OPINION: I know these strangers in here

This weekend was pretty special to me. I was able to attend the Refocus Film Festival in Iowa City, which happens to be the first film festival I have ever attended.

For those who don’t know, film festivals are pretty difficult to access, especially if you’re not regionally close to any. As much as taking a trip to Toronto or Sundance is a dream of mine, spending over $2,000 on travel expenses is pretty daunting at this point.

What could possibly be worth the expense? Materialistically, film festivals offer an early look at some high-profile arthouse films that will most likely go on to win awards. Seeing these movies before their theatrical debut could be pretty exciting.

Of course, as I learned pretty quickly with my time at Refocus, that’s not the full point of a good film festival. Ideally, an exploration of all that is available, including several movies that might not ever be released in another environment, is a better viewpoint.

Celebrating film, no matter the shape, is pretty noble. If you’re like me, who consumes movies voraciously, the experience of a film festival is like no other.

That’s not to say it’s for everyone. I’m sure the types of movies shown at these festivals will probably feel boring to others. For example, one of the movies at Refocus (a U.S. premiere as well) was “Ariel,” with a puzzle box narrative of an actress (playing herself) traveling to an island only to discover everyone on the island is stuck performing Shakespeare.

The non-English movie, shot beautifully with an incredible richness in color, moves at a snail’s pace. For those who aren’t entranced by the lullaby-like nature of watching ocean waves for a few minutes before the next scene moves on, this won’t be rewarding.

But for me, the feeling was unlike anything else. As the quirks of the movie eventually unfolded into contemplation on the idea of creation and whether or not characters can actually claim to be alive, I felt moved by the end. I understand the movie can be seen as overly pretentious, but I cried by the end.

And, in the best part of the film festival environment, everyone around me was also moved. If “Ariel” played in a multiplex, I would probably be the only one in the room, and if I wasn’t, the people around me would probably not be into the experience, something I’ve encountered a few times in my moviegoing.

Everyone in my screening of “Ariel,” in a dark room at FilmScene’s Ped Mall, were all excited for the chance to see a movie like this. It didn’t matter if we spoke the movie’s three languages (Portuguese, Spanish and Galician), we wanted to have that proximity to art and share the experience together.

We were all strangers in that room. For “Ariel,” I had arrived early and waited in a rush line just to get the chance to see it. Iowa City is three hours from my home in Afton. I had to sleep on my friend’s couch so I could have the chance. Some folks in that room were from even farther away. And yet, we all found the time to share that movie together.

That was what remained consistent throughout the film festival experience. Every screening I went to was packed. Everyone was excited to be there, sacrificed their time to be there, showed up early just for the chance to be there.

I could have watched seven of the worst movies of all time, but in a room packed with people who all love movies just as much as me, how could I ever say I would hate the experience? The movies being good just happened to be the case.

Having the opportunity to attend Refocus fills my heart with so much joy. Iowa isn’t exactly known for the movie business, and yet, once a year for a single weekend, there’s that chance.

I’ll most likely write another time about two other movies I watched at Refocus, “Train Dreams” and “No Other Choice,” but I want to mention (besides what I’ve said about “Ariel”) the other movies I saw as well.

“100 Meters,” an anime about the competition and tribulations of a 10-second sprint, had gorgeous rotoscoped animation alongside pulse-pounding action. “Romería” portrayed a young woman coming to terms with the parents she never met and piecing together accounts from the family who still remain.

“Hedda” and the clever character at the center of it provided electric dialogue in a manipulation-focused thriller, which I described to my friend as a heist movie without the heist. “****toys,” raunchy and unapologetically queer (and would be inappropriate to mention anything about the plot), was a blast to watch with a packed crowd.

The weird, the strange, the boring and the unique all having this chance is amazing. I’ll definitely be attending next year, and maybe even try to stay for the whole weekend. Movies, man. I love them so much.