Full Frame 2009: Artery, Indy Week

The Full Frame interviews: Steve James

Derek Anderson — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:12:43 -0400

Watch an interview with Hoop Dreams Director Steve James at the 2009 Full Frame Film Festival in Durham, NC, where James curated a sidebar of documentary films entitled The Sporting Life.

Hoop Dreams was revolutionary both in terms of scope and due to its immense popularity.…

The Full Frame interviews: Joel Salatin from Food, Inc.

Derek Anderson — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:17:51 -0400

Watch an interview with farmer and prominent food advocate Joel Salatin at the 2009 Full Frame Film Festival in Durham, N.C., where Robert Kenner's documentary, Food, Inc., was screened and featured Salatin's sustainable practices at his Ployface Farm in Virginia.

Ultimately, how a society raises and distributes its food is the clearest manifestation of that culture's values, a point upon which Salatin reflected in the film, igniting the packed theater into roaring applause during last week's screening:

"A culture that just views a pig as a pile of protoplasmic, inanimate structure to be manipulated by whatever creative design the human can foist on that critter will probably view individuals within its community and other cultures within the community of nations with the same type of distain and disrespect and controlling-type mentality."

Read more of Suzanne Nelson's review of Food Inc. and interview with Director Robert Kenner.…

The Full Frame interviews: Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick

Derek Anderson — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 11:02:55 -0400

Watch a short interview with hippie icon and ice cream flavor Wavy Gravy and Michelle Esrick, director of Saint Misbehavin' The Wavy Gravy Movie, following the film's screening at the 2009 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C.

Satirist Paul Krasner describes Wavy as the "illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Theresa, conceived one starry night on a spiritual whoopie cushion," to which Wavy has replied, "Some people tell me I'm a saint, I tell them I'm Saint Misbehavin'."

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William Gates: 'This is your NCAA Tournament'

Matt Saldaña — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:46:02 -0400

William Gates, the subject of Steve James' genre-defining basketball documentary HOOP DREAMS, told a panel of filmmakers that attending this year's Full Frame Film Festival (his first, by his count, and just the fifth time he had watched the film) "reminded me of how I pursued the game of basketball-- I wanted to be the best at it."

Indeed, seated with Gates were among the best filmmakers in their league: Barbara Kopple (HARLAN COUNTY USA, FALLEN CHAMP), George Butler (PUMPING IRON, THE GOOD FIGHT) and Steve James (HOOP DREAMS), along with two promising new players in Arturo Cabanas (MAN UP) and Andrew Lang (SONS OF CUBA). James had organized the panel in culmination of this year's excellent sports film series, "This Sporting Life."…

And the winners are...

Matt Saldaña — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:22:13 -0400

BURMA VJ--the story of underground reporters who risked their lives to capture video images of a military crackdown in Burma--cleaned up at this year's festival, picking up a total of three awards, including the Grand Jury Award. THE WAY WE GET BY, UNMISTAKEN CHILD, VOICES FROM EL-SAYED, LOVE ON DELIVERY and the shorts OIL BLUE and 12 NOTES DOWN also took home awards.…

Full Frame Day 4: Sunday morning bliss

David Fellerath — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:31:23 -0400

When you've had a really good Saturday night—and didn't drink too much—you can open your eyes to a sunny spring morning and think about the marvelous things you've done and be grateful that one more day of adventure awaits you this weekend. Yesterday's day of outstanding docs was capped last night—for those who care—by a closing night party, an NCAA semifinal victory by UNC, a playoff-clinching win by the Carolina Hurricanes and an Orlando Bloom sighting.

We've been shooting a few video interviews this weekend and hope to have them posted soon.…

Don't compare Vogue magazine to Bronx Bombers

Karlie Justus — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 01:20:48 -0400

I doubt Andre Leon Talley will take in a Durham Bulls game on future trips to the Triangle.…

"I'll pop my own f*cking popcorn ..."

Lisa Sorg — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:39:26 -0400

At today's Full Frame panel about the State of the Documentary, we heard a tune familiar to those in the media biz: We have to retool the business model. We have to be leaner and more efficient.

My favorite quote was from indie and DIY filmmaker and panelist Gary Hustwit, who spoke on the merits of using the Internet for grassroots—and cheap—promotion and distribution: "I'll pop my own fucking popcorn if I have to."

"Your job is to connect with as intimately and as frequently as possible the audience," said Hustwit, who honed his DIY chops from his years working with indie label SST Records in the '80s."Reach the bloggers and people who like to turn their friends on to documentaries."

Also reminiscent of his music business background, Hustwit is going on a 50-city tour over the next three months, screening his film at ticketed one-night events, inviting cast members, panelists, hosting afterparties, etc.

Hustwit's second doc, Objectified, will be shown today at 5:15.…

Full Frame Day 3: Hoops at the beginning and at the end

David Fellerath — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:00:44 -0400

It's another beautiful day in Durham. Flowers bloom, birds sing, and the Full Frame doc fest hits the home stretch.…

Wanted for Review

Marc Maximov — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:47:40 -0400

Consider this: At last year’s Full Frame, BIGGER STRONGER FASTER*, a fast-paced, rousing dissent from the conventional wisdom about anabolic steroids, won over a large crowd in Fletcher Hall. It had been a hit at Sundance, and seemed to have enough popular appeal to make a splash at the box office.…

Full Frame's sneak preview revealed (and screened)

Neil Morris — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:49:00 -0400

The worst kept secret at this (or any) film festival is often the identity of the unpublicized “sneak preview” screening. Tonight, I attended the showing of this year’s Full Frame sneak, which I can now publicly reveal is director Ian Olds’ FIXER: THE TAKING OF AJMAL NAQSHBANDI, which played to positive reviews in January at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and will make its “official” North American premiere later this month at the Tribeca Film Fest in New York City.…

Spotted: Wavy Gravy

David Fellerath — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:08:34 -0400

We spotted the 1960s radical prankster. He was wearing a clown nose and toting a fish on a leash. And he was talking on a pay phone.…

Total Knock Out: SONS OF CUBA more butterfly than bee

Matt Saldaña — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:17:14 -0400

Before presenting the world premier of SONS OF CUBA at Full Frame last night, British director Andrew Lang announced he had completed the final cut just three days earlier. "You spend weeks in the editing room and you wonder if anyone's going to see it," he said, gazing out at a packed Fletcher Hall audience.…

Full Frame: Day 2 ... Heads up

David Fellerath — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:01:01 -0400

Difficult as it may be to believe—especially as I look at the standing water in my front lawn—but the weather we've seen for the festival thus far is better than last year’s, when a deluge of Biblical proportions made the festival seem if it were happening underwater. Actually, we needed that rain badly, and by the end of the weekend, area reservoirs were back to 100 percent capacity.

A big crowd turned out for SONS OF CUBA, the official opening night film.…

Full Frame Day 1: Remembrance of Festivals Past

Marc Maximov — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:02:05 -0400

Walking up to the Carolina Theater today, at the start of another Full Frame, I couldn’t help but think how much the festival has changed over the years. My first encounter with it was in 2001, when it was called DoubleTake (the name was changed to Full Frame the next year, I believe).…

Full Frame 2009 - Awards nominees

Neil Morris — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:26:07 -0400

Not to mix metaphors, but with the curtain raised on the 12th annual Full Frame Documentary Festival, the lid is off this year's nominees for the festival's major awards. Below is a list of nominees for the coveted Grand Jury Prize, Charles Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award, and HBO Emerging Filmmaker Award:

2009 Full Frame Grand Jury Competition Films

BURMA VJ

CARMEN MEETS BORAT

FORGETTING DAD

HAIR INDIA

OBLIVION

PINUCCIO LOVERO.…

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Full Frame: Day 1

David Fellerath — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 08:10:24 -0400

For many in Durham and the Triangle, the first weekend in April carries an associations other than the basketball Final Four. It's the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and it starts today.…
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New York Times "succumbs to economic pressures," withdraws support from Full Frame

David Fellerath — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:52:53 -0400

As posted Friday on our Triangulator blog, and accidentally not posted here at the same time...

If there was any doubt about the depth and breadth of the economic crisis in general and the daily newspaper crisis in particular, this afternoon's announcement from the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival abolishes it.

The New York Times, which has provided sponsorship support for the 12-year-old festival since 2001, has withdrawn its commitment, the festival announced today, less than three weeks away from the start of this year's event, which is scheduled for April 2-5 in Durham.…
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