GOIN' 'ROUND TO BEND

[September 21st, 2005] How far are you willing to travel to see some really great films? That's the question you have to ask yourself this weekend as the Bend Film Festival kicks off its second year. For residents of Bend and the surrounding community, the BFF is probably a bigger deal than it is for those of us lucky enough to live in Portland, a town blessed/cursed with some sort of film festival every month of the year. That doesn't mean, however, that the lineup at Bend is not something to get excited about. This year's BFF will showcase 28 features, nearly as many shorts and almost a dozen student films. One highlight in particular will be Indie Kids Fest , a collection of family friendly films culled from last March's Li'l Longbaugh.

If a sizable percentage of the films screening appear to have an impressive pedigree, it's because they are "bench warmers" from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. The term refers to films that generated a serious buzz at the festival, but have not gone on to the theatrical success of, for example, Hustle & Flow or Me and You and Everyone We Know. But don't be fooled into thinking these are inferior films. Devor Robinson's Police Beat was one of the better films to play at Sundance, and one of the most emotionally resonant movies this year. Likewise, Warwick Thornton's Green Bush-which actually premiered at the 2005 Longbaugh Film Festival (co-sponsored by WW)-is one of the best shorts I've ever seen, period.

One of the best features screening this year at Bend-and perhaps the most likely to divide audiences-is Kevin Willmott's mockumentary CSA: The Confederate States of America. An almost straightfaced social satire, CSA is presented as a documentary about the history of America as it played out with the South winning the Civil War. Combining fact with fiction, Willmott has crafted a hilarious film that is sure to leave many uncertain if laughter is appropriate.

The gem of this year's festival is beyond a shadow of a doubt Hank Rogerson's documentary Shakespeare Behind Bars. Examining a group of inmates at a Kentucky prison, who annually put on a Shakespeare play, Rogerson's film is an intimate portrait of men seeking redemption for their past crimes, while preparing to perform The Tempest. The fact that Shakespeare Behind Bars, along with the brilliant Favela Rising, is still on the festival circuit and not in theatrical distribution is a testament to the dismal priorities of the film industry.

A trip all the way to Bend to watch some movies may seem a bit extreme. I mean, why not spend the weekend here in town, watching whatever is playing at a theater near you? Well, the answer to that question is that your neighborhood multiplex probably won't be showing Police Beat or Shakespeare Behind Bars any time soon. So, unless you make your way to see The Perfect Crime at Cinema 21 this weekend-the only film opening in town Friday that's really worth seeing-then I'll see you at the Bend Film Festival.