Doc/Fest Blog
Sundance...even though we weren't there
By Charlie Phillips 02 February, 2010
We weren't at Sundance this year. It's not that we didn't want to go, it's just that we'd already had some snow in the UK, and that was enough for us.
But I've spent large amounts of time reading most reviews going, which creates the unusual sensation of being convinced you've seen a film many times in varying degrees of superficiality and distraction. A little like you spent a whole festival pumped full of drugs.
But I'm glad to not be the only one attempting a Sundance 'round-up' without going there - the lovely DocSoupMan does so too, and like me, is telling you that Catfish and Banksy doc Exit Through The Gift Shop are what you should be chatting about post-Sundance. Catfish very much sounds like my cup of tea - a group of young Americans befriend a family through social networks, and get all meta-technological on us. Indiewire rounds up some critics, who seem to be arguing over whether it was staged and how controversial it is. It doesn't sound that controversial, it just sounds satisfyingly silly. I can't get enough of films about the misuses of social networking and the foolishness of men and their machines. Like many of my favourite things, it seems to be a study in awkwardness and boredom, so I very much hope Catfish is as entertaining as it's billed.
Exit Through The Gift Shop sounds like a different kettle of fish, although it's also a bit meta-seeming. I'll start with what American bloggers seem to call 'full disclosure' when they want to reveal a secret - and that's that I loathe Banksy. The poor man's Situationist, he takes an easily-digestable nugget of shallow politics and then strips any depth of it even further. He's not changing the world through his art, he's standing on the sides flicking ink at it. But, hold on, because the film sounds brilliant, letting Banksy deconstruct the myths around him and tease a filmmaker who thinks he can expose him. It hits me in the right place, because it's not really Banksy I dislike, it's the circus that celebrates him, and anything that torpedoes that, I will love I am sure.
For a little more news, you can see how few deals were done, and giggle at a very silly picture of some Sundance festival staff (Note to Self - pose whilst pretending to be cooking for catalogue shot next year). And you can get the expected brilliance of AJ Schnack's aggregating of all main reviews from American critics, and a little dig at the poor viewing figures for Sundance's toe-dipping into Youtube screenings, which is supported by Bryan Newman's seething bid to find them on Jan 26th on Twitter. It's a little cruel, but it's interesting.
To current business, and Hussain is in Rotterdam this week, where a few days ago, they announced the latest outcomes of their Cinema Reloaded project, to crowd-source funds for films. They haven't raised anywhere near their targets, but it doesn't matter, they've done it in a fun and experimental way so they get a respectful nod from me.
And here's a Tuesday treat for you - the wonderful Ira Glass from This American Life on storytelling, made for Current TV a couple of years ago. Don't know Ira and TAL? It's been bubbling around the zeitgeist in the UK for a while now, but I'm telling you, 2010 is the year it will melt your heart. People want meaningful stories. Ira gives you it.