Saturday night, we arrived at bought some tickets. You could technically buy a ticket in the morning and watch films all day without leaving so this festival isn't like Studance and there were no long lines. When we got in, I had to tap a kidney so I went into what must be the worst bathroom in Flagstaff. When I walked in, the smell was unbearable. There was some guy in the stall struggling to push out a turtle and moaning. There was garbage all over and the place was just filthy. I had to put my shirt over my nose to survive. They probably haven't washed that bathroom out since the last hippie concert, damn hippies. Anyway, I had to pry the door to get out of there because the door knob thingy was busted and the guy squeezing a turtle was threatening to explode. SCHWEEEW.
Now onto the movies. Once we got to our seats in the balcony, the first movie of the night session had already started. The movie was Conflict Tiger and it was a Russian documentary with English subtitles. It was about the plight of the Siberian Tiger and how some jack ass poacher caused one of the tigers to become a man eater. After eating a few Siberians, the government finally sends out a hunting crew to kill the beast. They do but the message at the end still remains. There are only approximately 400 of the tigers left in the eastern Russian wilderness and as the tiger goes, so do the inhabitants. Even though we didn't see the whole movie, it was moving how the giant pusses of Russia are close to extinction. The movie was pretty good (3 out of 4) but it would have been better had the stupid guy and girl behind us not talked through the whole thing. God people are retarded.
The second movie was called Ice Mines. This was a short 30 minute film about a Canadian and Swede who go climbing in Sweden's old mines. The shots are pretty spectacular and some of the film crew almost got killed by falling ice. Anyway, these guys get off on climbing sheets of Ice in old mines. These aren't just any sheets of ice, these are monster icicles that were bigger than buildings. It's pretty impressive what these guys do even though they have a death wish. The movie was entertaining so I give it 3 out of 4 stars. Hea.
The final movie was saw last night was Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World. This is his first documentary after Grizzly Man and latest film since Rescue Dawn. In this film, Werner goes to Antarctica to explore why people at the bottom of the world do what they do. The film, I thought, was quite well shot and some of the scenery is awesome. Werner uses the bleak landscape and several shots of humans and penguins getting lost as a metaphor for what the human race now is doing with the planet and the climate. I found the documentary quite interesting and effective in what it was trying to prove, man has lost his way with the world. The shots under the ice were cool too. I tell you what, seals make scary noises under water. I give this film 3.4 out of 4 stars. Pretty good documentary and maybe it will win some awards. Way to go Herzog.
By the way, there wasn't a panel discussion for these films but some other ones had some. Herzog wasn't one of them. hea