The Aerial (La Antena). Directed by Esteban Sapir, Argentina 2006, black and white. In the City, oppressively controlled by Señor T.V., no one has a voice; the television is the center of everyone’s life, and words are subtitles to be read. The style is similar to old fashioned silent films, except the characters interact with the subtitles, shrinking away or pushing the words aside —quite innovative! What nearly ruins an otherwise good film is a couple heavy-handed symbols, which I felt superfluous, insulting the collective intelligence of the audience. (Indeed, giggles and smirks occurred in the theatre whenever those symbols appeared.)

Departure (Fritt fall); directed by Caroline Cowan. Butterflies (Pirret); directed by Kjell-Åke Andersson. Both short films are from Sweden and released in 2007. Both star Lotta Tejle, first as a lonely suicidal woman, then as a goofy, greedy scientist —showing great range of ability, between drama and slapstick. Departure is about illegal immigration in western Europe, namely the interaction between Agneta (Tejle) and a young homeless Romanian, Vocho. Butterlies is a silly yet enjoyable story of Sara, an imaginative little girl who can fly…when inspired, not on demand.

Getting Home (Luo ye gui gen). Directed by Zhang Yang, China 2006. The best film I watched at the festival. About middle-aged Zhao who carries his friend’s body on a trip across China, and the funky characters he meets as he heads towards his friend’s hometown. Quirky, touching, hilarious, with beautiful vistas.

The Mourning Forest (Mogari no mori). Directed by Naomi Kawase, Japan 2007. Machiko mourns for her young son who died recently. Shigeki mourns for his wife who died 33 years ago. The film starts beautifully, with panoramas of mountains and fields of tea. Unfortunately, it slows down awkwardly to a long-drawn-out forest trek with Blair Witch camera moves, as the characters search for closure.

A Time to Die (Pora umierać). Directed by Dorota Kędzierzawska, Poland 2007, black & white. Amusing to watch the two lead actresses, 92-year-old Danuta Szaflarska and not-so-loyal yet charming border collie, Phila. What do they do when her cowardly son and odious rich neighbor try to buy her dilapidated Renaissance mansion? Or when rambunctious kids from the music school next door keep sneaking in to play in her yard? Gorgeous cinematography, expressing a love for old buildings.

Overall, the best ones were Batad and The Owl and the Sparrow, which while not outstanding, were still very good.

Batad (Batad Sa Paang Palay). Directed by Benji Garcia, Philippines 2006. A sweet (but not mawkish) story about a young man at odds with the Ifugao traditions and modern, upwardly mobile trends. The cinematography goes between gorgeous green and orange palettes, reflecting the lush and dry seasons of the Banauae rice terraces in this endangered Philippine region. Excellent acting, especially by Gina Alajar who played the quiet, supportive mother.

Fresh Air (Friss Levegö). Directed by Ágnes Kocsis and Andrea Roberti, Hungary 2006. A sad story of how a woman and her college aged daughter slowly trudge through life. Intriguing images of ugly, oppressive Soviet-era city architecture.

Maskot. Directed by Robin Moran, Indonesia 2006. About a young man’s adventure to find the rooster mascot for his family’s soy sauce company. It sounds wacky, and there are a couple scenes where the rooster (computer enhanced) stole the scene. But overall the characters are disappointingly hackneyed. Heavy-handed dialog that pounds the audience over the head makes me weary: Wham See the bad guy with my exaggerated simper and sneer. Wham Isn’t sooo funny when the characters stumble about and stammer sooo endearingly? Meh.

Mirror, Mirror: Shorts Program 1. Short film anthologies are often a mixed bag. There’ve been times where I enjoyed only one film out of a dozen. Mirror, Mirror was a worthwhile collection of nine films, where reflection served as the common theme. The shortest, Birthday, gorgeously shot in a desolate desert, was my favorite. The worst, I felt, was the overwrought, incongruous Water Moccasin. The rest are interesting, including 4 1/4, about a man’s obsession with women with a nod to Fellini, and Regarding Sarah, where an Alzheimer’s victim bravely faced (literally) her memory loss with cameras.

Owl and the Sparrow (Cú Va Chim Se Se). Directed by Stephane Gauger, Vietnam 2007. A lovely (and loving) integration of three people’s unhappy lives in Saigon: a beautiful, depressed airline stewardess; a broken hearted zookeeper; and a rejected, neglected runaway girl. Humanity seems to seethe from everywhere in this film, but there are threads of compassion and friendship to be found.

Rail Yard Blues (Jeste ziju s vesákem, cepicí a plácackou). Directed by Pavel Göbl and Roman Švejda, Czech Republic 2006. This was a somewhat amusing slice of life story about a small town train station. Things become a bit more lively when the transport inspector makes a supposedly unannounced visit —when the workers attempt to hide what (little) dirty laundry they have laying about. Nicely filmed, though.

Urban Explorers: Into the Darkness. Directed by Melody Gilbert, United States 2006. The documentary interviews and follows those hike through abandoned castles, sanitariums, sewers and mausoleums. The concept appeals, but the sporadic shaky camera style got on my nerves, as it tripped my motion sickness sensors. Yes, the Blair Witch Project both nauseated and irritated me. This film was certainly better than BWP, fortunately. Some of the stills taken by the urban explorers were amazing. For the most part, attending a gallery with such photography would’ve been more satisfying.

Go view the Cinequest 2007 program guide, which lists all of the movies.