Amy, And The Paparazzi Lessons The World Fails To Learn

Amy is every bit the tragic story of a girl caught up in addiction, and hounded by the media, to her death.

The tragedy of this documentary is that of gaining an insight into the struggles, the pressures, the insecurities, and the pain in someone with such natural talent is painful.

The moments of joy in the film are those capturing Amy Winehouse in her musical glory - such soul, and an incredible voice. The clips of live songs, recordings, and music grabs are beautiful. And a painful reminder of a life and talent cut short.

Plus, through home movies and random self-captures, we see an insight into the girl - friend, and teen figuring out who she is.

I wasn't fully aware of her bulimia, but this film captures the illness, and makes the struggle so real and relateable. Her depression, and then addiction after addition; her relationships and the turbulence that these brought her, in addition to the drugs.

Her deteriorating health, from her thinning frame with every stage, to the effects of her depression and her alcoholism and drug use, is on show as the years pass across the screen.

The scenes that stay with you are those with such heart-heavy consequences - the invasion of press into her tucked away hotel, when she had planned a full detox. Just maybe this could have worked..... The exploitation her father persisted with - that moment with fans at a holiday retreat, and his filming of her, is just unforgivable. The push to put her on stage for that train-wreck non-performance that went viral, but the build-up and understanding of what was going on for her at the time, is piercingly painful.

She was such a vibrant and funny character - her waiting for her Grammy win, on stage, and so real, with her comment about Timberlake's album title. Her sass, and raw commentary on life. But also this captured moment, when she is clean and sober, is painful as she relays that she

But the most tragic of all points to the film for me was the hounding of the press. The cameramen chasing her on the street, stopping her from leaving the house. Grabbing every move she made, right up in her face every time. A frenzy of cameras and swarms of paparazzi - can they even get good shots from such practices? They certainly contributed to Amy's demise, from this depiction.

Who buys these photos? And then who, in turn, buy the magazines filled with these photos?

Has the world not learned anything from the death of Diana?

Image credit for the Dismaland Cinderella, here.

Human Rights And Arts Festival 2015: Melbourne

This year's Human Rights Arts And Film Festival back in May served up many thought-provoking moments, and glimpses into the incredibly tough journeys many of our fellow man, and women, experience around the world.

Wolfskinder is about the forgotten children of World War II. The "Wolf Children" are the German children - orphans or displaced - who are walking, fleeing, and trying to find safety, through the country-side, through forests. In hiding, alone, and scared.
Facing things children should not have to face, and working out through each day how to survive.
It's clear, as the story continues, that other children are the only people that will help these children along the way. Adults either come to shot at the children, or are suspicious of them and wary of sharing any food they may have. The cobbled group of children that the film follows, which is ever changing and circumstances and tragedy hits, carry each other, find and share food for each other, keep watch as the others sleep.
Heartbreaking, and real. A tragedy of war not often focused on.

Breakfast Sessions were a new forum aspect of the Festival this year, and I attended the one on Refugees: An International Perspective. A panel of 4 experts in the area, including Daniel Webb from the Human Rights Law Centre and Rebecca Eckard from the Refugee Council, spoke about the lack of learning Australia takes from reviews of other countries, and of course talked about Australia's current policies of arbitrary, indefinite detention on and offshore.
This was paired with stories and scenarios from across the globe, and how other nations deal with refugees. The humanitarian efforts, and the sheer numbers some small nations are taking in, and providing safety to.
The Rohingya situation at sea at the time was highlighted in many examples, being the most persecuted minority in the world today, and a stunning fact that Australia had not settled any Rohingyan refugees for many, many years, was the stark reality of our current inhumanity in our dealings wit the refugee world issue. In addition to the future refugee crisis of climate change and it's impact on communities
The situation in Nauru was discussed. with the point about their dismantled law, and Australia's role of staying silence in the governance of this island nation, for their own political gains.


Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock 'n' Roll was an incredible and painful look at the music of pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodia. Vibrant, experimental, blues and jazz influenced rock, music scene, with such interesting characters and impressive instrumentation. So many of these stars were killed during the genocide, and with them, the musical scene that filled the bars and lounges of Phnom Penh. Tragic. A must view for anyone interested in the history of Cambodia, and also of music movements.

Transporting a full cinema of school aged kids for the CineSeeds screening of Bekas, which means 'those without family', to Kurdish Iraq at the time of Saddam Hussein rule. Inspired by a stolen glimpse of American cinema through a window, these boys gather the hope of making it over the far away hill, and to safety and a new life in America, with Superman. Kids doing kid things, having kid dreams and fantasy, as the tragic circumstances of their existence force a harsh reality onto their daily lives.

Lastly, I saw Slums: Cities Of Tomorrow, which also included a really interesting Q and A afterward. This is a documentary about the world's slums, and a look at the industry and the misery, the life and living, of these areas. Communities featured included the places that come to mind, like India and Middle East areas such as Morocco and Turkey. But it also featured the fascinating insight into people in New Jersey and Quebec, and the difficulties of the long-term homeless in Western society.

The Q and A highlighted some interesting reflections around sustainability of living, such as recycling, and living very simply, but also spoke about how the world at present has seemed to lost our way, in a community sense, in our constant strive for materialistic things, for that connectedness to the people around us, our neighbours and direct community, within our living spaces. We live in such a rush, we pass by these opportunities, that this film certainly highlighted as a means of survival for so many people.

The Dirties and Watchers Of The Sky

My work schedule had me home in Melbourne for just a tiny bit of the Melbourne International Film Festival, which gave me two films to see.

The Dirties was my first film, at Collins Street's Kino. A coming of age teen story about bullying and cinema-obsession. Two lads set out to make a film, telling the story of their dream of revenge on the bullies at school who make their days hell - the "Dirties". Very black, and very funny, with their constant film references.

The bullying intensifies, as does the revenge plot. The cult movie references fly, and then the guns are introduced. I find kids holding guns so abhorrent, so this very real turn was confronting. But the momentum had built, and things get out of hand, almost nonchalantly - but it's just pretend, right? Just a movie? Shocking, and yet almost surreal because of the level of desensitisation we the audience and society has towards violence and film.

My second film was equally as grim in topic and lessons - Watchers Of The Sky is a doco about the genesis of the term "genocide". The story of Polish man Lemkin, and the use of his word in international legal processes - and how often, genocide continues to be committed and ignored, the world over.

Grim and depressing, the truth of the reoccurent nature of such horrors around the world hits hard - but the end note about the basis of the name of the film restores hope, miraculously. I hope that in my travels and my work, I too can be one of the Watchers, to make the world a better place.

I Am A Girl

As we anguish here in Australia about the lack of female representation on the parliamentary Cabinet makeup of our new government of the day, opportunity, recognition and the glass ceiling are sadly not the only battles girls all over the world face, every day, just for being a girl.

Carly and I went along to the very limited screening of the powerful documentary I Am A Girl at the start of the month, and got a window into a breadth of so many serious, damaging and oppressive issues for girls in very different parts of the world, for being a girl.

Six girls, reaching the point in their lives where they are on the cusp between childhood and becoming an adult, were captured by Australian documentarian, Rebecca Barry. These girls face the vulnerability that being a girl present them in today’s world – child marriage, sexual violence and slavery, high maternal mortality rates, depression and anxiety, the struggle to access education, and the threat of online exposure.

Set out very much like Babies in terms of a group of girls picked out across the world to spotlight, these girls however share their own stories, and tell us, the viewers, of their hopes and dreams, fears and challenges.

Aziza could well one day reach her goal of becoming the first female president of Afghanistan. Wouldn't that be wonderful! She toils at the barriers to receiving an education, with the support of the memory of her father, and amid the chores she needs to do to ensure her family have water.

She was told of the story of Malala in Pakistan, shot in the head for trying to access education by the Taliban, after her story was filmed, and was given the choice to no longer have her story aired due to safety concerns about the same happening to her – she refused, asserting to tell her story, as it is, as she is, and with her hopes and dreams boldly shown. Leadership, resilience and bravery, right there!

We join Habiba in Cameroon as she prepares for her wedding day. She talks about it being her choice, and that she has been so lucky to have been allowed to make the choice. She will need to give up going to school once she is married, and she speaks of her hopes for the union.

Kimsey in Cambodia is the most harrowing of stories, as we find her mid-argument with her mother, about the care of her daughter, and how she was making the income for the family. She then shares the story about selling her virginity, the price and the bargaining, and the arrangement with the man who bought it for some time. For such a meagre dollar amount. She talks of the trauma of that transaction, and how now, prostitution is her only way of making some income. She is in a place where no other options seem available.

The poverty is confronting, but the abuse she suffers from her customers, her mother, and her boyfriend is more so. The hopelessness, and then endless cycle, is heartbreaking. A story I have heard all too many times, when I worked with young women and girls in Phnom Penh.

Katie, by contrast, talks about her level of privilege and comfort, living in Sydney and going to a good school. She talks of opportunity and the support of her family. And yet, depression and issues around self worth drag her down to the depth of suicidal ideation.

Self-described “ghetto” dweller, Breani, is a vivacious young lady intent on taking photos of herself, posting them on the internet to gain ‘likes’ and positive feedback, and also working on a pop-rap music aspiration. Fame and acceptance is what she is seeking. Vulnerable and innocent, she is.

Watching Manu arrive at a hospital in PNG in preparation to give birth, and watch as she starts her labour journey, surrounded by screams from other women in the same physical pain, giving birth on the floor of a busy, chaotic hospital ward, blood smears between curtained-cubicles, is distressing. She talks to the camera before her day of becoming a mother about how sex was so vaguely talked about in her household, and that whilst there was some mention of a safe sex message, there was no actual instruction that she felt she received. Therefore, she was pregnant after her first time, and becoming a mother, despite her and her family having schooling completion plans for her.

PNG is the country with one of the highest maternal mortality rates, and in watching the film, you could feel the whole cinema hold their collective breath as Manu goes through this experience.

Our screening included a Q&A session with Barry, which allowed many of the details above to be fleshed out and further stories of these girl's journey be shared. We also learnt of the work ahead to have this film screened more to reach a bigger audience - they have just announced that there are now extended sessions in more cities for the week ahead, with the hope of greater demand as word spreads. You can also host your own screening, as a fundraiser, if it fits within your cause.

Certainly a film that needs a greater audience, an important carrier of the story of the plight of girls around the world. Of pain, of hope, and a spark of more awareness and advocacy. See it! Demand it be shown at your local cinema! These girls' stories will amaze you. Inspire you. Educate you.

Jimmy P, These Birds Walk and In Bloom

My last three Melbourne International Film Festival movies of 2013 were an intense selection, but maybe more to do with the fact that I had seen 10 already in quick succession!

Jimmy P
Inspired by a true story, Benico Del Toro plays an Native American who has returned from war and is experiencing a host of symptoms connected to a head injury. Admitted to a psychiatric facility by his concerned and frightened sister, it’s determined that there is nothing physically wrong, nor mating a full psychiatric criteria wrong, but something is amiss nonetheless. The hospital calls on anthropologist George Devereux to treat Jimmy’s condition, who has been out of favour, and is pretty eccentric. Devereux has a deep interest and body of work within Native American culture, and his language and learning process is fascinating to watch.

The sessions take on a journey for both men, and the film has you the viewer eavesdrop on the exploration of past, of dreams and intimate thoughts, and works through realisations, reframing and mental processing. The exploration of trauma and significant events, and the impact of racial discrimination, is powerful and gentle. Engaging in a mixture of curiosity and concern, this film is a study of who therapy could be when it is good and meaningful, and allowed the time to follow it’s own path.

These Birds Walk
I wonder whether MIFF fatigue with so many movies in one week impacted on my engagement with These Birds Walk, or whether my Social Work and International Development accountability background kicked in to overdrive and tainted my ability to just watch without judgement. This is a documentary bringing the work of the Edhi Foundation in Karachi, Pakistan to our screens – showing the man behind the organisation and shelter for children – which Wikipedia describes as the biggest welfare agency in the country. The film shows us the children who find themselves there – some runaways, some street kids, some kids who got lost, or were kicked out of home. It also shows us the work of the drivers of the ambulances of Edhi, who pick up the kids from the streets and bring them to the shelter, but of course they also need to balance this work with the need to make a living through morgue transportation and medical transport jobs. These are the staff members also responsible for returning the children in the shelter back to their families, and this is where my concerns are based.

We see a happy reunion, where an extended family receives their lost son back through one of these returns, and all seems well. But we also see one child returned to a dangerous area, to a family where the uncle states boldly to the camera that he would rather not have the child back. This boy exhibited serious stress and anxiety symptoms upon learning he was to be returned home, and the whole journey back and reunion is an uncomfortable watch.

In a world where accountability and assessment, and monitoring is so crucial, particularly to charities which pull donor monies in from so many different places, the level of care needs to be better. Safety of the child needs to be considered. Someone needs to check on the situation before this kind of child return is completed. This depiction of such a charity was disturbing and alarming.

I don’t want to belittle the work Edhi does because clearly this is just one little snapshot of their work, and further research outlines extensive medical support services in a country that needs so much, but these kind of practices bother me. There is a real need for care and accountability here, to the children that need protection and safety.

The documentary also spends time showing the kids as they stay at Edhi, playing, fighting, figuring out rank and little power balances, as any group of kids thrown together would. Some lovely moments of bonding and care, some painful displays of bullying and hazing. Altogether, an unsettling film and a glimpse into the difficulties of programs in countries where there are few regulations.

In Bloom
In Bloom was my final film for MIFF, and was a tale that made me despair for girls and young women in so many oppressive cultures the world over. Set in Georgia, the story follows a group of school aged girls trying to get through school, the ups and downs of being a teen in an adult world.

Complications in life come from boys, and a gun. A very early marriage changes everything, and teenage affection leads to tragedy.

This was another gem on the MIFF program by a female director from a land where women have such limited freedoms, and yet have such strong character.

Oh my word, I love MIFF, and the huge range of stories it brings to Melbourne for the two weeks in Winter.

Pussy Riot and The National: MIFF Movie Reviews

Backbeat during the Melbourne International Film Festival always brings a diverse range of music related stories to the cinema screens, and this year I saw Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer and Mistaken For Strangers, alongside Good Vibrations.

Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
I was in Toronto when the members of Pussy Riot were sentenced to jail time, a year ago this week, but I didn’t really follow up on what their actions and the charges were all about – I just knew that they had raised the attention of many feminist human rights angst, and called out Putin’s Russia in a really profound way.

Nicole grabbed seats for us to this film, and as I joined her the film started and we were walked through a final rehearsal of Pussy Riot’s punk performance number 4 - the one that led them to become a worldwide name and symbol for feminist and secular protest. Making a stand against the links between Russian government and the church, they have been thrown into prison for what really was a misdemeanor. A gross misplacement of their human rights.

The doco provides a really good look at the purpose of feminist punk movement that is Pussy Riot, and their acts – including the performance on the alter of the Church of Christ the Savior in Moscow, and their subsequent arrests and court trial for hooliganism.

With colourful balaclavas and punk music, this extensive group of girls have performed some pretty poignant protests, for which just three had been caught and charged.

The girl's families were interviewed during the documentary, with some compelling moments of pride and justification, as well as raw shock, shown. But the impact of the legal process and media attention on them all was clear.

It also takes you, the viewer, through their trial and allows you to see Nadia, Masha and Katia stand up for their rights, and what they believe in, in such a measured, intelligent and strong way in the face of the court and the media.

Despite the shock of seeing them perform on the alter like they did, the message and strength in their voice and convictions was impressive and powerful. Kill All Sexists, indeed!

Mistaken For Strangers
A doco by Matt Berninger from The National's brother Tom as he accompanies the band on their Europe and US tour for High Violet. Tagging along as a roadie, he takes his amateur filmmaking as a much more serious role on the road.

Rather than a film about the band’s tour, it was more a study on a sibling relationship, with The National forming a background to it. Captured is the sibling rivalry, competition, and differences present despite growing up in the same environment, within the same cultural conditions, and knowing the things each other knows, between the Berninger brothers. Seeing one brother’s struggles, and the other brother’s desire for the other to do well.

Of course, the other 2 sets of brothers that make up The National featured also, but really they were a comical prop in the story of Tom.

As a fan of the band it was electric to see footage of their live gigs peppered through the documentary. Goosebumps as Matt does his crowd-walking. Excitement as they tested out a new track, which we are now devouring in their new release this year. So interesting to see the waves of emotion from the band members before and after being on stage, and also the processes of such a tour.

It’s funny and raw and so utterly revealing. A brave release for both brothers, and as a The National fan it made me like Matt even more!

Alone, Wadjda, and The Past

The next three MIFF sessions for me were beautiful stories about people in such different parts of the world, facing challenges. Reading subtitles whilst listening to conversations between characters in Mandarin, Arabic and French, these stories were so rich in place. I moved between the Forum and Greater Union for these at the end of last week.

Alone is the tale about three young girls essentially living on their own in a rural mountain village in the hillside of China. Their mother has left, and their father works in the city and returns when he can – otherwise the oldest, the ten year old, is essentially in charge, and also completes the chores such as cooking, and washing the clothes and bathing her siblings.

Their gruff aunt lives nearby, and the girls spend some of their day there completing chores, or working the fields and managing the livestock for this extended family. But essentially, they are on their own in this sparse village.

A simple look into their life, the camera rolls as they go through their days, as they play and play fight, and wait their father’s return from work on his rare visits.

I booked Wadjda after both Jenny and Jessie went to the first screening of it for the Festival, and raved! Touted as the first film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, and also directed by a women, this story centres around a feisty, cheeky teenage girl who struggles with the restrictions of her culture and gender – and just wants to play, be a kid, and take on her friend in a bicycle race! Girls don’t ride bikes though, and Wadjda also struggles with the rules placed on her as a girl, and the need to remain out of sight of men and also with her clothing requirements.

Wadjda decides to find a way to buy her own bike so she can race her friend, and her manipulative bargaining with the adults in her life raise some funds. She then also hears about a school competition, with a monetary prize, for reciting the Qur’an and answering randomised questions based on it. Whilst not a studious pupil, usually told off for her lack of application and pronunciation, Wadjda sets her mind to this, doggedly.

It’s a heartfelt, beautiful story with an amazing lead in the role of Wadjda, and easily one of my picks from MIFF for this year of my 13.

A follow on from Oscar winner A Separation a few years ago, The Past brings a complicated, blended family in many levels of emotional turmoil to the screen. I am kicking myself for not seeing A Separation beforehand now, as this has given me the next chapter for the characters from that film, set some years forward and beginning with the need for Marie and Ahmed to finalise their divorce.

Ahmed’s presence within the home raise tensions and jealousies for Marie’s new relationship with Samir, and Ahmed’s father role to Marie’s two children picks up from where it left off when they were together. Add into the mix her new partner’s young son, and the pain he carries from the mysterious and unexplained absence of his own mother. So many elements, so well told and played out.

The layers of pain for each family member are unravelled as Ahmed’s stay goes on, with secrets and teenage guilt, and subsequent rash actions and their impact are pieced together. The shocking and emotional implications are then compounded by further details about Samir’s wife’s whereabouts and the sequence of events beforehand.

A film with many intricacies which left me thinking about it for days, this one also rates in my top 3 picks of the Festival.

Speaking of MIFF, I wrote a guest post talking about the Festival for the uninitiated - you can read it here over on The Aussie Word.

In Guns, Narco Cultura, and Blackbird

Another short pulled me into a Melbourne International Film Festival session for Tuesday night, which turned out to be the 12 minute piece before the full length Narco Cultura. Oops! Ha!

In Guns We Trust was a vignette about Kennasaw, the US town in Georgia, where a law was passed that stated that every head of a household must have a firearm. Talk of the Second Amendment and the right to hold arms, and the right to defend your family was voiced. Thomas Jefferson’s assertion that every American should have the means to overthrow the government, their “right to revolution” was thrown in…wow. Also crime statistics were touted, as reportedly dropped since the introduction of the law, claiming to be a place of one of the lowest crime rates in America.

They did not, however, mention how many accidental deaths or injuries were sustained by gunshots within the town during the same period, which would have helped with a more balanced view in my passivist mind!

The film was mainly black and white stills, with a clever use of movement within a picture, on occasion. Confronting for this Aussie in the audience was the images of children firing weapons at a firing range – an abhorrent scene within the context of our country’s careful gun control.

Set in Juarez, Mexico, Narco Cultura depicts the current violent murder capital of the world, the drug wars and also the music movement coming from this dark and scary element happening in these parts. Graphic images of the murdered are confronting and shocking, as we follow the crime scene investigators going about their jobs and responding to the horrific volume of deaths in the streets of this small city – just across the border from the most peaceful and safe American city of El Paso, Texas. We hear of the fear, and also the pain of the families of those often in the wrong place at the wrong time. We follow as this team of investigators deal with their very real concerns of being targets themselves, the underground corruption impacting their work, and then of the powers behind the killings. The money, the drugs, and the current most wanted man in the world.

Out of all this horror and pain, there are rappers producing music about the violence – and it is becoming a musical movement sweeping Central and Northern America, with an astounding popularity. “We will be the next Hip Hop”, one artist tells the audience, as lyrics tell of murder, methods, weapons and hero statuses are sung, preformed, and worshipped. We see packed out concerts and fans excited to see their musical heros. All emulating the killings in such graphic ways.

Disturbing on so many levels, this film stuns with the very real and frightening state of this town, and this music movement.

Blackbird is a film which would rank within my top 5 so far for the Festival, which was a Wednesday morning session at ACMI. Set in Canada, it’s a story about a misfit teen dumped into a small town to live with his father, after being rejected by his mother and her new husband. A self-proclaimed goth, he is unpopular and a target for bullying; but develops a strong friendship and growing romance with one of the most popular girls at school.

The usual teenage difficulties proceed, leading to a point where Sean is threaten by his new friend’s boyfriend, and makes an equal threat in return over an online chat with her later than night. The difference is that his was made in a format that was recorded, such is our online lives these days. He also made mention of having the means to do it, in relation to the collection of firearms his father kept at their home.

This online chat throw-away threat is then used to accuse Sean of plotting a school massacre in the post-Columbine North American fear, and amazingly he is sent to juvenile detention centre to await a formal trial for these charges. Here, his awkward misfit ways are a target for the violent inmates he is thrown in with, and this becomes the most dangerous of situations for him.

The acting performance and script leads you the viewer to completely sympathise with Sean, a victim of fear and circumstance. The portrayal and evolution of Sean and his father’s relationship throughout the film is a powerful side story, adding to emotion of the story, and added depth to the movie.

In Guns… mentioned the old turn of phrase that guns don’t kill people, that people kill each other, and that is of course true – people with guns! These three stories on film show this, from several different angles.

Black Balloon, New World and Good Vibrations

That time of year has descended on Melbourne again, where I have a eMini Pass for the Melbourne International Film Festival and am running from cinema to cinema in between other life commitments, to see as many films as possible. I am doing quite well so far, and may in fact see all 13 that the Pass provides! Loving it!

Up first the synopsis of The Black Balloon had pulled me in to book Saturday night’s session, which turned out to be the short to a longer movie feature. Nevertheless The Black Balloon was a short about loneliness in a big city, as it followed the path of a floating and free balloon in NYC, and it’s encounters of people along the way. An amazing amount of people befriended this balloon which crossed their path and seemed to follow them along for a little while, speaking to it, telling it all sorts of personal secrets and walking along with it as their companion. A brief encounter with an inanimate object seemed the closest some of these people had had for a friend in some time. I had actually pictured a whimsical trail through skyscrapers and Central Park, and along the iconic landmark of the city – alas it as more Hoboken than Manhattan… The final scene of freedom was the highlight for me, and for the black balloon!

Marvin, Seth and Stanley was the main feature of this booking, about a father and his two grown sons going on a fishing trip together in rural USA. Themes here were around the lack of communication between men, misunderstandings despite the long family history and bond, and each one’s personal issues and their impact on their demeanour towards others. Each unlikable people to be fair, it was a sad tale about the state of some families and the burdens and troubles people carry with them.

Back to cinema darkness on Monday night, Jenny and I saw The New World, which to date is probably my third favourite film of the Festival so far. A story about Mirta, a cleaner in an asylum seeker processing centre in the Netherlands, who is also a single mother battling her own grief and pain and struggles with her life. West African Luc arrives to be processed, with no papers and a heartbreaking story of loss and fear, and despite Mirta’s often quick judgements on new arrivals, something sparks between the two of them, each having a strong impact on the other. It’s a beautiful story, told in a way where there are gaps in her story left for you to fill in yourself. The acting and music are well done, in that as an audience member I felt her very real symptoms of anxiety at one point, and the moments of joy and care between this friendship that is formed. It’s heartwarming, and sad. Luc’s story is powerful, as powerful as an example of the dire circumstances of fleeing your homeland, and the journey and mental toll that takes. There is a moment when Luc is first processed and his photo is taken, where he shifts for a side view, and the officer says, no no “you are not a criminal”. Indeed.

With so much made of the refugee issue and dastardly politicalised platform it has become in Australia, it was humbling to know that these very personal stories are happening the world over. And that they are very individual and yet similar no matter where the asylum seeker has fled from.

Good Vibrations will easily be my pick of best movie for the Festival, and indeed film I will see for some time. I left this later screening with such joy in my heart, and a renewed love of all things music. Set in Belfast in the peak of The Troubles, Terri Hooley opens a record store in one of the most bombed streets in the city at the time. His love of music and the terror all around him collide, and he becomes an icon of hope for youth in the middle of those times – watching him discover the underground music scene just after starting his shop moves the soul of any music lover. He then works on recording some of the bands he discovers, and thus The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts are released on his tiny label, produced from the record store.

Moments where he first hears the recorded track of one of these bands is one of the greatest scenes I have seen and felt for a very long time, in addition to the excitement of hearing Teenage Kicks played by John Peel on the BBC Radio National the first time, and the pinnacle gig to close out the film – I already want to see this movie again! The meeting of his future wife in the film is gorgeous, although the pain of the turmoil of the relationship throughout the film is heartbreaking, as Terri’s love of music and the live scene consumes him. An amazing biopic of an incredible man and spirit, it’s funny and witty, and a film for every music fan.

I have been raving about Good Vibrations since walking out of the cinema at Greater Union, and am telling people to see it! It screens again next Saturday!

A Slum Called Dharavi

Dharavi is Asia's biggest slum, and fills 1.75 square kilometers of Central Mumbai. It is the one featured in Slumdog Millionaire. It is also home to around 1 million people, and generates a huge amount of industry.

I signed up for a walking tour of the slum, based on the recommendation from the Lonely Planet, about the socially responsible practices of Reality Tours. Reality Tours pours funds from the tours, and their profits, into their NGO within the slum, which runs schools and a community vocational training centre.

One of the main tones of the tour was to dispel the negative perception that Hollywood painted in the movie. Mumbai and India are openly critical of the movie; my guide was quick to mention that Danny Boyle and his crew used a small outside pocket of the Slum for filming, and did not touch on many of the positive aspects of the community.

The first half of our tour was to see some of the industry within the slum. Recycling is the significant and most popular form of making a living within the slum, with plastics sorted, melted down, dried, and then moulded into a usable material for sale to be remade into something else. Mobile phone covers, for example.

We walked through some questionable safety practices, indeed, as well as some pungent and toxic arounds for this very process. We also visited a tin rooftop to see the drying materials, and get a sense of the density of the slum area.

Tanners, embroidery and textile mini-factories, potters, and bread and pappadam makers were also part of our tour, as a sample of the array of skills and work being done within Dharavi.

The other portion of our tour was the residential area. Walking through the tiny paths between people's home (which was indeed like that displayed in the opening sequence of the movie), we learned of the ethnic and religious communities within Dharavi, and how the Hindu and Muslim people work together now within the business of industrial life. 

The living conditions were confronting, and surprising. Families had small spaces for their homes, but managed to make it their own. Indeed, it was explained that many people from Dharavi now work outside of the slum, in the downtown areas of the city in good jobs and earning normal wages, but have chosen to remain living within the community life that the slum has afforded them. The sights of waste areas, sewage runoffs, and the discussion that there is one toilet for around 1500 people in each area, was the reality of Dharavi also.

Our guide was knowledgeable and sensitive to the fact that he was touring tourists through people's lives. No photos were allowed to be taken on the tour, our of respect. We also visited a couple of the projects that Reality Tours have on the go, which reinforced the work they are doing and the difference they are making to the generations through education and training opportunities.

We were a bunch of Foreigners walking through the slum in a group, but we were a small group, and our guide interacted with the people we encountered along the way, or about whom he was referring to when pointing out a task within the industry steps, for example, and the locals did not seem hostile towards our presence. They often greeted us, and seemed to have a bond with our guide.

This tour had such a powerful impact, and was something that stayed with me long after I left Mumbai, and is still something I think about today. A special glimpse into the lives of the people, and the ways of a living slum.

Brave Women, Genetics And Genocide, and A Voice: HRAFF '13

The Human Rights Arts and Film Festival has been in Melbourne for the last week and a bit, and I managed to see two short films, two full length stories, and wander through the amazing photography exhibit that accompanying the Fest. The Festival soon tours the country, so these are the ones I saw, loved and was moved by:

Taxi Sister
The story of a female taxi driver in Dakar, Senegal. There are 15,000 taxis, and just 4 taxi sisters among them. The short follows one around over a couple of days, picking up customers, waiting for fares, chatting with other drivers, and just living every day, making her living.

She finds herself having the justify her place in her chosen role to her male colleagues, and explaining that she is alone, having to bring in the money for her family. She no longer had a husband, she explains to the inquiries about why she is not staying home taking care of a man, and that she should be able to work in whatever role she wanted. She's sassy and strong willed, and such an interesting character, showing the world that gender is not a barrier to doing something you want to do.

Red Wedding
250,000 women were forced into marriages during the Cambodian Khmer Rouge period. The political spin was that this was to increase the population, and the new desired workers who were left from the genocide phase were the basis of this new population. This short was one woman's story, of the rape and trauma of her experience, and the lack of understanding about what went on and why.

Incredibly brave, we follow as she shows us the rice paddy where she now works, in the village she lives in, which was once used as a killing field. She tells us the bits of her story she confidently knows, and then confronts members of her village who were part of the arranged marriages and the ruling party at the time, to get a better understanding of it all.

She finds a way to discuss what happened to her with her family, and starts a formal complaint process, in a quest to find some sort of closure, and to help other woman like her. I wonder how she will remain safe as her story is being told to the world through this short film, as she confronts her village leaders, and as she submits her request for a formal investigation. So brave.

Sun Kissed
The story of a Navajo family with two children with the very rare genetic condition called XP. Characterised by skin that burns very, very easily in sunlight, often before diagnosis, and then by the rapid and pervasive neurological degeneration. At the point of the movie, their son had recently passed away, and their daughter was profoundly disabled, requiring peg feeding, and with very limited independent movement.

Initially they thought that they were the only ones experiencing this trial, and the medicine man had told them that their children were like this because when he was young he tortured ants. They had also been told that having children with someone from the same clan would result in children with medical issues, such as their children. But soon, she found other families in the Reservation with children with the same condition, and they started piecing some information together. None of the families she found were parents of the same clan. Some of them, too, had been told that their acts of harming animals when they were kids were the reason for their children having this condition. The impact of religion and cultural beliefs was strong, and the stories carried.

XP is a condition with an incidence of 1 in a million; but here in this region, it was presenting in 1 in 30,000. A significant biological situation.

They manage to speak with a Geneticist and a Historian, and start to hear a connection between this elevated prevalence of this rare genetic disorder to the Long Walk. Essentially, in the late 1800s US military rounded up the Native Americans and kept them within a small geographical area, and initially confining them to a concentration camp of sorts. From here, their population diminished due to the conditions to 5000 people, and it is thought that this mixed clans, and in turn, through the conditions and deaths and pool of Native Americans in one place, confined the gene pool.

This clustering of the Native American clans has meant that the recessive genes are meeting in a match more often, and manifesting in such a rare disorder in this generation of children. Fascinating that it has taken this long to present itself, frightening that there is a sudden surge of incidences of this condition.

Their quest to seek information about how the Long Walk may have impacted took them some time, as no one in their community wanted to discuss it. The past, and bad things such as illnesses, are not discussed in Navajo culture, it was explained. He lamented that this, in turn, meant that so much of their own culture was being lost to them. They no longer spoke some of the languages, and now they were having trouble accessing their history.

Apart from the incredible grief felt for this little family and their loss, the film leaves you with the contemplation of the genetic impact of such atrocities as forced migration on populations, communities, and the future generations - the Long Walk, the rounding up of Indigenous children in Australia, Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge genocide....

Requiem
A photography exhibit on display in the Yarra Gallery off Fed Square - here is a room of images selected from the collection shot by the 135 journalists who were killed or went missing during the Indochina War in South East Asia. These prints were taken by Cambodian Nationals and Foreign Press photographers in the battles and weeks before the KR took full command. Some powerful images captured - moment of history - all quashed by the ruling dictatorship/

Words Of Witness
We follow the work and passion of 22 year old budding journalist, Heba Afify, during the Egyptian uprising in Cario in January of 2011. She battles her Mum for permission to be out and interviewing people protesting, and teaches her family about the political situation of the overthrow of Mubarak, whilst she writes and publishes stories and updates for an English news site, and her Twitter and Facebook accounts.

As a young women she faces many barriers, including the perceptions from her own family, about what she should and should not be exposed to, all the while, displaying her passion and excitement for a new political era in her own country.

The Charm Of Pondicherry

Even since being swept away with imagery when reading Life Of Pi, I have wanted to visit Pondicherry in India, where the story begins, and the inspiration for the zoo was found. The test match being scheduled for Chennai meant that a roadtrip was possible on our last day in the area, and after finding Mamallapuram and Auroville on the way down, Julie and I made it to the oceanside French Colonial town.

After a much needed lunch facing out over the sea at Le Cafe - and the treat of a Western French inspired meal as a break from Indian food - we checked out the Ghandi Statue, before having our driver take us to the Botanical Gardens.

Here is where Yann Martel's story started. This overgrown garden is meant to be where the idea of the zoo came from...and I almost expected Richard Parker to slink out of some of the jungle areas!

You can even see the little railway tracks that were mentioned in the book.

We then plotted out a wander through the French Quarter of Pondicherry, to take in the pretty buildings. The quaint sights of women in saris against the colourful background of the buildings, and the cobbled streets.

Some rundown buildings, some beautifully restored.

We started on the edge of Bharathi Park and walked past the Pondicherry Museum. North of Nehru Street we interacted with a group of women who were all coming out of the ashram, before we came back towards Government Square, and then down and Romain Rollard and Suffren Streets for more gorgeous building viewing.

As part of our discovery of this little town on foot, we happened upon the Sri Manakulu Vinayagar Hindu temple with an elephant out the front. For some rupees, the elephant dedicated to Ganesh would pat the head of the giver, which had us entertained for some time.

We were both so buoyed by our trip down to see Pondicherry, and this was one of my favourite days in India.

Have The Chat

Did you know that here in Australia the tick box on your driver's licence that you wish to be an organ donor should the question be asked, no longer matters? It is ultimately your family who decide when it comes down to it, and if they are unaware of your wishes, then there is a high chance that your valuable organs could go to waste.

This situation resulted in just 354 donors in 2012 in Australia. Although this in turn changed the lives of 1052 people who received the gift of life from these donors. But 354 is a tiny, tiny figure when you think of the population of Australia and the potential donors who could have helped people on the wait list!

Donate Life and the Film Life Project are working on raising awareness of this life saving issue, and the need for every Australian to Have The Chat with their family about their wishes in case the need ever arose. I went along to the short film screening on Saturday night with Carly and Camille, who is a very recent donor recipient herself. The Melbourne gathering was the satellite gathering, with the awards actually going on in Sydney, but the group at the Footscray Community Arts Centre were passionate and excited. Dr Feelgood, of talkback radio sex talk fame was there (and we met her!) as a judge, as well as a couple of the filmmakers of the night, and the tutors who supported them to produce these gems.

Essentially, the Melbourne films entered into the competition were the result of a workshop of people interested in getting into filmmaking. They were given 3 weeks to produce a short film on the topic of under 3 minutes - and they produced some serious gems! We got to view the 12 finalists in the competition, with the Melbourne group of entrants doing very well in the prize stakes!

Manni's Story was actually my favourite...check it out here:


Totally loved this one - BBQ, Beer and One Bloody Brilliant Idea - a pretty wacky way to present the message, and get people, and especially young people, talking about being an organ donor.


But this was the winner on the night - Somebody That I'll Never Know - a parody of the smash song and clip by Gotye last year. Hard not to love this one, with THAT song, and the added tidbit that the filmmaker is a organ recipient herself! Impressive!


Pretty awesome use of the body paint idea from Gotye's clip, really highlighting the very items that are so important in the organ donor gift.

You can view the rest of the films shown on the night here. You can also vote for the Nepean Intensive Care People's Choice here too, to give these budding local filmmakers a boost for their new found skill! Voting is open until next Friday, the 10th.

Have the chat with your family about your wishes, asap! And register your intent on the Australian Organ Donor Register. Save lives in the event that you lose yours.

Why So Serious?

It’s 5 years since Heath Ledger was found dead, today. 5 years. I remember the day so clearly, with a couple of people calling for debriefing that morning, as we had heard the news, and were stunned.

A young Aussie actor, so talented and such a reportedly amazing work ethic about how he had gone about establishing his career and name in the industry. Such a sad loss, still.

This work of Heath’s most haunting roles, The Joker in The Dark Knight, was found earlier this month along Hosier Lane in Melbourne. So impressive, and equally disturbing.

Big Kids in New York City

Besides all the regular sights to be seen in New York City, we managed to get to the three much talked and anticipated fun things to do, which allowed the three of us to bring out our inner kid!

One of the things Katie was most excited about was M&M World, which we found in Times Square.  Essentially, this store is four floors filled with M&M merchandise  and walls and walls of every colour M&M you could ever possibly imagine. Apart from the ads with the peanut and regular M&Ms talking, I didn't fully realise the scope of the characters of the brand, but a visit to this store had that rectified, in full visual overload!

So excited to fill a bag of little chocolate morsels for the rest of our visit to NYC, there are some pretty awesome flavours available from the walls and walls of M&M towers. Yum!

Another treat for the kid within was a visit to Lego World at Rockefellar Plaza - apparently the largest Lego store in the world.  Like M&M, here we found a wall of colour segregated Lego pieces for purchase, just like a pick and mix!

But the best bit of the store for us was checking out the countless models around the walls, and the Lego dragon weaving it's way through the walls and roof, in and out of the rooms of the store.  The streetscapes in Lego miniture were my favourite, with NYC streets, and a complete model of the Rockafellar Plaza we had just walked through.

One of the must dos that I was keen to make sure the girls got to see on our visit was the Big Piano, from the movie we watched as we were growing up.  The massive keyboard Tom Hanks played on in the movie is as FAO Schwartz  just near the top west corner of Central Park.

The toy store itself is amazing to wander through, and you could play in there for hours.  The Big Piano is upstairs and towards the back of the store, and once you have taken off your shoes, you can have a jump around and play a tune, just like in the movie! We were most definitely not the only big kids doing this! Such fun!

New York City really does have it all, something for absolutely everyone!

Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

I have been following the work of Jessie Taylor, young Melbourne lawyer, since reading about how she came upon the situation of bringing a 14 year old Afghani foster son into her home and life.  Such an incredible and inspiring  story and single act in this horrid time of political turmoil by her!

As part of that journey that had her meet that young man, she had ventured over to Indonesia with the idea of filming the story behind what makes people boat people.  To examine the stories, and find out why people would take such a risk as to board an unseaworthy vessel and attempt to get to Australian land.  The hows, whys and experiences.

The result is the award winning Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea.  I attended a screening earlier this month through Melbourne University Refugee Action Collective at the University of Melbourne.  Jessie attended, and answered questions at the end, which added to the experience of seeing this documentary.

The film starts with Jessie getting to Indonesia, and visiting some people in detention.  Hearing and filming their stories.  And from here, many people contact her, to tell their stories.  So many heart-breaking and unbelievably scary and unfathomable things that have happened to these people, and their journeys to get to here. (Photo credit)

We also get a sense of the legal situation - many of these people and families who have made their way to Indonesia to flee such horrid things in their homeland have actually been granted refugee status by the UNHCR.  Many of them are awaiting an interview for this determination. All of them are being detained in the most awful of conditions, for years and years, with no end in sight, and certainly no communication from the UN about how much longer they will have to wait.

The frustration, the unknown, the burden of the risk they have already taken to get this far, is what pushed a few to seek alternative methods to get to Australia.  The promised land.  The "lucky country".  A country that has had a "stop the boats" policy beating the newspaper headlines for 12 years.

The descriptions of the boat journey from Indonesia to Australian waters is harrowing, and the footage of a boat wrestling to come to shore is so unsettling.

The UNHCR process, and the lack of Australian processes where there could be such an easy solution to help these people and indeed "stop the boats", gets a brutal and honest portrayal - only 35-50 people per year actually get from this hopeless situation and are granted the gift of resettlement - their basic human right. The alternative is clear - rather than waiting for some of these people to survive the journey across the sea, our government could just move to speed up the processing steps from the detention sites in Indonesia.

It's the individual stories that touch you.  Tear at your heart, and make you cry.  The families are the hardest stories to take in, but also the young man who has seen his siblings killed in front of him in his home country, sent this far by the urging of his parents, for a glimmer of hope of safety and life.  His voice and story stay with you.

The closing frames of this documentary are the most powerful.  You have to see this.

The film has not gained rights to be screened in Australia.  Because of it's funding, namely a portion from Amnesty International, networks who may ordinarily show such hard hitting, and real film, have shied away.  Jessie has been unable to get it listed in any of the film festivals here in Australia.  And yet several festivals worldwide have screened it, and awarded it Best Documentary at the 2012 European Independent Film Festival and an Accolade Award from the Honolulu Film Festival, to name a few.

To see this film, a crowdfunding effort has been started, with one more week of the campaign until the deadline for an attempt to have it screened all around the country closes.  There are several options to help it be screened in your area, but at the very least, buy a ticket to a possible screening in your area - and hopefully Jessie will get the funds through this process to allow you to see it, too.  And above all, this may reach some people who need to see it, to adjust their views of the refugee issue to a more humane and rights based outlook, and change the way this country votes on such an important humanitarian issue.

Dan Sultan's Desert Island Discs

Last week Nicole and I had a date with Dan Sultan, to hear about his favourite movies! ACMI has their Desert Island Discs session on a monthly basis, and I happened upon this line up that was too good to let pass by.  Having been to one of these last year, when Clare Bowditch shared her films, I knew it was a unique window into an artist's world, in a setting where they talked away from their careers, and just shot the breeze about something we all love and are inspired by - film.

When Dan arrived, as the small group for the session hovered outside the studio waiting to be seated, he looked all nonchalant in his cap, and I barely recognised him - although those blue eyes are unmistakable.

The session was introduced  and the interviewer was getting all film serious on Dan...and he just wanted to chat about some movies he picked!

His first pick, and nominated favourite, was La Bamba.  The tale of Richie Valance - a movie he said he grow up on, as did I!  Dan talked about how Richie came from a minority group and found his way through his ability to play a guitar - something he totally related to.

During the clip for the second of Dan's picks, Scarface, I had a "I've been there!" moment upon seeing the hotel a very, very young Al Pacino went into.  The pan shot gave us a view of Miami's South Beach.

This was one of the violent films Dan had picked, and the interviewer was clearly a little uncomfortable about it.  But Dan explained that the clip he chose was a scene in the movie when things for the main character just started to get real, and the feeling translated to the viewer - and that energy was why he had chosen it.

Next was The Big Lebowski, which Dan selected because it was it was by Coen brothers, and was a movie people had always told him he should see.  So he saw it for this session.  Then the interviewer reminded him that Fargo was a Coen brother's film, and he was bummed his didn't include it instead!

His only film selection with a women in the lead was Misery, of which he said scared the life out of him!  To this day, he cannot see Kathy Bates as anyone but Annie in this movie - love those scary movies that stay with you like that!

Lastly, Dan's selection was Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, with a very trippy and warped scene as the chosen clip.  This selection draw some further explanation from Dan, as our interviewer probed.

At many points during the session, Dan spoke so candidly about things that music interviews just don't touch on.  These evenings are so revealing in so many ways, about the person behind Dan Sultan, rather than just the musician.  Such a special insight!

The Other Film Festival

The Other Film Festival was a celebration of film by, with and about people with a disability. Held at the Arts House in North Melbourne, this venue was perfect, with it's cafe/bar downstairs (with a lift for accessibility, of course), and the gathering had such a great and inspiring vibe.

On Friday I went into town for the morning session, which was Making The Connection, and had a central theme of love and relationships.  The first two shorts were Australian, and were so lovely and really well done.  The first, 3.15 To Brunswick was introduced by the two actors in the film, and was a clever time-lapse style tale of two people sharing a moment whilst waiting for a train.  The second was the amazing Beautiful, which was!  A story of two people with an Intellectual Disability, in love and dealing with all the pressures, and teaching people around them, about being in love.  As I said, these 2 were really good.

The feature of this morning session was Strong Love, telling the story of the marriage of Jon and Holly, two Americans with Down Syndrome who met when they were at school.  A very American feel to the story, with the over-the-top management of disability, but their story was lovely and heart-warming.

There were lots of groups from programs at this session, and I spotted a young man who I worked with as an ABA Therapist when he was a boy, in the audience.  How amazing!

I was back at the Arts House on Sunday, and caught the Fresh Shorts collection - 6 short films, four of which I loved!  Veronika was told from the perspective of a young woman with Autism and multiple physical disabilities, and through using communication tools and the vivid work of a sand sculpturer, explained how her inner world works and how she meets her writing goals.  So insightful!

46/47 was a spin on how someone with genetic difference is viewed in the world, and was really thought-provoking and well done.  Frank, in Just Be Frank, tells his story as he gets used to a new guide dog and navigates his way around New York City.  A jazz singer, this short is a full look into his life, family and the everyday interactions he has at work and with friends.

The powerful Sunny Boy was probably my favourite film of this second session of films I attended, and showed the pain experienced by Danny and his want to join the world outside, if only to kick a soccer ball around!  Trapped inside by a skin condition and a severe aversion to the sun, this short is emotive and uplifting and devastating all at once.  Brilliantly done.

This film festival has been held bi-annually since 2004, and deserves a growing following from movie lovers and disability advocates alike, for it's impressive films, and the energy in the sessions and mingling before and after.  It was such a great vibe and event to be part of.

Bully and I Am Eleven

Continuing to construct my own movie festival, given that I missed MIFF whilst I was away in Toronto, I managed to see one that was listed for this year that I would definitely have seen, on the flight home!

Bully is a documentary which follows the plight of five children bullied at school, on the bus to and from school, and after school. It's harrowing, emotional, and everyone should see this.

Several children tell us about the taunts and acts they receive relentlessly at school. They tell us of how they suffer, and how they contemplate ways out, including wanting to die. One family tell us how their son did just that. Hung himself as a result of the pain he experienced from bullying. His best mate tells of the pain of watching his mate struggle, and then his loss.

The very real fact that kids are taking their own lives as a result of this treatment by other kids at school, and after school, is here to take in and process. The flight of parents to have schools do something about it is heartbreaking and devastating.

A powerful film.

Along with my recently returned status, I am unemployed, which means I am free after my classes on a Wednesday, which is bliss! No hurrying back to work. So, after spending some time in the library I hit Nova Cinema for a movie.

I Am Eleven is by a Melbourne documentarian, and a MIFF movie that I missed on my schedule last year.

The narrator starts the film by telling us about her life at the time she started making the film, which was after learning about the devastating tsunami in Asia, and the loss of her father. She tells us that she set off travelling for a year, and wanted to film some of the meetings with people she had. But then she wanted to capture people at the age she herself was most happiest, which was when she was 11.

Being 11, as she and many of her subjects state, is that middle ground between being a child and being teenager. That awkward time, but as each young person share their thoughts, it is clear that this is an age of innocence and naivety, and yet wisdom and humanity.

Children from France to India, Morocco to Bulgaria, America to Japan, Australia to Thailand share their thoughts on love, war, their experiences of bullying, family, and their hopes and dreams for the future. They share their status as students, workers, carers and kids.

Quite like the 7 Up series, Genevieve returns to film many of the children a couple of years later, to check in with their progress towards their dreams and goals.

This film is beautiful, leveling and a carrier of hope about the next generation!

Moonrise Kingdom and Dusted at Amsterdam

An outdoor movie, with the view of the CN Tower, out on a barmy Toronto evening sounded perfect to me. The fact that this was held at a brewery, with a band to start the evening and a food truck serving dinner sounded amazing!

Natalie and I ventured down after work, and grabbed the wares from the Sky Blue Sky toasted sandwiches for dinner, and a beer, and found our seats.

Just as the sun was disappearing, and the lights started up on the CN Tower, the band of the evening, Dusted, started their indie funk set. Whilst the sound was not crisp enough to hear them properly, their energy set the mood for the night as the crowd gathered. The food was delicious!

The irony of having to line up just before the movie was about to start, with the rest of the crowd, to get a beer from the only two working taps was not lost on anyone. I had to listen to a group of people debate how many beers they could carry, how many beers they would need, and how many tokens they had whilst the opening narration of the movie began. Shame.

But once settled back into my seat, I could get into the film, and it was lovely! The story of two mis-fit teens who meet, strike up a penpal relationship, and plot to run away together. A quirky, awkward teen love story - so cute!

This is a movie I would have seen at MIFF and continues my attempt to fill my movie list despite being on the other side of the world!