FIFF Days

It’s me doing the FIFF (Festival International du Film Francophone) coverage, sort of.

Day 1 Opening Day

The film everyone wants to see, the now extremely famous La Vie D’Adèle.

Namur is a beautiful and pleasant place. You can go to the Citadelle and see the entire city’s view. Well, I did go early, too early. I end up having the tedious of days, I couldn’t feel, have any emotions anymore, especially when you’re waiting to see this film. I was blank. That’s what happens when you’re looking at the clock everyone other minute. Like most people, it’s been a struggle since May, but somehow these last hours just killed me.

You wait in line for over an hour, you sit down and you wait another half hour, then they show the spots and I can’t even bare to look at the screen and when I think it’s over they call the President of the Festival and a couple more people and they all talk. Then they call Abdelatiff Kechiche and one actress who’s in the film. And then he talks for a while, by now you must know how he talks. I was so unsettled, I couldn’t pay attention to what he was saying and I didn’t really cared either. After what he has been babbling, to see him all smiles and talking about what the film means, the love thing, “bullshit” starts to emerge. But I don’t think I was the only one who didn’t care about what he was saying. People just wanted to see the god damn film.

I had the worst experience I could have hoped for. I screwed up the film, my expectations screwed up the film, people in general (*cough male critics *cough) screw up the film. Mostly I felt outraged because I was not overwhelmed by it. (Yes, I can’t even admit I was underwhelmed.)

Day 4

I obviously spent two days worth of film going at it, emerged in my Blue experience, I wasn’t really up to watch films. Now that I’m watching, it’s all reflecting the experience of Blue.

Fucked in the balls. Totally miss the screening for Gabrielle. The Canadian film. Too many people, they’re not stupid, they want to see a good film.

Bà Noi (Grand Maman)

Between two very different cultures, between the broken heritages. It’s about the filmmaker’s grandmother, it’s about the last stages of life and no matter how different the cultures may be it is still relatable, there’s a common ground that is reflected back at us. The last scene of this documentary has this great comic timing.

The Broken Circle Breakdown

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Such a sad film, so romantic, so heartbreaking, so universally resonant. The rhythm and the songs just stay with you.

Funny that more or less a year ago I remember watching this film’s poster in a film theater in Bruxelles. How’s this for a different experience? I believe people were more involved and touched by this film, it just sounded like they were emotionally engaged with it as in the credits weren’t yet rolling and people started clapping enthusiastically. It’s like I said, it’s resonant, universally. With La Vie D’Adele people were either shocked or…I think they were pretty shocked or that they really did not enjoyed the film that much. They were not into clapping. I did not clap.

Missed and want to see:

Gabrielle

Juliette

Diego Star