So Thursday saw the official opening of the 26th Film Festival here in Leeds, and although I missed the opening gala, I heard it was amazing!
This year, if you don't already know, I have the opportunity to volunteer at the festival and see some amazing films which I wouldn't usually go and watch! I've worked 3 shifts so far (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and seen 6 films, which have all been so good in their own little ways, some more than others!
I thought I'd use the advantages of my blog to tell you all about some of the things I've seen over the weekend and recommend what you should go watch!
So on Friday (2nd November), I had my first shift of the festival at Hyde Park Picture House, which is an incredible, amazing venue and I just recommend going there at some point in your lives, whether it's to watch a film I recommend or not! It's an old style cinema, nearly 100 years old, and is the only cinema in the UK to still use gas lighting! It's beautiful!
At Hyde Park I saw Aaltra and The Art of Negative Thinking.
Aaltra was a little bit slow for me, it reminds me of La Haine; It's really slow, nothing much happens but it did make me laugh, especially towards the end. If you like that kind of thing, then you should definitely go see it but for me, it was a bit slow and I was just thinking 'when is this finishing again?'
The Art of Negative Thinking was miles better than Aaltra! (and we had better feedback too!) It was a quicker pace for a start! I can't seem to pin point why I enjoyed this more... I think it was just because it wasn't as slow and it was really funny too! I recommend going to see this film if you ever get the chance, it's just really entertaining!
Saturday (3rd) I was in Leeds Town Hall, working in Victoria Hall (the big, main one). I watched Reality and Argo.
I walked in 10-15 minutes after Reality had started (we have to wait for late comers) and I couldn't really understand what was going on or who the 'main' person/people were. I eventually managed to grasp it, but it's a kind of weird story... I don't want to give it away, but if you're interested click on the link up there ^. It was an 'okay' film but it seemed to drag on for ages. I read what the film was about online before my shift and I gathered that it was about this Dad who auditions for the Italian Big Brother so you'd expect to see him in the Big Brother house throughout at least a good 30-45 minutes of the film. But you don't. I'm trying not give away the plot too much, but basically, he sneaks into the house at the end of the film and just wanders about and sits there as the film ends. It was really strange and I though 'how could you even do that?' A couple who were in gave it 0 stars and I think they were a bit harsh, but it definitely wasn't worth 5!
Argo was the film shown at the opening gala and it filled a slot for the 'festival faourites' and I was really glad that they decided to show it again because after I'd heard about the opening gala, I really wanted to see it! Again, I walked in after 10 minutes or so and it was fairly easy to grasp, I don't think I missed too much. I thought that it was a really really good film (I'm so good at describing what I thought about it). It was really tense and gripping and I was really getting in to it! I kept screaming to myself in my head 'no no, go go go! Get out of there!!' I don't really know what to say without giving too much away, but just go and see it! It's released 7th November in the UK, this Wednesday, so just go and see it on Orange Wednesdays with a friend!
I also bumped into Victoria (vipxo) whilst I was working (small world right!) which was always nice :D
Yesterday (Sunday) I was at the Town Hall again, but in the Albert Room, which is a beautiful room with 'light bulb disco balls' as I referred to them! The Albert Room shows mostly short films and documentaries, including Beauty is Embarrassing and Grandma Lo-Fi:The Basement Tapes of SigrÃður NÃelsdóttir.
Beauty is Embarrassing has definitely been my favourite of the festival so far! It's about this wacky artist, Wayne White, and his career. He's just hilarious! It was inspiring in a way; he just does whatever he wants, no matter what anyone thinks and he said this quote at the end which was amazing! Again, I have no words! If you ever see a showing of this, just go an see it! I never would have seen this if I wasn't volunteering, I wasn't even going to watch it, it's not really my kind of thing, but I'm so glad I did!
The second documentary, Grandma Lo-Fi was a bit surreal. It was about this 70 year old woman who recorded her own songs in her house and never played in front of people, she did it just because she loved to, and could! I felt like some of the things in there just appeared to be mocking her and made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I also don't understand why someone made this; it was made in Iceland, where she's from, and maybe I didn't get it because I like in the UK. Apparently she's a big star over there but she's not exactly Su Bo! I thought this would interest me, as it was music based, but it didn't really! The guy who I was working with gave it 5 stars, so I think this one's just down to personal opinion. I think it's the only film though that I thought I would enjoy and didn't. I saw the trailer for it a few weeks back at a launch thingymabob and to be honest, it didn't seem that good then. It just wasn't for me I'm afraid!
So that's it! We come to the end of my film watching, volunteering weekend, and if you've made it this far, you need a hi-five! Sorry for the looooooong blog post, but I'm always too busy nowadays to write anything of meaning so I guess I'm kind of making up for that! I should be doing some work right now actually but I thought I'd be nice and write this for you all :D
Hope it was useful anyway and you enjoyed reading my ramblings! Oh, and I hope to see some of you at the festival soon! Check out http://www.leedsfilm.com/ to check out all the film and events that are happening at the festival! Ciou for now!
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