Sun Still Shines and a Documentary Stars

Sun Still Shines and a Documentary Stars

With more than 40 films and events happening between Friday and Saturday, it was tough to choose what to attend. For those of you who saw The Overnighters and/or Tricked, you were rewarded by two unique and highly immersive documentaries. The Overnighters—directed, produced, and written by Jesse Moss—tells the story of a North Dakota pastor who houses desperate men at his church and meets opposition from his congregation and city Council. The town of Williston, which now is higher in rent than NYC, has been experiencing a job boom due to a surge in natural gas. Men from all over the country have been flocking there for employment. Unlike many other documentaries about fracking, of gas spilling out of kitchen faucets and catching fire, The Overnighters is driven by Pastor Jay Reinke and the poor men that he shelters, some of whom have criminal records, including a registered sex offender. As pressure mounts for him to suspend his program, he is faced with several dilemmas: should he abandon these men and save his dwindling parish; should he defy the city Council and continue to house them? A stunning revelation brings these questions to a head; the result is a poignant meditation on the moral complexities that house our deepest desires, and on an economy that has broken individuals and entire communities. Shot without a script and no narration, this verite film is always engaging and thought provoking.

Tricked, directed by Jane Wells and John-Keith Wasson, takes the viewer on a journey through the sex industry and explores the harsh effects of sex slavery in the United States. Told through interviews with girls, parents, vice cops, and pimps—most disturbingly with the pimp “Robert Money” who opens the film by claiming all women are either whores or prostitutes (the latter has sex for money, while the former does not)—the documentary offers an at times penetrating but somewhat limited view of this world. While it is easy to empathize with many of the victims—one of whom was lured to Las Vegas with the promise of an exciting life only to be enslaved and prostituted—the film doesn’t delve enough into the world of pimps and their own deeper struggles. Only two “johns” are interviewed, one of whom is a pompous, aging Ph.D, while another man wears a ghoulish mask to hide his identity. At 74 minutes in length, there is only so much time to cover a 3-billion-dollar-a-year business that manifests itself not just on the street and in old warehouses, but in our everyday lives and our popular culture. Where the film succeeds is in illustrating how the criminal justice system not only fails to protect sex workers, who the film claims are often victims of sex slavery, but also often criminalizes them, while leaving the pimps free to run their “businesses.” One of the young women profiled, “Danielle”, says, “I've been arrested more than fifty times, but my pimp never once.” It would have been interesting to hear more about the European model of legalizing prostitution--as in Holland and Germany--and of decriminalizing it, as in certain Scandinavian countries.

Today is the final day of the festival and there are still tickets left for some really stellar films and events. I’ll be posting a final recap tomorrow.