A little chilled in the Digital Sweatshop
 
I don't know how John does it, sitting here in his daily uniform of shorts and double-layered T-shirts...I'm cold! We're busy tapping away on the keyboards after the rest of the Team departed. Today there's a big gap between morning and evening films. Trying to catch up. Even so, we're going to need still more time tomorrow. It's very cool, though, stationed outside the Lobero, uploading media to the website via the theater's wireless connection. (Just wish we had enough juice to power a space heater!)
 
This morning a reduced squad headed off to Metro 4 to catch the Applebox Shorts. Charlotte's already suffering from the schedule--nursing a cold--but she DID go the extra mile to get her own seat for the Will Smith event last night. Hope she's feeling well enough for this evening's film.
 
Ack--Festival blooper! Half the audience, including us, is late for the shorts because of a misprint. It started at 9:30 instead of 10, and we see only 25 minutes of film. The final offering is a winner, though: LOVE LETTER by Trent & Cynthia Jones was a funny and touching treatment of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" transformed for the 7th grade, with even a touch of Mission Impossible. We had a great conversation with the director (Trent) and screenwriter (Cynthia) afterwards. One interesting note is that they made it with their daughter in mind...who's still being carried around on a hip. Very fun movie. It plays again next Sunday...but WHEN? Only your Festival programmer knows for sure!
 
Hmm: Two unicycle films (MOUNTAIN UNICYCLE WEEKEND and TRIALS COURSE LOVE 99) introduce us to some dedicated and deeply wacked-out people who do outdoor / extreme unicycling. Wow. Fabulously nutty. The second film did this justice, showing the construction of a unicycle obstacle course, and repeated attempts to conquer it--zany and engrossing. Unfortunately, the first was informative but...stiff and dry. Quite a difference from WE JUST WORK HERE, an artfully produced film that if anything, erred on the side of inspiration overload. Lots of information about the gang who conspire to bring us Santa Cruz mountain bikes. Quite a collection of fascinating characters.
 
Returned to the Center Stage after a very hurried dinner at home for CRUDE IMPACT, a stunning documentary about the worldwide effects of finding, producing and using oil and petroleum-based products. Devastatingly thorough, well-documented and replete with compelling animated data,  this is a film every one should see. Everyone. It is a good companion piece to AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. It is available online at www.crudeimpact.com.
 
Sunday, January 28, 2007