Our first full day at the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival offered an eclectic and exciting mix of films.
We started our morning with Narrative Shorts Block 1.
Among my favorites was Messy Legend, an hilarious and perfectly realized story of a party girl on the streets of Montréal for an elusive “one last night of party ‘til you drop.” The filmmaking team of James Watts and Kelly Kay Hurcomb created an indelible character played by Hurcomb. Accompanied by a terrific original sound track from the duo’s musical project Voyeurism, this is vibrant, shoestring filmmaking at its best.
Also quite wonderful was Bridge/Keeper from Sinclair Rankin. This film offered an ethereal connection between an inspector of structures and an aging, musical bridge which became a character in its own right. It’s also a beautiful elegy for a real life soon to be demolished bridge between Brooklyn and Queens.
And speaking of elegiac, there was the richly poignant Portuguese film Ode. A grieving father and mother mourn the passing of their son from a hate crime and their lack of acceptance of him when he was alive. As recipients of a balloon that their son blew up as his last act, the couple communicate their true feelings of loss through its haunting presence. Set at Christmas time, this was a lovely, somber story.
Also in this shorts block, Hyun Kim’s animated short Hills for the Head, in which a young man is forced to run a marathon by his therapist in an analogy to his mental health.
From China, the complex Burning Moon told the tale of Ying, accompanied by her husband and his boss’s mistress Qiqi, returns to her hometown for her sister’s wedding. It’s a story of female oppression and rebellion, couched inside an eerie series of shifting relationships.
Runaway mixed cinematic mediums in the study of Alexia, a runaway who left behind video footage revealing hateful scenes from her parents’ marriage, and her crush on another girl.
Next up, we viewed the documentary feature Union, in which recently fired Chris Smalls took on the behemoth that is Amazon in an effort to unionize at an Amazon warehouse near JFK airport in New York. While serving as a rallying cry for unionization, the compelling film also depicts the internal challenges of organizing amid Amazon’s intensive effort to prevent employees from joining the union and conflicts among union members.
Immersive and galvanizing, the film also reveals the difficulties of managing the expectations of unionized members and the continued roadblocks enacted by Amazon to prevent meaningful change. Stellar work from filmmakers Stephen T. Maing and Brett Story.
We began our third film block with the short Chomp, paired with the feature Welcome Filmmakers. These experimental horror films did not compel me, so we switched to the other festival programming option, the often mystically lovely narratives short films screening in Narrative Shorts Block 2.
Ciela was a gorgeous work of magical realism from Mexico, in which an imaginative young girl imagines a stuffed octopus come to life and given magical powers. A truly lovely film from Mauricio Sierra.
Mothers and Monsters was a surreal, spooky story of an upper class woman hosting a surreal banquet in which her guests are served cabbages containing perfect babies – all except her. It serves as a haunting take on motherhood from Canadian director Édith Jorisch.
A ribald cross between Cabin in the Woods and Mean Girls unfolds at a bachelorette party in the darkly comic Isaac from Samantha Carroll.
Mirage, a mysterious revenge film from Iranian filmmaker Atefeh Salehi, follows a hitchhiking woman on a journey with a truck driver who reminds her of past abuse.
Two other entries in this block of shorts were not viewed.
Finally, we saw the harrowing, exceptional documentary feature, Inheritance. Filmed over a ten year period in a small, decaying Ohio town, filmmakers Matt Moyer & Amy Toensing explored the ravages of addiction, the bonds of family love, and the hope for a better future for the intelligent Curtis, who grows from age 12 to 18 during the course of the film’s depiction of five generations of his extended family. Grandma and family matriarch, Cheryl is another key protagonist in this riveting film.
Do check out the story behind and continuing from this film on the filmmakers’ website, INHERITANCE the film | documentary film.
And before calling it a night, there was a generous late night party at Distant Brewing in Mammoth Lakes – delicious beers and fantastic brew staff plus an opportunity to mingle with filmmakers, fest staff, and sponsors.
It’s not too late to join in the festival experience and fun – for more info and to buy tickets, click here.
- Written by Genie Davis; photos by Jack Burke