[Excerpt from a post originally made on the "Tales from the Freakpit" blog]
Okay, after a brief burst of activity it's all gone a bit quiet again. I am now in Toronto however for HotDocs 2008 (North America's largest documentary film festival) and you may remember that last year I managed some blog entries while there. No difference this year, as it gives me a chance to shelter from the sweltering heat outside.
After a combination of late-night arrival, tiredness and a sun-burn inducing baseball match I've only seen two films so far - MEMORY BOOKS and SEAVIEW.
SEAVIEW is a haunting documentary about a grave situation in Ireland where asylum seekers are being held - in many cases for years - in a former Butlins holiday camp while awaiting a decision on their fate. The contrast of their life in the camp compared with the camp's holiday-maker glory days is a stark but effective one, and the ghostly, poetic shooting style makes it all the more affecting. If all this sounds familiar to you, it's because I already saw it and reported on it when it received its Irish premiere at Stranger Than Fiction last year. It was just so good I had to see it again.
(Last year it was called MOSNEY - I spoke to one of the directors last night briefly who explained why, for reasons I won't go into here, they changed the name. But whatever it's called, it's worth seeing - as both an artistic piece of cinema and an important insight into a major human rights issue.)
Okay, after a brief burst of activity it's all gone a bit quiet again. I am now in Toronto however for HotDocs 2008 (North America's largest documentary film festival) and you may remember that last year I managed some blog entries while there. No difference this year, as it gives me a chance to shelter from the sweltering heat outside.
After a combination of late-night arrival, tiredness and a sun-burn inducing baseball match I've only seen two films so far - MEMORY BOOKS and SEAVIEW.
SEAVIEW is a haunting documentary about a grave situation in Ireland where asylum seekers are being held - in many cases for years - in a former Butlins holiday camp while awaiting a decision on their fate. The contrast of their life in the camp compared with the camp's holiday-maker glory days is a stark but effective one, and the ghostly, poetic shooting style makes it all the more affecting. If all this sounds familiar to you, it's because I already saw it and reported on it when it received its Irish premiere at Stranger Than Fiction last year. It was just so good I had to see it again.
(Last year it was called MOSNEY - I spoke to one of the directors last night briefly who explained why, for reasons I won't go into here, they changed the name. But whatever it's called, it's worth seeing - as both an artistic piece of cinema and an important insight into a major human rights issue.)
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Hey! Thanks for the nice words about our film. I can't believe you've seen the film now in both versions. maybe the only one to do so apart from the people who worked on it. Are you in Toronto or Dublin usually, or somewhere else?? Hope you had a good festival. All the best. Paul
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm in Scotland but my love of films and Ireland mean I find myself at festivals there quite a lot, particularly the IFI.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big documentary fan though, so HotDocs is the only "further afield" festival I go to, which is how I ended up seeing the film again there. Definitely worth the trip!
Thanks for the comments, it was good to speak with you. All the best with the movie!