Q & A with Carolyn Meili.
Emily Jones
From Nov. 7 to 10, the Festival of Moving Media (FOMM) showcased specifically chosen documentaries at selected small venues throughout the city. Throughout the year Guelph houses many artistic festivals, and FOMM was able to highlight the art form of documentary cinema while enlightening the minds of viewers. The Ontarion had the pleasure of being a part of the festival’s viewership for its 10th anniversary this year, and was able to speak with Carolyn Meili, the festival’s coordinator, who was willing to share the inside scoop.
Emily Jones: How would you describe the Festival of Moving Media’s vision or mission statement?
Carolyn Meili: The Festival of Moving Media is an international documentary film festival. The goal is to bring challenging, dynamic films that are not available through mainstream media to our urban centre, and to help promote social and environmental awareness while building community dialogue and cooperation.
EJ: Each year, a new focus or topic is developed and chosen. Can you share how this is determined?
CM: Our themes are developed by looking at the films that we feel most passionately about, and finding the unifying thread that connects them. This year, our theme is “How we navigate our world,” as many of the films explored challenging topics such as environmental degradation, mental illness, [or] death of a loved one, while remaining anchored by personal stories that humanized the issues and gave us courage. We picked stories about the quiet heroes, demonstrating that acts of love, courage and acceptance are both political and powerful.
EJ: How do you choose the films that are showcased in the festival? Are there certain qualifications that need to be met? How many people are a part of the decision making process?
CM: The Festival has a Programmer, Anna Cox, and it is her job to find the films. She goes to festivals and researches to find films for FOMM. The governing collective and the Festival Coordinator help Anna with the final cut. We look for films that are well crafted and touch on topics that are important to the community, such as environmental and social justice issues, as well as films that offer global perspectives or explore Canadian identity.
EJ: What is the history behind the Festival of Moving Media? How has it changed over the years? What was the reasoning for the hiatus that was taken? Who was responsible for starting it back up?
CM: FOMM began in 1984 as the Guelph International Film Festival, which was run as a project of the Guelph International Resource Centre (GIRC) and University of Guelph. The festival was funded by CUSO and was one of the first documentary film festivals in the world. When the funding agency was disbanded in 1990, the festival took a hiatus. In 2003 GIRC brought the festival back, and in 2008 it changed its name to the Festival of Moving Media to reflect the changing nature of the medium (i.e. we don’t actually show film now, it is all on discs or digital files).
EJ: What was the most special part of this year’s festival, with it being the 10th anniversary of the re-launch?
CM: We have an ongoing series called Hidden Histories in which we engage local filmmakers in a project and explore topics close to home. For our anniversary year, we decided that Hidden Histories should celebrate our history – not just FOMM’s – but the entire 105 years of Guelph’s cinematic past; with a walking tour, app, and two ongoing exhibitions. There was so much I discovered through this project. For instance, Guelph is one of the first places films were shown in Canada – they were part of a vaudeville show by Belsaz the Magician. He decided to settle in Guelph and established a film theatre. Also, many of the bars downtown were once grand cinemas.
EJ: What is the main message about the festival you’d like spread to the public?
CM: FOMM is a great festival where you will discover films you can’t find anywhere else exploring topics outside of the mainstream. The festival has visiting directors and workshops as well as discussions after the films, tying global issues to community activism. This festival makes you smarter.
EJ: Why is this something everyone in the community and surrounding area should partake in? Do you find the festival allows for community to be brought together in a different way than other artistic events? If so, how?
CM: My favourite part of the festival is the post-film discussions where the audience has a discussion with either a director or speaker from the community that has a tie to the film’s topic. These discussions bring a new depth to the viewing experience; knowledge is shared, ideas are voiced and valued, and relationships are built within the community through the interaction.
EJ: How does the sharing of this knowledge help the community and the world at large?
CM: Guelph is a wonderful small city. For it to be a strong, healthy society, we need to be connected locally and aware globally. The festival works on both these fronts. By bringing in films from around the world, we discover stories, traditions, and values we may not encounter otherwise. We also tie the films to local groups in the community to help connect what is happening far away with what is important here at home.
Film Reviews
Rent a Family Inc.
Jess Avolio
Living in a small suburb outside Tokyo with his wife and two sons, Ryuichi Ichinokawa leads a seemingly normal life. But his family is unaware (and doesn’t care to know) of the business he runs on the side. “I Want To Cheer You Up Ltd” rents out people who act as stand-in family members, bosses, friends – purchased by those who have something to hide.
These actors may play a husband in a settlement case, a best friend at a wedding, or a father granting approval.
Even though his job consists of bringing happiness to the lives of others, he struggles to find happiness in his own life, as his family grows more distant as a result of his dishonesty.
Acting as a looking glass into the personal lives of others, viewers were brought to question what would push someone to rent an actor as a stand-in. This thought-provoking film forces one to question their own honesty and relationships, and if their own methods to seek approval are any less extreme.
Spring and Arnaud
Vanessa Tignanelli
The Macdonald Stewart Art Centre was motionless during the screening of Spring and Arnaud, as the audience sat entranced with the idiosyncratic love story of artists Arnaud Maggs and Spring Hurlbut. The breathtaking score and cinematography captured the creativity of Spring and Arnaud as individuals, and the tranquility they established as a couple. Their understanding of each other’s eccentric personalities was intertwined with their mutual fascination with mortality, memory, repetition and collections in their work. One cannot help but to fall in love with their kind of love, a reminder of the importance of finding someone on the same wavelength, grounding and balancing your unique dispositions. Director Marcia Connolly was in attendance, giving insight to her filming process, her visits with Arnaud leading to his final days, and her support for Spring since his difficult passing. An innate satisfaction exists knowing that this story was meant to be told.
Google and the World Brain
Stacey Aspinall
Google and the World Brain, directed by Ben Lewis, was presented at The Bookshelf Cinema on Nov. 9, followed by a brief discussion on the film. This thought provoking (and at times disturbing) documentary explores Google’s controversial project: to digitize all of the world’s books and create a massive, comprehensive digital repository of human knowledge and history.
The film draws on sci-fi writer H.G. Wells’ concept of the “World Brain,” and touches on issues such as copyright laws, corporate imperialism, surveillance and the power of technology. There are also implications related to the field of artificial intelligence, and the question of “man versus machine” in an age where technology is constantly challenging our perception of what it means to be human. In aiming to digitize all human knowledge, and make it available through Google, we may be fundamentally altering how we use our minds.
The documentary succeeded in provoking a sense of dread and uncertainty within the audience, who was encouraged to think critically about their relationship to information in our digital age. These are questions that society will have to face head-on as technology continues to advance at a rapid pace. As H.G. Wells wrote in The Mind at the End of Its Tether, “there is no way out or round or through.”