CAMDEN FILM FESTIVAL BLOG

[emily-gross-25]

No idea too Big

I absolutely loved this film. At first I thought it was about defacing dams and petitions to end damming rivers but it turned out to be a film that demonstrates how so much passion for something can turn into action. At the beginning I wasn't sure if I was going to like this film but by the middle of it I could not stop watching. I loved how passionate people can be about a subject. Very informative film and I love how people were not afraid to get in trouble with the law to make this film happen. Another great feeling is being able to see the difference all these people have made. I have driven over the bridge in Orono, Me countless times not even knowing there was a dam there. I love that we as a nation are trying relentlessly to restore our nations beauty and fish. I did not think that it would end up being about saving salmon and other fish that have had their habitats destroyed or taken from them. I am a vegetarian and I eat fish but after watching this I do not think I can eat fish anymore after seeing how they are treated. I think you should show this film next semester for your class. It is very inspirational. It makes me feel like we can make a difference if we try hard enough and have enough passion for it.  One of my favorite lines in this film was Lee saying that the only thing we need to do for the "wild fish is leave them the hell alone." Great film. The directors did a fantastic job with capturing everything and putting it all together in a film. There were not any times of me watching this that I was thinking any part was unnecessary. 

A round of applause for everyone who had any part in this film and anyone who was an advocate for the rivers.

[emily-gross-25]

A Will For the Tissues

The film started off with what we learn to be a green burial. I originally thought that it was our main characters funeral and they would then start at the beginning, but they just showed us what a green burial was without letting us know. The story line was confusing at the beginning for me but after about 15 minutes you find out what the film is about. At first I was wondering how Clark was so calm when he talked about dying but then he told us he was diagnosed with lymphoma 7 years before so he has had time to cope with it. When they start talking about green burials at first I thought just digging a hole and putting the bod into it but there is much more to it than that. It is a natural way of handling the dead. There were so many emotions with this film I have no idea how they made this film. Clark and his wife were so open with everything. 

I think the film was great. The technique that was used with this film worked wonderfully I believe. The way they filmed EVERYTHING, I felt like I was with his family and friends coping. The film made you feel like you were there and it makes the film special. I can't lie, I got emotional when Clark had died. I was hoping that he would have have survived but that would have defeated the purpose of the film. But I did like everything, the filmmakers did a fantastic job at capturing everything and then conveying it. 

[emily-gross-25]

Camden Festival Part 3

Last day of the Film Festival! 

Rich Hill was a great film! I would definatly go see that one again! It had a great story line and the footage was great. I liked at the end that they keep us up to date with what was happening with the families after the end of filming. My favorite family was Andrew's, even though they didn't have anything they were still so loving and happy. The other two families were not as happy, I did not like Appachey. He was very disrespectful and unkind to his mother and siblings. I understand he didn't have much and he had disorders but I meant even Andrew had nothing and was such an optimist. It probably didn't help that he was like 10 and smoked cigarettes and had lip piercings but I did not enjoy that part. I felt a lot of pain for Harley. His poor mother was trying to defend her son and the step dad gets away with what he did to Harley. Truly upsetting. The ending was sad for Andrew because his mother passed away after the filming. 

Wild Home was my absolute favorite film at the festival. I enjoyed every second of it because I plan on living Bob's life when I get out of college. What he is doing is truly amazing. The best part is, is that I met him after the film on accident when I was in the ice cream shop in Rockland! My friend and I were walking out of the shop and ran right into Bob he stopped and we talked a little hit about what we were going to school for and he told us good luck! I plan on going to DEW and seeing them again. Hopefully volunteering (or living) there on weekends. I plan on buying this documentary and watching over and over again forever. I am so happy that I finally found my absolute favorite documentary.

We ended the film festival with the Dirigo Shorts: Growing Local. These shorts were about local farms in Maine and their struggles with growing local foods. They were not bad but I had watched my favorite documentary before this one so it is hard to compare(:

[emily-gross-25]

Camden Film Festival Part 2

Desert Haze was the worst films I feel like at the festival. I could not figure out the point to the film during or after I watched it. It started off with the lady talking about the desert then jumped to something completely different like where tumbleweed originally came from. I would not go see this film again!

In The Search For General Tso it felt more like something from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives than a documentary. That is not a bad thing! I liked the film but I didn't see the documentary part of it. Would I see it again probably. I liked how they went back to the start of Chinese food in America and how we see it as Chinese food when really it is American because real Chinese food is something we would most likely not approve of. It was interesting to see where it came from (a Chinese person who lived in Taiwan). It was interesting to see how Chinese people felt about the Chinese food industry in American and how everyone country has its own intake on what is Chinese food. 

Tomorrow We Disappear was a very sad film. I really liked how the director put it all together. In the end I really thought that they would win and get to keep their houses the way they were and the government would have left them alone. But it was really an eye-opener to what happens around the world. I loved the film festival because it really does bring people together internationally. I never thought something like this would occur on the planet ever, and by watching this film I see living conditions differently, I used to see a run-down house and feel sorry for the people that live there but after this film I only see how thankful that family is for having a place for their family to live happy and be safe.

Bugarach was really a different kind of film.. I wasn't sure how it was a documentary because it felt more like a movie. A really strange movie. It was not that bad, the filming was good and the way it was put together made it pleasant to watch. It was the story line that got me. I was scared of the creeper old man who tried to kill himself at the end of the movie. Not sure why the parents of the kid trusted him. Or that the parents of the other boy got him a gun for his birthday! He was like 10.. I would probably not go see it again..

[emily-gross-25]

Camden International Film Festival part 1

We started off the day by going to the Doc/Tech Points north Documentary forum which was really cool. I liked how passionate the ladies were about their ideas and what they were working on.  After that we watched Iron Ministry that I did not like at all. I wasn't sure what it was about and there was too much movement I could not concentrate on anything going on in the movie. Waiting for August was a nice documentary. I had no idea stuff like that was happening in Romania. It is sad that the eldest children have to look after their siblings while their parents work to provide an income from a different country. I mean these children are kids themselves and they are acting like adults and running their homes. 

We ended the night with one of my favorite films. I absolutely loved Point and Shoot. I feel like the director did an amazing job at captivating every part of Matt's adventure (the good and the bad). I remembering hearing about what was going on in Libya and about Matt but I had no idea that it was at the level it was. I liked how it was all of Matt's footage for the film, it made it all the more real.

[emily-gross-25]

CAMDEN FILM FESTIVAL

Just admiring a beautiful sunflower with Justin at CIFF 2014! Photo credit goes to Georgia!

[emily-gross-25]

All Quiet on the Green Front

The call to action in Expedition to the End of the World I feel like shows the public our affect on the planet but makes us realize that there really is nothing we can do anymore to fix the problems we created. I liked how it showed the perspective of different cultures compared to Americans. In America we are all so fixated on helping the Earth and trying to fix everything we have done that is killing her, but in the documentary the way they saw it was that yeah we messed of the planet so bad at this point there is nothing we can do, so we just have to move on.

The problems brought up in this film are very popular in society right now but the director did a good job at showing how these problems affect each individual profession that was in the film. When I think about climate change I don’t really think about it affecting artists or photographers, I usually focus on the scientists that have to deal with how it if affecting the planet and its inhabitants.

            The director had use of all the angles in this film. At the point with the polar bear trying to get into the shed he had shots of the polar bear then shots of the crew just watching and their reactions. I loved that it had serious moments but it showed how much fun the people on the trip had, it made the film more realistic. I also loved how it showed the beauty of the country through its own eyes and the crew’s.

Honestly I loved the documentary; the director did a fantastic    job, even though they were paid to make this. The only thing I can think of doing differently was paying more attention to the group of people from the oil company. I would touched back up on that maybe just saying if they actually drilled there or if they didn’t find anything.