f i l m j o u r n e y . o r g

Play (Chile, 2005)
“The times were hard, but they were modern,” reads the Italian proverb that begins Alicia Scherson’s magnificent debut film about love and loss in contemporary Santiago, my favorite discovery at this year’s PSIFF. Technically, I suppose it’s not my discovery–Scherson recently won Best New Narrative Filmmaker at the Tribeca film fest for [...]

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Like a lot of festivals, PSIFF is pretty aggressive about getting attendees to rip score cards after each film and drop them into a box; I think they specifically train volunteers block and tackle maneuvers, because it always requires significant dexterity to dodge the ballot people crowding the exits. I usually ignore this routine unless [...]

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PSIFF organizers claim festival attendance is up 20% this year, and it’s difficult not to believe them. Almost all of my screenings have been well-attended, at least until people walk out of them. But I hear more complaints about challenging fare here than elsewhere. “What’s your favorite film you’ve seen so far?” [...]

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The 17th Palm Springs International Film Festival is well underway, and it seems like a good event to resume the blogging here at Filmjourney. Like last year, I wrote a couple dozen film synopses for the festival catalogue and obtained a fest pass in return, but PSIFF remains a mixed bag of an experience [...]

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