Brisbane International Film Festival
While Hollywood fluff continues to rain down upon us like US-missiles in Afghanistan, some much needed relief is thankfully at hand at the Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) from July 30 – August 9. From the brilliant two-part epic Che, to the closing night's Balibo, BIFF is rich with politically charged films that will inform, intrigue and inspire.
A highlight of the festival is the official Brisbane premiere of Steven Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro's four-hour-long epic Che (shown in two parts).
Part One, "The Argentine", is a searing action film that traces Che's leadership of the Cuban revolution's insurrection from the Sierra Maestra wilderness to the gripping showdown at Santa Clara.
Part Two, "The Guerrilla", provides contrast, channelling Ken Loach, with a much darker film that outlines Che's diary analysis of his political weaknesses, down to his final day in 1967.
At a time when our interaction with the natural world is perhaps the key question for whether humanity will see in the 22nd century, The Cove brings a horrifying story of what must be challenged.
Behind the picturesque Japanese town, which is the largest supplier of dolphin in the world, is a dark secret.
Guards patrol the cove, where the dolphin capturing takes place, preventing any photography. The only way to stop the brutal acts of this company and their protectors, is to expose them — which is exactly what the brave group of activists in The Cove intend to do.
Part environmental documentary, part horror film, part spy thriller, The Cove is as suspenseful as it is enlightening.
Also on an environmental theme, the Thai docudrama Agrarian Utopia follows two families whose debts force them to farm the same land, and asks: "How can we dream of utopia while our stomach is still grumbling?"
The official story still tells us the "Balibo 5" journalists were caught in the crossfire when Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975.
Balibo is a powerful and suspenseful political thriller. It re-creates the events surrounding the journalists' massacre by Indonesian soldiers. An older journalist, Roger East, is later invited to East Timor by President Jose Ramos-Horta to uncover the truth behind the deaths.
The crucial, still unanswered questions raised by the film are directed not just at the Indonesian government — but at the complicity of the Australian government also.
My Asian Heart, by activist filmmaker David Bradbury, focuses on photographer David Blenkinsop, who has photographed on the political frontline in Asia for 20 years.
The film covers everything from Blenkinsop's work on the streets of Kathmandu in 2006 at the height of political protests, to risking his life as an advocate for the Hmong minority in Laos.
Gandhi's Children is described as the "real slumdogs". Several hundred orphans, runaways or abandoned boys accommodated, fed and educated in a poor area on the outskirts of Delhi. The film is the result of David MacDougall's months spent filming at the school.
Indonesia Calling was a small film that made a big impact when it was released in 1946. supported Indonesia's independence from its Dutch colonisers.
The film influenced Australian documentary practice — its passionate commitment helped create a fertile ground for later independent documentaries.
BIFF will include a seminar on Indonesia Calling. Three filmmakers will discuss the politics of Indonesia and its relationship with Australia.
In the year of the brilliant Samson and Delilah, BIFF will bring a stream of films by or about Indigenous people, called Colourise films.
These include The Inheritors, which documents rural Mexico, capturing the dignity and humanity of people in the face of incredible exploitation. Both Roots and Birdwatchers tell a universal story of displacement from land and culture.
In the case of Roots, people are uprooted by the construction of the Dumbur Dam in India, which submerged huge areas of fertile land.
In Birdwatchers, a once proud Indigenous community in Brazil is broken up and forced to live on small allotments amid cattle ranches. Filmmakers and thinkers will discuss the issues of these films at the Colourise BIFF seminar.
BIFF promises to be ten days of intense, rewarding film experiences — see you in the theatres.