The 10th Brooklyn Film Festival 2007

We went to the 10th Brooklyn International Film Festival. The Festival took place from June 1st to 10th, 2007 at the Cobble Hill Cinema at 265 Court St., Brooklyn, NY.

You can see the list of Festival award winners at the WBFF web page.

We watched a few movies included in the following four programs:

• Saturday, June 2, 3:30 PM, Program 4;
• Saturday, June 2, 6:00 PM, Program 6;
• Sunday, June 3, 6:00 PM, Program 14;
• Sunday, June 10, 3:00 PM, Program 72

Not many of them were among the winners, but they were all interesting. And each one was interesting for different reasons and from the different point of view.

Saturday, June 2, 3:30 PM, Program 4

The first movie on this program was AUDIO ADDICTION, category Experimental, England, 2006, 3min, directors Jasmin Jodry & Mo Stoebe.

AUDIO ADDICTION synopsis and trailer at WBFF pages

This movie is rather hard to understand, but it's very dynamic and stylish. There is many interesting effects there.

Some examples from AUDIO ADDICTION (the whole movie is in black and white): a woman's silhouette dances under the beat of rhythmic music, and then her head becomes a splash with many tiny blots like a flower blossoming. It is horrible and beautiful at the same time. Or  the gramophone record is being made on the gear plate with sharp-looking talon-like cogs using some sharp mechanic tools under the beat of the same stylish techno music. The effect again is horrible/beautiful.

The second movie was GOTYE - HEARTS A MESS, category Animation, Australia, 2007, 4min, director Brendan Cook.

GOTYE - HEARTS A MESS synopsis at WBFF pages

It is a strange and beautiful dream-like music video. What can we say? We liked it and you can see it for yourselves here>> (highly recommended).

The third movie was a documentary with an intriguing name HIP HOP DIARIES, category Documentary,  Italy/United States, 2006, 76min, director Carlo Lavagna.

HIP HOP DIARIES synopsis and trailer at WBFF pages

We were actually bored by it. An Italian director spent 7 month in US filming lives of several would-be or had-been hip hop/graffiti notables. To him it was exotics, to us just sad and slightly annoying facts of everyday life. But the point of view is interesting, the movie illustrates the difference between how people see themselves and how other people see them.

Saturday, June 2, 6:00 PM, Program 6

This program opened with an excellent movie THE WHITE WOLF, category Animation, France, 2006, 9min, director Pierre-Luc Granjon.

THE WHITE WOLF synopsis and trailer at WBFF pages

Don't quite believe the official synopsis. This is a scary and touching tale, as all the real great fables are. It bores to the core of our human inhumanity.

The next film there was THE FIFTH, category Short, US, 2006, 14min, director Ryan Levin.

THE FIFTH synopsis at WBFF pages

This is a much scarier story. It tells us how hard it is to get the fifth partner for weekly poker game. This is a tough task under any circumstances. But for these four guys it's just too much. Their fourth is overwhelmed by the demands of his new work. Oh, he likes it and is very enthusiastic. But it keeps interfering with their game. Which is understandable: the guy is a serial killer.

The last movie on this program was STANLEY CUBA, category Feature, US, 2006, 80min, director Per Anderson

STANLEY CUBA synopsis and trailer at WBFF pages

As Per Anderson himself said at the Q&A after the screening, the script is absolutely crazy. We especially liked this exquisite parody that uses Stanley Kubrick motifs because we use the Open Source Kubrick template for this blog.

"Art is war" proclaims professor Latton. Stanley Cuba fights it in three dimensions: with himself, with hell (represented, expectedly, by the lawyers), and with the routine life. All serious things are funny enough there, all funny moments -- serious enough.

Here are several shots of the film crew after the Festival program is over:

(to be continued)