Fest Pt. 3 (International)

I've been trying to add more international doc films and festivals into my screening repertoire; luckily the Los Angeles area is chock full of opportunities to see fantastic documentaries from around the globe.

Recently, I attended the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where I screened Beijing Taxi, a documentary by Miao Wang. The film is a fascinating study of a city on the move, examined eloquently, intimately and metaphorically through the changing lives of three area taxi drivers. As Beijing prepared to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, it experienced not only a rapid rise in development and activity, but a society that was morphing from ancient to modern, an economy shifting from communist to capitalist, and a population that was struggling to adapt to it all against the global spotlight of the Olympic games. After seeing the Beijing Olympics successfully come to life (remember the pageantry of their opening and closing ceremonies), it was interesting to get a look at how transformational such an event can be.

I unfortunately missed Last Train Home at this festival and a few others recently, but also want to see this acclaimed doc on Chinese migrant workers' annual pilgrimages home for the Chinese New Year.

Finally, I am hoping to make my first trip to the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival next month for a dynamic line-up of films from this country. Like all of the other international doc festivals, I am sure it will make me even more eager to soak up the culture of other lands.

I've got the whole world in my (doc) hands.