Burlington Free Press
(Burlington, Vermont)
(October 10, 2004)
Reality Films Rule
By Brent Hallenbeck
In the world of film, 2004 has been the Year of the Documentary.
It wasn't a smash-em-up action movie or big-budget blockbuster with a roster of A-list
stars that proved to be one of the year's top hits, but a retelling of the events before
and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that stirred moviegoers, and controversy,
in surprisingly large amounts.
Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" wasn't the only documentary to cross the
mainstream-public's path this year. "Control Room," which shows news coverage of
the Middle East through the viewfinder of Arabic-language television, and "Super Size
Me," detailing one man's quest to discover the effects of eating nothing but fast
food for a month, were also unexpected box-office success stories.
Documentaries have had a place to call home in Burlington since the Vermont International
Film Festival began 15 years ago. Suddenly, the below-the-radar genre that forms the core
of the socially-conscious festival has become big business.
The festival, which starts Wednesday and runs for six days, has grown with the popularity
of non-fiction filmmaking. The roster of movies entered in competitions at the festival,
in large part because of the explosion of documentaries, has climbed from 38 last year to
60 this year. This year's event is also one day longer than the 2003 version.
The festival's executive director isn't surprised at how documentaries have taken off in
popularity in the past few months.
"We are all so politicized now, and the environment sort of nourishes these
films," said Mira Niagolova. While "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "Control
Room" take on mass media and the U.S. government during wartime and "Super Size
Me" butts heads with McDonald's, all try to scrape off the veneer of large, seemingly
impenetrable institutions.
"It's intended to show something that you're not supposed to see," Niagolova
said of documentary film. "People are hungry for those statements."
Not on TV
This year's Vermont International Film Festival includes a host of smaller but no-
less-topical documentaries. "Go Further" follows actor Woody Harrelson and
friends on a bio-fueled bus ride; "Crucible of War" traces
the impact of conflict in the former Yugoslavia on the people of Croatia; and
"The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face" details the director's efforts to confront
the man who sexually assaulted her mother.
Vermont-made documentaries include "Beyond Eighty-Eight Keys," which profiles
Montpelier concert pianist Michael Arnowitt, his degenerative eye condition and his
political activism, and "Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying," which
tells of four trailblazers in the modern hospice movement.
Niagolova said documentaries still play a vital role despite, and perhaps because of, the
proliferation of 24-hour television news.
"We think that we know, but maybe not always," she said. "This is something
that you don't see on TV."
Because many documentaries now aim to shoot holes in popularly held beliefs, critics have
fired back that too many of the films are biased. Moore has been vilified by conservatives
for his film that bashed the Bush administration. Some critics said "Super Size
Me" valued entertainment over its serious message of obesity in America.
Erica Ginsberg, producer of "Crucible of War," said
documentaries are no longer seen as "some boring educational thing" and are now
looked at as a viable form of entertainment.
"Truth is stranger than fiction," said Ginsberg, of Greenbelt, Md.
Rick Winston, who helps to organize the annual Green Mountain Film Festival in Montpelier,
said TV has indirectly helped documentaries enter the mainstream. He said the reality-TV
craze has demonstrated that the concept of entertainment from real-life stories is no
longer far-fetched.
Winston regularly shows documentaries at the Savoy Theater, the movie house he co-owns in
Montpelier. This was a strong year at the Savoy thanks to "Fahrenheit 9/11,"
which spent a six-week run at the theater. Winston said Moore's movie now owns the top
three slots for weekly ticket sales in the Savoy's 24-year history. "Super Size
Me," "Control Room" and "The Weather Underground" also did well
at the Savoy.
Winston said the documentary field is changing, not only with more films with a pronounced
point of view but also with more movies told from a highly personal perspective. The Green
Mountain Film Festival included in its lineup last March the Oscar-nominated film "My
Architect," in which Nathaniel Kahn detailed his attempt to understand his father,
Louis, the noted architect. Winston said a recent film receiving a lot of buzz, titled
"Tarnation," uses home movies and answering-machine recordings to tell a
family's story.
"Tarnation," Winston said, was made for a grand total of $218, showing that
documentaries are moving further and further away from big-budget Hollywood.
"It's an incredibly rich field," he said.
Personal interpretations
Sue Bettmann of Middlesex had her film, "Beyond Eighty-Eight Keys," shown at the
Green Mountain Film Festival, and the documentary is also on the schedule for the Vermont
International Film Festival. She has been involved in theater for years but had never made
a full documentary until her feature about Arnowitt.
She was initially surprised to see documentaries become so popular around the time she
finished hers, but she now understands why they have caught on.
"People were ready for these kinds of personal takes on things, personal
interpretations of what's happening to us," Bettmann said. "The time is right.
People are a little bit sick of the choice between Hollywood and Fox or nothing."
The choices are only growing. Winston is starting to plan next year's Green Mountain Film
Festival and said there are many more good choices than he will have time to show.
Candidates include looks at Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, playwright Sam Shepard
and musical innovator Robert Moog.
"The number of really fascinating documentaries," Winston said, "seems to
be infinite."
These are the showtimes for selected documentaries in the Vermont International Film
Festival:
-- "Beyond Eighty-Eight Keys," American/Vermont, 76 minutes, directed by Susan
Bettmann, Firehouse Center for Visual Arts, 6 p.m. Wednesday.
-- "Pioneers of Hospice: Changing the Face of Dying," American/Vermont, directed
by Terrance Youk of Brook Hollow Productions, Firehouse Center for Visual Arts, 1:30 p.m.
Thursday.
-- "Crucible of War,"
U.S./Bosnia-Herzegovina/Croatia/Serbia-Montenegro, 45 minutes, directed by Leon Gerskovic,
Contois Auditorium, 8 p.m. Friday; Firehouse Center for Visual Arts, 9 p.m. Saturday.
-- "The Man Who Stole My Mother's Face," Australian/South African, 74 minutes,
directed by Cathy Henkel; Contois Auditorium, 8:45 p.m. Friday; Firehouse Center for
Visual Arts, 12:50 p.m. Saturday.
Festival details
-- WHAT: The 15th-annual Vermont International Film Festival
-- WHEN: Starts Wednesday and runs through Oct. 18
-- WHERE: Contois Auditorium, Burlington City Hall; The Firehouse Center for Visual Arts;
and Merrill's Roxy Cinema
-- TICKETS: Features at Merrill's Roxy, $10 general, $7 student; Vermont Filmmakers
Showcases at Firehouse Center, $5 general, $3 student; all other screenings, $7 general,
$5 student; gold passes for $100, silver passes for $60 and day passes for $25 are also
available
-- INFORMATION: Call 660-2600 or visit www.vtiff.org.
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