It’s funny how life cycles, isn’t it? One day Bush, the next Obama. One day love and sunshine, the next rain and sorrow. Money, no money. I’ve very much been in a period of waning on my blog, but the doc days are heating up and so too must my little project here, or be I doomed back too obscurity!!

Through several channels has The Way We Get By by Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly come to me. If you click to their website, you can see they are consummate internet marketers. I have to say that is about as technologically advanced as a film website can be these days – especially after all, they just premiered at SXSW where they won an Special Jury Award. They clearly have their ducks in a row, as the other channel that the film came through on was the P.O.V. press release as it will be on late in the upcoming season.

A prize at SXSW and a slot on P.O.V. plus their outstanding website are about as good of a pedigree for a documentary as you get these days. A lot of people believe in this film. The filmmakers shared a screener with me so of course, I watched it. It would take a hard heart indeed to not be taken in by the folks who are the focus of this film.

It is a group of volunteer troop greeters at an airport in Maine where most flights to and from Iraq connect. These sweet elderly people drag themselves out to the airport, at all hours, in all conditions and always with complete humility to say “goodbye and good luck” to departing soldiers and “welcome home” to those returning. I remember when I was a kid that having someone at the gate to greet me and waving me off as I walked down the jetway (back when you could get that close) was one of those simple, joyous moments. I can only imagine how much it must mean when a war is on the other side of the trip.

Your politics don’t matter. The hearts and souls of these people will show you what you are made of. Whether or not you like what you see in that picture is entirely between you and the screen upon which you watched. Unless, of course, you agreed to blog about it.

The last channel that I got news of this film was through Thom Powers, as it will be screening tomorrow night as part of the Stranger Than Fiction series at the IFC Theater in NYC. The film is being co-presented by the Camden International Film Festival… a documentary festival in… Maine.

Now, it makes perfect sense, given that The Way We Get By is set in Maine, that Maine’s doc fest present the film in New York City. For a documentary festival to be in its 5th year and for me to not recall ever hearing about it? Oye. Maybe I should hang up my PowerBook. Am I getting too old for this already? Geesh. Well, I read through the materials Leah Hurley and Ben Fowlie, the folks who run the fest, sent me and it sounds like a great event. “Over the past five years we’ve managed to bring in some relatively big names and premieres from the doc world to the coast of Maine, including Al Maysles, Eric Metzgar, Ian Cheney, Jennifer Baichwal, David Redmon and Nina Davenport….and several NE PREMIERS like Al Otro Lado, Iraq in Fragments, The Garden and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars.” It runs from October 1 – 4 this year.

So there you have it. My blog continues. Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow night or you can also catch The Way We Get By at Hot Docs (May 5 & May 7 screenings), which starts this Thursday as well.

I’ll be at Hot Docs from this Saturday to Tuesday, so send me your recommendations if you have them. I’m going to celebrate the mid-career retrospective of Ron Mann’s films. Ron is one of the rare people in this world who has maintained his sense of fun and rightousness, while still delivering important messages about freedom and entertainment.

And, if you are looking for a new documentary destination? Camden International Film Festival? Let me know what you think if you attend this year.