Bergen International Film Festival

As a member of 'Kinosonen' - the Cinema Zone - I was chosen to receive a VIP pass to the festival. I didn't go there until the third day but after that I saw everything I could. During five days I saw 21 movies. 22 if you count the one I saw twice.

• Sex/Life in LA
• Cycles of Porn
• The Brooklyn Connection
• For Levende og Døde
• The Norwegian Short Film Competition
• Crash Landing (x2)
• Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
• The Boys of Baraka
• Barnet
• Lost Children
• 13
• Up and Down
• The Peacekeepers
• The Women of Mount Ararat
• Skilpadder Kan Fly + Bawke
• The District
• Hundevakten
• Dear Wendy
• Murderball
• Medicine Under the Influence
• Gudenes Kamp

From Germans making documentaries about sex in LA, young American boys being sent to Kenya, the UN fighting for peace without fighting at all and the American and Canadian rugby teams in the Paralympics.

From Belgium to France, the Czech Republic to Russia, via Hungary and Kurdistan to Mexico. Back to Iraq, detour to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and straight to Canada and then the US. It's been quite a ride.

I think the one I liked the most was Up and Down taking place in Prague. It was sort of split in two with all the stories coming together in the end. The one half of the story wasn't much fun but the other was hilarious. The people behind me loved the animated The District from Hungary but I didn't like it as much. Then Russian Hundevakten / The Graveyard Shift (translated from Norwegian it would be Dog Watch, wonder who let them call it that...). Completely wasted.

The Mexican Gudenes Kamp / Battle in Heaven, which was the very last film I saw during the festival left me speechless. Not because it was particularly good. I just didn't understand what it was I'd been watching. It was weird, not very entertaining, just a few naked people walking around. Standing still. Lying still. When it ended I just sat there... wondering why on earth anyone would make a film like that. I didn't even understand what it was about.

That last day, Wednesday, I also went to a Panel Debate following the Canadian Crash Landing. I'll be writing something about that later, it deserves a post on its own, not to say a double page in the country's biggest newpapers. More on that later.

It's been a nice week. A lot of movies. A lot of people. I really hate to admit it but it was pretty cool have to a pass to get in wherever I wanted, not having to stand in line to buy tickets. Once when I was going to see a movie, the guy checking tickets was going to check mine, I showed him my pass and he just went "Oh! Yeah you just go on up." I got to touch upon the oh so fragile feeling of being seen as a little more important than most people just because I had that little card.

However... there was something that struck me. Although there was a row of seats reserved for VIPs and the press (I never sat there), that was it. If you're an 'important person' around here, you're not treated very differently from anyone else. You don't get to cut in the line, there's no special places for you to be, if you're the director talking about your movie you just get someone to walk you there or you stand outside with people handing out notes saying there's a debate later.

We're all the same. It just gets a little easier when people think you're someone who matters. And I pretended to be one of those for a few days. It was interesting. But rather than feeling more important than anyone else I just had the feeling I was pretending to be something I'm not.

I don't like to pretend.

Wonderful week though. Very very hectic with five movies a day for four days. There were some I wish I could have seen but I didn't manage to work it into the schedule. With five theaters and 300 shows it took a little planning to work it out. I saw much good stuff and some real bad but I'm pretty happy with my choices. I wanna go again!