Author: Doug Cummings

Play (Chile, 2005)

“The times were hard, but they were modern,” reads the Italian proverb that begins Alicia Scherson’s magnificent debut film about love and loss in contemporary Santiago, my favorite discovery at this year’s PSIFF. Technically, I suppose it’s not my discovery–Scherson recently won Best New Narrative Filmmaker at the Tribeca film fest for it. But it’s a film I knew next to nothing about and took a chance on, and its formal ingenuity, infectious humor, and generous spirit dazzled me.

After an inventive credit sequence placing titles and names along the streets and buildings surrounding Cristina–a young, obsessively …

Like a lot of festivals, PSIFF is pretty aggressive about getting attendees to rip score cards after each film and drop them into a box; I think they specifically train volunteers block and tackle maneuvers, because it always requires significant dexterity to dodge the ballot people crowding the exits. I usually ignore this routine unless the screening is sparsely attended and I’m particularly excited about the film. But at each of my screenings this week, the presenters noted the ballot results “could affect whether or not a film will get distributed.” Whoa. After hearing that, I resolved not only to …

PSIFF organizers claim festival attendance is up 20% this year, and it’s difficult not to believe them. Almost all of my screenings have been well-attended, at least until people walk out of them. But I hear more complaints about challenging fare here than elsewhere. “What’s your favorite film you’ve seen so far?” a woman in line asked me last night. The Death of Mister Lazarescu, I replied, and made her gasp. “That’s your favorite film? Why?” I blithely said I thought it was a revealing look at the people of Romania and health care issues we all face, and …

The 17th Palm Springs International Film Festival is well underway, and it seems like a good event to resume the blogging here at Filmjourney. Like last year, I wrote a couple dozen film synopses for the festival catalogue and obtained a fest pass in return, but PSIFF remains a mixed bag of an experience for me. While it’s certainly the best event for world cinema in Southern California (232 films from 72 countries), it occurs in a resort town primarily catering to gamblers, golfers, and wealthy retirees. I’ve only been here two days and I already miss the social …