Six Weeks [Marcin Janos Krawczyk, 18min]
This is a pretty powerful doc. In Poland when a mother gives her baby up for adoption, she has six weeks to change her mind. This story follows one particular mother who, due to her current economic situation, had decided to give her baby up for adoption. Few words are spoken in this verite piece. In terms of simply showing a story, Six Weeks really hits the mark. One of the final scenes where the baby is handed over to its new, and very excited parents is shown without audio. At that moment I kind of hate them, as if they were forcibly taking their new baby away from its biological mother. Very well executed.
Six Weeks screened with Chemo
Flawed [Andrea Dorfman, 12min]
This is a story told through a series of stop motion water colour paintings. Even when the novelty of the animation style wore off, I still found myself interested in the story. The story is one of being happy with yourself and what makes each of us individuals. The whole time I was watching it, I was reminded of the documentary Sound And Fury.
Flawed screened with Small Wonders
Time’s Up [Jan Peters, Marie-Catherine Theiler, 15min]
This short looks at the time crunch in all of our lives. As stated in the film, when you have no money you have lots of time, when you have lots of money, you don’t have any time. It is a common problem. As I was watching it, I was secretly going through the list of all the things I had to do later in the day. The story is told through the 9 month pregnancy of the filmmakers. Early on in their pregnancy, they have a car accident, which was caused by them rushing and speeding in their car. From that point on, they knew things had to change. The style of this short is quick and cool. Great use of reenactments to tell the story in a creative way. I thought it was a pretty good movie. My friend Vanessa called it her new favourite documentary.
Time’s Up played with The Kids Grow Up
Basin [David Geiss, 8min]
Basin takes you on a visual and audio journey through Alberta’s oilsands. Told through a Cree drummers’ beat, the visuals show us the beauty and destruction of the olisands. I would have liked to have seen this in the theatre to get the full effect. Instead, I saw it on a viewing station where I suspect I didn’t get the full effect that the director was trying to get across.
Basin plays with Land
Sunday, May 9th, 2:PM a the Isabel Bader Theatre
Peter In Radioland [Johanna Wagner, 10min]
I am pretty resistant to new technology. When my boss asked me if I wanted satellite radio in my truck, I said no. When he asked me if I wanted a GPS, my response was ‘I have a map book, thanks”. I feel like I have a connection to Peter, who hates all things digital. He is happy with is radios, frequencies, and other analogue devices. Peter is stuck home, off work, as he battles depression. I like the cinematography of this short dock. Some great images.
I now have a satellite radio and GPS in my truck. What was I thinking?
Peter In Radioland screened with Marwencol