I can see once filmfest is out of the way, that I’m going to have a whole series of more think oriented posts to propel me through the rest of June [I say hopefully :-)]. I now have 4 semi written posts in draft mode, at least one of which will need to be split in two. My head is still a little zombie-ish, though not as bad as yesterday – whilst it’s hard to think thoughts through, I am at least jotting down thoughts as they occur. Prior to the June challenge I had fallen out of the habit of writing things down (admittedly that’s electronically and not that paper stuff). A little bit of me wishes that filmfest would hurry up and finish so I can think about such things. Though really, it’s just procrastination and if I did have plenty of time, even less would be achieved.

Finding it a struggle to keep up at the moment; not to mention I also have stuff to do for ALIA Access too. Co-convening is a weird place for me to be; even stranger, given the Camp approach, I have speakers not to manage and I am at least successfully not managing that aspect…mostly because I have no idea how. I keep waiting for someone else to tell me what to do, then I remember that the rest of the committee is waiting for me to tell them :-) And so we fudge ever forward, progress is being made but this is very definitely a leap out of my comfort zone – getting out of comfort zones is good, though often a scary thing too.

Oh bugger, this post was just going to be two film reviews. Oops! Sorry about that, I got distracted. I really don’t want to work today as I keep having thoughts that need development. However, this is the busy time of year and my break will soon be over so on to the film reviews. The good news is that I have manage to obtain a ticket to the Guy Maddin film, Dracula, pages from a virgin’s diary, on Sunday night at the Opera House. Maddin is one of my favourite directors ever and it would be remiss of me to miss one of his films on the big screen.

On to last night’s films, starting with Lola, directed by Brillante Mendoza, set in The Philipines. A studied piece on folk in poverty, especially two grandmothers: one who’s grandson was killed, the other whose grandson did the killing. This event caused both women much hardship, the former trying to get money to pay for the funeral, while the other trying to get money for an amicable settlement to get her grandson out of gaol. This was set against a rainy environment, with floodwaters, which served to accentuate the hardship both were dealing with. It was also a look at how justice is handled and how the community works. An insight, with feeling, of how life works at the lower end of the economic scales.

The second movie was a sellout. Exit Through the Gift Shop by Banksy. A film by a graffiti artist about graffiti artists, not to mention the change from being covert street art to an accepted art form, attracting the big end of town. This was a lot of fun, it flowed well, and had things to say. Occasional comments with various artists and associated folk in LA and London. Some scenes of the shadowy Banksy at work; a few of the artists had their faces blurred on screen. As Banksy commented, they operate in a sort of legal grey area, ie the cops can bust them. The film referred a bit to the move from straight spraypainting to the use of stencils, transfers and other such to paint their works. It had things to say about the nature of art and how it’s received and perceived. It was fascinating and fun with a good sense of humour throughout; would love to watch it again.