Guus Bosman

We had a wonderful time at Full Frame 2010 two weeks ago. We saw more than 20 movies including some absolutely brilliant ones.

It really felt like a mini-vacation. On Saturday the first movie we saw started at 10.00 am and the last one ended around midnight.

John and Jane
Man Push Cart -- not a bad film, but very annoying that a fiction film made it into the programming. Sure, it says in the booklet but it has no place on Full Frame.

Here's a list of movies we saw on Saturday:

• Born Sweet -- a 15-year boy with arsenic poisoning which finds joy in karoake singing and becomes famous through his hobby.
• Today is Better than Two Tomorrows -- two boys in Laos are good friends. One of them is sent to become a monk and the two split up. Sweet movie.
• Book of Miri -- a short documentary about a girl in Sweden who was adopted and is looking for her identity. I wasn't crazy about it; Sasha loved it and apparently so did the jury because it won an award.
• In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee -- a second movie about adoption. Forty years ago Cha Jung Hee, the filmmaker, was adopted from South Korea. Everybody called her Cha Jung Hee, but she knew that that wasn't her real name. A social worked had swapped the girl. The movie maker goes to South Korea to find the real Cha Jung Hee. Wonderful movie.
• Stonewall Uprising -- description and reconstruction of the riots around the Stonewall bar in New York City, which started the gay rights movement in 1969. Interesting.
• 12th & Delaware -- on an intersection in Florida an abortion clinic and a pro-live pregnancy center are located on opposite sides of the street. Very intense documentary.
• The Sixth Section -- fun, short movie about Mexican immigrants in New York City who fund projects in their hometown.
• H-2 Worker -- older documentary about guests workers from Jamaica in Florida. Not bad, but we would have preferred to watch a more recent documentary instead.

On Sunday we saw 5 short documentaries, which was great:

After the winners were announced we went to see two of them:

• The Poot -- gorgeous short on how tapestries are made in Iran.
• Surviving Hitler: A Love Story -- stunning movie about a love story in Germany during World War II, with great footage and a beautiful interview.
• Maria's Way
• Notes on the Other
• Photograph of Jesus
• Seltzer Works -- the last setlzer factory in New York City. Short, interesting, beautiful camera work and a great topic.

The festival was well organized, as always. Last year the economic situation impacted the festival, but sales this year were strong, according to the executive director. The only downside was that the curated series wasn't very good. We saw several of the curated selections and didn't really enjoy them, except for The Sixth Section.