I finally had my Film Fest "aha!" moment last night during the screening of John Greyson's part documentary / part opera Fig Trees at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival.For six years now we at GayVancouver.Net (Gay Vancouver Online) have been active sponsors of the Festival and individually are personal donors as well. But always in the back of my mind has been the question as to why we/I support the Festival when there are so many other worthy causes out there.
Last night that question was finally answered for me - it is simply to allow the Festival to bring films such as Fig Trees to an audience that might not have an opportunity to see it elsewhere and with the power to educate, entertain and bring our community together in a way that few other events can.
While I admit the first hour or so of Fig Trees was difficult, by the end of the film and overnight I came to the realization that while challenging, John Greyson has managed to bring us a documentary on the early days of AIDS activism in such a unique way that it will stay with me (and I hope others) for a very long time. At a time when AIDS doesn't receive as much media coverage, I am hopeful that movies like this will help bring AIDS back to our collective conscience.
4 out of 5.
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