True/False Film Festival favorites.

For the past few years I have attended the True/False Film Festival, a festival of mostly documentary films held the first weekend of March in Columbia, Missouri. This year the festival screened 40 films with the directors (and often the stars) making appearances for discussions. The festival also featured performances from dozens of bands, special events, parties, and a robot parade! From the 2012 line up I saw five films, all of which I highly recommend, but they are so new they won't be shown at theaters or be available on DVD for some time. However, we do have several favorites from last year's fest available on DVD at The Urbana Free Library!

One of my favorite films from last year's festival was Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, directed by Jon Foy. This film follows a man who seeks to unravel the strange mystery of thousands of tiles with a cryptic message that appear on streets throughout the United States (and even some in South America). It really pulls you into the mystery and introduces you to a host of eccentric characters:

Another memorable film from the 2011 festival was the Norwegian film Trollhunter, which from the subject matter you may realize is not a documentary film (a fact that escaped some members of the audience who walked out shortly after the movie started, loudly complaining that "none of this is real"). While it may not be real, it's still a fun movie:

A more serious film from last year that I highly recommend is Last Train Home, which profiles a rural family in China. Both parents work much of the year in factories in the city, traveling home once a year during Chinese new year along with 130 million other migrant workers. Their children are being raised by grandparents in a rural village, and the movie explores the difficult family dynamics of this arrangement. At a time when Chinese factories that manufacture many of our electronic gadgets are in the news, this movie movingly illustrates the affect the factory system has on family life.

You can check out all of these movies (plus a ton of other great ones) here at The Urbana Free Library! And if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend checking out the True/False Film Festival. It's a fun, affordable festival in a great college town.

DoItYourself at The Urbana Free Library!

Learn how to make stuff!

Warmer weather means time outside, which for some of us means migrating to the garage to justify why we bought that scroll saw in the first place. Visit The Urbana Free Library for resources on just what to do with that saw and all the cool things that you can make.

If you want to go “old school” with your creation, there is no better place to start than Rodney Peppé’s Automata and Mechanical Toys. Peppé has won numerous awards in Britain for creating toys, and has had exhibitions of his work at the Victoria & Albert Museum of Childhood. This book includes tons of photos of modern and automated devices. More importantly, Peppé includes plans for how to construct the basic building blocks of automata such as cranks and friction drives. The explanation of different cam shapes and their function makes the process of design much easier to understand. More movable pieces of art than toys (in my opinion), these projects are no easy feat to complete, but would be a great way to hone your woodworking and design skills.

Another “Old School” resource is the re-issued The Boy Mechanic. Compiled from articles in Popular Mechanics over the first half of the twentieth century, these projects assume a certain amount of mechanical ability, even though they are written for kids. Projects range from sleds and “fun with engines” to wooden boats! A look back at a simpler time…

If you prefer electronics, the “evil genius” series are a great place to start. Written for hobbyists, these books began as a series in 2006, with the latest book tackling Arduino interactive objects.

Other nifty ideas for the home solderer can be found in the book Hack This! Besides being a book that covers 25 incredible projects, it also looks at the people and spaces that created them, and gives a nice overview of hacker/makerspaces, To learn more about our local maker space click here.

Antidote for February

Gray: the color of February.  It is the month we long to escape our Midwestern chains for sun and sea and color.  If a tropical paradise isn't in the works for you this month, though, do not despair!  Substitute escapism for escape and your library can help.

Take, for example, the film Alamar (To the Sea).  This movie tells the possibly true story of Jorge, a Mayan, who has a love affair in Rome with an Italian woman.  By the time their son Natan is born, they have realized that their feelings are not enough to keep them together.  As Jorge says, " It's not just a problem about feelings. The problem... is that I'm unhappy with your reality and you are with mine."

So Jorge returns to the Yucatan, with the agreement that five-year-old Natan will come later to spend a summer with him.

That's the back story.  The film follows Jorge's attempts to introduce his son to his Mayan heritage and the life of a fisherman.  The rhythm of their life together is gently seductive and the pristine Chinchorro reef is quite possibly the most gorgeous setting on earth.

Director Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio describes his film as "organic" and refuses to answer those who ask if it is truth or fiction.  All of the actors, however, are playing themselves in real situations and they are related to each other as presented.

In the end, it doesn't really matter.  Natan will return to Rome, we will return to reality.  But the memory of his father and the sea will always be with him - and with us.

Alamar is one of the Film Movement series of award-winning foreign and independent films.  They're at your library!

Tough Cookies

Girl Scouts-- anytime you hear them mentioned, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Thin Mints. Tagalongs. Do-Si-Dos. Girl Scout Cookies! Even a Google search for “Girl Scout” automatically prompts “Girl Scout Cookies” as if the two terms were synonymous.

But Girl Scouts are so much more than cute little girls toting boxes of cookies in their wagons, a reality that I hadn’t recognized until I read an intriguing book by Kathy Cloninger, CEO of Girl Scouts of the United States of America. In her book, Tough Cookies: Leadership Lessons from 100 Years of the Girl Scouts, Kathy explains how cookie sales teach girls leadership and business skills, organization and goal setting, teamwork and financial literacy, along with a range of other positive skills.

Expanding beyond cookies, Kathy argues that we as a nation need to be investing in the leadership potential of our girls to even out the perpetuating disparity in our workforce. She doesn’t launch into a full-scale feminist argument, but she rightly points out that our nation will fail to thrive if it doesn’t utilize its entire pool of qualified professionals rather than drawing from only half of the population. Today’s youth will be tomorrow’s leaders, so we need to start investing in them. All of them.

Do you have a daughter, a niece, or a granddaughter of your own? Do you have a little sister, mentor a young girl, or simply want to know more about building leadership skills in today’s girls? Then I highly encourage you to read this book! Check out or place a request on the library’s copy today!

Dull? Boring? Not these thoughtful documentaries.

Looking for a different viewing experience? Rediscover our educational DVD collection, housed on the second floor. We offer feature documentaries which are wonderful, quirky or substantive. Drawn to films detailing peoples' lives?. Here are trailers for four recent arrivals that will pique your curiosity or make you quite thoughtful.

BECOMING CHAZ


This documentary follows the start of Chaz Bono's journey from the woman he was born as to the man he's always known he was. Chaz is quite perceptive, well aware of how his parents' celebrity has affected his life. At one point he mentions that a baby usually pulls parents together as they focus on their child. But  famous people still focus on themselves. Chaz and his girlfriend, Jennifer Elia--the other main character--recently split. Poignant, but in hindsight, was this foreshadowed in the film? Watch Becoming Chaz, and decide for yourself.

SONS OF PERDITION: THE STORY OF POLYGAMY'S EXILED YOUTH


Prophet Warren Jeffs of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) was a powerful Utah polygamist. His followers had plural wives; children were raised strictly according to the beliefs of their religion. And there was no place in the community for many teenage boys. They left, poorly educated and with limited resources. Where did they go and how did they survive? The documentary follows three young men over the course of several years, as they learn to live in the unknown secular world, yet try to stay in touch with their family loved ones.


DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER


What can you say about a young man who dies? Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne is devastated when his best friend from childhood, Andrew Bagby, is murdered. The prime suspect? The girlfriend from whom Andrew had recently separated. The woman flees to Canada, where it's revealed she's pregnant with Andrew's child. Can she be extradited so the charges against her can be considered? Will Andrew's parents be able to gain custody of his son? Kuenne is there, every step of the way in this tragedy, doing what he knows best to do--documenting Andrew's life and that of his son on film.

THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS



Twin sisters, singers, comediennes, lesbians, national treasures in New Zealand. Meet the Topp Twins. Jools and Lynda have performed on stage, television and movies for more than 30 years. From a happy childhood on the farm to street performers to yodeling country singers to cult status, they appeal to a broad audience. But they're not just entertainers; they're also cultural activists.The documentary takes a fond yet frank look at their lives, from coming out to Jool's recent bout with breast cancer. You'll laugh with and appreciate this unique pair--the Topp Twins.

All of these documentaries are available now to check out at The Urbana Free Library. Place a hold by following the links in the titles to our catalog. Or, you can email or call the Adult Services librarians to reserve one for you. (217-367-4405)