Some Thoughts From the UC Davis Film Festival's Opening Night

A whole lot of creativity flashed across the screen at the Varsity Theatre Wednesday night, and plenty more is on tap for Thursday. 

With the first 14 films of the UC Davis Film Festival down, the final 11 will be played Thursday night starting at 8 p.m. 

One of my favorites from last night was "Don't Ever Let Them See You Cry," by Elior Ilishah, which you can watch on Vimeo, although the beautiful camera work is more easily appreciated on the Varsity's big screen. The film explores "the avant-garde relationship between actor and director." The writing is tight and the actors are hilarious.

Another noteworthy piece was "School of Fish," by David Nessl. This one explores the movement to cover downtown Davis with public art and murals, spearheaded by gallery owner John Natsoulas.

Nessl lets the muralists tell the story, and in doing so does a good job of illuminating the distinct experiences of viewing art in a gallery vs. viewing art during your walk to the post office, or while parking your car, or while stumbling drunk through an alley.  (That's from the film). 

I look forward to paying a bit more attention when I'm downtown after having watched the film. 

A few other noteworthy pieces were "Candidates Debate," which shows a split-screen of Mitt Romney and Barack Obama during their quiet moments of a presidential debate from last year. The idea is clever and the effect is humorous. Some other great films were "Mess," by Michelle Rossi and "Color Play" by Francisco Troy, both of which lean on sounds and visuals rather than story or dialogue. 

Thursday night's festival, which costs $7, will begin at 8:30 p.m. The films will be followed by an award ceremony. 

For more information about the festival, here's a Davis Media Access interview with the show's technical director and executive producer. 

Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend Thursday night, so if anybody would like to share some thoughts about the films or the award results, we invite you to do so here: http://davis.patch.com/blogs/new. (Posting is easy!)