The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival held its opening night film at the Palm Springs High School Auditorium on Thursday Jan. 3rd. The film, Blancanieves, was from Spain and was directed by Pablo Berger. He said directing is like dreaming awake and being able to live the life of his characters.
The film was in BLACK and WHITE and was a SILENT film. I was curious to see this film and wondered why the PSIFF would select such a film for its Opening Night. The film was a take on the Snow White fairy tale with Dwarfs as bull fighters that rescued Snow White from the evil step mother. Snow White’s father was a bull fighter and not remembering who she was became a famous bull fighter with her dwarf mentors.
It was like going back in time to a silent black and white film from years ago. The acting was superb and the directing was so imaginative. I was only going to stay a while to see what the film was like but ended up staying until the end not realizing I had stayed thru the whole movie. I was so engrossed in the story. There were a few written words on the bottom of the screen and music was played thru the entire film. The ending was so unexpected and heartwarmingly creative.
Words were not needed as the storyline and acting spoke for itself. The PSIFF made a terrific choice as the first film of the festival. It showed the diversity of the 68 countries showing their movies. 180 films in all will be shown ranging from true life and love stories, good will and violence, gay and straight and documentary stories. A film for every taste and country. It’s no wonder people come from all over the world to this film festival.
