Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
BY CYNDI GREENING, ARIZONA, USA – Every year I think I'm finally going to make it to FULL FRAME DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL. This year, it's from April 12 – 15 and it's the TENTH year! It always falls in that time of year that I have trouble getting away because it's mid-semester (not to mention TAX TIME ... and I never have my taxes done early AND it's all the way across the country in Durham, North Carolina). I recall when FULL FRAME first appeared. It was the year following my first Sundance. It was a small festival then, serving a very small niche market ... documentary lovers.
They were so far out in front of everyone else on this one! At Sundance this year, we went to several workshops at the House of Docs. Cara Mertes was talking about how popular documentary films have become and how Sundance is supporting the surging interest. Now, don't get me wrong, docs have always been supported and popular at Sundance but, in the early days, it felt more like the rest of the festival supported the docs. Now, the docs are holding their own and even surpassing the features in some instances.
Several docs that screened at Sundance are on the Full Frame slate. Among them:
- BANISHED by Marco Williams
- CRAZY LOVE by Dan Klores
- THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern
- EVERYTHING'S COOL by Judith Helfand and Daniel Gold
- FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO by Daniel Karslake
- MANDA BALA (Send A Bullet) by Jason Kohn
- PROTAGONIST by Jessica Yu
- WAR/DANCE by Sean and Andrea Nix Fine
- WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN by Steven Okazaki
I either saw several of these films or saw the filmmakers on the Panels. MANDA BALA won top awards at Sundance. I personally loved Okazaki's film. I really wanted to see FOR THE BIBLE and WAR/DANCE. I liked Dan Klores previous film RING OF FIRE: THE EMILE GRIFFITH STORY. Alec and I both really loved that one.
There is a film at FULL FRAME that I am trying to imagine how they're going to make it interesting ... seriously. It's called HELVETICA ... it's a film about a typeface. You know the film world is getting crazy when they can make a movie about type. Gary Hustwit has made a film about "graphic design and the global visual culture." I want to see how he pulled this off!
A couple of other films that really caught my attention were THE KILLER WITHIN (about what happens when someone you know and love reveals himself to be a murderer) and ANGELS IN THE DUST (about a family-run orphanage serving children living with AIDS in South Africa).
