as seen onscreen

i’m attending toronto’s documentary film festival at present, so i apologize for what will likely be a week of sparse or somewhat succinct postings. by the time i get to this blog at the end of a movie-going day, i’m pooped and out of words.

tonight, i did want to share an observation about the fest, though.

or, perhaps, an observation about me at it.

while i always enjoy the environment, and know that getting out and seeing films and chatting with folks in line and running into festival friends is great and therapeutic, this year i had also hoped it would give me a break from my feelings for a bit. i’d step out of my own head and become engaged in other people’s lives and stories for a while as a means of escape.

but what i’d forgotten is how wonderful but emotionally exhausting documentaries can be, and how so much of what unspools is relateable – no matter where in the world it’s from or what the subject matter might be.

that is, at some point in every film, or all throughout certain films, something resonates with me. it might be someone’s situation, or a random spoken thought, or a theme, or a single shot that, with its beauty or poignancy or power, leaps right off the screen and into my heart, causing a catch-like feeling (or outright tears) because whatever it is has suddenly struck a chord.

moments like those remind me how, despite all the differences that exist among us, so many things are universal. people, experiences, challenges, joy, pain and, most importantly to me, feelings... be they ones you might be trying to squash down or embrace or avoid or accept or simply understand.

and that can be strangely comforting.