Today was a doc day.
We started out with the doc shorts which I believe I mentioned earlier. One was so amazingly fucked up that I literally could not watch it - I covered my face the whole time. It was about a guy who likes to amputate his own fingers and toes. My favorite short of all of them was about John Cazale, who was in five films in his lifetime and all were nominated for best picture. The filmmakers talked to everyone from Al Pacino to Meryl Streep to Francis Ford Coppola and really gave a good wrap up on this guy's talents and impact on Hollywood in his short life.
Then we saw Paper Heart which was all about finding love and if it really exists or not, and it was cute. It was a weird hybrid of documentary plus narrative meant to be passed off as documentary, and that's the only part that was a little bit frustrating. The parts between the two protagonists (who were relatively famous actors, playing themselves) felt unscripted but actually were, which felt like a let-down.
After that was Nollywood Babylon, an examination of the Nigerian film industry which is the third largest in the world. It was a really upbeat and energetic story on a subject about which I knew absolutely nothing, so that made it an ideal film for me. There were about 20 minutes that delved deeply into the religion genre that I could have cut out but ah well.
Next came Shouting Fire - Stories on the Edge of Free Speech. This was another great doc! The director exploited her personal connection to the issue of free speech (her father is or was a lawyer and advocate) and examined three powerful stories.
more about the last movie later.
