This years’ Kansas International Film Festival has just crossed the halfway point and it’s shaping up to be one of the best festivals on record. We’ve introduced some great filmmakers, from all over the world, to Kansas City barbecue and little Midwestern flavor. The festival has received some great reviews and the press coverage has been overwhelmingly positive.
Personally, I’m on a quest to catch as many documentaries as I can over the course of the festival and I’ve been surprised by just how strong a lineup there is. For those that have missed out, here are some of my favorites thus far. All of these are up for an audience award and a theatrical run in Kansas City, otherwise keep an eye out for screenings in your area.
Art From The Streets
Art From the Streets is a documentary about homelessness, art, and community service. It tracks the lives of five homeless artists who participate in a unique art program. Viewers visit homeless camps and the weekly art classes and will see first hand how this grassroots program changes lives for all involved.
In Art From The Streets, director Layton Blaylock not only tugs at the heartstrings with his exploration of the art program at the Austin-based A.R.C.H., but he also takes pains to humanize the homeless individuals in the program. This film moves beyond an outsider perspective to capture the lives and struggles of it’s subjects as well as the excitement and opportunity they find in creative expression.
Driving Men
Susan Mogul goes one on one with ex-lovers, almost lovers and her dad in a constant search for identity in Los Angeles. Sassy, iconoclastic, and never-married, Mogul rides shotgun as she films her men exactly where she wants them — in the driver’s seat. Part documentary, part memoir, the film is in essence a road movie. While the men may be in the driver’s seat, the viewpoint is strictly female with Mogul behind the lens.
A highly self-reflective documentary, Driving Men directly injects the audience into the life of video-maker Susan Mogul in a quest to understand why she’s been single for so much of her life. This isn’t your typical PBS or BBC documentary, rather it’s an extremely subjective movie that doesn’t place boundaries between the filmmaker and audience. For some, this is an unwelcome intrusion not unlike a stranger’s personal diatribe unleashed while stuck in line at the local market. For others, myself included, this is an entertaining and uncensored look at personal relationships and how they impact our lives.
Indestructible
When 31-year-old Ben Byer is diagnosed with ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, he begins documenting his life on camera. What begins as a series of video diaries grows into a three-year journey that takes him around the world looking for answers — and a cure.
Thus far, Indestructible is my favorite film of the festival. This intensely personal journey is gripping, heartbreaking, and unforgettable. At once a search for a cure, a journey of personal discovery, and testament to a corrosive and unapologetic disease, the film takes the audience, along with filmmaker Ben Byer, across the world in an exploration of the illness and a search for hope.
