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Filmfestivalen 2015

Release the Draken!

I'm a bit concerned. For the last gazillion years, or at least twelve, I have been volunteering at Göteborg Filmfestival, working alongside the awesomest people at the best picture house in all the land, leaving me free to watch as many films as possible at my leisure. As such, I didn't need to plan so much ahead and buy tickets, I could just watch any film that happened to be the talk of the town at a whim. This year, however, I attend the movie extravaganza as a regular Joe, wielding tickets and all. It will feel different, but I just know, once I sink down in those comfy chairs, that the screen will, as it always does, take me away to far off places, to meet interesting, lovely, sordid, boring and hilarious people. And experience films I will, wielding tickets and all.

/Martin

Zero motivation

Comedy Posted by MartinPosted on 2015-01-26 23:36:08

Milicomedy by Talya Levie, Israel 2014
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3576084/?ref_=fn_ft_tt_1

At a military base in the Israeli desert, a group of women goes through the motions in their everyday boring office tasks, and we get to follow three of them; one whose beloved is stationed there, one who feels it’s all pointless and one whose dream of being transferred to Tel Aviv is constantly thwarted, until she decides to up the ante.

As military films go, this one has more in common with old-style slapstick comedies than the likes of Full Metal Jacket. The focus on women is refreshing, and there are some funny moments. Unfortunately, they’re too far apart for a full length feature, and it’s all fairly expendable, though entertaining enough for the duration.

Bechdel test: Pass

3 shredded papers of 6



Vessel

Documentary Posted by MartinPosted on 2015-01-26 23:33:51

Basic-rights-explanation by Diana Whitten, The Netherlands 2014
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3311588/?ref_=nm_knf_i1

In 2001, a Dutch doctor volunteering for Greenpeace discovered the horrific figures of women endangering their lives due to illegal abortions worldwide. As a solution, she decides to offer legal abortions on her organization’s ship, on international water, 12 nautical miles offshore from countries where abortion still is illegal. Their efforts are constantly hindered by uncooperative governments and picketers, and as such, they expand their mission to include information, campaigns and education.

Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of http://www.womenonwaves.org/ is a strong, dedicated woman, and her on screen personality is equally strong. The subject of the documentary is, at least to this viewer, one of the more poignant example of how religion causes unnecessary pain and suffering in a question which has one very clear answer, an answer that much of the world have failed to grasp. And as such it’s easy to side with the director and her subjects, making for a gripping and highly interesting film. It shows that hands-on efforts and, to an even higher degree, information and education really can make a difference for the hundreds of thousands who are shunned by society or suffering pain or death due to illegal abortions every year.

Bechdel test: Pass

5 ports of 6