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Detta är Ekenäs FilmFests blogg, hemsidan finns på www.ekenasfilmfest.fi


WHEN CELLOPHANE SOUNDS LIKE CINEMA

by Kevin Stewart


Film is essential to life. Each movie I watch is like a gift. The package often sealed in cellophane requires patience in opening. I have clumsy fingers that normally bust into any package with a total disregard. However with packages containing the disk of a movie, I study its edges and using either my hands or my teeth, I tear it open with the precision of a rodent. Like a rat who steals away in the dead of night, I horde myself away into a darkened space and plop my movie in and start to watch.

Humans, having evolved from the oral tradition to letters and the printed word, rely on communications to fuel our consciousness. Then too with a ravenous appetite, we replace some symbols with moving images. We have also began to turn away from large theaters. The range of spaces we now use go from commuter trains where with earplugs we isolation ourselves to couples cuddled on couches in the comfort of warm homes. Such is the avails of technology.

The rodent in me, stays transfixed from the opening scenes all the way to the scroll of credits. I ingest the narrative. All the while, peeping over my shoulders feeling embarrassed for the self serving pleasures I am weary of being discovered. The character's their settings and situations, lure me away in two worlds while watching.... One world is reality... the other fantasy.

Festivals have always been apart of how humans gain and exchange information. From the days of old where the laws of the land came from the town crier mouth to the days of politicians who delivered their messages from raised platforms. From the spectacles of public execution to the joys of a big tent circuses; humans have gathered. Mass gatherings like film festivals offer all communion with a continuing heritage.

Now gorged with food for thought, my belly turned toward the sky, the rodent-like me, gets up to think back on the movie just watched. I stare into the darkness. Listening to the thunderous imaginations in my head. I wish to talk to others about the film.

Every since the early days when Mr. Murbridge presented the galloping horse to the first motion picture created by Thomas Edison in 1889, the world has been fascinated by cinematic. Then from the post war years finally the twilight of the 20th century the whole world began to engage in the production of films. It was no accident that from Stockholm to Helsinki film making would eventually find a home in Ekenas Finland. It was no accident that while an American who loves films found himself in Ekenas also found himself drawn toward the Ekenas Film Festival 2016.

The rodent is never satisfied. His belly is never full. He often engages in binge consumption. One movie after another. One entire season of a televised show, he stuffs himself. The rodent in me always finds the theater like a kitchen.

Having been feed on a steady diet of images, the lover of art can find information on any corner of the world. Upon my arrival to Ekenas, I soon spotted Bio Forum. Being the lover of theater, I also located Karelia. These were the locations where the bulk of the films in the festival would be shown.

A Rodent relies on his inherent night vision and keen sense of smell. They do not need to read to know that the contents of a package is edible. They rely on smell to find their way around.

It takes a generation of shared information to become the affirmatives for a society. Some signs have become universal among all peoples of the world. Narrative is one. I found that I no longer needed to understand the dialogue in a film in order to read the moving images. A familiarity with the narratives being conveyed in a cinema structure would have to suffice me. The Ekenas Film Festival became my laboratory. I would later come to trust my instinct.

Rodents have survived along with mankind for a millennium. They look out for their own kind . They share information so that others can feed.

I urge all who love film to trust their instincts. To continue to support film festivals such as the Ekenas film festival. There we gather in large theaters and gain information. Where we can return to our homes, our work places and tell others of what we saw....tell of what we ate and continue to evolve our species as only we can.

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