High Falls Film Festival

Article posted Wed Nov 12 10:51:07 2003

The High Falls Film Festival, now in its third year, takes place in Rochester, New York, and highlights the work of women in film. Women have always been in front of the camera, of course, but the festival also showcases the accomplishments of female directors, producers, editors, animators, documentarians, screenwriters, and cinematographers. This year, over 60 films were screened, about half of them feature-length, the other half shorts.

In addition to the films, the festival honored the accomplishments of women in film. This year, two of the honorees were actress Celeste Holm (who was given the 2003 Susan B. Anthony “Failure is Impossible” award), and stuntwoman Jeannie Epper (Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman stunt double, and stuntwoman or stunt coordinator for over 100 films and TV episodes). I was particularly impressed with Epper, not only for blazing a trail in an industry that is male-dominated, but also because she has been doing stunts for half a century, and this 62-year-old great-grandmother is still active and working! (On top of all that, in 1995 she donated a kidney to an ailing friend of hers, actor Ken Howard.) Epper is a remarkable woman and an inspiration to both young women and men.

Actress and photographer Candice Bergen kicked off the festival with an exhibition of her photographs on November 5. Over the course of four days about a dozen discussions and panels were held, including an excellent one on documentary filmmaking featuring Ruth Oxenberg and Rob Schumer (of the film Bluegrass Journey) and Aviva Kempner (of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg) among others. They shared war stories and advice on raising funds, promotion, objectivity, and the role of independent film cable channels like Sundance.

One of the colossal disappointments of the entire festival was Robert Altman’s new film The Company, which screened at the awards night. The film, starring (and co-produced by) ballet buff Neve Campbell, follows Chicago’s famous Joffrey Ballet though a series of fairly routine trials and tribulations ranging from personal intrigue to injuries to a lightning storm during a performance. Though beautifully photographed, it had little story and no pacing to speak of (at least not in polite company). It was remarkable that, after seeing films from novice directors, one of the worst at the entire festival was directed by Altman, one of film’s greatest directors (of Nashville, The Player, and Short Cuts). I hope Altman is in good health, or The Company will go down as his Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick’s disappointing final film.

The audience applauded politely, and screenwriter Christine Vachon appeared onstage for a short Q&A session after the film. The host, apparently aware of the cinematic egg that had just been laid on the screen before us, asked a few bland questions and mercifully let Vachon go. (I whispered to my companion—Pearl Gluck of the short film Divan—asking if the film had been edited at all.) Vachon did say that the film was “a love letter” by Altman to the Joffrey. It certainly seemed true, but, as I commented to one filmgoer, reading other people’s love letters is not necessarily an interesting or rewarding experience for outsiders. Altman’s (and Campbell’s) cinematic indulgences left much of the audience cold.

Festival Highlights:

My Architect follows the story of Nathaniel Kahn, son of the remarkable architect Louis Kahn, as he tries to unravel his late father’s life. Louis Kahn died in 1974, lauded but broke, and soon many curious revelations emerged about Kahn’s life. Lives, really: Unknown to his wife, Kahn had fathered two other children by two other women. (Of course, he’s not the only one; after Charles Kuralt’s death, it was revealed that the CBS broadcaster had carried on a clandestine affair that lasted thirty years, and split time among the two families.) Through archival footage and interviews with those who knew his father, Nathaniel tries to piece together who his father really was, and how he managed to keep his secrets for decades. The film is too long by about a quarter and becomes bogged down in extraneous sidelines, but is redeemed by wonderful photography and its offerings of insight into a work-driven and complex man. My Architect was awarded an Audience Choice award at the High Falls Festival.

The Same River Twice follows a group of friends as they evolve from a group of nudist hippies on a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon in the 1970s to their more mundane lives now. Some have gone on to be politicians, while others never really left the hippie mentality. The film is a meditation on growing older, seen through the eyes of baby boomers. The film’s editor, Karen Schmeer, was on hand to answer questions about the film’s production.

She Got Game, one of the best documentaries at the festival, gives insight into lesser-known aspects of the world of women’s professional tennis. Most tennis fans can name the top ten or so players, including Martina Hingis, the Williams sisters, and Jennifer Capriati. But what about the player ranked number 37? Or 127th in the world? What about her? Often the lesser-known players train just as hard and work just as long. Perhaps an injury kept them from the top spots—or a desire to have a life outside the sport. In a sport driven as much by image and marketing as by athleticism, these young women must make dramatic sacrifices. To compete at top form, most of the players begin training very young, some as early as six. Training constantly and pressured by parents and coaches, few women end up graduating high school, much less going to college. And since retirement comes at an early age—with some exceptions, most are over the hill by 25—many of the also-rans find themselves unable to compete both professionally and in the job market. That may not be a problem if you’ve made your millions in endorsements, but unless you’re in that top 10 or top 20, most players won’t see that kind of money. A Canadian feature, much of the footage was filmed in Toronto at the Rogers AT&T Cup.

I only saw a handful of the many shorts, but two of the best were Spring in Awe and My Josephine. Spring in Awe, by Martina Radwan and edited by Moira Demos, is a four-minute thoughtful and colorful montage of lights in and around Times Square. The day’s running headlines about the war in Iraq blur in with neon advertisements and illuminated urban festivities. The crawling lines of bad news, conveyed in electric bulbs, are as bright and sanitized as the fashion advertisements they resemble.

My Josephine, by Barry Jenkins and edited by Meghan Robertson, follows a Middle Eastern man and woman who work overnight in a small laundromat washing American flags. The flags are cleaned for free as a way of showing patriotism in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Both a comment on politics and a tale of unrequited love, the eight-minute film is spoken mostly in Arabic and has English subtitles throughout. The film was shot in Tallahassee, Florida, by FSU students.

The High Falls festival was a delightful experience, and a great opportunity to meet working filmmakers in an intimate setting.