This year I am attending the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival for the first time and I am having an amazing time. Before I start talking about some of spectacular films I’ve had the pleasure of viewing let me take a moment to thank executive director Michael Coty and Maria J. McDonald (CEO of MOmentum Production) and a host of others who have really welcomed everyone attending the JDFF (2014) with open arms. Mark my words this film festival is destined for bigger things.
(Below, me and executive director Michael Coty)
Now, let’s talk film. When I checked-in there was a booth set up in the hotel lobby, the booth was manned by smiling faces and these folks were eager to not only talk about this year’s entries, but also recommend their favorites as well.
If you’ve ever attended a film festival it is all about the buzz, not the media buzz but what films the people are talking about. I just arrived and just like that within minutes I already got two wonderful recommendations so I jot them down. First up, the wonderful Aaron Douglas Johnston directed My Sister’s Quinceañera
This film is wonderfully anchored by Silas, the oldest son of a Iowan Mexican-American family. Silas is by proxy the man of the house, a title he never asked for but finds hard to shed. Yet, he is a man-child beset by indecision and a yearning to break free of a small town with limited options and a blurred future. I sat, watched and felt the palpable tension radiating from the screen as Silas bore the brunt of his father-like responsibilities. The depiction of this family is as organic as it is sincere in it’s approach to familiar themes. Themes which weave in and out of our every day exhalations. The commonality of his barely restrained wants versus his almost paternal presence is something, if not readily identifiable, then not far removed from our emotional core. The need to look after, and in many ways protect and provide for his younger siblings seems to engulf him and blot out is own desires for something different. For if he leaves his family will surely suffer through the exodus of yet another father. Yes, this film deals with the complexities of youthful aspirations clashing with familial responsibilities but it is also much more. This is art not imitating life, but rather it seems we witness these lives bare-eyed and up close rather than through the distant barrier of the camera’s lens.