Day Eight at the FFM: Friday, September 1st

One short and two feature films tonight.

A Quiet Spot. Ashley Fairfield. Australia. 7 mins. A professional high diver contemplates an event that has led her to her chosen path (from the FFM program). The director has a background in stunt acting (he worked on Superman Returns, The Matrix Reloaded, The Quiet American, Scooby Doo, and Moulin Rouge). A little girl’s panic at the water when her grandfather faces a crisis fishing becomes her motivation to dive. Well executed.

Jump. Peter Riddihough. Canada. 52 mins. In English. Base jumpers…those crazy people who parachute from buildings, antennas, spans, and earth – not from an aircraft. Or so we think they’re crazy. This documentary focuses on three guys from the Toronto area, and why they base jump. Aside from the adrenaline rush that they seek, like so many others from other sports, adventures, or activities, what’s apparent is that these guys are not risk takers, in the sense of wildly doing things without a lot of planning, assessment, and strategies. They also aren’t afraid to scrub a planned jump if conditions aren’t safe (winds too high, or changeable in direction, obstacles making a safe landing difficult). Most of the jumps the director filmed were night jumps, or early morning, to avoid security, police, and just too many people. All of the jumps were in the Toronto city area from almost-finished apartment and office buildings…and with helmet-cams and cameras filming from the jump point, there are some breath-taking moments. My only parachute jump a plane at 3,500 feet was perhaps one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, and watching the jump from barely 400 feet made it feel like a walk in park, but then, I could imagine how it feels to the base jumpers. Not for the height or vertigo challenged.

Everest E.R. Sean & Brad McLain. Nepal/US co-production. 51 min. In English. Doctor Luanne Freer, an high altitude ER doctor from Montana, sets up a small ER clinic tent at the Mount Everest base camp, located at 17, 500 feet above sea level. It’s 14 hours hiking down to the next, lower altitude, better-equipped medical clinic, and her ER brings a new level of medical care for the climbers. She founded the clinic to treat the Sherpa porters free of charge, since they rarely have medical coverage for the injuries they sustain working for the climbing expeditions, which for a few short months a year, provide most of their yearly income. However, all the expeditions benefit from her care, and many fund her with donations and supplies. Brad, who was at the premiere tonight, said that they edited 38 hours of footage down to one hour, choosing from among seven possible stories the one about Dr. Freer caring for a climber who is close to death with HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema. Beautiful Himalayan scenery and a good medical rescue story.