“All of my friends and colleagues who have contracted HIV are dying. How can I help?” High school friends, Ric Weiland, Bill Gates, and Paul Allen took their collective love of computers and technology and went on to work together at Microsoft. By day, Ric was a programmer and developer who took pride in what …
Author Archives: davesarrafian
By Rook or Left Hook: The Story of Chessboxing – Film Review | MDFF 2021
The Ultimate Alpha Male Sport It’s the perfect combination of brains, brawn and strategy. Two opponents step into the ring and they begin an 11 round match alternating between 3 minutes of playing chess and 3 minutes of boxing. You can win either by KO, TKO, or checkmate (or you run out of time). Invented …
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Review – Witch Hunt
Amendment XI : No person may practice Witchcraft in the United States of America. In present day America, female witches are publicly burned at the stake and considered a danger to the American way. Martha Goode (Elizabeth Mitchell) runs an underground railroad for witches in her house, through a system of signals she provides food …
MDFF 2021 Review – Australia Burns… Silence of the Land
Mother Nature is pissed off. From July 2019 til early 2020 most of Australia was on fire. Firefighters worked tirelessly to put the fires out, but had the elements working against them. Gusting winds and dry conditions made things worse and over 44 million acres burned, 34 people died and an estimated 1 1 billion …
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Review – Externo
This is just a movie. Joseph (Leandro Taub) is a mysterious man with $2,000 and a dream: to rule the world. He sets out to accomplish this with blackmail, espionage and ingenuity. Through his global network he sets out to manipulate the news and tip the scales of public opinions into his favor and wet …
Doc Edge Festival 2021 Review – YOU ARE NOT A SOLDIER
How much destruction do you need before you claim victory? Andre Liohn is a Brazilian war photojournalist and father who is trying to find a balance in his life where he can both raise his children and expose the horrors of war, beginning in 2011, covering the Libyan Civil war and continuing through the summer …
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Doc Edge Festival 2021 Review – 100UP
Age is just a number. Some people are fortunate enough to live long and healthy lives and few rarely get to tell their story. Whether they are a retired sex therapist, a drummer from a girl band, a Peruvian doctor, or an Austrian refugee, 100UP is a sweet film that follows several centenarians that give …
Doc Edge Festival 2021 Review – The Rossellinis
Alessandro Rossellini was a teenager when his grandfather, filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, died suddenly of a heart attack. Forty some odd years later, he decided to make a documentary about the burden that came from being part of an entertainment dynasty and how that can screw with a person. Alessandro is the only child of Renzo …
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Doc Edge Festival 2021 Review – The Boys Who Said No!
War is hell. Oscar and Emmy-nominated director Judith Ehrlich talks to a group of Vietnam War resistors and through song and story takes us on a journey of how the propaganda machine can be destroyed by just not maintaining it. Tensions were high in the 1960’s with people learning about what was going on in …
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SAFF 2021 Review – Influence
There is power in public relations and the highest bidder gets to manipulate the narrative. Influence is a documentary about just that. We get a story of how a public relations company went from getting the first female PM elected (Margaret Thatcher) by using advertising to exploit the hearts and minds of the people to …