Blog posting by Kimberly Capehart, Documentary Studies and Production '16, FLEFF Blogger, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 

As FLEFF is quickly approaching, it's time to start giving some thought to the films YOU want to see downtown at Ithaca's very own independent movie theater, Cinemapolis. 

The full lineup of films is posted here. And while you may have high ambitions to see all 20+ films playing at Cinemapolis, due to time, space, and physical restrictions of your own body failing to be in two places at once, you're going to have to pick and choose eventually. I know, it sucks. 

It was hard enough for me to pick ONLY 3 films to put on this list, but here are my top three choices.

#1: Anak-Anak Srikandi / "Children of Srikandi" (Indonesia, 2012) - As a Documentary Studies and Production major, there's a special place in my heart for documentaries all of kinds. This documentary tells the stories of eight young queer women in Indonesia as they face various challenges in "coming out." In addition to being the first film about queer women from Indonesia, it is also the first film made by queer Indonesian women: two huge milestones from a rather conservative country. Both the film's distributor, Vanessa Domico, and producer, Laura Coppens, will be attending the festival. 

#2: On The Road (Walter Salles, USA, 2013) - Based on the novel by Jack Kerouac, On The Road tells the story of three young people as they escape the confines of everyday life by traveling across the country. Featuring hunks Garrett Hedlund (Troy (2004), Tron: Legacy (2012)), Sam Riley (Brighton Rock (2010)), and lady-hunk Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga (2008-2011), The Runaways (2010)), the film promises to win over pop culture fanatics and Kerouac-lovers alike. I once saw a documentary about writer Ken Kesey's trip across the United States in which Neal Cassady, the person who inspired the character of Dean Moriarty in Kerouac's novel, led Kesey's "merry band of pranksters." Seeing his real life persona in a very similar context makes me excited to see how Salles represents it in On The Road. 

#3: The Water Front (USA/Canada, 2008) - Another documentary, but very different from Anak-Anak Srikandi. This film explores "the story of an American city in crisis." Highland Park, Michigan, the birthplace of the auto-industry, is very close to facing financial collapse. In order to resolve this problem, one politician has raised water rates. Now, residents must deal with soaring costs of waters bills and having their water shut off. The film not only confronts the problems associated with the water distribution, it takes a look at the politics behind the entire situation, and in that way, reminds me of Dear Governor Cuomo (a film that will also be playing at Cinemapolis). The film's director, Liz Miller, will be in attendance. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the lineup so you have your FLEFF game plan all set when the festival rolls around. Also make sure to keep checking back to see the lineup of films and events that will take place on the IC campus. 

What are you looking forward to at this year's FLEFF? 

Blog post written by Evan Johnson, Journalism, Environmental Studies, German Language Studies ‘13, FLEFF Intern, Marlboro, VT

Danny Schecter is a journalist and independent film producer. He is the winner of multiple awards including the Society of Professional Journalists' 2001 Award for Excellence in Documentary Journalism. His film, Plunder: The Crime of Our Time will be shown at FLEFF on April 16 at 2 pm at Cinemapolis. Mr. Schecter and I spoke recently about his film, the recent financial crisis and the responsibilities of journalists.

Evan Johnson: What originally drew you to the theme of your movie, Plunder?

Danny Schecter:  In 2005 I began thinking about what kind I could do that would bring people together and about the shared problems in our country that transcend partisan politics. I focused on the issue debt. So many people are in debt; students, people with mortgages and credit cards. So I made a film called In Debt We Trust and that film warned of the financial crisis. That came out in 2006 and the reaction was ‘you’re an alarmist. How can you say the economy is going to crash when everything is going so well?’ And the six months later the market began to melt down. I went from a zero to a hero. I wasn’t the only one who saw these problems coming by any means but the people who did see them coming were ignored. We’ve moved from warning of a crisis to an actual crisis. And as that crisis developed they saw the same patterns. No one was asking any deeper questions and that led me to stop looking at the problem as a business problem and start looking at it as a crime problem. I believe this is the most serious problem because it’s the economic security of the entire planet.

EJ: As a lone journalist or investigative reporter, how do you confront an issue as large as white-collar crime or chronic debt?

DS: You have to find who’s going to be willing to talk to you and a lot of people. I couldn’t get the FBI to talk to me because they did. I also wanted to talk to insiders, not just critics, professors of economics, radicals the like. I wanted to talk to people who were actually in the industry and I actually did find some. I talked to a convicted white-collar criminal. I talked to financial journalists, people who worked at Bear Stearns or Goldman Sachs and they basically confirmed or gave more details on all of this. I tried to tell this story about the financial crisis through the prism of crime and that’s what makes the film unique and different. But it’s not a view that’s accepted.

EJ: When confronting something so enormous and convoluted, how do you explain it to a lay audience? How do you simplify the crisis in the film?

DS: Look at the film and you’ll see how I did it. I try and break it down and I’ve also written a companion book called The Crime of Our Time to further detail and document my findings. I’m an investigative reporter. What I wanted to try and say who is behind this and what is the nature of our economy. We have a “F.I.R.E.” economy. This means it is made of three principle institutions. The “F” is for financing companies, the “I” is for insurance companies and “R.E.” is for real estate. What we found is that these three industries were working together at a profit to get people to take on more debt than they could afford. I’m fighting a battle not just to find out the facts, but also to communicate the facts.

EJ: If this system is ripping off so many people, what actions should consumers take to protect themselves?

DS: The first action an individual can take is to educate themselves and understand what actually happened. And you can’t go rely on the mainstream media for that – you’ve got to try to investigate it yourself. Ask deeper questions Read books like mine, seeing films like mine and other films. Inside Job, another film on this, won the academy award for documentary. It doesn’t go as far as my film goes, but it’s a good start in understanding the financial crisis. We live in a country where there is very little financial literacy. Most people are scared of money and don’t know much about it. The main thing is to press the government to put these [criminals] to jail. WE have to prosecute them and not let them get away with it. We don’t need a bail-out – we need a jail-out. 

EJ: What are some changes that journalists need to make in their coverage of the financial crisis?

DS: There used to be what were called labor reporters who reported on working people. But as the unions lost power, a lot of these people became business reporters. They went to business school and they identified with the people who were running these companies. They’re weren’t skeptical and they weren’t asking hard questions. But that’s the goal of a reporter – find the truth. You’re not a stenographer - you’re a journalist.

EJ: What advice do you have for aspiring journalists or students who want to pursue a career in investigative reporting?

DS: There are lots of different filmmakers. You can make YouTube videos and watch your cat jump through hoops but if you’re really interested in more serious issues, what I would recommend would be to find a mentor - filmmaker, an educator or someone who you can work with and learn by doing. I’ve had interns from Ithaca College and they all come away feeling like they’ve learned a lot. 

Blog post written by Lindsay Harrop, Cinema & Photography '13, FLEFF Intern, McMinnville, Oregon

Erin Tustin graduated from Ithaca College in 2008. She now works at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Massachusetts as a photographer. The NEDCC is a nonprofit, regional conservation center that works to preserve paper, books and photographic objects.

"It's not about replacing the original with digital format but more about access," says Erin. "A lot of clients - historical societies, museums, universities - will use the files for an online archive that researchers all over the world can use. All of this also benefits the original artifact because it won't need to be handled as much and it will last a lot longer."

Erin interned with FLEFF as a senior at Ithaca College. I asked her how her experience with the festival has played into her work as a preservationist:

"FLEFF was a great experience and similar to my current work in a few ways. I'm not a curator but I work with a lot of curators who are trying to figure out the best way to present their information to the public, and that is part of our process of problem solving. A festival is the same, you have to look at the films and presenters you have and find the best way to program it all to make sense, based on each individual film but also on a greater theme. And I think the major themes of FLEFF and my job are essentially the same - access!

Watching films and meeting filmmakers and going to presentations is a great way to hone your 'detail oriented' skills which are important in my job. FLEFF offers a lot of opportunities for elbow rubbing and question-asking. You start to watch the films and think, 'What are the best questions to ask?' and 'How does this relate to the overall themes?' 'How does it relate to the other work I've seen?' These are all basic critical thinking skills you might not even realize you are developing under the guise of enjoying being a part of a festival!"

Erin is also one of the filmmakers behind Alive and Well and Kicking, a feature-length documentary about a paranormal magazine publisher in the midwest.