Dear Festividder 2020-2021
Oct. 19th, 2020 08:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bironicInfo about this year's exchange. Signups are open through the end of the week.
Dear Festividder and anyone who might like to make a treat -- complete with sales pitches and pictures:
ANIARA (2018 movie)
Summary: Cerebral sci fi film about the many ways people deal with mortality, the vastness of space and the meaning(lessness) of life when their ferry trip from Earth to Mars gets thrown off course. The latest adaptation of a book-length poem of the same name. In Swedish with subtitles. Streaming on Hulu.
Sales pitch: Existential crises in space! Do you really need more? Okay: fascinating artificial intelligence character, canon f/f relationship (though not an entirely happy one), bisexual protagonist, lingering shots on just about everything, high production quality.
Caveats: Existential despair, climate apocalypse, murder, suicide, child death, blood, nudity, sex, unwanted pregnancy, cults, **spoiler** unhappy ending to queer relationship
Vid request: This may be the best movie I've seen so far this year. It's thinky and slow and beautiful and disturbing. I'd love anything you want to do with it. Some ideas are a recruiter vid, a character study of the Mimarobe, a focus on the AI of Mima itself/herself, a story about the Mimarobe and Isagel, vignettes of people's attempts to wrestle a meaningful existence out of the situation. Go optimistic, go nihilistic, go abstract with the movie's color palette... whatever strikes you.
QUEEN MARGOT (1994 movie)
Sales pitch: Gorgeous costumes! Intricate court politics! Passionate sex like only the French can do! Strife between Catholics and Protestants! A night of stunning bloodshed! Sibling-sibling and mother-son incest, if that's your thing! Isabelle Adjani, Pascal Greggory, Vincent Perez, and even baby Thomas Kretschmann! A Patrice Chereau film, based on the Alexandre Dumas novel.
Caveats: See above re: incest. Also one instance of sexual assault or attempted/implied sexual assault, depending on which version of the film you see.
Vid request: This movie has such beautiful, rich imagery that it just begs for vidding. Anything you make will make me happy, including a whirlwind portrait of the color and blood and passion and perversion and deviousness. Personal favorite parts are the massacre, the hatred-to-love story between La Mole and Coconnas, and Anjou's face. Plus, generally, all the homoerotic undercurrents.
FRONTERA VERDE / GREEN FRONTIER (TV 2019)
Summary: A murder mystery with supernatural elements set in the Colombian Amazon and featuring two female leads, a white male villain and lots of indigenous characters. Helena Poveda, a detective from Bogotá, is flown out to investigate what first appears to be a quadruple and soon proves to be a quintuple femicide. She gets enmeshed in local police politics/corruption and is drawn deeper into tales of an uncontacted tribe that may be tied to her own childhood. Meanwhile, we follow the story of two members of that tribe, Yua and Ushe, as they try to protect their secrets and their lives. The story moves back and forth in time in a way that is at first confusing but soon comes together.
Eight episodes streaming on Netflix. In several languages, mostly Spanish, with English subtitles. Directed by Ciro Guerra, who also made Embrace of the Serpent.
Sales pitch: Gorgeous cinematography! Lots of centered compositions, beautiful scenery, lingering shots of faces, visual echoes and juxtapositions. An engrossing mystery with distinctive characters! A dude and a lady detective team who aren't being shoved into a romantic plotline by the showrunners! A jungle as a character in itself!
Caveats: Graphic violence, discussion and depiction of slavery (rubber plantations) and mistreatment of native people by Catholic missionaries, fatal house fire, pregnancy complications, Nazis. Intertwining of ancient indigeneity and magic. Increasing focus on white savior vs. white villain plot. Strobe lights in the final scenes.
Here's the better of two trailers on IMDB:
Vid request: Pretty much anything you do would be lovely. Recruiter vids welcome, as is anything that shows off the beauty of the filming and/or plays up the mystery, hopefully going for intriguing without being totally opaque. There's also lots to play with in the Ushe-Helena connection. I ship Ushe with Helena's parents, if you're into constructing OT3s. :) And with Yua, of course. Feel free to focus on Helena and Reynaldo's partnership, as long as it's not about them being in love or whatever. Character studies also cool, although I don't want a vid that focuses on Joseph, unless maybe it's from Yua et al's POVs. Could a person pull off a vid from the point of view of the jungle? Hm.
WILDLIKE (2014 movie)
Sales pitch: Ella Purnell, who played young Maleficent! Bruce Greenwood, who played Christopher Pike in the Star Trek: Reboot movies and was in lots of other stuff! Alaskan landscapes from Juneau to Denali! A hurt/comfort story that progresses to the unlikely connection between a teenage girl and a gruff older backpacker!
Caveats: Molestation of high school-aged girl by uncle; mention of spousal death from cancer.
Vid request: I would be so happy to have a vid of this movie that simply told the story, focusing on Mackenzie and René's developing relationship and taking advantage of the visual splendor of the Alaskan setting. Or whatever focus and structure appeals to you. FWIW, the emotional high point of the movie for me was René's protectiveness once he found out what really happened with Kenzie and her uncle, specifically when René bundled her back into the ferry cabin. I like to think he made good use of the bear spray when he made that stop in Juneau. :)
THE BURIAL OF KOJO (2018 movie)
Summary: A Ghanaian film about a girl whose visions of an anthropomorphic crow may help her find her father when he goes missing. Streaming on Netflix. In several languages with subtitles.
Sales pitch: Cloaked bird-man on a horse, looking like a plague doctor or a grim reaper! Young woman main character with rich fantasy life! Gorgeous imagery! And a decades-old family tragedy that resurfaces.
Caveats: Bird death, fatal car accident, blood. Possibly others; it's been a while since I watched. Also note there is some upside-down footage and other potentially dizzying camera movement.
Vid request: I've wanted to see a vid that uses this striking bird imagery since I saw the movie months ago. The cinematography creates so many beautiful moments in addition to those that there's a lot to work with. A coming-of-age story about Esi, a retelling of the plot, it's all good.
THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI (book)
Sales pitch: A woman made of clay meets a man made of fire in turn-of-the-20th-century New York. There's challah baking and desert flashbacks and sexy seduction and supernatural possession, and, just in time for Purim, evil viziers. Beautiful, comforting prose.
Caveats: I don't remember well enough, sorry. :(
Vid request: I still can't talk about this book without drawing little hearts around it. One of the things I loved was its vibrant setting, its creation of an atmosphere I wanted to wrap around myself forever. I think what I'm hoping for in a vid is a sort of mood piece, where you feel like you're in this magical 1900-ish Lower East Side or Central Park, where things are—as much as I make fun of it in movies—teal and gold like the cover of the book. (The closest movie I can think of for visual inspiration of the city is Gangs of New York, but I'm sure there's lots more out there I just haven't seen. The books Forever and Winter's Tale, which held the same sort of early-NY magic, aren't going to be much help, alas.)
And maybe you will give an impression of this large-boned Eastern European woman and this elegant Arab man (I mean, I don't expect our imaginations of Chava and Ahmad to be the same, so I look forward to whomever you choose for your fan-cast, if you fan-cast them). Maybe there will be a bakery and a metalworker's forge, or a desert and a temple, or Jewish and Syrian immigrant communities, or impressions of seduction or murder or enslavement or the clash between subservience/suppression and dominance/recklessness, or maybe there are other aspects of the story you want to highlight, or nothing so complex because it all seems very intimidating. Whatever you make, it's going to be wonderful.
I just ask that you please be sensitive if you choose to cast Schaalman or Schall. No Hollywood stereotypes of giant-eyebrowed, pointy-eared, scheming Jews. Thank you. <3
General notes, if they are helpful:
I like celebrating shows and movies that make me happy, but just as much I like queering texts, whether it's pairing characters who aren't paired in canon or inverting themes or highlighting kink or drawing attention to minor characters or changing the tone or telling a different story using the same footage. I like joyful and I like dark and I like sexy.
Music-wise, I like folk from pretty much any country, rock, classical, instrumental, bluegrass, movie scores, Celtic, choral, country where it intersects with folk and rock, some pop, dance, hip hop, indie... Not fond of ska or reggae or discordant stuff. I am possibly one of the only people in vidding fandom who doesn't like Florence + the Machine, sorry. I'm open to spoken word, but if you mix dialogue with music, please make the dialogue very clear/easily audible.
Thank you for making something for one of these newly or long-loved sources.
Dear Festividder and anyone who might like to make a treat -- complete with sales pitches and pictures:
ANIARA (2018 movie)
Summary: Cerebral sci fi film about the many ways people deal with mortality, the vastness of space and the meaning(lessness) of life when their ferry trip from Earth to Mars gets thrown off course. The latest adaptation of a book-length poem of the same name. In Swedish with subtitles. Streaming on Hulu.
Sales pitch: Existential crises in space! Do you really need more? Okay: fascinating artificial intelligence character, canon f/f relationship (though not an entirely happy one), bisexual protagonist, lingering shots on just about everything, high production quality.
Caveats: Existential despair, climate apocalypse, murder, suicide, child death, blood, nudity, sex, unwanted pregnancy, cults, **spoiler** unhappy ending to queer relationship
Vid request: This may be the best movie I've seen so far this year. It's thinky and slow and beautiful and disturbing. I'd love anything you want to do with it. Some ideas are a recruiter vid, a character study of the Mimarobe, a focus on the AI of Mima itself/herself, a story about the Mimarobe and Isagel, vignettes of people's attempts to wrestle a meaningful existence out of the situation. Go optimistic, go nihilistic, go abstract with the movie's color palette... whatever strikes you.
QUEEN MARGOT (1994 movie)
Sales pitch: Gorgeous costumes! Intricate court politics! Passionate sex like only the French can do! Strife between Catholics and Protestants! A night of stunning bloodshed! Sibling-sibling and mother-son incest, if that's your thing! Isabelle Adjani, Pascal Greggory, Vincent Perez, and even baby Thomas Kretschmann! A Patrice Chereau film, based on the Alexandre Dumas novel.
Caveats: See above re: incest. Also one instance of sexual assault or attempted/implied sexual assault, depending on which version of the film you see.
Vid request: This movie has such beautiful, rich imagery that it just begs for vidding. Anything you make will make me happy, including a whirlwind portrait of the color and blood and passion and perversion and deviousness. Personal favorite parts are the massacre, the hatred-to-love story between La Mole and Coconnas, and Anjou's face. Plus, generally, all the homoerotic undercurrents.
FRONTERA VERDE / GREEN FRONTIER (TV 2019)
Summary: A murder mystery with supernatural elements set in the Colombian Amazon and featuring two female leads, a white male villain and lots of indigenous characters. Helena Poveda, a detective from Bogotá, is flown out to investigate what first appears to be a quadruple and soon proves to be a quintuple femicide. She gets enmeshed in local police politics/corruption and is drawn deeper into tales of an uncontacted tribe that may be tied to her own childhood. Meanwhile, we follow the story of two members of that tribe, Yua and Ushe, as they try to protect their secrets and their lives. The story moves back and forth in time in a way that is at first confusing but soon comes together.
Eight episodes streaming on Netflix. In several languages, mostly Spanish, with English subtitles. Directed by Ciro Guerra, who also made Embrace of the Serpent.
Sales pitch: Gorgeous cinematography! Lots of centered compositions, beautiful scenery, lingering shots of faces, visual echoes and juxtapositions. An engrossing mystery with distinctive characters! A dude and a lady detective team who aren't being shoved into a romantic plotline by the showrunners! A jungle as a character in itself!
Caveats: Graphic violence, discussion and depiction of slavery (rubber plantations) and mistreatment of native people by Catholic missionaries, fatal house fire, pregnancy complications, Nazis. Intertwining of ancient indigeneity and magic. Increasing focus on white savior vs. white villain plot. Strobe lights in the final scenes.
Here's the better of two trailers on IMDB:
Vid request: Pretty much anything you do would be lovely. Recruiter vids welcome, as is anything that shows off the beauty of the filming and/or plays up the mystery, hopefully going for intriguing without being totally opaque. There's also lots to play with in the Ushe-Helena connection. I ship Ushe with Helena's parents, if you're into constructing OT3s. :) And with Yua, of course. Feel free to focus on Helena and Reynaldo's partnership, as long as it's not about them being in love or whatever. Character studies also cool, although I don't want a vid that focuses on Joseph, unless maybe it's from Yua et al's POVs. Could a person pull off a vid from the point of view of the jungle? Hm.
WILDLIKE (2014 movie)
Sales pitch: Ella Purnell, who played young Maleficent! Bruce Greenwood, who played Christopher Pike in the Star Trek: Reboot movies and was in lots of other stuff! Alaskan landscapes from Juneau to Denali! A hurt/comfort story that progresses to the unlikely connection between a teenage girl and a gruff older backpacker!
Caveats: Molestation of high school-aged girl by uncle; mention of spousal death from cancer.
Vid request: I would be so happy to have a vid of this movie that simply told the story, focusing on Mackenzie and René's developing relationship and taking advantage of the visual splendor of the Alaskan setting. Or whatever focus and structure appeals to you. FWIW, the emotional high point of the movie for me was René's protectiveness once he found out what really happened with Kenzie and her uncle, specifically when René bundled her back into the ferry cabin. I like to think he made good use of the bear spray when he made that stop in Juneau. :)
THE BURIAL OF KOJO (2018 movie)
Summary: A Ghanaian film about a girl whose visions of an anthropomorphic crow may help her find her father when he goes missing. Streaming on Netflix. In several languages with subtitles.
Sales pitch: Cloaked bird-man on a horse, looking like a plague doctor or a grim reaper! Young woman main character with rich fantasy life! Gorgeous imagery! And a decades-old family tragedy that resurfaces.
Caveats: Bird death, fatal car accident, blood. Possibly others; it's been a while since I watched. Also note there is some upside-down footage and other potentially dizzying camera movement.
Vid request: I've wanted to see a vid that uses this striking bird imagery since I saw the movie months ago. The cinematography creates so many beautiful moments in addition to those that there's a lot to work with. A coming-of-age story about Esi, a retelling of the plot, it's all good.
THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI (book)
Sales pitch: A woman made of clay meets a man made of fire in turn-of-the-20th-century New York. There's challah baking and desert flashbacks and sexy seduction and supernatural possession, and, just in time for Purim, evil viziers. Beautiful, comforting prose.
Caveats: I don't remember well enough, sorry. :(
Vid request: I still can't talk about this book without drawing little hearts around it. One of the things I loved was its vibrant setting, its creation of an atmosphere I wanted to wrap around myself forever. I think what I'm hoping for in a vid is a sort of mood piece, where you feel like you're in this magical 1900-ish Lower East Side or Central Park, where things are—as much as I make fun of it in movies—teal and gold like the cover of the book. (The closest movie I can think of for visual inspiration of the city is Gangs of New York, but I'm sure there's lots more out there I just haven't seen. The books Forever and Winter's Tale, which held the same sort of early-NY magic, aren't going to be much help, alas.)
And maybe you will give an impression of this large-boned Eastern European woman and this elegant Arab man (I mean, I don't expect our imaginations of Chava and Ahmad to be the same, so I look forward to whomever you choose for your fan-cast, if you fan-cast them). Maybe there will be a bakery and a metalworker's forge, or a desert and a temple, or Jewish and Syrian immigrant communities, or impressions of seduction or murder or enslavement or the clash between subservience/suppression and dominance/recklessness, or maybe there are other aspects of the story you want to highlight, or nothing so complex because it all seems very intimidating. Whatever you make, it's going to be wonderful.
I just ask that you please be sensitive if you choose to cast Schaalman or Schall. No Hollywood stereotypes of giant-eyebrowed, pointy-eared, scheming Jews. Thank you. <3
General notes, if they are helpful:
I like celebrating shows and movies that make me happy, but just as much I like queering texts, whether it's pairing characters who aren't paired in canon or inverting themes or highlighting kink or drawing attention to minor characters or changing the tone or telling a different story using the same footage. I like joyful and I like dark and I like sexy.
Music-wise, I like folk from pretty much any country, rock, classical, instrumental, bluegrass, movie scores, Celtic, choral, country where it intersects with folk and rock, some pop, dance, hip hop, indie... Not fond of ska or reggae or discordant stuff. I am possibly one of the only people in vidding fandom who doesn't like Florence + the Machine, sorry. I'm open to spoken word, but if you mix dialogue with music, please make the dialogue very clear/easily audible.
Thank you for making something for one of these newly or long-loved sources.
no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 12:30 am (UTC)FWIW, I don't like Florence + the Machine either - you are not alone!!
no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 02:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Oct. 20th, 2020 03:15 pm (UTC)