Tribeca Film Festival 2014 Unseen Photos

Way at the bottom of the draft file at Unseen was this post which Chocko never actually posted way back in 2014. In the interest of cleaning house here are some flashback photos from Tribeca 2014

Alonso Ruizpalacios talks GUEROS at Tribeca 2014

This is an interview I did with Alonso Ruizpalacios about his film GUEROS at last year's Tribeca. The interview never ran during the festival because there was no way it was going to be transcribed until after the festival. I was asked to hold it until the film was released to theaters- which is happening Wednesday.

What follows is what happened. Its less a talk about the film then it is a talk about films. I had a blast doing it. and wanted to share it ever since it happened.

Steve Kopian: I don't usually do real interviews, but I loved your movie. I had to meet you. I had to see what sort of person you are.

Alonzo: [laughs]

Steve: No, it's true. It's like, I got to meet you. Your movie blew me away.

Alonzo: Oh, thanks. That's great.

Steve: I'm going, "What sort of mad genius are you?" It's true. Everybody I've talked to really loves the film.

Alonzo: Thanks.

Steve: How did the premier go last night?

Alonzo: It was good. It went well. It's a strange festival this Tribeca, because it's very New York. It doesn't...the other festivals that we've been to, they have this kind of community sense. People go from one place to...but this is like, "Just get there and do your thing." Then everyone just goes away. I don't know, it's interesting.

Steve: Were your short films here?

Alonzo: Yeah, one of my short films screened here.

Steve: Did you come up for that?

Alonzo: Yeah, I did.

Steve: Was that as crazy as this seems to have been?

Alonzo: I think so, yeah. I remember it as a...I liked it. I love New York. I'm always interested in seeing what New Yorkers feel. I don't know if the audience were New Yorkers. I was interested in knowing.

I couldn't get a sense yesterday of whether it was more Latino, or whether they were more American. I don't know. I couldn't figure it out.

Steve: Any New York audience is hard to read, because it's so culturally diverse, that you can't...I cover a lot of the Asian Film Festivals, or some of the others, the South Asian Film Festival, different film festivals like that.

You go and you see it's not just Asians, it's not just South Asians. It's not just Latinos, it's not just whatever. It's a cross-section of everybody. That's one of the things I love. It's such a large...Everybody loves films, everybody's there. It's like we're there, we're going to...

Alonzo: I know, that's great.

Steve: How do I word this? I'm watching the film, and it's so full of references to..Are you one of those real film geeks...

Alonzo: [laughs]

Steve: ...who sees everything? The first half hour, 40 minutes, I'm in overload watching this. I'm going, "Well, this is kind of like this, and this is kind of like that." But you've melded it all together. It was like you're pulling from everywhere for the first 40 minutes. Are you somebody who watches everything?

Alonzo: I used to, before I had a kid. I have this one year-old kid now, and now I don't watch anything. I haven't seen a film in years [laughs] except for mine, which is boring now to me. I used to, especially oldies -- I'm a big fan of Fellini and Kurosawa. Kurosawa was my all-time favorite director.

There's nothing Kurosawian about my film, but answering your question, I do draw from different places. That's part of the thing of finding your voice. I don't think I've quite found it yet, maybe, but you do take from the stuff that interests you, then you try to make your own.

Steve: Forgive me for saying this, but I think once the film gets going, once they're on the road you had this wonderful voice. That's one of the reasons why it was so important for me to meet you, because I'm going like, "Where are you going after this? What are you doing next?" Forgive, I'm getting a little bit of a fanboy.

Alonzo: [laughs]

Steve: I was really impressed with the film. You have such a wonderful way you fall into the film. These stories, it's too easy I want to go with this, how much is this based on your life because it's so real? Except for when the director shows up, and the film crew with the weird things like that. Was this all scripted?

Was it scripted based on your life, is it just something you did? In the press notes you mentioned Godard, and you mentioned Two-Lane Blacktop.

Alonzo: Yeah, that's a wonderful movie. It's 50-50. I do theater as well. I have a theater company. I think one of the things that we've really worked on for the last couple of years is to keep this really difficult balance going between improv and rehearsed, scripted set pieces.

I was very conscious of doing that in the film as well. We really worked on the screenplay. We worked a lot on the screenplay. I have filmmaker friends that don't like to work that much on the screenplay. They like to figure things out on the shoot, and that's fine.Sometimes it brings wonderful results, but I really wanted to iron out the screenplay and get things across.

There were these gaps that I knew I was leaving, for them to be filled in during shooting. I knew I wanted to be open to improv. That's why we shot for eight weeks, which for Mexico standards is a lot.

Most of my friends have shot their first features in four or five weeks. We managed to cut the budget down so that we could shoot for more time, so that I could have time to improvise, and to follow things that happened on the set.

That was always one of the premises before we started shooting. I said to everyone, "We are going to improvise. We are going to find things, and when we find something we like, we're going to follow that through and see where it takes us." I was glad that a lot of that actually ended up on the film.

A lot of the improv stuff was cut out, but there was some...like when they ran into this preacher guy in the middle of the night, this Jesuit preacher. We were filming the scene and he came up to us, and he started spouting all this crazy stuff. I said, "Do you want to be in the film?" and he said, "Yeah, I'd love to." Then we just filmed him.

There's many moments like that. On the other hand, there are also many moments that...Comedy, if you screw around with the script too much, you lose it. Comedy is about timing, so if you fuck up the timing, then you fuck up the comedy. It was about constant walking this tightrope of improv and set piece all the time.

Steve: Did it alter the story at all, or did it just like, "We're going to go here. We're going to stay here in the restaurant," you know what I'm saying? "We'll see what happens when this ends" for example, or they're going to pull the straps, everything with that. Did it alter the trajectory of the film?

Alonzo: Yeah, I think it altered. That's the great thing about road movies. You don't have to be very disciplined about plot, because road movies are about deviations. You have to know where you're going, and where you're going to end up, and what your signposts are. We have to make sure we get here. Then from there, we must get there.

In between, you can ramble and improvise. I think that we left the improvisation for...

Steve: The in-between...?

Alonzo: Yeah, the in-between scenes.

Steve: Was the end always going to be the last shot of him with everybody going?

Alonzo: Yeah, I always had...Not in the first draft but when we came to doing the film. There was another ending I the first draft where they actually left. The girl got off at the demonstration and then the three of them ended up sad, going back in the car. They found the office where you pay the electricity, I don't know what they're called.

It ended up with them going inside to pay for their electricity bill. It symbolized the final thing, paying for their light [laughs] . We thought that's too hopeful or too definite, and it made a stronger ending, the brothers looking at each other.

Steve: Yeah, because you could read anything into that. It can be a lot of different things. It's not a definite ending, it's like, "What happens now?" Because that was the thing, it's like, "I want to see what happens next."

(PR person interrupts to warn about time running out)

Steve: I want to see what happens next. I wouldn't want to see the next movie, but you still want to go, "Where are these guys going?" because the tie with them was so good.

You were talking about the comedies. What comedy do you like?

Alonzo: I love British comedy, that's the one I like the most. I grew up on Monty Python. The Simpsons -- I am a huge Simpson fan. I've often joked about how at the beginning of our film, it's like the beginning of a Simpson's episode, where they start out a story that goes completely in the different direction.

They abandon the first story within the first three or four minutes. I always said, "We're going to do a Simpsons start," a Simpsons beginning where you start with this woman who's going...

Steve: Crazy.

Alonzo: ...ape, yeah. Then this water balloon falls on her, and the story lose sense from there. I like those. I like Fellini. I'm a huge fan of Fellini. Fellini is a wonderful comedian. He's not thought of as a comedian, He's not thought of as a comedian but he's a really funny...

Steve: His fulms are hysterical. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine recently. It's like, why is Fellini...In the US, he's almost forgotten now.

When I was growing up, when I was doing film studies and stuff in the 70s and 80s, it was Fellini, Fellini, Fellini. Now it's impossible to get...we're still trying to track down those films of his.

Alonzo: Yeah, it's a shame. He is definitely one of my favorites, he's really funny. Also, I like Ricky Gervais, The Office. I really like that kind of dry, nasty humor. It's really merciless, you know?

Steve: This is the word I was going to ask you about, the dry humor. Where does the dry humor come from? That explains it perfectly, because a lot of the humor in the film is very dry.

Alonzo: [laughs] I like that kind of humor, not farcical but it's really contained. We've often called it "serious comedy."

Steve: OK, I think we're done.

Alonzo: All right.

Steve: Can I get two seconds to get a picture?

Alonzo: Sure.

The great documentary 1971 opens Friday

Opening Friday is the documentary 1971 about the break-in to the FBI offices in Media Pennsylvania. The break in revealed all the dirty tricks the FBI was committing against regular Joes and started a fire storm of protest.

The documentary is a great piece of filmmaking. A number of us saw it last year at Tribeca and we all had the urge to write it up. Here’s Mondo's piece on the film that ran during Tribeca:

1971 is a straightforward, sober, and unglamorous account of little known political activism taking place amid 1960’s and ‘70s political turmoil in America. A group calling itself the Citizen’s Commission to Investigate the FBI did not receive the same level of attention or historic recognition as others that were more ostentatious. This may very well have had a lot to do with the success of the success of the band of activists who, in the words of one of its members, were a “bunch of ordinary people who got together and did extraordinary things.” This firsthand account of their most pertinent activity provides fascinating insight into the mindset of these relatively quiet revolutionaries , whose actions was arguably the same if not greater than those with greater notoriety.

At first, members of the group introduce themselves and the impetus for them to join various causes of the time. The group’s ranks consisted of a diverse cross section of citizens, including a cab driver, social worker, and university professors. Some were parents, and ages ranged from young to old. Through individual interviews, they discussed each of their own developing ideologies during that time. The notion of shifting from “nonviolent protest to nonviolent disruption” signified a sense of the need to go beyond expressing a point of view. This led some who would join together to form the Citizen’s Commission to carry out the destruction of government files tied to the Vietnam War draft.

When they formed the Citizen’s Commission, their activities became focused on a single goal: break into an FBI office in the small town of Media, Pennsylvania and steal files that would allow them to expose policies violating citizens’ rights.

An account of their plan is given, from its conception to it being carried out, along with challenges and threats of capture that arose along the way. It is as suspenseful a tale as a bona-fide work of espionage-based fiction. The combined accounts are extremely telling, showing how factors such as each member’s talents and outside circumstances affected who would do what and the timing of their plan.

In addition to the group’s activity, we see other key factors in the conflict of the time. The FBI is contemplated, by members of the Citizen’s Commission and others of the time, as an organization regarded as cool and inspiring in the climate of the ‘60s, but growing out of control in regards to its response to anti-war protests. Cases are made that their activities exceeded the grasp of the government, giving them a dangerous amount of unchecked power. We also see how powerful an influence the media can have, or not, as journalist Bettie Medsger accounts for what happened when the stolen FBI files were transmitted to journalists. A few were extremely curious while many apparently wanted nothing to do with them.

The story is told employing several means: dramatizations, images of the documents in question with significant portions often highlighted, and the narration of the Commission members. The addition of newspaper clippings, news broadcasts, footage of television shows that were popular at the time and university rallies add an immersive sense of context to what was transpiring at the time. Photos of the Commission members from the time give an interesting juxtaposition of then and now, showing what it is in fact like as revolutionary figures grow and change.

When so many revolutionary figures are looked at as iconic figures, and what we know stands to be a combination of myth and fact, it is refreshing to see an account from the individuals themselves, who regard themselves as no more than ordinary citizens. With the wisdom hat comes with hindsight, the issues that make acts of opposition so difficult, like balancing the societal responsibility one feels to the responsibility people must take for their families’ well being.

It’s a quietly powerful film about a quietly powerful group of people, who may very well influence the next group of socially responsible revolutionaries.

Zero Motivation opens Wednesday

Every year at Tribeca there always seems to be one film that everyone sees and reviews. This year that film seemed to be Zero Motivation a military comedy from Israel about women in the clerk section of on a base in the middle of the desert trying to get reassigned to the big city. John, Mondo and myself all saw the film and wrote it up in one form or another.

With the film opening Wednesday in theaters (the Film Forum here in New York) here’s John’s take on the film:

Zero Motivation bursts a few pop culture conventional wisdom balloons before it's even ten minutes into the film. It's an office comedy about life in the Human Resources Department on an Israeli military based, an office staffed by young women who are eager either to use it as a stepping stone in their careers or to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

'Hello? Hello? Hello? Geez, nobody ever answer me and still this phone hurts like crazy.'

The blend of military, comedy, and movie is a rare one. The office comedy (give or take an Office Space or two), is usually the domain of the half-hour TV sitcom, rather than the movies. The military comedies (with the exception of Larry Gelbart's long-running M*A*S*H series) are generally genial, lightweight affairs like Hogan's Heroes, Gomer Pyle: USMC or McHale's Navy. In this, her first feature film, director and screenwriter Talya Lavie deftly walks the tightrope of these familiar tropes to produce a fresh and original comedy that's decidedly black and bittersweet and at the same time full of heart and friendship.

'No, no, no, the OTHER way...eh, whatever.'

Military comedies almost always focus on the oddballs and misfits and.Zero Motivation is no exception, focusing on dour duo Daffi (the base's Paper & Shredding non-com, spiritlessly shredding one piece of paper at a time out of a massive stack) and Zohar (Postal NCO), who has intercepted Daffi's frequent written requests to be transferred to a Tel Aviv base. "Come on, Daffi," urges Zohar in the opening scene. "We'll have some laughs - we'll set the new Minesweeper record." Rama, their by-the-book commanding officer, can't get them in line either though honey or vinegar. Three sequential interconnected vignettes spotlight each of the women seemingly unobtainable goals to escape from the camp with dignity, and how the whole system is derailed by the arrival of a new non-com, Tahila. Daffi introduces Tahila to everyone as her replacement in the office, and the first act suffers from the anticipation that her excited belief is, a little too obviously, setting her up for a fall. But Tahila supplies the film's catalyst in a dark twist, ratcheting up the tension and kicking the plot into place, at the same time bringing out some fine serious and comic performances from its immensely talented cast. Dana Igvy as Zohar especially stands out with a lustrous glower and her glum pessimism mined with a sharp comic timing.

How Not to Be Seen, lesson 12.

Fine performances, well-staged set pieces, savage and sharp catfight insults, and the somber desert-and-khaki color palette give Zero Motivation a bite beyond its plot summary. and it's the first film I've ever seen that sets up a pair of heavy-duty staplers set up to literally become Chekhov's guns. I fear its probable English-language American remake - aside the essential backdrop of mandatory Israeli military service, I can't picture that Hollywood would ever do justice to this dark and funny, clevely nuanced story. While Zero Motivation isn't of the caliber of classic military comedies movies like M*A*S*H or Catch-22, it's both highly entertaining and thought-provoking, and you'll be cheering for each of the leads to get what they desire most, even though life, especially in the desert and in the military, never tends to work out that way.

Bad Hair Opens Wednesday

I saw Bad Hair when it played Tribeca. With the film opening Wednesday at Film Forum in New York he’s my review

What an uncomfortable film.

Written up as a coming of age story with a heartbreaking choice in the Tribeca festival listings, the key word in the description is heartbreaking. This is a bleak little film that tries to have you leave the theater happy with an end title sequence that is pure fantasy.

The film tells the dual story of Junior and his mother who are living, barely, in an apartment in Venezuela. Mom has lost her cleaning job, thanks to a bone headed action of her son who takes a bath in a Jacuzzi instead of cleaning it. What follows is a collision of mother and son as Junior wants to straighten his hair for the school ID picture (he wants to look like a rock star) and his mother wants just have a life.

A mess of a film, this film is listing as being about Junior when it's really about his mother as well. about half the film or more deals with the mother trying to get a job or trying to figure out how to deal with her son who she feels maybe gay. Kind of. I say kind of because various plot threads come and go seemingly at random. The continuity is loose and I'm not sure where and how things play out. Frankly I have lots of questions about the whys and hows of the plot line.

Actually I have about ten pages of notes for the film. Taking that many notes- most in the form of whole paragraphs- is not a good sign since it means I'm not in the film but outside kicking it.

This is not a happy film. Life sucks for everyone on every level and it's clear these really are fucked up people. I don't say that lightly-nor will you once you see how the mother seeks to teacher her son proper gender roles.

By the end of the story I wanted to jump in front of a subway... only to be met by the WTF end credits sequence which is light and fluffy and what I thought for a while the end might be. What is it doing attached to the film?

What was I doing watching this film?

I don't know. Thankfully Chocko was at the screening which made recovering from the film easier.

Despite some great, bleak moments, I can't in good conscious recommend the film. Its too jagged and uneven to suggest you pay money for the film.

Virunga hits Netflix today

I saw VIRUNGA at Tribeca and wasn’t much impressed. The problem is not the subject or the pieces, rather it’s the way the film was put together, to me the film rambled all over the place thanks to 7 listed editors. I know the film won awards at Tribeca and elsewhere but the film is an absolute mess on anything other than a moment to moment basis.

After I posted my review (which is reposted below) I spoke with several people who loved the film and found that as I say in the review the are very much “of the choir” and were already on board with the film before frame one. They carried their hearts into the film .

With the film premiering on Netflix today I give you my Tribeca review of the film.

Documentary looking at the problems in Congo affecting the Virunga National Park. The park is the home to some the last remaining mountain gorillas and its also recently been discovered to be the possible location of oil. The film follows the events that transpire as the British company Soco comes into the country and attempts to exploit the rsources and the various rebel forces attempt to make a play in order to take the government and thus the resources for themselves.

I will not argue that this may very well be the most beautiful film at this years Tribeca. The images are stunning and the images of the gorillas iin the wild are sure to win them a great deal of support...

...unfortunately the rest of the film is a very big mess thanks in large part to the six or seven listed editors. How can any film have so many people editing it? How could it not turn out to be utterly unfocused? The mind boggles.

The film begins with a history lesson regarding to the Congo. Its a lesson that is over much too quick and leaves out a great deal of history. Its an attempt at context that never really materializes.

After that the film takes several different tracks as we follow a young French journalist, a park ranger who cares for orphan gorillas, the head of the park and a few other characters. We watch as they try to deal with Soco trying to buy their way into the reserve and the rebels trying to take over the country. There are videos of clandestine meetings, trips into the bush, battle scenes and lessons on the past deals of Soco. The problem is that the film bounces between them somewhat randomly. Worse it never completely links them up the way they should. Who is doing what and how are they all connected is never fully explained.

For me this was a long haul and I had trouble remaining upright and awake. There is a scribble in my notebook that this is constitutes the longest 90 minutes of the festival.

Why couldn't this have been reported by someone like John Pilger who could have made it all make sense?

I know that one woman was sobbing at the end of the press screening and several others were moved. I'm not arguing against what the film is saying is bad or wrong only that they film makes its point very badly. I do not agree with the one young woman who was comparing this to the film Black Fish about killer whales at Sea World. This film isn't even close.

I'm guessing that this film is preaching to the choir and if you feel strongly on the subject my negativity about the films functionality as a film is irrelevant. On the other hand if you want a film that actually makes sense and wins its points you should look elsewhere.

I would like to take umbrage with the film in putting Soco's response to the film at the very very end of the film several seconds after the end credits have rolled. Why include the response there when 99.99% of people seeing the film will never see it. Why feel like you're being fair if you're effectively not showing the response at all.

Point and Shoot opens Friday

Opening Friday is POINT AND SHOOT the story of a young man who went off and ended up fighting in Libya with the rebels. I saw the film at Tribeca where it wowed some critics but didn’t impress me much. The problem with the film, which has largely faded from my memory is that it’s very much about everything except the person at its center. Here is the the short piece I wrote after seeing at Tribeca

…the okay POINT AND SHOOT is the story of Matthew Van Dyke a young man with a wicked case of OCD and a burning desire for adventure. After traveling the world on motorcycle he ended up going to join the rebellion in Libya. The story of what happened is the film. A good but unremarkable film, the film seems like any number of other films destined for PBS. For me the film suffers from telling the story but never really letting us know VanDyke. When the film ended I felt I knew his story but not the man. I think its worth seeing but I can't suggest paying theater prices to see it.

The Overnighters opens Friday

I saw the Overnighters at this year’s Tribeca and I have to say that in a year of great documentaries it may very well be one of the best of the year. Yea I know I keep saying how good some films are this year, but this film has one key selling point over many others, the film has hung with me, I mean really hung with me in ways that many films at Tribeca didn’t.

You have to understand I saw 80 films at Tribeca and The Overnighters was somewhere in there. I went into it expecting it to be just a another film, but it impressed the hell out of me, despite getting lost, at the festival, at Unseen and in my head.

It’s a great film that fell through the cracks- would have it it wasn’t getting released this week.

The film concerns the influx of people into a small South Dakota town all looking to make money in the boom industry of Fracing. These are people who have nothing and have come to the town in the hope of getting a job which will, in theory put them on easy street. The trouble is they have nowhere to stay until they make that payday. The only person who really seems to be helping them is the local pastor.

Its an amazing story and an amazing film.

Here’s my brief Tribeca piece:

I only saw half THE OVERNIGHTERS. The reason I only saw half was that I really wanted to see the film after talk by other writers made me salivate. The trouble was there was no way I could see either public screening which left only the ability to see part of the press one if I wanted not to lose other films I had committed to. Based on what I saw this is one of the better films of the festival. The story of the small town of Williston North Dakota and the influx of men looking for work is one that will stick with you. Its about a lot of men drawn by the chance to make big bucks in the fracing industry. As they flood into the state they have nowhere to live and a local pastor tries to do the Christian thing by giving them a place to stay. Its great people dealing with real issues. I can't wait to see the rest. As I said one of the best (?) of the fest.

The film opens Friday and I fully expect to be stopping by the IFC Center to see it again

The RISE AND RISE OF BIT COIN opens Friday

Rise and Rise of the Bitcoin screened back at Tribeca with a special post film talk and Mondocurry was there. With the film getting a theatrical release this Friday here’s a repost of Mondo’s thoughts:

Imagine watching a documentary that went in depth into the developments of facebook, as it was first sweeping across college campuses. Or a look at the conception of the internet when email addresses were not a common possession. As the virtual currency that has been dubbed Bitcoin, another potential leap in interactive technology ,advances through its early stages, we have a chance to look at its fascinating development before it becomes a thing that has already happened.

We owe this timely look at Bitcoin to filmmaker Nick Mross’ brother, Dan being an early enthusiast of the phenomenon. Seeing his brother’s passion gave Nick the idea to document his interaction with the currency, with Dan‘s expertise making him both a subject and collaborator in the project.

Some fundamentals are established early on including analogies to get the average layman thinking about its most significant features. Bitcoin is a virtual currency - the internet’s first - that is exchanged between people online. According to Dan, it boasts the quality of being “money that is not manipulated by higher powers.” Because software tracking the transactions of Bitcoins has been developed in open source code, which essentially means anybody can see it and add to it, it originated as something of a public project, open to anyone with the technological capacity and interest in getting involved. This lack of exclusivity would come up as a recurring theme, which Bitcoin supporters would prop up as one of its major tenets: “There is no central authority” overseeing its use. Bitcoin holders could go about transactions instantly and without the extra costs or restrictions usually associated with international transactions.

In the opening scene of the movie, Dan is our physical proxy to the world of Bitcoin. We are taken through his backyard in a typical suburban sprawl of Pittsburg and into the basement where he introduces us to an ordinary looking computer, but one whose intricate wiring marks it as a Bitcoin miner. ‘Mining’ on the surface, is a fairly simple concept essential to understanding the groundwork of how bitcoin works: The machines take painstaking measures to verify authentic Bitcoin transactions and record them into a ‘public ledger’ open for all to see and verify. This also generates new Bitcoins into circulation with miners being compensated for their recording efforts. Think a bit more on how this works and there are complex layers that probably need to be studied elsewhere to more fully understand. Dan’s wide-eyed initiation into the world of Bitcoin mining becomes our jumping off point into a vast realm of developments around this new technology.

For the purpose of delving into a topic as cutting edge current as this, you’d want the delivery to be on par with the content. And yes the film is fast paced, filled with sharp colors and animations moving briskly about the screen. An abundance of information is carried across a relatively short span of time, occasionally interspersed with enlightening looks at the personalities of those drawn to Bitcoin's lcd glow.

The subject is taken on chronologically, looking at Bitcoin’s enigmatic architect Satoshi Nakamoto, which may or may not be a pseudonym for one or more people, who became further and further distanced from the program the more notoriety it gained until severing all attachments. It also follows the mercurial rises and dips of its parity to international tender, as well as its changing status among analysts and government agencies. Attention is given to a few key players who launched business ventures based around Bitcoin’s growing prominence, from New York City based Charles Schrem’s Bitinstant, which made it possible to more easily purchase Bitcoins, to San Francisco collective Tradehill, a Bitcoin currency exchange operation that moves from a bohemian operation in The Mission to renting out premium office space in luxurious Soma Valley.

The view is also expanded outwardly to look at various individuals and communities that have come to be entwined with Bitcoin, on both sides of the law. At a libertarian retreat/festival that takes on Burning Man like eccentricity, Bitcoin is welcomed by all of its vendors. Meanwhile, we get a glimpse at an uninhibited drug dealer who speaks fondly of the relative safety and ease of conducting business exclusively through Bitcoin exchanges.

Although the brothers Mross have an unmistakable enthusiasm and vested interest in Bitcoin’s future, an excellent job is done of presenting both positive and negative developments. Along with the soaring business startups, there is the failure of a major company due to hacking and inability to keep up with demand. Virtual black markets trading in narcotics have taken to Bitcoin’s ease of use and wary government agencies have charged some of the most successful entrepreneurs, including Shrem, with violations considered worthy of prison time.

The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin is an incredibly immersive trip into an invention with a history that feels like it was right around the corner and potential to shape the the immediate and not so immediate future in unpredictable ways.

After the screening a conversation was held with both Nick and Dan, as well as the creator of Bitinstant, Charlie Shrem. It was noted that this may have been Schrem’s first public appearance in some time, having been under house arrest for charges of money laundering brought against him by the US government. Their appearance solidified a strong belief in the good that can come from Bitcoin, going far beyond pursuit of profit. Shrem described the community building around Bitcoin is an idealistic one, free of prejudices. On its future, Dan, whose initial mining activities had been curtailed, briefly mentioned projects he is currently working on that could apply the fundamentals of Bitcoin to social media platforms such as Twitter. Freedom from central control systems seems to be the main provocation for seeing through Bitcoin’s tumultuous path ahead.

The film hits select theaters this Friday and then VOD next Friday (October 10th)

About Alex (2014)

How you react to About Alex will depend upon whether you’ve seen The Big Chill or not. If you’ve seen it then odds are you’re reaction to About Alex is going to be greatly diminished. On the other hand if you haven’t seen it you’ll be rapturous for it.

The plot of the film has a group of thirty somethings coming together to keep an eye on their friend Alex who has tried to commit suicide (the one major difference between this film and the Big Chill- the Kevin Costner character doesn’t die). The idea is that they will keep an eye on their friend to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Of course it opens up old wounds, old feelings and makes everyone wonder what it’s all about.

I saw this when it premiered at Tribeca back in April and my thought beyond how much this was like the Big Chill, was that the writing of the film, outside of the wicked and pithy dialog, was just sort of there. For me it was as if the writer worked as hard as could be on the fantastic exchanges but only sketched the plot and the characters with a crayon as if stealing it all from the Big Chill was enough. And the film is hyper aware of the fact its ripping off the Laurence Kasden film with the various characters making reference to how the film is exactly like the landmark film. Truthfully if they had spent enough time coming up with a real plot that wasn’t self-referential this would have been a great film.

As things stand this is a good but unremarkable film –granted if you’ve never seen the Big Chill you’ll rate this higher. I suspect that the real story behind the film was more an excuse to have a working vacation hanging out with friends then it was to actually make a movie

About Alex opens Friday.

Land Ho (2014) opens Friday- go see it

LAND HO! opens friday in theaters. I saw the film at Tribeca and had a blast with it. Now three months on I find it still hangs with me when other Tribeca films have faded. In the hopes of getting you to put it on you schedule for next weekend I'm reposting my Tribeca review

Talking to people after the screening at Tribeca I found that people either loved this or just liked it. Feelings ran high. Strangely I fell into the film and I loved it the more it went on.

Colin goes to visit his friend and one time brother in law Mitch at his home. Colin's second wife has dumped him while at the same time Mitch has just "retired" and doesn't know what do do with himself. Instead of spending the time just hanging out Mitch informs Colin that he's booked them a trip across Iceland and without further adieu the pair is off for a grand road adventure.

A rambling road film this film is great to just look at. If Iceland wants a people to go to their country show them this film since odds are most audiences will at least look into going. I know I did. I would love to be able to just pick up go around some place like our two heroes.

How you react to the guys will determine how you ultimately feel about the film. It took me awhile to warm to gruff vulgar Mitch. He's a surgeon more interested in pot and getting laid than anything else and he's very direct in everything he says and does. Why the soft spoken Colin puts up with him is a mystery that will drive some people up the wall. For me the reasoning does reveal itself as we eventually see that Mitch is a really sweet guy, he's just a big kid who never really learned good social graces. Somewhere along the way it all clicked for me.

Actually one of the things that clicked was the use of music, driven my some wonderful songs, including the hit Big Country, this film just pulls your heart strings and makes you feel good. I'm not ruining anything by saying that this film wonderfully doesn't have a sudden dark turn in the final couple of minutes- this is just the guys traveling to the final fade out.

Will there be a sequel? Who knows, but if there is I for one would gladly travel once more with these two grand old guys.

Globalized Addictions:A talk with MIDI Z, director of ICE POISON (BING DU)

One of the more well-hidden discoveries of the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival was ICE POISON, a cinema veritae-inspired tale of poverty and drug affliction in the breathtaking rural environs of Burma and neighboring parts of China. To make the film, director MIDI Z returned to his native Burma after a lengthy stay in Taiwan, where he studied filmmaking. Populating his film with both professional actors and natives of the provincial areas where he shot the film, he sought to achieve a truly lifelike depiction of the Burmese people, with their relatively lethargic pace, in the face of increasing worldwide industrialization. Z, along with Taiwanese lead actress Ke-xi Wu, discussed the inspiration for the story, challenges of maintaining a sense of realism, and adventures of filming in areas without permission.

MondoCurry: You lived in Burma at a very young age. How much of situations shown in your film were familiar to you growing up?

MIDI Z: I was born in Burma and  went to Taiwan when I was 16 to study Chinese. In 2008 I returned to my hometown for the first time in ten years.  I met my mom and my childhood friends. At that time a guy who escaped from Thailand was arrested at the border and put in jail. He used crystal meth, or “ice Poison,” and got crazy. He’s still living in my hometown. I met with him but he didn’t realize who I was anymore. And I did some research about the family and wrote this story.

(The story) is about how Burma is changing. Many businessmen come to Rangoon to for trade. And most of the people, the lower class people, like the farmers at the base of the mountain, will plow the fields but the harvest is very poor. So most of them imagine what they could’ve done to make a better life. They imagine making a better life…like in this story, the father buys a motorcycle to run a scooter taxi…But mostly (these native Burmese) aren’t suited for this modernized life.

For me this is a common story that is happening everywhere. In my view, this is not just a story about Myanmar. It’s about globalization everywhere.

MC: For some viewers, there may appear to be various forms of drug use. Can you give some context to clear up any possible confusion?

M Z: (the old men smoking in front of houses) is nothing bad, it’s just like smoking tobacco cigarettes with a water pipe. But crystal meth is also so easy for people to get. For example a boy, after graduating from junior high school, can get a job and then get the ice very easily. One reason people get into it is to help escape something.

MC: There are a few very surreal and distorted visuals when characters are taking ice. Can you talk about how you came up with the way you showed the drug’s effects?

M Z: It is based on the truth. I interviewed so many friends after I did research. Actually, one of my classmates in Burma was just 13 years old when he started to use ice and. It’s a common situation…You bring a bag of ice to a hotel in China, and then waiting in the hotel for the buyer…In his case, before the buyer came, he was just curious so he started using. After that he fell asleep for two nights. When he woke up, he was arrested by the police. His memory became distorted.

MC: Did you work with a lot of non-actors on the film?

M Z: Yes, in my previous 3 films most of the supporting actresses were not professionals. But their real life was connected to the story. That is why it is really easy for me to get their performance. But the main character, like (Ke-Xi Wu) has always been played by a professional.

MC: How do you work with the nonprofessional actors to get the performance you want?

M Z For the nonprofessional, it’s very easy. I don’t tell them how to act. I just told them the main structure of the story and main point of the dialogue, but they can be free to act their own way as long the main subject of their dialogue is maintained. They can move wherever they want. Sometimes it is difficult to capture them because they move. But the professionals, they realize the camera too much. We should discourage them from showing their realization of the camera. 

I think for the professionals, they feel their character needs to cry or act or perform. And it’s very easy for them. But sometimes I’ll just say to the actors to sit there, and do something very natural, for example, have a conversation with the mother. It’s no performance…

MC: How did you feel about improvisational acting?

Ke-xi Wu: I was a stage actor before and I especially liked improvisation. To me it’s not very stressful. It is very challenging. In the beginning, around 2009,  I had a lot of experience to learn about this way of acting.

MC: Oftentimes it appears that only one camera is used, and scenes are filmed with one long shot. Was this done to capture the Burmese pace of life?

M Z: Yes, mostly one camera was used and filming was only one take. In such type of story, timing is important. It’s all about waiting.  The poor people are waiting for changes. They may be waiting for a phone call from Mainland China, so the long shot from the camera will show this timing….

MC: The selling of drugs comes across as matter of fact, not so dramatic…

MIDI: They show up like a guest and just come in and give the person something and get the money. It’s so normal and simple.

MC: Was it a typical situation that police would be there waiting, like what happens in the film?

MIDI: Maybe the police would come to arrest the woman. They would let her go if she pays. They wouldn’t just be arresting her because of the law. No…everyone everywhere has his own reason to do something. Here they are doing that to make their living.

MC: The reaction of the male lead also seemed very genuine, and not necessarily heroic…

MIDI: Yes, that is very human. Actually Ice Poison is a very mainstream narrative, a dramatic story. But I didn’t allow it to happen in a dramatic way because I wanted to make a film very realistic.

MC: The setting has a natural beauty. Did you know what you were looking for when seeking out filming locations?

MIDI: I was very familiar with the setting because I lived there for 16 years. Doing research, I found some places. There is one scene on a hill. Just 100 meters from this hill is the CIA station. During the shooting, they came to us and asked ‘what are you doing?’ Then I went to negotiate with them.

K W: That scene was shot without a D.P.

MIDI: I just told the actress ‘ok, now the cinematographer will be the director. You are going to be shooting and I am going to negotiate with the police.’

K W: We quickly finished two shots and then pretended we were tourists.

MC: Is there anything else that you feel might be misunderstood by an international audience that you would like to make clear about the film?

MIDI: At the beginning people may think it’s political or about drugs but really it’s a story about globalization. It occurs even in America and Europe.

MIDI Z’s next project is expected to be a love story about immigrants in Thailand. ICE POISON has been screened internationally at various festivals.

me on twitter = @mondocurry

Connection Session: A discussion with the director and participants of LOVE AND ENGINEERING

One of the highlights of this year's Tribeca Film Festival was LOVE AND ENGINEERING, a documentary from Finland about a group of engineers who explore a scientific approach to the nature of attraction and forging successful relationships. Both humorous in its following of subjects that are oftentimes charmingly out of tune with others around them, and insightful in its earnest pursuit of the factors that make certain people click, it was clear that the conditions around this production were not ordinary.

During the festival I had an opportunity to speak with the film's director Tonislav Hristov and two of its subjects, Atanas Boev and Todor Vlaev, about the collaborative nature of making the film, what is involved in undertaking a carefully constructed documentary production in Finland, and some of their reactions to what transpired while it all unfolded. 

Mondocurry: How did you come to meet around this project?

Tonislav Hristov: I Was doing my first feature length documentary, The Rules of Single Life, . And on my trip back to Bulgaria, I met Anatas on the airplane, and he was an old friend of mine. He said that he saw the film but it was ‘ok,’ but didn’t like it so much. It was about some single guys who are trying to find love. (Anatas) said to me ‘this is not working, listen to me, I’m an engineer and I know a better way. ‘

Atanas Boev, director Tonislav Hristov, and Todor Vlaev (left to right)

Atanas Boev: (Tonislav) was doing an artistic approach and my ideas was that a systematic or sequential approach would be much better.

 MC: At the beginning of the film, we see you talking about ‘hacks‘ for attracting people. When did you start thinking about these?

AB: Actually I had been in a long term long distance relationship. I was trying to let it go and get myself together and address the problem. I went online to find some research and I found out there’s already plenty. But it was addressed in a nonscientific way. It’s like the stuff you find in an online shopping guide. I took up the challenge to do it in a proper scientific way.

MC: The subjects of the film are all engineers. Could you give your definition of what being an engineer is?

Todor Vlaev: We are all IT engineers. One guy is good at programming, one guy is working with software, another guy working with networks… It just happens that IT is such a big field in Finland. Most of the guys are somehow connected to software or IT. An engineer can be a very broad term. It implies that you studied something technically and you basically use rules and science to create things.

TH: Before I got my film school degree, I got an engineering degree too.  So this was a bit of a personal agenda for me. I was a machine engineer. I wasn’t in IT.

MC: Affected working together when knowing subject vs not so familiar with?

TH: I always make documentaries about people who I know or subjects that I am really aware of. Finding funding for those films takes a very long time. There are hundreds of commission editors that will ask you so many questions about the subject of your film. I know in America it works a little different. Documentaries here are done more in a guerilla style, I think it’s called, where you just take the camera and follow things and wait for something to happen. But for a bigger budget you have to find your subjects, then the story, then you sell the idea a bit. Maybe show a trailer, and then you start making the proper film. So you have to be really well prepared for what the film will look like. You don’t need to know what’s going to happen at the end but you should at least know what’s going to happen in the first third of the film. The way I do films is with really big equipment like very heavy cameras with equipment and lighting so it’s kind of a different way. It’s not a cheap way to do it. And then when the guys get used to the equipment and the lighting and everything, then they can relax and be themselves. It’s the opposite of doing it with a small camera and running around.

MC: How do you try to keep from influencing the subjects being filmed?

TH: The only way is that they need to get used to the lighting and the camera. And also we are very close friends. The cinematographer is also a very good friend. So we make this core group to work and feel comfortable in.  Once they feel comfortable in that, they are themselves. It’s the only way. And if they don’t feel comfortable, it’s very clear there is some problem and we try to deal with it.

For example in the original story,  there was another engineer also, but then he kind of dropped out of the film because he didn't really fit with how things were going.

AB: I also took this responsibility. If we're going to do science, I will tell how the experiments are going to be and what experiments we will do…(Tonislav) didn’t have any way to influence us. He didn’t mess with the experiments and I didn’t mess with where the camera shoots, etc.

TH: And of course beforehand we know very well what the shooting day is going to be like because we have the permissions and the laboratory and the people involved. We cannot just go anywhere with a camera in Finland. We needed at least 2 or 3 weeks in advance to prepare for one shooting day. It’s this kind of process.

MC: Are there any experiments that you had to leave out of the film and regret not being in the final cut?

TH: I believe the best we had were in the film and if we didn’t take any out it would be really long. In the original idea, somewhere there were more proper professors involved. We even shot some talking heads like interviews between Atanas and conversations with the professors. We had 2 or 3 or even more professors. We decided to not concentrate on the science and the professors’ point of view of what’s happening to the engineers.  We’d just let the experiments happen and the engineers themselves realize what is happening and basically concentrate on what is character driven, not someone narrating it.

  

MC: Because of friendships, was there collaboration or separation of filmmaker and subject?

AB: We collaborated with the other subjects.  They took their tasks very seriously. They were checking things online as we were checking things like how to design a proper experiment.

TH: It has never been like that for me. They are not just my subjects, they are my friends.

TV: Yeah all the time we discussed where are we going, what are our new ideas, what can we do, and as Tony mentioned when you need permission to go somewhere, they're not gonna just let four random guys get into the university. We had the support of the producers.

MC: Were there experiment results that surprised you?     

TH: It was really interesting when we did this test about smell and the body. There were some pretty nice reactions from the women…For example we had an experiment where we had the t-shirts of very handsome actors who were running and we put the t-shirts together with their t-shirts and we asked the women which smelled best. Because there’s this idea that if you are in better shape and eat very healthy, that’s what most actors do, then your smell is much more pleasant. Some of the results with these women were exactly the opposite. One woman really liked the guy who was the shabbiest. Of course most of them loved the actor’s t-shirt’s smell. But there were 1 or 2 who were strongly into the other guy, which was really interesting. This was a result that we couldn’t predict. There were many such kind of results.  

Td: One thing was about the experiment with these jokes that we were writing. Markus made this kind of matrix so you could see what kind of girls like what jokes. And mostly they didn’t like them at all. But there was this one girl, number 6, and she rated everything pretty good. So she liked most of the jokes even though they were pretty bad. The girl was a lawyer and very intelligent. And she had a very weird sense of humor. The weirdest and the craziest jokes, she liked the most.

AB: Even for the engineers with a weird sense of humor, there is a proper girl who liked that.

MC: Is there one person who you all felt changed most significantly over the course of the film?

TH: That was Todor. That’s why he ended up the biggest character in the film. Of course the other guys were also changing throughout but Todor was trying the most. And that’s why it was so visible. It didn’t matter if the other guys were around, he tried to go out of his comfort zone. He tried to use what we were talking about, he was trying to change and this is why it was so good.

A: I also had the same opinion. He’s the one that put in the most effort.

Td: There were some guys that put in more effort as far as actually researching and reading papers. But I think you see that emotionally I changed the most.

MC: You really seemed to show a lot of self awareness. Do you feel it’s a result of being in the documentary, or just participating in the experiment?

Td: Well yeah, it’s everything. I’m pretty interested in why I feel a certain way so it’s a very self-centered thing. But for a long time I’ve been obsessed with self-improvement. On many kinds of levels from sports to emotional resilience, so I’m constantly analyzing this sort of thing. If you ask me about anything, I’ll try to figure it out. But I’m told sometimes (I) shouldn’t think so much about these things. But this is how I am. And it’s kind of hard when you realize sometimes things are hard to change, even if you understand them.

MC: The music in the film really gels with the images and sets a mood. Can you talk about coming up with it? Any influences?

TH:  (Peter Dundakov) is a very good friend of mine. We worked on a few movies together. He did the music beforehand. I have to be honest it was pretty rough because I was fighting with him and sometimes it got really aggressive. I had some vision about the music and he was giving me some other things, which is great. The composer has to give you some other things. But he was trying to convince me and I hate when someone is trying to convince me of something I don’t like.  There were fights and there was shouting. But it happens with everyone. He’s a brilliant guy and did a great job. It’s a friendly kind of thing but it’s not an easy process. And even at the end, of course the music was good because it took us one and a half years. We were working constantly on the music. At the end it was really exhausting but of course I’m gonna work with him again, there’s no question.

I wanted something like Moby’s music, which has a feeling that is more like human. It has the voice. It has the humming. And then there is this melodic beat. Then I had this other music by this brilliant DJ, Caribou. I really liked it and in some working trailer with which we pitched the film we used Caribou for the soundtrack especially these two songs Jamela an (  ). they were the last two songs on the album, Odessa.

MC: There was a very impressionable image in the film of rows upon rows of blinking lights in a very large room…

TH:  Assembly.org is the website. Basically every winter and summer an event is held in Helsinki. In the summer it comes up to 10,000 people. They’re all in the same ice hockey hall. They sit together and connect their computers.

AB: Everywhere they are sitting. It is the Woodstock for IT guys. In 2004 they actually had over 10,000 people.

TH: They go together, they play, they do animations.  They do music. It’s a huge LAN party for 4 or 5 days and everyone sleeps and is doing stuff in the same spot. It’s a really huge thing in Scandanavia.

MC: There is also a lot of imagery showing homes with various of screens set up. Does this affect the ability to form relationships?

TH: I’m not so sure. Of course everything affects the way we are.  But I think this has more of an effect on the comfort zone

AB: They form their own kind of nest there.

TH: I think when you are surrounded by gadgets they make you feel more comfortable and secure and this is what makes it hard to go out of the comfort zone.  Everyone should know that when you are in this comfort zone there will never come a girl to knock on your door and say let’s watch a romantic film. It doesn’t work like this. So you have to go out of this nest. And that’s why we are surrounded by gadgets; because they make us feel good.

A: This is why the Google Glasses is the IT guys’ attempt to bring the nest with them.  My advice to all the IT guys is to leave the Google Glasses at home if you are going for a date. Because otherwise you are never going out of that comfort zone.

MC: Did completing Love and Engineering point you in direction of what you would like to do next?

T: Yeah we are already writing a third part of this romantic series, called the mathematics of divorce. It’s about an algorithm of predicting when a couple will divorce. Because Finland has the highest rate of divorces in Europe. So we think there must be some reason for it. It’s going to be a very humorous kind of thing but still a very serious subject.

Tonislav Hristov has been an active documentary filmmaker. Prior to LOVE AND ENGINEERING, he  made 'The Rules of Single Life' in 2011. He also made 'Soul Food Stories,' a documentary about the interaction of individuals from different religious backgrounds living in Bulgaria, which was nominated for the Golden Gate Award at the 2014 San Francisco International Film Festival. 

Ace photography and positive background atmospheric vibes provided by Chocko. Check out his photoactivity on his instagram.