You Must See This Video!

Jay Gladwell wrote on 2/2/2007, 6:00 AM

In this forum, and elsewhere, I have long been an advocate of the idea that "content is king." Taking all else into account, without a well thought out, well executed idea, you have nothing.

One fine example is the film, A Girl Like Me, by seventeen year old Kiri Davis, a young lady from New York City. This young woman has made a superb little film--as good as any I have ever seen--that proves my point. She had no fancy, expensive camera, she didn't have a truck load of lights and grip equipment. There are no dolly shots, no cranes or jibs were used. There are no visual F/X, no eye-popping graphics, no lavish music. The editing was very simple and straight forward. A perfect example of less is more!

What this little film has that the vast majority of films lack is c-o-n-t-e-n-t.

I hope this is not the last we have seen from this truly talented young filmmaker. My hat's off to her!

See her video here.


Comments

Laurence wrote on 2/2/2007, 6:19 AM
Yeah I agree.
TLF wrote on 2/2/2007, 8:31 AM
...and that is why I greatly prefer European films to Hollywood blockbusters.

Iranian and Iraqi films are also excellent. BBC4 used to show fantastic world films every Saturday, but I've not seen one for a while...

Worley
Jay Gladwell wrote on 2/3/2007, 5:20 AM

Doesn't seem to be too much interest here for documentaries.


fldave wrote on 2/3/2007, 5:46 AM
Very well done. Amazing what a great story you can tell in 7 minutes.
mark2929 wrote on 2/3/2007, 7:18 AM
Very Insightful. Very Honest, and it opens doors to understanding. Yes a great film..
Paul_Holmes wrote on 2/3/2007, 7:28 AM
Really well done and sometimes a little sad. It makes you think about the effect of culture. As a white guy it surprised me and saddened me somewhat to see all these black kids thinking white was preferable to black. I would have thought that old slogan, "Black is Beautiful" would have taken hold among the younger generations by now, but I think Madison Ave is still affecting the psyche of all races with, "Here's the ideal person." Unfortunately only about 1% of the population match that ideal (based on youth, looks, race, whatever).
Jay Gladwell wrote on 2/3/2007, 8:16 AM

That's the beauty (irony?) of this little film. It touches the emotions and stimulates one's thinking!

What more can you ask for from a film?


Coursedesign wrote on 2/3/2007, 11:59 AM
Doesn't seem to be too much interest here for documentaries.

I don't think you can measure the appreciation by the number of replies.

Seeing this short takes us out of the forum, then if we get pulled away, we're out of context.

I thought this piece was wonderful as it really SPOKE in those few minutes, and then I had to run before I could put in a word of thanks here.

So THANKS, it was precious and much appreciated.
DGrob wrote on 2/3/2007, 2:24 PM
Wow. Darryl
nolonemo wrote on 2/16/2007, 5:31 PM
I too was very moved by this short film. I was happy to see that the filmmaker is getting some exposure and was interviewed on CNN today.

The interview is on cnn.com's main page right now in the "watch video" section. The filmmaker's name is Kiri Davis
apit34356 wrote on 2/16/2007, 5:59 PM
Coursedesign, I have noticed that you seem to be very familiar with video posting sites . Do you have a top two to five sites that you find interesting and could you post them?

OT: your comments about the movie "Pans Labyrinth" lead me to seeing the movie. Your statement about the movie couldn't be better said. It was a very good movie, but sad that the little girl died.
jrazz wrote on 2/16/2007, 6:10 PM
...your comments about the movie "Pans Labyrinth"...

Thanks a lot Apit... I didn't know that and I had intentions on watching it :)

j razz
apit34356 wrote on 2/16/2007, 6:26 PM
Sorry about that Jrazz! I didn't mean to reveal the story about secret traveling circus act that hijack the little girl and sold her to the Land Barons in Poland, where she labored mining salt and U-238 for the French.

Or was it when she adding salt to her polish "dog" when she dropped her glass of French wine on a circus clown and discovered the clown was her "lost" twin brother.
jrazz wrote on 2/16/2007, 7:11 PM
: )

j razz