Florida Film Festival 1999 Overview
Ian Koss
A quick glance through a Florida Film Festival schedule is apt to be an exercise in frustration. The festival, which runs from June 11 through June 20, features almost 200 different films, documentaries and shorts, spanning the globe and ranging in budget, making it difficult to decide how you’re going to spend your eyeballs. It’s impossible to provide a thorough overview in this short space provided (for more info, I recommend the Festival’s web site at http://www.floridafilmfestival.com), but following are some picks from the large package of information supplied by the kind FFF people.
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Wadd
Directed by Cass Paley (USA)
A documentary on legendary porn actor John Holmes. Interviews with family, friends, co-workers, etc. provide a portrait of this truly American icon.
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The Blair Witch Project
Directed by Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez (USA)
This post-modern self-referential mockumentary is homegrown in Orlando (Haxan Films), and this will be your only opportunity to witness this hot property before a national debut, currently set for July. Blair Witch is the account of three filmmakers who disappear in the process of filming a documentary on a local boogey(wo)man, as revealed by footage found a year later. It’s a creepy concept to begin with, and if the buzz is even halfway reliable, something worth watching.
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Divorce Iranian Style
Directed by Kim Longinotto and Ziba Mir-Hosseini (UK/Iran; subtitled)
If you know anything about Islamic society, the title of this film should be enough to raise an eyebrow. A courtroom drama, this film tracks the stories of three Iranian women as they make their case for award of a divorce.
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Genghis Blues
Directed by Roko Belic
Into throat-singing? The blurb for this film makes it sound like the Tuvan equivalent of The Karate Kid II , as a blind San Francisco blues player journeys to a country wedged between Siberia and Mongolia to compete. I’d check this out if only because physicist Richard Feynman (whose fascination with Tuva is legendary) is listed on the credits.
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After Life
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda (Japan, subtitled)
A documentary based on the premise that the only baggage allowed on your trans-corporeal journey is a single memory from your life. Which one will it be?
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Corn Dog Man
Directed by Andrew Shea (USA)
“A fat, South Carolina redneck gets a phone call from his past.” Watch as an overweight Southerner becomes apoplectic… I don’t even want to think about what corn dogs have to do with it.
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A Multitude of Shorts
Various Directors
For those with an attention deficit, the Festival offers short subjects in just about every category you might think of, collected into four distinct groups.
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For schedules or more information, call the Enzian Theatre at 407.629.0054, or visit http://www.floridafilmfestival.com ◼
