Where the Long Tail Ends looks ahead to the 2012 Flyway Film Festival in Pepin and Stockholm, Wisconsin. The fifth annual Flyway Film Festival runs October 18-21, 2012.
The fun begins Thursday evening with the festival’s Kickoff Gala short films showcase. The folks at Flyway have curated a selection of seven shorts to kickoff a signature weekend of film at the Lake Pepin Art and Design Center in Pepin. Taiwan’s Wish Hotel tells the story of the arrival of a new front-desk clerk who disrupts the status quo at the small hotel. Wish Hotel screens alongside Graffiti Angel, This is Only a Test, and others. Admission to the Kickoff Gala shorts is free.
The feature film chosen to open the festival premiers Friday evening at the Widespot Performing Arts Center in Stockholm. Journey to Planet X was a selection at New York’s 2012 Tribeca Film Festival and the 2012 Chicago Underground Film Festival that documents the creation of the eponymous amateur science-fiction film, Planet X — the filmmaking dream of the two scientists/filmmakers Troy Bernier and Eric Swain that star in the film. Journey to Planet X premiers alongside the short film Dinner at the Lake, the festival’s first-ever community film directed by Louie Fisher and Griffin Larson.
Saturday begins early with Free Movies for Kids, a selection of six short films for children from the Kids First! Film Festival. This 85-minute selection of films features such kid-friendly fare as Trashland, where “an embittered but magical trash sculptor encounters a cheerful orphan girl who challenges him to come out of his shell and create the impossible,” and The Listener – a fantasy about a young man who must choose between the acceptance of his peers and fidelity to the special gifts that set him apart from other children. The Free Movies for Kids program is at the Lake Pepin Art & Design Center and begins at 11:00 am.
A feature film making its Flyway debut is Denmark’s Teddy Bear at noon on Saturday at the Widespot Performing Arts Center. Teddy Bear tells the story of professional bodybuilder Dennis whose yearning for true love brings him to Thailand in search of a wife. Dennis’s world is turned upside down when he confronts the culture shock of his visit to Thailand.
Saturday evening’s Dreams of a Life was called “Film of the Week” by the BBC. This British documentary concerns the death of Joyce Vincent, a Londoner whose body was discovered in her home, undisturbed, three years after her death. The film weaves interviews and dramatized scenes from Joyce’s life in an effort to understand how a woman could die in her North London apartment and not be missed for three years. Dreams of a Life will screen at the Lake Pepin Art and Design Center at 7:30 pm.
On Sunday the screenings begin again at 10:00 am with an hour-long group of surprise comedy shorts selected from the 2012 Los Angeles Comedy Shorts Film Festival. Last year’s selection was a blast, featuring work from Scott Thompson of Kids in the Hall fame and from comedy duo Barats and Bereta.
Notable films for Sunday afternoon are 2012 South by Southwest Festival selectionPilgrim Song, telling the story of a young music instructor’s journey of self-discovery on Kentucky’s Sheltowee Trace Trail and the documentary Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself which “tells the story of writer, editor, amateur sportsman and friend to many, George Plimpton.” Pilgrim Song screens at 1:00 pm at the Widespot Performing Arts Center. Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself premiers in Pepin at 2:00 pm at the Lake Pepin Art and Design Center. It was a selection of the 2012 AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs festival.
Sunday afternoon’s closing premier is Janeane from Des Moines, a documentary about a conservative Iowa housewife who confronts the Republican nominees for president while they journey about her home state in hopes of winning the Iowa caucuses. Janeane from Des Moines is directed by Grace Lee and makes its Flyway premier at the Widespot Performing Arts Center in Stockholm at 5:30 pm.
But these highlights are just a few of the films that will be featured during the extended Flyway weekend. Films are screened in Stockholm and Pepin Thursday evening, Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday until 5:30 pm. A full schedule listing all of the festival’s features and shorts is available at the official website of the Flyway Film Festival: flywayfilmfestival.org. At the Flyway website, festival-goers can peruse trailers and descriptions of this year’s selected films, purchase tickets and passes, and follow the latest developments on Flyway panels and discussions.