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Upstate Film Fest - Listing
11/6/10 21:01For years I have talked about having a film fest that might only make sense to the people who are intimately familiar with the Upstate New York area. Maybe you grew up there. Maybe you left there. Maybe you're from Southeastern Canada. But any way, you get it.
The kind of movie where the people we are talking about are from that area. They have probably been to Niagara Falls more often than New York City, because both are the same distance away, but one is cheaper. They have probably complained about the cold, or the inconvenient train service, or the lack of jobs. They have probably thought that the deer in the fall were beautiful, and probably know where they can get venison. They eat cheese curds and sausage rolls and perogis and half-moons (never, ever 'black & whites.')
So I am trying to make a list of movies that I want to see, with optional TV series that I think illuminate something important about the region.
If you have suggestions for films, or think you have suggestions on how to actually make this happen sometime in the next year or so, leave a comment. I am basically using this post to keep a running tally of films as well as a tally of the good ideas others have.
Films:
Canadian Bacon - There is a secret reason why this movie is funny to upstate New Yorkers, and possibly Canadians living in S. Ontario, which has nothing to do with the humorous dialog and everything to do with trying to live in place where the economy finds new ways to close itself down every six months or so. I do not think that it is funny to anyone else, and that is why it died at the box office. That, and because upstate New Yorkers can't always afford to go see movies, and most Canadians would rather read, right,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
postrodent?
October Country - I have no idea how I am actually going to see this, as it appears to be an independent art-house film and will probably not make it to Bloomington. It is based on this series of photographs of the same name, which in and of themselves say a lot about where I come from. This is the one that finally made me make this list.
Frozen River - This is the one that made me start thinking of making this list. About the complex and fraught relations between the First Nations people and the broke white people, who can't afford to move to somewhere with jobs. Also apparently about the awesome, somber beauty of an upstate winter. The snow covering everything; the fog laying between the hills lit by the sun.
TV Shows -- to watch if there's time, and discuss:
Wonderfalls - Magic Realism and Buffalo, NY go on a blind date. They've never met before, but the Fox Network was a mutual friend, so they try to make a go of it for the season.
The kind of movie where the people we are talking about are from that area. They have probably been to Niagara Falls more often than New York City, because both are the same distance away, but one is cheaper. They have probably complained about the cold, or the inconvenient train service, or the lack of jobs. They have probably thought that the deer in the fall were beautiful, and probably know where they can get venison. They eat cheese curds and sausage rolls and perogis and half-moons (never, ever 'black & whites.')
So I am trying to make a list of movies that I want to see, with optional TV series that I think illuminate something important about the region.
If you have suggestions for films, or think you have suggestions on how to actually make this happen sometime in the next year or so, leave a comment. I am basically using this post to keep a running tally of films as well as a tally of the good ideas others have.
Films:
Canadian Bacon - There is a secret reason why this movie is funny to upstate New Yorkers, and possibly Canadians living in S. Ontario, which has nothing to do with the humorous dialog and everything to do with trying to live in place where the economy finds new ways to close itself down every six months or so. I do not think that it is funny to anyone else, and that is why it died at the box office. That, and because upstate New Yorkers can't always afford to go see movies, and most Canadians would rather read, right,
postrodent?October Country - I have no idea how I am actually going to see this, as it appears to be an independent art-house film and will probably not make it to Bloomington. It is based on this series of photographs of the same name, which in and of themselves say a lot about where I come from. This is the one that finally made me make this list.
Frozen River - This is the one that made me start thinking of making this list. About the complex and fraught relations between the First Nations people and the broke white people, who can't afford to move to somewhere with jobs. Also apparently about the awesome, somber beauty of an upstate winter. The snow covering everything; the fog laying between the hills lit by the sun.
TV Shows -- to watch if there's time, and discuss:
Wonderfalls - Magic Realism and Buffalo, NY go on a blind date. They've never met before, but the Fox Network was a mutual friend, so they try to make a go of it for the season.