Music, dancing and mountaineering

An evening at the Boulder International Film Festival

As I arrived at the Boulder Theater on the night of Feb. 15, I expected to see some influential films. I expected to be entertained, to watch some cinematography from upcoming filmmakers, and to eat some organic popcorn.

I was not expecting to cry for the entirety of the feature “War/Dance,” nor be so afraid of mountains after watching “The Beckoning Silence.”

Friday marked the second day of the Boulder International Film Festival, which showcases independent films for the entirety of the Presidents Day weekend. Films range in topics and style, and I happened to be present at the evening of stirring documentaries.

I arrived at the beginning of Program 6, which began with a short documentary about Otis Taylor called “American Black Banjo Player” that chronicled a recording session for the album “Recapturing the Banjo.”

Taylor appeared on stage after the 8-minute film, backed up by his daughter Cassie on bass and two drummers. He played a two-song set to a clapping crowd and tried to reiterate the point of his film.

“Remember one thing- the banjo came out of Africa,” he said.

Continuing the theme of the power of music, the festival played “War/Dance,” an Academy Award-nominated documentary about a school in northern Uganda that is about to compete in the country’s National Music Competition.

I held on for five minutes before I started crying. I tried to hold tears back, but my lids could only hold so much and soon riddled my shirt with wet spots. I felt lucky I had come by myself.

It is admittedly hard to maintain composure when children under 15 years old tell the stories of how their parents were killed by rebels and of what it feels like to be a child soldier.

The stories of Patongo Primary School students Dominic, Nancy and Rose are intermittently placed throughout the wonderfully crafted film, blending the hopes and dreams of a school in a war-torn area with the struggles of individual members of the class.

The lives of these children weigh heavy from the beginning, all dealing with death and destruction at a young age. The film uses the children as examples of the hundreds of thousands of Ugandans facing the same struggles and peppers the screen with tragic statistics.

The light of this film comes from the triumph of the festival itself, and the joy the children find from their music.

“It is our tradition. Even war cannot take it from us,” said 13-year-old Rose, whose parents were murdered by rebel forces.

As the children competed on stage, the Boulder audience reacted as if it was live. People clapped and cheered as the group competed in the Western choral performance, instrumental section, and triumphant traditional dance. As the members accepted the awards for Best Musician and Best Traditional Dance, audience members screamed as if the children could hear them.

After the film, Ugandan activist Marcellina Otii and members from the organization Team Africa accepted questions from the audience about the film and about the current state of Uganda.

“A part of me that was aching so badly was sorted out tonight,” Otii said.

The theater cleared, and I stayed seated to take a little time to compose myself. I could only hope that the next film, “The Beckoning Silence”, would touch me just as deeply. I stretched my legs after sitting in the stiff makeshift auditorium seating, and made my way back inside for Round Two.

“The Beckoning Silence” is more of a reenactment than a documentary. Joe Simpson, known for his film “Touching The Void,” documents the fatal summit attempt of Eiger by a young Toni Kurtz. His attempt to be the first to scale Eiger’s North Face in 1927 was met with the death of three teammates and himself.

Simpson added commentary while actors were realistically met with the trials of the mountain. The film utilized maps and statistics to describe exactly how hard, how high and how treacherous the climb would have been for Kurtz.

“If you fell, you would zip out into space and you probably wouldn’t touch anything for 5,000 feet,” said Simpson in the film.

As a member of the crew gets pelted on the head by a rock and the men must turn the climb into a rescue mission, the film begins to pick up momentum. Tragedy after tragedy strikes, culminating in an avalanche leaving three dead, and Kurtz dangling from a drop-off in the frigid cold.

When he is 50 feet from rescue, the dangling Kurtz must give up, ultimately trapped by a knot caught in his carabiner.

The film focuses on the tragedy of the deaths of all four men, but also pays homage to what they died for.

“It’s not justifiable by any logical terms,” Simpson said. “That’s probably why you do it.”

Though the film was dramatic and tragic, some audience members and I felt detached from the situation shown.

“The other film ["Touching the Void"] was more intense, but this had more commentary,” said Shannon Ohmart, a 28-year-old paramedic. “It just seemed so long ago that it happened.”

I left the theater emotionally drained after crying and gawking at bodies hanging from icy cliffs. But I will be pleased to return for the rest of the weekend to explore the wide variety of films the Boulder Theater is willing to showcase.

To view a schedule or buy tickets to any of the shows for the rest of the weekend, visit the Boulder Theater’s Web site.

Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Carolyn Michaels at [email protected]