FEATURE FILMS
DOCUMENTARIES
THE FILMS
This
year's Festival films include some of this festival season's most critically
acclaimed and most popular works. The feature films and documentaries that
complete the High Falls Film Festival 2002 line-up include many new films
that are just beginning to build followings here in the United States and
throughout the world, new works by well-respected directors and producers,
and first-time achievements by up-and-coming filmmakers.FEATURES:
BLACKBOARDS
(Feature, Iran, 85 minutes) is the second feature film directed by Samira
Makhmalbaf, the youngest director ever to receive the Jury's Prize at
the Cannes Film Festival. Especially pertinent in today's international
political climate, BLACKBOARDS tells the story of a group of male teachers
in the remote Iranian Kurdistan region, and their search for young people
who have time for learning and literacy instead of dangerous, politically
charged pursuits.
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BLOODY SUNDAY
(Feature, UK/Ireland, 107 minutes). Controversial and critically acclaimed,
BLOODY SUNDAY depicts the events of January 30, 1972, when 27 Irish civilians
were shot by the British army during a peaceful civil rights march. The
shooting fueled a 25-year cycle of violence between Britain and elements
of Ireland. James Nesbitt (Waking Ned Divine) is one of the film's stars.
With Pippa Cross as its co-executive producer, BLOODY SUNDAY received
the Audience Award in World Cinema at the Sundance Film Festival and the
Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Cross will introduce the film.
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BLUE CAR
(Feature, US, 96 minutes) invites us into the teenage psyche of Meg, a
gifted but emotionally scarred 18-year-old. Haunted by her father's abandonment
of the family and neglected by her overworked mother, she finds solace
in writing poetry. Meg's English teacher, Mr. Auster, recognizes her talent
and encourages her to enter a national poetry contest. As tension at home
escalates and Meg struggles to find a way to get to the poetry finals
in Florida, Auster's role in her life becomes increasingly complex. Writer/director
Karen Moncrieff constructed scenes that push emotional buttons and question
our attitudes about forbidden love.
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CHAOS
(Feature, France, 106 minutes), written and directed by Coline Serreau
(THREE MEN AND A CRADLE) with Christine Gozlan as its executive producer.
The opening night film at the Little Theatre is the story of a chic, middle-aged
Parisian couple whose lives suddenly become intertwined with a young prostitute
combines gritty adventure, suspense and offbeat fun. Helene and Paul are
on the way home from a party in their sporty car when a young woman careens
down an alley toward them, chased by several thugs. She bangs on the car
and implores them to save her, but Paul locks the doors--and he and Helene
see the woman mercilessly beaten as they drive away. The attack sets off
a chain of events that take Helene deeper and deeper into an underworld
she has never experienced. While her marriage founders, she soon finds
herself in over her head as she tries to keep the young woman out of the
clutches of her tormentors.
Lake Placid Film Festival Artistic Director and former New York Daily
News film critic Kathleen Carroll will introduce the film.
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CIVIL BRAND
(Feature, US, 95 minutes). Neema Barnette directs this study of the real-life
use of cheap prison labor to manufacture products and generate profits.
With a cast that features Mos Def (Top Dog, Underdog), rappers MC Lite
and Da Brat, and Clifton Powell as the evil prison captain, CIVIL BRAND
explores the abuses rampant in women's prisons and the powerlessness of
the inmates, while telling the uplifting story of one inmate (played by
LisaRae) who leads the others in a battle for reform.
Barnette will introduce the film.
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FRIDA
(Feature, US, 119 minutes), the long-awaited biopic based on the life
of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera, will open
the Festival at the Dryden Theatre, located at the George Eastman House
International Museum of Photography and Film. Selma Hayek stars as Frida
Kahlo, with Alfred Molina, Ashley Judd, Geoffrey Rush, Antonio Banderas
and Edward Norton rounding out a stellar cast. Directed by Julie Taymor,
the Tony-winning creative powerhouse behind the Broadway production of
The Lion King, FRIDA was chosen to open the Venice International Film
Festival earlier this year, and enjoyed a highly acclaimed North American
premiere at the Telluride Festival, with screenings at the Mill Valley
and Toronto Film Festivals before coming to Rochester.
Producer Nancy Hardin will introduce the film.
Sponsored by Deborah Ronnen Fine Art.
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GOD IS GREAT,
I'M NOT (Feature, France, 100 minutes) stars Audrey Tautou, who
captivated audiences with her performance in Amélie earlier this
year. Directed by Pascale Bailly and written by Bailly with Alain Tasma,
GOD is the story of Michelle, a young woman barely out of her teens, and
her quest to believe in something--God, Buddha, or a 32-year-old Jewish
man named François (Edouard Baer).
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THE HAPPINESS
OF THE KATAKURIS (Feature, Japan, 113 minutes). This bizarre black
comedy, loosely based on the Korean movie Quiet Family, blends genres
to tell the story of a modern dysfunctional family and their shared dream
of opening a guest house in the country. Despite all their best efforts,
they can't counteract the house's unfortunate habit of attracting guests
who all turn up dead in the morning. Any situation becomes reason enough
for the cast to burst into a full-blown musical number, complete with
costume changes and backup dancers. --just the thing for Halloween night
at the Festival. "You could poke around in here for some deeper message..."
said Seattle Weekly, "but you should probably just call it a midnight
movie and roll with it." Kikumi Yamagishi wrote the screenplay for
this kooky film.
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HIS SECRET LIFE
(Feature, Italy, 106 minutes) tells the story of a married woman who discovers
that her adored husband had a lover throughout the last seven years of
their marriage. Her quest to find that person takes her on a surprising
personal adventure. Co-produced by Tilde Corsi, HIS SECRET LIFE stars
the wonderfully incandescent Stefano Accorsi, and Margherita Buy as Antonia,
the wife who must face the truth about her husband after his untimely
death.
Sponsored by Delta Stratagem
Tilde Corsi
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HOW I KILLED MY
FATHER (Feature, France, 100 minutes), co-written and directed
by Anne Fontaine, reunites an estranged father with his adult son--but
with crisis-level consequences. Jean-Luc is a successful man living in
wealthy Versailles with his beautiful wife, but Maurice, his father, profoundly
disrupts his son's idyllic existence with his reappearance and subsequent
disdain for everything his son has become. Michel Bouquet and Charles
Berling are the film's stars.
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LIFT (Feature,
US). The second film by the promising new African-American writing/directing
team of DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter. LIFT is a powerful look into
a world in which people with no money wear designer labels, and capitalism
takes precedence over humanity. Centering on a department store shopgirl
in Roxbury, MA, who makes shoplifting her source of alternative income,
LIFT follows a caper than goes horribly wrong and leads us to the redemptive
power of family and forgiveness.
Star Kerry Washington will introduce the film.
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LOCO FEVER
(Feature, Chile/Mexico, 94 minutes). When Chilean officials lift the ban
on harvesting the shellfish "el loco," a purported aphrodisiac,
greed and lust take hold in the seaside village of Puerto Gala. The prized
crustacean attracts a buyer from a Japanese company who wants exclusive
rights; a traveling band of prostitutes who accompany the influx of fishermen,
and many more. Rosa Bosch and Bertha Navarro are two of the film's three
producers (Andrés Wood is the third).
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LOVE LIZA
(Feature, US, 90 minutes), written by Fairport native Gordy Hoffman and
starring his brother, Phillip Seymour Hoffman. This darkly humorous story,
shown as part of the closing night awards presentation and film event
at the Dryden on Saturday, Nov. 2, follows the travails of a web site
designer who tries to make sense of his wife's unexpected suicide. Women
behind the camera include Ruth Charny, one of the film's producers, and
Lisa Rinzler, LOVE LIZA's cinematographer. This quirky film won the Waldo
Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, and was picked
up by Sony Classics for distribution.
Charny and both Hoffman brothers will introduce the film.
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MORVERN CALLAR
(Feature, UK, 97 minutes). Director Lynne Ramsay catapulted to international
prominence with her first Glasgow feature, Ratcatcher, which took numerous
awards at international film festivals . MORVERN CALLAR is her eagerly
awaited second movie. It's winter in a remote Scottish Highland seaport.
Morvern Callar, a 21-year-old low-paid employee of the local supermarket,
wakes up on Christmas morning to find her boyfriend is dead on the kitchen
floor. He has left her cash and his unpublished novel on a computer disk.
What will she do? Ramsay directed and co-wrote this unusual film.
Lynne Ramsay
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NEAR DARK
(Feature, US, 95 minutes). Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 journey into the horror
genre hints at her later triumphs in suspense filmmaking with K-19: The
Widowmaker, Point Break and others--while providing a creepy addition
to the Festival's Halloween line-up. A mid-western farm boy reluctantly
becomes a member of the undead when a girl he meets turns out to be part
of a band of southern vampires who roam the highways in stolen cars. In
its original release, the film's promotional tagline was, "Killing
you would be easy. They'd rather terrify you...forever."
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NOWHERE IN
AFRICA (Feature, Germany, 138 minutes). Written and directed by
Caroline Link, whose Beyond Silence was nominated for a Best Foreign Film
Oscar in 1996, NOWHERE IN AFRICA is based on the autobiographical novel
by Stefanie Zweig. This two-continent love story is the extraordinary
tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote
farm in Kenya. Abandoning their once-comfortable existence, Walter Redlich,
his wife Jettel (Juliane Kohler of Aimée And Jaguar) and their
five-year-old daughter Regina Redlich each deal with the harsh realities
of their new life in different ways. As the war rages on the other side
of the world, the trio's relationship to its strange environment become
increasingly complicated. NOWHERE IN AFRICA is the winner of five 2002
Golden Lola (German Film) Awards, including Best Film, Director and Cinematography.
Sponsored by Time Warner Cable
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PERSONAL
VELOCITY (Feature, US, 92 minutes), Rebecca Miller's film adaptation
of her book by the same name, tells three tales of women as they escape
from the situations that stifle them. Greta (Parker Posey), Delia (Kyra
Sedgwick) and Paula (Fairuza Balk) have one thing in common: They all
struggle to flee from the men who threaten to usurp their personal freedom.
Miller is the daughter of playwright Arthur Miller; she and Bingham Ray,
president of United Artists, are scheduled to attend the screening of
PERSONAL VELOCITY at the Festival. Sponsored by Buck & Pulleyn
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POSSIBLE
LOVES (Feature, Brazil, 100 minutes) is a contemporary romantic
comedy featuring rising star Murilo Benecio and Caroline Ferraz, top actress
on Brazil's Globo TV. This unusual film follows three distinct story lines,
each a different version of the life of Carlos (Benecio). One is his actual
life, another is not his life at all, and the third is the life he'd like
to lead. Which is whichThis is the film's mystery. Sandra Wernick, one
of Brazil's most respected filmmakers, directs this remarkable film.
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ROADS TO RICHES
(Feature/US). Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Michelle Gallagher,
originated in 2001 with the title STRANGE HEARTS. An aging former child
star tries to capture the wealth that has always eluded him by latching
on to a lucky, younger man, while both men have their eyes on the same
girl of their dreams. Rochester native Robert Forster stars as Jack, the
down-trodden middle-aged man whose best friend is Moria (Rose McGowan),
the mysterious young woman.
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THE SAFETY
OF OBJECTS (Feature, US, 121 minutes). Based on a series of short
stories by A.M. Homes, expertly woven together by writer/director Rose
Troche, THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS chronicles four days in the lives of disparate
characters who find themselves intertwined as they collide with the past.
The ensemble cast features Glenn Close, Joshua Jackson, Patricia Clarkson,
Mary Kay Place, Dermot Mulroney, Alex Houe and Timothy Olyphant. Dorothy
Berwin and Christine Vachon co-produced this film.
Rose Troche, director
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TAKE CARE OF
MY CAT (Feature, Korea, 112 minutes), a popular favorite at the
Rotterdam Film Festival, provides a character study in which five girlfriends
in their early twenties, living in the dingy port town of Incheon, see
their paths begin to diverge as they step into the adult world. A quirky
story of class structure and coming of age, the film is directed by Jae-eun
Jeong, whose short film Yujin' Secret Codes won the Grand Prix of the
Women's Film Festival in Seoul in 1999.
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VELOMA
(Feature, France, 100 minutes). When Phillippe finishes dead last in an
around-the-world solo sailboat race, he finds it more difficult than he
expected to re-adapt to life on land with his partner, Lucie, and their
6-year-old son. He returns to sea and "disappears," but Lucie
doesn't believe for one minute that he is dead. Marie de Laubier, best
known for her documentary films, directed and co-wrote this compelling
film. Emmanuelle Collinot is VELOMA's director of photography.
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THE WEIGHT OF
WATER (Feature, US, 113 minutes). The latest film from K-19: The
Widowmaker director Kathryn Bigelow, THE WEIGHT OF WATER is an intense
and sexually charged drama of repression, love and loss, both in the past
and in the present. A contemporary woman's obsession with a notorious
unsolved crime from the 1800s leads her to confront devastating truths
in her own life. THE WEIGHT OF WATER stars Catherine McCormack, Sean Penn,
Josh Lucas and Elizabeth Hurley, and is being distributed by Lions Gate
Films.
Sponsored by 4D Advertising
Kathryn Bigelow
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WHISPERING SANDS
(Feature, Indonesia/Japan, 106 minutes), directed by Nan Achnas, explores
the relationship between an overprotective single mother and her adolescent
daughter, who dreams of her traveling salesman father's return and longs
for liberation. Set in a remote areas of Central and East Java, the extraordinary
landscapes, both seashore and trackless sands, function like characters,
making their own marks on the unfolding drama.
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DOCUMENTARIES
AMERICAN
STANDOFF (Documentary, US, 95 minutes), with Oscar winner Barbara
Kopple (American Dream and Harlan County, USA) as its executive producer
and Kristi Jacobson directing, chronicles the bitter four-year union battle,
still unresolved to this day, between the Teamsters Union and Overnite
Transportation over the company's refusal to allow its workers to unionize.
Vividly capturing the role of unions in modern times, AMERICAN STANDOFF
is the next chapter in the "America Undercover" specials produced
by HBO. This film is being shown in conjunction with the Annual Labor
Film Series at the Dryden Theatre.
Shown in conjunction with the annual Rochester Labor Film Series.
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BLACK CHICKS
TALKING (Documentary, Australia, 55 minutes). Producer/director
Leah Purcell, working with Brendan Fletcher, makes her directorial debut
as she follows the lives and intricacies of five Aboriginal women, all
of whom are making their positive mark on Australia. This film explores
the diverse life experiences of these feisty women, and gives a strong
message about the choice to fight racism with talent instead of fists.
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BLUE
VINYL (Documentary, USA, 98 minutes) is a four-year odyssey filled
with humor and chutzpah, as Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand
and co-director Daniel B. Gold travel the country to find an alternative
building material to the ever-popular polyvinyl chloride (PVC) siding
that covers many American homes. The result is a funny but sobering exploration
of the relationship between consumers and industry, filled with observations
on the director's own life and family.
Helfand will introduce the film.
Sponsored by Motion Picture Studio Mechanics I.A.T.S.E. Local 52
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DAUGHTER
FROM DANANG (Documentary, US, 81 minutes), produced by Gail Dolgin
and directed by Dolgin with Vicente Franco, chronicles the emotional pilgrimage
of one Vietnamese orphan who was removed from her native country as part
of "Operation Babylift" at the end of the war. Twenty-two years
later, she returns to Vietnam to find her birth mother. Journeying from
the war to Pulaski, Tennessee and back to Vietnam, DAUGHTER FROM DANANG
tensely unfolds as cultural differences and years of separation take their
toll. Already this film has received awards for Best Documentary at Sundance,
the Texas Film Festival and the New Jersey International Film Festival,
among others.
Sponsored by HCR
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THE EXECUTION
OF WANDA JEAN (Documentary, US, 88 minutes) follows the life-and-death
battle of Wanda Jean Allen, the first black woman to be put to death in
the United States in the modern era. By telling one woman's story, the
film is an exploration into the roles that poverty, race, sexuality and
mental health play in the criminal justice system. This film is directed
by Oscar-nominated director/producer Liz Garbus, who has produced award-winning
documentaries for more than ten different television broadcasters and
for theatrical distribution.
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GIGANTIC
(A TALE OF TWO JOHNS) (Documentary, US, 102 minutes) is the first
feature film for producer Shirley Moyers, whose work has received a 2000
MTV Video Music Award, two Music Video Producer Association awards, a
Kerrang! UK award for Best Video of the Year, a Billboard Award and a
National Emmy Award, among others. Shot over seven months in 2001, the
film follows the pop music sensation They Might Be Giants as they prepare
for their first studio recording in five years. Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart,
Janeane Garofalo, Michael McKean, Annette O'Toole, Andy Richter and Harry
Shearer are just some of the many celebrities who make guest appearances.
Moyers will introduce the film.
Sponsored by K2 Design
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IN THE MIRROR
OF MAYA DEREN (Documentary, Austria, 103 minutes) chronicles the
life of film theorist Maya Deren, who led the underground film movement.
The film features plenty of clips from Deren's films, and original recordings
of the filmmaker talking about her own work. Martina Kudlácek wrote
and directed this documentary.
Also showing at the festival: A TRIBUTE TO . . . MAYA
DEREN
Martina Kudlacek, Director
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LOST IN LA MANCHA
(Documentary, UK, 90 minutes) This film may be the first-ever "un-making
of" documentary--the story of a movie that did not reach completion.
LOST IN LA MANCHA offers a unique, in-depth look at the harsher realities
of filmmaking by presenting a film that disintegrated during production:
Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote, an epic undertaking confronted with a series
of epic disasters. Amazingly, Mr. Gilliam continued his pledge of total
access for the documentary filmmakers even as the production foundered.
It's a movie buff's dream. The cast includes Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort.
Lucy Darwin made her producing debut with this film; Rosa Bosch is an
associate producer.
Darwin will introduce the film.
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PARTNERS
OF THE HEART (Documentary, US, 57 minutes). Against the backdrop
of segregation, a black carpenter's apprentice and a renowned white surgeon
dared to defy medical gospel by forging a partnership that changed the
course of medical history. Vivien Thomas and Dr. Alfred Blalock worked
together to develop one of the century's major breakthroughs: a daring
heart operation that saved thousands of children afflicted with a congenital
heart defect known as "blue baby syndrome." Produced, written
and directed by award-winning filmmaker Andrea Kalin, PARTNERS OF THE
HEART tells the compelling story of personal triumph over the adversities
created by society.
Kalin will introduce the film.
Sponsored by Craig Autometrics
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PHOTOS TO SEND:
RETRACING DOROTHEA LANGE’S TRAVELS THROUGH IRELAND (Documentary,
US, 89 minutes) reunites the people in Ireland's County Clare who were
first captured in black-and-white still photography in 1954 by renowned
photojournalist Dorothea Lange for the March 21, 1955 issue of Life. Using
the photos and notes she gathered from Oakland Museum's Lange archive,
producer/director/writer Dierdre Lynch traveled to Ireland in 1997 to
retrace Lange's steps. This intensely moving film received the Golden
Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in May 2002.
Lynch will introduce the film.
Sponsored by Messenger Post Newspapers
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RAILROAD
OF HOPE (Documentary, China, 56 minutes). Directed by Ning Ying,
who is best known for her trilogy of features about three generations
of Beijing residents in post-Mao Chinese society, RAILROAD OF HOPE received
the Grand Prix du Cinema du Reel in Paris earlier this year. The film
provides what may be a first-ever opportunity to hear Chinese peasants
from poor interior regions speaking openly and sincerely about their lives,
as they travel more than 3,000 kilometers by train towards China's far-west
Xinjiang Autonomous Region, where endless cotton fields are waiting for
the harvest.
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SISTER HELEN
(Documentary, US, 90 minutes) takes us to the tough Mott Haven section
of the South Bronx to meet Sister Helen Travis, a 69-year-old Benedictine
nun who runs a 23-bed halfway house known as the John Thomas Travis Center.
This drug- and alcohol-free haven helps men get a second chance on life.
Rebecca Cammisa co-directed this film with Rob Fruchtman.
Cammisa will introduce the film.
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SHORTS PROGRAM
1:
Thursday, October 31, 10:45pm
TAKEN
Directed, produced and edited by Kirsten Carthew
Written by Kirsten Carthew and Michael Sawatsky
Canada (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories), 2002
11:00 minutes, color, digital video
By the moment, in the moment. A realization or an awakening. The knowledge
that it's all been done, or is being done, by everyone. Doing it better
than you. Doing it without you. Sometimes standing your ground is standing
in place. No direction, no movement. How did this happen?
TAKEN is Kirsten Carthew's fourth short film. She is currently working
on a coming-of-age feature-length script about a young woman in the arctic.
Print source: kirstencarthew@hotmail.com
TALLGIRL
Written, directed and edited by Amalia Zarranz
Produced by Amalia Zarranz and Esther Duran
US (New York, NY), 2001
15:40 minutes, color, 35mm
6'3" Tamunda has a crush on 5'2" Tommy. They play streetball
together but she wants more. After seeing Tommy with Rosie, Queen of East
Harlem Feminity, Tamunda makes a wish that challenges her fate, forcing
her to choose who she really wants to be.
Amalia Zarranz is currently finishing a new short film with Lea Delaria,
Angela Pietropinto and Sherry Parker Lee. Prior to Columbia University
Film School, she produced and directed documentaries that aired on PBS,
and acted. She was born in Havana, raised in Las Vegas and now lives in
New York City.
Print source: az72@columbia.edu
EDUCATED
Directed by Georgia Lee
Written by Jane Chen and Georgia Lee
Produced by Celine Rattray and Cherry Montejo
US (New York, NY), 2002
11:00 minutes, color, 35mm
A Chinese American girl is plunged into a surreal and deadly world of
familial obligations and societal pressure after she accidentally walks
in on her best friend's suicide attempt.
EDUCATED is Georgia Lee's third short film and her first since starting
to work with mentor Martin Scorsese. She is currently developing her first
feature film for which she won the Jerome Foundation New York Media Arts
Grant Award. Lee graduated from Harvard University and is currently a
Consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York City.
Print source: (917) 447-7143
DTS
Written, directed and produced by Michael Connor, Jackie Passmore and
Cathy Shive
Cinematography by Jackie Passmore
US (Austin, TX), 2002
4:00 minutes, color, digital video
A study of the dance of the everyday, an elegy to cubicle culture, mixing
the absurd and the familiar. Office supplies have never looked so good.
Jackie Passmore teaches video art to at-risk youth in Austin, Texas. She
holds a BS in Film Production from the University of Texas at Austin,
studied photography at New York University, and photography and sculpture
at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Cathy Shive is currently pursuing
an MFA in Electronic Arts at Rensellear Polytechnic Institute in Troy,
NY.
RENDEZ-VOUS
Written, directed and produced by Cristina Pronzati
USA (New York, NY), 2002
7:10 minutes, color and black/white, 16mm
Two New York City apartments. A guy and a girl get ready for their date,
but the evening doesn’t turn out as expected.
Cristina Pronzati’s acting credits include THE AGE OF INNOCENCE
and LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. RENDEZ-VOUS is her first film as a writer/director/producer.
Print source: Cristina.Pronzati@verizon.net
TIMEPIECE
Written, directed, produced, edited and cinematography by Tamara Tracz
US/UK (Los Angeles, CA/London, England), 2001
6:00 minutes, black/white, 16mm
A short, self-reflective film about time.
Tamara Tracz has completed seven short works, which have been screened
at festivals around the world. She recently graduated from The California
Institute of the Arts and now lives in London, working on an experimental
narrative feature.
Print source: tamtracz@aol.com
LOQUEESHAASHLEYFRANKLINJOSÉBROWN
Directed, produced and cinematography by Nadine Patterson
Poetry by Ursula Rucker
US (Philadelphia, PA), 2001
6:00 minutes, color and black & white, digital video
This experimental short combines documentary footage with music and poetry
to bring the viewer into the world of children living in an urban environment.
It is a multicultural look at the joys and stresses of childhood.
Nadine Patterson has worked as a director, producer, programmer and media
arts educator for the past 14 years. Her award-winning works include the
documentaries ANNA RUSSELL JONES: PRAISESONG FOR A PIONEERING SPIRIT,
I USED TO TEACH ENGLISH, MOVING WITH THE DREAMING and TODO EL MUNDO DANCE!
Print source: hipphilly2k@earthlink.net
NOËL EN FAMILLE (FAMILY
CHRISTMAS)
Directed by Aruna Villiers and Fabienne Berthaud
Written by Fabienne Berthaud
Paris, France, 2000
11:00 minutes, color, 35mm
On Christmas Eve, members of the Vimondiere family decide to offer themselves
a holiday celebration in the purest tradition—of black comedy that
is.
Fabienne Berthaud is a published fiction writer, as well as a screenwriter.
She is also an actress, playing in full-length features. NOEL EN FAMILLE
is her first film as director. Aruna Villiers has been working as a screenwriter
for many years (including JEANNE D'ARC by Luc Besson; ALIEN 4 by Jean-Pierre
Jeunet, DÉLICATESSEN by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro) and more
recently as a director. She is currently in the finishing stages of shooting
a feature film.
Print source: info@tobagofilms.com
BOOBIE GIRL
Winner of a Student Academy Award for Animation
Written and directed by Brooke Keesling
US (Studio City, CA), 2001
5:00 minutes, color, 1/2” video
This engaging animation follows a young girl as she gets what she wishes
for and then changes her mind.
Brooke Keesling won the Student Academy Award for Animation for BOOBIE
GIRL while a student at the California Institute of the Arts.
Print source: brooke@boobiegirl.com
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SHORTS
PROGRAM 2:
Saturday, November 2, 5:15pm
STRAYS
Winner of the Technicolor East Coast Award for Outstanding Achievement
in Filmmaking
Written and directed by Linda Rabiet
Produced by Efterpi Charalambidis
US (New York, NY), 2002
14:45 minutes, color, 35mm
Fresh out of a long-term relationship in which she lost custody of her
dog, Janey passes the end of her day on her new front stoop. When an older
woman, Mutt, an eccentric hustler with a heart, and her dog Fort pass
by, Janey's solitude is forever changed.
Linda Rabiet grew up in New York’s Hudson Valley where she made
her first films. She currently attends the MFA program in Filmmaking at
Columbia University where she has written feature-length screenplays.
STRAYS is her directorial debut on the festival circuit. Efterpi Charalambidis
studied Journalism in her native Venezuela, where she worked for several
years as a writer, director and producer of corporate and institutional
videos. She is currently in the MFA program in Filmmaking at Columbia
University.
Print source: lsr13@columbia.edu
HOW TO TELL YOUR FRIENDS FROM THE
JAPS
Written, directed, produced and edited by Julia Cowing
US (New York, NY), 2001
4:00 minutes, color, 1/2” video
A subversive piece that combines text from a Time Magazine article of
December 1942 with a slide show of stock photos of Asian males, set to
a tune by Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame).
Julia Cowing is a photographer and video artist living in Manhattan. Her
current work is ethnicity and race-based.
Print source: julia@indigoforest.com
GRIEF
Written, directed, produced and edited by Hadar Friedlich
Cinematography by Talia Gal’on
Jerusalem, Israel, 2000
22:00 minutes, color, 16mm
A day in the life of a Jerusalem taxi driver—the day he buries his
son, who committed suicide while serving in the army.
Hadar Friedlich graduated from the Maale School with a degree in Cinema
and Television Studies. GRIEF is her diploma film.
Print source: hadar_fridlich@hotmail.com
THE GENTLE CYCLE
2001 Silver Award Winner at Worldfest-Houston
Directed by Peter Nolan
Written by Serena McDonald
Produced by Serena McDonald and Gina Rotondo
Edited by Debra Wakefield
With Perry Bruskin and Karl Geary
US (New York, NY; Maywood, NJ), 2000
6:25 minutes, color, 35mm
A moving tale about a streetwise laundromat attendant who befriends a
customer in need. This film marks the cinematic debut of writer Serena
McDonald and award-winning television director Peter Nolan.
Serena McDonald stands on the shoulders of the film's incredible female
filmmakers who include Craft Service/Angel/Mom: Barbara McDonald, Editor:
Debra Wakefield, Assistant Camera: Amy Silverman, Script Supervisor: Luci
Westphal and fellow Producer: Gina Rotondo. She dedicates the High Falls
screening to them, in gratitude and awe of their talent and hard work.
Print source: TheGentleCycle@aol.com
A CONVERSATION WITH HARIS
Winner of the Best Animated Film at the Humboldt International Short Film
Festival
Directed, produced and animated by Sheila M. Sofian
US (Pasadena, CA), 2001
6:00 minutes, color, 16mm
Haris, an 11-year-old Bosnian immigrant to the United States, recounts
his experiences during the Bosnian war, including the tragedy it inflicted
on his family. Illustrated with painting-on-glass animation.
Print source: sofafilms@earthlink.net
LA MILPA (THE CORNFIELD)
Written and directed by Patricia Riggen
Produced by Patricia Riggen, Miguel Urbina and Alvaro Donado
Mexico/US (Guadalajara/New York, NY), 2002
27:00 minutes, color, 35mm
Angela reminisces over her youth during the Mexican Revolution, a time
when myths, sensuality, war and pain were everyday occurrences.
Patricia Riggen was born in Guadalajara. Her film career began as a writer
for a documentary series and she later worked as an executive producer
for the Mexican Film Institute. She is presently a graduate student at
Columbia University's Film Division.
Print source: pr173@columbia.edu
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SHORTS PROGRAM
3:
Sunday, November 3, 1pm
FROSTY FLOWERS
Written and directed by Inara Kolmane from a story by Edmunds Fridvalds
Produced by Inara Kolmane and Janis Juhnevics
Riga, Latvia, 2001
18:00 minutes, black & white with color, 35mm
In the mid-1960s, Latvia was a part of the Soviet Union and everyone lived
identical lives. Only their dreams and desires for something different
set them apart from each other. In the cold of winter, little Dace finds
a sparkling miracle and tries to keep it.
Inara Kolmane is the co-founder and co-owner of the film studio Devini.
A prolific director and producer of documentaries, commercials and industrial
films, she makes her short fiction debut with FROSTY FLOWERS.
Print source: devini@parks.lv
2+2
Directed by Benita Raphan and Clayton Hemmert
Written and produced by Benita Raphan, Clayton Hemmert and Dr. Frank T.
Miller
US (New York, NY), 2001
11:00 minutes, color, 35mm
This experimental documentary made for HBO is a fascinating portrait of
mathematician Dr. John F. Nash, Jr., who suffered a schizophrenic breakdown
in his 20s and was awarded a Nobel Prize several decades later for his
early work in economics. Nash’s story was recently made into the
feature film A BEAUTIFUL MIND, directed by Ron Howard.
Educated in New York City and in London, Benita Raphan is an award-winning
short filmmaker as well as a graphic designer and illustrator. Her films
have been exhibited at The Sundance Film Festival, The Walker Art Center
in Minnesota, The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and she has work in the
permanent collection of The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum.
Print source: chemmert@crewcuts.com
TRAVELER
Written and directed by Marie Regan
US (New York, NY), 2001
13:00 minutes, color, 16mm
When 92-year-old Dorothy's driver's license is revoked, she feels the
restrictions of a lifetime. When she hires Flash, an individualistic teenager,
to drive her around, they both arrive where neither expected to be.
Marie Regan is currently pursuing a MFA in Filmmaking at Columbia University.
She continues to work professionally on film, music video and documentary
projects, and is a volunteer video mentor to students in New York area
public schools. TRAVELER is Marie's directorial debut on the festival
circuit.
Print source: mr471@columbia.edu
TRAILER OF TEARS
Directed and edited by Pat Falconer
Written by Lisa Fancher, Sarah Eckhardt and Fred Williamson
Produced by Lisa Fancher
Cinematography by Pat Falconer and Caroline O'Connor
US (Austin, TX), 2001
3:30 minutes, color, 1/2" video
In this animated short influenced by Busby Berkeley, THELMA AND LOUISE
and THE WIZARD OF OZ, four women in a bar lament the loss of their man
(and his trailer home).
Pat Falconer is a painter from Austin, Texas who worked as an animator
for Flat Black Film, creators of the film WAKING LIFE. She also teaches
drawing at the Austin Museum of Art. TRAILER OF TEARS is her first solo
effort.
Print source: pfalcon@flash.net
WHO HANGS THE LAUNDRY?: WASHING,
WAR AND ELECTRICITY IN BEIRUT
Directed and edited by Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir and Tina Naccache
Cinematography by Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir
Reykjavík, Iceland; Beirut, Lebanon; and US (San Francisco, CA),
2002
19:55 minutes, color, Beta SP
Plagued by the lack of water and electricity because of the war, Tina
Naccache, a Beirut housewife and human rights advocate, describes the
gymnastics of doing the laundry. Moving intimately through the privacy
of her home, her non-conformist views on feminism, war and servitude are
revealed through the dogma-style creation of Icelandic filmmaker Hrafnhildur
Gunnarsdóttir.
Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir is a graduate of the San Francisco Art
Institute. She has worked in documentary film in the US and Iceland for
the past 11 years. Tina Naccache is a graduate of the Institut de Démographie
de l'Université de Paris. She worked in Beirut as a demographer
and urban planner until the war sent her to California as a refugee in
1976. Returning to Lebanon in 1985 she has since dedicated her time to
human rights work and recently to documentary films.
Print source: www.krummafilms.com
PASSE-PARTOUT
Directed and produced by Stephanie Maxwell and Allan Schindler
Visual design animation by Stephanie Maxwell
Music by Allan Schindler
US (Rochester, NY), 2002
6:00 minutes, color, digital video
This abstract work conjures an atmosphere in which an aerial mobile is
magically suspended in a three-dimensional space. The floating pendants
of the mobile each reveal a mysterious world filled with unique visual
and aural forms, movements and gestures. The images were created using
hand-cut animated mattes digitally layered with hand-painted and hand-etched
clear and black 35mm motion picture film. The computer-generated music
consists of variations and transformations of a simple theme in a choral
setting.
Stephanie Maxwell teaches at Rochester Institute of Technology.
Print source: sampph@rit.edu
SIZE 'EM UP
Written and directed by Christine J. Russo
Produced by Gail Sanchez and Kathy Mazza
US (Los Angeles, CA), 2002
15:00 minutes, color, 35mm
A light-hearted coming-of-age story, this film follows teen jock Samantha’s
visit (at her mother's insistence) to an old-fashioned lingerie shop where
she finds herself in the unlikely hands of the "bra ladies,"
three women who help her discover new ideas about breasts, femininity,
sexuality and how to improve her soccer game.
Christine J. Russo is living her California dream working in the entertainment
industry for Eastman Kodak during business hours, and surfing on the weekends.
Her short films have screened at over 100 festivals worldwide and have
aired on both Showtime and the Women's Entertainment Network.
Print source: cjrusso@pacbell.net
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