Date: 2009-04-05
To: What a weekend...Full Frame Film Festival (T-6)
Miles today: 0.0

What a weekend, indeed. As I continued to frantically prepare for the 'AT', I managed to fit in some pleasure by volunteering at the Full Frame Film Festival over the weekend. It was absolutely invigorating, as it had been last year. Taken from the festival website, www.fullframefest.org : ¢The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema. Each spring Full Frame welcomes filmmakers and film lovers from around the world to historic downtown Durham, North Carolina for a four-day, morning to midnight array of over 100 films as well as discussions, panels, and southern hospitality. Set within a single city block, the intimate festival landscape fosters community and conversation between filmmakers, film professionals and the general public.Full Frame's mission is to support the documentary form and community by showcasing the contemporary work of established and emerging filmmakers and by preserving film heritage through archival efforts and continued exhibition of classic documentaries. The festival is also committed to building wider national and international audiences for documentary film and enhancing public understanding and appreciation of the art form and its significance.¢The first two films that I watched were not very good: The Visitors & Anatomy ¢ Skin, Heart, Muscle. The first was about wives visiting their husbands in New York penitentiaries and the second was a series of three films: 1) a chubby Australian guy who has thousands of tattoos all over his body and he wishes to donate his skin to a museum, 2) an artist who reunites with her former lover and 3) an acrobat family that endures injuries from life and from their acts. The other films that I watched were: Reporter, The Queen and I, Sweet Crude, Burma VJ, and Unmistaken Child. These five films were very unique, covering topics, respectively, of war and conflict in the Congo, the wife of the Shah from Iran, the Niger Delta oil conflict, the oppressive military regime in Burma, and the reincarnation of a revered monk and the search of his new ¢self¢ as a child in the Tibetan countryside. I can¢t really say which film was my favorite because they were all very unique and stretched my emotions to the fullest. If you have a chance to attend next year, I strongly recommend it. Attendees are coming from all over the world for a simple purpose ¢ to embrace the message of each film and to share a common bond with those who watch them. It is truly a beautiful thing to witness. The countdown for the AT is now at T-5 days. I¢m hoping to have some friends over tonight to help me with the packaging of boxes and the organization of my room. I tried out my new Sportiva Fireblades yesterday afternoon on Duke¢s East Campus, ¢hiking¢ up and down the field hockey stadium seating. FINALLY (!!), I¢ve found a good pair of shoes that fit my feet well and do not create problems for my ankle. I have concerns over rolling my ankle as I do not plan on using an ankle brace to start, but I will carry it with me, just in case. I will officially be leaving my position on Wednesday. It will be sad to say goodbye to my friends and colleagues at OTS, Duke and in Durham, as I've had two great years here. But, no time to think about that. I have to get ready. I have only two days before my aunt and little cousins make their way down to North Carolina. Will write soon.