Filmmakers, press and members of the public from all over the world gathered at the Carolina Theater in Durham over the weekend to enjoy the 12th Full Frame documentary film festival, which concluded on Sunday. Nearly 100 films were screened over the course of the festival’s four days, nearly 60 of which were in competition for various awards.
The opening night film chosen to usher in the festival was Sons of Cuba, which documents the intense training undertaken by twelve-year old boxers in Cuba as they prepare for the national championship. Director Andrew Lang was present after the screening to partake in a conversation moderated by Hoop Dreams director Steve James.
“I found myself in this flood-lit training ground… And I thought, I’m going to make the film about these kids,” Lang said. “We finished the film three days ago.”
The big winner of the festival was Burma VJ: Reporting From A Closed Country, a suspenseful and eye-opening exploration of underground journalism in the totalitarian state of Myanmar. Directed by Anders Ostergaard, the film is comprised mainly of handicam footage shot in secret by reporters from the Democratic Voice of Burma, an underground movement that smuggles the footage out of the country in the hopes of gaining international attention.
“It was very intense. I knew in general Burma was kind of a bad place, but nothing to that extent. It hit me hard,” Ragan Dalton, a senior in film studies, said.
Burma VJ won the Grand Jury Award, along with the Center For Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award and the Working Films Award.
A Special Jury Award was presented to Unmistaken Child, which follows a Buddhist monk over the course of five years as he searches Nepal for the reincarnation of his mentor. Neither Anders Ostergaard, director of Burma VJ, nor Nati Baratz, director of Unmistaken Child, were present to accept their prizes.
N.C. State was present in more ways than one at the festival this year. An N.C. State alum, Robert Greene, had a film accepted into the festival. In his film, Owning the Weather, he explores the history of weather modification and how human beings interact with climate.
“I thought it was really well-done and beautifully shot,” Dalton said. “I didn’t know that modification was any big deal, and so the film taught me more about that.”
Another one of the favorite films viewed by filmgoers was The Visitors, which chronicles the long journey a group of women must make to see their loved ones in prison. The film was the first feature-length documentary directed by Melis Birder, who had personal experience visiting an ex-boyfriend in jail.
“I really want to bring this film to prison towns to show the people there what the visitors are going through. Most of the inmates don’t know their loves ones are going through these hardships just to see them,” Birder said. “I really want to use this as a tool to create some kind of change.”
Despite the absence of usual sponsor The New York Times and fewer big-name celebrities than in previous years (such as Michael Moore and Martin Scorsese), Full Frame was crowded and many films sold out over the course of the weekend. Final numbers have not been released, but early estimations suggest that ticket sales increased from the nearly 29,000 issued in 2008. Dalton said he hoped the festival would continue to grow and more N.C. State students would attend next year.
“You get to see films that you wouldn’t get to see anywhere else, and you actually get to hear why films were made and behind-the-scenes looks at filmmaking,” Dalton said.
Look for an interview in Arts & Entertainment next week with director Robert Greene about Owning the Weather and his experiences at the Full Frame film festival.
