• Learn more about Chad and Darin Carpenter's "Frost Bite."
FAIRBANKS - The film industry is growing in Alaska, and Alaskans are doing their part, as seen in the sixth annual Fairbanks Film Festival. The juried festival, which will be held Saturday at Pioneer Park, showcases the work of Alaska filmmakers in such categories as documentary, short films and animation, said Anna Gagne-Hawes, program associate with the Fairbanks Arts Association.
Juror Katie Sandstrom, who worked for years in the film industry at Sundance, in Las Vegas and in Los Angeles, has judged the Fairbanks festival four times and said the quality of the productions improves every year.
Heather Taggard and Kathryn Harris were the other two jurors.
Twenty films were submitted for the 2011 festival. Documentary category winner “About Face: the Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw,” from Mary Katzke/Affinity Films Inc., impressed the jurors.
The film’s backstory begins in 1980, when Gwendellin Bradshaw’s mother threw the then-9-month-old girl into a campfire. Bradshaw was given a 50-50 chance to live but survived, although badly scarred both physically and emotionally. Her mother, who suffered from mental illness, disappeared.
Filmmaker Mary Katzke lived next door to Bradshaw in Anchorage as the girl was growing up. Bradshaw wrestled with her own mental problems, as well as substance abuse, and lingering questions over her mother’s actions. When she was in her 20s, Bradshaw decided she needed to find her mother and learn the truth. “About Face” was filmed over five years as Bradshaw searched for her mother, looking for answers, healing and redemption.
“There’s no person alive who who doesn’t strive to be loved by their mother,” Katzke said. “That’s a very universal need, even though her mother did horrible things to her.”
“It was intense,” said Sandstrom, who also praised the film’s editing, sound and other technical aspects.
“About Face” is a valuable educational tool about mental illness and suicide prevention, Taggard said.
“That film completely exemplifies the power of a documentary film,” she said. “It’s not a fairy tale, this is not a drama, it’s someone’s real life.
“I cried a lot during the film.”
The documentary has been shown in festivals around the world. Katzke, based in Anchorage, said she is thrilled it is being shown in Bradshaw’s home state.
“She is a heroine you’d love to root for,” Katzke said. “She puts her heart on her sleeve. She tries so hard. She faces obstacle after obstacle and not only survives but thrives. She’s that success story that everyone hopes will happen to someone who’s going through hard times.”
Katzke said her filmmaking goal is “to raise awareness about a particular issue in a thoughtful and compelling way.” Another of her films, “Survive and Thrive: Hope, Laughter and Truth,” about breast cancer survivors, won third place in the documentary category.
“Frost Bite,” the winner of the featured film category, was created by Chad Carpenter, the cartoonist behind “Tundra,” and his brother, Darin. Sandstrom and Taggard said they liked the film simply because it was fun to watch. Sandstrom also gave “Frost Bite” high marks for excellent use of Alaska scenery.
“The whole film was so artistic; the comedy was outrageous,” Taggard said, although she noted that she found the pacing uneven. “I laughed so hard I surprised myself — and took a 30-minute nap in the middle.”
The overall Committee Choice winner will be announced Saturday.
Contact staff writer Julie Stricker at 459-7532.
IF YOU GO
What: Fairbanks Film Festival
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, awards ceremony followed by a showing of all winning films
Where: Pioneer Park Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts Theater
Cost: $5
Info: http://fairbanksarts.org/
2011 Winners DOCUMENTARY
1st Place: About Face: The Story of Gwendellin Bradshaw, Mary Katzke/
Affinity Films, Inc
2nd Place: Alaska: Life on the Edge: Santa Claus House, Peter Van Nort
3rd Place: Survive and Thrive, Mary Katzke/Affinity Films, Inc.
Honorable mention: Arctic Son Fulfilling the Dream, Tom Irons
Short:
1st Place: Bargains Carnival, Hannah Semock
2nd Place: Could’ve Been More, Matt Jardin
3rd Place: U.S. Army Alaska, Brehl Garza
Committee Choice:
* (to be announced)
Feature
1st Place: Frost Bite,
Chad and Darin Carpenter
Music Video/Animation:
1st Place: My Baby’s Dirty — Steve Brown and the Bailers, Lorien Nettleton
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