What I Did Tuesday

My mic died Monday. I discovered this on Tuesday, when I went tko replay the Haynes/Linklater panel I attended, and heard nothing except static air. I went back and checked my video from Monday, and there was no sound on it, either. Since Tuesday night, I have been without a mic. Better bad audio than no audio.

I attended the awards show, then a screening of Saint Misbehavin', a documentary about Wavy Gravy. During the Q&A, the director said that she had wanted to make a movie about his message, not a straightforward biography. Having seen this movie, I now understand the breadth of Wavy's achievements, which extend beyond the soundbites he provides in documentaries on Woodstock. If the Hog Farm had done the security at Altamont as they did at Woodstock, the most that might have happened to the guy that got killed was a big pie in the face. Before the movie, Lisa Law got a picture of the audience wearing clown noses, and afterward, I got a picture with Wavy.

Then I went over to Maggie Mae's to catch the remainder of the closing party. I said good-bye to Joe Swanberg, and a few others, and shot video with my Flip Camera.

I'll talk about the rest later. My father is waiting.

Indie A Go-Go

Yesterday, I saw two movies: It Was Great, But I Was Ready to Come Home and For The Love of Movies.

It Was Great is about two friends, Annie and Cam (director Kris Swanberg and Jade Healy), who travel to Costa Rica following Annie's painful breakup with her boyfriend. Over the course of their trip, they realize that they are drifting apart as well. Amazingly, the movie was only shot in December, and with its intimacy and intensity, may be by and far the best movie I've seen at the festival. (Narrative feature, anyway.)

After the movie, I went to the IndieGoGo Party, where some of the cast and crew of the movie were hanging out. Joe Swanberg was there...with his mother, I believe.

For the Love of Movies is directed by Gerald Peary, film critic for The Boston Phoenix. It documents the history of film criticism. There were a few critics, that I've never heard of, like Otis Ferguson. It was interesting to see the evolution of Hollywood embracing film critics, then despising them. It also touches upon a rivalry between Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris. I read some of Kael's work this past fall, and after seeing this movie, am eager to check out Andrew Sarris' work as well, as well as his wife, Molly Haskell.

Right now, I'm heading over to the screening library. I'm attending panels on surviving the festival circuit and a Todd Haynes/Richard Linklater panel. The awards show is tonight, then I'm sticking around the convention center and seeing Saint Misbehavin', a documentary about Wavy Gravy. After that, I might try to go to the closing party, though I had trouble getting in last year because I had A/V equipment with me.