By Chuck Graham, TucsonStage.com
Mickey Jones wearing his own Elvis-style costume gets marooned in a Balkan war zone, armed with only his guitar,
held hostage by a group of machine gun carrying refugee teens and children.
It's here. The 27th annual Arizona International Film Festival, opening Wednesday, April 18, running through April 29, at the Festival's traditional downtown home, the Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St.
Spend a dozen evenings watching 86 films from 22 countries, and meet more than 50 of the festival's filmmakers strolling the Baked Apple's inner city sidewalks, soaking up our town's casual lifestyle.
“In the film world this festival is noted for being independent as well as international,” said Mia Schnaible, AIFF's Marketing and Development Director.
They could also add feisty and uncompromising, for the festival has always eschewed commercial movie formulas and studio glamour, flaunting instead its appreciation for single-minded artists of the big screen who know exactly what they want.
Unlike with Hollywood's predictable output, here in Tucson for this dozen days of cinema – no matter whether it is short films, features or documentaries – you aren't guaranteed that every story will have a happy ending.
Or as Schnaible puts it, “This is independent cinema. They aren't afraid to shoot the dog.”
Looking through the festival's catalog of film summaries, the subject matter ranges from border issues to concern for the environment to comedy shorts and feature-length fantasies, to odd characters making quixotic choices to idealistic heroes caught on the horns of moral dilemmas.
One of the most intriguing to me personally is the feature-length “Elvis Walks Home,” from Fatmir Koci of Albania. An enterprising entertainer named Mickey Jones, wearing his own white Elvis-style jumpsuit, gets marooned in a Balkan war zone with only his guitar, then is held hostage by a group of armed refuge teens and children desperate to reach the safety of a United Nations camp.
The festival program poses this question: “Does Mickey follow his Elvis dreams, or does he sacrifice them to save children whose only dream is to stay alive?'
From South Korean comes another war zone drama, “The DMZ,” credited to filmmaker In-chun Oh, centered on a female police officer chasing a criminal through the country's DMZ (demilitarized zone). She steps on a landmine, realizes it and freezes. But now she cannot move her foot.
“This one is extremely intense,” said Schnaible.
Said the program: “All she has is a Bluetooth, a revolver and courage.”
There are lots of cheery pictures, too.
Another personal favorite strategy of mine when attending any film festival is to look for the programs of short films. The AIFF has several.
Leading off is the Arizona Shorts package screening at 8:45 p.m. Thursday, April 19, with a quartet of 13 to 23 minute titles by Arizona filmmakers Mark Jude Poirier, Steve Anderson, Nickolas Duarte and Douglas Harms.
The first Dramatic Shorts program has eight titles, sometimes with war-like situations, ranging from eight to 23 minutes, scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Friday, April 20.
The Short Docs program turns news reporting into documentary cinema with six titles, ranging from six to 23 minutes, playing at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 22.
A second group of Dramatic Shorts lists six titles, ranging in subject matter from Muslim family conflicts to sex change surgery, set for 8 p.m. Sunday April 22.
Global Shorts brings six titles stretching across the globe from Cuba to China, ranging in length from 13 minutes to 24 minutes, to run at 8 p.m. Monday, April 23.
Comedy Shorts spotlight six entries running from eight minutes to 20 minutes, kicking off at 9:45 p.m. Friday, April 27.
Animation Shorts is the largest category, with nine titles and running times from four minutes to 21 minutes, playing at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28.
A special collection, the Indieyouth Shorts, screens with free admission at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 29, presenting five films ranging from four minutes to 36 minutes.
This year the traditional Best of the Fest program is shortened to a Festival Encore set for 4:30 p.m. Sunday, April 29. It will open with a 30 minute film from longtime AIFF favorite animator and multiple award winner Bill Plympton working with rock singer/songwriter Jackie Greene to create an animated musical “The Modern Lives.”
A special selection of the festival's audience favorites will immediately follow.
“There were just so many great films we wanted to include this year, we didn't want to give up a whole day for Best of the Fest,” said Schnaible. The Festival Encore is their solution.
Single tickets are $8 for each show; $6 for seniors, military and students with ID. A Saver Pass is $25, good for any five screenings of your choice. An All Access Pass is $100 for priority seating to all screenings and all special events.
Advanced tickets can be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com. Schnaible says only half the tickets for each show will be sold in advance, so there will always be tickets on sale one hour before each screening.
“But don't do the Tucson thing and show up five minutes before the movie starts,” says Schnaible. “Those tickets might be gone. The advance sale for the Arizona Shorts sold out last week.”
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