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Lansing City Pulse Political films gain traction, encourage action By Eric Gallippo A Middle Eastern nation divided by civil war. Chinese children forced to make blue jeans. Ethiopian farmers struggling against unfair trade policies. Workers losing their jobs to outsourcing. These are some of the issues that will be brought to light in film in this year’s East Lansing Film Festival. Celebrating its 10th year, festival founder and president Susan Woods (a City Pulse contributor) says political and issue-oriented films have always played a large role in the festival, but they have grown in popularity in recent years. Media consumers and movie watchers are looking for more to the stories than what is presented in the mainstream news, Woods says. “The media today has whitewashed political issues so greatly,” Woods says. “People want to see the truth from a personal point of view, or from someone who is involved in the issue.” Another development that has increased the number of films and issue-oriented documentaries is the rise of digital media. Citing James Longley’s “Iraq in Fragments” as an example, Woods said some of these films could never have been made before. Longley spent two years digitally filming hundreds of hours of footage in Iraq, which he later edited down to a 94-minute film. Digital video recording has also greatly reduced shipping costs, making it easier for film festivals to bring in more high-profile titles. Filmmaker Kirsten Kelly says directors like Michael Moore have brought the political documentary to the forefront in America as a valid form of entertainment that is also educational. Along with Anne de Mare, Kelly co-directed “Asparagus: A stalk-umentary,” an entry in this year’s Lake Michigan Film Competition. The documentary set in Oceana County, where Kelly grew up, tells the plight of Michigan’s asparagus farmers as the corporate produce giants head to the southern hemisphere for cheaper labor. “I think people are wanting good films about good issues,” Kelly says. “And because it can now make money as an art form, the film industry is paying attention to [documentaries].” Not all of the issue-driven films are documentaries. Diane Cheklich’s Lake Michigan Film Competition entry about outsourcing, “Offshore,” is a fictional feature about American call-center workers who have to train their Indian replacements when their jobs get sent overseas. “It’s a drama that does have a lot of humor it,” Cheklich says. “It’s a serious topic, but doesn’t take itself too seriously.” The director and co-writer from Royal Oak says she chose to make a film about outsourcing because so many Americans are passionate about it and have experience with it. “We’re very sensitive to it here in this state,” she says. But above all, Cheklich says she wants her film to be entertaining and give a face to both sides of the issue. “Ultimately, it’s a human story,” Cheklich says. And it is the human element that Woods says fills the seats and makes these films so successful. “You’re not sitting alone in the dark,” Woods said. “You’re sitting together in the dark.” After the shows, Woods says she can overhear people mulling over the films’ themes as they file out of the theater. “I can’t tell you how many times people have just come up to me and hugged me,” Woods says. “This is the magic of a film fest,” she says. “Issue-oriented films elicit that reaction.” Over the last 10 years, the East Lansing Film Festival has grown from 30 to 100 films showing in six theaters around the city. Those films are not limited to the political. “East Lansing Film Festival is here to bring all kinds of films,” Woods says. “It’s not thematic.” About 7,000 people attended last year’s festival, and Woods is hoping for more this year. The festival runs March 21-29. Following is a sampling of the political films showing. “Offshore” "Offshore” may very well be one of the least popular films at this year’s East Lansing Film Festival, which is not to say it deserves to be. A typical underdog story, the unfortunate thing is that the underdogs are a group of call center trainees from India who are brought to the United States to be trained by the people whom they are replacing. With the Michigan economy struggling as it is, a comedy predicated on the loss of jobs at a Detroit-based furniture company hits awfully close to home. The craft behind “Offshore” is above average for an independent film. Where the film encounters unevenness is with the characterization. While the Indian characters are realistic and sincere, the American characters are cartoonish at best, downright evil at worst. Although co-writer and director Diane Cheklich has said that she wanted to create a story that showed both sides of the issue, the resulting film definitely skews toward the East. From the embattled CEO who consumes antacids as if they are a food group, to the lead trainer who goes from matronly to manipulative in a matter of days, there is little substance to make the Fairfax Furniture employees people viewers can sympathize with. While these characters are reacting out of fear of losing their livelihood, the audience never connects with the characters as fragile, frightened human beings. The lone exception is Bridgette, a Gen-X employee who rolls with the punches and develops a genuine affection for the trainees. While Bridgette is shown as a bridge between the two cultures, the inclusion of her character is not enough to redeem the uneven treatment of the other American characters. Despite its shortcomings, “Offshore” is a compelling story of the power of persistence. With the inevitability of globalization, the film offers a glimpse at the impact and importance of these job opportunities to those fortunate enough to get them. It is the “at our expense” part that makes it hard to digest. — Mary C. Cusack |
