The Woodstock Film Festival (2008), Part Two: The Movies I Actually Saw

On the way into "Religulous," the Woodstock Police searched our bags.  Was this a joke, or did the filmmakers honestly believe a hysterical Christian might blow them up?  In any case, the film was not a bomb* but one of the funniest I've seen in my filmic history -- I had trouble remaining in my seat, I laughed so fluently.  In "Religulous," Bill Maher asks numerous super-duper religious hierarchs all the questions you wish you had the courage to: "How do you know Jesus even existed?", "Do you honestly believe being gay is a sin?", "Did you just steal my wallet?"

I noticed the similarity to "Borat" even before I knew that the same director, Larry Charles, helmed both films.  That's the kind of perspicacious movie critic I am!

"At the Edge of the World" documents two ships determined to stop whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.  Forty-six volunteers work on the Farley Mowat and the Robert Hunter, hunting down whalers, then trying to sabotage them, as they glide by Cubist white glaciers.  Formerly, our hero-ships sailed under the Belize flag, but political pressure forced Belize to renounce them, and now they're true pirates!  They even hoist a variant of the Jolly Roger!  And many of the young international vegan crew-members wear noserings and earrings, just like Bluebeard's mates!  I cried when they, for the first time, spotted spouting whales.

Since early childhood I've been a comic book-lover and cartoon-believer, so I try to see the Woodstock animated film shorts when possible.  This year I caught nearly all of them.  And guess what?  We're living during a fructifying explosion of animated film, but no one knows.  Why?  It "falls between genres."  (That's what editors tell you when they reject your manuscript.)  These films aren't funny enough for the Cartoon Network, yet are too brief for the Sundance Channel.

I basically agree with the festival's choice.  "Berni's Doll," directed by Frenchman Yann J (Jouette) was, indeed, the most uproariously bitter.

This year, for the first time, I attended a panel: "The Documentary Story Today: How Is It Doing?", held in the very room where the first rock video was shot (or anyway the first video shown on MTV: "Video Killed The Radio Star").  Big makers of nonfiction film were there: Morgan Spurlock, who directed "Super Size Me," Brett Morgen, of "The Kid Stays in the Picture."  Heidi Ewing, director of "Jesus Camp" -- one of my favorite American films of the last decade -- was moderator.

The sad news: documentaries are failing at the box office.  (The good news: they're thriving on television, DVD, the Internet, etc.)  Often it takes a year for a movie to find an audience, Ms. Ewing revealed.

How can documentaries appeal to 17 year old boys?, was the unspoken question.  (Maybe they should try sex and violence, is my improvisational suggestion.)

Wait a moment!  I had an exclusive interview with Heidi Ewing.  When I confessed my affection for "Jesus Camp" (about a summer camp for Born Again Christian seven-year-olds which trains them to die for God in some future fascist counter-revolution), she replied: "We're doing something now that will blow the top off of that!  I can't tell you what.  Look for it next year!"

*Forgive me for this rare jeu de mot.