|
AUROVILLE: FROM UTOPIA TO
REALITY
Director(s):
Harry Häner and Laurence Bolomey
Switzerland / 2002 / 52
minutes
U.S
Premiere |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
In
Southern India there is a town where two-thousand people hailing
from 30 different countries are living up to their dream of a united
human race. They believe that mankind has reached the threshold of a
new consciousness, and are therefore turning their immediate
environment into a laboratory where his dream can be
fulfilled.
Bhavana Dee
DeCew, who works in Auroville with Village Action and Bioregional
Planning will speak following the screening
|
|
BLUEGRASS JOURNEY
Director(s):
Ruth Oxenberg, and Rob Schumer
U.S.A /
2003 / 86 minutes
|
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
“Bluegrass
Journey” weaves together high energy, intimately captured musical
performances, verité-style cinematography, and interviews to depict
and celebrate the contemporary bluegrass music scene. Set largely at
the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in upstate New York and at the
International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual gathering in
Kentucky, this affectionate film reveals breathtaking musical
virtuosity, joyous audience dedication, and the rich spirit that
infuses one of America’s great musical genres. Featured performers
include The Del McCoury Band, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Peter
Rowan, Tony Rice, Nickel Creek, Rhonda Vincent and many
others.
“The
nameless concert-goers featured in ‘’Bluegrass Journey’’ provide as
much character and color to this film as the musical legends who
perform.” (John W. Barry, Poughkeepsie Journal)
A special
concert featuring Peter Rowan will take place on September 17. See
music
for more info. |
Bio:
First-time
Directors Ruth Oxenberg and Rob Schumer, a husband and wife team,
fell into bluegrass music and fell in love with it nine years ago
when they were planning their wedding in the country. As native New
Yorkers they’d had little exposure to the music growing up, but they
became instantly taken with it. Ruth, a longtime producer for
network television news, pitched a story about bluegrass to her
then-current program, ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
While working on the piece, the idea for the documentary was born.
Co-director and Editor Nancy Kennedy’s feature film credits include
Jan Oxenberg’s Sundance Audience award winner "Thank you and
Goodnight," and Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys’s "Riding the Rails,"
which also played at Sundance and won the LA Film Critics Award for
Best Documentary in 1999.
Main
Credits
Director(s)Producer(s):
Ruth Oxenberg, Rob Schumer
Co-Director:
Nancy Kennedy
Editor:
Nancy Kennedy
Executive
Producer: Gill Holland
|
|
A BOY’S LIFE
Director:
Rory Kennedy
U.S.A /
2002 / 77 minutes
*IN
COMPETITION |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
The feature
documentary is a fascinating look into an impoverished, rural
American family disrupted by the legacy of depression, abuse, and
mental disorders. In the small town of Eupora, Mississippi,
Kennedy documents the shaping of a boy’s life as we witness a
family’s combative, destructive behavior competing with a system
that’s attempting to help: a nurturing school, a family therapist,
and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ultimately,
“A Boy’s Life” proves a hopeful exploration of a harmful family
legacy and is a powerful testimony to the strength of an
individual. Rory Kennedy beautifully captures how positive
outside forces can prevail over the destructive inner workings of a
dysfunctional family.
|
Bio:
Award-winning
producer, director, and writer, Rory Kennedy is co-founder of Moxie
Firecracker Films, an independent documentary production company
that she runs with partner Liz Garbus. Kennedy has produced and/or
directed award-winning documentaries for HBO, Lifetime Television,
A&E, Court TV, The Oxygen Network and The Learning Channel,
covering a variety of topics including the global AIDS crisis, human
rights, domestic abuse, poverty, and drug addiction.
Kennedy
most recently directed and produced, “Pandemic: Facing AIDS,” which
premiered at the Barcelona World AIDS conference on July 8, 2002.
Pandemic follows the lives of five people living with AIDS in
different regions of the world and uses their experiences to put
faces behind the numbers and to connect audiences with the heartache
and triumph of living under the extreme conditions that AIDS
enforces. The film is accompanied by a book, cd, website, traveling
exhibition, and educational
material. |
|
THE BOYS OF 2ND STREET
PARK
Director(s):
Dan Klores
and Ron Berger
U.S.A /
2002 / 91 minutes
*IN
COMPETITION |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
The
documentary explores the divergent paths taken by a generation of
boys who grew up in New York City during the 1960s. Set against the
unforgettable music and events of the era, the film focuses on six
men, now in their mid 50s - from childhood days on the basketball
court to the tragedies and triumphs that define adulthood.
Through
extraordinary, intimate interviews, personal photographs and
archival footage, The Boys of 2nd Street Park paints a portrait of a
group whose lives were forever changed by sex, lost loves, drugs and
war.
Courtesy:
Showtime Entertainment
|
Bio:
Dan
Klores was the producer of Paul Simon’s Broadway musical,
TheCapeman, and the executive producer of Warner Bros.,’ City by the
Sea, starring Robert DeNiro and Frances McDormand, The Boys of
2nd street Park marks his directorial debut. He is
the author of one bood, Roundball Culture, and his work has appeared
in such publications as New
York magazine,
Esquire and Southern Exposure.
As a
founding partner and CEO of Messner Vetere Berger McNamee
Schmetterer Euro RSCG, Ron Berger built the fastest-gorwing
billion –dollar agency in the advertising world, creating
award-winning campaigns for Volvo, Intel, New Balance and
Evian. Berger’s “Time to Make the Doughnuts” was picked as one
of the best campaigns of the ‘80s. Berger has been profiled in
the Wall Street Journal’s Creative Leader campaign and is a featured
speaker at many advertising industry
seminars
Main
Credits:
Director(s),
Producer(s): Dan Klores and Ron Berger
Assoc.
Producers: Liza Burnett, Rachel Carr, Maya Davenny, Kaori
Kubo
Coordinating
Producer: Larry Burday
Editor:
Michael Levine |
|
BROTHERS …
ON HOLY GROUND
Director:
Mike Lennon
U.S.A /
2002 / 54 minutes |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
Shortly
after noon on September 11th, 2001, retired FDNY firefighter and
independent filmmaker Mike Lennon arrived at the site of the World
Trade Center. After two hellish weeks of digging for survivors, he
grabbed his camera and began filming and interviewing firemen and
their families. Eleven months later, “Brothers ... on Holy Ground,”
a documentary about the firemen of September 11th, was completed. It
is a film that intimately reveals the hidden agony and unbridled
pride that lie behind firehouse doors. This is a film that could
only have been made by one of FDNY’s own.
Preceded by
the Academy Award winning short doc “Twin
Towers”
*This program is free for
firefighters. Please show i.d at box office for
ticket. |
|
BUKOWSKI:
BORN INTO THIS
Director:
John Dullaghan
U.S.A /
2002 / 130 minutes / color
*IN
COMPETITION |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
Charles
Bukowski prettied up his prose and poetry for no man. He was the
downtrodden character he often wrote about, and his unflinching
style was brutal and honest. Dullaghan illuminates that honesty, but
he also goes to lengths to reveal the fragile man underneath, one
who was so in touch with born losers not just because he was one of
them, but because he was able to see the beauty even in the ugliest
of them.
Courtesy: Magnolia Pictures
|
Bio:
John
Dullaghan
was born in Alameda, California, in 1962. He attended the University
of California at Berkeley, earning a BA degree in English with a
focus on 20th-century American literature. He spent more than 15
years in the advertising industry, where he won numerous
international awards for writing commercial and print campaigns for
Apple Computer. He also worked on an IBM image film with Errol
Morris. Bukowski: Born Into This is Dullaghan's first feature film.
He lives in Southern California with his family.
Main
Credits:
Director,
Producer: John Dullaghan
Cinematographer: Bill
Langley, Matt Mindlin, Matt Jacobson
Editor: Victor
Livingston
Consulting
Producer: Diane Markrow, John McCormick
Principal
Cast: Charles Bukowski, Sean Penn, Barbet Schroder, Linda Lee
Bukowski, Bono, John
Martin |
|
BUS 174
Director:
José Padilha
Brazil / 2003 / 122
minutes
|
 |
|
Synopsis:
Jose Padilha’s “Bus 174” is
an intense and gripping dissection of an actual headline-grabbing
event that occurred in Rio de Janeiro in 2000. The event in
question is the hijacking of a commuter bus by a desperate young man
raised in one of Rio’s most oppressive slums. His spontaneous
act triggered massive news coverage, and due to the absence of any
police barricades, the resulting footage is alarmingly up close and
personal. Through extensive use of this footage, along with
probing ex-post-facto interviews with hostages, law enforcement
officers, journalists, and friends and family of the hijacker,
Padilha creates a thrilling, prismatic analysis of how one man’s
personal crisis became a national news phenomenon as well as a
commentary on how the media inflamed the very event it sought to
document.
Produced by
José
Padilha, and Marcos Prado
Courtesy:
THINKFilm |
|
A CONSTRUCTIVE
MADNESS
Director(s):
Tom Ball, Brian Neff and Jeffrey Kipnis
U.S.A
/ 2003 / 63 minutes
U.S
Premiere |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
“An architectural thriller.”
The film plumbs the evolution of the design of Frank Gehry’s
un-built ‘Peter Lewis House’ to delve into the extraordinary
transformation of the architect’s work that occurred over the course
of the project, to grasp the elusive processes the architect uses to
bring imagination into reality; and to speculate on the artistic
meaning and cultural significance of the design ideas springing from
the Lewis House. To capture the histrionic dimensions of the film’s
subject matter - an obscure architectural project spinning out of
control – the film pulls out every stop and use every trick, from
the baroque narration of Jeremy Irons to the comic, post-modern
quotes from Hollywood
films. |
|
EVERY
CHILD IS BORN A POET: THE LIFE & WORK OF PIRI THOMAS:
Director:
Jonathan Robinson
U.S.A /
2003 / 58 minutes/ color
|
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
Set in New
York’s Spanish Harlem, this film is a compelling portrait of poet
Piri Thomas. The film is structured around the poet’s
emotional rites of passage, and relies on his own poetic
recitations. This is rendered in powerful fashion through
sequences of his freeing hardened juvenile offenders by helping them
locate their inner creative voices. Robinson integrates still
photographs with moving images, historical footage with contemporary
shots of street life, and voiceover narration with poetry
performances.
Preceded by “Tulia,
Texas: Scenes from the Drug
War" |
Bio:
Producer/director/writer/editor
Jonathan Robinson was born in New York City in 1960. His video,
Sight Unseen: A Travelogue, on India, cultural difference, and the
contemporary colonial imagination, was featured at 1993 Biennial
Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, was honored with
the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's SECA Video Art Award, and
named Best Experimental Video at the Image Atlanta Film & Video
Festival. Robinson studied modern history at the University of California, Berkeley, and
received an MFA in live-action film production from the California
Institute of the Arts, Valencia. He currently lives in New Haven,
Connecticut, with his wife and two
daughters.
Main
Credits:
Director,
Producer, Screenwriter, Editor: Jonathan
Robinson
Co-Producer: Karen
D. Davis, Karen McCabe, Francesca Prada, Sonia Rosario, Angel
Zapata
Cinematographer: Adam
Beckman, Alex Leyton, Kev Robertson
Composer: Kip
Hanrahan, John Santos
Principal
Cast: Eric Camacho, Carlos Santiago, Jeremy Sanchez, Piri
Thomas, Steve Rosario |
|
FOOD, NOT DRUGS
Director:
Cambiz Khosravi
Woodstock /
2003 / 74 minutes
World Premiere |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
When the
Grand Union supermarket chain went bankrupt and was sold to the drug
store chain CVS in late 2000, thirty stores were effected in the
northeast alone. Eleven of them were located in small communities in
upstate New York. One such community was the so called: “Most Famous
Small Town in the World”, Woodstock.
The crisis
brought about by the loss of a vital service, at first united, then
divided this community. How did this “quirky” town deal with this
differently than any other small town?
Rather than
another documentary dealing with corporate incursions into rural
America, this project delves into the contradictory uniqueness of
this town and its denizens.
Preceded
by “Indian
Point: Nowhere to Run”
|
|
GIRLHOOD
Directed by
Liz Garbus
USA/ 2002 / 82
minutes |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
“Girlhood,” the new
documentary film from Academy Award-nominated director Liz Garbus,
tells two coming-of-age stories from the real America: Shanae, ten years old when
she was gang-raped by five boys, responded by drinking and drugging,
and then graduated to murder, with the stabbing death of a friend,
at age twelve. Megan, whose mother abandoned her to turn
tricks to support her ravaging heroin addiction, ran away from ten
different foster homes before being arrested for attacking another
foster child with a box cutter. Both girls ended up in the
Waxter Juvenile Facility, home to Maryland's most violent juvenile
offenders. It is here that their journeys really begin.
With
unprecedented access to the system and to the complex interior lives
of the protagonists, “Girlhood” follows Shanae and Megan over the
next three years of their lives, as they struggle to come to terms
with their crimes, their pasts, and their futures. One of them
will graduate from high school fourth in her class, having made her
way through the minefield of her childhood and even greater crises
to come; the other will find herself trapped by the demons of her
upbringing, on the streets of East Baltimore, still searching for
salvation. But both will struggle to come of age in an America in
which childhood, as we would all like to imagine it, is in shorter
and shorter supply. A story of mothers and daughters, crime and its
consequences, and ceaseless striving in the face of inconceivable
adversity, “Girlhood” is a testament to the faith and struggles of
two young girls just trying to grow up.
Called “one
of the most important films of the year” by LA Weekly, “Girlhood”
won Audience Awards at both the South by Southwest Film Festival and
the Nantucket Film Festival. It also won the Jury Award at the
Atlanta Film Festival and will open theatrically in October of
2003. “Girlhood” will air on TLC in 2004.
|
Bio:
Co-founder,
with Rory Kennedy, of Moxie Firecracker, Inc., Liz Garbus
achieved international acclaim with “The Farm, Angola, USA.” Made in
collaboration with Jonathan Stack, “The Farm” is the result of a
three-year relationship that the filmmakers fostered with Louisiana
Corrections Officials and men confined at the state penitentiary.
“The Farm” received an Academy Award Nomination, two Emmys, the
Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, first prizes from
the National Society of Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics
Association, and the New York Film Critics Circle, and others.
It opened theatrically in 1998 and aired on the Arts &
Entertainment Network and in the UK.
In addition
to “Girlhood” Garbus has also recently completed directing “The Nazi
Officer’s Wife,” a feature-length documentary that opened
theatrically in six cities and aired on A&E . The film
tells the story of a Jew from Vienna who managed to survive the war
by obtaining false papers and marrying a Nazi.
Other
recently completed films include “The Execution of Wanda Jean,”
which premiered at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and aired as part
of HBO’s “America Undercover” series. It opened theatrically in New
York, won the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award, and was nominated
for Best Documentary by the National Association of Minorities
in Communications. Other Moxie Firecracker projects include a series
for The Oxygen Network, two projects for HBO, and a special for
Lifetime.
Garbus made
her directorial debut with the Emmy Nominated “Final Judgement: The
Execution of Antonio James, ” which aired on the Discovery Channel
in 1996. In 1997, she directed “The Secret Life of a Serial Killer”
for A&E. In 1999, she produced and directed “Juvies,” which
aired on A&E , and “The Travelers,” which aired on MTV.
Garbus has
been a guest on Rosie O’Donnell, Charlie Rose, CNN, Good Morning
America, Extra!, Johnnie Cochran, NPR, and more. Her work has
been featured in many major publications and she is a frequent
speaker at film-related events.
Main
Credits
Director:
Liz Garbus
Producers:
Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy
Executive
Producer: TLC
Cinematographer:
Tony Hardmon
Editor:
Mary Manhardt
Music:
Theodore Shapiro
Original
Music: Theodore Shapiro |
|
GO FURTHER
Director:
Ron Mann
U.S.A &
Canada / 2003 / 100 minutes
East Coast Premiere |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
“Go
Further,” the new film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron
Mann, explores the idea that the single individual is the key to
large-scale transformational change.
The film
follows actor Woody Harrelson as he takes a small group of friends
on a bio-fuelled bus ride down the Pacific Coast Highway. Their
goal? To show the people they encounter that there are viable
alternatives to our habitual, environmentally destructive
behaviors.
The
travelers include a yoga teacher, a raw food chef, a hemp activist,
a junk food addict, and a college student who suspends her life to
impulsively hop aboard. We see the hostility these pilgrims
encounter and watch as their ideas are challenged from within and
without.
We meet an
entrepreneur who runs a paper company that does not harm trees; an
organic farmer who believes Nature is his partner; and a man who
teaches environmental activists to use humor as a strategic weapon.
Throughout, we see Harrelson test his belief that the transformation
of our planet begins with the small personal transformations that
are within the grasp of each and every one of us, after which…we’ll
go further.
Featuring
Woody Harrelson, Dave Matthews, Natalie Merchant, Ken Kesey, Bob
Weir, Michael Franti, Anthony Keidis, Medeski, Martin &
Wood.
|
Bio:
Toronto filmmaker
Ron Mann, is one of Canada's
foremost documentary filmmakers. He established his international
reputation while in his twenties with a series of award-winning
theatrical documentaries including Imagine the Sound, featuring jazz
innovators Cecil Taylor and Archie Shepp, Poetry in Motion with
Allen Ginsberg and Tom Waits, Comic Book Confidential with Robert
Crumb, and Twist with Hank Ballard and Chubby Checker. In 1999 he
received the Best Documentary genie award for Grass a humorous
and surprisingly balanced history of recreational marijuana use in
the late 20th century. In addition to his films, Ron Mann has
produced the ground-breaking CD-ROMs 'Poetry in Motion I' and 'Comic
Book Confidential', and recently completed, 'Poetry in Motion II'
and 'Painters Painting'.
 |
Director/Producer: Ron
Mann
Producers: Ron Mann
Cast: Woody
Harrelson, Dave Mathews, Nathalie Merchant, Ken Kesey, Bob
Weir, Michael Franti, Anthony Keidis, Medeski, Martin &
Wood
|
 |
|
|
GODFATHERS AND SONS
from the
Blues Series by Martin Scorcese
Director:
Marc Levin
U.S.A /
2003 / 96 minutes
|
 |
|
Synopsis:
Under the
guiding vision of Martin Scorsese, “The Blues” is a seven-part
series of personal impressionistic films viewed through the lens of
seven world-famous directors with a passion for the music. Charles
Burnett, Clint Eastwood, Mike Figgis, Marc Levin, Richard Pearce,
Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders capture the essence of the blues and
delve into its global influence. The series was sponsored by
Volkswagen of America, and will premiere on PBS on September
28th.
In Marc
Levin’s lively verité-driven film, “Godfathers and Sons,” hip-hop
legend Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and Marshall Chess (son of Leonard
Chess and heir to the Chess Records legacy) return to Chicago to
explore the heyday of Chicago Blues as they unite to produce an
album that attempts to bring veteran blues players together with
contemporary hip-hop musicians such as Common and The Roots. Along
with never-before-seen archival footage of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy
Waters and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, there are original
performances by Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Magic Slim, Ike Turner, and
Sam Lay.
Says Levin,
“This summer we were shooting Sam Lay and his band at the Chicago
Blues Festival. They were playing Muddy Waters’ classic, ‘I Got My
Mojo Workin.’ I closed my eyes and was transported back to when I
was a fifteen-year-old hanging in my buddy’s basement listening to
the Paul Butterfield Blues Band for the first time. My life was
changed that day and thirty-five years later the music’s still
shakin’ my soul. The feeling of that day in the basement is what I
have set out to capture in this film.”
 |
Bio:
Marc
Levin is President of Creative Affairs at Offline Entertainment
Group. He has written, produced and directed many award-winning
documentaries exploring the worlds of troubled youth, street gangs,
the drug war, politics, prisons and the juvenile justice system. His
dramatic feature, Slam, premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival
where it won the Grand Jury Prize. A prison story about the personal
journey of a talented young rapper-poet, Slam won the prestigious
Camera D’Or Award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.
Among
his many other awards, Levin has received the DuPont Silver Baton
and a Cable ACE nomination for Best Director for CIA: America’s
Secret Warriors, a three-part series for the Discovery Channel. His
Home Front with Bill Moyers was honored with the DuPont Gold Baton
Award. He also directed The Politics of Addiction, part of the
ground-breaking five-hour series, Bill Moyers on Addiction: Close to
Home, which premiered on PBS in 1997.
Levin won an Emmy as the
producer and editor of another PBS project, the Bill Moyers special
The Secret Government - The Constitution in Crisis. His Portrait of
an American Zealot was recognised by the Museum of Modern Art as a
work of special importance and made part of the museum’s permanent
film collection.
He
has produced and directed several gripping films for the non-fiction
division of HBO including: Prisoners of the War on Drugs, nominated
in 1998 for an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Special and a
Cable ACE for Outstanding Educational Special; Gang War: Bangin’ in
Little Rock, a riveting story about southern white teens adopting
gang lifestyles, which won a Cable ACE for Best Documentary Special
of 1994; Mob Stories, a special on the decline of the Mafia; The
Execution Machine: Texas Death Row; and Thug Life in
D.C.
His
political documentary, The Last Party, was a look at the 1992
Presidential Campaign featuring Robert Downey Jr. He also wrote and
directed Blowback, which won the Silver Award for Best First Feature
at the Houston Film Festival.
In
1994, Levin formed Offline Entertainment Group with venture
capitalist David Peipers, financier/producer Henri Kessler,
writer/producer Richard Stratton and bestselling author Kim
Wozencraft. Levin is currently in pre-production on the feature film
Brooklyn Babylon, the story of a young rasta rapper on the verge of
breaking out who falls in love with a young Jewish woman chafing at
the strict confines of her background.
|
|
LONG GONE
Director(s):
Jack Cahill, David
Eberhardt
U.S.A /
2003 / 90 minutes / color
IN
COMPETITION |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
While an
independence that borders on alienation may be the enforced way of
life for all 21st century Americans, there is a persistent
subculture for whom it is a daily goal. Long Gone, a feature-length
documentary film, follows this floating population over five years
through the lives of six tramps who have chosen the rails over
mainstream society. They are drifters, hobos, tramps.
And they define themselves as “the last free Americans there
are.” Traveling through America’s heartland, “Long Gone”
captures this microcosm with startlingly beautiful photography,
seamless storytelling, and original music by Tom
Waits.
|
Bio:
Documentary
photographer and filmmaker, David Eberhardt began riding
freight trains in 1990. During the ensuing ten years, he
immersed himself into the rail riding subculture; hopping the
freights across every state west of the Mississippi, while earning
an invaluable level of trust and respect among the hobos. The
recipient of a Kodak
scholarship,
he attended the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and
graduated with a B.F.A. in film, photography and video His
photographs from “THE HIGHLINE,” a documentary on present day hobos,
can be found in museums, universities and private collections
throughout the world.
In
1992 Jack Cahill left Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey
Circus to embark on rail riding odyssey that would span over 60,000
miles. He forged friendships along the way with hobos whose
lives he chronicled in a photo documentary project that earned a
Sygma Press Photo Grant and an Eddie Adams Photojournalism Workshop
Scholarship. His work as a freelance news videographer has appeared
on CBS, NBC and CNN.
Main
Credits:
Director(s),
Producer(s). 2nd Unit photograhy: David Eberhardt, Jack
Cahill
Executive
Producer(s): Don Hyde, Amanda
White
Director of
Photography
Greg Yolen
2nd
Unit Dir. Of Photo. Jack Cahill
Original
Music: Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan
Original
Music: Charlie Musselwhite
Senior
Editor: Manuel Tsingaris
Editor(s):
John Wolfendon, Joe Rubinstein, David Eberhardt
Co-Producer(s):
Jason Briggs, Ariel Peretz, Nancy Egan, Alec
Reid |
|
A NORMAL LIFE
Directors:
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, and Hugo Berkeley
U.S.A &
Kosovo / 2003 / 65 minutes
|
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
For the
millions of children living in areas of conflict around the world,
coming of age takes on a special poignancy. Seven young ethnic
Albanian Kosovars return to Pristina from refugee camps, only to
find their country and lives in shambles. As the euphoria of
newfound freedom gives way to a painful reality of chaos, the
friends struggle to find their identities in a country that has not
yet found its own.
Hugo &
Elizabeth
|
Bios:
Elizabeth
Chai Vasarhelyi wrote her
undergraduate thesis at Princeton
University on documentary as a tool of reconstruction in post-war
Kosovo. She studied filmmaking and theory, and has directed a number
of plays. Vasarhelyi gained extensive experience in the news media,
covering important events such as the Hong Kong hand-over in 1997
and the 1998 World Cup for ABC's World News
Tonight.
Hugo
Berkeley wrote
his undergraduate thesis at Princeton University on early innovators
of cinema verité. He studied film theory at Princeton and NYU, and
made several short documentary films. Berkeley
has worked as a reporter for the Associated Press and as a critic
for Time Out. He also has feature film experience, working for
production companies in Rome and
New
York.
Main
Credits:
Executive
Producer: Craig McKay, Marion Lear Swaybill
Producer: Elizabeth
Chai Vasarhelyi, Hugo Berkeley
Cinematographer: Hugo
Berkeley, Chai Vasarhelyi
Editor: Hugo
Berkeley, Chai Vasarhelyi
Composer: Hunter
Perrin, Rrusta (original songs)
Narrator: Chai
Vasarhelyi
Principal
Cast: Ylber Bajraktari, Petrit Rrusta Carrkagyiu, Linda Gusia,
Garentina Tina Kraja, Kaltrina Krasniqi, Nebi Beni
Qena |
|
OUR HOUSE
Director:
Sevan Matossian
U.S.A /
2003 / 90 minutes
East Coast Premiere |
 |
|
|
Synopsis:
Laura
survived sexual and physical abuse, a gender transformation, and ten
years in a state hospital. Using religious experimentation and
determination, she tries to defeat her tormenting handicaps. Laura’s
housemate, Tim W., is haunted by a painful childhood marked by abuse
and his father’s murder by his step dad. With alcoholism and severe
behaviors, Tim W. drives away even the most sympathetic people in
his circle of support. Tim S., the third housemate, has a criminal
record and is learning the consequences of being an adult. Laura,
Tim W., and Tim S. were all born with developmental disabilities and
are now living outside an institution for the first time in years.
“Our House,” a feature length verité documentary, explores an
intimate and original view of human struggle told through three
unique people. Filmed over the duration of one year by Sevan
Matossian, who lives and works at their home, the documentary
strings together a mosaic of humor and pain all taking place under
one roof.
Preceded by
“Camp
Summertime”
|
Main
Credits:
Director:
Sevan Matossian
Co-Director:
Greg Shields
Producers:
Sevan Matossian, Bessie Katerina Morris, Greg
Shields
Editors:
Sevan Matossian, Bessie Katerina Morris, Greg
Shields
Camera
and Sound: Sevan Matossian, Bessie Katerina
Morris
Additional
Camera: Greg Shields, Andy Day, Erik Brena, Chad
Wennerstrom, Brooke Anderson, Shannon Bell, Stephanie Dyche,
Nick Hoyle
Music:
Eric Brena, Rob
Mitchell | |
Bios:
Sevan
Matossian is a first
generation Armenian born in Oakland, CA. While attending college at
the University
of California at Santa Barbara he majored in Film Studies.
Years later, Sevan stumbled upon a Supported Living home where he
decided to put his efforts into working with developmentally
disabled adults. Four years afterward, he brought his camera to work
and began filming his first feature length documentary, Our House.
The intimate portrait of the three residents of Our House is
only possible because of the personal access afforded by Sevan’s
years of working with them.
In
the interim Sevan teamed with Greg Shields and produced a collection
of documentaries called Whatever, The Zoo, My Name is Eric and 20
episodes of IVTV, a public access show that gained national
recognition for it’s provocative documentary portrayal of a college
town, Isla Vista, CA. Sevan received international attention
in 2001, by capturing the tragic events of college student, David
Attias, running his car into 5 pedestrians, killing four. (See
LA Times article enclosed in press coverage section.)
Sevan and Greg have produced
several documentary packages about Foster Children for a
multi-million dollar grant proposal and dabbled in commercial
work. A visionary and a doer, Sevan is always inventing new
ways and stories to convey using the visual medium.
Greg
Shields is a biology
graduate from UCSB and a Napa Valley
local, Greg Shields harnessed his talent in documentary by hosting
IVTV, an episodic documentary show that portrays the raw culture of
Isla Vista, CA. IVTV marked the first collaboration between Sevan
Matossian and Greg. As the host for three years Greg massaged his
interviewing skills to a level where he could illicit candid
responses from even the most hard nosed or provocative
questions.
Working
with Sevan, Greg produced several documentary packages about Foster
Children for a multi million dollar grant proposal for Foster Care.
Greg and Sevan continue their experimentation with filmmaking by
producing TV commercials for local businesses, and are always
brainstorming on new projects.
As
Sevan’s friend, Greg was no stranger to the house or the people
featured in Our House. Greg’s many years knowing Tim S., Laura, and
Tim W. contributed to the intimate access that the documentary
reveals.
|
|
PLAYING FOR CHANGE
Directors:
Mark Johnson & Jonathan Walls
U.S.A /
2003 / 70 minutes |
|
|
|
Synopsis:
Playing for
Change is a musical journey of discovery that celebrates the freedom
and the lives of street musicians existing in America today.
Focusing on the three cities of Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New
York, “Playing for Change” captures an array of musical styles and
human moments that would otherwise slip through the cracks of
society.
|
Bios:
Playing for
Change is Mark Johnson’s first attempt at filmmaking.
However, Mark isn’t new to the music world. He has recorded
and mixed music for some of the most renowned musicians and
producers in the music, film & television industries. Mark
has spent the last six years recording a wide diversity of musical
styles. Recently, he recorded and mixed a track for Keb’ Mo’
on the Grammy award-winning album titled, “Timeless: A Tribute to
Hank Williams”. He has been involved with over 1500 recording
sessions and has perfected an innovative, mobile technique for
recording street musicians.
Playing for Change is
Jonathan Wall’s first feature length movie. However, he
has been working in documentary productions since 1996 when he first
directed, shot & edited his documentary thesis video titled
“Preserving Life: The Legacy Project”. After receiving
his undergraduate degree from St. Bonaventure University in upstate
New York, Jonathan studied directing at the New York Film Academy
where he completed two short films.
Since, Jonathan has been
working on a variety of non-fiction projects being anything from a
boom operator to a camera operator. Recently he has taken his
talents abroad where he shot & edited a short documentary video
about an Indian community in Malaysia for the National History
Museum of Singapore. After completion of this, he stayed in
Asia and produced, shot, and edited a reality TV series for MTV Asia
called “Its My Life”. Here, he & his team won an award for
Best Editing at the Asian TV Awards Ceremony.
|
|
POWER TRIP
Director:
Paul Devlin
U.S.A &
Georgia / 2003 / 85 minutes |
 |
|
Mountain
View 9/19, 2:30pm
| |
|
Synopsis:
In an
environment of pervasive corruption, assassination, and street
rioting, the story of chaotic post-Soviet transition is told through
culture clash, electricity disconnections and
blackouts.
AES Corp.,
the massive American “global power company,” has purchased the
privatized electricity distribution company in Tbilisi, capital of
the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. AES manager Piers Lewis
must now train the formerly communist populace that, in this new
world, customers pay for their electricity. The Georgians
meanwhile, from pensioners to the Energy Minister, devise ever more
clever ways to get it free.
| |
