Welcome to F.L.

Two great things about Toronto: the Toronto International Film Festival and HotDocs.
I've missed attending both festival.

But, the nice thing is that Montreal has its own share of film festivals as well. I think the equivalent festivals to those mentioned above would be the Montreal Film Festival and the Montreal International Documentary Festival.

The Montreal Film Festival has been on my radar ever since I moved here, but I did have a chance to watch any films at the festival this year or the last. I found the synopses of the films not quite as inspired as those written up on the TIFF website, so it was difficult for me to be motivated to go to a screening. In the end, I didn't seem to make the festival a priority, but hopefully I will change my mindset in the future.
And there are some films that actually screen at festivals in both cities (including the one that this post is technically about).
The documentary film festival, on the other hand, seemed to sort of work out. I had bookmarked quite a number of films, but due to various commitments (mainly, out of town visitors - whee!), I wasn't able to attend many screenings. To be specific, I only attended one.
I had actually tried to attend another screening, but it was sold out and I didn't get there early enough to get in via the rush line. I think they cut off the line about 10 people in front of me. Phooey.

So the film I actually did get to see is called Welcome to F.L. (official website here). The filmmaker returned back to her secondary school to film and interview students (mainly those in the graduating class). The students talked about life in high school, their experiences, their hopes and dreams. It was a natural fit for my interests.
My review? Ummm, well, it was a good chance to practice my French. I guess I'm glad that I watched the film? I don't think that there was something lost in translation, but I wasn't really blown away by it. There were some little memorable moments, but I couldn't see the big picture. I wasn't sure what exactly the filmmaker was trying to do. There wasn't a story that was particularly compelling.
The Q&A with the filmmaker didn't really help much. Perhaps after watching an entire film in French (although there were English subtitles), my brain was getting a little fatigued as I started tuning out during the Q&A. But I also think that the questions and how the filmmaker responded didn't really help the situation.

Anyway, my big takeaway from attending the screening was that I really do need to take advantage of the wonderful film festivals that the city had to offer. I'll have to put them into my schedule and make them a priority.

Picture courtesy of http://bienvenueafl.com/