DOCS DAY FIVE: MUSIC, ART AND BEST OF ALL, DOCS!
A Best Boy perfect Friday? I don't know, probably watch a load of docs at a film festival... Wait... That’s exactly what we did! Here’s Friday’s round up…
Our day started in one of Belfast’s best places to see cool things, the Beanbag Cinema, watching The Gap in Consent.
Tom Burke’s (not that one) The Gap in Consent is a fascinating documentary comprised of 14 Irish filmmakers all discussing ethics, consent, and relationship dynamics with the subjects of their documentaries. These frank and honest conversations outline the filmmakers’ own personal frameworks when it comes to every stage of filmmaking.
The film made us here at Best Boy HQ have some interesting conversations around documentary ethics and led us to think differently about the rest of the docs we saw. It also made us pump the brakes on our new doc “BREAKING BAD PERSONAL NEWS TO FOLK AND FILMING THEIR REACTIONS ON SECRET SPY CAMS IN PENCILS AND GLASSES AND SUCH”, which is a shame, because it was very funny.
Hey, show this film in every Film studies class up and down the country !!!
After that morning pondering on ethics in docs, we jetted off to the QFT for Amanda
Amanda, direcected by José Miguel Jiménez, is a poignant profile of an artist. For many years, Amanda Cullen faced psychological and physical abuse from both adults around her as a child, and then later within the mental health system from those in positions of power who had a responsibility to her and didn’t uphold it. She takes the pain and the rage that she is completely entitled to, and instead of channelling it into something negative, she puts it into art and reclaims her narrative.
Amanda Cullen
She creates these beautiful and striking pieces, that she terms creatures, and that’s accurate, because they feel alive. This whole film feels alive with movement. Amanda loves to dance and move, her work dances and moves, and this film dances and moves. What comes across so strongly in this film is a sense of trust between director and subject, the film is mostly made up of conversations between José and Amanda, these conversations can be about the everyday, or they can explore Amanda’s art, or they can be about the extreme trauma within her life. Due to these natural rhythms of conversation, you really get a sense it’s not just interviewer and interviewee, there’s a sense of intimacy between friends.
In filming somebody struggling or in recovery with mental health issues, it’s easy to allow your camera to other them, to portray them in some sort of sensationalist way. This is a film that only seeks to display Amanda and her work with compassion and love. It captures her highs and lows, and this is because of Amanda’s incredible strength of character, she allows herself to be vulnerable and truthful, and it’s beautiful.
Is there a film that gets more love from its fans than The Rocky Horror Picture Show? The easy answer is: no! Luckily for us, we got to explore the phenomenon by watching Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror on Friday evening.
The film starts at the beginning of the story, explaining how Richard O’Brien created the show, and goes on to detail the cult classic it became, but offers a very unique perspective in that the film is directed by Linus O’Brien, Richard’s son.
If there’s anything we love here at Best Boy, it’s archive footage, and this film is choc-a-block full of it. Used in partnership with talking head interviews with not just Richard himself, but cast and crew members, as well as “shadow cast” members. These interviews all come together with the archive footage, to tell the full story behind the legend. Every person interviewed provides a new view of the stage show turned film, but the one thing they all have in common is the love they have for the project, and for Richard himself. The show and the movie clearly were a highlight in each of these people’s lives, and maybe this is why it became such a phenomenon, everyone involved loved it so deeply, and clearly had a great time making it.
More than that, the film shines a light on the people who turned the film into what it is today: the fans. The people who came out, week after week, through the wee hours of the morning, to enjoy the film that was made just for them. Without them, who knows, the film would have faded into obscurity, but luckily it found its audience. The documentary also gives credit to the people across the world, performing in the “shadow cast” of the film, which is when people stand in front of the screen where the film is projected, and completely act out the whole film. This is an entirely unique way to experience and appreciate cinema, and it is so important that this documentary allowed this story to be told, and the people involved are given as much respect as any member of the film’s cast, or the stage’s.
UEICreator of Rocky Horror, Richard O’Brien in the documentary.
Overall, the film is a must-watch for any Rocky Horror fan, not just being a very well detailed account of how it came to be, but a celebration of it.
Finally, we headed over to the Docker’s Club, to Docs Ireland’s Night For Palestine.
As we said about Docs Ireland’s David Lynch night, no one in Belfast is doing events quite like Docs Ireland, and this is the ultimate proof of that.
A night of speeches, music and poetry in aid of fundraising for the The Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund, everyone was united in not just standing up against the genocide against Palestine, but celebrating Palestinian culture and music.
This was the end of Docs Ireland’s Palestine in focus programme, and there couldn't have been a better night to end with, after a week of beautiful films focused on Palestine, and the people living there. It’s more important than ever to speak up and to raise money for Palestine, and Docs Ireland is a solid reminder of this, providing opportunities to do this through celebrating Palestinian film, music, art and culture. In the case of the genocide happening, silence is violence, but Docs Ireland thankfully will not remain silent on the issue. Please remember to speak up for Palestine and donate money if you can.
