Full Frame Day 1

T and I at Full Frame.



This was the first day of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. I skipped the late movie on the theory that you have to pace yourself; I think 12 hours at the festival on the first day are plenty!

Saw some great films today. Not a lot of laughs in this bunch, though:

(1) An elderly couple recounted what they had experienced during Katrina.
(2) Some evacuees from Chernobyl returned for the first time to their town, which has been deserted for 20 years and is still highly radioactive. Lots of haunting images of the town and of the inside (!) of the destroyed reactor itself.
(3) A look at homosexuality and Christianity--several people described their experiences coming out in very religious families. This one was uplifting, at least, because families featured in the film came to accept their children and, in fact, became activists for acceptance in the Church.
(4) A long, graphic, and depressing film about abortion. Much discussion of radical pro-lifers and murders of abortion providers. The film was not, however, just a pro-choice screed--the director didn't shy away from showing several aborted fetuses. The visuals left me shaken, despite my own firm pro-choice stance.
(5) A story of a 400-person human-pyramid-building team in Catalonia. This was a fun one, but it made my palms sweat out of nerves as small children climbed to the top of these three-story human towers. No wonder Europeans think we're wimps for wearing bicycle helmets!