Category Archives: Film

Coming to Brooklyn’s reRun Gastropub Theater for a week run beginning this Friday, May 20: LIFE 2.0

Jason Springarn-Koff’s debut documentary feature, an eye-opening look at Second Life, had its world premiere at Sundance last year before screening at a number of notable festivals, including SXSW, Sarasota, San Francisco, CPH:DOX, and Philadelphia, where it picked up the Best Documentary Feature award. It will be part of Oprah’s Documentary Club on OWN this August.

Plunging headlong into Second Life’s user-generated virtual online world, Springarn-Koff finds four subjects whose avatars are experiencing very different lives than they’ve been able to in the real world – a romantically involved couple who, in reality, have separate spouses and families on whom they are virtually cheating; a woman who seems to make the bulk of her real world income by selling her virtual designer clothes and homes to other Second Life users, never having to leave her home; and a Second Life addict who explored cross-gender role playing to a disturbing degree, driving a wedge in his real world relationship. By focusing on these intriguing characters rather than on the technology in and of itself, this compelling film successfully pulls off one important feat – more than speaking to the converted who already have their own avatars and virtual adventures, LIFE 2.0 engages audience members who have neither been on Second Life nor have ever had the inclination to spend any time there.

Now on DVD: BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO

Jessica Oreck’s unusual investigation into Japanese culture’s special affinity with insects had its World Premiere at SXSW 2009, with screenings at a number of fests including Full Frame, Cinevegas (Special Jury Award for Artistic Vision), and Jihlava. It had theatrical runs in NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, Seattle, and Denver among others. The doc also picked up a Spotlight Award at the 2010 Cinema Eye Honors.

Oreck looks to Japan’s past and present to explain the country’s entomomania in this lyrical detective story – from its first emperor who named the island Akitsushima (“Isle of the Dragonfly”) to professional insect hunters who can command huge prices. At the same time, one of the most intriguing aspects of the film is the parallel consideration that the rest of the world instead learned to respond to bugs with repulsion and fear. While the film arguably might tell audiences more about the Western fascination with Eastern culture than about Eastern culture itself, its crisscrossing through various aspects of Japanese history and society is intriguing and illuminating, offering viewers the opportunity to pay attention to how we see and interact with nature and its smallest details.

Coming to HBO2 this Wednesday, May 18: BURMA SOLDIER

Director Nic Dunlop, with co-directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, premiered this portrait of a now repentant Burmese military oppressor turned democracy activist at Sheffield last fall. I included the film in my coverage of IDFA for indieWIRE a few weeks later, saying:

Focused on Myo Myint, a former Burmese soldier, the film offers powerful first-hand testimony about the abusive totalitarian system seen in films like BURMA VJ, but from the unique perspective of a man who was one of the abusers. After he turned against the oppressive regime he once supported, Myint spent 15 years in prison, enduring torture, before finally seeking asylum in Thailand. As perhaps suggested by having three directors, the film isn’t as focused as it could be – despite this, it’s worthwhile for its remarkable access to its courageous subject. At IDFA, producer Julie leBrocguy noted that, through the help of underground activists, the film is being smuggled into Burma so that it can be shown to the Burmese people and perhaps help motivate them to fight back against their oppression.