The video looks like it was shot on a MiniDV with horrible interlacing.
It starts out as a rail against Sundance, then becomes a rail against Slamdance, then basically becomes a travelogue of festival experiences.
What is probably the most revealing moment in the film is when the characters "cover up" (Slamdance films?) with TromaFest posters. While the film seems to propogate a "stick-it-to-the man" message, it seems to backfire, as the filmmakers tend to talk more positively on festivals with strong attendance and press connections.
Also, the use of dramatized "camera playing" creates moments in which characters do "shocking things" for shock's sake-dropping a glass award on the ground, for instance.
The film becomes tricky, because it gripes against nepotism while at the same time employing talking heads like Kevin Smith and Jenna Fisher.
Yet it doesn't seem to send much love to the "little bar" festivals..feeling more like a case of exploitation rather than general care.
Occasionally the cinematic language is violent, as an organizer of a bad festival gets doxxed on camera. Furthermore, the film seems to always be in bias of the filmmakers, as opposed to the individuals affected by them.
You don't see individuals upset at being heckled with promotional materials, and the film depicts a long sequence in which a poor Chicago worker is chewed out on behalf of her manager.
When the wife is shown, she is very tired and sad. The sound bite of the protagonist saying she's divorced is disturbingly smug, almost as if he chose the film life over his family.
The trouble is it's part informative and part drama, but the drama part doesn't work because there's not much of a reason to root for the filmmakers. So the film feels a little longer than it should.
It's pretty decent though, all things considered.
It starts out as a rail against Sundance, then becomes a rail against Slamdance, then basically becomes a travelogue of festival experiences.
What is probably the most revealing moment in the film is when the characters "cover up" (Slamdance films?) with TromaFest posters. While the film seems to propogate a "stick-it-to-the man" message, it seems to backfire, as the filmmakers tend to talk more positively on festivals with strong attendance and press connections.
Also, the use of dramatized "camera playing" creates moments in which characters do "shocking things" for shock's sake-dropping a glass award on the ground, for instance.
The film becomes tricky, because it gripes against nepotism while at the same time employing talking heads like Kevin Smith and Jenna Fisher.
Yet it doesn't seem to send much love to the "little bar" festivals..feeling more like a case of exploitation rather than general care.
Occasionally the cinematic language is violent, as an organizer of a bad festival gets doxxed on camera. Furthermore, the film seems to always be in bias of the filmmakers, as opposed to the individuals affected by them.
You don't see individuals upset at being heckled with promotional materials, and the film depicts a long sequence in which a poor Chicago worker is chewed out on behalf of her manager.
When the wife is shown, she is very tired and sad. The sound bite of the protagonist saying she's divorced is disturbingly smug, almost as if he chose the film life over his family.
The trouble is it's part informative and part drama, but the drama part doesn't work because there's not much of a reason to root for the filmmakers. So the film feels a little longer than it should.
It's pretty decent though, all things considered.