Monday, March 23, 2009

FIlm Fest: Deep in the Crease

I love it when people go deep. It has become somewhat of a preoccupation for me to seek out stories about people that find a passion that becomes all-consuming.

Chess players, Star Trek fans, bridge players, harness-racing fans — any infatuation seems relatively simple on the surface. Scratch through and these preoccupations are infinitely complex. There will always be a group of the infatuated that follows the muse to the extreme. So it is with origami.

Between the Folds finds a dozen artists, hobbyists and scientists that have surrendered to the siren call of folding paper. Some of the people we spend time with in this documentary may be eccentric, but the majority are extremely intelligent. Many have left other professions to take single sheets of paper and turn them into astonishing works of art and science. Watch them at work here.

It seems hard to believe that you could become mesmerized by listening to people talk about folding paper, but believe it. Also, It is hard to categorize paper folding. Is this art, mathematics, science, hobby or theory? Whatever you call it, hard-core folders spend unbelievable amounts of effort, time, work, brain power and emotion.

It was interesting how fresh the world of origami felt. Computers and theorists have taken the sheet of paper to another plane. In their interviews, several of the participants gave the impression that in the world of the paper folder, we have just touched the surface.

Fold yourself into a seat for this one.
— Bob Carson
Thursday, March 26, 7:15 p.m.; Saturday, March 28, 2:15 p.m.(Proceeded by Sing Opera!, a 27 minute film showcasing how 64 children mount a world premiere of the family opera “Keeper of the Night”) USA - 55 minutes

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