Posted on 06 November 2009.
Sunday, November 8
10:30AM-Breakfast and a Movie: Barstool Cowboy (90 min.) w/ short: Mama &
Nardo (8 min.) at Red Rock Tavern
1:00PM-Hallelujah the Hills (82 min.) w/ short: Hallelujah the Villa (28
min.) at La Paloma Sabanera Coffeehouse
4:00PM- Carnivalesque Films’ New Work In Progress (running time TBA) Q&A
with directors David Redmon & Ashley Sabin at La Paloma Sabanera
Coffeehouse
7:30PM-Still Bill (77 min.) w/ short: You Wanted To Make A Film? (25 min.)
at The Studio @ Billings Forge
FILM DESCRIPTIONS:
Woodpecker
Director: Alex Karpovsky
[75 min. | USA | 2009]
Fanatical birdwatchers have descended upon a small town in the Arkansas
bayou in hopes of finding the celebrated Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Declared
extinct in the 1940′s, the bird has apparently been spotted by numerous
experts. Enter amateur birder and poet Johnny Neander, who has convinced
his taciturn sidekick that he will be the one to find the elusive
woodpecker. The ensuing chaos divides the small town between believers and
non-believers, rabid environmentalists and opportunistic entrepreneurs.
Much like the bird itself, Woodpecker explores the intersection of fact
and fiction, manipulating our notions of documentary and narrative
techniques within a tragic comedy about hope, perception, and some very
very strange birds.
Blue Sky
Director Luke Sieczek
[20 min. | USA | 2009]
Who am I? Friend… enemy… both? Our friendship has always been a
problem. We never know what to do with it: what is possible and what is
impossible between us.
Blue Sky is a coming-of-age story about four characters dreaming of love
and friendship. A world of daydream and fantasy merges with a reality that
reverberates with uncertain expectations. Thoughts and emotions turn into
snow, wind, sunlight and rain.
Call Me If You Need Me
Director James Lee
[104 min. | Malaysia | 2009 | Mandarin, Cantonese, & Malay with English
subtitles]
James Lee’s newest indie film is a classic brotherhood gangster yarn
fronted by a lead turn by local music wunderkind Pete Teo. Ah Soon and Or
Kia are two cousins who grew up together in a small village. As an adult,
aggressive Ah Soon now lives in the city and works as a debt collector. He
invites Or Kia, the simpler and more righteous of the two, to join his
expanding business. It would be Ping, Ah Soon’s new girlfriend who would
act as the bridge between the two me, as the age-old themes of loyalty and
honor are explored.
Chasing Cats and Cars
Director Liew Seng Tat
[12 min. | Malaysia | 2009 | Mandarin, Cantonese, & Malay with English
subtitles]
What can a leg do without the man who should be fixed to it? About how you
can forget a leg and the leg decides to go its own way. Exercise in its
own form of absurdism. Jokes are good if you tell them well. Strange jokes
have to be told even better. The maker likes really strange jokes and
that’s why he practices telling them well. Man takes his injured friend to
the hospital. There it becomes apparent that a leg is missing.
Mary May’s Suicide Letter
Director: John Fink
[8 min. | USA | 2009]
The film tells the story of Mary, a women haunted by a personal tragedy
that tears her marriage to a success…
LoliGirls: The Story Behind the Frills and Bows
Directors: Kate Slomkowsky & Linsey Taylor
[18 min. | USA | 2009]
This short documentary follows 3 American girls who are enamored with the
Lolita fashion and lifestyle.
ShowGirls: Provincetown, MA
Director: C. Fitz
[72 min. | USA | 2009]
ShowGirls: Provincetown, MA is a feature documentary about a small town
talent show with a strong dose of vaudeville where an eclectic mix of
locals, drag queens and the occasional tourist passing through vie for the
$500.00 prize and their chance at fame on stage. Known as a local
institution, this popular show takes place Monday evenings over the summer
as acts of varying artistry, skill, range, and grit vie for the coveted
title of “ShowGirl.”
Mama and Nardo
Director: Alec Tuckman
[8 min. | USA | 2009]
Mama and Nardo is an animated cartoon in the vein of South Park, Family
Guy, and The Simpsons. Mama takes Nardo and friends to a summer camp. Upon
arrival, they discover there’s a serial killer, named Jason Fourknees, on
the loose. Nardo and Mama soon fall victim to this psychopath and must
learn to work together or die.
Barstool Cowboy
Director: Mark Thimijan
[90 min. | USA | 2008]
An unemployed Cowboy who can’t find love vows to stay on a barstool for
three months hoping to find some answers at the bottom of a beer bottle.
Shortly thereafter, he meets a young female art student and quickly
forgets his misery. The pair begin to transform each other’s worlds while
spending time drinking, dancing, and examining the mysteries of life. Will
the Cowboy finally find love or should he have just stayed on his
barstool?
Hallelujah the Villa
Director: David Avallone
[28 min. | USA | 2006]
David Avallone revisits Adolfas Mekas’ 1963 film: Hallelujah the Hills.
Hallelujah the Hills
Director: Adolfas Mekas
[82 min. | USA | 1963]
A very bizarre low budget comedy about two men who take to the woods to
purge their obsessive attraction to a woman named Vera who dumped them
both for a shmuck. This quirky little film is on the verge of being
hilarious. However, it never quite gets all the laughs it shoots for. As a
result, it is only mildly amusing, but worth a viewing if you’re in the
mood for something light and off the beaten path.
Carnivalesque Films’ New Work-In-Progress
Directors: David Redmon & Ashley Sabin
[TBA | USA | 2009]
David Redmon and Ashley Sabin returns to the Hartford International Film
Festival with their new documentary which follows Russian and US modeling
scouts as they scour Siberian landscapes in search of teen girls to become
models in Tokyo.
You Wanted To Make A Film? (At ratzit laasot seret?)
Director: Gali Weintraub
[25 min. | Israel | 2008 | Hebrew with English subtitles]
A complex relationship between Gali, born disabled and the couple, Zehava,
a polio victim and Oren, a folk dancer, son of disabled parents who decide
to put on a dance performance together.
Still Bill
Director: Damani Baker
[77 min. | USA | 2009]
Still Bill follows the story of Bill Withers, best known for his classics,
“Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Just the Two of Us.”
But Wither’s musical life is just one part of a complex man who was raised
in the coal-mining towns of West Virginia, sailed for nine years with the
Navy, rose to the top of the charts and then left it behind to raise a
family.
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