Coffee and Celluloid

Hollywood Parties and Last Stop 174

Posted September 7th, 2008 at 8:07 pm by C47

Last Stop 174 aims to tell the human side of the bus hijacking in 2000 in Rio de Janeiro. The film felt very real and was like a portrait of a world. It reminded me of City of God, something that was brought up a lot (the main actor was even in City of God).

It was inspired by a documentary, Bus 174. Bruno Barreto, the director, wanted it to be realistic but not naturalistic, an interesting approach to a film based on real events.

I definitely learned a bit about Brazil, especially how racism is still a problem, but it’s more racism based on class than skin color. There’s a Brazilian quote, “equals are treated equally in front of the law,” and Last Stop touches on that a lot.

Paul had released one of Bruno’s earlier films, so we were invited to a premiere party. This would be one of those ‘Hollywood’ parties I keep hearing about, the place where you meet people, wheel-and-deal, and say, “oh yeah, we met at that Bruno Barreto party,” during the Q&A of the film you and your party buddy made.

Just one problem - I’m terrible at mingling. Fortunately the drinking age is not 21 here, so I was able to use the free drink ticket and get a mojito that challenges Miami. After latching onto my fellow classmates, we eventually started talking to one of the producers of Last Stop.

Not helping my cause, he said parties were great because you get to talk to people in a relaxed environment. I think our definitions of a relaxing environment differ greatly.

We did talk about film festivals and how certain films are right for certain festivals. He knew Last Stop was a TIFF film and not a Cannes or Sundance film, even though they’re all great and prestigious festivals. He brought up a good point - you don’t want to be the film that applies and doesn’t get in. Create a festival plan and apply to what’s right for the film, not because it’s popular.

The group got invited to another party, but I skipped out to go see a film I had really been looking forward to - Blood Trail.

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LeBron Who? More Than a Game

Posted September 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm by C47

My lack of pop culture (mainly sports) knowledge strikes again. I saw More Than a Game, a doc where filmmaker Kristopher Belman followed a high school basketball team in his hometown that happened to have a young, up-and-coming player named LeBron James, enabling him to document LeBron’s rise to stardom.

My first thought: “LeBron James, sounds kind of familiar. I guess he’s important.” This was supported when the entire audience went crazy when LeBron joined Kris on stage to open the film.

As for the doc, it was well made and used great techniques to make still photos interesting. It had a great rhythm to keep technical things, like elimination boards, interesting.

It was a little hard to follow at times, but I’m sure I’m in the minority from my lack of basketball knowledge. But with that said, I still think you’d need a little background on the subject to fully appreciate it, which I couldn’t.

I did learn something, which is part of my draw towards docs. Mainly I learned who the hell LeBron James is.

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Moment of Zen with Paul and Belly Dancer

Posted September 7th, 2008 at 7:48 am by C47

YouTube - Moment of Zen with Paul and Belly Dancer.

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A Good Film Festival is When You Don’t See Movies

Posted September 6th, 2008 at 10:12 am by C47

Here’s a quick, on the move post. Didn’t see any movies yesterday, but it was still a great day. We met the donor that sponsored our trip at her gorgeous house and garden right in the middle of Toronto.

After chilling in the industry internet lounge and grabbing some free Starbucks, all five of us went to a meeting with Vinca Jarrett, an entertainment lawyer, on behalf of Paul. What we thought would be a quick meet and greet turned out to be a 4 hour crash course in the legal side of independent filmmaking. This was stuff we’ve never covered in school but should know before we make the mistakes she encounters all the time (I’ll do a post with some of her tips).

I think she was equally as fascinated and amused with how young we are, and it was great that she was able to give us that much time.

About to run to go meet with the filmmakers of Pubic Lice, and then I’m seeing movies! More Than a Game, Last Stop 174, and Blood Trail.