Shouting Fire by Liz Garbus

Sundance 2009 comes to a close. It was my second year attending the festival while the fest itself celebrated 25 years. I have to be honest and say that I’m not as enamored with the festival as those who have been going since the early days. I have this image in my mind of those days as a quirky spot where a bunch of rag tag artists descended on a resort town and took it by storm with their cutting edge work and thought.

My impression of more recent years, before I attended, was that it was an over-hyped, corporate A-list party. But it isn’t really either of those things… for me. The work is solid. Too solid. While there are more filmmakers than I can name off the top of my head whose new work was presented and I was as eager as anyone to see, there were few surprises. As many others are saying, I appreciated the mellow atmosphere so I didn’t have to fight crowds or miss out on screenings I really wanted (except The September Issue) but there wasn’t any film that wowed me with its exceptionalism.

As a friend pointed out, why do we need to trek all the way to Sundance to see films made for HBO or American Experience or Sony Pictures Classics or Focus Features? This is work we will be able to see, despite Redford and long-time Sundance fellows’ comments to the contrary in the festival’s opening trailer shown before each screening. Sundance might once have been a spot where you could see work that you couldn’t see anywhere else, but with so many movies already poised for distribution, everyone will have the ability to see them in the coming year. That is a great thing for the filmmakers and audiences who will enjoy such well made films, but where is the heady experimentation or shock or freshly inspired work?

This could all be my fault too. When presented with a catalog of hundreds of films and having time for only a small fraction of that, despite the fact that I was in Park City for seven full days, my tendency is to try to see as many competition films and docs in other sections as I can. It’s possible that I simply didn’t choose the more avant garde work that was being shown (I never did make it to New Frontiers which was universally lauded as excellent), but then I guess I’d ask why don’t those films make it into the competition? Ground-breaking was often said of Sundance movies, but I didn’t hear anyone use that word to describe anything at this year’s festival.

I know this sounds negative, though I don’t mean it to be. I saw many very strong films, which I will write more about here, but my overall feeling was like getting all excited for the beautifully wrapped present only to open it and find socks. Useful, necessary, practical, warm—yes. Exciting, mischievous, soul stirring or hilarious—nope.

One of the highlights for me was a narrative, Sin Nombre. It is a Mexican film that portrays a gang kid on the run and a young girl traveling with her family illegally to the US. So many indie films suffer from one weak element that brings the whole thing down, but Sin Nombre has wonderful cinematography (Excellence in Cinematography Award: U.S. Dramatic), strong acting, a strong script, and mis-en-scene that made me feel like I was squarely in a time and place that I have zero experience with—I wouldn’t know if it is authentic, but my sense is yes. The filmmaker, Cary Joji Fukunaga, also took home the Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic.

The Yes Men Fix The World was a fun screening and after-party. If you saw the previous Sarah Price doc, The Yes Men, then you have an idea of what is in store for you. This film is produced and directed by The Yes Men and essentially picks up in their journey to point out corporate wrong-headness to itself where the last film leaves off. They have played with the visualizations of their creative process in numerous funny sequences, like sitting in a bombed out shell of a building with a 1950s TV and calling it their office. And then of course come the pranks. I’m not sure I’m spoiling the film if I say they don’t quite fix the world, but everyone walked out with their NY Times showing idealized headlines we could have down the road if we apply ourselves, like IRAQ WAR ENDS!, and feeling hopeful. The Yes Men hinted that if we sign up on their website, we might be able to take part in an upcoming prank. I signed up.

I’m not just saying this because I live in Austin now: Over the Hills and Far Away is an excellent, life-affirming film. This year’s line-up skewed heavily toward social justice and human rights topics, so amid the morass of problems, watching the journey of a family on horseback in stunning outer Mongolia to heal their autistic son was welcome relief. The filmmaker and the family portrayed are from the Austin area so one of my highlights was celebrating the movie at the Austin Film Society/Austin Film Commission party, along with Zombie Girl which was in competition at Slamdance.

I learned a heck of a lot this week. As I mentioned, there was a very heavy bend toward social issue and human rights work, and in that, many films had pieces of their stories that overlapped in one way or another. I started a feature here called Trifecta where I recommend three films that are related, in an effort to help viewers see a topic in a more 3-dimensional way (IE from several perspectives).

As an example, one that I did a long while ago was USA vs. Freedom—the premise of the Trifecta was that the US government had turned inward to prosecute our public intellectuals with little or no evidence. Using fear and new laws meant to curb terrorism as a shield, US attorneys have been abusing their power. The films were Strange Culture, USA vs. Al-Arian and a/k/a Tommy Chong. I think I’ll revise that and add Liz Garbus’ Shouting Fire. In the film, she explores the concept of free speech through stories that fall on the edge. The film is well-made and clearly points out that, as her father Martin Garbus says, free speech must be fought for every day.

One of the stories highlighted is of Ward Churchill, a now-former professor at University of Colorado Boulder. In a similar fashion to what happened to Sami Al-Arian and Steve Kurtz, Churchill was fired for his observations around September 11, but under the guise of improper research methods. He was fired from his tenured position for speaking what he thought, and whether one agrees with him or not, our Constitution does protect him. The University thought enough of him to grant him tenure, so it seems unlikely that, had he not made comments around a sensitive topic, would he have been fired.

I have to thank all of the wonderful staff and volunteers of the festival. Almost everyone goes out of their way to make sure we get on the right bus or know when the best events will be. Sundance has matured and is supporting the work of independent voices with its year-round programs. Perhaps maturity is just the inevitable evolution of a festival that has had so much support over the years. And believe me, despite my current “languidity,” I know that next year, I’ll be hoping for another opportunity to attend.