A few weeks ago I had started some serious contemplation on the South Dakota Film Festival. I’ve really only been to one film festival in my lifetime, but it was a big one, the Toronto International Film Festival. For me personally, TIFF is the granddaddy of film festivals (yes, I know there is a festival in the south of France called Cannes and yes, I know it’s massive). But TIFF is in my heart and I consider it a high benchmark for other festivals to follow, so I knew I had to keep my expectations in check.

I knew it wouldn’t be fair to compare the SDFF to TIFF. So I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see the same quality of films here. The Monday before the festival I told myself I had to do more research on the films to know which I was going to be looking forward to. Hell, I even convinced myself that I owed it to the filmmakers that I needed to do the research. But I actually think it would’ve been a disservice to have “favorites” going into the festival. So I decided not to revisit any of the films I would be seeing. And I don’t think my festival experience couldn’t have been any better. I was pleasantly surprised and unquestionably satisfied.

By not knowing anything about the films, I was able to sit back and put myself in the moment of each film. Truth be told, I had a blast even if I didn’t enjoy every single movie. But I would say I easily enjoyed 90% of the films I saw. That speaks volumes to a) the talented filmmakers on hand and b) the quality of the eye that the programmers of the SDFF have.

If there’s one thing the SDFF has taught me—or rather, reminded me—it’s that sometimes doesn’t matter how big the festival is, it’s the atmosphere of the theater itself. Every single person at the Capitol Theater this past weekend was there for a sole purpose, to appreciate the art of film. There were no other agendas brought to the table. It was simply a celebration of film.

The producers of the festival need to be commended. They put on a very warm and welcoming festival. I remember when Dustin and I were walking into the theater the for the first time and we weren’t sure what to expect, but immediately we were treated like two long lost family members that hadn’t been seen in years. Looking around over the weekend, it was pretty obvious that every single person attending was being treated the same way.

Sure the festival is tucked away in upstate South Dakota makign it a little out of the way from some areas, but if you’re in the region or if you just happen to be passing through, you will be hard pressed to find a better outlet for film lovers.

Our Top 15 films from SDFF

#1 – Gefallen

#2 – Noah

#3 – Ride with Larry

#4 – Sweet Crude Man Camp

#5 – Mirror

#6 – A Hard Day

#7 – Bring Me A Dream

#8 – The Garage

#9 – Dust of War

#10 – Family Meeting

#11 – Looking Past You

#12 – Storytime

#13 – After the Torment

#14 – Episode 5

#15 – Head Case

Sweet Crude Man Camp

By far the most visual striking film of the festival was the short documentary Sweet Crude Man Camp. The film is about the effects of the oil boom in the small town of Williston, North Dakota, which was recently predicted to be producing more oil than any other place in the country. The decision to shoot the documentary in black and white was genius, allowing a crisp contrast between the dark oil and the light open fields of the prairie. Not all that unlike the gold rush over 150 years ago, the town is flooding with people coming in to cash in on the oil. The problem is the small town cannot keep up with the boom, nor can it sustain itself with the rising costs of absolutely everything in the town. Even Walmart is feeling the burden as they cannot get anyone to work for them despite offering a $17 an hour starting wage. The images here are haunting and they are paired brilliantly with an appropriate score. My only complaint about Sweet Crude Man Camp is that it was not made into a full-length documentary. I want to see more. [Dustin]

Watch Sweet Crude Man Camp here

Gefallen

I wrote some fairly lengthy notes for nearly every film I watched at the festival, but for Gefallen I wrote only one sentence: “Best film of the festival.” This film does in 20 minutes what a lot of other films fail to do in 90. Gefallen is the tale of soldiers in the German army who come home from the war in Afghanistan and are dealing with choices they made and battles they fought. The acting is superb and the filmmaking on hand is of the highest order. Everything about the short is great. Only Ride with Larry affected me more during the weekend. Maybe it’s because I have a brother that was a Marine. But this is a stellar film that will have you at the edge of your seat. [Blake]

Fergus Falls

A man’s quest to make it to a retro gaming convention in Minneapolis comes to a screeching halt when his radiator fails in the middle of nowhere. As he is pushing his car down the cold wintery Minnesota road a young attractive girl, who just so happens to be a mechanic, stops to help. While he waits two days for the part to ship in for his vehicle, the two have a heated discussion on which is better; big cities or small towns. This is your standard romantic tale that is not difficult to predict yet is still an amusing ride even if its 20 minute runtime could have been shortened. The best part about this student film was the cinematography, specifically a night shot that is wonderfully lit by a single car headlight. [Dustin]

The Tale of Cuthbert

He only means well, right? Cuthbert is a simple man…well, zombie actually. While other zombies look for flesh and brains to munch on, Cuthbert would rather play with flowers and lollygag through warehouses without a care in the world. When other zombies aim to “domesticate” him to their lifestyle, Cuthbert fails with comical results. This short is way too succinct. Could’ve used more beef (pun intended) in its runtime. Aside from that, I laughed enough to be able to recommend it. [Blake]

Balance

Brett is a college student who returns home at the request of his stubborn father who complains with every breath, especially when money is involved. His father wants him to go to a community college nearby so that he can work on the farm, but Brett has other plans and must learn to stand up to his intolerable father. Balance does a great job at making you want to punch the father square in the face after the family dog gets sick and his father would rather shot the dog rather than to even see what is wrong with it. The dreary weather surround the farm conveys the tension of the story well. Some of the lines fall a bit flat at times, but Balance is a well shot student film that feels very personal. [Dustin]

Storytime

Storytime is an interesting little piece about a man telling a bed time story to his daughter that ends up being a lot more than it initially lets on. He tells her the story of a king who has to protect his princess after the queen has fallen ill. Soon do we realize that the story turns out to be the story of the father himself and his daughter as they try to survive a zombie apocalypse. Production values were low on this compared to others at the festival, but hard to deny the originality of the short and the bitter sweetness of its ending. [Blake]

Ride with Larry

After spending 20 years battling Parkinson’s, Larry Smith seeks to bike 300 miles over five days across the state of South Dakota. The distance alone makes this a worthy challenge. But when you add the fact that this man has a hard time controlling his body movements with the brutal wind and rain of South Dakota weather, it not only makes the ride truly impressive, but also very dangerous. If there is something you cannot take from him it is the freedom and control of movement he feels when cycling, a rare sensation that he gets to experience.

As you would expect due to the subject matter, Ride with Larry is an extraordinarily moving story that would be impossible to walk away from it without some sort of emotional response. It’s an uplifting tale of the human spirit. When obstacles are in his way he finds a way around them and when he falls he gets right back up. Larry is not only an inspiration to those who suffer from the same disease as he does, but is an inspiration to us all. [Dustin]

Stay tuned for a full-length review of Ride with Larry