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FESTIVAL: WILLIAMSBURG BROOKLYN FILM FESTIVAL
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Fest things first
The 2000 Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival presents imaginative films of all kinds — with no preconceptions and absolutely no "nepotismo."
By JOSHUA TANZER
Offoffoff.com
Just two years ago, a group of independent filmmakers brought forth in Williamsburg a new film festival dedicated to the proposition that all movies are created equal, whether they cost a thousand dollars or millions.
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"This is something I used to say the first year: It started out of frustration," says Italian-born festival director Marco Ursino. Why this frustration with some other festivals? "I will call it in Italian 'nepotismo.' You have to know somebody or you have to hire a star."
The Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival looks for such ethereal qualities as "freshness," "drive" and a "common visual language" in its 61 offerings, but above all seeks to present a broad range of films that, however they might be categorized, present some original vision. Among the diversity of films showing at this year's festival:
"Dolphins", the visually striking, wordless fable of an institutionalized woman whose dreams of freedom are inspired by the goldfish bowl in her locked hospital room.
"Intervista", a student film project that started when a young Albanian discovered a soundless videotape of his mother in her younger days as a Communist Party aparatchik-in-training, and investigated the story behind this mystery tape.
"Once We Were Strangers", a charming sort of anti-romance romance picture in which a gray, blustery New York fights two couples' every effort to fall in love.
"Venti", an road picture in which the buddies are a bubbly porn actress and a somber television interviewer who stumble into a series of twisted vignettes as they cross Italy.
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Festival articles
Reviews:
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Dolphins
The institutionalized heroine of the powerful film "Dolphins" looks at her goldfish bowl and dreams of freedom.
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Intervista
Finding a lost film of his mother the communist sets a young Albanian off on a fascinating confrontation with the past in this short documentary
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Once We Were Strangers
A gray, blustery New York fights two couples' every effort to fall in love in a thoroughly charming anti-romance romance.
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Venti
Two Italian women hit the road and find friendship and strange stories in the uneven "Venti."
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MAY 10, 2000
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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