|
 |
|
FESTIVAL: WILLIAMSBURG BROOKLYN FILM FESTIVAL
|
|
A spree grows in Brooklyn
It's a whirlwind tour of the celluloid world at the up-and-coming Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival.
By JOSHUA TANZER
Offoffoff.com
The Williamsburg Brooklyn Festival, now in its fourth year, prides itself on having a theme that's not a theme.
"The vision is not one vision," says festival director Marco Ursino. "In fact, this year it would be about adding visions. We look for people who are original, who create something from nothing. They don't copy other people."
|
That means that when this year's festival calls itself the "Brainstorm Edition," that requires some explanation — "brainstorm" doesn't mean a sudden flash of brilliance, necessarily. In this case it means throwing out a lot of ideas and seeing what happens, says Ursino, "the idea of having so many projects not looking or feeling like each other. With 80 films, we will really explore a lot of things — that is the brainstorm. In six days people will survey the world."
Among the more intriguing offerings are:
"Bawandar" ("Sandstorm") from India, which tells the true story of a women's activist who was raped in retaliation for her work and took on her village elders and the caste system in court.
"Hurt" (pictured above), an Australian documentary in which young people describe their own lives in their own words.
"Passing Stones," an offbeat feature about oddball New York characters on a weekend of treasure hunting and getting on one another's nerves.
"Up Syndrome," highly recommended by the festival organizers, turns the camera on a Down syndrome kid and watches him perform.
|
Festival articles
Reviews:
|
|
|
Bawandar
The real-life case of a poor rural activist in India who suffered a retaliatory rape and fought back remains an important story in spite of serious blunders by the filmmakers.
|
|
|
Passing Stones
Throws together a bunch of oddballs with almost too many character quirks into one small Long Island house for an entertaining weekend of treasure hunting and getting on one another's nerves.
|
|
MAY 2, 2001
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
Post a comment on "Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival"
|
|
|
|
