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Agnes Varnum is a freelance writer, film programmer and communications manager for the Austin Film Society. She is the primary contributor to doc it out and Tribeca Film Institute's Resources.

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The Monestary wins Full Frame

April 16th, 2007 • Related Posts • Tags

In general, I think Full Frame has one of the WORST websites out (agree? disagree?). I can never seem to find what I’m looking for. It only took me three clicks to find the list of winners, though the press release is formatted so badly, I’m just going to let you know that The Monestary (also won the Joris Ivens award at ) won the Grand Jury prize. They have a lot of awards, so many walk away with some recognition. AJ has the patience to list them all.

On a separate note, a quick stop at the website revealed that funding for the Jan Vrijman Fund has been pulled by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I can’t remember the exact amount the Fund was getting, but this loss apparently puts the program in jeopardy of continuation. The Fund supports filmmakers in developing countries; the projects can be rough around the edges artistically because they are often coming out of places in the world without a lot of support for filmmaking, but it will be a big loss to the global documentary film world if that program ceases.

There Are 4 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by Raven on 16 April 2007:

    Full Frame is also one of the WORST film festivals! A bunch of wealthy liberals who run around looking at each other to make themselves feel good about inequality, race relations, and “southern” culture when, in fact, their films are never break or cover new ground. It’s an insecure festival that plays it safe and reinforces mainstream films instead of breaking new ground. Bland, self-congratulating, masturbatory and never risky. It’s PBS.

  2. Comment by Mitchell Teplitsky on 17 April 2007:

    I did like the festival when it first launched, can’t comment about it in recent years. But agree, the website is awful. We are in the communications business here – festivals have to do this better. You have to wade your way through pages to find the schedule – and then download a PDF? C’mon guys….

  3. Comment by agnes on 18 April 2007:

    Here’s a link to Hugo’s indieWIRE coverage of the event. Full Frame can do no wrong, as far as he is concerned.

  4. Comment by Pamela on 1 May 2007:

    Wow, I don’t know the last time Raven was at this fest, but I just went for the first time and I thought they did have a good amount of films that, while not exactly “ground-breaking,” did, indeed, push the limits of what we consider strict documentary storytelling. There were interesting special programs, including the thematic one, “The Power of Ten,” bringing out some of the superstars of nonfiction (only no-show was Scorsese); the Africa Stories thread was fantastic, with a great panel including Mira Nair, Michael Skolnick, Annie Sundberg and Haile Gerima, among others.

    As far as the films, pieces like “The Ants,” “Comrades in Dreams,” “White Light/Black Rain,” “Manda Bala,” “The Dentist from New Jersey,” “Forgotten,” “Nomadak Tx,” Jesse Epstein’s short “The Guarantee,” a sneak look at “Billy the Kid” and Alex Gibney’s new “Taxi from the Dark Side”–I don’t know, I saw some pretty impressive films that pushed the boundaries of narrative nonfiction, or whatever we’re calling it these days.

    And why shouldn’t they concentrate on race relations and southern culture?–it is, after all, a regional fest, bringing out local populations that do not have much of a chance to see stuff like this. Except on PBS. :)

    It’s not a very “sexy” fest with a lot of swaggy gifts and people running around with cell phones attached to their ears trying to make deals and buys and do other fast-moving business that needs to happen when there’s something good to buzz about. There was a lot of good food to eat, a convivial atmosphere, nice parties where everyone was welcome and press and filmmakers could mingle easily. I really enjoyed myself tremendously. The only off thing for me was Nancy’s choice of an opening-nighter–a less-than-stellar (I was bored out of my mind) film that left everyone scratching their heads as to how it merited opening night status.

    Pamela