When walking into Berkeley’s East Bay Media Center, Mel Vapour, co-director with Paul Blake at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival, invites me to join him as he preps the reels for the festival screenings on September 24, 25, 26th. He’s just finishing up on Francesco Saviano’s film Two Birds; a typical East coast (predominantly short) film that’s gritty and hard edge – as opposed to West coast (predominantly documentary) films which are thematically softer.
JLA: So what makes Berkeley’s film and video world exceptional?
MV: Firstly, Berkeley is a place where artists come to for refuge from the rat-race pressure of SF city. They are not so much interested in ‘making it’ as much as they just want to make art in hardworking anonymity. If Berkeley filmmakers have one commonality it is their “Don’t tread on me” attitude – speaking out whether they’ll get publicity or not. Berkeley filmmakers, amongst the world-class artists to be found here, are undoubtedly also influenced by the important plethora of creativity being expressed in these supportive surroundings. The East Bay Media Center itself is surrounded by the different levels of artistry found on and around Addison Street (The Berkeley Repertory Theater, Freight and Salvage, the Aurora Theater Company and the Jazz Caffé.
JLA: Tell me about the BVFF.
MV: The BVFF blossomed out of my, and Paul Blake’s, persuasion that the 1979 Panasonic VHS camera was going to irreversibly and importantly change the course of filmmaking. We wanted to get a closer look and document this change. With the support of George Manupelli (director of Ann Arbor Film Festival), who had met Vapour at the Ann Arbor film festival in the mid 60’s, BVFF would become a festival of international acclaim showing unusual, off-beat as well as mainstream documentaries and short film. More importantly, the BVFF grew quickly in popularity because of its willingness to promote highly experimental as well as politically conscious film that would always include the development of highly advanced technical refinement and skill. In as much, this year, the Festival begins by showing astonishing and refreshing films from young producers between the age of 12 and 17 (Like Eric Slack’s film “19”). The second portion of outstanding films derives from student-filmmakers in some of the best Institutions of Higher Learning in the world for film: NYU’s Tisch School, University of Austin Texas, UCLA, and USC. Particularly the latter enables film with sophisticated high technical production value as well as unusual, insightful and wacky stories to develop (some of the best on the planet). This year Ryan W. Chen’s We the Divided is a must see! The third portion consists of important features by older and more established filmmakers.
JLA: Who else should we definitely not miss this year?
MV: All participating finalists have been chosen for their unique and technically excellent work. But if I had to name a few must sees, it would be Donna S. Kline’s Virtuoso: The Olga Samaroff Story, Frankie Latina’s Modus Operandi, Hayden Baptiste’s Kick Me Down, Valerie Soethe's The Oak Park Story, the late Loni Ding’s Nisei Soldier: Standard Bearer for an Exiled People, and finally former UCB student and wunderkind Tao Ruspoli’s Being in the World – along with its Q&A, are going to be unforgettable. These are films that really express the important search for identity in these contemporary times of unprecedented political social and economic changes – they represent the voice of many who are silenced and also dare to criticize the authorities that would otherwise become dictatorships.
To get a more in depth overview of the program, check out the BVFF website
Berkeley Video and Film Festival 2011 entry link
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