Highlights of Hobnobben by Ian Maxton

Life is often too much. In the midst of car trouble, job searching, birthday parties, family squabbles, missed alarms, appointments, joys, frustrations, surprises, and tragedies great and small, we often have little time left for finding where we fit. For taking small moments and letting them stretch out. For a quiet evening of reflection. For me, art, and the cinema in particular, has been the way that I find this time. It is a way of processing the world, and processing my place in it. Roger Ebert said that movies “are like a machine that generates empathy.” I’ve always felt that to be the truest and highest purpose of art – it helps us to gracefully know ourselves and others.

But film does not have to be a solitary experience. Part of the machinations of its empathic generation are bringing a bunch of strangers together in a dark room and moving them together in strange and unexpected ways like a body that has just come to life for the first time. It’s limbs are awkward. It’s eyes are wide. And the only way forward is to open up and feel, together, for the first time. If you let it, cinema will help you find your people.

This was the purpose of Hobnobben. Its name. Its motto: see and be seen. It’s about finding your people, not just in the dark theater, but outside of it too. Over beers maybe. Or hot dogs.

Hobnobben is a first for this community and I wasn’t sure what would happen. Would people come? Would they respond to the films? Would they “get it?”

I couldn’t have been more of an idiot.

The opening day of the festival gave us first The Fits, a brilliant film, followed by a panel on diversity and inclusion in filmmaking. Afterwards, the opening night gala was packed with cinephiles. Even while sitting quietly to the side and assessing my notes, I managed to meet several people and discuss the film and their excitement about the festival. We shared our thoughts on cinema, recommended books to each other, and raised glasses of free champagne before shuffling into the opening night film Other People. 

As I mentioned in my preview, Other People was a huge get for a first year festival and the crowd matched that – filling seats, laughing, crying. While there were other films at the festival that I preferred to this one, the screening served as an encouraging sign for Hobnobben.

Saturday offered a full slate of films, including the latest from GKids (April and the Extraordinary World), a new Hertzog (Lo and Behold), a program of short films, and the latest from Joel Potrykus (The Alchemist Cookbook), a filmmaker from Grand Rapids whose previous feature, Buzzard, is a weird ride worth checking out.

As evening fell, moviegoers streamed bleary-eyed out of the venues that made up Hobnobben and headed down to the block party. I was among them and have to say that, if there is a perfect argument proving how vital and wonderful and essential this festival is, it was this event. Aside from the great food and beer provided by Bravas, Shigs and Pit, and Mad Anthony, the party was the best place to meet people who love movies and engage with the community. After a few hours of mixing and laughing and realizing that we aren’t alone, we were given a great gift by the organizers of the festival: an outdoor screening of Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused. This is the kind of film that offers pure cinema pleasure. The soundtrack blared through the streets of Fort Wayne. I spotted more than a few people playing air drums. I’m not sure if they were drunk on beer or movies. It doesn’t matter. The crowd’s elation echoed off buildings and magnified as we witnessed early turns from Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich, Parker Posey, and Ben Affleck.

If Hobnobben was about being together, then there was perhaps no better distillation of it than this screening.

But there were still two days (!) to go and Saturday’s slate was even more full than Friday. From Raiders! and Boy and the World, to Little Men and Danny Says, Hobnobben continued to offer up a huge variety of films. One of my favorites, NUTS!, had its second screening on Saturday. The screening of Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan was packed.

The night culminated in the awards ceremony. Viewers’ Choice went to Other People. Best Narrative Feature went to Dheepan. Best Documentary went to NUTS! Best Short went to The Rain Collector.

The festival also gave out more site-specific awards like the Philo Award, highlighting the best TV pilot entry at Philo Fest; the Hoosier Spirit Award, given to the best local film; and Best Student Work, presented to the best work from the Universty of St. Francis Student Showcase. These awards went to Mythplaced, Skate or Don’t, and The Roses, respectively.

 

Sunday felt like an after-after-after party for the festival. The crowds were great, especially for Hunt for the Wilderpeople. But if the awards ceremony was the peak of the party, these screenings felt like everyone getting together the day after the party to hang out and play cards or watch TV. No one wanted to let the party end because they wanted to be together. To be seen by each other one last time.

I hope to see you next year when we all gather again at Hobnobben. But until then, just remember that you, that we, are not alone. Keep watching movies.

I will have a few more wrap up posts for Hobnobben this week, culminating in a sequel of sorts to this one. Check back tomorrow for an in-depth dive into my two favorite films from the festival.