If I were to personify the Logan Film Festival, I would say it’s a lot like that perma-high cousin we all have who hasn’t had a job since the last Blockbuster video store became a cultural fossil and whose prized possession is a 1995 CD copy of Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill.”
Which is to say it’s fun, approachable and at the least, a little off-beat.
The first time I attended the Logan Film Festival, I saw two films back-to-back in the Ellen Eccles theater on Main St. The first was a Swedish film about a drug dealer with daddy issues who stumbles upon and eventually cares for a small child whose parents — in an all-too-close-to-the-plot-of-Harry-Potter fashion — died in a car accident. Fortunately, I had the grit to read subtitles and was pleasantly surprised by the film — it was raw and, I dare say, heartfelt.
Following that film, I saw “Plato’s Reality Machine,” an inexplicable film that to this day haunts me. I was baffled by the disjointed and sexed-up narrative that follows a mess of interdependent individuals who, for one reason or another, abstractly connect by way of a series of video game scenes. I know, I know. My description is far too vague, but I still don’t understand the movie to this day.
And that’s not the point, anyway.
To my mind, The Logan Film Festival is great because it offers students and community members alike something new from year-to-year. No, students will not be thrown into the same spell of existential-confusion as I was after “Plato’s Reality Machine,” but they’ll be able to experience something that is distinctly theirs. That’s the beauty of art and the beauty of the annual fall film fest that graces our sometimes barren and artless town.
This year’s festival features roughly 40 films that range in style from narrative features to documentaries. Additionally, the film festival will join forces with the Block Art Festival. All through Friday and Saturday the pair will allow festival goers to lose themselves in film, art, lectures and musical acts. Oh, and did I mention it’s only $5 for a student pass at Morty’s Cafe?
If I may make an epistolary statement to all the students at Utah State University (whom, I suspect, should be familiar with epistolary statements), it’s this: go up to that perma-high cousin and say, “Hey.” He may offer you a bong rip and a slice of three-day-old pizza, but don’t worry, you can say “no.” Still, sit down with him. Let him wow you. Let him ramble on about some sub-Reddit for hydroponic gardening that he just can’t get enough of — after all, it is more “sustainable, man” than conventional gardening methods. Freak out. Immerse yourself in a world that is so different from your own that you come out wondering, “Who am I?”
Go to the Logan Film Festival on Oct. 7 and 8. You might hate it. You might not. You never know until you try.
For more information about the Logan Film Festival and the Block Art and Film Festival and to purchase tickets visit http://www.loganfilmfest.com/
— jordan.floyd@aggiemail.usu.edu