I have been stewing about the Fresh Coast Film Festival for a while now, it was nothing like I had anticipated and yet blew me away. I spent my Sunday drinking and watching movies at the Honorable Distillery, which makes a mean cocktail, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. There were so many movies being shown, and I have barely scratched the surface. Yet, the theme of the movies I saw was love, nature and community.
The films ranged from shorts only a few minutes long, to half hour long pieces. The first set of movies I watched consisted of: In Waves: 20 years of Sleeping Bear Surf, The Careist, Boken Flight and Cycling Without Age. Then the next set included Oaks Do Not Come From Acorns, Aldo’s Bug Extravaganza and It’s Time.
Each of these movies had a unique style, voice, shots, themes and ranged to appeal to different audiences. Aldo’s Bug Extravaganza was a fun little short about a young child collecting bugs out in a park, it was full of joy and comedy as everything Aldo said was captured by their father.
It was fun, lighthearted and reminded me of my own childhood wonder of the world. This was very much alike as it was different to The Careist, which was about an old man who has spent his life studying nature and speaking about how unique the land is in the Ohio/Mississippi Watershed. Both were about people who care for the environment and love it, presented in a way to showcase the beauty of nature. Yet, the style of each was completely different, making them both really fresh.
Other films were quite touching, like Broken Flight, which showcased a tragic issue usually forgotten: birds crashing into windows. It was a bit longer than the other films, and was filmed like a classic documentary. The shots followed people who collect the injured birds, rehabilitate them, and those who study the ones who died, with interviews and B-roll between.
Another longer film in a similar style, Cycling Without Age, followed a biking program that saw volunteers drive senior citizens around on a bike. It was a piece to highlight the often ‘out of sight out of mind’ part of the community, seniors, and the knowledge the can provide as wells as the joy that can be brought to them with such a simple act.
The last touching movie was Oaks do not come from Acorns, a very short film about a lady carving poetry into a log, to be a bench for a school. The poetry was narrated over a time lapse of the construction. The poem itself was about how acorns rely on its surrounding community to grow strong, and that they can’t do it alone.
Overall I was blown away by the films presented and it gave me a sense of community and love to the people and things that surround me. This was my first time going to the festival, and I will be sure to go again.
