall. Even the great Bahamanian-American actor Calvin Lockhart has a part - his last before he died.
In fact, newcomer Renel Brown, who plays Rain, is the only one whose emotions appear impenetrable. But that may be because she is a young girl playing a young girl who is being bombarded with negative impressions and is trying to absorb and process them.
In fact, all the acting is remarkable here. You're even impressed by the evil crazy guy who tries to rape Rain - but doesn't succeed.
This is the first feature film from Govan, who was born in the Bahamas and has done several documentaries.
She "examines how different generations of women both support and destroy each other, and reveals how an oppressed community can still find something to hold sacred," writes Jane Schoettle at the Toronto Film Festival Site (http://tiff08.ca/filmsandschedules/films/rain.) "At the same time, she explores the emotional life of a young black girl who must find inner direction and strength while drifting in a world hostile to her.
"With a strong visual aesthetic and an even stronger cast, Rain shakes off our postcard perceptions of Bahamian life to show us the beauty and dark complexity that lies between Ragged Island and the Nassau few tourists see. That it does this with depth, delicacy and nuance makes for a rewarding audience experience, and marks Govan as a talent to watch."
Video interviews with some of the cast can be found at http://www.movingpicturesmagazine.com.
This was a beautiful film, as well as an emotional roller-coaster ride. In fact, I was so overtaken by this one that I made it the only film I saw on Saturday.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
SATURDAY March 21, 2009 by Joyce Marcel
Well, it's finally happened!
Every year, some film comes along that makes me fall in love. I never know which one it's going to be. It's certainly never the ones I preview at home. For some reason, it's always one of the ones I've never heard of, or which don't sound too promising, or I have to force myself to see. And then boom! I'm swept away.
Last year it was "Time to Die." Last night it happened with "La Corona."
I also have a film I'd like to name as "shuck of the season," but I'll get to that in a minute.
As a note, the Hooker-Dunham (did anyone else go to the New England Youth Theater first, like I did?) was packed for the 6:30 films. The volunteers had to put out extra chairs. The audience seemed to be split between men and woman, which is a great thing. And there was a line out the door for the 8:30 vibrator movie, "The Passion and Power."
It's more fun when a lot of people show up.
LA CORONA ("The Crown") by Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
This film, subtitled, about a two-day beauty pageant in a maximum security prison in Bogota, Colombia, was nominated for a 2007 Academy Award in the best short documentary category. For more about it, go to: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/lacorona/synopsis.html
El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) prison is a pit. But once a year, with the misgivings of its tough-as-nails female warden, each cell block nominates a candidate for "reina," or queen. Then the six nominated convicts - a hired killer and a few armed robbers among them - prepare and then compete as if it was a regular beauty pageant.
"It gives them a glimmer of hope," says Laisa, a Colombian soap opera star and pageant judge. "For a moment they feel like they are free."
Two women stand out. Maira is the hired killer. "I have killed, many times," she says. She's serving eight years. The most conventional beauty, she lost the crown last year and is very determined.
Angela has darker skin and is more lively than the others. Her husband was murdered with "five bullets in his head." She's in for robbery and assault, mostly grocery stores, and is finishing up a three-year sentence. Her life may have been hard, but there's a light inside her that is missing in the others. "You have to have a lot of balls to do this," she says.
The filmmakers struggled with access, but you would never know it. We see and feel life as it is lived in the prison - shared cells with rickety televisions, dreadful food, lots of bars and locked doors.
We watch as the contestants practice. We see the cellblock residents become cheering squads for their chosen representatives. We watch as the warden gets involved and loves every minute of it. (She also seems to love Maira.)
There's a casual and elegant acceptance of lesbian relationships in prison and also in the film. "God said to love one another; He never said who," Angela says.
There's a talent contest - the six contestants do national dances, some of them with male prison guards.
The costumes and dresses are loaned. The makeup and hair people are professionals brought in for the event. The judges are minor league celebrities. The Colombia media covers the two-day pageant.
The contestants have to answer difficult questions. Maira stumbles over "If you were president of the country for a day, what would you do for the children." Who wouldn't stumble over that one?
A delighted Angela wins the crown. For a moment, Maira looks like she would kill again. Then she breaks down in tears. "Don't worry," says the warden, embracing her. "You're the prettiest. Don't forget, you're the prettiest."
The residents of the losing cellblocks adjust to the loss. "The judges are corrupt," say some. "They chose the black girl," say the racists. "It was fixed," say others.
One month later, Angela's time in prison is over. The cameras return to watch her embrace her tearful lover and go through the heavy metal gates. We see her walking alone down a dark, empty street, pulling her suitcase with the crown and the scepter behind her. No one meets her. She is fragile and absolutely alone. It breaks your heart.
The film ends on a simple note (spoiler alert): "In memory of Angela, who was murdered in the streets of Bogota soon after her release."
This film moved me. It offers so much life and energy, so many interesting characters, so many things to think about.
It's been shown on HBO. It can't be rented from Netflix. But you should find a way to see this film.
Think and Discuss: Beauty pageants? Really?
'BAMA GIRL by Rachel Goslins
For me, this was the most disappointing film of the festival (so far - we have two days to go). At 75 minutes, it was way too long. The McGuffin (see Hitchock) was not worth pursuing - who cares who's going to be homecoming queen at the University of Alabama?
But worse, the film did not deliver on its promise - a racial breakthrough, a black girl as homecoming queen for the first time in decades.
This is how the film is pitched: "A charismatic black woman at the University of Alabama runs for Homecoming Queen, going up against a century of privilege, tradition, segregation, and a secret association of all-white fraternities. Despite all this, Jessica Thomas is determined to win the crown."
This is what it was: "Say yes to Jess" mounts a determined campaign to be homecoming queen. "My face is different from the rest," she says. She's certainly a confident woman, very motivated and very smart. She doesn't win, but she's one of the "court" - the four runner-ups. Also in the court: a girl of Indian descent, another African-American, and an independent (not a sorority girl). So it's not really about race, is it?
This film is an advertisement for Jess's future career in broadcasting, nothing more.
Even though the film is set up within a racial context - we see the traditional snarling dogs, the headlines about the four little girls who were blown up in the church, Rev. Martin Luther King leading a march, even a (staged?) shot of Rosa Parks on a bus - this late in the game, white exclusivity is a ship that has passed.
Jess belongs to one of several African-American sororities. Indian and Asian students abound. OK, one white fraternity sponsors an "Old South" weekend with Confederate uniforms and hoop skirts. But this is Alabama; what do we expect? Raised consciousness? Really?
The only real subtext this film finds, and it finds it too late, is "the machine." This is a secret 50-year tradition of white male (and later female) domination that supposedly controls the school. Born long ago - and still thriving in the white fraternities and sororities - the members of the machine decide who will win each school election, whether it is for homecoming queen or for student government. Their candidates win because they have the power of organized voting blocks.
What makes this in any way noteworthy is that these machine members go on to run the government of Alabama and influence the government of the United States. Lawyers, judges, congressmen, senators and mayors are among them. But you will find this kind of thing at almost every school harboring a wealthy and entitled majority. A far more interesting documentary would focus on it, alone.
Or on Skull & Bones at Yale, for example. That secret society produced the worst president ever.
Back to the film. After 75 minutes of endless campaigning, and after 4,600 people vote, the homecoming queen turns out to be the only bland sorority blonde with too-white teeth in the contest.
OK, point made. But really, why should we care?
Let's call this one the "shuck of the season" and leave the thinking and discussing for another day.
Every year, some film comes along that makes me fall in love. I never know which one it's going to be. It's certainly never the ones I preview at home. For some reason, it's always one of the ones I've never heard of, or which don't sound too promising, or I have to force myself to see. And then boom! I'm swept away.
Last year it was "Time to Die." Last night it happened with "La Corona."
I also have a film I'd like to name as "shuck of the season," but I'll get to that in a minute.
As a note, the Hooker-Dunham (did anyone else go to the New England Youth Theater first, like I did?) was packed for the 6:30 films. The volunteers had to put out extra chairs. The audience seemed to be split between men and woman, which is a great thing. And there was a line out the door for the 8:30 vibrator movie, "The Passion and Power."
It's more fun when a lot of people show up.
LA CORONA ("The Crown") by Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
This film, subtitled, about a two-day beauty pageant in a maximum security prison in Bogota, Colombia, was nominated for a 2007 Academy Award in the best short documentary category. For more about it, go to: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/lacorona/synopsis.html
El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) prison is a pit. But once a year, with the misgivings of its tough-as-nails female warden, each cell block nominates a candidate for "reina," or queen. Then the six nominated convicts - a hired killer and a few armed robbers among them - prepare and then compete as if it was a regular beauty pageant.
"It gives them a glimmer of hope," says Laisa, a Colombian soap opera star and pageant judge. "For a moment they feel like they are free."
Two women stand out. Maira is the hired killer. "I have killed, many times," she says. She's serving eight years. The most conventional beauty, she lost the crown last year and is very determined.
Angela has darker skin and is more lively than the others. Her husband was murdered with "five bullets in his head." She's in for robbery and assault, mostly grocery stores, and is finishing up a three-year sentence. Her life may have been hard, but there's a light inside her that is missing in the others. "You have to have a lot of balls to do this," she says.
The filmmakers struggled with access, but you would never know it. We see and feel life as it is lived in the prison - shared cells with rickety televisions, dreadful food, lots of bars and locked doors.
We watch as the contestants practice. We see the cellblock residents become cheering squads for their chosen representatives. We watch as the warden gets involved and loves every minute of it. (She also seems to love Maira.)
There's a casual and elegant acceptance of lesbian relationships in prison and also in the film. "God said to love one another; He never said who," Angela says.
There's a talent contest - the six contestants do national dances, some of them with male prison guards.
The costumes and dresses are loaned. The makeup and hair people are professionals brought in for the event. The judges are minor league celebrities. The Colombia media covers the two-day pageant.
The contestants have to answer difficult questions. Maira stumbles over "If you were president of the country for a day, what would you do for the children." Who wouldn't stumble over that one?
A delighted Angela wins the crown. For a moment, Maira looks like she would kill again. Then she breaks down in tears. "Don't worry," says the warden, embracing her. "You're the prettiest. Don't forget, you're the prettiest."
The residents of the losing cellblocks adjust to the loss. "The judges are corrupt," say some. "They chose the black girl," say the racists. "It was fixed," say others.
One month later, Angela's time in prison is over. The cameras return to watch her embrace her tearful lover and go through the heavy metal gates. We see her walking alone down a dark, empty street, pulling her suitcase with the crown and the scepter behind her. No one meets her. She is fragile and absolutely alone. It breaks your heart.
The film ends on a simple note (spoiler alert): "In memory of Angela, who was murdered in the streets of Bogota soon after her release."
This film moved me. It offers so much life and energy, so many interesting characters, so many things to think about.
It's been shown on HBO. It can't be rented from Netflix. But you should find a way to see this film.
Think and Discuss: Beauty pageants? Really?
'BAMA GIRL by Rachel Goslins
For me, this was the most disappointing film of the festival (so far - we have two days to go). At 75 minutes, it was way too long. The McGuffin (see Hitchock) was not worth pursuing - who cares who's going to be homecoming queen at the University of Alabama?
But worse, the film did not deliver on its promise - a racial breakthrough, a black girl as homecoming queen for the first time in decades.
This is how the film is pitched: "A charismatic black woman at the University of Alabama runs for Homecoming Queen, going up against a century of privilege, tradition, segregation, and a secret association of all-white fraternities. Despite all this, Jessica Thomas is determined to win the crown."
This is what it was: "Say yes to Jess" mounts a determined campaign to be homecoming queen. "My face is different from the rest," she says. She's certainly a confident woman, very motivated and very smart. She doesn't win, but she's one of the "court" - the four runner-ups. Also in the court: a girl of Indian descent, another African-American, and an independent (not a sorority girl). So it's not really about race, is it?
This film is an advertisement for Jess's future career in broadcasting, nothing more.
Even though the film is set up within a racial context - we see the traditional snarling dogs, the headlines about the four little girls who were blown up in the church, Rev. Martin Luther King leading a march, even a (staged?) shot of Rosa Parks on a bus - this late in the game, white exclusivity is a ship that has passed.
Jess belongs to one of several African-American sororities. Indian and Asian students abound. OK, one white fraternity sponsors an "Old South" weekend with Confederate uniforms and hoop skirts. But this is Alabama; what do we expect? Raised consciousness? Really?
The only real subtext this film finds, and it finds it too late, is "the machine." This is a secret 50-year tradition of white male (and later female) domination that supposedly controls the school. Born long ago - and still thriving in the white fraternities and sororities - the members of the machine decide who will win each school election, whether it is for homecoming queen or for student government. Their candidates win because they have the power of organized voting blocks.
What makes this in any way noteworthy is that these machine members go on to run the government of Alabama and influence the government of the United States. Lawyers, judges, congressmen, senators and mayors are among them. But you will find this kind of thing at almost every school harboring a wealthy and entitled majority. A far more interesting documentary would focus on it, alone.
Or on Skull & Bones at Yale, for example. That secret society produced the worst president ever.
Back to the film. After 75 minutes of endless campaigning, and after 4,600 people vote, the homecoming queen turns out to be the only bland sorority blonde with too-white teeth in the contest.
OK, point made. But really, why should we care?
Let's call this one the "shuck of the season" and leave the thinking and discussing for another day.
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