#tf2012

Top Films of the 2012 Year - #3 - Django Unchained

Top Films of the 2012 Year - #5 - Wreck it Ralph

Top Films of the 2012 Year - #7 - Argo

In addition to the two individual reviewsI posted out of True/False over the busy film-filled weekend, I filed two dispatches over at Movies.com. In all I saw 17 docs in just over three days, but since I can't write about any of the secret screenings I only share my thoughts on 12 over the two posts.

The first dispatch, titled "Why This is the Most Fun Film Festival in America," includes Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Herman's House, Abendland, Me at the Zoo and The Imposter, as well as comment on True/False as a whole and the University of Missouri's "Based on a True Story" conference.

"There is narration in the montage."

I kicked off my first True/False fest with a great film and a great Q&A. The doc is Abendland, and the above quote is from director Nikolaus Geyrhalter, best known for the gorgeous yet disturbing food industry film Our Daily Bread. It's a response to a broad question and issue with the doc at hand, but it's also perfect on its own. 

Abendland is another series of incredibly vivid and revealing shots, statically framed moving images captured around Europe with very little to no independent context. But put together these images tell a story and present an attitude about the EU focused on the continent's problems of superiority and exclusion.

We see border fences, surveillance cameras and monitors, protests, arrests, but also basic elements of life -- babies, old people, sex, death, etc., perhaps to show how Europeans are just the same as any humans. All night scenes, because the word 'abendland' has two meanings, the Occident/West and "land in the evening." Like with Our Daily Bread, the individual pieces are stunning yet also often disturbing. 

"It's all beautiful pictures, but what you see is horrible," Geyrhalter said at another point in the Q&A.

And of course the horrors come through with the montage. The first quote was stated after someone asked the director how he got permission to film certain people and events since they are depicted in the film. Geyrhalter says everyone was simply told they were making a film about night in Europe and it would basically just be an observational film without voiceover narration. 

Without doing the math, it is just an observational film. It's also quite fitting as well as ironic that some of the people who might be most upset with the ultimate context of the editing and overall thesis of this darkly poetic visual essay are those who are involved in monitoring and profiling citizens and immigrants. This doc obviously brings some important discussion points to the topic of consent.

It's likely that Abendland will eventually hit your local art museum before your neighborhood multiplex, and hopefully it will end up on Netflix, where many had a chance to see Our Daily Bread. It too needs to be seen. 

It all started with this story about Popar toys, using Augmented Reality to create reading experiences for kids.  And I thought, "Wow, I would love to see this!".  So, I sprung for the admission to the Toy Fair in NYC.  No person under 18 was permitted, and I could see why.  A kid would have a coronary!  I almost did a couple of times.  

For the most part, this event is geared toward buyers, but I had some interesting experiences.  First of all, I got to see a demo of Popar!  And I got to speak with the creators about their vision.  Like all toy companies using new media (in this case, Augmented Reality) they have no idea whether or not there has been any gains in education as a result of the product (always a cart before the horse process with a chicken or egg backdrop...).  But they were one of the FEW products using new media with an educational bent.  

Don't get me wrong--I saw a ton of iPads and iPhones and robots.  But, for the most part the iPad was a "companion" to an old favorite (e.g, Scrabble and Monopoly) or being shoved in a rubber ball (?) or a plastic teddy bear like device so that one could hug it the phone?

Good things I saw/noticed:

1.) BOARD GAMES STILL DOMINATE.  Many innovators are still trying to get kids together, and playing communally (or better yet--with their parents!)  Check out these awesome ones:  Seven Ate Nine and Wise Alec.  

2.) Robots are still cool.  This company, Mechatars, is using new media (Internet) to get kids to go outside and play with their friends.  Basically, a child is encouraged to gain points online by going "outside" and playing battle bots with their friends first.  There's a lot of flaws with this idea (kids don't really play with kids in their neighborhoods as much as they used to; most kids need a parent to get them online; might be too much "go between").

3.) A lot of companies a encouraging more creative play--and even with all the shmancy stuff out there, many companies just want kids to go outside and play with each other.  Too bad it's really not up to them.  

But, how much do shmancy toys really aid the imagination anyway?

It all started with this story about Popar toys, using Augmented Reality to create reading experiences for kids.  And I thought, "Wow, I would love to see this!".  So, I sprung for the admission to the Toy Fair in NYC.  No person under 18 was permitted, and I could see why.  A kid would have a coronary!  I almost did a couple of times.  

For the most part, this event is geared toward buyers, but I had some interesting experiences.  First of all, I got to see a demo of Popar!  And I got to speak with the creators about their vision.  Like all toy companies using new media (in this case, Augmented Reality) they have no idea whether or not there has been any gains in education as a result of the product (always a cart before the horse process with a chicken or egg backdrop...).  But they were one of the FEW products using new media with an educational bent.  

Don't get me wrong--I saw a ton of iPads and iPhones and robots.  But, for the most part the iPad was a "companion" to an old favorite (e.g, Scrabble and Monopoly) or being shoved in a rubber ball (?) or a plastic teddy bear like device so that one could hug it the phone?

Good things I saw/noticed:

1.) BOARD GAMES STILL DOMINATE.  Many innovators are still trying to get kids together, and playing communally (or better yet--with their parents!)  Check out these awesome ones:  Seven Ate Nine and Wise Alec.  

2.) Robots are still cool.  This company, Mechatars, is using new media (Internet) to get kids to go outside and play with their friends.  Basically, a child is encouraged to gain points online by going "outside" and playing battle bots with their friends first.  There's a lot of flaws with this idea (kids don't really play with kids in their neighborhoods as much as they used to; most kids need a parent to get them online; might be too much "go between").

3.) A lot of companies a encouraging more creative play--and even with all the shmancy stuff out there, many companies just want kids to go outside and play with each other.  Too bad it's really not up to them.  

But, how much do shmancy toys really aid the imagination anyway?