okeydokey, more film things:

Betelnut Bisnis: i couldn't remember what it was about, but liked the name so much that i bought a ticket. i've dealt with a lot of betelnut paraphenalia, but don't really know too much about it. this was a documentary by an Australian filmmaker in PNG about this man living in Goroka (Highlands area) who decides to dabble in betelnut bisnis: he goes to the coastal area to buy betelnut and brings it up to Goroka to sell.

i liked that the synopsis structure of the film kinda broke down within it. the man at the centre of the story (i wish i hadn't forgotten his name!) is not really the economic victim or the brave cultural battler a lazy filmmaker or over-zealous editor might have made him. he's very human, he likes to chew his betelnut -- and for some crazy reason he lets small children get into it too, and he has ambitions which, in the way of most ambitions in life, are not easily and neatly achieved. i loved the insights into regional differences and the supporting cast with their telling little nods and noncommittal "hmmm"s. it felt like a little peek into a life in a different world, which always seems more enjoyable than a structured documentary narrative.

(though i still don't know that much about betelnut)

Vanua-Tai was a documentary screening with Betelnut Bisnis, so i really just thought of it as an extra. the opening scene had me hooked, featuring as it did shots of baby turtles making a break for the sea. i really appreciated that they didn't do the classic nature doco thing of then cutting to birds swooping down and killing the little dears.

Vanua-Tai is about turtles in a mostly thematic sense, it's really about the efforts of the Won Smolbag theatre group and the people of Vanuatu to bring about change in how turtles are seen and how resources are managed. i was very impressed with how this movement seemd to be carried out, a) that there is actually effective "issue-based" theatre, rather than the smug and self-righteous poncing about that is my experience of the genre, and b) that change seemed to be effected by people going around talking to each other and discussing things, then deciding to make changes and actually doing it. genius!

i also liked that they pointed out that custon/kastom is a living thing, that people can change their traditions in response to changing factors. (static culture is dead culture etc). it made me realise that similar probably wouldn't happen in Australia because there are too many intermediaries, that there is not the same space to sit down and discuss equitably. i hope that's changing.

plans formed either during or in the aftermath of this documentary:
1. all turtles be provided with guns (to be used for their own protection only, obviously).
2. construction of a soy turtle in a plastic shell to be pushed out to sea as a decoy.
3. locating a turtle beach and camping out around hatching time. when they make their run for it, i will be standing on the beach ready to bludgeon seabirds to death (or perhaps shoot them with a pellet gun). volunteers welcome. (i have stuck in my head a Transmetropolitan image of Spider in his cullmaster general regalia).

The taste of tea. Oh so lovely! delightful vignette oddities! i completely love the grandfather and if i could buy him on Ebay i would! (he sings little songs about his granddaughter being a triangle and to his bath, does amazing choreography and yells "ika daisuki!" (i love squid). oh, so do i.) i wish i could see angels in hairdryers! and sing about a mountain!

and clever bit i didn't think about til later: there's a character called Aoi, which literally means "blue". there's a scene where she leaves on a bus and i thought it a bit strange to be playing what sounded like an instrumental of "Good King Wenceslas" over the top of that. realised later that Nina Simone (i think?) used that same theme on the piano when she sang "Little Girl Blue". get it? ah well, i felt clever anyway.

am considering surgery to append additional opposable digits just so i can give this film as many thumbs up as it deserves.

Bombon: El Perro. Decided to be whimsical tonight and take a stab-in-the-dark film choice. also the first film of the festival without Nic (i was all disoriented!). Set in Patagonia, a man has lost his job as a mechanic, is living with his daughter's family while trying to make a living selling the knives he makes. by convuluted circumstance he ends up with a purebred (and slightly scary looking) dog, leading to adventures in dog shows and breeding. the central character is warmly humble, the scenery rather glorious, the supporting charcters are funny and the dog was actually very good too (dog eyebrows!). there's always at least one bizarre sex scene moment any time i go to the film festival, and i think this was it. it's not often (in fact it's a first for me) that people give a round of applause for two dogs having sex.

as a film, not life changing, but pleasant and gentle. you'll miss nothing if you just catch it on SBS or something. (we were told at the beginning that it's got cinema release through Dendy. i wish they wouldn't do that, it just makes me feel like i shouldn't have bothered).

oh, and lots of nice-looking Argentinians in the crowd. and i was sitting next to an interesting conversation, i was really worried that two people were about to fall in love and i would have to hit them with my bag until they fell back out again.

but it was okay, i've obviously just been watching too many movies.