my olympic summer
Daniel Robin
2007
13 minutes| Digital Video | Documentary
By far the most narrative driven work of the entire opening night line up, this insightful film used the power of anachronism to perpetuate commentary on the nature of relationships, terror, and notions of film itself. “Against the backdrop of his own failed marriage, the director re-examines old 8mm films of his parents as seemingly blissful newlyweds, while revisiting the international drama of the 1972 Olympic Games that gave their marriage a new beginning.” Deeply poetic, emotionally arresting, and contemporaneously relevant, Robin’s film was a beautiful combination of suspense, hollowed out nostalgia, and clarity, where intimacy was visually manifested and revered.
Received: Honorable Mention
—The Arts Lounge Forum Film Blog
American filmmaker, Daniel Robin, has been making documentary for years. However, he just finished his grad school film program in San Francisco and his brilliant 12-minute short, My Olympic Summer, was a finalist in the IDFA Student Competition. His piece has a partly fabricated narrative. “I was really surprised that the programmers didn’t know until my first screening, and then they were delighted [when they found out],” he says. “I didn’t intend to dupe people, but I found that the best way, or form, to tell this particular story was to make part of it up.” [The film is an exploration that re-evaluates 8mm films of his parents’ marriage against a background of archival footage, while in voiceover, he reflects on his own failed marriage]. “Being nominated for this award tells me that IDFA and the jury are very open to discussing the potential for documentary form.”
—Still in Motion Film Blog
“The people on Filmmaker’s ‘25 New Faces’ list are not only innovators we believe will be impacting tomorrow’s film scene, but they’re also artists engaged in a vital re-think of what it means to be independent today,” said Filmmaker’s editor in chief Scott Macaulay. “Crisscrossing from short-form work into features, from docs to fiction and from the web to theaters, they are creating careers as original as their films.”
— Filmmaker Magazine