Sàmi director Nils Gaup may be unfamiliar to most of us, but he is a legendary director in Norway, his native country. For those who love Viking tales and the like he is also the director of the original Pathfinder, and not that ridiculous mess that was in the theaters last year either, but the better version made in Norway-though I wonder where they got their Indians?

Gaup showed clips from his latest film, The Kautokeino Rebellion, at a charming Norwegian restaurant called Smorgas Chef where a prie fixe dinner was served in his honor. This event was coordinated by the Film and Video program at the National Museum of the American Indian which has had a collaborative relationship with the Sàmi people and their film festival.

The film was shot in 35mm scope and in the dead of winter in the region where the rebellion took place which is also the birthplace of Gaup himself. He related that the story, which took place in the late 1800’s, was one that is well-known in his region. Though a story of heroism it is a tragedy which relates the massacre of a group of native Sàmi people who rose to fight against the exploitation of their resources and culture by the Germanic Norwegians. We saw clips from the beginning and ending portions of the film as he is hoping to get a release here in the U.S. But, you could see the film is masterfully shot, it truly was beautiful even on a small screen. The story is a tense drama made all the more dramatic by not getting to see the entire thing, and, of course, it is a true story, but one with nearly universal themes of cultural and economic oppression and alcohol abuse. If the film does get distribution in the United States it will be limited but I believe critics will favor the film for it’s craftsmanship and truthful story-telling. As Mr. Gaup said, “There is no happy ending here.”

Check out my brief interview with Nils Gaup to learn more about the film and himself.

*Note
a large group of people who had been at the screening and dinner enjoyed each other’s company at a bar none of us would probably ever go to but for being recommended to us. It was close by. Trust me, I doubt any of would choose to listen to the music you will hear in the background if the situation allowed for us to select the music ourselves. You are warned! HA!

Photos: Maria Colon

imagineNATIVE co-presents the Maori documentary GUARDING THE FAMILY
SILVER with filmmakers Moana Maniapoto & Toby Mills in attendance

Renowned Maori artists and filmmakers Moana Maniapoto (Te Arawa and Ngati Tuwharetoa) and Toby Mills (Ngati Raukawa and Ngati te Rangi) will be in attendance for a post screening discussion. Director/Researcher Moana Maniapoto is one of New Zealand’s most successful Indigenous singers and leader of the internationally-renowned ensemble Moana and the Tribe. A law graduate, Moana is also a veteran of radio and television broadcasting and was a talk show host on the first national Maori radio station. Producer/Director Toby Mills has a successful history as a film and stage actor and director of the first Maori theatre company Te Rakau Hua o te Wa o Tapu.

imagineNATIVE is pleased to be co-presenting GUARDING THE FAMILY SILVER as a part of the Indigenous Music and Dance as Cultural Property: Global Perspectives Colloquium presented by Memorial University in partnership with the University of Toronto.

For further information visit: http://www.moananz.com

Tickets available at the door.

click image to go to festival site.

DOXA Documentary Film and Video Festival 2008
Sunday, June 1 at 2:30pm
Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour St)

Tickets: www.doxafestival.ca

The Musqueam people have lived for thousands of years in and around what is now the city of Vancouver. (The word Musqueam is an anglicized term describing “where the Muxqui [river grass] grows.”) Director Kevin Lee Burton’s new film meticulously combines film language with Hunkamenum words to recreate Musqueam elder Larry Grant’s experience of rediscovering his language and cultural traditions.

A production of the National Film Board of Canada.

For more information about the film visit: www.nfb.ca/writingtheland

So, for NAICA, Tribeca is over.

See we have full-time jobs besides running this here non-profit (which soon we shall be) and traveling around film festivals and the like, so paychecks are needed and returning to our respective grinds was an absolute must. However, Logan managed to see one film on Sunday. Of course, it was a documentary.

Secrecy by directors Robb Moss and Peter Galison.

The film is about the U.S. government’s policies in determining which documents are to be classied as “secret” and does a run down of one case that was classified and withheld for years from the family members of men who died in a crash which was detailed in this very case. Logan said it was really quite well done.

I attempted to see a film (documentary) that came to fruition through the All-Access program, Marina of the Zabaleen by director Engi Wassef. They pushed the screening from 2:00pm to 3:00pm. I was early so needed to kill time. I went and got that tattoo shown above. I missed the screening. That was our end to Tribeca.

Until next year!

Revolucionario hasta la muerte!

So far the documentaries are th best thing about Tribeca. They are just too damn good. Even Guy Maddin’s quasi-psycho-analytic My Winnipeg has been billed a “documentary” by some nit on Wikipedia.

Well, o.k.

Logan and I weigh in on the what we saw today: two narrative, two docs. We mercifully forget to mention the abysmal shorts block we briefly attended but left as we realized the title of the block was completely mis-leading: Identity Crisis” it was called but what they really should have titled it was “White People Who Get Angsty in Times of Angst”

Collective roll of the eyes is warranted so go right ahead.

“..for a mere 65 million you can, buy..I mean help, a Malawian child.”

While editor Maria Colon cried crocodile tears at various documentaries relating the cruelties of the modern age exacted on small children and illegal immigrants in gruesome detail, Logan Green developed a hatred for John Cusack.

Listen to episode two in our daily film review podcasts covering Tribeca 2008.

(How much you wanna bet that dress, those couture fishnets and chunky chains can feed, cure, and house a Malawian village of 50?)

Blech!

Anyway a few notes about this year’s festival:
1. It sucks 50 films less than it did last year.

2. They have assigned press and industry screenings to two theaters one block away from each other making it infinitely easier to get to multiple screenings in one day.

3. The theaters are located in my beloved East Village where some of my favorite restaurants and bars are located! YAY!

4. The staff is way nicer and more organized than last year.

5. Everything is better than last year.

Today we saw two films which e review at length in the podcast attached below. I warn you, there are spoliers, but trust me when I write, one of the films was a spoiler from the very first frame. Have at’er!

Check back daily for more reviews, possible interviews, and photos galore. Ciao darlings!

P.S. Neither NAICA, Inc nor it’s subsidiaries condone reckless imbibement but this is the NYC and we are adults. Drink responsibly!

New York, NY – April 23, 2008 –Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal was today joined by New York Governor David Paterson, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, American Express Chief Marketing Officer John Hayes, Festival Artistic Director Peter Scarlet and Director and Festival Juror Doug Liman to kickoff the seventh annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express, and announce the 2008 Festival Jury. American Express also announced an additional five-year commitment of its support for the Festival. Festival organizers were joined by filmmakers participating in this year’s Festival at the press conference, which took place at the Borough of Manhattan Community College in lower Manhattan.

The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival will run from April 23 – May 4 and will include 121 feature films and 79 short films representing 41 different countries. The film slate features 53 world premieres, 6 international premieres, and 30 North American premieres. In addition to the line-up of films, this year’s Festival highlights include an array of panel discussions, gala premieres of major studio releases – including Universal’s Baby Mama and Warner Bros. Pictures’ Speed Racer – and the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival. There are also free events, including Drive-In outdoor movies, the Tribeca Family Festival Street Fair and the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Day.

“Great films energize our lives,” said Rosenthal. “We started this Festival to heal our neighborhood and bring the magic of film to the city we love. Over the next 11 days we will view the world through the lens of filmmakers – advancing their work as we seek to inspire and entertain our audiences. I want to thank our sponsors and all those who helped to put together another great Festival, and invite all New Yorkers and our international visitors, to come experience the great creative work we will showcase and enjoy all that Tribeca has to offer.”

“New York has inspired filmmakers since the industry’s beginning,” said Governor Paterson. “But recently, we started losing business to our neighbors, like Canada, Connecticut and Massachusetts. New Yorkers never go down without a fight, and with the significantly expanded state film tax credit I announced today, New York will continue to serve as the most fascinating backdrop in the world. I am proud to have our great state foster an even greater number of productions, and feel fortunate that we have an event like the Tribeca Film Festival to showcase the work of great filmmakers and highlight the importance of this industry in our state.”

“New York City offers the best backdrop in the world to make movies, and every spring, Lower Manhattan offers the best place in the world to celebrate them,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “The Tribeca Film Festival was founded to spur revitalization downtown, and its ongoing success reaffirms Lower Manhattan’s role as a vibrant cultural destination and New York City’s place as a center of movie magic.”

“The Tribeca Film Festival is a unique opportunity for American Express to bring unforgettable experiences to our Cardmembers who are passionate about film and entertainment,” said John Hayes, Chief Marketing Officer of American Express. “It is for that reason that we are happy to announce our commitment to the Festival for another five years. We look forward to another year of exciting and innovative programming and to our continued partnership.”

“American Express has been a true partner to the Tribeca Film Festival – not just financially, but also creatively – since the beginning,” added Rosenthal. “The company’s steadfast support and John Hayes’ personal friendship have enabled us to grow and take risks, and we look forward to what we will achieve together over the next five years.”

Jurors for the competitive categories were announced by Director and Festival Juror Doug Liman. Below is the list of jurors and their respective categories.

World Competition Categories:
The jurors for the 2008 World Narrative Competition are Peter Hedges, Gregory Hoblit, Callie Khouri, Oliver Platt and Christine Vachon.

The jurors for the 2008 World Documentary Competition are Jared Cohen, Whoopi Goldberg, Ross Kauffman, Padma Lakshmi(?!) and Jose Padilha.

New York Competition Categories:
The 2008 “Made in NY” Narrative Feature Award jurors are Peter Dinklage, Fred Durst(?!), Greg Mottola, Stephen Schiff and Annabella Sciorra.

The 2008 “NY Loves Film” Documentary Feature Award jurors are Liya Kebede(!?), Doug Liman, Esther Robinson, Josh Schwartz, Jay McInerney and Andre Leon Talley(?!).

Short Film Competition Categories:
The 2008 Narrative Short jurors are Mario Batali(?!), Christine Lahti, Molly Shannon, Lili Taylor and Zac Posen(?!).

The 2008 Documentary and Student Short jurors are David Bowie, Red Burns, Matthew Modine, Lee Schrager(?!) and David de Rothschild.

Underscoring the diversity and strength of the film program, Rosenthal showed clips from four highly anticipated Festival films at today’s press conference:

· Pray the Devil Back to Hell, directed by Gini Reticker. (USA) – World Premiere. After more than a decade of civil wars leading to more than 250,000 deaths and one million refugees, a group of courageous women rose up to force peace on their shattered Liberia and propel to victory the first female head of state on the African continent.

· Ramchand Pakistani, directed by Mehreen Jabbar, written by Mohammad Ahmed. (Pakistan) – World Premiere. Gorgeous colors enhance this tense tale, based on actual events, about a young Pakistani boy who, with his father, inadvertently crosses the border into India. Both wind up in jail for years, while mother (Nandita Das) is left bewildered and alone.

· War Child, directed by C. Karim Chrobog. (USA) – North American Premiere. Emmanuel Jal spent his childhood as a soldier in the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army. Now this rising hip-hop star is using his music to raise awareness about his homeland’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. Dinka, English, Nuer with English subtitles.

· Bart Got A Room, directed and written by Brian Hecker. (USA) – World Premiere. It’s ticktock ticktock for Danny as the prom approaches, and he still doesn’t have a date. With the help of his plain-Jane best friend and likable but wacky parents (Cheryl Hines and William H. Macy), his hopes for that “special” night may come true in this colorful and quirky comedy.

Following the screening of these clips, Rosenthal welcomed and introduced Leymah Gbowee (subject of Pray the Devil Back to Hell), Mehreen Jabbar (director, Ramchand Pakistani), C. Karim Chrobog (director, War Child) and Brian Hecker (director, Bart Got A Room), who were all on hand for the press conference.

“It is incredibly important to us to support filmmakers from around the world and around the corner and to help them tell their stories. Whether that story is the touching real life story of a Sudanese child soldier who overcomes tremendous odds to become an advocate for peace in his native country or a coming of age tale about a fictitious young boy’s struggle to find a prom date, we believe that our audiences will embrace all of the films in this year’s Festival,” said Rosenthal.

NAICA and Longviews will begin it’s extensive coverage of the festival starting Wednesday night April 23rd through the end of the festival May 4th.
Look for interviews, film reviews, and copious amounts of images, plus, any other sundry what have you that we can come up with, like video? Yeah, maybe.
This year the line up looks to be more cohesive and interesting-lots of social-political documentaries which we like here at NAICA and Longviews. Last year was slim pickins in terms of anything worth actually spending time watching. It was also near impossible to attend, say, three or four screenings per day since the venues were so spread out. NYC is a large island filled with tons of people and traffic. Impossible to get from one end of the city to the next, hell it’s difficult to get three blocks over on a good day, for screening scheduled ten minutes after the one you just attended? Impossible. But this year the organization has worked out it’s scheduling and venue foibles. Truly last year was a disaster of disorganization, but this year they have it together. It should make for an easy time for the press as well as general festival goers. Yay for NAICA.

We are attempting to see 22 movies (press screenings) and a few we’ll have to watch on DVD. No, we will see 22 plus movies and tell you all about them!
Stay Tuned!

The 11th annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival started Wednesday the 16th and runs through April 24th. NAICA spoke with Director of Programming, Jacqueline Rush Rivera on the direction of the festival this year, must see films, new venues and where CLA is going (and they are going places) in the coming years. If you are in Austin, Tx or the surrounding areas in the coming week, make sure to take advantage of the excellent screening opportunities facilitated by this intimate and intelligently programmed film festival. And don’t forget to listen to the podcast below!

To learn more about the festival, the screening venues, and to view a film schedule visit www.cinelasamericas.org.

“The mission of Cine Las Americas is to promote cross-cultural understanding and growth by educating, entertaining and challenging the diverse Central Texas community through film and media arts.”

(F.Y.I. click on ‘download’ to listen to podcast. the popup player is acting a little kooky on this one.)