As mentioned in my first post, I will be blogging about special events and parties. Next week, I will also be covering the Mavericks films which screen over three nights Wednesday-Friday and conclude with the awards presentation on Saturday. In addition to these series, I am aiming to watch 50 of the programmed features by the end of the festival. I hope by pointing out the best of the films I have previewed and those that I am most anticipating seeing over the next ten days, some of you will be encouraged to attend 3 screenings a night or 5 a day on the weekends. There are bloggers for each series that will likely cover each of films separately so if a film is outside of my series I will remain brief. I would love to discuss them in detail in person though. If you do come to a screening I am at please stop me to discuss. I will be the poorly rested guy with the brown shoulder bag struggling to find the time to eat or use the restroom.
Picks for 7 pm slot:
The first full timeslot of the festival is a strong one.
I watched 136 hours of submissions from May-July. The film that has stuck most in my mind is Accidents Happen. A terrific film on many levels, it is probably in top 5 for widest appeal of the films in the festival. I think another of the event bloggers will be writing an entry on this film shortly.
The film I most want to see in this slot is My Dog Tulip. Jenn Cecconi has chosen it as her top pick for the festival (http://calgaryfilmfestival.blogspot.com/2009/09/jenn-cecconi-programmer-american.html). Her recommendations are always reliable so it is sure to be a fine choice. Also see Randy Perry's blog entry from earlier today (http://calgaryfilmfestival.blogspot.com/2009/09/mans-best-friend-my-dog-tulip.html)
9 pm slot:
I do not usually put much weight in the Edda Awards (Iceland's national film award). However, when a film wins as many Eddas as White Night Wedding did, it is hard to ignore. No matter the country, capturing 7 awards including Best Film, 3 acting awards, and Best Cinematography, is an impressive feat that this film is well deserving of. Loosely based on Ivanov, the film, in my opinion, manages to improve on Chekov's work. There will be an encore screening Sunday, October 4th at 3:00
I will be attending Gigantic. This is the film I am most eagerly anticipating of those I have yet to see. My emotions were up and down for a few days soon after the CIFF website launched. Gigantic initially appeared in the listings and then disappeared. I thought maybe there had been confusion with Gigante, an award-winning film garnering early Oscar buzz and showing Sunday. Once it reappeared for good I knew I had my first must-see screening. Do not worry if you cannot see it Friday. It encores on Sunday October 3rd (when it conflicts with both White on Rice and Summerhood, neither of which should be overlooked)
It Might Get Loud is a dazzling look at Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. When three guitar greats such as these get together, sparks are sure to fly and audiences are sure to be entertained. I am skipping it only because it is being released to theatres in October and at this point, it looks like neither White Night Wedding nor Gigantic will get a regular theatrical release in Calgary.
Late Show:
Trick R Treat: Best Halloween movie of past ten years? Probably. The short before it is also intriguing.
I would love to hear your thoughts on these films. Extra points to whoever can convince me to go to Katalin Varga instead of the Anything But Ordinary shorts program.
