On tap Thursday, my picks for a don't-miss viewing opportunity. Well, lots:
The inaugural DocPoint Encounters program will take place in the morning and afternoon at the Atheneum. (I'll be there for the morning session of pitches.) Starting at 2:00 p.m., there is a free screening of Marcel Lozinski's classic Poste Restante at the Kiasma and there's a chance to take another look at what's coming out of the Finnish film schools with a screening of five fiction and nonfiction pieces at the Maxim 2. At 5:00 p.m., the Lozinski retrospective continues (with the director present) with five of his short works, and Darius Marder premieres Loot at the Bristol. I'll be conducting the Q&A with this whip-smart American filmmaker on the rise (still from film pictured). The tribute to Kiti Luostarinen continues at the Maxim 1 (her speech last night was charming, even though it was mostly in Finnish, and she recited a long poem she had written about the joys and vagaries of being a documentary filmmaker to a very appreciative audience at the opening ceremonies upon accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award). Erik Gandini's award-winning (and infuriating) Videocracy plays at the Maxim 2. Moana and Twenty-Four Dollar Island by Robert Flaherty plays at the Orion.
From 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. at Painobaari, Finnish filmmaker, Iris Olsson, will host American filmmakers, Samantha Buck and Kimberly Reed, at the nightly Meet the Filmmaker chats.
At 7:00 at the Bristol, Samantha Buck débuts her film, 21 Below (still from film, pictured), a particular favorite of DocPoint artistic director, Erkko Lyytinen's, with a Q&A to follow with Buck and co-creator and producer, Jenny Maguire, moderated by New York-based producer, Danielle DiGiacomo, currently community manager of the IFP. At 9:00 p.m., Kimberly Reed's Prodigal Sons plays at the Bristol followed by a Q&A with moi. This film is about to launch its national run all across the US at the end of February with Reed slated to appear on Oprah very soon--stay tuned! (We will have just come from a filmmaker dinner and sauna excursion on the island of Uunisaari, so forgive us if we're too relaxed.)
Friday the 29th: At 2:00 p.m., visit The Story Tent (free entry and they'll be there all afternoon) at the Kiasma and come contribute your story to the hundreds of voices already collected in this traveling installation. The Bristol will play Jukka Kärkkäinen's Matkalla Vanhuuteen, Tomorrow Was Yesterday (love this film!) and Arthur Franck and Oscar Fotstén's twelve-minute, Ruuhka. Kärkkäinen's brilliant The Living Room of the Nation opened the DocPoint fest last year and has had a very successful international festival run. At 5:30 p.m., Virpi Suutari premieres her latest, Auf Wiedersehen Finnland at the BioRex while Nicolas Philibert's Animals and More Animals plays at the Maxim 1 (with the director present). At 7:00, Philibert's Every Little Thing plays the Maxim 2 and Robert Flaherty's Man of Aran plays at the Orion. At the Maxim 1, Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher will be present for their first screening in Finland of October Country (still from film pictured). I'll be chatting with the filmmakers post-screening. They are set to open at the IFC Center in New York the 12th of February. If you miss this, another screening will take place Sunday afternoon at the same theater.
Up next, my thoughts on the exuberant and emotional opening night screening at the BioRex yesterday of Miesten Vuoro (Steam of Life), a film dedicated "to the men of Finland."
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