Documentary Shorts!

So, a couple weekends ago I went to see the Oscar nominated Documentary Short Films. I had a ball.

It's such a great crop of films, I hope they become available on Netflix because it's tough to find them outside of a major city. I managed to find a little independent theater downtown that was showing them. The whole screening, including a 15 minute intermission, ran about four hours. I was concerned that it was going to be a long slog, but the films were so good that the time just flew by. It seemed way shorter than my viewing of, say, Les Mis or Amour.

My two favorites were Inocente and Redemption. Inocente is the story of a 15-year-old homeless girl named Inocente, who is also a great artist. She, her mother, and her little brothers move about, sometimes renting a small room until they can't afford the rent anymore and get evicted, sometimes sleeping in parks or shelters. Inocente attends a summer arts program and, of the more than 5,000 students, two are chosen to put on their own art show. Inocente is chosen and we watch her create her pieces for the show as we learn about her life. It was fascinating. She has so much poise for a 15-year-old and so much hope and such awesome eye make-up. You really root for her.

Redemption is the story of people in New York City who participate in "canning," a practice that has become very common in Manhattan. These are people who collect cans and bottles from the street and trash to redeem them for the 5 cent refund at one of New York's many redemption stations. You'd think this would be the purview of the homeless, but most of the people featured were those who had just lost their jobs or couldn't make ends meet even with their jobs. One woman was a retired sales rep for IBM who found her social security and pension weren't enough to live on, so she started collecting cans. It was a really interesting look into their situations.

Other documentaries were Kings Point, a portrait of a Florida retirement community where we see that gossip and jealousy and relationship drama never stops, even at age 80, and Open Heart, the story of a group of Rwandan children who travel to Sudan for open heart surgery. Millions of children in Africa are stricken with heart disease, often because some infection such as strep throat was not properly treated and it developed into heart disease. There is one clinic in Africa that provides free open heart surgery, and children must rely on aid organizations to fly them to Sudan for life saving surgery. Finally, Mondays at Racine, the story of two sisters who lost their mother to cancer and now open their Long Island beauty salon one Monday a month to cancer patients for free beauty treatments. The women, most undergoing chemotherapy, find friendship and support in addition to the manicures and hair styling that make them feel more alive.

Ooh, these movies were all so good. Try to see them if you can.