A very Oakland Thanksgiving
Documentary
•
6m 57s
During their first Thanksgiving together, Isabelle meets her boyfriend’s parents and helps prepare dinner. “A Very Oakland Thanksgiving,” directed by Karsten Kaufmann, is a home video portrait shot on mini-DV of a young woman merging into a new family. The film intercuts footage from kitchen meal prep with little trips around the city to feed cows, or to see Alcatraz. Permeating is a slightly anxious, excitable energy, partly due to Isabelle’s introduction and partly due to the whole thing being filmed by Isabelle’s boyfriend. It’s highly personal filmmaking filled with specificity and realness, attuned to small moments (a couple of which revolve around face tuning apps), and enlivened by energetic editing and bursts of music.
Directed by Karsten Kaufmann. Starring Isabelle Kelley.
Up Next in Documentary
-
Little Brother
On the edge of adolescence, a little brother visits his sister in the big city for the first time. This documentary snapshot directed by Dominique van Olm (who also stars) is a beautifully intimate account of their weekend in Toronto. The low-key course of events makes an effective case for the p...
-
Beautiful!
Quarantining lovers are forced to face a new reality. “Beautiful!”, made by and starring Liv Layhee and Caydon LiRocchi, is an intimate snapshot of a young couple dealing with the possibility of pregnancy. Shot on VHS, the film captures the real-life couple (and filmmaking team) through an emotio...
-
Community Patrol
A Detroit minister rallies a community group to shut down a local drug house. “Community Patrol,” by director Andrew James, is both an observational portrait of a couple days in the life, and an inspiring case study of community action. Minister Malik Shabazz is sick of the drug abuse, violence, ...
