Notes on Inside the Chinese Closet (2016) or why where you see a film at a festival will effect what you think of it Human Rights Watch Film Festival

The order you see a film in a festival will affect how you react to it. I saw INSIDE THE CHINESE CLOSET last and it greatly lessened the experience. It was by a wide margin the one film with the lowest stakes of any film in the festival, whether or not one's parents were happy. Yes I know its more complex than that but that's what it felt like.

INSIDE THE CHINESE CLOSET is about the choices that LGBT young adults in China are forced to make as they explore in name only marriages, adopting children and other means with dealing with familial and societal expectations. Its about trying to work out who they are are really and who they are going to please.

Ultimately the film failed for me because I never really felt for the plight of most of the people in the film since the stakes seem very low. Here are a bunch of seemingly well off young Chinese, not living with their parents who are struggling to find ways to make their lives appear to be normal to make their parents feel happy. Yes it's  tough, but coming as the last of ten films I saw as part of the HRWFF it's the most inconsequential.

Consider that in the festival's opening night film, and the other film set in China,  HOOLIGAN SPARROW. Sparrow was forced to move from her home for speaking out about the rape of several school girls and then had all her world possessions unceremoniously dumped on the side of the road. Sparrow was also beaten and thrown in jail for trying to shine a light on corruption and wrong doing. Compared to that what the people in CHINESE CLOSET is small potatoes.

This shouldn't be taken in anyway to lessen the plight of LGBT people in China, rather that after 9 films filled with graphic and implied nastiness this film is almost to sedate. I'm sure that had this been the first film screened it would have been more affecting.

For tickets and more information go here.

Ovarian Psychos (2016)Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2016

Ovarian Psychos is about an ever growing group of women of color who get together to ride their bicycles through the night. The group was founded by a group of women who came together to hang out and support each other. Growing up many of the women felt that they really hadn’t been able to connect with other women. The rides allow them the freedom to be whoever they are without anyone telling them no.

I am divided about this film. To be honest I am completely aware that I am the wrong audience for this film. I am most decidedly not a young woman of color but I sense that if I were I would be thrilled that the film reflected a life where anything was possible and where one could hopefully find the strength to overcome the abuse and stigmas foisted upon them by society. If you are a young woman like the ones who are members of the group this film is an absolute must see.

On the other hand I don’t think the film completely works past a certain point. Yes the film explains who the Psychos are, why they were founded, the lives of the women before and after, but after a while the film kind of sputters. There is a sameness to some of it. While we do get to see the women and the changes the group brings in them and their world, I’m not sure it’s enough to sustain the films 75 minute run time. This would be an excellent 60 Minutes piece.

Forgive me I feel bad not liking the film more. I feel like not liking the film will be taken to mean I don’t like the group- which isn’t the case. Its more I think what these women are doing is really cool, I just wish that they had someone who could have put the film together so that it revealed their greatness to the whole world and not to a select audience.

Starless Dreams (2016) Human Rights Watch FIlm Festival 2016

I'm not as tough as I sound. Its an act.

Portrait of several young women living inside an Iranian correctional facility.

Playing more like a drama than a documentary STARLESS DREAMS is an unexpected punch in the face. You may have seen films about kids in a correctional facility but you haven't seen this.

Running a brief 75 minutes the film absolutely emotionally drained me as we jump back and forth between girls being girls and the stories of what lead the girls to be locked up. Broad smiles and laughs give way to pain and tears. Its a film that makes you like all of the girls and then repeatedly breaks your heart again and again as we hear their stories (I dare you not to cry when young girl is told that no one will bring her clothes to wear).

Pain drips from the walls

Director Mehrdad Oskouei has made a documentary that is truly something special. Not only does it reveal a part of human existence that most of us have never considered, not only is it a compelling tale, but it is also a cinematic work of art. Watching the film I had the feeling that I wasn't watching just a film or the stories of these young ladies in prison, but something greater,something larger. How it all comes together and transcends the documentary I'm not quite sure, but it has to be have been a combination of great skill at putting the film together and luck at having stumbled into such an interesting group of ladies to tell their stories.

If you see this film , have nothing right after it because you will want to recover.

One of the very best films at This years Human Rights Film Festival and of the year.

For more information and tickets to the New York Screenings go here.

Hooligan Sparrow (2016) Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2016

Nanfu Wang's portrait of Ye Haiyan aka Hooligan Sparrow a woman fighting for human rights in China. Her trip to see her coincides with Sparrow getting involved in the rape of six school girls by a principal and government official. At first the men denied anything happened, but once evidence arrived the story changed to the girls were paid for sex. Government Officials regularly get out of trouble by claiming that the women were prostitutes

Sparrow has been in the fore front of the fight for women's rights. She had been fighting for years via various protests that went viral on the internet. The government hates her because things like working in a brothel for free shines a light in places they would rather have remain dark.

Damning portrait of civil rights in China will piss you off. .This is the dark underbelly no one wants to think about but is clearly infecting its society or if not the society the leaders who try to stop the protests and Hooligan Sparrow who keeps fighting.

A stunning film I was left limp in my seat when it was over. While the story itself is affecting, Nanfu Wang has structured her film like a political thriller. Its got more tension than the last five Hollywood films. Its the sort of film I could see people watching just because it's a roller-coaster.

Of course seeing just as a thriller is missing the point. This is a film that need to be seen because people have to know what's going on in China really.  Change has to come in regard to human rights violations in China and pressure to make the changes must be used and if you want to know why all you need do is see this film.

One of the highlights of the Human Right Watch Film Festival,of 2016 and a must see.

The film open The Human Rights Watch Film Festival. It will open for  regular engagement in New York July 15 and LA on July 22.

It will play in October on PBS- but see it now.

Human Rights Film Festival starts in New York Friday

The one of the most terrible things cinematically is that we need to have a festival like the one run by Human Rights Watch. We should not have to worry about anyone’s rights. HRW should not need to exist.

If Human Rights Watch must exist (and sadly it must) then we should have the film festival they run. We should have it because it helps to get the word out and helps bring change. And for a less dire reason, we should have it because they show damn good films. HRWFF is one of the film years biggest delights (or as much as it can be considering the subject matter).

I have been a fan of the festival for years. I think Unseen has been covering it every year since we’ve been in existence. It is a festival we will cover every year until we stop reviewing films or the need for films like these to exist ends. It’s a festival giving us some of the best films (full stop) of the year, they just happen to be on subjects that are about human rights violations.

Once again this year we’re going heavy into the fray and we’ll have reviews of most of the films either through old reviews or because starting Monday we will be running a bunch more. As in years past it’s a solid collection of films with some real stand outs.

Because I’ve already reviewed some of the titles elsewhere I’ve provided links below.,

ALMOST SUNRISE (a must see)
HIGH SUN (recommended)
DO NOT RESIST
PS JERUSALEM
SOLITARY

SONITA is the closing film. Its a portrait of a young woman from Tehran who wants to be a hip hop star and the path she takes to get there. A rough a round the edges film, its a very good look at something we really don't think about, namely hip hop from Iran.

I also highly recommend STARLESS DREAMS and HOOLIGAN SPARROW. Both ill kick you to the curb.

For information and tickets go here.

Almost Sunrise (2016) soars as a deeply moving film portrait of two men trying to heal Telluride Mountainfilm Festival. and Human Rights Watch Film Festival

World Premiering at the Tellluride Mountainfilm Festival and playing soon at several other festivals ALMOST SUNRISE is the story of Tom Voss and Anthony Anderson, two veterans who decide to walk across America hoping to find a way to heal themselves by spreading awareness of PTS and the fact that 22 vets kill themselves everyday.

We have to applaud Michael Collins for making a film that genuinely will move you to tears. To be certain there are a couple of big moments where you would think you would react emotionally, however, quite unexpectedly, there are several moment in ALMOST SUNRISE where I was reaching for something to wipe my eyes, not because there was some great cathartic moment going on but because I simply felt something for Voss and Anderson as fellow human beings and not characters on the  big screen. These men are our friends and family and we are moved.

Collins has a made a film where life in all its small moments are on the big screen and we are so much better for it. For example the inter-play between the men and their families is absolutely priceless. Collins doesn't over use sequences  or discussions of the men as military people, we know who they are, that's why we are hearing these stories, rather he cuts things so that the men and their families are seen as families to the point where if you didn't know what the larger context was you would think its just a family drama. Its an achievement that makes us care about Voss and Anderson so much more than if the were simply soldiers. They are ultimately us, or our sons or brothers or husbands.

I love that director Michael Collins has fashioned a film that transcends what has become an over crowded and over done genre of documentary, the wounded vet film. There is no doubt that we must help the men and women who keep us safe in anyway we can. We must make sure that they get the help they need. Many filmmakers have correctly realized that the perfect way to make sure they get the help is to tell their stories. Unfortunately most do so in ways that lessen them by making each story seem like every other one. While the stories are similar, the films don't have to be, since no two soldier is exactly the same. Filmmakers need to break away from the same story construction drum beat.

Michael Collins has moved away and shaken things up so we are seeing it all in brand new way. Not only are we seeing the the story of two wounded soldiers with fresh eyes but  Collins has managed to make the story much more universal. As he had done with his earlier film GIVE UP TOMORROW the plight of one man, or in this case two men. Not only has Collins made the two men part of our family by showing us theirs, he then takes the next step by bringing in other people along the way. What Voss and Anderson experienced and are fighting for is for all soldiers everywhere - and these men and women are just like us as well

You may think its easy to relate the whole world to two men or even to just the few of us in the audience and you'd be wrong. Yes, you can intellectually make the connection,- we know these men are supposed to be all all men because that's what film does but to be able to do so in such away that we're reaching for a tissue to wipe away tears because the only thing on screen are two men walking and talking is something truly special.

ALMOST SUNRISE is truly special and must be seen.

The film was the opening night film last night at Telluride and it screens  tomorrow and Monday. For more information and tickets go here.

The film plays June 11 and 13 at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York. For details here.

The film will also play later in June at AFI Docs.

The film will play in 2017 on PBS

High Sun (2015) BOSNIAN-HERZEGOVINIAN FILM FESTIVAL and HUMAN RIGHTS FILM FESTIVAL

Goran Markovic and Tihana Lazovic play three sets of perspective lovers in three love stories each set ten years after each other.

In the first set in 1991 an idyllic afternoon by a lake is interrupted by the arrival of armed soldiers and war.

In 2001 the war is done. A family returns to their devastated home and a young woman and a repair man from the other side dance around each other.

In 2011 a young man tries to fix things between himself and a young girl he wronged.

The course of the stories is the descent into darkness and the slow crawl out- maybe. Its all an examination of how or past shapes or future. The film gives us much to consider and seriously think about.

The look of the three stories are very similar. The lines blur between them. I know that it was intentional on the part of director Dalibor Matanić,since the characters could very well have been any of the characters if only there hadn't been warfare and distrust. (So just be careful if you leave the theater someone I saw this with picked the wrong time to go and was confused when the stories changed)

Beautifully acted performances help create the three moving tales. The characters are so well drawn that you have the sense that this was more than made up but drawn from life. The performances suck you in. You know that in some of the films things are not going to go well, but you go along because the characters are so well drawn that you kid yourself into thinking maybe some of what happen won't be be bad.

This is a must see film. And if you're in New York you have two shots at the film over the next two weeks and I suggest you make an effort to see it.

The film plays Saturday at the Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival on Saturday. For tickets go here.

It also plays as part of the Human Rights Watch FIlm Festival in New York on une 12th. For tickets go here.