Wow, tonight's party was pretty wild. So many friendly faces everywhere I looked. Like, e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e I looked. It felt like a really pleasant dream or something. Yet another charmed night for the mighty Joe Swanberg. That guy could fall off a twelve-story building during a harsh winter blizzard and land in a marshmallow patch on a sunny spring day. But it's impossible not to root for him. And so I hope HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS sells the fiznuck out all weekend long!

However, HANNAH isn't the only graduate of the 2007 film festival circuit to hit New York City theatres this weekend. David Redmon and Ashley Sabin's excruciatingly humane documentary, KAMP KATRINA, will get some much deserved attention with a special screening tonight at MoMA at 6:15, followed by an even much more deserved one-week run at The Pioneer beginning this Friday. KAMP KATRINA is a visceral glimpse into the turbulent life of a group of homeless individuals living in post-Katrina New Orleans. Housed in the backyard of the fiery, well-intentioned Ms. Pearl, the inhabitants quickly spiral downward into a familiar pattern of drinking, drugging, and various forms of abuse. Redmon and Sabin's achievement with KAMP KATRINA is to avoid preaching at any and all costs. They simply let the story tell itself. And what a painfully loaded story it is. KAMP KATRINA captures Humanity (please note the capital H) in all its hilarious, terrifying, depressing, and complicated glory. Go see this film too!