There's a particular part in Los Gatos that will cause some people to tune off from the movie completely, and that's understandable. But that scene is at the heart of what the movie is trying to say: people sometimes seek out toxic relationships even though they are aware of the harm involved, because all these people want is to be loved.
The rows of meat seen in the opening moments of Dekel Berenson's Anna reminds me of similar visual references in Jay Altarejos' Jino to Mari, in that in both films, people are seen as objects and not as people. Anna is a lonely middle aged woman who just wants to date, but she finds herself entangled with a foreign bride business whose operators only want to sell these women as subservient maids with fancy names.
In Koji Fukada's Inabe, a solemn reminiscence doubles as a sort of existential meditation. The film tackles the dread of ceasing to exist without leaving an impression on the world. Such impressions do exist, seen literally as dug up memories in the life history of someone else, but for the person whose existence has just ended, such realizations will never come.
Blood Rider, a documentary about blood deliverymen in Nigeria, is informative, tense and uplifting all in the span of seventeen minutes. In a time where the value of such essential workers is more important than ever, it's a fitting film for this festival.
In Stories of Destroyed Cities: Shengal, we are mostly shown destroyed, empty landscapes, overlaid with normal day to day conversations. This eerie juxtaposition gives the feeling that this is a city that once held life, and hopefully will hold life once again. It also highlights the human cost of such a tragedy, as a city's lifeblood is its citizens.
In the wake of increasingly polarizing conversations about whatever is the political hot button topic of the day, Ingen Lyssnar (Who Talks) shows us that in the face of increasingly extreme rhetoric from both sides, moderate, honest opinions are the ones that suffer the most.
***
The 1928 silent film Shiraz made its way to the We Are One film festival, thanks to the efforts of the British Film Institute. As the second entry in a trilogy of Franz Osten - Himansu Rai silent film collabs (the other two being Light of Asia (1925) and A Throw of Dice(1929)) it still holds up even today. It's a very ambitious film in many ways; it is a co-production of three countries, it boasts impressive production design and cinematography (in any era), and it features a large cast of characters and extras.
For this version of the film, the soundtrack was performed by Anoushka Shankar, famed sitar player, accompanied by an expert orchestra. It mixes traditional Indian tunes and beats with a touch of more modern orchestration.
As for the story, it's a fictionalized retelling of one of the greatest love stories in Indian history (and all history, for that matter). It goes straight for the feels and it stays there especially during the last act. If you haven't seen a silent film before and want to start, this is a good place to do so.
Cesar Arechiga spent 45 days in a maximum security prison to teach painting, sculpture and art to several inmates. In this solemn documentary, we look at these inmates (mostly convicted of drug related crimes) intimately. We are made to know of their atrocities, and while some of them don't exactly regret what they did, others are people that seem to be genuinely striving to reform themselves. Art creates a space of vulnerability where these people can express themselves candidly.
Should we empathize with them? Should we judge them immediately for their crimes, or should we also look at the social inequalities and systemic flaws that helped bring them to prison in the first place? At the very least the film makes us think about those things and more.
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