Blog posting written by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography '14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, MD

Every Wednesday night, the staff of FLEFF interns are instructed by Ann Michel and Phillip Wilde, co-directors of the production company Insights International. In this class, Ann and Phil guide us on how to market FLEFF to the Ithaca community, how to engage with festival guests and artists, and how to think about the business of film festivals in creative and innovative ways.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Ann after class last week and learn about her experience as a media professional, her paradoxical interests in mathematics and filmmaking, and her thoughts on live performances in FLEFF:

On her work for Insights International and her March 27th "Workshop on 100 Films about Water:" 

"Insights produces social issue and science films...[the films at the workshop] are very short, bite size science...we're hoping with our filmmaking skills to bring people into the science fold that haven't really been in it before." 

On the influence of math in her work as a filmmaker:

"Mathematics is a very concise language...the shortest sentence in the world is e = mc². In 5 letters, you have described the universe. Good filmmaking, in my opinion, can also be concise." 

On what makes FLEFF a unique experience:

"FLEFF always tries to do outside of traditional film screening events...watching a movie is not a big deal, so to get people out of their houses and into a theater...you have to add value to the experience, and one way to do that is to have performers...so that it becomes a more theatrical event."

Be sure to attend the "Workshop of 100 Films about Water," hosted by producers/directors Ann Michel and Phillip Wilde on Tuesday, March 27th in Park 279 from 2:35 - 3:50 P.M. Ann and Phil will be presenting segments of films that deal with the science and politics of water.

Blog posting by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography '14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, MD

Tonight, Robby Aceto visited the intern staff to discuss his role at FLEFF 2012.

Aceto is an internationally recognized "color" guitarist. He explained that the term "color guitarist" allows him to signal that he uses his instrument in unexpected, non-traditional ways.

He explained, "there's an expectation of what you hear from a guitar, especially an electric guitar...it's used in very narrow ways...[but] the capabilities of the instrument are really much broader than that."

This year will mark his fourth year performing at FLEFF. 

Aceto will be performing on the closing night of the festival at Cinemapolis, the local independent art cinema and long-time FLEFF partner.

He will be scoring the silent film "Nanook of the North," which is considered the first feature-length documentary film. 2012 marks the 90th anniversary of the release of the film. 

Scoring silent films is a crucial part of film history. Before synchronous sound technology was developed, it was very typical for orchestras to accompany the screening of silent films in theaters. 

In explaining the integrity of scoring silent films in modern times, Aceto also stressed the importance of active audience attendance and participation in these performances:

"Being there, you have an effect on the outcome." 

Many interns inquired about the process and technique behind improvisational film scoring. Some of his tips included:

"Embrace the accidents that occur."

Ask yourself: "What did the filmmaker want? If he was here now, what would he think?"

"You've got to embrace the silence, as well as the noise." 

And, above all, "You've got to make it happen." 

The one thing that struck me the most about Aceto's presentation is the almost cautionary statement he made as soon as he stood up before us:

"I'm not an academic. I'm a person who is always doing things." 

The nature of Aceto's improvisational work for FLEFF is doing. He does not glue himself in front of his television watching and re-watching films, completing hours and hours of preliminary research before he performs. He sees, experiences, and feels the film, and then translates those raw emotions into uncensored musical language. 

In today's society, are we encouraged to process information by doing as Robby Aceto does? 

How does FLEFF create a safe space for artists and academics alike to explore ideas through action, through doing? 

Blog posting written by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography '14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, MD

FLEFF Week 2012 is coming up fast, and the list of this year's festival guests is up on our website!

While every FLEFF guest brings something dynamic to the table, here are five guests that I am especially looking forward to meeting and learning from!

1. Cynthia Henderson: An Ithaca College Theatre Arts professor. Cynthia Henderson has countless acting and directing credits in the United States, Europe, and Africa. As I am pretty unfamiliar with theatre, I am hoping that Professor Henderson will shed some light on the intersections between live performance and social change and the ways in which live performance and film interact with and contradict each other. I am also extremely interested in her work on "A Wrinkle in Time" at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, as that is one of my absolute favorite books!

2. Chris White: As a cellist who actively performs both classical AND non-classical music, Chris White straddles the line of tradition versus innovation. White seems, to me, to epitomize the purpose of FLEFF; to make sense of (false) binaries and create new meanings out of tension and polarity. As the founder and director of New Directions Cello Association & Festival, I am sure that he has a lot of great insights about how to create a hub for like-minded artists and intellectuals to learn and grow together. 

3. Matthew Podolsky: A graduate of Ithaca College with a double major in Cinema and Photography and Environmental Science, Matthew Podolsky helps run the non-profit organization Wild Lens. Podolsky's very obvious interests in documentary production and the environment speak directly to FLEFF's mission, and I am excited to hear about his experiences as an IC alum. 

4. Toivo: From Trumansburg, NY, Toivo is a six-piece band that boasts of a hodgepodge of musical influences, such as Finnish and Tex-Mex, suited for dance traditions from all over the world-- waltzes, tangoes, polanise, two-steps, and many, many more! Much like Drs. Brad Hougham and Debbie Martin in their presentation about "The Concert for Microtopias," Toivo seems to embody the very "FLEFF-y" idea of creating meaning from conflicting musical forces. I am very excited for their performance, as I don't think that I have ever heard traditional Finnish music before!

5. Laura Kissel: A documentary filmmaker and Director of Film and Media Studies Program at the University of South Carolina. Her short biography on the FLEFF website already had me asking questions; I am excited to learn about her use of "orphan films" in her critical media work. As Kissel is heavily involved in academia, I hope that she will be able to provide faculty, students, and other FLEFF attendees advice on how to balance institutional demands with creative needs. 

Which artists are you most excited to see during FLEFF week 2012? 

Blog posting written by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography '14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, MD

A woman strides on stage.

She is tall, with big, diva-like hair, and she is brimming with confidence and attitude. She stares at us, the audience, before shouting; "my vagina is angry!"

I feel the man sitting to my left shift uncomfortably in his seat. 

On Sunday, February 26, I attended the IC Players performance of "The Vagina Monologues." Written by Eve Ensler and performed for the first time in 1996, "The Vagina Monologues" is a play based off of interviews with over 200 women about their sexualities and memories. 

Over the years, "The Vagina Monologues" has inspired the creation of "V-Day," a movement aiming to end violence against women and girls around the globe. 

As I sat and listened to the performer on stage denounce tampons and detail the horror of gynecologist appointments, I also listened to the sounds of the audience around me. 

We women were laughing, clutching our sides, howling at the absurdities being described on stage. We cocked our heads in sympathy and understanding during the more serious parts of the monologue.

We turned to each other to mouth, "that's so true!" or, "that's totally happened to me!" 

In that moment, I found a microtopia among the other engaged women of the audience. 

And it struck me that creating an environment of mutual understanding, empathy, and connection is exactly what FLEFF aims to do for its audience. 

By coming to FLEFF and committing to being active and engaged audience members, women, men, artists, observers, seasoned and new environmentalists, students, professionals, musicians, and everyone in between can enter into a safe space-- a microtopia-- in which sharing ideas, connecting to each other, growing, evolving, and empathizing with each other becomes possible.

How will you be an engaged audience member during FLEFF week 2012?

Blog posting written by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography '14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, MD

What kinds of people are attracted to a festival like FLEFF?

FLEFF flirts with contradiction, embraces conflict, and accepts disruption. It forces us to take a good, hard look at the false binary of intellect versus creativity that is agressively promoted in our society.

And FLEFF represents the freedom that comes from actively dismissing that binary.

Knowing all of this, we can consider Anjali Patel a natural FLEFF-er.

As a Music Education-turned-Documentary Studies-major, Anjali is brimming with a multitude of passions; for human rights, for FLEFF, and for the transformative powers of music and art.

Read on to find out more about her and her involvement with FLEFF!

Isabel Galupo (IG): You came to Ithaca College as a Music Education and French Horn major; how did you come to major in Documentary Studies and Production?

Anjali Patel (AP): I auditioned to be a music minor, but they asked me to become a major. So I did. And it’s not that I didn’t like it; it just wasn’t for me. I knew about the Documentary program and had always been interested in it. It seemed perfect because it would allow me to be creative, as I am in music, but it would provide me with a way to also express my passion for human rights.

IG: How do you see FLEFF balancing creative expression with human rights issues?

AP: The festival is speaking out for environmental justice and the environmental movement, which is an extremely timely issue. But it’s also creating a hub of music, art, and film…and what better way to advocate for a cause than through artwork? Because everyone in the world can relate to that.

IG: You mentioned being passionate about human rights. Could you elaborate on one specific issue that you find particularly important to today’s society?

AP: I am extremely worried about the availability of the arts in inner-school areas. You always hear, “the first to get cut is the arts.” I think that a lot of people see the arts as something disposable but it’s not. I mean, getting the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument for free? That’s incredible! And many children in this country are not getting to experience the great cultural experience of participating in the art and music in school.

IG: As a musician, I am sure that you were particularly engrossed by Drs. Hougham and Martin's presentation about “The Concert for Microtopias.” What insights did you gain about the intersection between FLEFF and musical expression from their presentation?

AP: I love that this festival is giving musicians an outlet to experiment and combine selections like the ones we heard during the presentation in ways that they would not normally be combined otherwise. I also look forward to it presenting people with music that they would not normally be exposed to.

IG: What was your favorite piece presented by Drs. Hougham and Martin and why?

AP: My favorite piece was “Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte” partially because of the beautiful horn solo in the beginning (and I'm biased because that's my primary instrument), but also because it is so familiar and so beautiful. I'm not sure how I had forgotten about it, but it was nice to hear it again!

Anjali Patel is just one of countless dynamic, passionate, and enthusiastic interns involved in this year’s festival.

Stay tuned for more opportunities to get to know Anjali-- and our entire team of interns-- better through the "Intern Voices" blog!

P.S. Check out the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela; it's one of Anjali's favorite orchestras! 

Blog posting written by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography '14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, MD

I am currently sitting in the Igor room of Ithaca College's Whalen School of Music with about 40 other FLEFF interns. We are listening to Dr. Brad Hougham, Assistant Professor of Performance Studies (Voice), and Dr. Debbie Martin, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Performance Studies (Piano), present about "The Concert for Microtopias," which will be held on Tuesday, March 27.

"The Concert for Microtopias" will feature performances by both Dr. Hougham and Dr. Martin, as well as outside musicians such as pianist Jairo Geronymo, and Art Jones, a VJ from New York City. 

Dr. Hougham's enthusiasm for FLEFF is extremely tangible from the get-go as he proclaims that FLEFF is his favorite event to participate in each school year.

He expresses the importance of FLEFF as a space of freedom for artists to pursue the pieces that they want to pursue. He touches on the interdisciplinary nature of FLEFF, expressing appreciation at how the festival forces him out of Whalen and gives him the opportunity to collaborate and brainstorm with professionals in other disciplines. 

Dr. Martin explains that FLEFF allows both performers and audience members to feel feelings at the most extreme and raw levels. In order to demonstrate how crucial these raw feelings are, Dr. Martin asked us to stand up and clap out a rhythm as she played the piano in tandem.

We felt, in Dr. Martin words, "some of the fun of the music."

Both musicians share with us some pieces that they are planning on performing at the concert. They discuss the ways in which these pieces will interact with and contradict each other, creating musical conflicts leading to intellectual experiences and insights. 

Often, Dr. Hougham and Dr. Martin stand back and let the music speak for itself.

Though I can often be seen walking around campus sporting ipod headphones, I do not consider myself a musical person by any means. Thus, I was excited to come to this presentation and really learn something about an unfamiliar field.

I thought that I would walk away with some tangible nugget of information about the ways in which music lends itself to film festivals. I expected to walk away with a handful of great soundbites from Dr. Hougham and Dr. Martin that succinctly explained the role of musical expression in FLEFF. 

Instead, Dr. Hougham and Dr. Martin challenged us to engage with the music on our own. We were left to digest the collision of tones, rhythms, and melodies ourselves, through our own lenses, just as FLEFF audiences will be expected to do.

The result, for me at least, was a more visceral understanding of how two extremely different ideas can collide and create a completely new, third idea.

And this collision and creation of ideas is what exists at the very core of FLEFF!

Are you all as excited as I am to attend "The Concert for Microtopias" and hear the sound of ideas being created during FLEFF Week 2012?

Blog posting written by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography '14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, MD

I hesitate to open this blog post with a quote.

I admit it; in attempting to formulate my very-own-super-personal definition of “microtopias,” I turned to someone else’s words.

Specifically, I turned to the words of writer Anaïs Nin. Nin was a fantastic writer and thinker. She is most famous for her published diary (which inspired the movie “Henry and June,” starring Uma Thurman).

 She wrote:

“From the backstabbing co-worker to the meddling sister-in-law, you are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead. Take control and choose to focus on what is important in your life. Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.”

I discovered this quote about two years ago, while casually scrolling down my tumblr dashboard. It struck me then, so I saved it in a document on my computer…then quickly forgot about it.

However, I found myself coming back to it after reading Gretchen Rubin’s enthralling book “The Happiness Project” this past Winter Break (follow her blog about happiness here!) Rubin’s insights, along with Nin’s quote, informed my conscious decision to actively pursue positivity in an effort to control happiness in my life.

After becoming inspired by the words and ideas of these two women, I knew that I needed to test my new perspective.

Enter: my little sister, Lucia.

Lucia is an extremely creative, bright, compassionate, and outspoken five-year-old. She, like any five-year-old, can be also insolent, stubborn, and dramatic.

Before I committed myself to intentional positive thinking, I would get easily frustrated with Lucia when she refused to listen to me. Occasionally, I would raise my voice at her—and she raised hers right back. I began to think that the situation was hopeless, that she would never calm down and that things would continue to escalate.

And guess what? Because I thought that things were going to escalate, I panicked and got more upset. And the more upset that I got, the louder I raised my voice. So things, naturally, escalated!

When I thought negative thoughts, the situation would continue to produce negative results.

However, when I took a deep breath and spoke to Lucia calmly—the whole time thinking, knowing that she would calm down and everything was fine—she started to listen to me!

Positive thinking = positive action = positive situation.

I find solace in knowing that I, and I alone, have the power to control my emotions, and subsequently my life. My mind has the potential to become an escape from frustration, sadness, anger, and guilt— if I only choose to recall the hub of good feelings that are always accessible to me. If I can turn negative thoughts and emotions into positive ones, I can transform negative situations into positive ones.

I have come to learn that I can create my own microtopia simply through intentional positive thinking.

But, hey, this is just my personal experience!

I am sure that many people have denounced positive psychology, finding that it simply does not work for them. So I am interested in your opinions!

Do you believe the human mind has the potential to become a microtopia? Are different perspectives and outlooks on life, in essence, just different microtopias?

Blog posting written by Isabel Galupo, Cinema and Photography, ’14, FLEFF Intern, Towson, Maryland.

Nomenclature. Lackadaisical. Coagulation.

These are just a few of my favorite words.

To me, understanding and respecting the power of words is a crucial skill for all people living in today’s world. Words can inspire life-changing epiphanies and spark revolutions. Words have the power to affect individual people at their very cores, while simultaneously resonating with entire communities and populations. Words can create significant and extraordinary change.

My love and respect for words is what brought me from my hometown of Towson, Maryland to Ithaca College. I entered my freshman year with a brand new pack of Black Papermate Profile Retractable Ballpoint Pens (which I highly recommend!) and an eagerly declared Journalism major.

However, I quickly discovered that my true passion lay in writing for film and switched my major to Cinema and Photography, with a concentration in Screenwriting. As an avid reader (I am currently in the middle of Michael Ondaatje's poetry collection The Cinnamon Peeler and Anne E. Kornblut's work Notes from the Cracked Ceiling), I use my love for words to connect to the Ithaca community and volunteer with The Family Reading Partnership. I enjoy playing with words to craft my own creative writing, in addition to writing Draft Resolutions during Model United Nations conferences where I represent the IC Model UN Team. 

My love for words is also what prompted me to intern for the 15^th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival this semester. This year, the backbone of FLEFF is one singular word: “microtopias.” Though FLEFF co-directors Thomas Shevory and Patricia Zimmermann did an excellent job breaking down the nuances surrounding the word on the festival home page, I am excited to see how FLEFF will provide moviegoers, directors, students, artists, intellectuals, writers, readers, and dreamers a space to explore the multitude of meanings and possibilities behind the word “microtopias.”

Most importantly, however, FLEFF provides us all with the opportunity to reflect on the term “film festival.” At first glance, the definition of this word may seem straightforward. However, FLEFF’s interdisciplinary nature challenges all of us to question what we think we know about the limits of film festivals and the parameters of art.

Words are all around us. We often take them for granted, never pausing to savor the complexity and possibility that lies behind each and every one of them. In the upcoming weeks, I challenge all of you to practice challenging yourself in the way that FLEFF surely will. Ask yourselves: What is your favorite word? What possibilities lie within the multiple definitions of that word? How can you widen your understanding of words in order to effectively use them in our exciting and ever-changing society?