Well, in a big leap for me, I attended my very first film festival (Go me!!). Now I type this laughing as it sounds really odd saying I'd attended a film festival when pretty much all the planet is in lockdown, and everybody is staying at home while places like cinemas are closed until further notice. Well, this was a little different, this festival suited me right down to the ground, it was the CAFF online movie festival running 10th-12th April 2020.
I'd accidentally stumbled upon the details for this on Twitter, and with the times of turmoil we live in this was a great way to showcase movies. As much as I miss the cinema, I hate dealing with huge crowds so seeing this was brilliant, and I hope to see more festivals pop up this way. I would love to set up my own bad movie festival somehow and make it so it was online globally for a weekend (or a week, depends on the time of year really) as that would be fun just to get people together, but I digress.
Cell Adore Film Festival (CAFF) 2020
Note, you are asked to put a star rating out of 5 for each movie so I've given my rating here as well.
DAY ONE FRIDAY 10th APRIL 2020
An interesting start to the festival, I wasn't actually able to access the site so I couldn't see the movies! Very confused, thought that maybe there was an error on their part and perhaps they would add it another day or sort something else out (and "cleverly" forgot to ask what exactly was going on...yay me!). Potentially I have lost a day's worth of movies, I'm a bit gutted about that.
DAY TWO SATURDAY 11th APRIL 2020
Annoyingly, I was STILL having access issues, but this time I actually mentioned it. It appears it is something to do with Chrome and my Chromebook. I also tried using Brave and had issues, and Opera just about did the trick, so finally I'm in!! My first day of CAFF2020!
Road Trip *****
So my introduction to the festival was this gem...and all I can say is WOW. I was stunned by this. I feel the synopsis for this movie was a bit of a spoiler to be honest, and if they left out one major detail then it would have been an incredible twist and made it so much better a watch in my opinion. The short is about a family (parents and 2 daughters, who are going on a final family road trip, they are making last preparations are running away, but what are they running away from? (Look, I know they are saying about this in the actual synopsis of the short, but I do not want to spoil this, I just cannot bear to do this). You can feel the tension, panic, fear and overall sadness and desperation fo this family as they are willing to escape at any cost from this problem, and I would love to see this made into a feature-length movie...I mean, if they could actually film it so they had that same twist and you could not see what they were running away from (and they don't damn well say what they are running from!!) then this could be an amazing movie I think. the twist would be superb. A great watch.
Max **
I've found a short that almost competes with Unikorn for the shortest movie I have watched and mentioned on my blog!
This micro-short was an animated piece about the bond between man and dog. It was a kind of odd one really, and for me was a little too short for what it wanted to convey, although the animation was really good in it. If this was extended somewhat this could have been really really good I feel, having an almost dreamscape like quality to it.
Percentile***
A dystopian world is fighting for survival. Only the rich can afford the medications to survive when they get sick, and the poor basically were left to die. One man goes on a quest to scavenge for things to save someone close to him.
Beautiful scenery, but as much as it is a nice story it doesn't really seem to really go anywhere, which is a pity.
Lovebirds **
Now, this is quirky, and I kinda like this. This is a really odd story about meeting up from online dating with a REALLY odd and bizarre twist. It
made me laugh, although it was more uncomfortable and creepy if I was honest...but in the long run with a bit of persuasion it *might* be worth it.
Scrable ****
Now, this is beautiful. Today ends with a heart-warming tale of a man who helps a lady who works in a laundrette. The man listens to her, and helps her as her memory is not as good as it used to be. It's a lovely story and the ending shows that some people are just lovely and have so much kindness.
Best of the day
Tough call, I'd say it was between Road Trip and Scrabble. Both of them are emotional movies but in different ways. Both had great little twists in, I kind of saw the twist in Scrable, but it was fine as it was a heartwarming tale, although quite sad too, wherewith Road Trip, as much as I knew it was a zombie movie (the blurb told me) if that was omitted I'd never have guessed and that would have been an excellent surprise!
DAY THREE SUNDAY 12th APRIL 2020
OK, this is rather odd, if I open a fresh Chrome window, I can access CAFF2020! Well, it works, and this is my browser of choice, so this makes me happy! On with the final day.
Pete ****
The start of the final day was a comedy dealing with a couple who have just lost a pet who they found in the wild. They reminisce about the good times and get ready to say their goodbyes and then take Pete out of the boot. I'm not going to give away the ending but it was very clever.
Out On A Limb *****
Now, this is cool...literally! Out On A Limb is a documentary about the disabled participating in Winter sports. This is only about ten minutes long, but wow, it is action-packed! As a fan of extreme and winter sports, this was an absolute blast to watch, seeing these guys having fun and doing what they wanted to do like this was inspirational. If you can get the chance to see this then I'd suggest it.
When We Were Foxes**
A bit of an odd one really, but also not too bad. It's short short, but a sweet poetic piece of art with a nighttime urban scenery. There is not much more I can say about this really. Kinda cute.
See You Again****
Supernatural drama time! A mother who doesn't spend time with her daughter because of overtime tries to make it right. It might be her last time to do so...
An emotional, and bittersweet film.
Best of the Day
Without a doubt it had to be, Out On A Limb. It was just pure awesome. I absolutely loved that documentary and then some!
SURPRISE!! DAY FOUR?? MONDAY 13th APRIL 2020
Well well well...
I received an email this morning saying that they had decided to open the pages for ALL THE DAYS today so that people could catch up on all the movies they missed or watch them all again if they enjoyed them again! Brilliant! This means I can watch the Friday movies and review them now!!
Bill****
Oooh, a bit of horror! A lady wants to connect to her dearly departed husband so she decides to conduct a seance...the problem is she gets a little more than she was expecting. Nice little bite-size horror, very atmospheric, rather enjoyed that!
The Drive****
This one was heartbreaking. A father has dementia and we see how it affects his relationship with his son and the memories they have. This is brilliantly shot like cine-camera. Emotionally charged, and so well shot, this felt like it was longer than it was but in a good way.
Only Looking Forward****
This one was a comedy blast. A whirlwind of fast-paced action, sharp editing and great gags where a man with anger issues goes on a quest to get the woman who kicks the wing mirror of his car.
Quite entertaining!
Clementines****
And to round it all off (which was odd because this really shouldn't have, but there you go) we have a movie all about family, secrets, sexuality and more in a powerful little story that tells the tale of two stepsisters who were forced apart are reunited at their childhood home in France. Well acted with awesome cinematography.
Best of the Day
Wow, another tough one. If I was to consider this as the first day (which I should do really) this was a brilliant start with everything being 4 stars). Sadly, Let Her Rip could not be accessed but that was just one of those things.
Out of those, I'd have to go for either The Drive or Only Looking Forward, but to be fair all of them were REALLY good.
Zenless Popcorn's Movie of the Festival
Oh boy, there have been some absolute gems here. in the 3 days and 15 films, I saw some brilliant shorts here that was enjoyable and just great to watch, it was really difficult to pick one to say was the best, but I have.
For me it has to be Road Trip, I have watched this several times, I just cannot get enough of this short, and I still think that this could and should get a feature-length movie based on it.
Overall, I think this was a brilliant idea and I've heard this is certainly going to be happening next year so that's going to be interesting to see how this develops. I have spoken to the organizers of CAFF and they have said "This will absolutely be an annual thing." which is absolutely brilliant and I hope to be able to "attend" them on a regular basis.