the reason why i haven't been blogging...

idfa: international documentary film festival amsterdam

The largest documentary festival in the world with 200+ films being shown in 10 days! Over the last two years I've enjoyed watching films during this festival, so this year I decided to volunteer and took the position as Zaalwacht...It seemed like a great opportunity to get out of my normal circle of people, stretch myself in speaking Dutch, and have the opportunity to see the films for free!

I could seriously become addicted to watching documentaries. It is one of my, or perhaps even the most favorite genre of film. It combines so many elements that I LOVE! History, current events, social justice, culture, imagery...and most importantly: story-telling!!! And as documentary becomes increasingly experimented with and accessible to a wider range of audiences, they're also become more creatively and intelligently done.

Documentary is full of paradox: reality mixed with fiction, live shots with also some dramatization, and intimate portrayals of ugliness that exists in our world along with signs and glimmers of beauty and hope... Although I saw many heavy films highlighting current situations in Burma or North Korea or Liberia... I was not entirely saddened or depressed from watching these films. Instead I saw people coming together who were fighting for peace, justice, and freedom...choosing to love and forgive and work in unity together towards something better despite the horrible circumstances and oppressive regimes in which they live. I was reminded again and again of how privileged I am to live in such freedom: freedom to speak, (freedom to write anything on this blog, for one thing!!), freedom to vote (and for a democratic state!), freedom to live a healthy and good and full life, freedom to work... I could go on and on. We have it so good.

I was so inspired by these films and wish I could post about each one! Each film told someone's story and this is what fascinates me more than anything: Our love of story as human beings! We just can't get enough of it! We love hearing story after story...And film captures this so powerfully! Even more interesting was having the opportunity to hear from the filmmaker in first person, ask questions, and come to a deeper understanding of why they chose to portray these particular stories. Why would they dedicate 3-5 years (sometimes much more!) to telling this one story out of all the hundreds of stories to be told? It was so interesting for me to listen to these filmmakers share their vision behind the film, the inside information of how it personally impacted them and therefore they were compelled to turn it into a film.

I was also stretched on another level: putting all my study of the Dutch language into practical use. This is the first kind of 'professional' type position I've had speaking Dutch! It was awesome to be working almost entirely with a Dutch community of people (ironically at an international festival) because so much of my world is with internationals both whom I work and study with, so our common language is usually English. It was very reassuring to have my manager instructing me and giving directions in Dutch and then being able to immediately respond and know what I was supposed to be doing. (Although I had my doubts at times!)... It was a good learning experience!

For all these reasons it was well worth the time... but I'm now catching up both needing to get more sleep and doing normal everyday tasks like a big pile of laundry in my closet!