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THE AGRONOMIST
Director:
Jonathan Demme
USA
/ 2003 /
Original music by Wyclef
Jean/Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis |
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Upstate 9/21, 5:30pm
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A long-cherished personal documentary project from Academy
Award-winning director Jonathan Demme ( The
Silence of the Lambs,
Philadelphia,
Melvin and Howard,
Stop Making Sense),
The Agronomist
is a celebration of an extraordinary
man - journalist, broadcaster and human rights activist
Jean Dominique
- and his tireless fight against
injustice and oppression, the story of his uncompromising crusade for liberty
and democracy in the vibrant country of Haiti.
Demme shot many hours of footage with Dominique over fifteen
years. Their joint project was tragically cut short in April 2000 when, in the
turmoil leading up to elections in Haiti, Jean Dominique was assassinated
outside his radio station, Radio Haiti Inter.
The Agronomist
is not a ‘whodunnit’, as the
investigation into Dominique’s murder is ongoing. Rather, it is a portrait of
a remarkable man, his extraordinary wife and partner Michèle Montas, and their
beloved Haiti.
Courtesy of
THINKFilm |
Director, screenwriter and producer
Jonathan Demme,
has 18 films to his credit, including
The Truth About Charlie,
Beloved,
The Silence of the
Lambs (for which he
won an Academy Award),
Philadelphia,
Married to the Mob,
Something Wild,
Swimming to Cambodia
and
Melvin and Howard,
for which he was named Best Director by the New York Film Critics. Additional
producing credits include
Devil in a Blue Dress,Household
Saints,
That Thing You Do!,
Ulee’s Gold
and
Adaptation.
Demme’s films have been nominated for 20 Academy Awards.
The Silence of the
Lambs received five
Academy Awards in 1991 - for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best
Actress, and Best Screenplay Adaptation. His films have won screenplay Oscars
twice, Melvin and
Howard (Best
Original Screenplay, 1980) and
The Silence of the Lambs
(Best Screenplay
Adaptation, 1991), and two of the Best Actor awards of the 1990s went to
Anthony Hopkins
(The Silence of the
Lambs, 1991) and Tom
Hanks
(Philadelphia, 1993).
A strong advocate of human rights, Demme has produced and
directed a number of documentaries about the Haitian plight, such as the
acclaimed Haiti: Dreams
of Democracy,
Haiti: Killing of the
Dream,
Tonbe Leve
and
Courage and Pain.
In addition, he directed the documentary
Cousin Bobby,
and produced the Academy Award-nominated biography
Mandela,
as well as Into the
Rope!,
The Uttmost,
and One Foot on a
Banana Peel,
The Other Foot in a Grave.
He is also producing
Beah: A Black Women Speaks,
a documentary on the life of Beah Richards, with Lisa Gay Hamilton, who is
making her directorial debut with this project. He recently completed
The Agronomist,
a documentary on the Haitian radio journalist
Jean Dominique,
who was assassinated in April, 2000 on the steps of his radio station.
Demme’s creative talents have also lured him into the musical
domain. He directed the Robyn Hitchcock concert film
Storefront Hitchcock
as well as the
award-winning Talking Heads concert film
Stop Making Sense.
He has directed Artists United Against Apartheid’s
Sun City,
Neil Young’s The
Complex Sessions
and music videos for
Bruce Springsteen,
Les Frères Parent,
The Neville Brothers,
KRS-One
and
The Feelies,
among others. He also produced
Konbit,
an album of Haitian music. |
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DIRECTOR
Jonathan DEMME
PRODUCED BY
Jonathan DEMME / Peter SARAF / Bevin
McNAMARA
EDITED BY
Lizi GELBER / Bevin McNAMARA
ORIGINAL MUSIC BY
Wyclef JEAN / Jerry “WONDA” DUPLESSIS
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Daniel WOLFF
ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS
Edwidge DANTICAT / Lizi GELBER
CAMERA
ABOUDJA / Jonathan DEMME / Peter SARAF /
Bevin McNAMARA
SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR
Nicholas RENBECK
MUSIC EDITOR
Suzana PERIC
MUSICIANS
ROBERT AARON / Jerry “WONDA” DUPLESSIS /
Melky JEAN / Wyclef JEAN
A
CLINICA ESTETICO
PRESENTATION
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AUROVILLE: FROM UTOPIA TO
REALITY
Director(s):
Harry Häner and Laurence Bolomey
Switzerland
/ 2002 / 52 minutes
U.S Premiere
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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
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BLUEGRASS JOURNEY
Director(s):
Ruth Oxenberg, and Rob Schumer
U.S.A / 2003
/ 86 minutes
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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
visit the
website
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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
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A BOY’S LIFE
Director:
Rory Kennedy
U.S.A / 2002
/ 77 minutes
*IN
COMPETITION |
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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.
Visit the website |
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.
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THE BOYS OF 2ND STREET PARK
Director(s):
Dan Klores and Ron Berger
U.S.A / 2002
/ 91 minutes
*IN
COMPETITION |
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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
Visit the
website
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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
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BROTHERS …
ON HOLY GROUND
Director:
Mike Lennon
U.S.A / 2002
/ 54 minutes
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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.
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BUKOWSKI:
BORN INTO THIS
Director:
John Dullaghan
U.S.A / 2002
/ 130 minutes / color
*IN
COMPETITION |
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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
Visit the
website
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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
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BUS 174
Director:
José Padilha
Brazil
/ 2003 / 122 minutes
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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 |
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A CONSTRUCTIVE MADNESS
Director(s):
Tom Ball, Brian Neff and Jeffrey Kipnis
U.S.A /
2003 / 63 minutes
U.S Premiere
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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.
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EVERY CHILD IS BORN A POET: THE LIFE & WORK OF PIRI THOMAS:
Director:
Jonathan Robinson
U.S.A / 2003
/ 58 minutes/ color
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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"
Visit the
website
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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
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FOOD, NOT DRUGS
Director:
Cambiz Khosravi
Woodstock /
2003 / 74 minutes
World Premiere |
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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”
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GIRLHOOD
Directed by
Liz Garbus
USA/
2002 / 82 minutes
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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.
Visit the
website
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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
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GO FURTHER
Director: Ron
Mann
U.S.A &
Canada / 2003 / 100 minutes
East Coast Premiere |
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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.
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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'.
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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
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Visit the website |
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GODFATHERS AND SONS
from the
Blues Series by Martin Scorcese
Director:
Marc Levin
U.S.A / 2003
/ 96 minutes
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Bearsville 9/19, 9:30pm
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Hunter 9/20, 9:00pm
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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.”
Visit the
website
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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.
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LONG GONE
Director(s):
Jack Cahill, David Eberhardt
U.S.A / 2003
/ 90 minutes / color
IN
COMPETITION |
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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.
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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
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A NORMAL LIFE
Directors:
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, and Hugo Berkeley
U.S.A &
Kosovo / 2003 / 65 minutes
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Upstate 9/21, 5:15pm
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Bearsville 9/21, 4:30pm
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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
Visit the website |
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
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OUR HOUSE
Director:
Sevan Matossian
U.S.A / 2003
/ 90 minutes
East Coast Premiere |
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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”
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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
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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.
Visit the website
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PLAYING FOR CHANGE
Directors:
Mark Johnson & Jonathan Walls
U.S.A / 2003
/ 70 minutes
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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.
Visit the
website
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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.
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POWER TRIP
Director:
Paul Devlin
U.S.A &
Georgia / 2003 / 85 minutes
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Mountain View 9/19, 2:30pm
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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.
Amidst hot
tempers and high drama, Lewis balances his love for the Georgian people with
the hardships his company creates for them, as they struggle to build a
nation from the rubble of Soviet collapse.
Visit the
website
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Bio:
Paul Devlin has won awards for “Power Trip” at film festivals in Berlin,
Florida, and Hot Docs in Toronto.
Paul Devlin is also the filmmaker of the award-winning film “SlamNation,”
distributed nationally in theaters by The Cinema Guild and recently
cablecast on HBO/Cinemax and Encore/Starz (www.slamnation.com).
His fiction film, “The Eyes of St. Anthony,” is distributed by Tapestry
International.
As a freelance video editor, Mr. Devlin has been awarded four Emmys for his
work with NBC at the Olympic Games and with CBS at the Tour de France.
His extensive credits as an editor include commercials, music videos, weekly
television shows and sports television including the Super Bowl, World Cup
Soccer, and NCAA Basketball Championships, among others.
Paul Devlin is
also the Producing Editor (or Preditor) on “Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme,”
winner of a Special Jury Award for Documentary Filmmaking at the 2002
Florida Film Festival.
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