Be the Film Festival "Guest Director"

[Ezee E]

Several film festivals seem to do this for honorees, and I'm always interested at some of the decisions they make, even if I have no intention of seeing the film. With that...

--

It's the ________ Film Festival, and you have been chosen as the Guest Director.

Your duty:

Pick five films to be shown to ticket buyers. The Festival recommends you pick a movie that you can talk about as you will either be doing a quick Q&A afterwards about the film or an introduction before the film. The festival would also prefer an overall theme to your films, but again, you are the guest director. They will supply a print of the film.

And go!

[Sven]

At this year's San Andiosos Film Festival, you will see:

Popeye
A Nous La Liberte
Pierrot le Fou
Duck Soup
The Life Aquatic

[Ezee E]

At this year's San Andiosos Film Festival, you will see:

Popeye
A Nous La Liberte
Pierrot le Fou
Duck Soup
The Life Aquatic
What made you pick those?

[Philosophe_rouge]

This is a fun idea, I'm going to really think about this.

[Sven]

What made you pick those?

Whimsical musicals that blend their musical numbers into the films' diegesis while emphasizing class and/or economic turmoil. Ish. Not much of a fan of The Life Aquatic, but those Serge numbers have oomph.

[Philosophe_rouge]

I've been a little down lately because things that have been going on in and around my life, and I have an unfortunate tendency to allow these bad influences to really depress me, and sour my view of the world. So, my list of films is about "Loss, sacrifice, hope". Each film deals with a loss or a sacrifice in some way, but still manages to offer some kind of light at the end of the tunnel. I tried to keep it varied, and interpreted loss, sacrifice and hope in different ways. It took me a while to settle on this list, I had about 20 that I thought would fit.

City Lights
Chaplin's work consistently offers a balance between comedy and tragedy, and while there is a sense that the laughter is a form of hope, it lies more in the Tramp's willingness to sacrifice his already meagre poverty to help the blind girl. It reminds me of an Archie Comic I once read, where it's Christmas and there is a santa clause raising money. First Mr. Banks comes by and gives $100, then Jughead comes along and offers $10. Mr. Banks scolds Jughead for not being generous enough, but the Santa Clause interrupts to say that while Mr. Banks gave more, in reality give or take $100 from his pocket is of little consequence, for Jughead $10 is a small fortune. It's this reason that the Tramp's selfless sacrifice takes on far more resonance than giving, he's selling away everything he has to make the person he loves happy. The reward is not immediate, but watching that final shot, there is no doubt that it was worth it.

The Virgin Spring
As far as I can tell, the Virgin Spring is simultaneously Bergman's most bleak and most hopeful film. Set in 14th century Sweden, the beloved daughter of peasants who is brutally raped and murdered. By a twist of fate, the murderers show up at the family home and the father finds out the people he's housing and feeding killed his daughter. I almost put The Limey on my list, and both follow a similar idea of redemption. The film doesn't offer revenge as redeemable, or even rewarding. Yet, the film's final moments offer a miracle that seem to restore the beauty of the world. Through all the darkness, there is that single ray of light that makes this film hopeful.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds
The loss in Nausicaä, is the loss of the world and the environment. The world as we know it has been destroyed, and now most of the surface is covered with poisonous plants and spores, and giant bugs. Nausicaä is the princess of a valley that has not been infected because of a wind that prevents the spores from settling. Caught between two nations that threaten to destroy the world once again, the film chronicles a cycle of destruction that humanity seems to fall into again and again, first destroying the planet, then ourselves. The hope is offered in Nausicaä who doesn't try to fight against the world around her, instead harvesting the plant life finding it's not quite as deadly as was originally noticed. She finds herself caught between the warring, and sacrifices her body for the benefit for mankind. Her gift though is noticed, and a new cycle has begun as her life is restored.

Stella Dallas
I was surprised by how much I loved this film, it's pure melodrama and it's very simplistic in presentation. The minimalism and Stanwyck's presence make the film a whirlwind of emotion. Stella is a spoiled and ambitious young woman who marries above her class so that she might be able to have all the money she wants. Her greed eclipses all her relationships, but soon when she has her daughter, everything takes a back seat to her adoration for her child. I always find films that chronicle a mother's love for a child very fascinating, and underrepresented in film. Though I almost chose The Reckless Moment above it, both films demonstrate mothers that don't quite fit the traditional model oft presented in Hollywood cinema. What I liked about Bennett in The Reckless Moment was her lack of warmth, and what I like about Stella is her lack of refinement. When she comes to realise that she must ruin what her daughter thinks of her, so as to let her live her own life. This sacrifice was the final step in Stella's rejection of her selfish ways. Her sacrifice was not in vain

The Misfits
Every character in the Misfits (as the title suggests) doesn't quite fit into society. There is one of the last cowboys, a divorcee, an older woman and an army vet who has nothing left. Each one of them is on a journey to find that something to fill the emptiness they feel. Each has shared some kind of loss that effects them on a day to day basis, even holding them back from feeling and reaching out to the world around them. By the end, I'm not even sure they all find redemption, but at least a few of them have come to accept their state while also reaching out to the world around them. For me, the crucial moment is when Monroe realises what will happen to the wild mustang that they have wrangled, and speaks out against what is being done. Even though that sadness still seems to hang over most of them, the conscious change that she makes and fights for strikes me as being hopeful for the lost soul. Bad things may happen to good people, but it's up to us as individuals to rise above that and assert our humanity.

Honourable mentions (I almost went with one of these, tomorrow I'll probably want to change it)

La Passion de Jeanne D'Arc
Little Women
Meet Me in St. Louis
It’s a Wonderful Life
The Reckless Moment

[dreamdead]

Films:

A Tale of Winter (Hong)
Woman on the Beach (Rohmer)
Friday Night (Denis)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (Allen)
The New World (Malick)

The theme would be a focus on the role of women and their exploration of where they fit in societies that often constrain their movements. As such, the festival would assess how free these women are, what societal pressures they face, and how they negotiate the pitfalls of their times in order to arrive at happiness. Significant in the topic would be how women's subjectivity is mediated by the films, and how these films differ from the more traditional male-centered films that make up the cinema proper.

[Sven]

I thought this was a good idea. Don't let it die!!

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Kurious Jorge's Absurdia Film Festival:

House (Nobuhiko Obayashi) > girl gets raped by matresses, man gets turned into pile of bannanas, etc...

The Peanut Butter Solution (Michael Rubbo) > Chinese kid puts peanut butter down his pants, elementary school art teacher kidnaps children to make paintbrushes for him.

I Killed Einstein, Gentlemen.. (Oldrich Lipsky) > Scientists go back in time to kill Einstein because he invented the bomb that cause genetic mutation in the future which caused women to have facial hair.

Bugsy Malone (Alan Parker) > kids shooting splooge pies in each others faces, Jodie Foster as wearing jailbait outfits, and kids lipsynching to the songs of an awful folk singer who sounds like a pedo himself.

The Fat Spy (Joseph Cates) > a Jayne Mansfield past her prime, and two of the hugest babies you'll ever see on film (not refering to Mansfield boobs.)