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By CityThat’s a Wrap
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That’s a WrapThe Daytona Beach Film Festival Comes to a Close
2005-11-10
Article Written by: Sami Jo
The Third Annual Award-Winning Daytona Beach Film Festival featured 13 independent and foreign films from the US, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Poland, and France. The films included The Beauty Academy of Kabul, Dino. Inc. 3: The Final Chapter, Mojados, My Brother's Summer, The Clay Bird, The Tollbooth, The Big Animal, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, The Ritchie Boys, Guys and Balls, Quilombo, Paper Clips, and Winter Soldier .
As one of the sponsors for this event, WHD had an all-access pass to this year's festival. The opening night featured an exquisite dinner and the film The Beauty Academy of Kabul . After the showing, guest speaker Barbara Starr, CNN's Pentagon correspondent, who has personally made many trips to Iraq and Afghanistan traveling with the United States Special Forces, spoke and accepted questions. Tom Miller, a non-fiction writer who has been tracking events in the American Southwest and Latin America, spoke after Mojados on Saturday. Vietnam Veteran and leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Scott Camil, appears in Winter Soldier and came to the festival to discuss the controversial film after its showing. Appearing in Paper Clips , Dagmar and Peter Schroeder also came to the festival to discuss the film. Peter writes books on German history, the Holocaust, and European-American relations. Dagmar has written several biographies on Holocaust survivors.
Following opening night, each of the following days featured four films, most playing more than once so that everyone had multiple chances to catch each film. In addition to showing the independent and foreign films, there were also many interactive group discussions afterward, some of them with the credited people mentioned above. Refreshments were sold at each show and shirts were also available as souvenirs. Overall, the festival seemed to be a success as it attracted many viewers for each film showing, but WHD was surprised by the lack of local college students in attendance.
My two favorite (I couldn't pick just one) films from the festival were Guys and Balls and The Tollbooth . Guys and Balls (Germany) is a comedy in which a soccer player who has been deserted by his team and his parents when they find out he is a homosexual. He challenges his old teammates to a match against a team of all gay men. The film explodes with humor and heart as Ecki, with the help of his supportive, straight sister, puts his team together and prepares them for the big game. The Tollbooth (US) tells the story of Sarabeth, an anti-religion Jewish girl who faces many problems as she graduates college. As she struggles to make it as an artist, she faces many family problems that include her parents' acceptance of her Catholic boyfriend and her perfect sister's announcement that she is a lesbian. The film is both touching and humorous as it drops in on the life of the entire Cohen family.
WHD would like to thank Maxine Kronick for putting on such a fantastic event and Betty Nelson and Harriett Damesek for their local support of independent and foreign film.
