AIN'T IN IT FOR MY HEALTH: A FILM ABOUT LEVON HELM
Jacob Hatley, 2010, USA, 83 minutes

Top Hat Lounge, Missoula, Montana
May 20, 2013 - Screening at 8 p.m.

FREE ADMISSION

This intimate documentary finds Mr. Helm at home in Woodstock, NY, in the midst of creating his first studio album in 25 years. Shot during the course of two-plus years, this highly anticipated film focuses on the four-time Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member after his 2007 comeback album, Dirt Farmer, brought him back to the spotlight.

"...an affectionate tribute and a gift for fans..."  New York Times



"it's impossible to imagine a more exquisite, honest, and beautifully detailed documentary about the life of Levon Helm than Jacob Hatley's Ain't in It for My Health."  Village Voice



"...an unsentimental, salt-of-the-earth tribute that keeps the beat in a way that would make this extraordinary journeyman beam." Time Out NYC



"A captivating look at a musician hanging onto his art for dear life." Hollywood Reporter

A teaser of just a few of the films that screened during the 10th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. 

A heartfelt thank you to all the filmmakers, movie goers and to the Missoula community for another incredible year!  As usual, this year’s festival delivered a hugely diverse array of compelling documentaries, instructive workshops and panels, and other special events.  And, as usual, Missoula responded with warm hospitality and enthusiastic, engaged and knowledgeable audiences.  After ten years, it really does seem like each year keeps getting better.  We are extremely excited for next year’s eleventh annual festival, and for all of the years to follow.  Thank you for being part of an amazing 10th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.  Cheers!

Today's screening schedule:

11 a.m., Wilma 2: “Buzkashi” (82 min.)

11:15 a.m., Crystal: “Great Northwest” (70 min.), “Sergeant Dan Edwards” (6 min.)

1 p.m., Wilma 2: “Love at a Certain Age” (92 min.)

1:15 p.m., Crystal: “Alien Boy” (91 min.), “Saved by the Birds” (4 min.)

3 p.m., Wilma 2: “Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp” (89 min.)

3:15 p.m., Crystal: “Central Park Five” (120 min.)

5 p.m., Wilma 2: “In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey” (58 min.), “Irish Folk Furniture” (8 min.)

5 p.m., Wilma 1: “Not Yet Begun to Fight” (Big Sky Award, 60 min.), “Amar” (Best Mini Documentary, 10 min.), “Slomo” (Best Short Documentary, 17 min.)

5:15 p.m., Crystal: “The Year of the Living Dead” (76 min.), “The Mercantile” (16 min.)

7 p.m., Wilma 1: “Blood Brother” (Best Feature Documentary, 105 min.)

9 p.m., Wilma 1: “The Thick Dark Fog” (Big Sky Artistic Vision, 57 min.), “The Words in the Margins” (Mini Documentary Artistic Vision, 15 min.), “Do Not Duplicate” (Short Artistic Vision, 31 min.)

On a perfect movie going morning in Missoula – dreary with a surprisingly chilling wind – we got to the theater early.  After picking up some Black Coffee at The Merc, and some popcorn in the theater – a breakfast not to be underestimated - my girlfriend and I took our seats for the second Wholphin shorts series. 

The first piece was about alcoholic honey bees.  Apparently, bees across the world are imbibing fermented nectar and the results are about what you’d expect.  Bee fights, bees getting kicked out of the hive, the whole thing.  Aside from the fact that it’s hilarious to watch inebriated insects wobble around, there are unfortunately some serious ramifications for the world’s food supply if every bee were to show up to work plastered.  As the film mentioned, bees are a keystone in the worldwide ecosystem.  Without them constantly pollinating plants the world over, humans would be extinct in four years - so it’s pretty important that these bees take the ole’ nine to five seriously.  The bees’ taste for ethanol also offers an opportunity for research into what it is physiologically that makes alcohol desirable and, in understanding that, how it might be made less appealing – an obvious benefit for the treatment of alcoholism.  If you are wondering, a honey bee’s favorite drink in the lab is schnapps.

A couple of shorts later, we watched as some elementary aged students in China held a democratic election for their class monitor.  The class monitor, from what I gathered, is something of a spokesman for the class, a link between the class and its teachers, and an internal disciplinarian – especially during morning calisthenics.  A nearly devastating charge leveled at the incumbent, Luo Lei, was that he was too liberal in his “beatings” of classmates.  Although such a “beating” is never shown in the film, the context seems to suggest a much less severe idea of the term than is typical in America.  You get the sense of a swat for bad exercise form, and the like. 

The film captures an intriguing mix of threads including the cultural context of “democracy” in an evolving China - where the line between elected representative and current dictator is still unresolved, the innate political instincts that are seen to emerge from children - Cheng Cheng is easily the most gifted political operative, but he is undone, it seems, by his obvious lust for power and sloppy caucus building, and the quickness with which the whole process reaches its basest level in currying favor, spreading rumors, forming alliances, and other more cutthroat tactics.  It was a scintillating display for the student of political science, Chinese culture, and ontological human nature, alike.      

The other films in the series dealt with topics such as: the challengesof filmmaking when you have actors on LSD, a transgender teenager in Germany, a love competition involving an MRI machine, and the absurd display of patriotism and chest beating that occurs daily at Wagah, the one and only border crossing between India and Pakistan. 

All in all, it was a great series of films to wake up to and a completely satisfying morning at the festival.  With a full slate of screenings set for today, and the Movies You Missed series along with the Awards Screenings playing tomorrow, the festival gives Missoula plenty to do in nasty weather. 

Also, tonight is the Wrap Party for the 10th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival at the Union Club!  The party is open to the public and music will be provided by Cash For Junkers.

The 2013 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is pleased to announce the following films as award winners. Congratulations, film makers. And thank you, Missoula for being such a wonderful place to host our festival.

Best Feature Documentary: Blood Brother, by Steve Hoover
Big Sky Award: Not Yet Begun to Fight, by Sabrina Lee and Shasta Grenier
Best Mini Documentary: Amar, by Andrew Hinton
Best Short Documentary: Slomo, by Joshua Izenberg
Big Sky Artistic Vision citation: The Thick Dark Fog, by Randy Vasquez
Mini Documentary Artistic Vision citation: The Words in the Margins by Sara Mott
Short Documentary Artistic Vision citation: Do Not Duplicate, by Jonathan Mann and Sean McGing

Tonight at 5:45 in the Crystal Theater the BSDFF will screen the first of two installments of Wholphin shorts.  Wholphin is a DVD magazine put out by McSweeny’s publishing house to give exposure to rarely seen shorts.  The shorts included in these magazines are eclectic in subject matter, diverse in technique, and as entertaining as it gets.  You’ll laugh, cry, gasp, be taken aback, think, and depart the theater fully scintillated for the second installment, which screens tomorrow morning. Come partake in the cinematic buffet that is Wholphin.

Following the Wholphin shorts, Mark Kendall’s La Camioneta plays at the Crystal Theater.  Beginning at 7:30, La Camioneta, Kendall’s first feature, traces the journey of buses from the United States, through the often dangerous back roads of Mexico, and into Guatemala where the buses are lovingly decorated, and recast in a second life as vehicles which bring the majority of Guatemalan’s to work.  Without trying too hard - by simply following the buses in their southward migration - La Camioneta reveals interesting characters, from the daring drivers and the artists who decorate the buses, to those who use them on a daily basis.  In between the lines, La Camioneta exposes realities of the first world’s relation to the rest, and the poignant, compelling and complex questions that accompany it.

This afternoon, the Movies You Missed selections were announced.  Playing throughout the day on Sunday, the series gives festival goers the opportunity to, well, see some of the films that they might have missed.  The schedule is as follows:

11 a.m., Wilma 2: “Buzkashi” (82 min.)

11:15 a.m., Crystal: “Great Northwest” (70 min.), “Sergeant Dan Edwards” (6 min.)

1 p.m., Wilma 2: “Love at a Certain Age” (92 min.)

1:15 p.m., Crystal: “Alien Boy” (91 min.), “Saved by the Birds” (4 min.)

3 p.m., Wilma 2: “Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp” (89 min.)

3:15 p.m., Crystal: “Central Park Five” (120 min.)

5 p.m., Wilma 2: “In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey” (58 min.), “Irish Folk Furniture” (8 min.)

5 p.m., Wilma 1: “Not Yet Begun to Fight” (60 min.), “Amar” (10 min.), “Slomo” (17 min.)

5:15 p.m., Crystal: “The Year of the Living Dead” (76 min.), “The Mercantile” (16 min.)

7 p.m., Wilma 1: “Blood Brother” (105 min.)

9 p.m., Wilma 1: “The Thick Dark Fog” (57 min.), “The Words in the Margins” (15 min.), “Do Not Duplicate” (31 min.)

Also, tonight at the Loft (119 West Main Street), the10th Annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival will announce its award winners!  The Awards Party begins at 8 PM and is open to All-Access Pass holders.

At 2 PM Genaro Xavier Arroyo, a Pro Market Specialist at Canon, will be at the Crystal Theater with a vast array of both new, and time proven, Canon camera equipment.  There will be videos to watch, demonstrations and plenty of cameras and accessories for you to handle and try out.  During the two-hour session, Arroyo will discuss the differences between the multiple cinema cameras, mixing together DSLR and Cinema footage, controlling the “look” of your clips, understanding camera features, and much more.

From what I gathered at the International Pitch Session at the Crystal Theater this afternoon, a quality documentary requires arrangement, organization and clear choices of narrative.  Real decisions need to be made, and made decisively, lest a film come across as a director muttering to his or herself.   On the other hand, there should also be complexity and complication, nuance, and a lack of premature resolution - and really, there should be no resolution in places where valid and meaningful ambiguity exists.  If a non-filmmaking layperson were to chance sounding trite, I would say that the generalized challenge seems to be in deciding where and how to impose narrative boundaries, and that the art of good non-fiction filmmaking lies in negotiating between the poles of boundedness and openness.  And, since I’m already making overreaching pronouncements, I might extend the same thought to the pursuit of any artistic expression, whether it be writing, painting, making music or even the production of personality and identity.  If you weren’t thinking when you came in, you will be when you left…

Tonight’s screening lineup is one of the most exciting of the festival.  First, at 5 PM in the main Wilma Blood Brother will screen.  The winner of the 2013 Sundance Audience Award and U.S. Grand Jury Prize, Blood Brother follows the journey of Rocky Braat, an American who through a series of rather happenstance and whimsical choices (and which choices don’t contain an element of each) ends up at an orphanage in Tamil Nadu, India caring for HIV positive children.  Now, Rocky’s visa is up for review and it’s all too possible that he will be unable to remain in the place and the work that have become his life.

After Blood Brother concludes, there will be plenty of time to walk across the Higgins Street bridge and grab a few delicious tapas plates and a glass or two of beer at the Silk Road before taking your seat in the back room to watch Be Here to Love Me, the classic biopic of Townes Van Zandt.  According to Steve Earle, “Townes Van Zandt is the world’s greatest songwriter, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table and say that.”

As soon as the credits roll for Be Here, it will be time to make your way back north across the bridge for the start of Valentine Road at the Wilma.  If you’re wondering why there is no such film listed in your printed festival schedule, it’s because Valentine Road is a late, but extremely welcome, addition to the screening schedule.  The film is the story of two eighth grade boys in California; one of whom is shot at point blank range by the same boy for whom he had recently revealed his affections.  Valentine Road presents a very timely look at both contemporary prejudice and gun issues in American society.

Get out and enjoy this special night of a festival that is all too quickly moving toward its finish.  Cheers!

Does your documentary project have what it takes to make it to the big screen? Could it use a little direction?  A little polishing?  Do you want to eavesdrop on some expert advice?  Are you curious about how a documentary actually gets made ?  If any of this is true, come down to the Crystal Theater to watch 14 carefully selected filmmakers present their documentary visions to a panel of funders, editors and industry executives who will engage each project in depth. The pitching starts at 9 AM and continues all day long..