Homer Documentary Film Festival

This is one of those quirky things that seems so "Homer". For the sixth year now the Homer Theatre has had a Documentary Film Festival, bringing in some off-beat, somewhat radical films. Five days running there are shows at 2, 4, 6, & 8 p.m., an impressive achievement for a small town like this. I'd heard of it before, but had never really paid attention to it since we are not big movie viewers. When I got an email from the college about the shows, though, I opened it up and checked out what was playing and discovered that I was interested in seeing four of the eight films being shown--an absolutely impressive percentage for me--and the rest of my family had some "must-sees" on their lists as well.

Part of the reason I don't watch many movies is that they take time that I don't feel like I have to give up, but Denver was adamant he wanted to see Food, Inc., and I was curious about it myself. It was one of those movies that would be better not to be eating while watching, but the content--an insiders view of our food industry--was shocking, disturbing and well worth the time. Halfway through Denver handed me the popcorn, and as I put him to bed that night he had tears streaming down his face as he recounted a child who died because of food industry bloopers, and the company wouldn't even apologize to the parents.

It Might Get Loud featured three generations of electric guitar superstars, and I knew Aurora would want to see it when I noticed The Edge of U2 was one of the guitarists profiled. For a few years now U2 has been Aurora's one and only band, and she can't get enough of them. It was a perfect fit for Doug to go with her to see It Might Get Loud as he is a music afonciando himself. It was a special 10 p.m. Saturday night showing, so I didn't get a chance to talk to them about it until the next morning. When we finally caught up, Doug regaled me with highlights from the movie for 45 minutes.

This is one of those neat things that makes Homer so 'Homer'. People were walking in and out with their bowls for the popcorn special, a tent was set up outside, clusters of people were hanging out chatting before and after shows. It had a festive feel to it. I am bummed that we only got to see a few of the movies we wanted to: time did its crunch. Yet now I have one more festival to look forward to each year in Homer!