RJ Film Festival 2010 Entries

Here are the films…

Our film festival this year was a blast. Hundreds of people squeezed in at all angles to watch the 19 shortlisted films from as far afield as Brazil, the Philippines and Mozambique. We don’t know if we’ll run the festival again but meanwhile check out the beauty, talent and humour of the film makers in these 19 videos.

The Gardener and His 21 Flowers by Emil Langballe and Maria Samoto le Dous.

In a country in which 1 million children have lost their parents to AIDS, one Zambian man has tried to make a difference: he has adopted 21 orphans. This was the winning film of the Road Junky Film Festival, partly because of the charisma of the subject but also because the story was so evocative, opening our eyes to another world.

2. One City – the World
by Amelie and Laure Marandet

This film was so well made it took us until the end to realise it was all shot in Lyon. These two sisters found a way to travel without leaving home.

3. Myth and Superstition in Manila
by Janus Victoria

A hypnotic portrayal of the esoteric in daily life in the Philippines, fortune tellers and lucky charms playing key roles in people’s lives as it does across Asia.

4. Ian and Fry’s Excellent Adventure
by Ian Jones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0CUqD5pSjg
We liked this one a lot for the sheer pace and freshness of it. A couple of young guys on their first big adventure abroad.

5. Faux Semblant
by Emilie Porry

This one was quite surreal and utterly engaging. It’s an open window into the visions of a drug-addicted Thai prostitute, lost in the big city vices and remembering her humble country origins.

6. Kids Playing in the Sand
by Sergio San Martin

This one got shortlisted for the pure magic of the camera work alone. A vision of childhood play as kids play football in the Moroccan sand.

7. I had a dream I went to Coney Island
by Sherwin Akbarzadeh

Maybe the most stylish entry in the festival, taking a nostalgic look at the changing world of Coney Island.

8. Follow Your Feet
by Bruno Grafia

A fun animated mash up of the travel spirit.

9. African Circumcision
by Bruno Grafia

Circumcision is still a key rite of passage for boys in some tribes in Mozambique and the festival was about opening windows into other worlds so this one had to be included.

10. Video Letter from the Children of a Brazilian Favela
by Scott Miller

The children of a Brazilian favela were given a video camera to film their own community in an open video letter to the world. What an amazing idea.

11. 789 The Road is Mine
by Mitch Fournial

Hitchhiking is making a comeback thanks to the internet and here we see the spirit of a hitchhiking gathering where travelers came from all over by thumb to meet up in Odessa, Ukraine.

12. Grandfather Skip
by Ken Kaizu

As far as we could work out, this is a Japanese guy’s idea of what life must be like in a village in the south of France. We don’t know why we liked it so much.

13. The Slowest Train
by Peter Kepesita

Moody blues guitar played on a train from Iran to Pakistan; a portrait of the subjective traveler’s world within the cultures he passes. The kind of daffy experience we could totally identify with.

14. Green Peace in Iran
by Peter Kepesita

Set to a jarring, glitchy soundtrack, this entry was put together using footage shot by activists in the street in last year’s bloody protests in Teheran. This was too timely to ignore.

15. 2 Wheels 4 Change
by Francesca Araiza Andrade

Traveling by bicycle the 2 Wheels 4 Change mobile circus is currenty en route to Mongolia, stopping along the way to play in schools and orphanages. You can even go and join them.

16. Imagine
by Eros Achiardi

An Italian man, blind since early adulthood, travels to New York and we’re invited to look through his sightless eyes. How to film a blind man’s experience? The concept alone won our hearts.

17. De Ta Main
by Sylvain Durain

Ghosts of the French colonial past still haunt the present in Togo. There’s a really sinister feeling in this film that oozed quality.

18. Naked Japanese Men Festival
by David Weber

Thousands of drunken Japanese men wrestle in loin clothes for small, sacred objects that bring luck for the next year. The kind of sight the traveler just shakes his head at.

19. Desert Winds
by Otto Stockmeier

The emptiness of the Nevada desert and the winds that sweep it.

Ever been to the Sahara? The Road Junky Retreat will be held in the dunes of the Moroccan Sahara Desert Jan 27 – Feb 2, 2013

There will be meditation and body expression workshops, storytelling, music around the fire, sharing circles all in the good company of 30 other travellers in a Berber camp in the sand dunes.

Check out www.roadjunkyretreat.com for more!

And find the event here on Facebook

Road Junky is getting interactive!

Ever wanted to be a travel writer?

We’ve launched Road Junky Guides – a new site where you can write the Road Junky travel guides and share your tips and insights.

What are you waiting for?

Follow Road Junky on Twitter for live updates @roadjunky

Back to Top - More RJ Film Festival 2010 Entries Articles - Print this page

Comments