Saturday, February 20, 2016

Apparently we didn’t miss anything by skipping last night’s movie; the film was corrupted and couldn’t be shown so they reran Brooklyn, a movie we had already seen. They hope to have the Friday night feature film available for showing at another date.

This was a full day of films – a real test as to whether or not we wanted to be there.

Sugar Coated

We started at 10 AM with Sugar Coated. Although we always knew sugar was bad for us they make a link between the increase in several metabolic diseases and the increase in sugar consumption. There is also evidence that the sugar industry covered up, bought or slanted information in much the same way the tobacco industry did. Needless to say there were no sugary treats purchased for the remainder of the day.

Haida Gwaii: On The Edge of the World

This was a beautiful documentary on the Haida Gwaii area of Northern BC, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. I’ve always wanted to visit the area and this film did nothing to change that. A very strong group of people that reminded me somewhat of the community we have in Powell River.

Ever the Land

This was probably my least favourite film of the festival. I expected a more in-depth look at the life of the aboriginals of New Zealand but the documentary focused on one aboriginal tribe during the construction of their community centre – the first building in New Zealand to meet the Living Building Challenge specifications..

The Lady in the Van

Everyone wanted to see this film – the Saturday night performance was sold out, as was the extra showing they scheduled for Sunday afternoon. My understanding from last night was that there were still tickets left for the third screening. And no wonder it was so popular – how often do we get to see Maggie Smith in a starring role. I loved the movie so much that I’ve placed a hold on the book from the library. It comes back through our Cinematheque series and I just may go again!

Friday, February 19, 2016

Landfill Harmonic

It is hard to imagine a less-likely place for an orchestra to come from than the slums of Paraguay. Cateura is a community on the very edge of South America’s largest landfill . When an Environmental Technician is assigned to the landfill to assist in sorting and recycling the waste, he starts a small orchestra for the children using instruments made from recycled products found in the mounds of garbage that arrive daily. The  Recycled Orchestra of Cateura has toured all around the world and played with such superstars as Megadeth and Metallica. I liked that even after they became well-known, they were still playing on their recycled instruments.

My Internship in Canada

Souverain is a young Haitian man who has come to Canada to be interviewed for the position of assistant to a independent Quebec MP, Guibord. When Guibord realizes he came all that way just for the interview he hires him on the spot. Guibord’s riding winds its way through First Nations territory, with rising tensions between resource development, supply routes and native land rights. When Guibord becomes the deciding vote on whether or not Canada goes to war in the Middle East, Souverain suggests he should poll his constituents before deciding. His constituents are more interested in setting up road blocks than they are about any possible war. His family is divided with his wife for the vote and his daughter against it. All these manoeuvrings are being sent home to Haiti via Souverain’s new iPad with his entire town weighing in on the decision.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

The festival often features the short films of some of Powell River’s own film makers. Give’r in the River was a compilation of three short films. Follow the link and you can see the fun!

All the Time in the World

This was an excellent documentary about a family who leaves the “real” world behind to live in the Yukon bush for nine months. They have no road access, electricity, or running water, and no clocks or watches. The story is told mainly through the words of the children, aged 10, 8 and 4.

This is my favourite film so far – but there are days to go and many more movies to see!

Tender

The documentary is about a community in Australia who are attempting to take after-death care away from funeral homes and bring it back into the home. During the course of the filming, one of the members of the community centre was diagnosed with terminal cancer and suddenly everything became much more personal. I thought this would be a hard movie to watch; I certainly had lots of tears, but it wasn’t as difficult as I expected.

There was an interesting panel discussion following the movie to discuss end-of-life challenges and options in our community. In Powell River we are already well prepared; we have trained Hospice volunteers, aware caregivers and doctors, a death midwife in training, and a section of the cemetery that is designated for green burials.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The festival always starts out with films aimed to various levels of school-aged children and the appropriate grades of all the schools are in attendance. They can be noisy affairs, but overall the kids are all well-behaved.

The Prophet

We started out with Khalil Gibran’s The Prophet. I noticed in the listing that Salma Hayek and Liam Neeson were the stars; had I read further I would have seen that this was an animated film. Each of eight poetic essays of Khalil Gibran’s were animated by a different artist and it was interesting to see the differences in their work. The music for the animations was also delightful.

Second Mother

Although this first feature film of the festival was good, it didn’t seem to be a strong opener. It is the story of a woman, Val, who has left her own daughter, Jessica, to go to work as a maid/nanny for a wealthy couple. When Val’s daughter comes to live with her mother while she studies for and writes her university entrance exams, the differences in their points of view cause friction for everyone.