"Dear Sidewalk. . ." An Open Letter to the Sidewalk Film Festival

Dear Sidewalk Film Festival,


Thank you so much for yet another fantastic weekend of films. I was delighted to watch eight documentaries over the two-day period. Plus, there was the fun of being surrounded by like-minded folks who love film, love talking about film and love nothing more than to be in a darkened movie theater watching movies.

I don’t know that I really had a favorite this year but the most surprising documentary for me had to be Where Soldiers Come From. I honestly didn’t know what to expect and it went way above those limited expectations. It reminded me of The Deer Hunter, except, you know, without the Russian Roulette.

However, Sidewalk, I have to admit, I am worried. I am worried that in the afterglow of such a wonderful 13th year, you will be tempted to over indulge. To gorge yourself on your success and lose sight of what makes you so wonderful year after year. I worry because I watched this very thing happen with another good friend of mine – City Stages. It was devastating to watch helplessly as City Stages slowly but surely moved away from what made it special so that it simply collapsed under the weight of its own excess.

It was just three short years ago that you were all about films all the time (and, yes, the terrific parties). Then last year you decided to experiment with some sideline entertainment and a food vendor or two. It was an okay effort but nothing to crow about and even I criticized the food vendors for being non-existent around noon on a Saturday.

But this year the whole “sideline” idea was taken to another level with the introduction of Sidewalk Central – an area carved out specifically for music and food. I enjoyed myself to a certain extent, although I have to say I am always amazed at food vendors who set up shop at these types of events and run out of food. But even as I enjoyed myself, I found myself disturbed by the notion that I was being drawn away from the real reason I attended Sidewalk – to see movies.

As you know, that’s what you are all about, really. A great way for film lovers to get together with filmmakers and others to enjoy documentaries, narratives, shorts, and animation in intimate environs. Your strength comes from the knowledge that you are focused on one thing and one thing only – film.

My concern is that you have been tempted to stray from this focus and to dabble in musical acts and food vendors. I am asking you to please stay focused on what it is that makes you special – to me and others. Love of film. Don’t get distracted by the siren call of a musical stage or too many food vendors or monkeys riding pigs (okay, I’ll be honest, I would probably drop in to see that).

Right now, it’s just a small worry but it’s one that I felt compelled to bring to your attention. I think you’re great, Sidewalk, and I humbly ask the you stay true to who you are. All about film. All the time.

Sincerely,

Bret Pippen
Film Fan

Quick Movie Review: Sidewalk Film Festival XII Wrap-Up

It’s a weekend created for movie geeks like me.


The 12th Annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival wrapped up last weekend, and it was terrific. As with any event of any consequence, you’re going to run across some issues here and there – the Sidelot on Saturday was a bust, there were sound issues here and there, there was some odd logistical issues at some of the parties, but for those of us whose idea of a good time is simply sitting in a darkened movie theater, it provided a plethora of options.


On the weekend I saw five full length documentaries, one full length narrative film, eight narrative shorts, four animated shorts, and seven documentary shorts. I did not see anything that I absolutely hated. Below you will find my wrap-up on certain films and shorts.


As with many films that are screened at small film festivals like Sidewalk, the films noted here are not yet available for rent and, unless you live in a large city like New York or Los Angeles, they are not appearing at your local cineplex. So. . .make a note of the ones that interest you and then watch for their release on DVD or look for them on a movie channel like HBO or Sundance or IFC.






Teenage Paparazzo (2009)

This documentary feature opened Sidewalk XII. It was a packed house at the Alabama Theater that watched this doc directed by Adrian Grenier (yes, of HBO’s “Entourage”). It gets behind the scenes with the paparazzi by focusing on a particularly interesting paparazzo – Austin Visschedyk, who is 13 years old. Yes, 13. Austin runs around all over Hollywood at all hours of the night and morning trying to capture photos of celebs. If you get a chance to see this doc (it is showing on HBO), take a look. It’s absolutely fascinating when focused on Austin and his paparazzi friends. The problem is that it gets way bogged down in its own seriousness. Lots of Adrian gazing at his own navel. Lots of Adrian talking. Lots of Adrian talking to other people. Someone needed to tap Adrian on the shoulder and say, “Hey, you need to cut about 20 minutes off this thing.”



The Thing About Being an Assassin

This 9-minute narrative short was directed by Alabamian Chris Hilleke and was one of the best narrative shorts I saw at Sidewalk. I am a sucker for shorts – narrative or otherwise – because of the discipline it takes to make a good one. And this is a good one. It is tense and has a great ending. Visit Chris’ website and see photos of his other work. . . http://chrishillekefilms.com/.

 


Marwencol

This documentary directed by Jeff Malmberg tells the story of Mark Hogencamp. Mark was brutally beaten outside a bar several years ago. He was beaten so severely that his face needed to be reconstructed and he needed to essentially re-learn the most basic of skills. As part of his therapy, he began to manipulate Barbie dolls and other dolls to create his own fictional World War II town. This is one of the most fascinating documentaries I have ever seen. When it ended, I was disappointed. I wanted more. Malmberg directs this doc as a doc should be directed – turns the camera on and gets out of the way. The detail of the town and the dolls has to be seen to be believed. Visit the website for trailers and info. . .http://www.marwencol.com/





Exit Through the Gift Shop

This documentary provides an interesting behind the scenes look at street art. Specifically the film was set out to be developed by a Frenchman, Thierry Guetta, but it eventually was finished by Banksy, the famous British(?) street artist. As everyone knows, you exit through the gift shop after having been taken for a ride at an amusement park. There has been debate about the authenticity of this doc. While I believe that much of what the doc portrays is true, it isn’t necessarily factual. In other words, yes, I believe we have been duped. Regardless, the doc is a good one and worth your time.






The Parking Lot Movie

This was my favorite surprise of the Festival. I was late getting out of one venue and had to trot to the next venue to catch this documentary. I got in there about five minutes late and wasn’t sure what I would find. What I found was an engaging and incredibly funny film that tells the story of the parking lot attendants who manage the corner parking lot in the business and entertainment section of Charlottesville, Virginia. These are mostly male grad students who have to deal with people every day and every night who park on the lot and, many times, argue about paying. What a great and surprising find!






Make Believe

Each year Las Vegas plays host to the annual World Magic Seminar. If you are a magician, this is the place to be each and every year. However, the big event at the seminar is the Teen Magician World Championships. This fascinating documentary takes us behind the scenes by featuring six of the world’s best teen magicians. And when I write “best,” it is not hyperbole. These five boys and one girl are the best of the best and they come to Vegas to be crowned champion. Lance Burton is a former champion. J. Clay Tweek directed the doc and made a point of shooting all of the tricks being performed in one take so that there is no hint of special effects. Each kid featured is interesting in their own way and the tension leading up to the competition is intense. And that intensity only gets turned up to 11 when the competition begins.






Dogtooth

Uh. . .yeah. . .this Greek film is weird. It was one of the Festival’s spotlight films and, most likely, you won’t be seeing it anytime soon at The Rave. Directed by Giorgos Lanthimos the film focuses on a familh living on a fenced-in country estate. You know something’s up from the opening frame when the three children are listening to a recording that is telling them the wrong word for objects. Turns out that the children are not allowed outside the estate, watch only home movies, aren’t allowed to talk on the telephone, and live in an extremely controlled environment – an environment completely controlled by their father and mother. The tension is palpable and then is released more than once with an explosion of violence. Then there is the odd sexual component. In my row at the Alabama Theater, only one couple left – letting us all know that they weren’t watching anymore of this crap. No doubt, it is incredibly different and will leave you scratching your head.

 Sunday Shorts

On Sidewalk Sunday, I spend my time watching shorts. The first set were national and local narrative shorts. The stand out for me on this set of six was “No Mixin” directed by Michael Gordon. The camera work, acting and direction were impressive. I was particularly impressed that all of the filmmakers were on hand for what turned out to be my favorite Q&A session of the whole Festival. The next set of shorts was the National Shorts Block #4 – Documentaries. The stand-out here was “Seltzer Works” directed by Jessica Edwards. It won Best Documentary Short for the Festival and the award was well earned.

Quick Movie Review: Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival 2009

Now in its 11th year, the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival is an excellent way to see a variety of independent films that run the gamut from drama to comedy to documentary. This was my first foray into the Festival, and I wanted to take the opportunity to see a documentary or two, some movie shorts and a couple of feature-length films.

Opening Night featured a documentary, Best Worst Film, and ended (for me) on Sunday afternoon with The Vicious Kind. Venues visited included the Carver Theater, Alabama Power, and the Alabama Theater.

As it is with Festivals, many of the films shown are shopping for distributors and may or may not make it to the big screen for the general public. However, assuming all goes well, many do make it to DVD and will be available to rent at some point in the future.

Those of you who are friends on Facebook saw my instant analysis of each movie but here is a somewhat expanded edition of the Sidewalk summary plus trailers. ..

The Festival started with a packed house at the Alabama Theater to watch Best Worst Movie.



Best Worst Movie (2009)

Troll 2 (1990) is considered by many people to be the worst movie ever made. This documentary catches up with the cast (at least two of whom are still working) and shines a light on the cult status that this movie has attained over the years. At once funny and, in some ways, sad this is a high entertaining documentary that was directed by Michael Stephenson, who played the young boy in Troll 2, and clearly stars George Hardy of Alexander City, Alabama, who played the father in the movie. The doc moves along as a fun, quick pace until we are introduced to the Italian director, whose seriousness about Troll 2 starts out fun but then bogs down the doc's pace.



45365 (2009)

Fascinating documentary that provides a glimpse into the lives of small town people living in small town America. The small town is Sidney, Ohio, (population = 20,000). The two filmmakers are natives of Sidney and used two cameras to shoot hundreds of hours of film. The magic of this documentary is in its editing. It's beautifully shot and beautifully constructed. This is a diary of a small town.



That Evening Sun (2009)

Director Scott Teems did a very smart thing here -- he hired Hal Holbrook. Holbrook plays Abner Meecham, an 80-year-old man who gets tired of the nursing home, leaves and heads back to his family farm. Once there he finds that his son has rented it to Lonzo Choat, who Meecham believes is "white trash." Holbrook carries this whole film but he is surrounded by a terrific supporting cast led by Ray McKinnon as Choat, Carrie Preston as Choat's wife, and Mia Wasikowska as Choat's daughter. Walton Goggins plays Meecham's son and does a solid job plus you have the bonus of appearances by Barry Corbin and Dixie Carter. Of the movies I saw at the Festival -- this is the one I highly recommend you put on the "Save" list in Netflix.

The Vicious Kind (2009)

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a trailer that would embed itself here, but if you are interested, you can Google the movie and there is a trailer available for viewing. Adam Scott is terrific here as Caleb Sinclaire and he is matched by Brittany Snow, who plays Emma Gainsborough, Caleb's brother's girlfriend. It's Caleb's brother, Peter, played by Alex Frost, that is the problem. Frost just doesn't act as well and it shows. J.K. Simmons, always a favorite, makes an appearance as the boys' father. Designed to make you angry, the movie achieves that on a number of levels. At the end, you'll wonder how in the world Peter was able to sleep through what was going on in the very next room.

Movie Shorts

One of the great things about a festival like this is the opportunity (for me at least) to see movie shorts, which I love. Unless you live in L.A. or New York, you will never see shorts released on the big screen so it's a treat when that rare opportunity is made available. I saw a series of shorts that included the three you see here. . .

"Horn Dog" by Bill Plympton. If you are an animation fan, Plympton should be fairly familiar to you. He has a unique style and a unique sense of humor that I find enjoyable.

"Reach" by Luke Randall. This is the entire short -- about five minutes or so. I found it surprisingly poignant. Click, play, enjoy.




"Pigeon Impossible" by Lucas Martell. Just to show that all shorts don't have to be serious, here comes this cute little short that is just fun. Enjoy this 27 second trailer.

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