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PROVINCETOWN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL — 2010 AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Sunday June 20, 2010  (PROVINCETOWN, MA) — The 2010 Provincetown International Film Festival award winners were announced this evening.  Prizes were given to the following films:

PIFF 2010 was also supported by grants from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Provincetown Tourism Fund.

http://www.ptownfilmfest.org

My time is going way too fast here.  Today is another perfect day weather wise, but no time for the beach, my first movie is at 11:30 at the Art House 2.  This movie is titled “Howl”  directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.  Rob and Jeffrey were here to introduce their movie.  It is always a nice touch to see the director’s attending the festival where their movie is being shown.

It’s San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial.  HOWL, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist: society’s reaction (the obscenity trial) and mind expanding animation that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself.  All three coalesce in a genre-bending hybrid that brilliantly captures a pivotal moment-the birth of a counterculture.

The amazing cast provides the extra passion and urgency that are sure to introduce HOWL to the best minds of a new generation.  With James Franco, Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Bob Balaban and Alessandro Nivola.

For those of you who are familiar with the Beat Generation poets, you will find this movie interesting.  I personally wasn’t familiar with Allen Ginsberg, but after viewing the film, I felt I had a good handle on him.

Did I like it? Yes!  Would I view it twice? No.  I would like to have had a conversation with Allen Ginsberg…..he had a very abstract way of thinking………..His poem that was brought to trial had quite a bit of sexual content. I am sure you can google the poem titled “Howl” to read it.  It appeared that his crowd hung on his every word. Maybe they were under some mind altering substance.  It amazes me that a poem can be brought to trial to prove it obscene or not.  We have come a long way since 1957.

The movie was a series of pictures, interviews, his reading, the courtroom trial, but the part I like most of all was the animation in between that showed while he was reading his poem.  The animation scenes were pretty abstract, but made you understand the poem better.  I think I rated it on the HBO ballot a 4.

Off to the Lobster Pot for some steamers and a lobster roll.   I saw more of Ptown than ever before just cruising around the little alley ways and back roads.  Time for a quick nap and off to the second movie at 6pm.

No nap for me……….a bunch of little brats were running up and down the hallway.

hmmmm what can I say about this next movie, two for one.  First movie  “GRACE” Grace Paley/Ezra Johsnon. Directed by Herman J. Engel, Linda Leehman, and Sonya Friedman.

A documentary about Grace Paley, the noted American short-story writer, poet, educator,political activist, who was also a frequent outer Cape visitor and former teacher at the Fine Arts Work Center,  We see her at home, in interviews, and at fabled readings.    I am told she was quite a lady, but I wasn’t enjoying it.  My first note said, I was bored to tears and I would find myself closing my eyes ever so slightly.  The Fine Arts Work Center was not a great place to show a film, it was too light and uncomfortable.  The picture quality was poor and I couldn’t wait until it was over.

The second short film, titled Ezra Johnson, “What Vision Burns,” had a running time of 26 minutes and was directed by Ezra Johnson.  The film was all animation using lushly colored paintings and collaged figures to tell the story of a pair of art thieves in New York City.  The animation is a laborious process, as johnson paints and repaints the surface of his canvases to create each frame of the film, which uses visual elements and sound effects to narrate the scenario.  Johnson’s amusing depictions of the art world’s many characters and his poetic representations of the city tell a story both romantic and unexpected.

Well…everyone has their personal preference, but this wasn’t mine.  I respect the process of making the film.  The process is like I was showed on a Disney World tour of the animation department with the artists drawing/painting many different scenes to make it look like it’s moving.  I am sure this took many tedious hours to put together.  Again, this is just my view.  On the other hand, the artist sitting to my left thought it was fabulous, so who am I?

I was disappointed that I chose these films for today, as there were other films that I really wanted to see, but couldn’t fit in.  Maybe another time……………….my treat at the end of this rainbow was the dinner immediately following….Shrimp and Scallop Scampi.  I ate some really good food and my only hope is that all my bike riding balanced all the weight  I should have gained.  Exhaustion setting in now. I simply can’t do anymore tonight. I am missing the film makers party. I must be tired.

The Pier

The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful if I had ordered it myself….coffee on the veranda as I contemplated my day.  I had to start off the day with a leisurely walk around the grounds, the jetty, and a quick dip in the pool, as the tide was too low at this time.

I had until 4:30 until my next movie, so I had time to go to the beach, and do other tourist type things.  I am in awe at this quaint little town and it will be hard for me when it is time to leave.

The days have been crammed with so many things to do and it can be exhausting…..so I was able to fit in a nap before my movie…..I must have slept sound because I missed what must have been a beautiful wedding right outside of my room.  The white chairs all lines up for the guests.  I was able to catch the photographer’s shoot before the reception that was held here at the Provincetown Inn.

Back on my bike and off to my next movie at the Vixen theater for:  Edie and Thea: A very Long Engagement, with a running time of 61 mins, Directed by Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir.  I loved this theater because you could sit with a drink while you viewed the film and the AC was on, relief …

Edie and Thea met in the early 1960′s at a clandestine party for lesbians in New York and for the next 42 years shared their lives together.  In this touching documentary, we meet these two women who were witness to and part of the readical societal changes of our time,  going from meeting in secret to marching in gay pride parades. Through a wealth of vintage home movies, old photographs, and countless anecdotes we witness the incredible love affair these two ladies have shared and follow them as they finally end their very long engagement when they travel to Canada to be married.  Romantics, historians and activist alike will find this a wonderful documentary.

This was my favorite movie of all time…….and I cried probably from 5 mins into the film until the end and after.  I have never seen such an amazing love story where you could actually feel their  love.   Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer were clearly soul mates in every sense of the word.  They laughed together,  they danced together,  they were tireless in the social and political struggles, and their humor with each other through the bad and the good was in itself an inspiration.  They were both remarkable, funny, women whose commitment to each other was a true testament of a bond that the rest of the world has been far too slow to recognize. Edie and Thea received, from me, a 5 on the HBO Ballot.

As the lights came on, there wasn’t a dry eye in sight.  Susan Muska and Greta Olafsdottir did an incredible job and they were there for us to meet with and answer questions.  I had such a ball in my throat I couldn’t even talk.  The real treat was when Edie Windsor came out to answer questions.   Thea passed away in February 2009 from complications from Multiple Sclerosis, but left behind the memories of a lifetime for Edie.  I met Edie and gave her a hug to thank her for sharing her story.

This is Edie and I

After drying my eyes and regrouping, I went to the pier to view the beauty and spent the rest of the evening around a campfire with some old and dear friends from my high school days.    Once again, another 10 day.

See you tomorrow…..