WEBVTT 00:00:02.509 --> 00:00:04.530 You know what that sound means? It means it's 00:00:04.530 --> 00:00:06.889 another episode of Game for a Movie where we 00:00:06.889 --> 00:00:09.869 ask, are you game for a movie? My name is Mike. 00:00:09.910 --> 00:00:12.050 I'll be your host this evening. I'm joined by 00:00:12.050 --> 00:00:15.669 no one. That's okay. Because I have a very special 00:00:15.669 --> 00:00:19.510 episode for you. We have been invited as a podcast 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:23.370 by my friend Don to his film festival that he 00:00:23.370 --> 00:00:27.449 has been running every year. It originally was 00:00:27.449 --> 00:00:30.370 supposed to be in person. But of course, COVID 00:00:30.370 --> 00:00:34.109 did things that it usually does. So the last 00:00:34.109 --> 00:00:36.509 couple of years have been virtual. This is the 00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:39.630 first real year it's been done in person. And 00:00:39.630 --> 00:00:43.109 lucky enough, I was able to attend. Jill and 00:00:43.109 --> 00:00:45.049 Andre, unfortunately, were not able to attend 00:00:45.049 --> 00:00:47.409 at this time. There's still a chance they could 00:00:47.409 --> 00:00:50.829 make it as of this recording. It is Tuesday, 00:00:50.990 --> 00:00:53.390 December 20th. If you are hearing this right 00:00:53.390 --> 00:00:56.270 now. You also have a chance to attend since it 00:00:56.270 --> 00:00:59.429 is a virtual event that is the Yule Film Festival. 00:00:59.990 --> 00:01:03.109 Y -U -L -E, of course, because it's Christmas 00:01:03.109 --> 00:01:06.209 related or this time of year related, I should 00:01:06.209 --> 00:01:10.129 say more so. I highly recommend it. I cannot 00:01:10.129 --> 00:01:12.769 recommend it enough. So if you hear this day 00:01:12.769 --> 00:01:16.810 one, I highly recommend that you try to see this 00:01:16.810 --> 00:01:20.269 on the 21st. That is the reason why I am timestamping 00:01:20.269 --> 00:01:23.760 this. Usually I try not to timestamp it. If you 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:25.480 cannot see it on the 21st, don't worry. I'm going 00:01:25.480 --> 00:01:28.319 to tell you all about the ones I have seen. Unfortunately, 00:01:28.420 --> 00:01:30.400 there's two categories I did not see because 00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.219 they are virtual and because I am working. So 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:35.659 I will not be able to see those on the 21st. 00:01:35.859 --> 00:01:38.439 But if you can, please tell me what you think 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:42.060 of them because truthfully, this festival was 00:01:42.060 --> 00:01:44.719 outstanding. But I'll get into more about that 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:48.299 after I tell you what beer I am drinking. It 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:50.659 is the Christmas season and there is a 12 -pack 00:01:50.659 --> 00:01:55.239 sampler. from Beer Hug is what it was called. 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:58.019 And so I was originally like, oh, Beer Hug, I've 00:01:58.019 --> 00:02:00.579 never heard of this. Is this a new brewery or 00:02:00.579 --> 00:02:03.579 is this a new style of beer or whatever? So I 00:02:03.579 --> 00:02:06.159 bought it, not even looking any further into 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:09.919 it. Open it up and on the cans is a big old Goose 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:12.580 Island symbol. Being from Chicago, I do love 00:02:12.580 --> 00:02:14.400 Goose Island, so I have nothing wrong with this 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:18.020 situation. So I am drinking Secret Beer Hug, 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:22.080 number one. It is 6 .5 % volume. It is a hazy, 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:25.919 IPA and it's really, really good. It's so far 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:29.520 of the 12 because there's four beers, three of 00:02:29.520 --> 00:02:32.340 each one. This has been my favorite of the ones 00:02:32.340 --> 00:02:35.659 so far. I have only tasted three out of the four 00:02:35.659 --> 00:02:37.960 though, but this has been my favorite so far. 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:41.599 So I highly recommend the Secret Beer Hug number 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:45.300 one. All right, now on to our main topic, which 00:02:45.300 --> 00:02:47.360 is the Yule Film Festival. I'm going to tell 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:50.150 you all about the films I have seen. And then 00:02:50.150 --> 00:02:52.490 if there's time, I'm going to rate them 1 through 00:02:52.490 --> 00:02:56.830 10 for the top 10. There is way more than 10, 00:02:57.009 --> 00:02:59.310 but I already don't think I'm going to have enough 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:03.169 time for a top 10, let alone a top, I'm pretty 00:03:03.169 --> 00:03:06.270 sure it's 35 films that I saw. I didn't get to 00:03:06.270 --> 00:03:08.729 the end of my count before I decided to say, 00:03:08.849 --> 00:03:11.389 yeah, I'm not going to have time to review them 00:03:11.389 --> 00:03:15.199 all. Truthfully. And I'm also going to review 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:19.159 each per their category. Each one was put into 00:03:19.159 --> 00:03:21.599 a different category. I'm going to rate each 00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.340 one in their category one through however many 00:03:24.340 --> 00:03:28.180 there are. I think the most is seven. If you 00:03:28.180 --> 00:03:31.400 are listening and you submitted a film to this 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:33.599 festival and you hear yourself as number seven 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:37.340 in your category, please understand. Everything 00:03:37.340 --> 00:03:42.000 I saw was excellent. More than excellent. Everything 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.080 was amazing. I am extremely proud of the films 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:48.680 that I saw. They should be extremely proud as 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:50.280 well, especially with some of these categories. 00:03:51.419 --> 00:03:56.400 It's just more so everything was good. So being 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:00.280 less good than everything else, not a problem. 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:03.240 And truthfully, there's going to be winners on 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.000 this Wednesday. I'm not going to be able to see 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:07.719 it. So if you see that as well, please let me 00:04:07.719 --> 00:04:11.580 know what the winners are. If you are one of 00:04:11.580 --> 00:04:13.860 the winners, you can tell me you told me so. 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:17.040 This is just my personal opinion. And again, 00:04:17.259 --> 00:04:21.199 everything I saw was excellent. Everybody should 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.720 be extremely proud if you are hearing this and 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:26.759 you think, well, he rated me last. He rated me 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:29.060 the worst of the bunch. I was not in the top 00:04:29.060 --> 00:04:31.740 10. Trust me, this is just my personal opinion. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:34.500 And I think everything was excellent. So you 00:04:34.500 --> 00:04:38.420 all should be very proud. Okay, enough of that. 00:04:38.730 --> 00:04:41.550 I know, I've rambled on for so long at this point. 00:04:41.889 --> 00:04:44.730 Let's just get to the films, Mike. What the fuck 00:04:44.730 --> 00:04:48.649 are you doing? Let's talk some movies. So I'm 00:04:48.649 --> 00:04:50.870 going to read the order they were presented in, 00:04:51.009 --> 00:04:53.470 and then when I get to the end of a category, 00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:56.430 I will give you my one through however many rating 00:04:56.430 --> 00:05:01.610 of each film. So, we started out the film festival 00:05:01.610 --> 00:05:06.089 with Best Student Short. The first film that 00:05:06.089 --> 00:05:10.560 was... shown was called How to Tie a Tie. It 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:13.879 is a flashback slash a flash forward. So basically 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:16.740 the story mostly takes place in the past of a 00:05:16.740 --> 00:05:20.519 dad trying to show his son how to tie a tie. 00:05:20.699 --> 00:05:23.339 It is done from the kid's POV most of the film. 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:26.259 So you see the dad through his eyes. When you're 00:05:26.259 --> 00:05:29.000 in the flash forward, it is the kid a little 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:33.000 older. Basically he's remembering the advice. 00:05:33.079 --> 00:05:35.540 Sometimes it's wrong. Sometimes he remembers, 00:05:35.740 --> 00:05:38.259 oh, yeah, you were supposed to do this. And the 00:05:38.259 --> 00:05:40.800 dad goes, no, that's not right. And then he remembers, 00:05:40.939 --> 00:05:46.220 oh, yeah, I was supposed to do this. It was a 00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:48.120 little predictable in the end because he was 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:50.120 remembering this advice before he went to his 00:05:50.120 --> 00:05:54.500 dad's funeral. But as somebody who was taught 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:57.199 how to tie a tie from my dad, it was definitely 00:05:57.199 --> 00:05:59.220 enjoyable because it's something that I could 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:02.420 definitely relate to. And it's definitely something 00:06:02.420 --> 00:06:04.360 that I think a lot of people could relate to 00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:07.399 because we all learned how to tie a tie through 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:10.379 someone, whether it's our dad, a parental figure, 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:14.639 or somebody that just wanted to help us out. 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:18.360 I think it was very good, very thought -provoking 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:23.680 in the fact that it struck me, you know? So that 00:06:23.680 --> 00:06:25.720 is How to Tie a Tie. That was the first film. 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:29.019 The second film of the Best Student Short is 00:06:29.019 --> 00:06:32.949 called To Beirut. It is a man who is speaking 00:06:32.949 --> 00:06:34.930 in French the entire time he lives in Paris, 00:06:35.149 --> 00:06:38.290 but he is basically sending a love letter to 00:06:38.290 --> 00:06:43.250 Beirut, which he has been relocated to. It is 00:06:43.250 --> 00:06:46.050 filled with lovely shots of Paris, lovely shots 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:48.649 of people walking down streets that are absolutely 00:06:48.649 --> 00:06:53.189 gorgeous. And then, in the middle of it, it just... 00:06:53.769 --> 00:06:58.490 turns where we see the war -torn Beirut and it's 00:06:58.490 --> 00:07:00.810 really hard to see because especially the huge 00:07:00.810 --> 00:07:04.290 juxtaposition of Paris and then Beirut seeing 00:07:04.290 --> 00:07:07.110 it under siege and everything like that I thought 00:07:07.110 --> 00:07:08.910 it was very well done in the fact that there 00:07:08.910 --> 00:07:12.350 was this huge change you hear that it's called 00:07:12.350 --> 00:07:14.769 to Beirut you know you're going to see some of 00:07:14.769 --> 00:07:17.649 the war -torn imagery and especially because 00:07:18.589 --> 00:07:20.410 I think it's very well done in the fact that 00:07:20.410 --> 00:07:22.829 it is a love letter completely done in subtitles 00:07:22.829 --> 00:07:27.110 where you see this person that has this absolute 00:07:27.110 --> 00:07:30.389 love for Beirut and just understands they're 00:07:30.389 --> 00:07:33.230 going to be back there one day, hopefully. Hopefully, 00:07:33.329 --> 00:07:35.029 I can't even say it at this point, but hopefully. 00:07:35.589 --> 00:07:39.370 And though Paris is beautiful, they still find 00:07:39.370 --> 00:07:42.209 their love for Beirut. I thought it was very 00:07:42.209 --> 00:07:49.540 moving and very... Something that... It was just 00:07:49.540 --> 00:07:54.720 something that I think was very well done in 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:57.300 the fact that you knew what was coming, but it 00:07:57.300 --> 00:07:59.740 still kind of caught you off guard. It still 00:07:59.740 --> 00:08:01.860 kind of caught you, especially seeing some of 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:04.420 the bombings and some of that. You never see 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:06.959 a person die, but you know there's devastation. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:10.399 You know there's hurt people, injured people, 00:08:10.540 --> 00:08:13.279 dead people. It's something that definitely hits 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.540 home. Number three of the movies in the Best 00:08:16.540 --> 00:08:20.019 Student Short was called Rocky Road. This one 00:08:20.019 --> 00:08:22.399 was delightful and especially a good follow to 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:25.899 Beirut. It's definitely a lot more humorous. 00:08:25.939 --> 00:08:28.899 It is a college student and his best friend who 00:08:28.899 --> 00:08:33.419 is a rock with googly eyes. Basically, they're 00:08:33.419 --> 00:08:36.639 doing their thing. They have their fun adventures. 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:39.159 You know, the kid at one point is being held 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:41.299 up by a bully. And the rock just kind of rolls 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:43.879 in there. And the bully kind of goes, oh, my 00:08:43.879 --> 00:08:45.539 bad, man. I didn't know you were friends with 00:08:45.539 --> 00:08:50.440 Rocky. It was definitely hysterical. One day, 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:53.679 the rock goes missing. And so, heartbroken and 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:55.460 looking for him everywhere, the college student 00:08:55.460 --> 00:08:58.980 goes into a depressive, though hilarious, state. 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:04.240 posters up. Have you seen this rock? I miss him. 00:09:04.460 --> 00:09:07.860 And sometimes coming home and just absolutely 00:09:07.860 --> 00:09:11.580 throwing himself on the bed to cry. And eventually 00:09:11.580 --> 00:09:15.000 the rock does come back, but of course he has 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:18.659 a rock wife and a rock child. There's no words 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:20.879 said throughout this thing. It's just kind of 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:23.620 like sound effects and music, but everything 00:09:23.620 --> 00:09:26.159 is said perfectly. You exactly know everything 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:29.139 that happened in the story. This was definitely... 00:09:30.129 --> 00:09:32.309 I'm giving you spoilers here, but this is definitely 00:09:32.309 --> 00:09:36.889 my favorite of the category. I like drama. I 00:09:36.889 --> 00:09:39.009 think drama is very hard to do. Don't get me 00:09:39.009 --> 00:09:42.409 wrong. But I think humor is harder to do. And 00:09:42.409 --> 00:09:45.690 this one hit all the right humor strings. It 00:09:45.690 --> 00:09:49.230 wasn't too long where you're kind of like, okay, 00:09:49.289 --> 00:09:51.370 come on, I know where this is going. But it also 00:09:51.370 --> 00:09:53.269 wasn't too short where you're kind of gypped 00:09:53.269 --> 00:09:56.450 on the storyline. I think everything was said 00:09:56.450 --> 00:09:59.590 perfectly without a single word. So this was 00:09:59.590 --> 00:10:02.809 definitely my favorite of the student short category. 00:10:03.970 --> 00:10:06.529 Next up was I Love What You Have Done With The 00:10:06.529 --> 00:10:09.470 Place. Basically, a girl escapes a horde of zombies 00:10:09.470 --> 00:10:12.629 into a cellar. The beginning of this is just 00:10:12.629 --> 00:10:14.629 her looking around the cellar. It's completely 00:10:14.629 --> 00:10:17.769 dark except for the glow around her face and 00:10:17.769 --> 00:10:21.429 then whatever she illuminates with the... I think 00:10:21.429 --> 00:10:22.909 it was a match. I don't remember if it was a 00:10:22.909 --> 00:10:24.769 match or a flashlight. It has been a couple of 00:10:24.769 --> 00:10:27.289 days. But whatever she sees with the match or 00:10:27.289 --> 00:10:30.000 flashlight. Then all of a sudden there's another 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:34.220 person with her. They share a very tender moment. 00:10:34.480 --> 00:10:38.019 It is a guy where she leans her head on him. 00:10:38.580 --> 00:10:41.299 And then all of a sudden she's up and realizes 00:10:41.299 --> 00:10:46.159 it was just a dream. Maybe it's about... I couldn't 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:48.559 really tell what the purpose of this one was. 00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:50.559 And the fact that I just couldn't tell what the 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:52.620 message was. I think it was about losing your 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:55.879 best friend. Because it seems like they were 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:59.809 there. At one point. And now they just aren't 00:10:59.809 --> 00:11:03.169 anymore. So she's in the cellar. Kind of seeing 00:11:03.169 --> 00:11:07.450 him. Even though he may no longer be there. And 00:11:07.450 --> 00:11:10.190 the final. Of the student short category. Was 00:11:10.190 --> 00:11:13.289 called coach versus coach. This one started. 00:11:14.009 --> 00:11:17.309 With a dream sequence. The dream sequence is 00:11:17.309 --> 00:11:19.330 basically. This coach is pushing someone to their 00:11:19.330 --> 00:11:21.289 wits end. About learning how to ride a bike. 00:11:21.649 --> 00:11:24.950 They fall over. And their hood comes off and 00:11:24.950 --> 00:11:27.850 you realize it's the coach himself that has been 00:11:27.850 --> 00:11:32.830 pushing himself. It's really tough to watch because 00:11:32.830 --> 00:11:35.830 that coach is very demanding, very pushy and 00:11:35.830 --> 00:11:37.909 everything like that. And then there's a real 00:11:37.909 --> 00:11:40.470 life sequence. And truthfully, you can question 00:11:40.470 --> 00:11:42.429 whether the dream sequence and the real life 00:11:42.429 --> 00:11:45.210 sequence are switched. Obviously, the coach coaching 00:11:45.210 --> 00:11:48.990 themselves is a little tougher because it feels 00:11:48.990 --> 00:11:51.940 very dream -esque. But so what I've called the 00:11:51.940 --> 00:11:55.299 real life sequence follows that same coach who's 00:11:55.299 --> 00:11:57.360 working with a soccer player. And the soccer 00:11:57.360 --> 00:11:59.399 player is very hard on themselves, but the coach 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:02.799 is very loving and very understanding and wants 00:12:02.799 --> 00:12:05.580 to push them to be their best, but also doesn't 00:12:05.580 --> 00:12:07.620 want to push them too far. And it keeps going 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:09.759 back and forth between the dream coach and the 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:12.080 real life coach. Dream coach pushing himself, 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:16.809 the real life coach not. pushing the kid too 00:12:16.809 --> 00:12:19.330 far where he breaks down or anything like that 00:12:19.330 --> 00:12:22.690 um what i definitely felt the message was was 00:12:22.690 --> 00:12:24.830 sometimes we are harder on ourselves we coach 00:12:24.830 --> 00:12:29.409 ourselves a little harder and we need to go easier 00:12:29.409 --> 00:12:31.730 on ourselves we need to be that real life coach 00:12:31.730 --> 00:12:34.230 and understand our shortcomings are not because 00:12:34.230 --> 00:12:37.750 of a lack of effort or lack of trying it's just 00:12:37.750 --> 00:12:41.289 because we can't do the same and it was one of 00:12:41.289 --> 00:12:43.820 those things where it Another one that kind of 00:12:43.820 --> 00:12:45.659 hit my heartstrings and kind of made me feel 00:12:45.659 --> 00:12:48.379 that way. And I don't know if this is what the 00:12:48.379 --> 00:12:50.820 filmmaker felt or not. I could be an English 00:12:50.820 --> 00:12:52.740 teacher right now telling you the door was blue 00:12:52.740 --> 00:12:55.740 because of sadness. But it's just personally 00:12:55.740 --> 00:12:58.220 what I felt with it. And that's a lot of what 00:12:58.220 --> 00:12:59.879 I'm going to give you the rest of this episode. 00:13:00.980 --> 00:13:06.399 So for the best student shorts, last for me was 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:08.320 I Love What You Have Done With The Place. And 00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:12.419 again, none of these films are bad. None of these 00:13:12.419 --> 00:13:15.500 films. I would watch any of them again in a second. 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:18.679 This one was just more so. I didn't get a meaning 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:22.019 from it. I didn't get the storyline of it. Again, 00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:24.179 I think it was somebody that was there and no 00:13:24.179 --> 00:13:27.179 longer is there. But that might be what I'm inferencing 00:13:27.179 --> 00:13:30.240 versus what I actually know. So that's why I 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.740 gave it five. Four was How to Tie a Tie. I just 00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:36.379 thought it was a little predictable. That's not 00:13:36.379 --> 00:13:38.740 a bad thing because I also said it's something 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:40.580 I very much relate to. It's something that stuck 00:13:40.580 --> 00:13:44.710 with me. So I got fourth because of predictability, 00:13:44.830 --> 00:13:48.129 not because of content. Coach versus coach was 00:13:48.129 --> 00:13:51.570 three. Again, another thing very relatable that 00:13:51.570 --> 00:13:53.129 we're harder on ourselves and everything like 00:13:53.129 --> 00:13:55.909 that. Just a little confusing at times because 00:13:55.909 --> 00:13:57.750 you didn't know if you were in the dream sequence 00:13:57.750 --> 00:14:00.110 or the real life sequence, even though they changed 00:14:00.110 --> 00:14:02.490 colors and they did a good job with that. You 00:14:02.490 --> 00:14:05.149 know, it's just there was a lot of quick swaps 00:14:05.149 --> 00:14:07.129 where your brain doesn't quite catch up with 00:14:07.129 --> 00:14:10.860 it. Number two was to Beirut. I really like this 00:14:10.860 --> 00:14:13.700 one because it really was a good juxtaposition, 00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:17.440 and you understand why they still have a love 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.159 letter for this country, even though it's war 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:23.000 -torn, and they're in a place that arguably at 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:26.259 this point is prettier. It's not the place you 00:14:26.259 --> 00:14:28.500 grew up in. It's not the place you fell in love 00:14:28.500 --> 00:14:35.039 with first. Just something like that has stuck 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:37.919 with me. And then finally, Rocky Road. Again, 00:14:38.200 --> 00:14:41.460 I've said this enough, but I find humor very 00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:44.480 hard to do. Drama is also very hard to do, but 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:48.000 I just find with humor, it's harder to hit without 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:52.620 coming across as hokey or, you know, quippy. 00:14:53.379 --> 00:14:56.139 There's a difference between the MCU quippy and 00:14:56.139 --> 00:14:58.879 the MCU actually funny, you know, just to compare 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:01.879 it to that. This was actually funny, even though 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:04.929 nothing was said. I got exactly what the point 00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:09.110 was and I laughed a ton at this one. So that 00:15:09.110 --> 00:15:11.789 was Best Student Short. The next category is 00:15:11.789 --> 00:15:14.470 a little shorter. It is Best Documentary Short. 00:15:15.029 --> 00:15:18.909 There was only two in this one. And so the first 00:15:18.909 --> 00:15:22.470 one was called The Last Photo Walk. It is following 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:25.850 a photographer and his last photo walk in a country 00:15:25.850 --> 00:15:28.350 before he moves to the next one. So this idea 00:15:28.350 --> 00:15:32.269 was very cool. Essentially, you move to a different 00:15:32.269 --> 00:15:35.759 country. for a couple months at a time to kind 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:38.200 of explore, take photos, that kind of thing. 00:15:38.500 --> 00:15:42.240 And what I thought was the really good idea of 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.320 it was the idea of the photo walks are you can 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:49.899 get a bunch of people together into a group that 00:15:49.899 --> 00:15:51.720 take pictures of different things, just whatever 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:54.139 catches them or whatever. But it was just kind 00:15:54.139 --> 00:15:56.480 of the idea was you walk with people that are 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:00.000 also photographers. You share these ideas and 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.019 you share these tips and everything like that. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:04.379 And what was really cool is seeing the photos 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:09.100 at the end because what he takes photos of versus 00:16:09.100 --> 00:16:11.440 what everybody else takes photos of is completely 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:13.620 different. And it's just the way you interpret 00:16:13.620 --> 00:16:17.500 things. One of the things that he said in this 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:19.860 was that the photo walks were created to not 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:23.259 feel as solitary because photography can feel 00:16:23.259 --> 00:16:25.440 very solitary. You're taking pictures on your 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:28.840 own. developing them on your own because you're 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:32.200 doing film and you're in a dark room um and you 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:36.480 do it as on yourself um it's really a chance 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:41.220 to connect and feel a part of something and one 00:16:41.220 --> 00:16:43.539 of the things that was also cool is the idea 00:16:43.539 --> 00:16:46.779 of these photo walks where you go to a different 00:16:46.779 --> 00:16:49.399 country to experience a different culture and 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:51.970 you see different things And really, because 00:16:51.970 --> 00:16:54.429 of your culture, you're raising everything like 00:16:54.429 --> 00:16:56.610 that. I think that's what was the coolest part 00:16:56.610 --> 00:17:00.970 is because everybody sees their own thing with 00:17:00.970 --> 00:17:04.829 the same subjects. You can take a picture of 00:17:04.829 --> 00:17:08.250 the same thing and have four different photographers 00:17:08.250 --> 00:17:10.730 take a picture of the same thing. And everyone 00:17:10.730 --> 00:17:12.509 might be different in some way because it's just 00:17:12.509 --> 00:17:15.150 the way you see it. So this was their last one 00:17:15.150 --> 00:17:18.269 before they moved to the next country. So it 00:17:18.269 --> 00:17:21.990 was kind of cool to experience that. The second 00:17:21.990 --> 00:17:24.849 documentary film was called Celebrating a Century. 00:17:25.029 --> 00:17:27.430 And it's all about Danbury, Connecticut, which 00:17:27.430 --> 00:17:31.170 is great. Danbury, Connecticut. This is the Lebanon 00:17:31.170 --> 00:17:33.910 American Club of Danbury. It's been a century 00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:38.650 for this club existing. Basically, the Lebanese 00:17:38.650 --> 00:17:42.789 immigrants at this time created a club where 00:17:42.789 --> 00:17:47.730 people can go to feel at home. And what was really 00:17:47.730 --> 00:17:51.099 cool about this was seeing this. Lebanon American 00:17:51.099 --> 00:17:54.400 Club, basically what they do for their area. 00:17:54.920 --> 00:17:57.339 So it's a very cool idea. And the fact that like 00:17:57.339 --> 00:17:59.980 the Lebanon American Club was a place where Lebanese 00:17:59.980 --> 00:18:02.779 Americans could all come together and feel a 00:18:02.779 --> 00:18:05.960 part of something. But what they also focus on 00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:08.420 is the things they've done in the community and 00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:10.420 everything. They were talking about when the 00:18:10.420 --> 00:18:13.440 Special Olympics came to Yale. Danbury is not 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:17.460 really right next to Yale, yet the Lebanese American 00:18:17.460 --> 00:18:21.519 Club volunteered to host people that were competing 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:24.799 they were volunteering to work the event everything 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:27.099 like that it's just the kind of things they do 00:18:27.099 --> 00:18:29.240 around the community that they kind of picked 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:33.980 up on and just were a part of um like I said 00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:36.579 it's a very cool concept and the fact that the 00:18:36.579 --> 00:18:39.759 Lebanese or Lebanon American Club was a place 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:42.960 that people could feel welcome and especially 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:46.640 in a time where Who knows? I mean, it's been 00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:49.380 100 years. Who knows how Lebanese Americans were 00:18:49.380 --> 00:18:53.819 felt about at that point? I'm sure they didn't 00:18:53.819 --> 00:18:56.980 have as many as they definitely are probably 00:18:56.980 --> 00:18:59.980 now. So this may be one of the first. And it 00:18:59.980 --> 00:19:03.000 did lead to a lot of Lebanese people coming to 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:06.900 Danbury, Connecticut. So the best documentary 00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:09.519 category. I gave The Last Photo Walk the number 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:13.599 one spot. Both of these were awesome. Both of 00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:16.250 these I learned a lot. I just found the last 00:19:16.250 --> 00:19:19.589 photo walk a little more interesting to me. It's 00:19:19.589 --> 00:19:21.069 just one of those things where like the Lebanon 00:19:21.069 --> 00:19:23.990 American Club is very cool and it's been around 00:19:23.990 --> 00:19:28.069 for a century and it should be remembered in 00:19:28.069 --> 00:19:30.609 a film like this. And I hope it is. And I hope 00:19:30.609 --> 00:19:33.670 it's seen by a lot more people. Last photo walk 00:19:33.670 --> 00:19:37.160 was just kind of more cool because... I like 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.480 the idea of photography in different countries 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:41.380 and everything like that, including Lebanon. 00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:45.200 Who knows? So that's my thought process there. 00:19:45.779 --> 00:19:49.799 The next category of films. So this one is a 00:19:49.799 --> 00:19:52.779 little longer. This one was called Best Holiday 00:19:52.779 --> 00:19:56.259 Short. So because it is the Yule Film Festival, 00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:58.700 there's a lot more holiday shorts at this point. 00:19:59.109 --> 00:20:03.210 The first one called Ho -Ho Hostage. Basically, 00:20:03.289 --> 00:20:05.490 a man breaks into a house while looking like 00:20:05.490 --> 00:20:07.369 Santa, thinking they can get away with stealing 00:20:07.369 --> 00:20:10.549 some stuff. The homeowner holds him hostage, 00:20:10.589 --> 00:20:14.029 thinking he is Santa, and wanting him to bring 00:20:14.029 --> 00:20:18.730 him a long -awaited puppy. The homeowner basically 00:20:18.730 --> 00:20:21.349 has been asking for a puppy for years from Santa 00:20:21.349 --> 00:20:24.569 Claus, and has never gotten it, because whatever 00:20:24.569 --> 00:20:28.609 reason, he thinks he's been good enough, but... 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:31.059 For whatever reason, Santa's never brought him 00:20:31.059 --> 00:20:35.480 a puppy. While the guys held hostage, literally 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:40.220 the two bond and they become friends. And they 00:20:40.220 --> 00:20:44.700 share a bottle of whiskey for the night. Both 00:20:44.700 --> 00:20:46.740 of them falling asleep and waking up the next 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:50.759 morning. They realize that they had fallen asleep 00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:54.180 at the same house. And the Santa guy is ready 00:20:54.180 --> 00:20:56.059 to get out of there. And all of a sudden they 00:20:56.059 --> 00:21:00.000 hear a box start barking. santa has left them 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:03.880 a puppy i thought this one was cute it was kind 00:21:03.880 --> 00:21:09.380 of fun it was a definite different idea of santa 00:21:09.380 --> 00:21:13.059 and break -ins and stuff like that and it's funny 00:21:13.059 --> 00:21:17.559 because this has kicked off kind of a trend i 00:21:17.559 --> 00:21:20.920 will say for these shorts uh because the next 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:23.819 one is called the santa situation which is another 00:21:23.819 --> 00:21:28.460 break -in related story basically santa Comes 00:21:28.460 --> 00:21:33.819 into this couple's house and the husband of the 00:21:33.819 --> 00:21:37.599 couple comes downstairs and confuses him for 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:42.299 a robber. And is ready to fight him, ready to 00:21:42.299 --> 00:21:46.160 take him out and everything like that. Santa 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:49.359 obviously gets the upper hand because he's Santa 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:52.500 and he knows all and sees all. And then the wife 00:21:52.500 --> 00:21:55.119 comes down, also ready to fight because she thinks 00:21:55.119 --> 00:21:58.940 Santa's a robber. Another situation unfolds and 00:21:58.940 --> 00:22:03.220 the couple's basically tied up and held hostage 00:22:03.220 --> 00:22:08.700 by the real Santa. This one was kind of funny 00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:11.859 because it was just one of those stop talking 00:22:11.859 --> 00:22:14.220 and you'll get out of this situation. But the 00:22:14.220 --> 00:22:16.160 couple keeps going back and forth. No, he's a 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:18.559 robber. He's not the real Santa. He's not jolly 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:21.240 enough. He's not fat enough. He's too fat. Whatever 00:22:21.240 --> 00:22:24.279 it is, they keep talking back and forth. So the 00:22:24.279 --> 00:22:28.019 real Santa gets angry. And especially when they 00:22:28.019 --> 00:22:31.720 try to escape, he ties them even tighter and 00:22:31.720 --> 00:22:34.759 then decides, you know what? If you think I'm 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:38.180 a robber, I'm going to get my vengeance. And 00:22:38.180 --> 00:22:40.940 I called it Holly Jolly Vengeance. Santa basically 00:22:40.940 --> 00:22:46.400 robs them of their valuables. And the weirdest 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:49.900 part of this one was he leaves a reindeer present 00:22:49.900 --> 00:22:53.440 in their fridge. You can only guess what a reindeer 00:22:53.440 --> 00:22:58.900 present is. It is a very long, extreme turd. 00:22:59.339 --> 00:23:03.140 So he leaves that in their fridge and leaves. 00:23:03.460 --> 00:23:06.140 The next morning they get free. They open the 00:23:06.140 --> 00:23:09.160 fridge and they realize what has happened. So 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:14.859 that is the Santa situation. The third one is 00:23:14.859 --> 00:23:17.799 called The Wait. It is an animation that is done 00:23:17.799 --> 00:23:20.660 completely in black and white, except for one 00:23:20.660 --> 00:23:24.399 part. You'll see what it is in a second. Basically, 00:23:24.399 --> 00:23:27.500 it's very short. All of these are 11 minutes 00:23:27.500 --> 00:23:30.339 or less, but this one was about maybe 2 or 3 00:23:30.339 --> 00:23:33.400 minutes. Everybody's waiting for Santa. We are 00:23:33.400 --> 00:23:35.900 focused on one kid who is very much getting excited 00:23:35.900 --> 00:23:39.420 to see Santa. And it's getting close to the end 00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:41.440 of the time Santa's supposed to be at the mall. 00:23:41.980 --> 00:23:44.440 So the kid is getting very anxious, doesn't know 00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:46.579 if he's going to make it. And it keeps going 00:23:46.579 --> 00:23:49.480 back and forth. It's flipping quickly to make 00:23:49.480 --> 00:23:51.299 you feel this pressure of time and everything. 00:23:52.620 --> 00:23:54.779 Kid jumps on Santa's lap, tells him what they 00:23:54.779 --> 00:23:58.039 want. Elf takes a picture. Next, kid jumps on 00:23:58.039 --> 00:23:59.980 Santa's lap. And it's back and forth, back and 00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:02.119 forth. But it's done so quickly that you kind 00:24:02.119 --> 00:24:04.460 of feel like, okay, is this kid going to make 00:24:04.460 --> 00:24:05.940 it? Is he going to make it? Is he going to make 00:24:05.940 --> 00:24:08.180 it? And finally, the kid makes it to the front. 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:10.859 Great. All right. He's going to be able to tell 00:24:10.859 --> 00:24:14.500 Santa what he wants. And he pees on Santa's lap. 00:24:14.839 --> 00:24:16.859 That is the only thing that is not black and 00:24:16.859 --> 00:24:19.380 white because it is a yellow puddle appearing 00:24:19.380 --> 00:24:22.920 on Santa's lap. This was done in a very sketch 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:26.759 comedy, sketch style of animation. And truthfully, 00:24:26.779 --> 00:24:29.599 I think that works best for it. If you were to 00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:32.799 color it or make it any better, I don't think 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:35.160 you would have the same appeal as it does this 00:24:35.160 --> 00:24:40.119 way. So it looks very sketchy. I think honestly 00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:43.809 that works for it. The third one of the holiday 00:24:43.809 --> 00:24:47.970 short ones is called Cookie Crash. We've all 00:24:47.970 --> 00:24:50.789 been there. We had that sugar crash where you 00:24:50.789 --> 00:24:53.829 come down from eating a ton of sugar and you 00:24:53.829 --> 00:24:56.589 just feel like you can't get the energy anymore. 00:24:57.029 --> 00:24:59.950 But normally when you crash on sugar, you get 00:24:59.950 --> 00:25:02.369 a little sleepy, you know, that kind of thing. 00:25:02.849 --> 00:25:06.569 Santa is preparing his list before the final 00:25:06.569 --> 00:25:11.299 check so that he can go on his trip. And he's 00:25:11.299 --> 00:25:14.880 run out of cookies. But unlike us, he doesn't 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:19.779 get sleepy. No, he gets hungry. And more specifically, 00:25:20.099 --> 00:25:24.700 hangry. So he goes to his cookie vault to try 00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:27.279 to figure out if any cookies are in there. Nope, 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:29.539 there's no cookies in there. So what is he going 00:25:29.539 --> 00:25:32.519 to do? He goes to the lunchroom where all the 00:25:32.519 --> 00:25:35.099 elves are eating lunch happily, you know, talking 00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:37.660 with their friends, everything like that. Everything's 00:25:37.660 --> 00:25:41.130 cool. Until all of a sudden, Santa... Realizes 00:25:41.130 --> 00:25:44.750 there's no cookies in the lunchroom. What's he 00:25:44.750 --> 00:25:48.170 to do? There's no cookies. He needs his cookies 00:25:48.170 --> 00:25:52.589 because it's Santa. Well, Santa starts seeing 00:25:52.589 --> 00:25:56.869 the elves as cookies. Luckily, Santa just locks 00:25:56.869 --> 00:25:59.210 the cookies slash elves into his cookie safe. 00:25:59.289 --> 00:26:02.509 There's no actual like eating of elves. It's 00:26:02.509 --> 00:26:06.029 not an elf. genocide or anything like that he 00:26:06.029 --> 00:26:08.089 just goes a little crazy and starts locking up 00:26:08.089 --> 00:26:10.509 elves and catching them in different ways and 00:26:10.509 --> 00:26:13.150 there's a scene of course where one is away up 00:26:13.150 --> 00:26:16.630 on the roof he's trying to get him and the entire 00:26:16.630 --> 00:26:20.089 roof comes down but he gets him and locks him 00:26:20.089 --> 00:26:24.049 in the safe and then finally the thing that saves 00:26:24.049 --> 00:26:29.390 the day is mrs claus brings more cookies so santa 00:26:29.390 --> 00:26:31.549 gets a little more sane He eats these cookies. 00:26:31.609 --> 00:26:34.190 He's happy again. And then all of a sudden he 00:26:34.190 --> 00:26:37.769 starts coughing. Uh -oh. What does Santa need? 00:26:38.589 --> 00:26:41.789 He needs milk. And there's no milk. But that 00:26:41.789 --> 00:26:44.630 last elf is starting to look a little like some 00:26:44.630 --> 00:26:49.970 milk. And there's the end of Cookie Crash. The 00:26:49.970 --> 00:26:53.670 fourth one is called Kitsch. K -I -T -S -C -H. 00:26:54.589 --> 00:26:58.079 This is... I think stop motion. I can't really 00:26:58.079 --> 00:27:00.480 tell. It may be stop motion or a different kind 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:03.079 of animation to make it look like stop motion. 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.640 Basically, it is a tale of the mantle pieces 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:09.599 we set up. So when we have our baby Jesus and 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:12.880 our Mary and our snowman and everything else 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:17.059 on the mantle, this is kind of the story of them 00:27:17.059 --> 00:27:22.880 being set up on there. There's a snowman who's 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:25.740 our main character that is kind of learning how 00:27:25.740 --> 00:27:28.900 to be a mantelpiece. He is learning from the 00:27:28.900 --> 00:27:32.039 statue of Mary, who has been through this thousands 00:27:32.039 --> 00:27:35.420 of times. You know, she's the pro's pro. She's 00:27:35.420 --> 00:27:37.900 been there forever. You only have to get through 00:27:37.900 --> 00:27:40.220 the month, everything like that. The problem 00:27:40.220 --> 00:27:43.980 is, they were set up the day after Thanksgiving. 00:27:44.339 --> 00:27:48.519 And they also last until the 8th or 9th, I can't 00:27:48.519 --> 00:27:51.519 remember exactly, but the 8th or 9th. of January 00:27:51.519 --> 00:27:54.299 so they last a lot longer than they needed to 00:27:54.299 --> 00:27:57.640 to try to appear as mantel pieces filled with 00:27:57.640 --> 00:27:59.680 a bunch of different kind of mantel pieces we 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:01.740 have the snowman of course we have Mary we have 00:28:01.740 --> 00:28:05.839 the baby Jesus uh we have a jazz Santa that plays 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:10.799 saxophone we have an elf a gnome all these kind 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:12.839 of things that are just on this mantel piece 00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:15.299 and basically it just becomes who can last the 00:28:15.299 --> 00:28:18.200 longest or remain the sanest while waiting for 00:28:18.200 --> 00:28:22.009 the holiday season to end So Kitch was the fifth. 00:28:22.230 --> 00:28:25.210 The sixth is called Twas the Night Before Christmas 00:28:25.210 --> 00:28:28.150 Break. This is a Christmas story that is done 00:28:28.150 --> 00:28:32.470 as a story of Twas the Night Before Christmas, 00:28:32.630 --> 00:28:36.710 although it's about two kids in college before 00:28:36.710 --> 00:28:39.930 the college break. Basically, they have alcohol 00:28:39.930 --> 00:28:43.289 in their room, and an RA finds them as two underage 00:28:43.289 --> 00:28:47.150 students with alcohol. She is hosting a Christmas 00:28:47.150 --> 00:28:50.539 party before the break, and... Instead of writing 00:28:50.539 --> 00:28:52.859 them up, she says, you need to help me set up 00:28:52.859 --> 00:28:55.380 my party. Enjoy it. Everything like that, because 00:28:55.380 --> 00:29:00.240 I want this to be a rousing success. So the two 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:03.920 boys thinking, OK, we can help this. We can do 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:07.319 this. Whatever goes down. And they basically 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:10.940 find all the decorations and everything and they 00:29:10.940 --> 00:29:15.700 start setting it up. And they kind of one thing 00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:18.190 leads to another. The decorations start getting 00:29:18.190 --> 00:29:20.849 wrecked, the tree gets wrecked, everything starts 00:29:20.849 --> 00:29:24.130 getting wrecked, and they are kind of, uh -oh, 00:29:24.190 --> 00:29:26.890 what do we do now? Because the RA is going to 00:29:26.890 --> 00:29:28.910 come back, she's going to write us up, because 00:29:28.910 --> 00:29:33.109 we've screwed this party up for her. They make 00:29:33.109 --> 00:29:35.089 a little Christmas tree out of red Solo cups, 00:29:35.289 --> 00:29:37.950 which I thought was kind of cute, actually. You 00:29:37.950 --> 00:29:39.990 know, it was kind of bringing it full circle 00:29:39.990 --> 00:29:41.529 and everything like that, and the RA is just 00:29:41.529 --> 00:29:44.089 like, okay, cute, yeah, ha ha ha, that's funny. 00:29:44.779 --> 00:29:47.259 They close the door to where the real party was 00:29:47.259 --> 00:29:48.960 because they don't want her to see the wreck. 00:29:49.299 --> 00:29:51.960 So she gets past the red solar cup Christmas 00:29:51.960 --> 00:29:54.539 tree. She opens the door and they're trying to 00:29:54.539 --> 00:29:56.740 explain and everything like that. She opens it 00:29:56.740 --> 00:29:59.440 up and it's better than she had ever planned. 00:29:59.799 --> 00:30:02.700 All the decorations are up. Everything looks 00:30:02.700 --> 00:30:06.259 amazing. And the boys get left a little message 00:30:06.259 --> 00:30:09.619 saying Santa was here to help. So they get a 00:30:09.619 --> 00:30:12.789 little help from Santa. to have this party before 00:30:12.789 --> 00:30:15.390 Christmas break, and the RA doesn't write them 00:30:15.390 --> 00:30:18.690 up a happy ending for all. And the final one 00:30:18.690 --> 00:30:21.569 of this category of best holiday short is called 00:30:21.569 --> 00:30:25.910 Santa's Warehouse. Basically, Santa's Warehouse 00:30:25.910 --> 00:30:28.890 is an Amazon warehouse, and they have one elf 00:30:28.890 --> 00:30:32.190 that was lucky enough to clean it all. It is 00:30:32.190 --> 00:30:35.470 done by narration, or there's narration throughout. 00:30:35.630 --> 00:30:38.829 Basically, there's no talking besides the narration 00:30:38.829 --> 00:30:41.440 that tells the story of the elf. That is meant 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:45.039 to clean up the Amazon slash Santa's warehouse 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:48.220 on Christmas Eve. Now that all the toys have 00:30:48.220 --> 00:30:50.180 been packed away and everything like that, basically 00:30:50.180 --> 00:30:52.119 just need to clean it, get it ready for the next 00:30:52.119 --> 00:30:55.359 year. So this one elf is cleaning the entire 00:30:55.359 --> 00:31:01.339 warehouse, but has found a forklift that they 00:31:01.339 --> 00:31:06.559 really, really, really want to drive. So he starts 00:31:06.559 --> 00:31:10.000 driving it around and... Having a blast on Christmas 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:12.019 Eve. You know if he's going to work. This is 00:31:12.019 --> 00:31:15.220 what he should be able to do. And all of a sudden 00:31:15.220 --> 00:31:17.140 it breaks. And he's trying to figure out. Oh 00:31:17.140 --> 00:31:19.680 no how do I get back to its spot. So Santa knows 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:23.380 I didn't take this forklift out for a ride. He's 00:31:23.380 --> 00:31:26.559 doing everything he can. And finally he gives 00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:28.859 up. And he's just I can't do this. I can't figure 00:31:28.859 --> 00:31:30.900 it out. He cleans up the rest of the warehouse. 00:31:31.059 --> 00:31:34.039 Except for the forklift. Knowing he's going to 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:37.079 be in trouble. His goose is cooked. but he finds 00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:40.000 in the area where Santa left a previous message 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:41.900 letting him know that he needed to clean the 00:31:41.900 --> 00:31:45.420 warehouse. There's another message there. Have 00:31:45.420 --> 00:31:48.220 fun riding the forklift. It may die on you, but 00:31:48.220 --> 00:31:52.940 it's okay. So Santa's elf gets away with it scot 00:31:52.940 --> 00:31:56.880 -free because Santa knew he wanted to ride the 00:31:56.880 --> 00:32:00.829 forklift and nothing else. This was a little 00:32:00.829 --> 00:32:03.230 bit harder of a category to rate all of these 00:32:03.230 --> 00:32:04.910 because every single one was a little bit of 00:32:04.910 --> 00:32:09.069 a delight, brought a smile to my face. They were 00:32:09.069 --> 00:32:11.650 all funny. They were all good. None of it was 00:32:11.650 --> 00:32:16.450 cheesy. None of it was hokey. So, trying to give 00:32:16.450 --> 00:32:19.490 it an order. Again, one of these films is going 00:32:19.490 --> 00:32:22.440 to be in last. And again, it doesn't deserve 00:32:22.440 --> 00:32:25.539 it because truthfully, it was a great film. And 00:32:25.539 --> 00:32:28.099 I'm fully ready to be prepared if the awards 00:32:28.099 --> 00:32:31.000 say differently that I was wrong about it. The 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:33.160 number seven film of this, I gave to Kitsch. 00:32:34.039 --> 00:32:36.839 Not because of the concept. I liked the concept 00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:40.279 a lot. The animation style just wasn't quite 00:32:40.279 --> 00:32:44.980 lining up to the idea they had. So with more 00:32:44.980 --> 00:32:46.579 of a budget, I think this could have been a lot 00:32:46.579 --> 00:32:52.609 better. Truthfully, But again, it wasn't bad. 00:32:52.789 --> 00:32:54.710 There was nothing wrong with it. It was just 00:32:54.710 --> 00:32:56.990 not as good as the other ones. And that's what 00:32:56.990 --> 00:32:58.509 I'm also going to say about number six, which 00:32:58.509 --> 00:33:01.029 was that ho -ho hostage. I thought it was a fun 00:33:01.029 --> 00:33:03.970 concept about the puppy and the Santa getting 00:33:03.970 --> 00:33:08.140 held hostage until the next day. I thought that 00:33:08.140 --> 00:33:10.799 was a cute idea. And especially their friendship. 00:33:10.819 --> 00:33:12.579 You could tell they were actually kind of friends 00:33:12.579 --> 00:33:14.940 by the end of it. And they were waiting another 00:33:14.940 --> 00:33:17.759 year after it. That was just kind of an epilogue 00:33:17.759 --> 00:33:20.000 of the two of them spending Christmas together. 00:33:20.140 --> 00:33:22.880 I thought that was kind of nice too. Number five, 00:33:22.900 --> 00:33:24.599 I gave to Santa's warehouse. I thought it was 00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:30.180 a good idea. The idea was just kind of at the 00:33:30.180 --> 00:33:32.839 end, what I give it is just more so the warehouse 00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:35.880 setting more than anything else, which is kind 00:33:35.880 --> 00:33:39.220 of what it needed. so i gave it that just because 00:33:39.220 --> 00:33:42.240 i'm splitting hairs at this point i just needed 00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:44.640 to find something to rate something lesser than 00:33:44.640 --> 00:33:48.880 another so none of these things i think are bad 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:50.720 or kill it or anything like that i would happily 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:53.000 see any of these again it's just i gotta split 00:33:53.000 --> 00:33:55.980 hairs at this point number four was twas the 00:33:55.980 --> 00:33:58.660 night before christmas break like that idea a 00:33:58.660 --> 00:34:02.160 lot um the ra christmas party i've had that many 00:34:02.160 --> 00:34:04.460 times in my life as well as i've been written 00:34:04.460 --> 00:34:07.890 up by an ra They weren't really as cool as the 00:34:07.890 --> 00:34:11.010 RA in this story. So that kind of brought about 00:34:11.010 --> 00:34:14.469 feelings for me as well. Number three was the 00:34:14.469 --> 00:34:17.690 wait. The one where the kid peed on Santa's lap 00:34:17.690 --> 00:34:22.909 at the mall. I thought that was hysterical. Just 00:34:22.909 --> 00:34:24.989 kind of one of those things where it's like they 00:34:24.989 --> 00:34:27.789 did nothing wrong, but it was also short. So 00:34:27.789 --> 00:34:30.469 that's the difference maker. Number two, I gave 00:34:30.469 --> 00:34:34.320 to the Santa situation. Truthfully, the couple's 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:36.440 commentary was the best part of that. It made 00:34:36.440 --> 00:34:40.000 me laugh the entire way. If I had anything negative 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:42.039 to say about this one, I think it went a little 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:44.719 too long for what it was. And again, this is 00:34:44.719 --> 00:34:47.119 less than 11 minutes, so it's not anything other 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:49.420 than I think it went a little too long in the 00:34:49.420 --> 00:34:51.159 fact that I think they could have done their 00:34:51.159 --> 00:34:55.219 concept in a little less time. And finally, that 00:34:55.219 --> 00:34:57.659 brings me to my number one cookie crash. Cookie 00:34:57.659 --> 00:34:59.760 Crash was one of my favorites of the entire thing. 00:34:59.960 --> 00:35:03.059 It was so well done and the story and everything. 00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:07.119 And there was no real talking except for just 00:35:07.119 --> 00:35:10.679 like sound effects and noises and cookie and 00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:13.320 that kind of stuff. And so it was really well 00:35:13.320 --> 00:35:15.480 done. It was kind of fun to see the animation 00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:19.619 style as well as just the idea of the fact that 00:35:19.619 --> 00:35:23.440 Santa's committing elf genocide because of cookies. 00:35:24.329 --> 00:35:27.130 And then milk. So I thought that was very funny 00:35:27.130 --> 00:35:31.090 and very unique. So I'm about halfway through 00:35:31.090 --> 00:35:33.550 these films, through the categories at least. 00:35:34.269 --> 00:35:37.849 There was three on this end. There is four on 00:35:37.849 --> 00:35:40.190 the other end, but that one's a little shorter 00:35:40.190 --> 00:35:42.590 because there's not as many films. There's no 00:35:42.590 --> 00:35:44.489 categories that had as many as this one, which 00:35:44.489 --> 00:35:46.690 was seven. So I'm going to take a quick break, 00:35:46.789 --> 00:35:49.349 and then I will come back to tell you about the 00:35:49.349 --> 00:35:55.980 rest of the Yule Film Festival. And we are back 00:35:55.980 --> 00:35:58.019 talking about the Yule Film Festival. I hope 00:35:58.019 --> 00:36:00.320 you've all gotten your Christmas shopping or 00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:02.500 your Hanukkah shopping or your Kwanzaa shopping 00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:05.960 done. We are on to one of my favorite categories. 00:36:06.199 --> 00:36:09.900 So this one is called Best LGBTQ Plus Shorts. 00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:12.480 Basically, all three of these stories dealt a 00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:15.599 little bit with some kind of lesbian, gay, bisexual, 00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:21.840 trans, queer plus storylines. So let's dive into 00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:24.230 it. There's three in this category. The first 00:36:24.230 --> 00:36:27.530 one to air was called Discovery. It is a story 00:36:27.530 --> 00:36:29.809 about two girls that are attending Pride in the 00:36:29.809 --> 00:36:32.110 South. It just so happened to be two sisters 00:36:32.110 --> 00:36:36.429 that are themselves gay. The older sister came 00:36:36.429 --> 00:36:39.369 out a while ago, making it easier for the younger 00:36:39.369 --> 00:36:43.269 sister to come out to her mother. And originally 00:36:43.269 --> 00:36:46.769 seeming, so this is in the South, so I originally 00:36:46.769 --> 00:36:49.289 thought immediately something is going to happen 00:36:49.289 --> 00:36:51.750 at this Pride event. Luckily, that is not the 00:36:51.750 --> 00:36:55.280 case. And the girls go and have a great time. 00:36:55.900 --> 00:36:59.019 Basically, the idea was at the beginning was 00:36:59.019 --> 00:37:01.500 it was the younger sister's first pride event. 00:37:01.780 --> 00:37:04.000 And the older sister was supposed to take care 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.300 of her and get her home in a decent hour. With 00:37:08.300 --> 00:37:10.460 that set up, I thought something terrible was 00:37:10.460 --> 00:37:14.719 going to happen for the event. It did not. They 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:16.860 actually had a great time. They got home on time. 00:37:16.980 --> 00:37:20.380 They sleep. And basically, the younger sister 00:37:20.380 --> 00:37:23.539 wakes up the next morning. And she walks out 00:37:23.539 --> 00:37:26.539 of her room to the older sister and the mom silently 00:37:26.539 --> 00:37:28.460 talking. We don't hear what they're talking about, 00:37:28.500 --> 00:37:33.639 but you can tell something has happened. Basically, 00:37:33.639 --> 00:37:37.639 the younger sister asks what happened. And then 00:37:37.639 --> 00:37:40.800 it goes to her opening her laptop in her room. 00:37:41.219 --> 00:37:44.760 And it is a news report that is talking all about 00:37:44.760 --> 00:37:50.559 the Pulse nightclub tragedy. The shooter in the 00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:54.119 Orlando Pulse nightclub killed a bunch of gay 00:37:54.119 --> 00:37:58.860 people. It was based on a true story and a true 00:37:58.860 --> 00:38:02.639 experience. And it was one of those things where 00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:08.019 it's hard because it is based in true life and 00:38:08.019 --> 00:38:12.119 real life. And especially because I did think... 00:38:12.429 --> 00:38:14.230 that something was going to happen at this Pride 00:38:14.230 --> 00:38:15.829 event in the South, because I believe it was 00:38:15.829 --> 00:38:17.849 in Alabama. I don't remember exactly. It was 00:38:17.849 --> 00:38:20.849 Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, one of those 00:38:20.849 --> 00:38:23.510 three, where I thought something was going to 00:38:23.510 --> 00:38:26.210 happen at this Pride event. When I got through 00:38:26.210 --> 00:38:27.829 that realization, it was kind of one of those, 00:38:27.889 --> 00:38:30.130 okay, cool. Maybe it's not a depressing story. 00:38:30.230 --> 00:38:34.309 Maybe it's, you know, it's called discovery. 00:38:34.489 --> 00:38:36.730 Maybe it's about discovering yourself and discovering 00:38:36.730 --> 00:38:41.389 maybe a true love or something like that. discovery 00:38:41.389 --> 00:38:44.369 of this event was definitely a lot harder to 00:38:44.369 --> 00:38:48.309 bear um so that is discovery the first of the 00:38:48.309 --> 00:38:51.449 lgbtq plus shorts the second was called vlad 00:38:51.449 --> 00:38:54.550 and nick i thought this was a very different 00:38:54.550 --> 00:38:57.489 take on santa and why he has been around for 00:38:57.489 --> 00:39:01.250 forever the story is told by vlad who if you 00:39:01.250 --> 00:39:05.130 couldn't guess is vladimir and more specifically 00:39:05.130 --> 00:39:09.679 a vampire who has turned santa So Santa is a 00:39:09.679 --> 00:39:13.199 vampire and that's why he lives forever. That 00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:18.019 is why he punishes naughty kids and rewards the 00:39:18.019 --> 00:39:22.019 nice kids. So instead of coal for the naughty 00:39:22.019 --> 00:39:25.900 kids, basically they get fed on for their blood 00:39:25.900 --> 00:39:29.440 or turned into vampires themselves. They didn't 00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:32.480 obviously go into detail about that, but I would 00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:36.619 guess probably they got fed on. So there was 00:39:36.619 --> 00:39:40.150 that. And it was kind of a unique take on the 00:39:40.150 --> 00:39:44.230 fact of Santa being around for forever. And especially 00:39:44.230 --> 00:39:48.710 because Vlad and Nick, Saint Nick, got together 00:39:48.710 --> 00:39:50.809 for the first time in a couple hundred years. 00:39:51.010 --> 00:39:53.530 And that was the premise of the whole thing. 00:39:54.690 --> 00:39:58.510 The final one was based in truth as well. It 00:39:58.510 --> 00:40:03.389 is called Merchant Marine, Paul Gorky, and Alexander 00:40:03.389 --> 00:40:08.940 Hamilton Post 448. I'll tell you the title does 00:40:08.940 --> 00:40:11.139 not roll off the tongue, but this was a great 00:40:11.139 --> 00:40:14.579 one. It is the first and currently only American 00:40:14.579 --> 00:40:19.219 Legion's Veterans Post that is for gay people 00:40:19.219 --> 00:40:24.900 made by gay people. This thing dove into a lot 00:40:24.900 --> 00:40:27.099 of explaining Don't Ask, Don't Tell and how that 00:40:27.099 --> 00:40:30.039 was harmful to many people who didn't feel like 00:40:30.039 --> 00:40:32.260 they can be themselves in the Army or the Navy 00:40:32.260 --> 00:40:35.719 or whatever. And this was a place where they 00:40:35.719 --> 00:40:38.280 could... Truly be themselves and express themselves. 00:40:39.099 --> 00:40:44.300 It takes place in San Francisco. And it is named 00:40:44.300 --> 00:40:50.260 after Alexander Hamilton. Because of the. I'll 00:40:50.260 --> 00:40:54.860 say long believed truths of him being bisexual. 00:40:55.619 --> 00:41:00.980 Though no one could actually ever say. It seems 00:41:00.980 --> 00:41:04.280 pretty obvious that he was bisexual. So it's 00:41:04.280 --> 00:41:07.349 named after him. This was telling the story of 00:41:07.349 --> 00:41:11.369 Paul Gorky, who was one of its founding members, 00:41:11.489 --> 00:41:15.269 and how they were one of the first gay Marines. 00:41:15.929 --> 00:41:20.650 I actually thought this was fantastic, more so 00:41:20.650 --> 00:41:23.030 because it is real people telling a real story. 00:41:23.409 --> 00:41:27.289 It is people who came out who didn't feel like 00:41:27.289 --> 00:41:29.869 they had a spot, and this American Legion veterans 00:41:29.869 --> 00:41:34.599 post in San Francisco was... One of those places 00:41:34.599 --> 00:41:37.159 that said, hey, we're here. We accept you. We 00:41:37.159 --> 00:41:39.880 are here for you. And they've done a ton in the 00:41:39.880 --> 00:41:45.380 San Francisco community. I feel after this and 00:41:45.380 --> 00:41:48.460 explaining the Celebrating the Century, the Lebanon 00:41:48.460 --> 00:41:52.579 American Club, I feel like what I'm trying to 00:41:52.579 --> 00:41:54.840 say is that they have to do stuff around the 00:41:54.840 --> 00:41:57.300 community to serve a purpose. That is not what 00:41:57.300 --> 00:42:01.219 I'm meaning. I just find it amazing that the 00:42:01.219 --> 00:42:04.909 places that do. feel like they have to do stuff 00:42:04.909 --> 00:42:07.530 like that not only are they doing stuff they're 00:42:07.530 --> 00:42:10.369 doing some amazing work um the celebrating the 00:42:10.369 --> 00:42:13.010 century one where they were doing the special 00:42:13.010 --> 00:42:16.369 olympics at yale and this one especially was 00:42:16.369 --> 00:42:21.309 very open and accepting for the gay community 00:42:21.309 --> 00:42:23.489 and that's that's what i think was the coolest 00:42:23.489 --> 00:42:26.329 part of this whole thing all of it was interviewing 00:42:26.329 --> 00:42:29.190 members Who didn't feel like they had a place 00:42:29.190 --> 00:42:31.630 before. And it was really cool to see them kind 00:42:31.630 --> 00:42:33.989 of open up and brighten up. Talking about this 00:42:33.989 --> 00:42:37.550 group. Because they didn't have to feel like 00:42:37.550 --> 00:42:39.869 they had to hide who they were. So I thought 00:42:39.869 --> 00:42:42.190 this was a very good story. And a very cool story. 00:42:42.429 --> 00:42:45.710 And it is my number one of the best LGBTQ plus 00:42:45.710 --> 00:42:48.949 stories. Vlad and Nick I thought was pretty interesting. 00:42:49.070 --> 00:42:51.530 So that's my number two. And Discovery was number 00:42:51.530 --> 00:42:55.730 three. Again another great story. What I'll say 00:42:55.730 --> 00:42:59.489 about this one. And this has long been something 00:42:59.489 --> 00:43:02.789 personally that I feel is that to create drama, 00:43:03.050 --> 00:43:05.369 sometimes you feel like you need to include that 00:43:05.369 --> 00:43:07.949 gut punch that you may not necessarily have deserved. 00:43:08.449 --> 00:43:10.630 This one, again, I thought there was going to 00:43:10.630 --> 00:43:16.110 be that gut punch that they did deserve. Throwing 00:43:16.110 --> 00:43:20.190 it into pulse and then not. taking anything from 00:43:20.190 --> 00:43:22.150 it because they kind of just ended on that pulse 00:43:22.150 --> 00:43:24.710 tragedy and i'm sure there's more to the real 00:43:24.710 --> 00:43:27.610 life experience and again these are 11 minute 00:43:27.610 --> 00:43:29.809 shorts who knows maybe they couldn't get it in 00:43:29.809 --> 00:43:32.769 there that was the problem for me where they 00:43:32.769 --> 00:43:35.110 just kind of threw it onto a real life tragedy 00:43:35.110 --> 00:43:39.230 and didn't do anything with it it was just kind 00:43:39.230 --> 00:43:42.489 of there to close the story so that's why i got 00:43:42.489 --> 00:43:46.010 my number three on that one we move to the category 00:43:46.010 --> 00:43:50.260 best trailer So there are five of these. All 00:43:50.260 --> 00:43:52.860 of these are trailers to films that may come 00:43:52.860 --> 00:43:57.400 out or haven't come out yet. So they're all pretty 00:43:57.400 --> 00:44:02.500 short. So a lot of my analysis of these are going 00:44:02.500 --> 00:44:08.179 to be very short. That's just what it is. So 00:44:08.179 --> 00:44:11.360 number one of the best trailer was Voices in 00:44:11.360 --> 00:44:13.340 the Vineyard. It's a horror movie taking place 00:44:13.340 --> 00:44:15.929 at a vineyard. I said it looked very low budget 00:44:15.929 --> 00:44:18.570 and the voices that are drawing you into the 00:44:18.570 --> 00:44:21.269 vineyard, and that is just the way a horror movie 00:44:21.269 --> 00:44:23.949 should be. I like the fact that it is low budget. 00:44:25.309 --> 00:44:27.369 All of these are probably low budget in some 00:44:27.369 --> 00:44:29.409 way, shape, or form because it is a film festival 00:44:29.409 --> 00:44:31.610 where they haven't been distributed or anything 00:44:31.610 --> 00:44:35.429 yet. But this one felt very low budget in a good 00:44:35.429 --> 00:44:38.449 way to a horror movie. So I'll say that's what 00:44:38.449 --> 00:44:41.050 I thought about that one. The second one I have 00:44:41.050 --> 00:44:43.929 in this category is called Just Like Water. I 00:44:43.929 --> 00:44:46.269 only really had one note on this one, and that 00:44:46.269 --> 00:44:51.690 was I was confused. It's a lot of imagery relating 00:44:51.690 --> 00:44:54.469 to the water. There's a lot of age changes and 00:44:54.469 --> 00:44:56.929 everything like that, and so I don't really know 00:44:56.929 --> 00:44:59.489 where to start with this one. Especially, it 00:44:59.489 --> 00:45:03.150 was short, it was mysterious, and I just couldn't 00:45:03.150 --> 00:45:07.650 put my mind around it. I will also say, because 00:45:07.650 --> 00:45:09.489 I couldn't figure out what it was about, it is 00:45:09.489 --> 00:45:14.219 my number five for this category overall. It 00:45:14.219 --> 00:45:16.840 was beautiful, but I just don't know what to 00:45:16.840 --> 00:45:21.119 think about it. The third trailer in this one 00:45:21.119 --> 00:45:23.780 was called Garbage People. It is stop motion 00:45:23.780 --> 00:45:26.480 meeting Aqua Teen Hunger Force. That's what I 00:45:26.480 --> 00:45:28.719 felt about it. It's like adult animation, but 00:45:28.719 --> 00:45:31.300 it was about a bunch of garbage dwelling characters. 00:45:32.659 --> 00:45:36.019 It's very funny, but it also relied on a lot 00:45:36.019 --> 00:45:39.960 of gross out humor. So that's my issue with it. 00:45:40.969 --> 00:45:43.510 Number four was called A Town Full of Ghosts. 00:45:43.510 --> 00:45:46.170 It's a found footage horror movie. It's a couple 00:45:46.170 --> 00:45:52.130 who basically buy a ghost town that they're trying 00:45:52.130 --> 00:45:54.469 to prove if there's actually ghosts there or 00:45:54.469 --> 00:45:57.889 not. So they do the whole ghost exploration thing 00:45:57.889 --> 00:46:00.969 and there definitely are ghosts and there's definitely 00:46:00.969 --> 00:46:04.429 scares aplenty. So that's A Town Full of Ghosts, 00:46:04.429 --> 00:46:07.739 the fourth film and best trailer. The final one 00:46:07.739 --> 00:46:11.860 is called Tony Martone. It's all about a mob 00:46:11.860 --> 00:46:15.619 hitman. And I described this one as basically 00:46:15.619 --> 00:46:19.139 The Sopranos, but humorous, even if they didn't 00:46:19.139 --> 00:46:22.539 intend to be. I laughed tonder in this one. Basically, 00:46:22.539 --> 00:46:27.539 it was, I'm Tony Martone. I'm a mob hitman. Don't 00:46:27.539 --> 00:46:30.179 mess with me or I'll fuck you up. Like, that's 00:46:30.179 --> 00:46:31.900 kind of the level of dialogue and everything 00:46:31.900 --> 00:46:33.980 like that. I laughed hysterically at this one. 00:46:35.849 --> 00:46:38.090 When it comes to actual movies I'd rather see 00:46:38.090 --> 00:46:41.010 all of, I'd rather see A Town Full of Ghosts 00:46:41.010 --> 00:46:43.570 or Voices in the Vineyard, but just the trailer 00:46:43.570 --> 00:46:46.250 alone, the Tony Martone had me rolling on the 00:46:46.250 --> 00:46:48.230 floor laughing, so that's my number one of this 00:46:48.230 --> 00:46:51.750 category. Town Full of Ghosts, number two. Voices 00:46:51.750 --> 00:46:53.610 in the Vineyard, number three. I'm also a big 00:46:53.610 --> 00:46:57.369 horror fan, so that also kind of decides my order 00:46:57.369 --> 00:47:00.230 on this one. Four was Garbage People, and number 00:47:00.230 --> 00:47:02.210 five, just because I could not figure it out, 00:47:02.289 --> 00:47:06.199 was Just Like Water. So the second to last category 00:47:06.199 --> 00:47:09.719 was Best Female Directors. Obviously films directed 00:47:09.719 --> 00:47:13.699 by females. The number one for this one, the 00:47:13.699 --> 00:47:17.239 first one, not my rating, was Becoming Santa. 00:47:18.099 --> 00:47:20.480 It is all about a young girl who is part of the 00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:25.019 popular clique in the school area. She has a 00:47:25.019 --> 00:47:28.119 party and basically her father was trying to 00:47:28.119 --> 00:47:30.860 get her to visit with Santa who was visiting 00:47:30.860 --> 00:47:33.489 at this party. Take a picture, you know, tell 00:47:33.489 --> 00:47:35.869 him what you want. All of those little things 00:47:35.869 --> 00:47:39.409 to make your dad happy. But Santa basically tells 00:47:39.409 --> 00:47:43.269 her, like seeing who she is, about the best way 00:47:43.269 --> 00:47:46.570 to spread cheer, which is spreading kindness, 00:47:46.630 --> 00:47:51.030 smiling, you know, giving your best attitude 00:47:51.030 --> 00:47:53.730 towards things and everything like that. And 00:47:53.730 --> 00:47:56.949 the idea of the film, I feel like, is she becomes 00:47:56.949 --> 00:47:59.929 Santa. And the idea that she spreads generosity 00:47:59.929 --> 00:48:02.949 and kindness, she turns a new leaf, even though 00:48:02.949 --> 00:48:05.130 she's part of the popular clique, she breaks 00:48:05.130 --> 00:48:11.530 out and kind of spreads joy and gets the underappreciated 00:48:11.530 --> 00:48:14.769 kids, the people that were shit on by the popular 00:48:14.769 --> 00:48:16.969 clique and kind of like reaches out to them, 00:48:17.030 --> 00:48:19.570 becomes friendly with them. And at first she's 00:48:19.570 --> 00:48:22.750 met with resistance. And I mean, that's honestly, 00:48:22.909 --> 00:48:25.849 I would do the same, but she keeps at it and 00:48:25.849 --> 00:48:28.809 she keeps it going. What I think was the best 00:48:28.809 --> 00:48:32.250 part of it was the end. You see a real smile 00:48:32.250 --> 00:48:36.050 from her. It's not just like a, yeah, I'm part 00:48:36.050 --> 00:48:38.610 of the popular clique. Ha ha ha ha ha. No, it's 00:48:38.610 --> 00:48:41.690 really, hey, it's really nice talking to you. 00:48:41.730 --> 00:48:43.570 It's really nice being friendly. And it's just 00:48:43.570 --> 00:48:45.409 a real smile and it makes you a little happy 00:48:45.409 --> 00:48:49.210 inside. And I think especially with the holiday 00:48:49.210 --> 00:48:51.150 season and everything like that, this one hit 00:48:51.150 --> 00:48:55.269 home a little more in the fact that it just brightened 00:48:55.269 --> 00:48:59.289 my mood. You know, it just made me a little more 00:48:59.289 --> 00:49:03.289 happy about the season. So the second film was 00:49:03.289 --> 00:49:06.889 called Begin and Ends in Eden. This was about 00:49:06.889 --> 00:49:10.230 a girl who makes a wrong turn and ends up at 00:49:10.230 --> 00:49:13.769 a house party. The party ends up becoming a drug 00:49:13.769 --> 00:49:16.349 trip, both for Eden and the audience. It's a 00:49:16.349 --> 00:49:18.869 little, you know, you're supposed to be confused. 00:49:18.989 --> 00:49:22.210 You're supposed to be a little messed up. And 00:49:22.210 --> 00:49:24.909 we see the after effects of the party and Eden 00:49:24.909 --> 00:49:27.670 seems to be like a lot more adult than she was 00:49:27.670 --> 00:49:30.269 before. She's no longer this kid. She's kind 00:49:30.269 --> 00:49:32.230 of grown up a little bit and she's also kind 00:49:32.230 --> 00:49:36.510 of developed a little more as like who she's 00:49:36.510 --> 00:49:41.570 going to be. So that's it begins and ends in 00:49:41.570 --> 00:49:45.710 Eden. Interesting for sure. That's what that's 00:49:45.710 --> 00:49:50.659 all I'll say about this one. The third film of 00:49:50.659 --> 00:49:52.699 this category was called The Christmas Heist. 00:49:52.980 --> 00:49:56.539 And basically it's home alone, but instead if 00:49:56.539 --> 00:50:00.480 the kid idolized the bandits. There's been a 00:50:00.480 --> 00:50:02.860 rash of home invasions around the Christmas season. 00:50:03.079 --> 00:50:05.780 This kid hears his parents talking about it, 00:50:05.820 --> 00:50:07.960 but he's still very excited. And we think it's 00:50:07.960 --> 00:50:10.920 originally about the fact that Santa's coming 00:50:10.920 --> 00:50:12.780 and he's going to stay up and catch a picture 00:50:12.780 --> 00:50:17.360 of Santa. The burglar breaks in. And instead 00:50:17.360 --> 00:50:20.480 of Santa, he's very excited to see the burglar. 00:50:20.659 --> 00:50:23.599 He gives him a special toy that means a lot to 00:50:23.599 --> 00:50:26.980 him. And basically he tries to help him pack 00:50:26.980 --> 00:50:32.460 up the belongings and everything. The burglar 00:50:32.460 --> 00:50:34.440 appeases him at first and then finally he's just 00:50:34.440 --> 00:50:36.840 like, kid, you should not idolize me. You shouldn't 00:50:36.840 --> 00:50:40.340 be a fan of me. And what we learn at the end 00:50:40.340 --> 00:50:44.809 is the burglar kind of changes heart. He sees 00:50:44.809 --> 00:50:47.010 this kid that idolizes him and realizes that 00:50:47.010 --> 00:50:50.090 he might not be the idol for everybody, but some 00:50:50.090 --> 00:50:51.710 people are learning from him and everything. 00:50:52.110 --> 00:50:54.789 And when he sees the toy that the kid gave him, 00:50:54.889 --> 00:50:58.250 he kind of changes his mind and gives all the 00:50:58.250 --> 00:51:01.190 stuff back. And the kid wakes up the next day 00:51:01.190 --> 00:51:07.929 not being taken with the burglar as a henchman. 00:51:08.969 --> 00:51:13.860 So he kind of learns as well. Okay, this is not 00:51:13.860 --> 00:51:16.460 somebody I should idolize, but, you know, he 00:51:16.460 --> 00:51:19.039 didn't take our stuff because he does feel protective 00:51:19.039 --> 00:51:23.000 of me. The final film of the Best Female Directors 00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:26.420 category was called Contention. This knew what 00:51:26.420 --> 00:51:29.679 it was from the very beginning. Basically, it's 00:51:29.679 --> 00:51:31.820 8 Mile, but with an immigrant of Middle Eastern 00:51:31.820 --> 00:51:36.920 or Indian descent. There's this Indian or Middle 00:51:36.920 --> 00:51:39.159 Eastern kid. We never get the exact country, 00:51:39.239 --> 00:51:42.119 so I don't want to be... politically incorrect 00:51:42.119 --> 00:51:47.539 so this middle eastern or indian kid um he works 00:51:47.539 --> 00:51:51.579 for his dad's company his dad grew from the ground 00:51:51.579 --> 00:51:54.659 up started his own company when he got here he's 00:51:54.659 --> 00:51:58.199 this very successful businessman and so the kid 00:51:58.199 --> 00:52:01.579 is following in his footsteps and trying to find 00:52:01.579 --> 00:52:05.039 his voice that's what i that's what i keep coming 00:52:05.039 --> 00:52:08.739 back to uh the kid likes to rap make his own 00:52:08.739 --> 00:52:12.440 rap music He failed miserably in a rap battle, 00:52:12.500 --> 00:52:14.960 so he feels kind of like he can't use his own 00:52:14.960 --> 00:52:18.239 voice. He feels trapped because he can't use 00:52:18.239 --> 00:52:19.880 his voice in the business world. He can't use 00:52:19.880 --> 00:52:25.179 his voice in the rap world anymore. So when he's 00:52:25.179 --> 00:52:29.579 on business meetings, he can't do it anymore. 00:52:29.760 --> 00:52:32.539 He can't talk to people. He always feels like 00:52:32.539 --> 00:52:36.539 he's failing. But when he gets home... He can't 00:52:36.539 --> 00:52:38.960 go do what he wants to do with rap or anything 00:52:38.960 --> 00:52:41.139 like that. So he writes his own stuff and he 00:52:41.139 --> 00:52:47.260 raps in his room. And the dad records him rapping 00:52:47.260 --> 00:52:49.440 in his room and posts it on the internet. And 00:52:49.440 --> 00:52:52.980 it basically goes, it goes viral. I include that 00:52:52.980 --> 00:52:56.059 in quotes because it's not viral, but he says 00:52:56.059 --> 00:53:00.460 he's got like 8 ,000 views in 24 hours or something 00:53:00.460 --> 00:53:02.820 like that. And the kid's just kind of like, wow, 00:53:02.980 --> 00:53:05.909 okay, these people like me. And the dad goes, 00:53:06.030 --> 00:53:09.730 do what you want to do. Don't feel like I'm holding 00:53:09.730 --> 00:53:12.690 you back or anything like that. And so he goes 00:53:12.690 --> 00:53:16.150 to a rap battle, just like 8 Mile. He finds his 00:53:16.150 --> 00:53:19.969 voice. And of course, we don't see the end, but 00:53:19.969 --> 00:53:23.289 you know he won. And the funny thing is about 00:53:23.289 --> 00:53:26.539 this one. This is no offense to the filmmaker 00:53:26.539 --> 00:53:29.099 or anything like that. I actually felt like his 00:53:29.099 --> 00:53:33.039 rap was better before the rap battle. I felt 00:53:33.039 --> 00:53:37.059 like that one was a little more contrived, is 00:53:37.059 --> 00:53:41.019 what I'll say. I still like it. I like the message, 00:53:41.099 --> 00:53:44.699 everything like that. So, the four films and 00:53:44.699 --> 00:53:47.360 best female directors. Number four, I give Begins 00:53:47.360 --> 00:53:50.500 and Ends in Eden. It was good, but it was very 00:53:50.500 --> 00:53:53.699 confusing. Like I said, it was a drug trip for 00:53:53.699 --> 00:53:56.639 the audience, so I really just didn't know what 00:53:56.639 --> 00:53:59.579 the message was of it. I think I had it, but 00:53:59.579 --> 00:54:05.900 again, I personally like films that beat you 00:54:05.900 --> 00:54:08.219 over the head with the meaning. Sorry, I do. 00:54:08.320 --> 00:54:12.239 I'm simple. I like movies like that. That's just 00:54:12.239 --> 00:54:14.840 personally me. Number three, I gave Contention, 00:54:15.059 --> 00:54:17.800 which was the eight -mile Middle Eastern Indian 00:54:17.800 --> 00:54:21.139 descent kid. It knew what it was, and it did 00:54:21.139 --> 00:54:24.000 it well. And because of the contrived rap, I 00:54:24.000 --> 00:54:26.960 think that's why it went lower on my list. Or 00:54:26.960 --> 00:54:31.000 it might just be these two were in my top ten. 00:54:31.139 --> 00:54:35.199 So the two left in this category. Becoming Santa, 00:54:35.420 --> 00:54:37.559 I gave number two because I thought the message 00:54:37.559 --> 00:54:43.940 was very well spoken and very well done. It's 00:54:43.940 --> 00:54:46.500 done with a lot of kid actors and actresses, 00:54:46.500 --> 00:54:48.559 so I think that's part of the problem why I gave 00:54:48.559 --> 00:54:52.630 it two versus one. It's just because... they 00:54:52.630 --> 00:54:55.170 didn't give the best most convincing performances 00:54:55.170 --> 00:54:59.170 sometimes but overall i still loved it i loved 00:54:59.170 --> 00:55:01.869 the message everything like that and number one 00:55:01.869 --> 00:55:03.869 i gave the christmas heist that kid was awesome 00:55:03.869 --> 00:55:06.849 and that one and the burglar was great and the 00:55:06.849 --> 00:55:10.489 meaning of it was awesome i really liked that 00:55:10.489 --> 00:55:14.250 one i thought that one was excellent we have 00:55:14.250 --> 00:55:20.119 one category left this one was probably the toughest 00:55:20.119 --> 00:55:24.739 to decide between. This one was animation or 00:55:24.739 --> 00:55:29.280 stop motion shorts. So all of these are animation 00:55:29.280 --> 00:55:33.239 or stop motion. A lot of these made my final 00:55:33.239 --> 00:55:36.940 top 10. So that's why I say this was probably 00:55:36.940 --> 00:55:41.139 one of the toughest. So jumping in to number 00:55:41.139 --> 00:55:43.539 one of the animation stop motion shorts was one 00:55:43.539 --> 00:55:47.510 called Despera. I thought this was beautiful. 00:55:47.750 --> 00:55:50.730 It is a beautiful stop -motion film. It's a person 00:55:50.730 --> 00:55:54.530 falling into a sack of some variety. I can't 00:55:54.530 --> 00:55:56.949 really tell what it is, but you know they're 00:55:56.949 --> 00:56:00.409 stuck, and they just can't get out of it. Finally, 00:56:00.429 --> 00:56:03.250 after a lot of wriggling, their arm breaks free. 00:56:04.210 --> 00:56:06.650 You see the arm, and it's just wriggling and 00:56:06.650 --> 00:56:09.190 reaching for anything it can, because it just 00:56:09.190 --> 00:56:11.829 wants to get out of the sack. The wriggling arm 00:56:11.829 --> 00:56:17.739 reaches another... person's arm and you see the 00:56:17.739 --> 00:56:20.699 arms and you see them start to slow as they grab 00:56:20.699 --> 00:56:24.539 each other's arms but the other person is also 00:56:24.539 --> 00:56:27.179 in a sack that got their arm free and though 00:56:27.179 --> 00:56:31.800 they are still stuck uh that everything stops 00:56:31.800 --> 00:56:34.679 and slows down because they have that human contact 00:56:34.679 --> 00:56:38.619 this is the one that i've thought about the most 00:56:38.619 --> 00:56:41.500 since this film festival because i thought it 00:56:41.500 --> 00:56:45.500 was very beautifully done I have no clue what 00:56:45.500 --> 00:56:49.539 it means. I've racked my mind about it. I think 00:56:49.539 --> 00:56:52.280 it's human contact. Makes us feel, even if we're 00:56:52.280 --> 00:56:56.820 stuck, feel a little more comforted. I don't 00:56:56.820 --> 00:56:59.059 know what the meaning is, but I've thought about 00:56:59.059 --> 00:57:01.940 this one probably the most because it was so 00:57:01.940 --> 00:57:04.579 beautiful and so beautifully done in the stop 00:57:04.579 --> 00:57:07.059 motion. And that's what's going to be weird about 00:57:07.059 --> 00:57:10.119 my rating at the end. Again, I said this is one 00:57:10.119 --> 00:57:13.340 of the tougher ones. The second film was called 00:57:13.340 --> 00:57:18.840 The Waltz. This one was done in animation style. 00:57:19.739 --> 00:57:22.579 Basically, it's a person that's born and immediately 00:57:22.579 --> 00:57:25.480 starts dancing, even though they can't dance, 00:57:25.519 --> 00:57:29.800 but they're dancing in the arms of Death, or 00:57:29.800 --> 00:57:34.940 the Reaper as we know it. As the film goes on, 00:57:35.079 --> 00:57:38.289 the person grows. and becomes more a part of 00:57:38.289 --> 00:57:41.250 the dance until finally as an old person they're 00:57:41.250 --> 00:57:45.590 nailing all the moves but they finally fall dead 00:57:45.590 --> 00:57:49.409 at death's arms and they go to the next part 00:57:49.409 --> 00:57:53.690 of their life which is another room outside of 00:57:53.690 --> 00:58:00.039 this waltzing ballroom I thought this was the 00:58:00.039 --> 00:58:02.199 dance we all do in life. I thought it was a very 00:58:02.199 --> 00:58:06.340 good message of just the short time we have on 00:58:06.340 --> 00:58:08.820 this earth. Because it's very short. It's not 00:58:08.820 --> 00:58:12.699 longer than five minutes, maybe at most. And 00:58:12.699 --> 00:58:14.860 even that, I mean, I feel like that's too long 00:58:14.860 --> 00:58:18.880 for what I thought I saw. It's just an idea of 00:58:18.880 --> 00:58:23.019 dancing with death until finally death catches 00:58:23.019 --> 00:58:25.519 up with you. Or you catch up with death, really. 00:58:26.320 --> 00:58:31.539 um so that's the waltz the third film is called 00:58:31.539 --> 00:58:37.099 from within um this is basically just stop motion 00:58:37.099 --> 00:58:41.440 it at first focus well no the entire time it 00:58:41.440 --> 00:58:46.119 focuses on what seems like a woman's legs um 00:58:46.119 --> 00:58:49.760 the beginning the legs are on the ground then 00:58:49.760 --> 00:58:52.780 as the film goes on they step up a little bit 00:58:52.780 --> 00:58:56.000 but they like kind of break and Go different 00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:59.880 directions. And finally. They stand upright. 00:59:00.059 --> 00:59:02.980 And they do their motions. And the motions are 00:59:02.980 --> 00:59:07.199 beautiful. And it ends with clapping. And flowers 00:59:07.199 --> 00:59:10.940 being surrounded by the feet. And it's just kind 00:59:10.940 --> 00:59:15.239 of an idea of. We put ourselves through pain. 00:59:15.639 --> 00:59:18.659 Or we put ourselves through misery. To gain adoration 00:59:18.659 --> 00:59:23.829 and love. That's what I saw in it. And nobody 00:59:23.829 --> 00:59:27.349 sees the struggle to get there. But that's what 00:59:27.349 --> 00:59:30.869 we go through to get there. That's what I took 00:59:30.869 --> 00:59:38.449 from it. I think it's very well done. And the 00:59:38.449 --> 00:59:41.809 fact that it just focuses on feet and that that's 00:59:41.809 --> 00:59:47.730 the idea I got from it says a lot about it. The 00:59:47.730 --> 00:59:50.530 fourth film in this category is called Smithy. 00:59:51.789 --> 00:59:55.670 If you've ever read the comic book Maus, M -A 00:59:55.670 --> 00:59:59.949 -U -S and an umlaut over the A, that's a lot 00:59:59.949 --> 01:00:02.030 of what I got from this one. It seems like a 01:00:02.030 --> 01:00:05.949 World War II background. Basically, these mice 01:00:05.949 --> 01:00:08.690 police are looking for owls in a small town. 01:00:09.130 --> 01:00:13.610 And there are these mice in this factory or whatever 01:00:13.610 --> 01:00:17.769 that are protecting the owls from the mice police 01:00:17.769 --> 01:00:21.090 and making sure they don't get taken out. I definitely 01:00:21.090 --> 01:00:23.670 thought this was like a take on the Gestapo and 01:00:23.670 --> 01:00:25.929 the World War II treatment of Jewish people. 01:00:27.010 --> 01:00:30.989 Just because the mice and the owls very much, 01:00:31.010 --> 01:00:34.329 even though they're predator prey, that kind 01:00:34.329 --> 01:00:37.769 of stuff. In this particular one, they see the 01:00:37.769 --> 01:00:41.030 owls as they are and they protect them from the 01:00:41.030 --> 01:00:47.199 mouse Gestapo. Very cool animation style. Very 01:00:47.199 --> 01:00:49.739 well done. Like I said I thought it was a lot 01:00:49.739 --> 01:00:52.019 like Mouse the comic book. If you've never read 01:00:52.019 --> 01:00:55.119 that please take the time to do so. It's very 01:00:55.119 --> 01:01:00.039 much similar to this too. The fifth film in this 01:01:00.039 --> 01:01:04.559 is called Lonely Soul. The comments I say is 01:01:04.559 --> 01:01:08.659 all of us need love. Basically this man in stop 01:01:08.659 --> 01:01:11.340 motion is following this light beam that he thinks 01:01:11.340 --> 01:01:13.769 is a lost soul. And he keeps following it and 01:01:13.769 --> 01:01:16.750 following it and following it. And he goes further 01:01:16.750 --> 01:01:21.530 following it and gets stuck in this area. And 01:01:21.530 --> 01:01:24.449 the light beam becomes this like creature, this 01:01:24.449 --> 01:01:28.190 hideous creature with like forearms, big, big 01:01:28.190 --> 01:01:31.849 masked face, you know, like could easily take 01:01:31.849 --> 01:01:34.929 the person out. And though he's terrified at 01:01:34.929 --> 01:01:37.630 first, the man then comes up to the creature 01:01:37.630 --> 01:01:42.480 and gives it a hug. At first, the creature's 01:01:42.480 --> 01:01:45.659 kind of taken aback by it. And then the creature 01:01:45.659 --> 01:01:48.420 kind of moves its front arms forward, kind of 01:01:48.420 --> 01:01:51.480 embracing the man as well. And it's just kind 01:01:51.480 --> 01:01:56.000 of that idea of no matter what we look like, 01:01:56.000 --> 01:01:57.920 no matter what we feel like, no matter what we 01:01:57.920 --> 01:02:00.760 lost, sometimes it's just that human contact 01:02:00.760 --> 01:02:03.820 that gets us. We just want to hug. We want to 01:02:03.820 --> 01:02:08.719 be told we're okay. That kind of stuff. The final 01:02:08.719 --> 01:02:11.550 film... Of this entire film festival. As well 01:02:11.550 --> 01:02:14.369 as the animation stop motion shorts. It's called 01:02:14.369 --> 01:02:18.130 Santa Doesn't Need Your Help. I felt like these 01:02:18.130 --> 01:02:21.230 stop motion. And these animations. A lot of them 01:02:21.230 --> 01:02:24.130 are very beautiful. And very dramatic. This one. 01:02:25.010 --> 01:02:30.690 Also very beautiful. But it's humorous. Basically 01:02:30.690 --> 01:02:33.909 Santa has grown old and tired. But he still feels 01:02:33.909 --> 01:02:36.309 like he can get the job done. Or he feels like 01:02:36.309 --> 01:02:39.219 he needs to do everything on his own. So this 01:02:39.219 --> 01:02:42.940 is a rhyming narration and it's very funny dialogue. 01:02:45.000 --> 01:02:47.139 Basically, he goes through his normal stuff. 01:02:47.659 --> 01:02:51.260 After getting stuck, he realizes he needs to 01:02:51.260 --> 01:02:54.119 ask for help. It's just you get to that point 01:02:54.119 --> 01:02:58.360 and you think you don't need help. And finally, 01:02:58.420 --> 01:03:00.440 you're just like, I need help. I need somebody 01:03:00.440 --> 01:03:03.760 to help me. Sans is old at this point, you know, 01:03:03.780 --> 01:03:07.559 so he just needs a little bit of help. To get 01:03:07.559 --> 01:03:12.260 done what he used to be able to do. Like I said, 01:03:12.280 --> 01:03:14.639 this one's done through rhyming. It's all done 01:03:14.639 --> 01:03:17.019 through narration. You see, obviously, the animation 01:03:17.019 --> 01:03:20.599 and everything like that as it's narrated. This 01:03:20.599 --> 01:03:23.559 is my number one of the category. I thought it 01:03:23.559 --> 01:03:26.599 was very fun. I thought it was very well thought 01:03:26.599 --> 01:03:29.780 out and well done. The rhyming, great. Everything 01:03:29.780 --> 01:03:33.559 like that. Despera, I said the beautiful stop 01:03:33.559 --> 01:03:36.420 motion one. That is number two. It's the one 01:03:36.420 --> 01:03:38.360 I've thought about the most. And even though 01:03:38.360 --> 01:03:40.460 I give it number two, it's still something that 01:03:40.460 --> 01:03:44.739 I think about to this day because it was really 01:03:44.739 --> 01:03:48.760 well done. It's very well done. So I highly recommend 01:03:48.760 --> 01:03:50.760 if you can find it anywhere to check this one 01:03:50.760 --> 01:03:54.960 out. Number three, I gave to The Waltz. This 01:03:54.960 --> 01:03:58.099 idea of dancing with death and finally catching 01:03:58.099 --> 01:04:03.699 up with you. I like that one a lot. Smithy, number 01:04:03.699 --> 01:04:07.000 four. With the Gestapo mice and the owls and 01:04:07.000 --> 01:04:09.920 everything like that. Because of Red Mouse, it's 01:04:09.920 --> 01:04:12.820 something that I liked a lot. Because I do know 01:04:12.820 --> 01:04:15.099 the storyline and everything like that. And that's 01:04:15.099 --> 01:04:18.840 what I picked up from it. Lonely Soul. I actually 01:04:18.840 --> 01:04:22.699 think I had the sixth originally. And it's just 01:04:22.699 --> 01:04:25.239 more so because the human's design and the stop 01:04:25.239 --> 01:04:28.599 motion creeped me the hell out. And it's funny 01:04:28.599 --> 01:04:30.400 because the creature was supposed to creep you 01:04:30.400 --> 01:04:32.599 out more. But it's the human that creeped me 01:04:32.599 --> 01:04:37.119 out. I've watched it a second time finding it 01:04:37.119 --> 01:04:39.000 on the internet because it is on the internet 01:04:39.000 --> 01:04:43.719 somewhere. After finding that and watching it 01:04:43.719 --> 01:04:46.800 again I actually really liked it a lot more the 01:04:46.800 --> 01:04:49.420 second time so I gave that fifth. And finally 01:04:49.420 --> 01:04:52.619 from within the stop motion feet that are dancing 01:04:52.619 --> 01:04:56.340 and everything like that I gave it sixth and 01:04:56.340 --> 01:05:00.159 more so just because it was just simple and the 01:05:00.159 --> 01:05:05.949 way these transcended simple. I think it's still 01:05:05.949 --> 01:05:10.730 very good. Very, very good. If you ask me tomorrow, 01:05:11.050 --> 01:05:14.429 six through one could completely change. Just 01:05:14.429 --> 01:05:19.030 because this was the toughest category. So, this 01:05:19.030 --> 01:05:21.110 may give me an extra commercial in my commercial 01:05:21.110 --> 01:05:23.889 break. I hope not, because I don't like to make 01:05:23.889 --> 01:05:26.010 you guys sit through commercials. But if it does, 01:05:26.250 --> 01:05:28.469 I think this was just very important that I give 01:05:28.469 --> 01:05:32.599 you my top ten. So my top 10 of these films. 01:05:32.639 --> 01:05:35.059 And again, if you do not hear yourself on these 01:05:35.059 --> 01:05:38.139 lists, I think all of these were excellent. They 01:05:38.139 --> 01:05:40.780 are very well done. If you can find it online 01:05:40.780 --> 01:05:43.320 tomorrow, if you're listening to this day one, 01:05:43.519 --> 01:05:46.820 please do. If you can find any of these films 01:05:46.820 --> 01:05:50.360 anywhere, check them out and support your local 01:05:50.360 --> 01:05:52.980 film festivals. This was a really awesome experience. 01:05:53.460 --> 01:05:56.360 So I'm going to give you my top 10, even though 01:05:56.360 --> 01:06:00.719 I want to give it all top 10. My number 10, I 01:06:00.719 --> 01:06:03.619 gave The Waltz, which is that one about dancing 01:06:03.619 --> 01:06:08.300 with death, the animated, and basically dancing 01:06:08.300 --> 01:06:10.699 with death your entire life. I thought that was 01:06:10.699 --> 01:06:14.420 excellent. Number 9, The Wait. That was the black 01:06:14.420 --> 01:06:16.440 and white animated where the kid's waiting in 01:06:16.440 --> 01:06:19.440 line, and then he pees on Santa's lap. I thought 01:06:19.440 --> 01:06:21.119 it was hysterical. I thought it was very well 01:06:21.119 --> 01:06:24.280 done. And the sketchy animated style, and I mean 01:06:24.280 --> 01:06:27.360 sketchy, and it looks like a sketch, was very 01:06:27.360 --> 01:06:30.690 good for what it is. Number eight, the Santa 01:06:30.690 --> 01:06:32.929 situation. That's the couple who thinks that 01:06:32.929 --> 01:06:37.670 Santa is just a robber. Again, I said this one 01:06:37.670 --> 01:06:40.210 is a little too long, but overall, I laughed 01:06:40.210 --> 01:06:42.570 hysterically at this one. I think I actually 01:06:42.570 --> 01:06:45.110 had a tear out of my eye that I needed to wipe 01:06:45.110 --> 01:06:48.010 away because I was laughing so hard. Number seven 01:06:48.010 --> 01:06:51.309 and best documentary was Last Photo Walk. That 01:06:51.309 --> 01:06:53.909 was the one where basically the photographer 01:06:53.909 --> 01:06:56.230 was doing photo walks in this country. This was 01:06:56.230 --> 01:06:58.010 the last one of this country before he moved 01:06:58.010 --> 01:07:01.469 away. And how you find different subjects, different 01:07:01.469 --> 01:07:04.969 meanings. I thought this was very well done and 01:07:04.969 --> 01:07:08.469 something that I truly enjoyed watching. And 01:07:08.469 --> 01:07:10.789 I would actually see a lot more of that too. 01:07:11.630 --> 01:07:16.730 Number six, best female director is Becoming 01:07:16.730 --> 01:07:20.849 Santa. That was the little girl who talked to 01:07:20.849 --> 01:07:23.309 Santa who basically said, you need to spread 01:07:23.309 --> 01:07:27.530 joy, kindness, smile to make people feel the... 01:07:29.110 --> 01:07:31.309 Season a little more. And I thought that was. 01:07:31.409 --> 01:07:34.969 A very good message. As well as the smile at 01:07:34.969 --> 01:07:38.889 the end. Was just the. Most real smile. That 01:07:38.889 --> 01:07:43.769 made it. Truthfully feel. Like the girl in the 01:07:43.769 --> 01:07:47.449 story. Had learned her lesson. Number five. The 01:07:47.449 --> 01:07:52.210 stop motion. In the sacks. With the arms breaking 01:07:52.210 --> 01:07:55.670 free. That one still haunts me. And in the best 01:07:55.670 --> 01:08:00.329 way. I keep thinking about that film. and I don't 01:08:00.329 --> 01:08:02.329 know what it means. I really don't. I have my 01:08:02.329 --> 01:08:04.349 ideas, but I just don't know what it means, and 01:08:04.349 --> 01:08:07.389 I think that's what I like best about it. Also 01:08:07.389 --> 01:08:09.329 in that same category, Santa Doesn't Need Your 01:08:09.329 --> 01:08:12.349 Help. That's my number four. It was a very cute 01:08:12.349 --> 01:08:15.469 story. The narration was excellent. The dialogue 01:08:15.469 --> 01:08:17.630 was humorous, and the fact that the narration 01:08:17.630 --> 01:08:20.270 tells you the story but also makes you laugh, 01:08:20.449 --> 01:08:24.550 and it's stuff that I've said before, when humor 01:08:24.550 --> 01:08:26.829 feels contrived, that's when I hate it more. 01:08:27.390 --> 01:08:29.670 this one doesn't feel contrived it feels really 01:08:29.670 --> 01:08:33.229 realistic to what the santa needs your help story 01:08:33.229 --> 01:08:38.529 should be number three elf genocide is cookie 01:08:38.529 --> 01:08:41.949 crash the animated um in the best holiday short 01:08:41.949 --> 01:08:45.630 category where santa is run out of cookies and 01:08:45.630 --> 01:08:48.130 he starts seeing the elves cookies i love that 01:08:48.130 --> 01:08:49.649 one i thought it was hysterical i thought it 01:08:49.649 --> 01:08:53.029 was so good um everything about it was excellent 01:08:53.029 --> 01:08:57.289 number two From the student category, a student 01:08:57.289 --> 01:09:00.409 category made it to my number two, which they 01:09:00.409 --> 01:09:03.930 should be incredibly proud of. Rocky Road. The 01:09:03.930 --> 01:09:07.090 kid who is best friends with a rock with googly 01:09:07.090 --> 01:09:11.710 eyes. Everything about it, I think I could have 01:09:11.710 --> 01:09:13.590 told you exactly what would have happened in 01:09:13.590 --> 01:09:17.489 this film. And I still was caught off guard and 01:09:17.489 --> 01:09:23.369 laughed so freaking fucking hard. Sorry, I gotta 01:09:23.369 --> 01:09:27.159 earn that. explicit grade so i laughed so fucking 01:09:27.159 --> 01:09:31.760 hard at this one the rock had the best emotions 01:09:31.760 --> 01:09:36.140 and it's a rock uh the kid was excellent in it 01:09:36.140 --> 01:09:40.399 and it all around was just amazing and finally 01:09:40.399 --> 01:09:46.600 my number one from the best female directors 01:09:46.600 --> 01:09:50.579 category the christmas heist home alone if the 01:09:50.579 --> 01:09:54.010 kid wanted to join the bandits Everything about 01:09:54.010 --> 01:09:58.010 this film was excellent. The look of it, the 01:09:58.010 --> 01:10:02.310 kid was hysterical, the burglar, he was perfectly 01:10:02.310 --> 01:10:06.470 cast, the parents, everything about it was amazing. 01:10:08.909 --> 01:10:12.529 So yeah, I want to talk more about this. I've 01:10:12.529 --> 01:10:15.649 gone way over my time limit, but I want to talk 01:10:15.649 --> 01:10:17.489 more about this because it was just such a cool 01:10:17.489 --> 01:10:20.890 experience to be invited to a film festival. 01:10:22.439 --> 01:10:24.899 I can't say thank you enough to my friend Don 01:10:24.899 --> 01:10:30.020 and everybody else who made this happen. Truthfully, 01:10:30.039 --> 01:10:33.279 this was an amazing experience and I cannot wait 01:10:33.279 --> 01:10:36.600 to go in the future. I highly recommend it to 01:10:36.600 --> 01:10:39.000 anybody that can check it out tomorrow or check 01:10:39.000 --> 01:10:42.180 it out in the future. It seems like virtual is 01:10:42.180 --> 01:10:44.159 still going to be a part of it, even if you are 01:10:44.159 --> 01:10:47.699 not in the area, which is great because I cannot 01:10:47.699 --> 01:10:50.560 wait to be a part of this again and hopefully 01:10:50.560 --> 01:10:55.699 see all these films. Truthfully, every last one 01:10:55.699 --> 01:10:58.640 of them swung for the fences and they hit a home 01:10:58.640 --> 01:11:03.000 run. Not a single one I'm looking at going, oh 01:11:03.000 --> 01:11:05.800 wow, they kind of missed the mark there. Every 01:11:05.800 --> 01:11:11.159 single one was excellent. And I highly recommend 01:11:11.159 --> 01:11:13.119 checking them out if you can find them online 01:11:13.119 --> 01:11:15.300 or if you can just support them in some way. 01:11:16.380 --> 01:11:19.859 So that is the Yule Film Festival. You should 01:11:19.859 --> 01:11:22.369 definitely check it out. My friend Don. He's 01:11:22.369 --> 01:11:26.390 done an amazing job running it. I cannot wait 01:11:26.390 --> 01:11:28.550 to see what next year brings because truthfully, 01:11:28.609 --> 01:11:31.229 we were talking about it. Every single one of 01:11:31.229 --> 01:11:34.250 these films was excellent. So that'll do it for 01:11:34.250 --> 01:11:37.270 me, Mike. I hope you enjoyed this special edition 01:11:37.270 --> 01:11:40.729 of Game for a Movie where we ask, are you Game 01:11:40.729 --> 01:11:43.430 for a Movie? I can't wait to give you my Christmas 01:11:43.430 --> 01:11:45.850 episode as well because I have watched a terrible 01:11:45.850 --> 01:11:48.409 Christmas movie. Hopefully that's going to be 01:11:48.409 --> 01:11:51.869 with Jill and Andre. We'll see. Because they 01:11:51.869 --> 01:11:53.670 are doing stuff with their families. Because 01:11:53.670 --> 01:11:55.810 it is the holiday season. But I have watched 01:11:55.810 --> 01:11:59.369 a terrible Christmas movie. I can't wait to present 01:11:59.369 --> 01:12:03.449 it to you. Because oh dear lord. On this one. 01:12:04.550 --> 01:12:07.329 It is definitely not good enough. To be in the 01:12:07.329 --> 01:12:11.069 Yule Film Festival. Which was excellent. I'll 01:12:11.069 --> 01:12:12.449 see you next time on Game for a Movie. Where 01:12:12.449 --> 01:12:15.069 we ask are you game for a movie? See you next 01:12:15.069 --> 01:12:15.289 time.