My Week In Film

So I'm over the hump; week 5 has come and gone. The birds are singing in the trees, I'm almost officially a lifeguard, there were several pedagogically successful days in a row. Yes, indeed. There's nothing but blue skies, warm weather, and promising student essays on the horizon.

And just what, you may be wondering, has got your favorite vegan in such an optimistic mood?

The Athens International Film+Video Festival, that's what. I just spent seven glorious days -- over 30 hours altogether! immersed in films, shorts, animation, documentaries, and (possibly most important of all) hot movie theater popcorn. The high from the latter alone is enough to make me forget about all the grading that goes along with student essays.

Here's how it went down:

Thursday:
"Das Weisse Band" (a creepy study on the nature of punishment set in pre-WWI Germany) with Roomie & "Sherlock Holmes" (starring the more-than-swoonworthy Robert Downey Jr.) over at Baker Center's Dollar Movie Night. Though neither were technically part of the film festival, both were quite good. For food I made a patent-pending Ginormous Salad. I take my jumbo-sized Tupperware bowl and fill it with every leafy green and fresh herb I've got in my fridge. Romaine, spinach, chard, watercress, lacinato kale, sprouts, diced radishes & their greens, shredded carrots, sliced mushrooms, green onions, marjoram, parsley, oregano, basil, mint, cilantro, thyme, and so on. It's usually enough salad to last for 3-4 days, depending on how hungry I am. I figured I'd be able to slack off on the cooking a bit if I made it on Day One of the Filmstravaganza.

Friday:
Due to the Icelandic volcano debacle, the first film I wanted to see was cancelled. I then proceeded to get laughed at for wanting to buy a single movie ticket. Not the most auspicious beginning but the free evening allowed me time to make the following salad/chunky dip. Serve it warm as a topping for rice or pasta, serve it cold with the raw veggies you've snuck into the theater in lieu of popcorn for an 11am screening.

Lights, Camera, Artichoke-Garbanzo Pate
adapted from the April 2010 issue of VegetarianTimes

2 artichoke hearts (I used the ones leftover from the ones I steamed a couple Sundays ago)
1 can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 diced onions
1/4 cup diced pickles
1/4 cup diced green pepper
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon capers
1 teaspoon yellow mustard

Combine everything in a blender or food processor. Pulse until the consistency of chunky oatmeal. Season with 1/4 teaspoon each of sea salt and black pepper if desired. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight to set the flavors.

Saturday:
After the Gridiron Gallop 5K, I head up to the Athena for the competition screening, "Movies For Slightly Older Kids." My favorite of the bunch is either "Pigeon: Impossible" or "A Dog Goes From Here To There." Immediately following is another series of shorts, "Poetry, Music, and Film." I liked the films "An Eyeful of Sound" and "Elephant Medicine" best. After the shorts I meet up with my BFF JSK to see "The Secret of Kells," a gorgeously animated Irish film, during which I eat the salad I snuck in. After the movie, I take a 2 hour break to finally shower off the 5K grime and eat some dinner (warm artichoke-garbanzo dip over rice and raw veggies). Then it's back up to the theater for the competition screening "Do Ask, Do Tell." Good films there include "Gayby" and "Never Too Late." Some of my students from the horror class I'm teaching show up around 9 and we all go to the "Thrills and Chills" show. Though none of the shorts were as scary as I expected, showing a trend in horror towards moral outrage rather than monsters and ghosts (there was quite a bit of necrophilia and crime),"Copelia," "tyle wody kolo domu," and "Herbert White" were all wonderfully creepy. I'm actually hoping "Copelia" gets picked up by a larger studio and turned into a longer film. It has the potential for the same creepy futurism as "I, Robot" and "Minority Report."

Sunday:
I don't get to see as many films as I'd've liked today (Roomie needed help with a massive cram session) but I do get to the "Mythological Tales" competition screening and the full-length film "Eyes Wide Open," a moving (despite the slightly over-symbolic ending) story about a forbidden relationship between to orthodox Jewish men in Jerusalem. The best of the myths include "The Moon Bird" and "O Pintor de Ceos." I eat PB&J's for dinner while going over glycolysis and the Kreb's Cycle with Roomie.

Monday:
Week 5 starts and I encourage all my students to go to the Festival with the promise of extra credit. I do see many of them at the films which boosts my pedagogical ego. As for me, I see the shorts, "The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers" and "kleine liebe," and the film "The Man Came and Took Her" in the afternoon. After teaching, I return for the "Animation" competition screening and a nice big bag of popcorn for dinner. Despite the fact that I was seated in a sea of pretentious art school kids, I managed to enjoy all of the cartoons. "Fuzzy Insides" and "Skylight" are my favorites.

Tuesday:
I have a freak-out moment today where I realize how much time I've spent indoors the past few days. So when I finish teaching, I opt for a really long bike ride and several glasses of wine. I don't think I even turned the TV on today, that's how visually over-stimulated I felt. Instead I treat my ears to the forthcoming The New Pornographers and Josh Ritter albums, both of which are streaming at NPR.com until they are officially released.

Wednesday:
Finally the ash has cleared from the European skies and I get to see "Nymph," a Thai re-imagining of the Daphne myth. It's a 90 minute movie with maybe 6 pages of dialogue so it was a little atmospheric. Still really good.
Later in the day, I show my favorite film of all time, Labyrinth, to my freshman comp class. I have been using it as a teaching tool for several quarters now with varying levels of success. I don't care how much the students may laugh, I will continue to show it. Show me someone who can't appreciate David Bowie in tights, singing & dancing with Muppets, and I'll show you a blind, tone-deaf liar.
Then it's back to the Athena for the 7:15 showing of "Fish Tank." Other than the mylar balloon at the end, it was a very good film. Once again, I'm too lazy to do anything but eat popcorn for dinner.

Thursday:
This morning I watch the 2003 version of "Willard" as a part of my own personal, quarter-long horror film marathon. In my horror class, I show the animated graphic novelization of the Stephen King short story, "N," which my students had read over the weekend. The last full-length film of the Festival for me is the simply great Greek movie, "Dogtooth." It's an absurd look at control and coming of age and the scene with the cat might be the highlight of the week for me. Then I meet up with The Raccoon and my friend The Film Buff to see the last screening of the week, "Best of the Fest." There were about 20 shorts and all were spectacular. "My Beast Friend," "Banana Bread," "Wonder Hospital," and "The Commoners" were my favorites from there.
To snack on in the theater, and to celebrate the end of a week well filmed, I made the following candied nuts. After my weight in salted popcorn, I was really in the mood for something sweet.

That's A Wrap Rosemary Candied Almonds
inspired by a recipe in Martha Stewart's Living, May 2010

2 cups raw almonds
2 tablespoons demerara sugar
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl, combine 4 teaspoons with the sea salt and set aside. In a large skillet, combine the butter and honey until melted. Add the remaining sugar and cook until the mixture just starts to bubble. Lower the heat and stir in the almonds with a wooden spoon until well-coated. Remove from heat and stir in the rosemary. Spread the almonds onto the cookie sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with the sugar-salt mixture and put in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Let cool completely before eating. A bit of advice? Taking a small bag to the theater will keep you from eating the entire trayfull.

***

And so endeth AIF+V Festival 2010. Coming up? More movies (Nightmare on Elm Street remake!), a concert, Cinco de Mayo, 12+ hours of student conferences, the Lit Fest, and (hopefully) some cooking.

Definitely some cooking.