I slept in after a busy night and missed the "Shoot Out" taping, but good times were still to be had in the afternoon. I started the day at the lovely Camelot Theatres.
•Please Vote for Me is a simply made and delightful doc about an elementary school in Wuhan, China which holds elections for class monitor amongst a class of eight-year-olds. Democracy momentarily breaks the Communist mold, and though the children have no understanding of the former concept, some are remarkably natural politicians.
Little Xuxiaofei is shy and fragile, Luolei is the incumbent known for his bullying and Chengcheng knows all the dirty tricks to winning an election and hopes for a dictatorship. It is interesting not only to watch their instincts kick in and the response from the class, but to see how the parents mold their endeavors. A fascinating glimpse of Chinese society.
Sophomore director Weijun Chen was in attendance afterwards for a Q&A via his interpretor. He said he was disappointed that Hillary and Obama did not attend, as they might learn better strategies from the kids. "If you're looking for good political strategists, I can these children for you," he said.
He conceded that it is not very likely the film will be shown in China, and admitted that he had to be sneaky about filming it and even sneakier when editing it.
•Honeydripper found a good crowd in the main Camelot theatre, especially due to the Q&A that followed with director John Sayles and L.A. Times film critic John Horn.
I found myself seated between John Wessman, with whom I discussed the evolution of the festival (he's been on the board from the start), and a journalist from Toronto, with whom I compared notes on films we'd each seen (he gave stiff warning against You, the Living).
Sayles represents the independent filmmaker in the purest sense. Doctoring or writing scripts from scratch in order to make a little scratch, he often uses that skill to fund his next film project. Even on his 16th film with great musicians and Danny Glover on the bill, it took much effort to get his latest film off the ground. He noted that the distributors of his first eight films were out of business (though he stressed through no fault of his), emphasizing how tough it is to support independent film. He said the indie biz required the ability not only to act as director but also as promoter, making it important to know your audience.
He appreciated his screenwriting gigs for the chance to work with other directors and view their methods. He said he could write anything for James Cameron as the director can create the technology to match the imagery, Ron Howard discusses the script with his cast and Sydney P0llack works the script over line by line.
Sayles reflected on his thirty year career, and discussed when Return of the Secaucus 7 came out in 1980, an indie film could stay in alternative theatres for four weeks. Nowadays art house films are held for about a week, which does not produce great revenue. However, bigger stars look to beef up their cred with indie roles, over the brief cameos of years past. He was asked about his own cameos and replied that he only performed characters who did not evolve.
I spoke with Sayles for awhile before the show and he turned the conversation on me. We discussed how rare it is nowadays to have a local film critic, as more papers are turning to outside sources for such columns (he's buddies with Louis Black, co-founder and editor of the Austin Chronicle). We agreed that it's important to create local conversation -- not even necessarily for the need for local tie-ins, but to build a connection between reader and writer. We also talked about the internet disseminating misinformation, and he said he has been credited for writings he's never touched (though as was pointed out in the Q&A, he often goes uncredited on script fix-ups), or Jurassic Park IV on IMDb.com for which there's been little serious planning.
•In a more absurd light, if South Korea's Dasepo Naughty Girls doesn't become a cult film, then the midnight movie is truly dead. A quick sum up of No Use High School: Poor Girl (who wear poverty as a literal monkey on her back) loves Swiss exchange student Anthony (who does not look Swiss whatsoever though he is sometimes serenaded by yodelers) who loves Double Eyes (so called because her brother is a literal Cyclops) who turns out to be transgendered ("Why does she have to be a man?"). Poor Girl is a prostitute of the oddest variety ("Virginity doesn't pay the bills"), who befriends Big Razor Sis, a crossdresser with a Sailor Moon fetish, who guides her internet career based on her Shaky Dance Syndrome.
There is karaoke (the words light up across the bottom), dancing and spontaneous song. We're talking good, trashy, flashy stuff.