There were a few Flickerfest films that stood out to me for various reasons. I thought most of them were quite unique and memorable but a few really stood out – some for good reasons and some for bad.
The first film that I found really stood out to me was called ‘Peepin’, directed by Paul Rhodes. This film stood out to me mainly because of how shocked I was by it. It was the first animated film we saw, and the animation was incredibly unique. The characters were purposely out of proportion and would stretch as they moved, the plot was wild and the story was absurd. I absolutely loved it, I thought it was the best film we saw at Flickerfest but I’m sure some people would vehemently disagree. I thought it was hilariously funny and always unexpected, which really kept me on the edge of my seat and it had my full attention. I think this film would stand out to most people that watched it because of its unique animation and it’s crazy story line. I wish it was longer but I think the short and sweet aspect of it really added to the surprise factor because right as you got used to the crazy aspects of the film, it was over. I thought it was masterfully done.
The other film that really stood out to me was called ‘Sleepwalking’, written and directed by Melissa Anastasi. This film was about a Christian family with an overpowering father. I thought it was really interesting that there were multiple films about oppressive religion, all of which were about Christian father figures bordering on insanity that were ruining the lives of their children and spouses. In ‘Sleepwalking’ in particular, the father is horribly abusive to his wife and tries to raise his son Phoenix to be tough and God fearing. The situation is horrific for the young boy, especially watching what his mother goes through at the hands of his father. When she tries to escape, he goes with her but is eventually found by his dad and his mother returns and apologizes to the father for having run away. This film stood out to me because I thought it was the worst film we watched during Flickerfest, and was certainly the least enjoyable for me to watch. I sincerely hope the writer didn’t come up with this story from past experience because it’s a brutal story that just shows nothing but pain, suffering and oppression for 20 minutes. It’s a depressing film and hits on topics that I think would be traumatizing for a significant portion of audiences to watch. It’s hard to tell whether this film had some point it was supposed to get across but unless it was that radical Christianity tears families apart I never got it. Maybe that’s me or maybe that’s the film but this one certainly stuck out in my mind for all the wrong reasons.
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