Hi everyone! It’s Jason here, and as one of the Festival’s seven programmers I’ve been asked to do something incredibly difficult for this blog: provide the very first Programmers’ Picks for this year’s Festival.
Now listen, when I say I’m not someone who has favourites, I mean it! I’ve never been able to identity my favourite movie of all time (I have loads), my favourite colour (who cares), or my favourite food (I’m a Hoover). So asking me to select a list of movies to recommend is agonising…my very own Sophie’s Choice.
But I’ll do it regardless, with the massive caveat that this year’s Festival is chock full of incredible works and I want you to see as much of them as you possibly can. Promise me!
OK, so not taking into account our Opening and Closing Night Galas (which are must sees – get your tickets EARLY because these will sell out) I’m approaching this on a day-by-day basis, Thursday through Sunday. Here now are some of my personal picks for #iNfest2012 (but not all my favourites, natch):
Thursday:
I love the short doc (‘doco’ to our Antipodean cousins) Songline to Happiness which is playing as part of the Tweet This! Youth Shorts Program. Very touching and an incredible job by emerging Aussie filmmaker Danny Teece-Johnson.
Songline to Happiness
Also two of our Russian works Bittenii and The Tundra Book are just absolutely gorgeous. Mikhail and Aleksei have incredible eyes and heaps of talent. Stunning stuff.
Bittenii
Friday:
One of the best docs I have seen in years is Canned Dreams, Katja Gauriloff’s masterful film. She’s had her short work at the Festival in the past and when I saw this in Berlin this year I was so blown away (and so proud of my friend). It’s a pitch perfect pic for the world we’re living in now. See this!
Canned Dreams
Saturday:
Dung. Really, it’s stupendous. It was one of the first works I screened at the start of programming for this year and I fell in love…with Dung. Cheap jokes aside, this is really a mind-blowing glimpse into the lives of a group of people who are for sure going to survive the apocalypse. Beautifully filmed. It really makes one ponder about our wastefulness as a society.
Dung
The Mapuche Spotlight II has two fantastic docs from South America. Kalul Trawun and Diez Veces Venceremos are incredibly accomplished works that illustrate Mapuche realities in Chile and Argentina.
And I’ll finish things off with Sunday’s Silvestre Pantaleon. I love these kinds of docs….measured, beautiful, deep. Characteristics I also like in humans, come to think of it.
Silvestre Pantaleon
Hmm. I just clued in that all the works I mentioned are documentaries. I wonder what that says about me? Maybe I need a bit more drama in my life. 
I’d settle for a nice date…
Remember, these are just a few pics off the top of my head. Check out our full schedule online. Come one, come all. See you at iN!
Jase.
