DC Film Fest

"Pirated Copy" - Written and Directed by He Jianjun.
This film is about the economic strife in Beijing and it set among the world of DVD piracy. The documentary-ish style worked well for the story. This would have made an interesting 50 minute film but it was padded with unbearably long takes up to an astonishing 89 minutes. I don't expect to ever hear from it again.

"Dalecarlians" - Written and Directed by Maria Blom.
A Swedish "Home For The Holidays"
This is not an internation hit - it's just a really good film about all the stuff you only get with family.
Premise - a woman, who has lived in the city for 15 years, goes home to her parent's country-side house to celebrate her father's 70th birthday.
This is a film about your family knowing you so well that they stop actually seeing you and everyone fails to notice who each other has really become.
This is one of those movies about family that is, at once, funny and heartbreaking.
If you can find this film - Ii recommend it. Then, after you see it, go tell your family you love them.

"Hawaii, Oslo" - Written by Harald Rosenlow Eeg / Directed by Erik Poppe
A shorter, much simpler, more direct, and Norwegian "Magnolia".
- a man escapes from jail on his brother's birthday.
- the brother is going to marry a girl he hasn't seen in 11 years.
- the girl's purse is stolen by two kids (brothers) who's father just passed away and who's mother walked out when they were born.
- the mother is found OD'd by the papergirl.
- an ambulance driver rescues the mother and delivers a baby.
- the parents of the newborn are told their baby won't live past the next few days.
- and one man had a vision of it all and has conspired with fate to set things right.
This is a really good flick. I can't imagine that it will ever get any play in the States but if you see it on DVD - give it a chance.

"Short Cuts" - various
This was the festival's short film program.
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"Bebe" - John Fiege, USA
Daddy is busy meditating and tells his daughter, Bebe, to go outside because she is making to much noise. Outside, Bebe watches as a cyclist stops to go skinny dipping. Bebe then steals his cloths. The cyclist chases her up to the house where the father offers the man some tea while he finds Bebe. Bebe throws the cloths on the ground and plays with the dogs. This was a boring, trite, and uncreative short. I was offended when the crowd gave it a standing ovation. (the writter / director was at the screening and the crowd was being polite but this short was so bad the writter / director should have apologized).

"Viands" - Jose Antonio, Spain
A delightfully disturbed story of a man that stops by a quaint little restaurant for lunch. The master chef, Papandrev, won't let the man leave until he has tasted every one of the chef's delicious creations. Rated: "This film will make you skip lunch" for scenes of intense and violent force-feedings.

"Milo 55160" - David Ostry, Canada
Milo works in Heaven's processing department. He is a bureaucratic St. Peter. This was the best short of the set. It is super funny and original. I hope it makes it onto a DVD collection of shorts so that more people get to see it.

The Perpetual Twilight of Gregor Black - "Nigel Atkinson and Huw Davies", UK/Scotland
Oh, Look! An experimental art film.
Man wakes up, hides wife's shoes, and walks to work.
Work appears to be a shack on a cliff with a skylight and a peephole.
Someone throws a rock through the skylight.
The man collects the rock and heads home.
Meanwhile, the wife wakes up, hunts for her shoes, and goes to work.
She works as a consessions girl at the local theater.
A boy buys an ice cream and some drips on the woman's shoes.
The manager comes over and licks it off the shoe and the woman looks embarrassed.
She returns home, puts her shoes away, and goes to bed.
The man comes home, sees that his wife found her shoes, places the rock on a shelf with a bunch of other rocks, and goes to bed.
The End.
I give this film credit for playing with rear-projection.
Thats about it.

"Stop!" - Mathijs Geijskes,
A film within a film within a film within a film within a play within a tv show within a film within a film within a film within a film within a play within a tv show within a film...
Uber-meta. Points for it being cyclical.

"Among Thieves" - Oscar Daniels, USA
A tear-jerker about a man that trades his life to end the suffering of an elderly woman. This was the other good short in the program.

"Little Terrorist" - Ashvin Kumar, India
This is the film that won the Academy Award for best Short Feature. It won because it has war-torn countries, a couple of religions (that hate each other, of course), tolerance, intolerance, and child abuse all in the span of 15 minutes. This is a film that banks on the viewer agreeing that differing views of God is reason enough for war. Oh, and that beating children is funny.
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"Kontroll" - written and directed by Nimrod Antal
Budapest subway ticket enforcers have a rough job. They are harrassed, spit on, and beaten daily - and that's just what they do to each other.
One such employee will stop a madman, find, love, and get a good nighht's sleep before all is said and done.
This is a tense and funny film full of great characters and unbelievable situations - and it all happens on the Budapest subway. This is a film to see. It is available on PAL DVD and should be getting an NTSC transfer in the near future. By all means, check it out.