Film Festival Producer Faves

Kevin Leap, President, board of directors, San Diego Film Foundation

Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!:  Can’t get enough of this so-wonderfully-bad-it’s-good black-and-white 1965 Russ Meyer film about three race-car-driving go-go–clad vixens tearing across the desert and leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. Talk about a B-movie... The dialogue alone is worth the watch.  Not for the kiddies or visiting grandmothers.

The Furies: Awesome 1950s western starring Barbara Stanwyck in her most butch role ever. Walter Huston plays her father and they fight it out over the family ranch called the Furies.  Still can’t get over the scene where Stanwyck chucks a pair of scissors and catches her stepmother square in the noggin.  No blood or gore, but a heck of a good scar a few scenes later.  A soap opera, drama, and financial thriller, all on the open range.

• Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (USA) 1965,
• Eve Productions
• List price: $39.95
• The Furies (USA) 1950, Criterion Collection
• List price: $39.95

Bekah Van Bruggen, Festival director, San Diego Film Festival, sandiegofilmfest.com

Friday Night Lights TV series was an unexpected favorite of mine. I’ve no interest in football, yet the show’s character development kept me cheering, “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t loose!” I’ve never been so emotionally drawn into a story and left feeling like I missed the characters of this small town in Texas. I recommend this DVD series more than any other show I’ve seen.

Forks Over Knives is an incredible documentary that’s managed to affect my day-to-day life like no other. I’ve seen my fair share of documentaries on why not to eat meat and where our food comes from, but I had yet to see a documentary that uses case studies to prove that most degenerative diseases come from our all-American meat-filled diet. I’ve been an aspiring vegetarian ever since and will never look at my plate of food in the same way again.

• Friday Night Lights: The Complete Series
• (USA) 2006–2011, Universal
• List price: $129.99 (19 discs)
• Forks Over Knives (USA) 2011, Virgil Entertainment
• List price: $24.99

Rachel Marks, Festival producer, San Diego Film Festival

I AM is a documentary that truly impacted my life. Tom Shadyac (director of Ace Venutra and Bruce Almighty) explores what’s wrong with our world and what we can do about it. It shows how as human beings we’re all scientifically and fundamentally connected to each other and the world around us. If you’re looking for a documentary that’ll really make you question and think about your impact on our world, then this documentary is for you.

The Muppets brought my childhood back to me. It’s one of those movies that no matter how old you are you can’t help but fall in love with the Muppets all over again. The plot is a great satire about how no one cares about the Muppets anymore. Writers Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segel bring the Muppet franchise back to life, and I hope there are more films to come.

• I AM (USA) 2010,
• Gaiam Entertainment
• List price: $14.98
• The Muppets (USA) 2011, Walt Disney
• List price: $29.99