Resting Places at the Kansas International Film Festival
Resting Places, the documentary film about roadside memorials made by Melissa Villanueva makes its Kansas City debut at the Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF).
I was talking with Melissa recently and she was very excited, telling me that her film is scheduled to be the closing film of the festival, (on Thursday Sep 20, 2007) which is quite an honour.
Resting Places includes an interview with Kansas City resident and Irish singer/songwriter/musician, Eddie Delahunt where, in O’Dowd’s Irish pub, he talks about impromptu roadside memorials in Ireland.
But never mind Eddie Delahunt, the film has Liam Neeson doing the narrating. Liam world superstar with the voice of liquid gravitas Neeson.
See the Resting Places trailer and read my own experiences of roadside memorials.
See a photo of Eddie in Resting Places being filmed in O’Dowd’s on the Plaza.
Melissa and I discussed the temporary memorial erected last year in Prairie Village, Kansas at the junction of Belinder and Somerset. As it was a cyclist who had been killed, the memorial was in the form of a bicycle and became quickly politicized before being removed.
The Film Festival’s tag line on MySpace is delightful: Don’t Let the Kansas Part Fool You!
And that sentiment is further explained by letting us know that as well as being dedicated to bringing premier independent, art-house, avant garde, and ..ary[sic] films from around the world to Kansas City:
KIFF also exists to show folks that Kansans aren’t a bunch of yahoos. Intelligent and unafraid of thumbing our nose at less evolved people who make a lot of intolerant noise in our fair state, the Kansas International Film Festival shows socially and culturally diverse films – as well as entertaining flicks – in a comfortable and welcoming environment.
The 7th Kansas International Film Festival is based out of The Glenwood Arts Theatre in Overland Park, Kansas, and runs September from 14 - 20, 2007.
Last year the KIFF screened the KC debut of the Irish-Romanian movie What Means Motley? (see Review). The schedule for 2007 has not yet been announced but I’ll keep an eye to see if there are any more Irish-related films scheduled for this year.
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