 Filed By: Gabriel Ponniah, Editor In Chief ATX Screen Scene It’s tempting, when thinking about the awesome force of nature, to look at the towering flora and fauna which humble and ground our place in the world, but such inspection can be equally rewarding in the opposite direction. As much as our world around us is filled with struggle and intrigue, so too are the worlds orders of magnitude smaller than our own. “MicroKansas — Tribulation” sets its sights on the fascinating goings on of the Great Plains ecosystem, focusing on the drama unfolding right outside your door. The macro photography on display here is wonderful, offering unique views of insects, small reptiles and amphibians, and the like. But make no mistake—the crowning achievement of this film is the remarkable opera of the garter snake and its defiant meal of choice. Not unlike the famous chase sequence as an iguana attempts to outrun a nest of vipers in Blue Planet II, this showcase of a frog escaping what appears to be a slow and certain demise in the belly of this snake is riveting. It’s the kind of material that inspires a hearty fist-pump at the word “cut!” The four-and-a-half minute short contains enough intrigue to hold the attention of an invested audience, and its presentation is remarkably professional given the apparent small scale of the production. It would no-doubt prove familiar to nature documentary veterans, who would almost certainly be interested in seeing the remainder of the piecem, for “MicroKansas — Tribulation” is only the first chapter in KU graduate Bobby Obermite’s larger vision for this project. Hopefully he can build upon this small, but not insignificant success in the future.
 Filed By: Gabriel Ponniah, Editor In Chief ATX Screen Scene Among the more thrilling of the documentaries at #AniFab was Justin Zimmerman’s SMART. The project follows the members of Los Angeles’ Specialized Mobile Animal Rescue Team as they recount their humble beginnings, regale their hopes for the future, but most of all, rescue the hapless pets and strays of SoCal—no matter the size or situation. They’re the last lifeline for many a suffering animal, serving the community in a manner more effective than other emergency response units. Put simply, and to make an animal-themed allusion to a certain serpentine sequel: “when all else fails, they don’t.” The SMART team, helmed by charismatic leader Armando “Nav” Navarrete, perform acts of derring-do on a day-to-day basis, and the documentary does well to capture the energy of their mission. Once it starts, it doesn’t let up for all 73 (and a half) of its action-packed minutes. In this way, it’s similar to a day on-call with the team—an experience Zimmerman knows intimately. While answering questions at the screening, Zimmerman spoke about his experience shooting the film, and I had the chance to follow up on the discussion with other attendees over dinner. Though a veteran of the doc game, Zimmerman understood there was something different about this project from the start. While this was his first animal-related feature, he took to the challenge like a fish to water (or a horse to the sky). He told the story of an early experience on assignment when he nearly dropped his camera to help the SMART team as they saved a cat from a tree. Such is the effect Nav has on folks: his passion is contagious. Indeed, the standout element of the doc lies in its central character. Justin and I discussed the importance of such over our KBBQ, citing examples like Free Solo as documentaries whose greatness stems from the intrigue and impact of a singular subject. Alex Honnold and Nav share more than just an uncommon affinity for heights. Their dogged pursuit of a dangerous goal is inherently compelling, and SMART smartly centers its narrative around a profile of Nav’s persistence, rounded out with thematically resonant background on his personal life, as well as team testimonials to these ends. Perhaps it’s Zimmerman’s respect for documentary filmmaker Errol Morris (an interesting character in his own right) which sowed this instinct in him. His work certainly follows Morris’ unnarrated example, using various interviews cut together with an abundance of field footage to tell a cohesive story with a light touch. The strength of the doc manifests further, as Nav and his motley crew demonstrate their unique aptitude by staging remarkable save after save, each executed with the reckless abandon required to embark on such risky maneuvers and just enough expertise to see them through to completion. Stitching together all manner of footage—handheld, GoPro, locked-off interviews—lends the project a sense of completeness, assuring the viewer that they’re seeing the totality of SMART’s endeavor, seamlessly negotiated in the editing room. The result: a fun, sturdy, and engaging look into a fundamentally exciting (though understandably taxing) part of LA’s ecosystem. And who knows—Errol Morris’ breakout hit Gates of Heaven helped springboard him to an Academy Award in short order. And like Zimmerman’s SMART, it was his first foray into animal stories.
 Filed By: Gabriel Ponniah, Editor In Chief ATX Screen Scene The love we share for our pets is simple, elegant. It’s freely given and freely received, and even when it isn’t exactly reciprocated (cat owners know this well), the result is no worse than endearing indignation. Love between humans on the other hand, is somewhat more complicated. To express romantic feelings for another is a leap of faith, and one which carries considerable social and emotional risk. So then, it’s no wonder these two loves so often entangle themselves in one another; whose pet hasn’t served as de facto wingman when duty calls? The narrative short Furball imagines this dynamic, but with a twist: we watch a man flounder in pursuit of his neighbor’s affection, all through the eyes of his house cat. Owing to their twelve-to-sixteen-hour daily sleep regimen, cats are often anthropomorphized as lethargic, unconcerned, and judgemental. Any delicate item in a precarious place isn’t long for this world in a cat owner’s house. Their mischievous curiosity is well-documented and therefore used as characterization in storytelling. Here, director Jason Rogerson utilizes this familiar trope when writing Furball’s inner monologue, which provides the short with its light-hearted, quirky tone. While it’s not strictly necessary to move the plot along, it colors the atmosphere while fleshing out the feline lead actor’s performance. Every character has a purpose, and multiple simultaneous threads maintain tension throughout—efficient filmmaking at work. Ultimately, Furball makes for a fun romp told with workmanlike precision. The sturdy narrative employs familiar, yet effective twists, and the editing, pacing, and tone round out the project into a solid six-minute short. It’s no surprise the execution comes with such ease to Rogerson here, as his NYU education and sketch comedy chops have been thoroughly honed over the course of the last decade. Perhaps he’ll again set his sights on the intertwined relationships between humans and their pets into future projects, possibly for his third feature film.
 Filed By: Gabriel Ponniah, Editor In Chief ATX Screen Scene From 1415 to 1578, Portugal enjoyed its Golden Age. During this time, Portuguese explorers discovered an eastern route to India, and became the first European power to begin expanding into a colonial empire. The increase in expeditions through uncharted waters meant many young men never returned home to their mothers and daughters, giving sorrowful meaning to an old Portuguese word derived from the Latin for solitude. In Brazil, January 30th is dedicated to its uniquely melancholic tinge. That word, “Saudade,” is perhaps the only way to describe the situation of the last two Northern White Rhinoceros, mother and daughter, as they face the patient, unyielding approach of extinction. Saudade brings us alongside filmmaker Sandra Duarte Cardoso to Kenya’s Ol Pejeta Conservancy, where rhinos Najin and her daughter Fatu live with caretaker Zack and a 24-hour armed security detail. Poaching is a fact of life for conservationists, particularly in Africa. The inhumane greed which spurs the rich to covet rhino horns or elephant tusks has decimated many populations of endangered animals, and the “Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct in the Wild)” Northern White Rhinos are one such species. Through breathtaking photography, we see the pained solitude they live in, and we understand the unshakable bond between humans and nature through Zack’s unyielding dedication towards Najin and Fatu. As the film instructs on the horrors of poaching and its specific destruction wrought on Ol Pejeta, a series of headstones tell the tales of so many beautiful Northern White Rhinos brutally taken from this world in service of evil delights. It’s an affective scene alone, but the filmmakers’ use of sound and editing wring yet more tears from the audience. Even still, Saudade manages a hopeful ending, as inspiring grins on young faces breathe hope into the future, that perhaps the younger generation might better preserve, better defend nature and our deep-seated bond with it. The feeling of saudade is principally a longing, but one which often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of said longing might never be had again. We may never again live in a world with Northern White Rhinos, and we are worse for it. But we may yet cling to the hope that future societies, armed with an awareness of and respect for the natural world, won’t incur such a senseless loss again.
 Filed By: Gabriel Ponniah, Editor In Chief ATX Screen Scene AniFab 2021 was brimming with projects which took aim at the pervasive stray problem across the world, so it’s no surprise that even the wilds of western Tennessee are overrun with more dogs than local shelters and pounds can handle. Enter: Amber Reynolds. She and the entire Reynolds clan, heartbroken in the face of rampant mistreatment and euthanizations of dogs in the area, have taken it upon themselves to fight the problem with everything they’ve got. Although tackling the many heads of that problem can certainly feel like a losing battle at times, the family fosters more than enough heart and spirit to keep on keeping on. Amber’s Halfway Home follows its titular wife, mother, and savior to western Tennessee stray dogs as she rescues 19 such animals in a single day’s work. Through her journey, we observe the true breadth of her efforts, including shuttling dogs across multiple states in pursuit of their forever home. What’s most resonant about this among other stray dog stories is the genuine pathos of it all—even the kids are inspired by their mother’s efforts, and show no residence when it comes to getting their hands dirty in the family business. That pathos is felt whether the news is good or bad. Parvovirus rears its ugly head again, its ubiquity in AniFab stray stories speaking to the pervasiveness of the issue; where there are strays, there’s parvo. The filmmakers ensure ample coverage of the day’s events, including the endearing young faces of puppies whose fate is beyond the viewers’ control—beyond even Amber’s. Amber’s Halfway Home won the Audience Choice award at AniFab ‘21, owing in large part to the endearing quality of the film’s subjects—both human and canine. As the Reynolds family continues their work, and their film continues to make the rounds at festivals, there’s a real chance at changing attitudes towards thinking of dogs as property and receiving much-needed assistance to underserved animal communities in rural areas of the country. And hopefully they can save a few dogs along the way.
 Filed By: Gabriel Ponniah, Editor In Chief ATX Screen Scene The biblical apocalypse as laid out by the Christian faith depicts fire and brimstone unlike anything the human species has ever known, and yet our current apocalypse—climate change—is, in practice, much slower and subtler. With FIREFALLS, French filmmaker Ariel Neo wants to catch your attention and reconcile the urgency of the former with the reality of the latter. The short film imagines a convergence of ideas realized in brilliant color through striking imagery. A haggard man tries to evade that rider named Death, while a young girl distributes dead butterflies across the forest. Meanwhile, a mystic tends to their paintings as the doomsday clock ticks towards midnight. In the end, the man is unable to save the child from death’s burning staff, while the clock strikes midnight. Neo describes the project as aiming to blur the boundaries between man, nature and art, while asking the audience: how long can mankind run away from the apocalypse it birthed itself? They’re lofty goals, to be sure, and their ambition is met by Neo’s meticulous attention to detail and brilliant command of symbolic imagery. As a tone poem, FIREFALLS is very compelling; Neo’s background as a painter shines through in her color choice and shot composition, as well as in literal ways like the gorgeous doomsday clock. In fact, most everything in the frame at any given time is clearly a labor of love, and the 52-minute behind-the-scenes documentary is evidence of the tremendous effort that went into an independent production of this kind. One wonders, however, what kind of impact this project makes in pursuit of its ends. Surely there are powerful messages contained in such arresting imagery, but FIREFALLS lacks the clairity which makes the most effective advocacy pieces work. There’s an arena for experimental film of this kind, but by targeting a nebulous evil tenuously attached to the concept of climate change, the film leaves much to be desired insofar as action steps. Cynics could be forgiven for wondering if they’d missed a perfume brand title just before the credits. For those who seek to dissect the visual language in earnest, they could also be forgiven for having trouble parsing the meaning of the dead butterflies and the fearsome snake, as these are our two most obvious natural ciphers. Whether profound or perfunctory, FIREFALLS remains a visual marvel with expertise at most every level—editing, cinematography, production (animals, children, fire, water, delicate and finely curated production design—it’s a burgeoning indie producer’s nightmare). While the story (or lack thereof) is happy to let some viewers fall by the wayside, the intangible impact it may have on a select few from some ethereal level may yet aid in its quest to defeat that pale horse and its rider named Climate Change.
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Get tickets for any #AniFab22 screening: ATX Screen Scene
The ArchAngel of Austin Archives
January 2022
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