On the Road: The Green Mountain Film Festival

We spent the weekend at The Green Mountain Festival in Montpelier, enjoying six movies over the past two days.  Despite the fact that it was the first official weekend of spring, it's still bitterly cold here in Vermont - not the best time of year for standing in line outside a movie theater.  But the films were worth it.  A quick rundown:

Title: Awake: The Life of Yogananda
Directors: Paola di Florio and Lisa Leeman
Original Release: 2014
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Awake is a biography of Paramahansa Yogananda, the Indian guru who brought yoga and meditation to the West in the 1920s.  I knew nothing of the man before and the engaging film - quite trippy at times - makes me want to learn more.  The movie includes interviews with followers and admirers, including George Harrison.  The final credits roll to my favorite Harrison solo tune: "Give Me Love."

Title: Soul of a Banquet
Director: Wayne Wang
Original Release: 2014
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

via Amazon

Another biography, this one focusing on Cecilia Chiang, a prominent restauranteur in San Francisco.  The film has a nice balance, providing both cultural and personal background before digging into the food.  Chiang stresses that the key to authentic Chinese cooking is the intense prep work.  We get a ringside seat to the process as she and her staff prepare a decadent meal for the dinner party of a friend.

Title: When the Ocean Met the Sky
Director: Lukas Huffman
Original Release: 2014
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Huffman is a Montpelier native and he was on hand for the screening.  When the Ocean Met the Sky is the story of three brothers hiking in British Columbia to fulfill the wishes of their parents, just passed.  Unfortunately, this was the least favorite of the weekend for all three of us.  The storytelling was telegraphed, the dialogue lacking in subtlety.  The scenery, on the other hand, is stunning and comic relief is provided capably by tour guide Carter, played by Terry Field.  Huffman held a Q&A session afterward but we didn't stay for it.

Title: Song of the Sea
Director: Tomm Moore
Original Release: 2014
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

via Wikipedia

Song of the Sea was created by the same folks who brought us The Secret of Kells.   The festival's headliner family film, and the weekend favorite for both wife and daughter, it is a cel-animated beauty.  The story is set in modern times but based on the Celtic myth of the selkie, beings who live on land as humans but in the water as seals.  The touching tale, like its predecessor, is well-deserving of a place in our family's rotation.

Title: Antarctica: A Year on Ice
Director: Anthony Powell
Original Release: 2013
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5

This one was my favorite for the weekend.  Anthony Powell spent ten years documenting the human communities which inhabit the world's most remote continent.  Much of the footage is done with stop-motion photography capturing the extraordinary seasonal changes.  Afterward, our daughter said she would love to spend a year there, and not just for the penguins.

Title: Sometimes I Dream I'm Flying
Director: Aneta Popiel-Machnicka
Original Release: 2013
My Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Our weekend ended on a bit of a downer.  The documentary Sometimes I Dream I'm Flying follows the career of Weronika, a professional ballet dancer from Poland.  The dancing is beautiful but Weronika's life seems both stressful and lonely.

Over dinner on Saturday night (at Asiana House), My Wife described this as her perfect vacation: we get to do something we wouldn't normally, in this case watching independent films that wouldn't make it to Vermont without the festival; everything - theaters, restaurants, hotel - is within easy walking distance of where we parked the car on Saturday morning and we eat well.  Throw in the fact that Montpelier's only an hour's drive from our house and I'd have to agree.  Already looking forward to next year's festival!