Category: Buffalo Niagara Film Festival

BNFF11 REVIEW: White Knuckles [2010]

Jared Mobarak

“Why don’t you give me something to be joyful about?” Love can seem so easy from the outside. Two people: completely enamored with each other, their smiles easy, serene, and unmistakably genuine. You look at them and think 40-years of marriage would be pure bliss, a harmonious dance that could never last as long as it should. But we forget that behind each joyful façade lurks the reality of who we are. A relationship takes work and the longer it spans the more care is necessary to keep it viable.…

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BNFF11: The 5th Annual Buffalo Niagara Film Festival Recap

Jared Mobarak

Another year—another Buffalo Niagara Film Festival complete. 2011 was definitely an evolution for Bill Cowell’s brainchild, bringing in the most filmmakers to promote their work I’ve seen, the inclusion of a new venue with Niagara Falls’ Rapids Theatre, and the first ever ‘Star’ on the BNFF Walk of Fame. The ten-day event smartly coincided with the end of the Buffalo Sabres’ hockey season rather than the start of a playoff run like last year; saw some cold days, but no snow; and did whatever it could to increase audience attendance.…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Der Sandmann [The Sandman] [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“Ears need air at night” What would you do if you woke up one morning to find sand in your bed? You haven’t gone to the beach and you didn’t do anything at night besides dream a very realistic dream with sun and sights. Your boss at a local stamp collecting shop made mention of seeing granules around the front desk—saying he’d like to kick the knee of whomever is bringing in such dirt—your doctor gives you a clean bill of health, and your shrink thinks you’re sharing a nicely…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Uncle Louie [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“I crave something cold and chocolate” When you look at the poster for R. Allen Russell’s Uncle Louie, it’s hard not to imagine an overwrought drama featuring a Godfather-esque mob boss presiding over his subjects. The opening scene plays up the stereotype as Benny (Craig Ferriera) takes a stroll through the California streets of his home, a Chihuahua stuffed inside his jacket front. Italian-isms such as this comedic choice of characterization populate the whole of the film, making it more parody than drama although it’s surprising level of introspection and…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Hope, Ghana [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“I went to Africa because someone invited me” With everything going on in the world and the 2008 recession in full force, five Seattle-based travelers decided to journey to Ghana, Africa, raising funds to support two schools and build a borehole well in a village with desperate need for clean drinking water. Zheng Wang is not only one of the five, but also the director of a documentary called Hope, Ghana, spanning the experience from preparations in the US to the fruits of their labor. Screening at the Buffalo Niagara…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: The Frost [2009]

Jared Mobarak

“What is your bloody wish!” I am not familiar with Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen or his play “Little Eyolf”, on which writer/director Ferran Audí based his film The Frost. Doing some quick research shows that he was a man who wrote about morality and questions of love and loss, so I can assume Audí instilled his spirit since those aspects play a huge role in the film. Viewing it at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, the story actually reminded me a lot of William Shakespeare’s “MacBeth”, feelings of guilt and…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Nickel City Smiler [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“I am not a Hollywood actor” To a certain extent, I’ve always been of the mind that America needs to start worrying more about its own people before trying to save the world. Our God complex gets the better of us and we bring refugees over by offering empty promises of better lives and safety for their families while our own impoverished population doesn’t even have such security. However, I’m also very much for keeping our word and if we are going to go to a place like Burma to…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Adventures of an Earthling [2010]

Jared Mobarak

“E.T. came home … to Pine Bush. You can too!” It’s tough to make a documentary about alien encounters because the subject has been done so many times before. With that said, Bill Hussung somehow finds a way. Co-directing with his wife Mishara Canino-Hussung, Adventures of an Earthling, which screened at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, finds its voice in the form of a mother’s belief in seeing a football field sized spacecraft when exploring the hotbed of extraterrestrial activity that is Pine Bush—the location of her family’s summer home.…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Rideshare [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“I gave up Jesus for Lent” After watching a screening of the new film Rideshare at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival, I had two thoughts. One: the camera on my Blackberry is HORRIBLE in comparison to the amazing clarity of the iPhone HD 4’s this film was shot in its entirety on, even blown up to theatrical screen size; Two: very funny, cute, and improvised comedies can be made on an ultra-low budget of $34,000 when the bloated fiscal behemoths Hollywood churns out have more of a chance at failure…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Heart of Now [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“The bottom line—I don’t feel good about what happened” Very near the beginning of Heart of Now, a young girl, Monica (Mary Elise Hayden), makes the quasi-pithy, half-serious/half-joking statement that all women need a man who will give them ‘loads of intensity and massive support’. Couldn’t this observation expand further to blanket all of humanity, though? Don’t we all need that mix of feeling and security to go about our daily lives with meaning? Well, if we are to use Zak Forsman’s lead Amber (Marion Kerr) as an exemplification for…

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BNFF11 REVIEW: Zombie Bankers [2011]

Jared Mobarak

“Welcome to America, prick” And now comes the kind of review I hate to write. Being as independent oriented as the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival is, you will have to see some local productions if you plan on taking on a large portion of the schedule. What happens, though, is that oftentimes the amateur work shown in this category just doesn’t come close to the production, budget, or talent of its more polished brethren. I know how much hard work went into the horror comedy Zombie Bankers and I applaud…

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