Philadelphia Film Festival 2008 - Wrap Up

I have had some time to recuperate. The films I saw stewed in me for a bit. Some that I may have liked at the time are forgotten, others that I didn’t find appealing have grown on me. Some sank to obscurity but others have risen to the forefront of my mind. Here’s a quick breakdown of the notable films:

Lucky Miles
The Pope’s Toilet
Timecrimes
Bad Habits
The Sun Also Rises
Mirageman
Stuck
Autumn Ball
Nothing to Lose

and of course, the best film of the festival: American Teen.

Who knew a documentary would be the best film at the festival this year? This is a film that you could not have written any better if you made it up. Ordinary material elevated to the extraordinary. Each person has a story that you want to see the end of. It’s not just your normal documentary. It’s very theatrical, but very true at the same time. Easily the best film there.

The festival itself was well-run. The volunteers pretty much knew what they had to do and kept things organized. The films had some good prints, ran on time, and I only experienced one projection problem out of 49 films. Thats not bad at all. However, there was one major issue.

About 10 of the films I saw were projected on DVD. Not hi-def digital projection, but actual DVD. As you can probably guess they looked horrible. Dark and muddy, improper aspect ratios, etc. This was not acceptable. Also, there was no notice as to what films would be projected this way. It was a crap-shoot. Formal complaints have been lodged and hopefully next year there will be a change. Either no DVD-projections, or notification of which films will be on DVD.

Other than that, all went smoothly! I saw 49 films at a very reasonable price and got out alive. I will most likely be back again next year.
To close this set of entries, I will leave you with a Top 10 list.

Top 10 Things I learned by attending the 2008 Philadelphia Film Festival

10) LCD thinks I’m crazy.

9) Estonia, of all countries, can make a a film with insanely high production values

8) Korean Gangster films rock.

7) Making a complete schedule before hand is the best thing I could have done.

6) People ask directors and actors stupid questions during Q&A.

5) If the program guide highlights a film, it will sell out.

4) No matter how much I wanted to, I have still never been able to bring myself to walk out on a film.

3) I had to be the youngest person attending this festival.

2) DVD Projection sucks

.
.
.

1) A documentary can beat out 47 theatrical films to take the highest spot on my list. Who knew?