It’s day eight – CLOSING NIGHT (sob)- of the 8th annual Salem Film Fest! Here’s today’s Final lineup – film descriptions are from the Salem Film Fest official site at http://salemfilmfest.com/2015!
Thursday, March, 12, 2015
5:30 pm I AM BIG BIRD: THE CAROLL SPINNEY STORY
PEM Morse Auditorium
I AM BIG BIRD profiles Caroll Spinney, the 80-year-old puppeteer who has been behind Sesame Street’s Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since the show’s first season. Relying heavily on Caroll’s incredible archive of home videos dating back to the 1950s, I AM BIG BIRD captures how the love radiating from Caroll has created a worldwide cultural icon and answers why he can’t say goodbye to the characters he cherishes. His time inside the Bird has taught him about the world and about himself. I AM BIG BIRD will peel away the instances in Caroll’s life that inspired his creation of characters that influenced generations of children. And as the yellow feathers give way to gray hair, it is the man, not the puppet, who will steal your heart.
6:00 pm TEA TIME
CinemaSalem One
For the past sixty years, six elderly friends have gathered once a month religiously to have tea. In these meetings, they are able to briefly ignore the ailments that afflict them by reminiscing about their common past, finding themselves, having fall outs, and trying to demonstrate their validity. Afternoons go by though it seems as if time stands still – but its presence is felt as they slowly disappear.
8:00 pm WALKING UNDER WATER
PEM Morse Auditorum
Alexan, the last compressor diver on Mabul Island near Borneo, teaches 10-year-old Sari everything he knows, from dangerous fishing techniques and the temptations of the tourist economy to wisdom about the underwater world. WALKING UNDER WATER presents the Badjao tribe’s ancient traditions and collective experience as a magical narrative, spinning the urgent pressures and problems they face into a hybrid of fantasy, fiction, and fact. The Badjao people once lived like fish, spending the majority of their time on the water, but with the encroachment of modern civilization that way of life has become nearly extinct.
8:30 pm CLOSING NIGHT AWARDS RECEPTION
PEM Atrium
Jury and audience award winners will be announced at the closing night reception immediately following the final screening of Salem Film Fest at PEM. Location: PEM Atrium – Cash bar.