Cultural Compass
Downtown Filmmaking Jewel
FILMGATE, Downtown’s Media Center, offers classes, festivals, talks, everything to create and enjoy movies, especially the short film variety.
I attended FILGATE’s Short Documentaries Festival at Silverspot Cinema — Downtown’s movie paradise. Six short films were presented, and the winner was… The purpose, one suspects, is not really winning but surrendering to the irresistible urge to tell a story. For the audience, the irresistible urge to watch the story and be guided to destinations down the street or the wilderness.
In other words, a group of talented filmmakers set out to portrait Miami and its South Florida surrounding in a kaleidoscopic tour, from the Kafkaesque pursuit to prove or disprove a pollination theory around the Ghost Orchid dating back to Charles Darwin. The theory posits that the rare orchid was pollinated by a butterfly with a tongue more or a less a yard long. Deep in remote Florida swamps, a team of researchers and photographers made a new discovery that upends what we thought we knew about the Ghost Orchid, one of the world’s most iconic flowers, and how it reproduces.
The Jury
Among others, Billy Corben was in the jury — yes, the Cocaine Cowboys documentarian. They selected the 16-minute documentary Ghost Orchid the runner up. On third place came a more Miamian adventure, documenting the race to make the largest croqueta in the annals of human civilization. What? The team behind the effort was running against time. The monumental fritter had to be produced in time for Croqueta Day — an official designation. And to make the film official not one but two mayors participated, Francis Suarez, the City of Miami Mayor, and Daniella Levine Cava, Miami-Dade County Mayor. Perhaps not Oscar performances, but enthusiastic. The educational component of the flick was lexical: Croqueta, the finger length cylinder-shaped roll that usually contains minced ham, ground meat or fish, derives from the French croquette, which goes back to the 17th century. (An early recipe prescribes a filling of meat, truffles, marrow, breadcrumbs, and cheese with egg, then fry in lard.) What did Mayor Suarez think of the philosophical overtones of the croqueta’s race to the book of records? Well, he posed ponderous, “I have not given much philosophical thought to the matter.” Did they manage to create the giant fritter? Of course, this is Miami!
The Winner
Where is RogerTHAT is a biographic take of a charismatic mechanic who turns into a plethora of characters by night: fashion designer, videographer, model, dancer, and philosopher. A character in his own colorful movie until the Pandemic upended the world, and the free spirt found himself without his stage. The reclusion the Pandemic imposed on most humans was no match for Roger. In a powerful scene we see him shaving off his Afro, shaving off his beard, skinning off his extravagant persona in preparation to join the army and be, as the old advertisement had it, the best that he could be. He will use the Army as a trampoline for politics, said the film creators. Roger is eying a run for mayor of West Palm Beach. Eventually, Governor of the Great State of Florida.
On a less satirical note, Open Dialogues, a black and white conversational documentary filmed with two cameras about homosexuality and transsexuality, the trials and tribulations of coming out after a life of lies. In the words of the one of the transgender protagonists, living a lie was such a painful experience that led to various suicidal attempts.
And a moving account of homelessness in Overtown won the Audience Award: Road to No Where, by Daniel Varela, a young Miami Herald photographer.
FILMGATE
The official word: “Our mission is to cultivate talent and promote innovation from within Miami’s evolving film and media industry.” One way to do it is joining their FILMAKER BOOTCAMP. Find more info here.
Reminder
Supporting local cultural organizations is doing your part in making Downtown a better place.
