films + kids + sports = fun!

Wow!
Sixteen films in two hours for only five bucks!
Totally awesome!
True, I had already seen three of them, two last night and one at the Savannah Film Festival. Still, it was good to see them again, as well as 13 that were new to me!
One of the coolest things about this film festival are all the sports which are highlighted. Plus, with the advent of easy to use handhelds, anyone can, and will, make a movie of something true to life.
Which sports?
Biking, skateboarding, surfing, swimming, soccer!
"Submarine Sandwich" even featured several sports that would have been left out! Slices of a catcher's mitt and a boxing glove and a football as meat, playing cards as cheese, even a purple Slinky as the red onions! Very cute bun, too!
The biking crowd were represented in the same crazy one from last night as well as another one which was almost as crazy. The difference? "Dark Woods BMX" featured single riders in Wales who were not endangering anyone else. Both should have come with disclaimers: Don't try this at home, kids.
Snow skiing - with people only - were featured in two films. One was about the one-legged skier, seen last night. Very nice to see it again in this audience of children!
The other starred folks in light suits, skiing in the dark down the snowy slopes in Alaska. "After Glow" was akin to a laser show with filled-in graphics - awesome!
Surfing also had two films, though with different emphasis. In "The Right", it was all about the waves and trying to catch the right one the right way. "Sammy The Explorer", though, focused on a little boy who wanted to know everything in his world. One day, some "island people" came and he watched them surf...while they were also constructing a fresh water source for his village. After their task was done, they left. But Sammy's world was just getting started!
"The Scared Is Scared" featured swimming, of all things! This was a story of Asa Bear and Toby Mouse, in the words of a little girl. Her real message? When you feel afraid, think of things that make you happy because hose things scare "the scared" away. Nice story, too! I had seen this one at the Savannah Film Festival and liked it then, too.
Girl power was the message in the skateboarding film "Gnarly In Pink"! Calling themselves the Pink Helmet Posse, these three middle-school-aged girls even bring their pink ponies and wear their pink and purple tutus when they're taming the concrete ocean! I really enjoyed this one! It made me miss my nieces Dylan and Riley in San Diego - they're roller-derby girls, ya know!
Another film I totally enjoyed was "Bounce - This Is Not A Freestyle Movie"! Soccer, baby, done all over the world with all kinds of people! Such great tunes, too! This video is guaranteed to lift your spirits! The guy was so enthusiastic, he reminded me very much of Matt Harding, who had again been brought to mind during the Savannah Film Festival's "Globe Trot" video. Hooray!
The third film that I truly enjoyed was "A Toy Train In Space". Why? Well, it tickled my scientific funny bone! Here, the dad attached his son's favorite toy, Stanley, to a weather balloon and sent it skyward, using GPS to chart its flight. Great video! Great science, too!
"Rabbit Island" didn't focus on any one sport. Rather, it preached about the importance of leaving a place to be wild, forever. Where better than this Michigander island in Lake Superior? Never developed, the owner intends it to stay that way. Come to canoe or swim or hike, but expect no amenities. Beautifully filmed video!
What next to say?
Oh, yes! Dogs and cats and bears, oh, my!
Those animals were the stars of several of the films!
"Sun Dog" was about Conga and her love of chasing after her master as he skied the mountains in Chile. Not to be outdone, the felines were represented in "Didga the Skateboarding Cat". Amazing! You can see the dog and the cat for yourself!
"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, 3" was about a singing snail that had gotten locked out of the house. For real!
(smile)
Well, not really real.
But you could tell a little girl and her dad had fun making this!
The folks at National Geographic had fun working with a bear in the Gobi Desert. "Gobi Grizzly" addressed the plight of these ancient-lineage beasts that are down to a population of less than forty. This arid and mountainous region is the only place they exist on Earth.
Don't think there aren't endangered species locally. One of the coolest things to come from the festival this year is a compilation of the "Endangered & Threatened Species" for Georgia's Coastal Plain.

The research for the flora and fauna on the list came from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, Southern Environmental Law Center, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Amazing work, y'all!
Thank you for bringing this to the attention of all of the festival attendees this year! Believe me, that's a big impact. Now that this film festival actually has a following, maybe the message preached will reach a wider audience than the choir of sixty or so that came out for the first few years.
Keep singing that song!
Mother Earth needs every voice to be raised!
Thanks for joining me today, Carolyn!