Fin de FFF ‘09

The Florida Film Festival’s final film has played, the popcorn has been dropped onto the carpet, the last ticket stub left in the jeans pocket to be washed a week later in the laundry and leaving a mess in your dryer.

There’s still the staff and volunteer party going on Tuesday, but now it’s time for me to hang up my volunteer badge and get back to the growing stack of DVDs I’ve been neglecting.

Awesome times.  Awesome films.  I saw at least one film every day of the festival except for Monday, ate more popcorn than I should have, and left work early to catch documentaries.  Fabulous.  The calibre of films I’d seen were great overall.  A handful of the animated and international animated shorts didn’t grab me, but these were ameliorated by the completely stellar ones I did see.  I got to shake hands with Bill Plympton, animation idol whose work on MTV’s Liquid Television has left an indelible mark on my psyche.  I felt I had grown up with his work, and said so.  I hope that didn’t make him feel old.  Whether I made Mr Plympton feel old or not, I did get to walk  away with his autograph to treasure for all my days.  H’rays!

Another marvelous FFF moment was getting to meet Lev Yilmaz, known for his Tales of Mere Existence.  Last year, the Florida Film Festival screened some of his animated shorts, which appeal to society’s cynics such as I.  The stories told were incredibly hilarious and relatable, and I had gotten back into his work recently online, looking at his websites (new and old) and watching his shorts on YouTube.  So, I was very pleased to not only see his work screened at the film festival again, but Mr Yilmaz was in attendance for the screening of these shorts.  I watched the Wednesday screening of Animated Shorts at Enzian, and had to ask Lev Yilmaz if he would be at the Regal screening on Friday to sell his new book, Sunny Side Down, and DVD.  

“You see, I don’t get paid until tomorrow!”

Lucky for me and my low funds, I was able to run into him prior to the Friday screening at Regal after initial hesitation, worried I might seem a bit crazy to confront this man with cash and demands for products.  But no, on the contrary, Mr Yilmaz was very kind, stopping to pick up a bookmark I had dropped while grabbing my wallet out of my cavernous bag of mischief, and imparting his own experience of being in London, warning me sternly that the British are not like what one sees on BBC America.  Lev smelled of pipe smoke, and I complimented his coat, which was a bit unseasonable in the Florida humidity, but nonetheless was a dashing fashion statement.

Oh, my brushes with fame.

Before I close my discussion of the animated shorts, I have to mention my joy and wonder upon seeing Don Hertzfeldt’s latest, “I Am So Proud of You.”  As a huge fan of Rejected and everything else I’ve seen of his work, this final short on Wednesday night was nothing short of sublime.  If you are unfamiliar with Don’s work, I strongly suggest you look into it.  Really, if you don’t, I’ll drive past your house and give you intimidating glances as I roll past in my car, very slowly.  At the moment, I own a DVD copy of Rejected, but I’m looking to buy the rest of his work, sans “Proud,” on DVD.  This is if I can keep Whole Foods from sucking all my money away.  ”I Am So Proud of You” received the Grand Jury Prize at the Florida Film Festival, just to give you an idea of how remarkable it was.  Per the website:  I am so proud of you will come to DVD later this summer. Or maybe autumn. We’re not quite sure.

I eagerly await its release, so that I may watch it unfettered by people walking in between me and the screen.

Aside from animated shorts, I did see incredible documentaries, such as The Garden, which I talked about in my last blog post.  Anvil: The Story of Anvil was a poignant documentary about Anvil, a band that could have been, should have been, but somehow didn’t quite get propelled into the fame bequeathed to other metal brethren.

Even with all the films I was lucky to have seen, there were still a few shows I am dismayed to have missed for whatever reason.  I didn’t get to see any of the short film screenings, for example, and I heard the CGI Battle for Terra was good.  Also wanted to see Em, but that didn’t happen.  Smile ‘Til It Hurts: The Up With People Story is probably the film I most regret not seeing at the Florida Film Festival, dealing with a motivational and performance group spawned in the ’60s.  I really wanted to see the film, but, alas, it just didn’t happen.  I can console myself with reading the blog.

Overall, I was glad to have the chance to see many films I wouldn’t have otherwise known about, and was happy to have spent time with friends seeing these screenings.  Yay for Hao, Clark, Mike, Marie, Joe, Andrew and Melanie for being my film buddies for some of the movies shown during the Florida Film Festival.  You made watching sexy French film stars, animated violence and advertising executives all the more enjoyable.

I will end this with a link to Lev Yilmaz’s animated short, How To Cope With Depression.  Enjoy.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

This afternoon I watched The Garden at Enzian, part of the movies showing at the Florida Film Festival.  It was an intense documentary about the 14-acre community garden in Los Angeles and the legal fight to keep the land for use as an urban garden between the local farmers and the city.  I won’t spoil the film for you if you haven’t seen it and want to, but if you would like to know what happens, you can go to The Garden or South Central Farmers.  I strongly recommend the film.  Unfortunately, today was its last showing at the Florida Film Festival, but the producer of the film, who spoke at a Q&A session after the screening, stated that The Garden will be showing at major film markets such as New York City, Chicago and so on, so if it does well there, perhaps it will be screened in smaller markets around the country.

Speaking of gardening, I’ve been engaged with my own attempts at creating an herb garden outside my front door.  I’ve talked about this wee garden in a previous posting, Get Your Garden On, so here is an update about what’s going on with it.  I managed to get a few big cans from Stardust and repotted some plants into these bigger vessels.  The area I had laid down some dirt on in the raised area (visible under the basket) has now begun sprouting little plants, though I’ve forgotten whether these sprouts are the cilantro or the chives.  One row hasn’t sprouted at all, which is a bit of a downer, so I may reseed the little patch after a few more days if there still doesn’t appear to be any more activity.  In the picture, you can also see the area I’ve created on the right-hand side facing the little spot, laying down some soil behind, yes, a wall of beer bottles.  It’s shabby-chic with a drinking problem, with bottles provided by the combined alcoholic efforts of Clark, Mike, Marie and myself, with a couple of bottles from the Stardust recycling bin thrown in for good measure.  I planted the lemon-scented thyme in the plot, and now that I’ve gotten paid today (yay!), I’d like tocontinue to add to this area with more mint and basil.  On Corrine Drive, there is a nursery I’d like to pay a visit to for some seeds, plants, soil, gardening tools and the like.  I’ve never been there, but I drive past it pretty much every day, reading the words on their sign.  A recent one said, “Grow your own.  Obama does.”  It references the vegetable garden on the White House lawn, which is very cool.  

I lack a White House Horticulturalist, but I did get a book from the library recently which will help me in developing this small area of plant development.  Written by RJ Ruppenthal, Fresh Food From Small Spaces challenges the thought that city-dwellers cannot grow their own food, and provides a plethora of tips and information for the urbanite who longs to have a green thumb.  With all the information, I wouldn’t be surprised if I wind up buying this book at some point to take with me if I live in a space in London with access to a private garden, like one place I had happened to see when poking around some rental search sites.  If you’d like to read an excerpt from the book, Homegrown.org has a snippet of it on their website.

Get inspired!  It takes something around ten minutes for me to water these plants I have outside, although I expect that time to rise if I continue to add to my little green empire.  Grow, my little minions, grow!

Film Binge at Florida Film Festival

Since Saturday, I have watched at least one film every day as part of the Florida Film Festival.  Except for Monday.  On the previous day, though, I watched two films.

It’s awesome.  I haven’t seen a single thing I didn’t like.  Thus far, I would say my favourite one has been Sita Sings the Blues, a fantastic animated retelling of the Ramayana, mixed in with the author/director/animator Nina Paley’s personal experience.  It was such a creative film!

This evening, I plan on seeing the Animated Shorts at the Enzian.  Thursday is going to be a big film day, as I’ll be leaving work early to see The Garden, also showing at Enzian.  I’m not certain if I will see Smile ‘Til it Hurts: The Up With People Story after that, or if I will go over to Regal and see Shall We Kiss.  Exciting!

Florida Film Festival, less than a month away

This year I’m volunteering with the Florida Film Festival, and I went to my orientation meeting on Saturday at the Enzian, despite fighting a cold and having to periodically leave the room to expel from my nose.  Unpleasant, but I wanted to be involved in a film festival I’ve been enjoying on and off since 2001.  I say “on and off,” because some years I missed out on some films, either being too broke or being out of the country at the time, but oh well.

Due to a drawing of lots to sign up for volunteer spots, I am unfortunately not going to be a very active volunteer, having had most of the spots for volunteering taken by people who had numbers higher than mine (#187, which is rather ominous).  Oh well, I *am* going to be working on putting up posters in the Bumby/Crystal Lake area, so at least I’ll earn my badge in that manner.

The Florida Film Festival will be running from Friday, March 27th, through Sunday, April 5th, so that’s more than a week to catch some great films from all over the world.  This year is supposed to showcase a number of animated films, too, so I’m excited for that.  Film admission is $10, but if you plan on seeing many films this year, you may want to look at the prices for passes and ticket packages if you’re interested in saving five bucks or so.  The complete schedule of films and events should be up by the 9th, so keep an eye out for movies you may want to see.

If you’re really looking forward to the Florida Film Festival, and want to start your film geekery early, this month the Orlando Museum of Art’s 1st Thursday event is The Art of Film Making.  Since I’m an OMA member, I can get in for free (haha!), but for non-members, the event fee is $10 for admission.  It’s this Thursday, the 5th of March, and I hope to be able to make it.  I have a jury summons for the 5th, so I’m really hoping I won’t be called in.

If you are on Twitter, you can get information tweeted to you by following FloridaFilmFest.  Take a gander at the Florida Film Festival blog as well to see how far along the staff and volunteers are coming.  And if you’re on Facebook like all the other cool kids, there is a Facebook Group you can join as well.

All hail the Guberburger!

So I went to see the film Hamburger America at the Enzian Theater yesterday, along with This is My Cheesesteak. Both films were wonderful takes on food in America. I’m happy the Florida Film Festival included these films this year, because I am such a food lore geek, and I love hearing about the history of little mom & pop establishments, even if they’re serving up a bunch of meat I don’t eat.

This is My Cheesesteak focusing on the iconic Philly cheesesteak sandwich and a few of the sandwich shops and their owners who have made it such an institution in the city. It was a visual love letter to the authentic cheesesteak. My favourite scene was when the cheesesteak owners were shown sampling a Hot Pockets microwavable Philly cheesesteak… and all that were shown trying it spat the bite they took out! It was great. If you want to find out more about this film, the documentary has a website: www.thisismycheesesteak.com. There’s a schedule of other film festivals it will be appearing at, as well as a film trailer, and apparently you will be able to buy the DVD online soon. There’s also a listing of the steak shops featured in the film, with nearly all of them having their own website, so if you’re planning on making a visit to the city, you have your selection of cheesesteaks to try… unless you’re veg like me. Take photos at least, though, because these sort of establishments are a part of food history.

While This is My Cheesesteak showed American cuisine in one city, Hamburger America went all across the foodscape of American to tell these amazing stories about the small businesses and local chains that make up our food culture identity. It fascinated me how these little places scattered around the country are so unique in their history and also their take on the classic American hamburger. The film starts out in Memphis, Tennessee, with a burger whose burger meat is deep-fried, which should come as no surprise to the rest of the Southerners out there. The real kicker is that the meat is fried in grease that’s over 90 years old. The grease is strained and filtered, but essentially it’s still the same grease that was being used nearly a century ago.

As well as Wisconsin’s Butterburger, where a healthy(?) dollop of butter is added into the burger, New Mexico’s burger with chiles, Connecticut’s steamed meat patties (which I actually found more bizarre than the deep-fried burger patties… but then again, half of my heritage is from people raised on vitamin G–grease), there was a little place called the Wagon Weel out in some fly-over state that puts peanut butter on its hamburger patties. Ah yes, hence it’s known as the Guberburger. During the Q&A section with the director afterwards, someone had asked him which burger was his favourite, and he earnestly said he liked all of them, but he regularly makes the Guberburger at home because of its ease of replication: just add peanut butter.

This inspired me. Later on that evening, with the help of my wonderful friend Marie who bought me a few of the rather essential ingredients, I created a Southeast Asian/vegetarian hommage to the Guberburger. I put lettuce and a sliced-up cherry tomato on the bottom bun, then added some fresh basil leaves, then cooked up a veggie burger patty and plopped in on top. While it was still hot from the pan, I put on a layer of non-hydrogenated peanut butter (stir, stir), then sprinkled on some crunchy bean sprouts and squeezed a proper bit of lime on top of that and on the underside of the top bun as well. It was gorgeous! I forgot to take a photograph, as I was so caught up in wanting to know what it would taste like, but I’ll definitely include another entry of making it with a photograph for my Open Source Food profile. It will be brilliant.

If you missed out on the film, you can buy it on DVD from the Hamburger America website. In addition to the film, George Motz is putting out a book that will showcase more burger establishments in the United States. There’s also a Hamburger America blog, which should keep you up-to-date about the upcoming book tour in, as George Motz put it, the Burger Belt.

Praise the man or woman who came up with the concept of putting peanut butter on a hamburger, and praise films like this that champion the small establishments that contribute to America’s flavour.