Friday, October 08, 2004
Happy Anniversary! Today marks my first year in J-town. 52 weeks in the nether regions of Finland - 2 of which resembling anything that I would call summer. 50 weeks of winter or winter-like conditions have not been able to dampen or freeze my spirits. Dampen my clothing and freeze my nose off? Sure, but the spirit is warm and cozy.
The festival is in full swing - although you would never know it if you were in Joensuu at this time. The marketing effort was non-existent and I have no explanation for this. The filmmakers are locked in the auditorium and have a full slate of films - Three 10 hour days of anthropological and ethnographic documentaries. And this is not 30 hours of the Discovery Channel where one can be entertained with animals killing and eating other animals. These films cover such topics as: A Russian homosexual forced to flee Russia and finding himself in Helsinki; or the effects on Taiwanese farmers when Taiwan entered the World Trade Organization. I am taking a break now because I have seen the films already and I choose not to watch them again.
The festival is in full swing - although you would never know it if you were in Joensuu at this time. The marketing effort was non-existent and I have no explanation for this. The filmmakers are locked in the auditorium and have a full slate of films - Three 10 hour days of anthropological and ethnographic documentaries. And this is not 30 hours of the Discovery Channel where one can be entertained with animals killing and eating other animals. These films cover such topics as: A Russian homosexual forced to flee Russia and finding himself in Helsinki; or the effects on Taiwanese farmers when Taiwan entered the World Trade Organization. I am taking a break now because I have seen the films already and I choose not to watch them again.
// posted by Howard @ 1:52 PM 
