The little film festival that grew
Wakefield to screen some of world’s top documentaries
The plucky little film festival in Wakefield, Que., that began four years ago in the upstairs of a local pub will screen some of the world’s top documentary films this year.
The 2013 Wakefield International Film Festival will present seven documentaries, including the Oscar-nominated 5 Broken Cameras, a personal look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in a West Bank town, and Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, the film about China’s famous dissident artist that picked up a special jury prize at Sundance last year.
The Wakefield festival has grown quickly, fed by a growing interest in documentaries and enthusiasm from a volunteer staff of about 10. It started in 2010 at the village’s Café Molo, which could squeeze about 60 people on chairs in a second-floor room.
Since last year, the festival has screened films at the Wakefield LaPêche Community Centre, where there’s a screen, projection booth and seating for about 150.
“I really expect we will be turning away people this year,” said festival publicist Melanie Willis.
The festival’s rise has coincided with an increase in the production and popularity of documentary films. Documentaries help put important social issues in context, said Willis.
“It’s a form that allows a little bit of space and time to present a point of view about a particular issue, and when it’s done well, it’s a spectacular form. I really admire it. People are just hit with so much information these days, and you can’t possibly read enough to keep up with everything, so the documentary form allows the exploration of a certain subject that is a little deeper, a little more interesting, a little more contextualized than the way information usually hits you.”
The festival’s budget this year of $40,000 includes an estimated $9,000 in ticket sales, $4,000 in municipal and district grants and $2,500 in cash sponsorships, with the remainder made up of in-kind donations such as hotel rooms and printing.
For the first time, a $500 “best of festival” prize will be awarded to one of the films this year, based on audience surveys.
Organizers say they strive to have a participatory element to allow viewers to talk about what they’ve seen. That includes discussion panels and director talks, some of which are still being organized.
Here is the lineup: Feb. 10 5 Broken Cameras Directed by: Emad Burnat and Guy
Davidi
From: Palestine/Israel/France/ Netherlands, 2011
Language: In Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles
Extra: Panel discussion after the show The title refers to the video cameras used by a Palestinian farmer over the course of several years to document protests against the building of Israeli settlements near his hometown in the West Bank. The cameras are destroyed by Israeli soldiers as the conflict escalates. National Post film reviewer Chris Knight called the film a “moving and successful” portrait of life in the Palestinian territories, while a critic from the Globe & Mail described it as a “both a moving first-person essay and an artful exercise in political advocacy.” Feb. 17 The People of the Kattawapiskak River Directed by: Alanis Obomsawin Country: Canada, 2012 Extra: The director will be there for a Q&A after the film This film is timely, given the rise of the Idle No More Movement and the hunger strike by Attawapiskat chief
Theresa Spence. It’s an inside look at Attawapiskat, the northern Ontario Cree community that has come to symbolize the desperate problems of aboriginal communities in Canada. The film allows residents to speak for themselves, displaying both their deplorable living conditions and their resilience. Feb. 24 Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Directed by: Alison Klayman Country: U.S.A., 2012.
Language: English and Mandarin with English subtitles This film follows China’s most famous artist as he transforms into one of the country’s bravest dissidents: he is beaten up and detained by police, and his studio is razed. It’s an unfiltered, vivid portrait of “a man who is unequivocally principled in his criticism of the Chinese state but who is not without his own faults,” wrote National Post critic Jesse Kinos-Goodin. Last year, the film won a special jury prize at Sundance and also opened the Hot Docs festival in Toronto. March 3 The World Before Her Directed by: Nisha Pahuja Country: Canada, 2012 Language: English and Hindi with English subtitles
Extras: There will be a panel discussion after the film The film presents two very different sides of modern India: the Miss India beauty pageant and a training camp to indoctrinate young girls in Hindu fundamentalism. “Ironically, both are about propaganda, mortification of the body and training — how to stick out your boobs and walk sexily, or how to hit someone in the solar plexus for maximum effect,” wrote National Post movie critic Chris Knight. “Equally ironic is that even if you disagree with one (or both) camps, the participants do an excellent job of explaining the reasons behind their choices.” Last year it won the best documentary prize at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, and was the best Canadian feature at HotDocs. March 10 The Hole Story
Directed by: Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie
Country: Canada, 2011 An intense exploration of the mining industry in Canada, which the festival says “exposes the dark side of an industry which has notable disregard for human and environmental health, and which takes its astronomical profits outside Canada — all the while paying little tax and leaving behind a financial burden.” March 17 Song of the Kauri Directed by: Mathurin Molgat Country: New Zealand, 2012
Extra: Panel discussion The film explores the majestic kauri tree of New Zealand, and a luthier who builds guitars from its rare timber. “Featuring musicians Jackson Browne, Nigel Gavin, Michael Chapdelaine, Tiki Taane and Miranda Adams, alongside philosophers, economists, historians, scientists and woodsmen, Song of the Kauri examines how the kauri species is deeply rooted in the cultural, economic and musical history of New Zealand, yet was nearly eradicated,” says an article in New Zealand’s Otago Daily Times. March 24 Rafea: Solar Mama Directed by: Jehane Noujaim & Mona Eldaief
Country: USA/Denmark/Egypt,
2012.
Language: English and Arabic with English subtitles This film follows a poor Bedouin woman from the Jordanian desert who goes to a “barefoot college” in India to train as a solar engineer, then returns to her village to face the challenge of training others and convincing the traditional villagers to change their ways.