Full Frame: Day 4

On Day 4 I woke up two hours later than intended; I was tired!  Watching seven films in one day is exhausting.  Who knew?!  Sunday, the last day of the festival, was just as wonderful as the others, though.

Dawn and I met for coffee in the AM, then walked over to see The Most Dangerous Man In America which started at 10:20am in Fletcher Hall.  What a great film.  Anyone interested in Abandoned Allies needs to see The Most Dangerous Man.  Like Restrepo, it hits on a lot of the same themes in our film (but a much different angle).


The Most Dangerous Man In America is about Daniel Ellsberg, who worked at RAND Corporation (where one of our cast members, Dr. Gerald C. Hickey, also worked).  Ellsberg is known for leaking information known as the Pentagon Papers to a number of newspapers during the Vietnam War.  There are so many similar themes: war strategy, decision-making on a presidential level, political corruption, misinformation, blind ignorance of the American people (or misleading the American people), and so much more.

I'm incredibly thrilled about seeing this film, and genuinely think all of my fellow citizens should see it.  There were several points where audience members cheered and applauded in the middle of the film, thrilled about what was happening on screen.  You get so caught up in rooting for Ellsberg and the truths he was trying to share, that you forget you're in a theater watching a film--that's how great it this film and story are constructed.  I fell in love with Ellsberg and the filmmakers for crafting his story so that we can all experience it.

After the Q&A session with one of the filmmakers, Rick Goldsmith, I nervously introduced myself (after following the flock of people waiting to talk with him out of the theater).  During the Q&A he mentioned that they want to share the film, and are working on ways to do that.  I offered to help him show the film in the Triangle again, and truly hope that happens.

The rest of Sunday was spent watching A Film Unfinished (about a Nazi propaganda film that was never finished), Book of Miri (which I had already seen and was thrilled to watch again), and Waste Land, about an artist who makes a difference in the lives of people who pick recyclables out of the garbage in one of the world's largest landfills.  I was lucky enough to hear the director, Lucy Walker, speak as part of the panel discussion on Friday.

Dawn and I parted ways after the end of the last film, each going back to our own realities with the end of Full Frame having arrived.  I have many more thoughts to share, but this was the conclusion of Day 4, and so I'll keep it relatively short for ya!  What a great day.