Last week I was at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for the Premiere screening of a short documentary film I shot for Director/Producer Pia Clemente called Mabel. The film chronicles the life of Mabel Sawhill who, at 99 years old, and with a little help from her niece, who is deaf, still runs her own catering business, doing the shopping, cooking and serving for as many as 100 people several times a week.
Not unlike Mabel herself, the film is charming and delightful, and had audiences at SBIFF laughing and inspired. The film was edited by Geoffrey O’Brien, and features a wonderfully playful soundtrack by Aiko Fukushima.
Mabel is likely to be playing more festivals in the near future, so keep in touch and I’ll let you know where you find her.
There were a lot of other films at the festival worth talking about, but I just wanted to mention two features that are standouts, and oddly both have musical themes to them: Ragnar Bragason’s film Metalhead is a striking film from Iceland, a darkly comic drama about a grief stricken young woman who turns to Heavy Metal music after she witnesses her older brother die in a farm accident. And a beuatiful film by Felix Van Groeningen called The Broken Circle Breakdown which uses Bluegrass music to help tell the story of an unlikely couple who fall instantly and deeply in love.