The Full Frame
Documentary Film Festival is flat-out one of the best documentary
festivals in the world. It's relatively small, very intimate and draws a
bevy of documentary enthusiasts that fill up virtually every screening,
whether day or night, weekday or weekend.
So no surprise that our Saturday morning breakfast special screening
(10:10am!) was packed. And happy to report it couldn't possibly have
gone better.
It's still a relatively new experience to see The Kids Grow Up with
an audience, so I was relieved and thrilled at how loud and frequent the
laughs came during the first half hour, which is where most of the
intended laughs happen to be. As for the last half hour, where we
invite the audience to go weak-kneed, curl into fetal position and burst
into tears, well, it looks like we succeeded on that account, as well.
It was hugely gratifying over the next two days to have people come
up to me and Marjorie and tell us how much they loved the film. Many
said it was their favorite film of the festival, which is nice even if
they were stretching things a bit, or even flat-out lying. Feel free
to continue to lie to me like that in the future, dear readers.
I return much more confident that the film touches audiences deeply.
The notion has been reinforced by any number of Facebook and Twitter
postings, and emails like the following from an audience member named
Leah Janosko from Cary, North Carolina.
I just wanted to express my gratitude for your film “The
Kids Grow Up.” I was one of the lucky (sniffling) people that had the
fortune to attend your screening on Saturday morning in Durham. I was
moved and touched. Your ability to put yourself and your family totally
out there in such an honest, authentic and vulnerable way is such a
gift to anyone who sees this film. I wanted to let you know how much I
appreciate it.
I am the mother of a 16 year old girl (my only daughter) and it was
as if you made this film specifically for me. The insights of both you
and your wife were comforting in the sense that I am not the only one
with these feelings. I found it interesting that during one of your
answers from the Q&A following the viewing, you explained that your
daughter was concerned that people would see this film and think that
they know her. I came away not with knowing her but better knowing
myself. Lucy represented my daughter with her laughter, intelligence,
eye rolls and need for independence. Seeing how you coped (and
anguished) with Lucy, is helping me process the complexity of emotions
that I am feeling during this similar period of my life.
My only suggestion would be to please include longer credits at the
end as I needed more time to compose myself before the lights came up.
I will keep up with information on your website and look forward to
recommending this film to friends who may have an opportunity to view
it. I congratulate you on an amazing piece of work and look forward to
your future projects.
Leah
Our web design worker bees are working hard to create a discussion
forum on the film's website, not just for wonderful reactions to the film
(though don't hesitate) but for wise and pithy discussion of parenting
issues brought up by the film. Having had a ton of experience from The D-Word, I'll
be doing some of the moderating myself, and hope to bring in an
experienced co-host, as well. It will hopefully be up and running
sometime in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for that.
