Submitted by rickeyre on
I'm normally reticent about United Nations agencies picking up Nobel Peace Prizes. Having said that, I thought the award this year jointly to the IPCC and to Al Gore was spot on - or, more to the point, given for the right reasons.
Submitted by rickeyre on
Not much I can say about yesterday's Why It Looks Like My Uncle Oscars as I had only seen one nominated film, which picked up two WILLMUOs.
I was pleased to see "An Inconvenient Truth" win the WILLMUO for best documentary. I saw it at its Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival last June and bought the DVD in the week of its release (and have watched it again about three or four times since thus far). There may have been better documentaries over the years, but rarely has one been so relevant to the public conscience.
Submitted by rickeyre on
It's been about eighteen years of waiting for a decent opportunity, but at long last I have made it this year to the Sydney Film Festival.
So far I have seen nine films, ranging from the earnestly good to the bloody brilliant, and I'm booked in for two more before the Festival closes next Sunday.
Here are some brief reviews of the first three films that I saw, with more to follow in future posts:
A Hero's Welcome - Documentary about, and narrated by, Timor-Leste president Xanana Gusmao, shot before the current problems flared up. The film is something of a hagiography of Xanana, but by all reports he's that kinda guy. Directed by Grace Phan, the former CNBC Asia presenter who answered questions following the screening (which was in fact the world premiere). The aerial photography of the Timorese countryside is quite beautiful.
