CAT
DANCE
An animated film by Julianna Cox
U.S.A / 2003 / 4 minutes / DV / School of Visual Arts
Synopsis/Bio:
This SVA/Dusty Award winning stop motion animated film features cats
constructed out of chenille pipe cleaners, a technique that Woodstock’s very
own Julianna Cox has been mastering since she was a child. According to her
family, Julianna also mastered the technique of actually being a cat at a
young age, even going so far as to cutting a hole for her tail into her
clothing.
Of her unique technique, Cox says "I believe the use of pipe cleaners gives my
characters
a unique character, and allows them to have almost unlimited flexibility in
their movements.
The main cat's name is Chainsaw, and he likes to dance."
Screening with “Shelter Dogs” @
Bearsville Theater9/19,
5:00pm
(also screening with animation)
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COME LOVELY
A short film
directed by Jake Davis
U.S.A / 2003 /
9:45 minutes
Synopsis:
Dreams, memories
and reality collide as two lovers must come to terms with their tragic
destiny.
Bio:
Jake’s multi award-winning student film, “At Low Resolution” premiered at the
inaugural
Tribeca Film Festival (nominated MTV student visionary filmmaker) and went on
to
play numerous film festivals around the globe, including last year’s Woodstock
Film Festival.
He co-wrote the feature script “Surveillance,” which is inspired by his
student film and is
currently developing his second feature script.
Main
Credits:
Director/ Screenwriter/Editor: Jake Davis
Producers: Sophia Raab & Jake Davis
Executive Producers: Jason Downs
Cinematographer: Adrian Sosebee
Music: Jim Dooley
Cast: Jason Downs & Sophia Raab
Screening with “Purgatory House” &
Bearsville Theater9/20, 6:30pm & Upstate in Rhinebeck 9/21, 3:30pm
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DEAR, SWEET EMMA
An animated film by John Cernak
U.S.A / 2003 / 5:17 minutes
Synopsis:
As the search is given up for Emma's latest husband, Tucker, a private look
reveals that Emma has a secret and uncontrollable dark side. The sweetest
angel and favorite citizen of Fishtickle would indeed pose an uncomfortable
dilemma for all if her problems were ever found out. Modeling and animation
was produced in Lightwave 3d. After Effects was used for compositing. Editing
was done on a Video Toaster System. Out of Our Minds Images produced the
piece from concept to final in the course of two months with a six person
staff.
Bio:
Out of Our Minds Images was established in January 2000 as a 3D animation and
special effects studio. Its six founding members were award-winning artists
of all trades (designers, illustrators, painters, photographers, sculptors),
fascinated by the revolution taking place in the animation industry. The
company quickly saw many sleepless nights as it embarked on its first
television projects. Within two years, it had already produced several
regional, and a few nationally recognized, fully digital commercials and
provided the digital effects for “The Rough South of Larry Brown”, an
independent feature about the career of the writer.
Main Credits:
Writer/Director: John Cernak
Producers: Out Of Our Minds Images
Cinematographer/Lead Animator/Post Production Sound Design: Danny Oakley
Animator/Graphics: Derek Cernak
Voice Talent: Gene Johnson
Screening with “Particles of Truth” @
MT.
View in Woodstock 9/20, 5:15pm & CMFT in Hunter 9/21, 12:30pm
(also screening with animated shorts)
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FURRY’S BLUES:
DAVID JOHANSEN & THE HARRY SMITHS
A music video
directed by Gerald Slota
U.S.A / 2003 /
4:23 minutes
Synopsis:
“Furry’s Blues”
tells of one man’s murderous journey in the 1920s; a journey that eventually
leads to a surreal confrontation with his soul. From the album “Shaker.”
Bio:
Director Gerald
Slota is a fine art photographer whose work has appeared in numerous
publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, The New Yorker,
Harpers, Esquire and GQ. His short film "Home Movies," was exhibited at the
Ricco/Maresca Gallery in NYC last fall. He has directed several music videos.
Main Credits:
Director/ Director of Photography: Gerald Slota
Producers: Gerald Slota ,David Johansen, Steven Romano, Thomas D. Isenberg
Cast: David Johansen, David Hoffsatter, Drea Gamalski, Rebecca Chance,Tommy
Heihlin, Malcolm Chesney, Jane Reddy, Lenny Kislin
Screening with “Piggie” @
Bearsville 9/19, 7:00pm & Hunter 9/20, 6:30pm
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GOOD BOY: BLONDIE
A music video
directed by Jonas Akerlund
U.S.A / 2003 / 4
minutes
From the
forthcoming Blondie album, “The Curse of Blondie”. The video is loosely based
on the silent Lon Chaney film “He Who Gets Slapped”.
Screening with “Coney Isand Baby” @
Mountain View 9/20, 7:30pm & Hunter 9/21, 3:00pm
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THE LONG AND
SHORT OF IT
A short film
directed by Sean Astin
U.S.A & New
Zealand / 2003 / 5:50 minutes
Synopsis:
A bedraggled
painter is in way over his head. His back hurts. His ladder is broken.
It seems he may
never be able to hang an enormous pastoral painting.
Then . . . as
chance would have it, two strangers wander his way.
Bio:
Sean Astin made his feature film debut (at age 13) as "Mikey Walsh" in Richard
Donner's adventure “The Goonies” (1984). Sean's portrayal of a young man
determined to play football for Notre Dame in “Rudy” (1993) won hearts across
America, and continues to inspire young people whenever it is shown. Other
well-known film credits include “Bulworth,” “Courage Under Fire,” “Memphis
Belle,” “Encino Man,” “Like Father Like Son,” “Where the Day Takes You,”
“Staying Together,” “War of the Roses,” “Safe Passage,” and “White Water
Summer”.
He is currently starring in Peter Jackson's epic “Lord of the Rings,” as "Samwise
Gamgee," the trustworthy sidekick of Frodo Baggins (played by Elijah Wood.)
The third installment of the trilogy, “The Return of the King,” will premiere
worldwide in December 2003.
Sean received Best Actor honors for his performance in “Low Life” at the Fort
Lauderdale Film Festival. He can also be seen in the indie releases
“Deterrence,” “Kimberly,” “The Last Producer,” and “Boy Meets Girl”.
A
promising director, Astin garnered an Academy Award nomination for his short
film “Kangaroo Court,” which he co-produced with his wife, Christine. A
Directors Guild of America member, Astin has also directed episodes of the HBO
anthology series “Perversions of Science” and “Angel” for The WB. His short
film “The Long and Short of It” was an official entry at Sundance 2003.
Sean has optioned the movie rights for Erik Larson's best-selling non-fiction
book Isaac's Storm, which he intends to produce and direct.
This Official Home Page will provide insight into Sean's career, featuring
personal comments from him about his experiences as an actor, director, and
producer.
Main Credits:
Director, producer, screenwriter: Sean Astin
Story By: Sean Astin and Dominic Monaghan
Cast: Andrew Lesnie, Praphaphorn (Fon) Chansantor, Paul Randall, with a
special appearance by Peter Jackson.
In Loving Memory of Brian Bansgrove
Screening with “Pieces of April”
@ Tinker Street , 9/18, 7pm
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MUSIC
A short film by
Amos Kollek
U.S.A & Germany
/ 2003 / 29 minutes
Synopsis:
Often cited for
his quaint, ironic, humorous, close-to-the-skin story-telling talents - “the
Woody Allen of the American Independents,” said one critic - Amos Kollek is an
actor-writer-screenwriter-director all rolled into one. He knows Manhattan
like the back of his hand. His films are filled with a bevy of familiar
Village characters: bar-hoppers and park-benchers, retirees and wanabees, the
lonely and the beautiful. In “Angela”, his first Erotic Tale, Amos Kollek told
a delightfully funny fairy tale about an ordinary guy aching for one last
fling at the tender age of seventy. In “Music” he extends the metaphor to
embrace a city that never sleeps - as though Manhattan at night is the very
essence of the elusive, vulnerable woman. Spiced with surreal, Kafkaesque
twists, “Music” is about a man who loves music and is fascinated by the fair
sex. But he is not quite sure why and how he has ended up in this strange
hotel room ...
Bio:
Born in 1947
in
Jerusalem, Kollek has always gone his own way.
Son of Teddy Kollek,
the eminent mayor of
Jerusalem,
Amos had to do just that if he ever hoped to leave the shadow of one of the
most popular figures on the Israeli political scene. From 1965 to 1968,
he served in the Israeli army during one of the decisive moments in his
country's history:
the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. In 1971, he received a BA in Psychology and
Philosophy
at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. That same year, he published his first
novel,
“Don't Ask Me If I Love,” and was given the Evans Award for Fiction.
His film career began in the triple-decker pattern of actor, screenwriter, and
co-producer on “Worlds Apart” (1979). To these credits he added director on
“Goodbye, New York” (1984), starring Julie Hagerty; “Forever Lulu” (1987),
with Hanna Schygulla and Alec Baldwin;
“High Stakes” (1989), with Sally Kirkland and Kathy Bates; “Double Edge”
(1994), with Faye Dunaway; and “Whore 2” (“Bad Girls”) (1994.
The international breakthrough came with “Sue” (1997), starring Anna Thomson.
It won the FIPRESCI (International Critics) Award and the Ecumenical Award at
the 1998 Berlinale, followed by a Special Acting Award for Anna Thomson at the
Montreal festival. A year later, Kollek and Thomson were back again in the
Berlinale Panorama with “Fiona” (1999),
a hard-edged, half-fiction,
half-documentary sequel to “Sue ,“ which focused on the demimonde of the
Manhattan crack-house scene. And, of course, Thomson can be seen again in
Kollek's new feature film, “Fast Food, Fast Women”.
Main Credits:
Director,
Screenwriter: Amos Kollek
Producer:
Regina Ziegler
Cinematographer: Ed Talavera
Editor: Jeffrey Marc Harkavy
Music: Bach and others
Cast: Dallas Roberts Lara Harris Tara Culp, Victor Argo, Anjelica Torn
Screening with "Julie and Herman"
@ Mountain View in Woodstock, 9/21, 1:30pm
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THE SPIRIT OF
GRAVITY
A mini-musical
directed by Victor Bellomo and David Pace
U.S.A / 2003 /
5:45 minutes / B&W
Synopsis:
Inspired by
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, “The Spirit of Gravity” is an
animated mini-musical, in which Nietzsche sings his philosophy to a small
town, arousing the villagers to join him in defying the forces of nature. “The
Spirit of Gravity” is a visual poem that explores the meaning, beauty and
mystery of Nietzsche’s great work. The animation is composed of thousands of
collaged photographic images, which have been animated using both traditional
and digital techniques. The film’s soundtrack is an original song composed by
the filmmakers and is informed by the philosophy, imagery and humor of “Thus
Spoke Zarathustra”.
Bio:
Victor Bellomo
and David Pace grew up together in Sunnyvale, California, where they
collaborated on theater projects, radio dramas, and experiments in music and
sound.
In 1992, they
formed Latex Chipmunk Productions and have produced numerous short films
and projects
incorporating puppetry, animation, and multimedia. Their work has appeared in
film festivals
internationally and on television. “The Spirit of Gravity” is part of their
series of
short films
based on the work of great philosophers.
Main Credits:
Writers/Directors/Animators/Music: Victor Bellomo, David Pace
Digital Animator: Brendan Bellomo
Screening with “Milk & Honey”
@ MT. View in
Woodstock 9/20, 1:00pm & Upstate in Rhinebeck 9/21, 1:30pm
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SUMMERTIME
An animated
film by Nico Clark
UK / 2003 /
5:40
Synopsis:
Based on Gershwin's lullaby, performed by Booker T. & the MG's, “Summertime”
is visual interpretation of music. It is a journey through an isolated coral
island, in the form of a ballet danced by the elements of nature itself,
illustrating and celebrating the connection between all life. The story begins
in the eye of an albatross, making its way across the ocean. From its point of
view, we see as the bird lands on the beach of a small island. We notice a
fly, which we follow into the jungle. The fly leads us up into the canopy of a
tree where it is suddenly eaten by a well-camouflaged lizard. The lizard
disturbs a caterpillar from its hiding place under a leaf. It escapes, finding
a new hiding place where it metamorphoses into a brightly colored butterfly.
Bio:
Nico Clark studied
Fine Art at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.
Although qualifying to study as a
sculptor, Nico’s work became focused on time based media and light
installation. This found an expression by creating light shows for the San
Francisco ‘Rave’ scene of the early nineties. The culmination of this
exploration was an immersive video installation “Continuum” which could be
seen as an opening sketch for his current work “Summertime.”
After completing university he worked in various aspects of the London film
industry, as an art director and location manager in music videos and as a
graphic artist in various feature films including Jane Campion’s “The Portrait
of a Lady” and the cult gay teen flick “Get Real.” As Nico’s film career
progressed, he became more specialized in the area of graphics. Initially this
was through creating printed props for films. Eventually it led to a job in
SoHo making images for advertising and magazine editorials by combining 3D and
2D software.
Screening with
"A Constructive Madness"
@
Upstate in Rhinebeck 9/21, 12:00pm
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Tinker Street, Upstate Films and the
Catskill Mountain Foundation Theater are 35mm facilities.
Upstate and CMFT will also screen beta sp
and digibeta films.
Bearsville, Mountain View, WCC are are
beta sp & digibeta
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