Bus Stop Life

On Lothian Road, while L and I were having our tea between a set of short documentaries (from the Bridging The Gap scheme) and a talk about the current nature of documentaries. I liked five of the six films - probably my favourite was The Racer, about a young woman motorcyclist. Crannog was about an animal hospice but, for me. lacked a bit of exposition. Stretch was better - about a group of trapeze artists and one ageing French guy in particular. I Don't Want to Call It Home was about Turkey, using animation to tell people's stories. Was that for reasons of personal privacy I wondered - effective anyway. Then the Racer and after that Ululation about a girl from a Scottish/Algerian family. Young film-maker so probably excuse the technical failings. Leaving El For, which I didn't get at all, and found the flashing stone effects towards the end physically uncomfortable and shut my eyes, waiting for it to end. An interesting prompt to the question about what is a documentary as it didn't feel like a documentary to me, more a piece of experimental art. Not for me, but no reason for it not to be made and funded with public money. And five out of six on the personal plus side is a good ratio. The talk was billed as a salon which should have implied more discussion than actually happened and highlighted the need for a good chair in such things. By letting the panelists ramble on (only fair, as she herself had rambled to begin with) there was little time for discussion at the end. Too much self-promotion going on on the stage. After that we went across the road to the Odeon for a conventional feature - Searching was very good, commenting on the generation that has grown up online. I won't say much about it so as not to spoil the unfolding story for you. And then back home to Porty, to catch the last of the light on the longest day on the beach. Extra taken at 10:45pm.