AFFF log

As always I tremendously enjoyed the festival. Yes, there were changes, no, not all of them for the better. But between the list containing this year's positive points and those of AFFF's gone by there would be enough overlap to confidently state; again, it was a wonderful festival.

So, what were the differences? Visiting the festival with the four of us, though not necessarily all watching the same film at the same time, was a fun experience. Particularly the discussions afterwards and sometimes wildly differing reviews added some wonderful spice. As a footnote, the way we set up the blog this year appealed to me. Previous years' static items started to become a bit of a nuisance; one had to remember a quote, one had to count the bodies and remember the most creative weapons... Fun as it was at the time, I enjoyed the freestyle writing this blog allowed.

The lack of anime. Yada yada. I hope this AFFF will be remembered as the AFFF which failed in the anime department, for that assumes they will have learned their lesson next year... Particularly the last two years I have become an avid anime watcher. Mostly series and OVA's, truth be told, but they all guided me to an even better appreciation of the art of not just storytelling and its visual shape in film, but the sometimes deceptively simple animation that can be so extremely effective. Shinshi, reconsider...

A shorter NoT, but a more evenly spread programme allowing almost every film to be seen. The shorts, always a big favourite, were less impressive this year, but did contain some tiny diamonds in the rough.

Freestyle this may be, some order has to exist. A mini-roundup of my most memorable films. I'll keep it short, this isn't the place to extend my review. My opinion is just one of many: follow links for comparison with the other 3 opinions.

Martyrs: judging from the last week this might probably be the most memorable film for me. Haunting thoughts and images.

From Inside. Highly poetic, somewhere deep down inside it struck a sensitive note. I wonder what I'll think of it when I watch it again.

Let the right one in: everything clicked. "I don't like to see blood on a young girl's face" a friend wrote me. Isn't that what good films are about? Seeming contradictions, triggering impressions, conflicting emotions...

The clone returns home: meta-physical questions in slow-motion.

Stingray Sam: wonderful; black-and-white, space cowboy. A little gem.