On Monday, I’m flying to Denver to spend a couple of days hanging around the Democratic National Convention before heading up to Telluride on Thursday. If I was reading that sentence unawares, two questions would inevitably come to mind. First: “Why, Karina, are you going to a political event when you have a movie blog to write?”
Answer: there actually are two major film events happening over the three days that I’ll be in town. The first, the Denver Film Society production Cinemocracy (previously mentioned here), will screen ten finalists in a short film competition that’s been winnowing down submissions online for months. You can watch the films and vote for your favorites here.
The second event is the Impact Film Festival. Founded this year by Jody Arlington, Jamie Shor and Kimball Stroud, IFF will screen “socially-themed documentary and dramatic films” every day at both the DNC and RNC. Films on the program include Battle in Seattle, I.O.U.S.A., and Flow. Check out the Bside page for info on the full lineup.
The second question is a bit trickier.
“So, by covering one convention and not the other, aren’t you showing political bias? I don’t read your stupid little movie blog to hear you tell me who to vote for. WTF, Longworth?”
There are several reasons why I’m covering the DNC and not the RNC. For one, there’s simply more to do, film-wise, at the DNC. For another, I have to fly into Denver on Thursday to get to Telluride anyway––coming a few days earlier in order to be there for a quadrennial event seemed like a no-brainer. And finally, all things being equal, I’d actually love to go to the RNC, but it can’t because it overlaps with both Telluride and Toronto.
I can understand how, if you really want to believe that I’m playing favorites, all of the above will just look like excuses. But all I can do is tell you honestly that I really still have no idea who I’m voting for (I’m not crazy about either Obama or McCain), and that I’ll be heading into this experience with my usual blend of voracity and skepticism. I’m honestly less interested in the activities of the Democratic Party than I am in the injection of film and celebrity into politics in a more general sense.
If you have questions, thoughts, or suggestions of approaches/specifics for the coverage, hit me up in the comments.
Originally posted on:
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