DOCUMENTARY FILMS - 2002

THE AGRONOMIST
A documentary by Jonathan Demme
Work in Progress – USA/Haiti – 90 min
 
Special screening
 

Between 1994 and 2000, Jonathan Demme shot footage for a documentary portrait of his friend, radio journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique. On April 3, 2000, Dominique was assassinated on the steps of his station, Radio Haiti Inter. The killing prompted Demme to complete the film, which is not a whodunnit, though Dominique’s murder remains unsolved to this date. Rather, it is a portrait of Dominique, his extraordinary wife, and partner Michele Montas, and their beloved Haiti.

 
Director:  Jonathan Demme
Producers: Jonathan Demme, Peter Saraf, Daniel Wolff
Editors: Lizi Gelber, Bevin McNamara
Camera: Jonathan Demme, Peter Saraf and others
9/22 - 12pm at Kleinert/James ($12)


AH! THE HOPEFUL PAGEANTRY OF BREAD AND PUPPET
A documentary by DeeDee Halleck and Tamar Schumann
2002 – USA –  80 min
 
Films of the Hudson Valley/Catskills

An expression of the progressive vision that Bread and Puppet represents as a source of hope and vision for people all over the world. Neither a straight documentary nor an "educational" rendition of theater history, AH! is more like a Bread and Puppet movie than a film about Bread and Puppet.

 Filmmakers DeeDee Halleck, founder of Paper Tiger Television, and Tamar Schumann, the daughter of the Bread and Puppet founder Peter Schumann, have logged and organized this vast archive, which is currently accessible for research and study at the Bread and Puppet farm in Vermont.

Screening with POPULI


Photo by Ronald T Simon
9/21 - 4:15pm at Kleinert/James ($8)


AMANDLA! REVOLUTION IN FOUR-PART HARMONY
Directed by Lee Hirsch
2001 – USA 108 min
 
In competition – feature docs
Focus on Music
9/21 - 12:30pm at Tinker Street Cinema ($8)

AMANDLA! explores the crucial role played by black South African freedom songs in the long struggle against apartheid. Music is woven throughout the documentary, a double award winner at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, as the film illustrates how freedom songs changed and evolved in step with the fight for liberation. World-renowned musicians, including trumpeter Hugh Masekela, singer Miriam Makeba, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, and guitarist Vusi Mahlasela, offer their candid personal recollections along the way. In the South African language Xhosa, amandla means “power,” and the film lives up to its title. Print courtesy of Artisan Entertainment

AMANDLA!  a revolution in four part harmony is the feature documentary debut of Lee Hirsch, who has been honored for his work by the African National Congress of South Africa, where he lived for nearly five years.  Hirsch directed music videos while in South Africa, and his first film was a short, The Last and Only Survivor of Flora.  He attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Executive Producer:  Sherry Simpson
Producers:  Lee Hirsch, Sherry Simpson
Coproducer:  Desiree Markgraaff
Cinematographers:  Clive Sackie, Ivan Leathers
Editor:  Johanna Demetrakas
Music:  Gary Rydstrom, Stuart Deutsch
 


THE BALLAD OF BERING STRAIT
A documentary by Nina Gilden Seavey
2002 – USA/RUSSIA - 98 min
 
In competition – feature docs

Seven Russian teenagers come to America to become country music stars.   The Ballad of Bering Strait is a 98-minute epic in Russian and English that follows these teenagers and their band, Bering Strait, as they encounter the American Dream -- molding their uniquely East European perspective to the sometimes harsh, sometimes quixotic realities of the American entertainment industry.

9/22 - 12:45pm at Bearsville ($8)

Director’s Bio:  Nina Gilden Seavey is the Director of the Documentary Center at  George Washington University.  Her film, A Paralyzing Fear:  The Story of Polio in America, was released theatrically at the Film Forum in 1997 and broadcast nationally on PBS in 1998.  Among other awards, A Paralyzing Fear won an Emmy Award and the Erik Barnouw Prize for Best Historical Film of the Year.  Her work can also be seen on the Discovery Channel, on permanent exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution and on large screen installations around the nation.

Director/Producer:  Nina Gilden Seavey
Cinematographer:  Erich Roland
Editor:  Jeff Consiglio

CREATIVE RETALIATION
A short film by Jennifer Lucene
2002 – USA – 50 min

 Films of the Hudson Valley/Catskills

9/21 @ 10am at
Woodstock Community Center

 

 Creative Retaliation is a documentary exploring how the artists of the Hudson Valley area have been affected by the events of September 11, 2001.  Artists of many different mediums explore the ways in which their creative expression has been altered by this catastrophe and how their creative gifts come to be a weapon to combat terror.  They show how creativity is not only an essential element to the healing process, but also a useful and powerful tool for society.

Jennifer Lucene holds a BFA in film and television from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Honors she has received include the Warner Bros. Post-Production Award Fund and the Martin Scorsese Post-Production Award Fund. She has worked in directing and editing capacities on such projects as Awake, Cathy, Waiting, What About Grunge?, and more.

“I moved to upstate New York on September 1, 2001.  I spent a week unpacking and cleaning things up.  I had just finished and sat down to watch television and I saw the world blow up.  I had to do something; I needed to be of service.  I spent the next couple of weeks feeling so powerless.  I volunteered for the Woodstock Film Festival and met some truly amazing individuals.  I realized what an extraordinary community Woodstock was and it suddenly became clear what I had to do.  A power greater than myself led me to create the documentary.  This film was made to help others: to help them heal, help them learn, help them realize there is an alternative to destruction. That alternative is creation.”


DEEP WATER: Building The Catskill Water System
Directed and produced by Tobe Carey, Artie Traum and Robbie Dupree
2001 - USA – 45 min
 
Films of the Hudson Valley/Catskills

The building of the Catskill water system is a tale of heroism and heartbreak, involving political maneuvering, lost villages, brilliant engineering and a power struggle between New York City and the Catskills.

Tobe Carey, Robbie Dupree and Artie Traum have worked on dozens of
video projects, including the documentary "Talking Drummers" (with Jack
DeJohnette), music-instruction videos and industrials. Tobe Carey has won awards from the AFI, the Houston Film Festival and festivals overseas. Grammy-nominated Robbie Dupree is an internationally admired performer, known for his hits "Steal Away" and "Hot Rod Hearts." Artie Traum has scored films for Glenn Close/Cinemax and PBS and enjoyed a #1 smooth jazz album "Letters From Joubee." The team's passion for local Catskill lore and history led to the  production of Deep Water which debuted to critical acclaim on PBS
affiliate WMHT in 2002.

screening with CLEARWATER ON THE HUDSON

9/21 - 2:15pm at Woodstock Community Center ($8)


DRIVING TO GROUND ZERO
A film by Tony Spiridakis, Phil Parmet, Brian Cousins
2002 – USA – 70 min
 
Driving to Ground Zero is about how Americans, individually and collectively, reacted to 9/11, but it is also a film about family and friends and the enduring values we all share. The journey takes the southern route across America – from Santa Monica to the Grand Canyon, Hopi Indian land and Oklahoma City firehouses; through middle America; on to the Loraine Motel in Memphis; to the Pentagon and, finally, New York City.
 
Producers:  Tony Spiridakis, Phil Parmet, Brian Cousins, Ian MacKenzie
Editor:   Ian MacKenzie
Additional Editing:  Gavin Cutler
Assistant Editor:  Yvette Choy
 
Screening with
NATIVE AMERICAN IN MANHATTAN
9/20 - 8:45pm
at Kleinert/James ($8)


HORNS AND HALOS
A documentary by Suki Hawley and Mike Galinsky
2002 - USA - 84 min

“The problem is in this world if you tell the truth, they kill you,” says publisher Sander Hicks. That’s the theme of this documentary about author J.M. Hatfield and his George W. Bush biography Fortunate Son. First published in 1999, the book was immediately withdrawn because of its allegations of George W’s early 1970s drug habits. Because Hatfield was a convicted felon, the press claimed his well-documented research was invalid. Hicks re-released this great book under his tiny Soft Skull Press imprint. Soon, Soft Skull was sued, leaving the mysterious yet vulnerable Hatfield on a crash course with fate.

9/18 - 7pm at Bearsville


Suki  Hawley has completed two features with partner Michael Galinsky: Half-Cocked (1995), which has had a successful video and soundtrack release on Matador Records, and Radiation (1999), which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Radiation has continued on to 30 other festivals in the US, Europe, Asia, and South America.

Since 2000, Suki has directed and edited dozens of short pieces for internet clients sonypictures.com, AtomicPop.com, Circuit DVD Magazine, and Insound.com. In 1999, along with Sadie Benning, Miranda July and others, Suki became the recipient of a grant to fund young women filmmakers from noted photographer/filmmaker Robert Frank, which she has used to develop and produce two documentary portraits.

Along with partner Suki Hawley, Michael Galinsky has made the two feature films, Half-Cocked (1995) and Radiation (1999), both of which deal with the independent music scene. Michael is a founding member of the New York band Sleepyhead and co-founder of the band Laptop. In 1997, he co-produced two segments for MSNBC's show Edgewise - one of which was shown opening night at 1998's Rotterdam International Film Festival.

His work as a professional photographer includes photos on over 30 album covers and in magazines such as Rolling Stone, Seventeen, Ray Gun, Puncture, and The Sun. His first book of photographs, Scraps (1999), has been praised as uniquely inspired by the Village Voice, Ray Gun, and The New York Press, and in 1999 he had 12 major exhibitions in the US and Europe.

Until recently, Michael worked as director of film content at Insound.com, a New York-based music web site. He and Suki are currently working with the DVD production company, PlexiFilm, creating content for DVD.

Director, Editor: Suki Hawley - Director, Cinematographer: Michael Galinsky - Co-producer: David Beilinson

 

INTO THE NIGHT: THE BENNY MARDONES STORY
A documentary by Greg Ross
2002 – USA – 90 min
 
Focus on Music
 
In 1980, Benny Mardones released the  song "Into the Night," which became a Top 10 smash hit and is one of the twenty-five most-played songs on the radio to this day. With Benny on the verge of superstardom, his career took a dramatic nosedive and he soon found himself a pariah in the music industry. At the end of his rope and near suicide, Benny Mardones was reborn a superstar – in Syracuse, NY.!
 
Greg Ross is the President/Founder of Go-kart Records, one of the leading underground record companies in the world. This is his first foray into the world of film.
 
Director: Greg Ross
Producers: Greg Ross, Gill Holland, Will Keenan
Director of Photography: Patrick Hassan
Cast: Benny Mardones, Wayne Newton, Roy Orbison, Tommy Mottola, Richie Havens, Bill McGathy, Dick Clark
9/20 - 6:15pm at Kleinert/James ($8)


THE LAST WALTZ
Directed by Martin Scorsese
1978 -- USA -- 117 min
9/20 - 9:30pm at Upstate I ($8)

 
Special Screening -- Focus on Music
Originally released in 1978, this is a remastered print of the film chronicling the final concert by The Band. Many special guests make appearances to help them out including Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Bob Dylan. Print courtesy of United Artists


LIFESTYLES OF THE POOR AND UNKNOWN
2001 – USA - 46:35
A documentary by Nancy Fliesler
Music:  Paul Lenart and Billy Novick

This gritty-textured documentary gets inside the hearts and minds of a mentally retarded couple. Marni and Kris, married since 1993, live and work in New York City.  Aware of their handicaps, they must come to terms with peoples' prejudices and their own frustrated ambitions.  Their story, laced with irreverent humor, raises questions about what “intelligence” is.

9/22 - 10am at Kleinert/James ($8)

Nancy Fliesler is an emerging filmmaker and freelance producer/editor.  She has worked as a researcher/field producer for the ABC News medical unit; as production manager/Avid editor for the Mental Illness Education Project; and as associate producer for the Harvard-Smithsonian Science Media Group. Most recently she was production manager on the children’s fantasy film “Stop Thief.”  
 
Screening with
DREAM LOVER


MC5 * A True Testimonial
Production Company, Future/Now Films, Inc.
Directed by David C. Thomas
Produced by Laurel Legler
2002 ­ USA ­ 119 min


During the 1960s Detroit's MC5 fused the liberating spirit of music with the politics of rebellion and delivered the soundtrack to a generation bent on change.  MC5 * A True Testimonial celebrates the timeless story of five working-class friends who came together with a singular vision: to change their world through rock and roll.

9/21 at 11am @ Kleinert/James  ($8)


While pursuing his degree at Washington University in St. Louis David landed in rock and roll radio, serving as a music director from 1975 to 1980.  He flooded the airwaves with punk rock, new wave and it's antecedents, and conducted on-air interviews with fascinating personalities like The Ramones, Tom Verlaine, Debbie Harry, Ian Hunter, Dick Clark, and others.  His film background includes seven years as a film editor and sound effects editor at Edit Chicago, Inc.  David has recently been a guest speaker on film and music conference panels and a guest lecturer at schools and colleges.  MC5 * A True Testimonial is the first feature-length documentary produced by Future/Now Films and is David's directorial debut.

Executive Producers:  Jim Roehm and Howard Thompson - Writers:  Laurel Legler and David C. Thomas - Editor:  David C. Thomas - Cameraman:  Anthony Allen - Sound:  Ron Ayers and Deron Grams - Music:  The MC5 - Audio Mix: Michael Mason, Chicago Recording Company - Post Production Facility: Kartemquin Films, Ltd. - Sales Services:  Cinetic Media, Inc. and Submarine Entertainment - Legal Counsel:  Holland & Knight LLC
 

RAZING APPALACHIA
A documentary by Sasha Waters
2002 – USA – 72 min
 
In competition – feature docs
 
9/22 - 5pm at Kleinert James ($8)

Razing Appalachia follows the road to environmental and economic justice in the West Virginia coalfields by chronicling a grassroots fight against mountaintop-removal strip mining.  The citizens of West Virginia who speak out, at political protests or in parking lots, are participating in democracy at its most fundamental level – they are having a say in the role and responsibility of government and big business at every level of our lives. 
 
Sasha Waters is an Assistant Professor of Production in the Department of Cinema & Comparative Literature at the University of Iowa.  Waters has written and produced for film and television, including associate producing historical documentaries for the acclaimed public television series, The American Experience.  She has also produced audio documentaries for National Public Radio.   Her first feature documentary, Whipped, screened at festivals across the U.S. and abroad, and her films and videos have been supported by the Jerome Foundation, the Pennsylvania  Council on the Arts, the MacDowell Colony and the Donnet Fund.  Waters was cited in 1998 by The Philadelphia Weekly as one of that city’s top 25 “artists to watch.”  She earned her MFA in Film & Media Arts at Temple University.
 
Camera:  Ted Bourne, Cheryl Hess, Kathryn Ramey, Ken Wyatt
Sound Editor/Mixer:  Robert Hurst
 
Screening with
FRENCH FRIES TO GO

RISING LOW
A documentary by Mike Gordon
2002 – USA -- 88 min
 
Focus on Music
 

 

9/20 - 9:30pm at Bearsville ($8)


 

This film is what happens when twenty-five diverse and accomplished bass players come together to record with Gov't Mule, a power trio fronted by Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band). The album and the film are a tribute to Allen Woody, bassist for Gov't Mule, who died last year.
 
Mike Gordon is a  man with more than one passion.  Gordon was a freshman at the University of Vermont when he met up with guitarist Trey Anastasio and drummer Jon Fishman.  They started playing together – with Gordon as bassist, vocalist and sometime composer – and by the time they were sophomores, Phish was formed.  The next year, keyboardist Page McConnell joined in.  Beginning in the late ‘80s, Gordon helped lead the band from its Burlington beginnings to its status as one of the top concert draws in the country.  Over the course of 13 albums (including 2000’s Farmhouse) and thousands of concerts, PHISH earned a well-deserved reputation for musical imagination, instrumental chops and improvisation.  For now, Gordon’s focus is still on filmmaking.  He thought he’d spend this past year on a second dramatic feature – but then Warren Haynes called, and Rising Low was born:  a film about a bass player by a bass player.
 
Executive Producer:  Stefani Scamardo
Producer:  Barry Rosenhouse
Co-producer:  Patricia Ibanez
Director of Photography:  Elia Lyssy
Editor:  Sheri Bylander
Associate Producers:  Jeff Lawson, Jared Slomoff.


SCHMELVIS;
SEARCHING FOR THE KING’S JEWISH ROOTS
Written and directed by Max Wallace, Produced by Ari Cohen
2002 – Canada – 76 min
 
Focus on Music
 

From Graceland to the Holy Land, a Jewish Elvis impersonator, an eccentric Rabbi, and a film crew travel on a bizarre odyssey to trace Elvis’ roots. They are inspired by a 1998 Wall Street Journal article exposing the King’s improbable Jewish lineage. This offbeat documentary is a hilarious comment on pop culture, tolerance and identity.
9/20 - 2:15pm at Bearsville ($8)

Max Wallace is based in Montreal.  Schmelvis is his directorial debut.  In 2000 he was the writer, producer and 2nd unit Director of the one-hour documentary Too Colorful for the League about the history of racism in hockey.  He was nominated for a 2001 Gemini Award (Canada’s equivalent of an Emmy).  In 2000 Wallace released his second book, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest  Fight:  Cassius  Clay vs. the United States of America (M. Evans & Co., NY) about Ali’s refusal to join the US army during the Vietnam War.  Wallace is also a guest columnist for the Sunday New York Times.
 
Executive Producer:  Ari A Cohen
Producer:  Evan M. Beloff


 

SHOT IN THE DARK
A documentary by Adrian Grenier
2002 – USA – 88 min
 
In Competition – feature docs

 

9/21 - 6:30pm at Bearsville

9/22 - 1:15pm at Upstate II ($8)

 

Like many, Adrian Grenier grew up without his biological father. In order to discredit the stigma of being fatherless and prove that he did not suffer a lasting “void”, he sets out on a journey to explore the subject of Father.

Shot in the Dark is Adrian’s first feature length documentary.  He started making short films as a teenager, although he has been more widely known as an actor.  He has acted in several movies, including The Adventures of Sebastian Cole, Celebrity and Cecil B. Demented.
 
Editor/Producer:  Jim Mol
Producer:  Jonthan L. Davidson
Liner Producer:  Yasmin Rais
Associate Producer:  Nicky Arezu Akmal
Photographers:  Ari Gold, Mickey Jackson, Eric Lee
Original Score:  Noah Warner, Regis Mull
 
Screening with
WHY CAN'T WE BE A FAMILY AGAIN?
SPELLBOUND
A documentary by Jeff Blitz
2001 – USA - 95 min
 
In competition – feature docs
9/21 - 1:30pm at Bearsville ($8)

This is a window on the American dream. From the hardscrabble plains of Texas, to the manicured lawns of Connecticut, from the Ozark countryside, to the D.C. projects, Spellbound chronicles the lives of eight American teenagers who each set out to win the National Spelling Bee.
 
Jeff Blitz grew up in New York and New Jersey.  As a graduate student at USC, he won the school’s  Presidential Fellowship and his short, Wonderland, won the Adriaticocinema and was selected for a Canal+ prize.  Before making Spellbound, Jeff worked as a research detective at the Writers Guild of America, uncovering the secret works of blacklisted writers in the 1950s.  Spellbound is his first feature project. For more info visit http://www.spellbound.tv
 
Producer/Sound:  Sean Welch
Editor:  Yana Gorskaya
Composer:  Daniel Hulsizer
 
Screening with BAPTISM OF SOLITUDE:  A TRIBUTE TO PAUL BOWLES

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN
An Elliot Scott/Rimshot Production of a Paul Justman film
2002 – USA – 108 min
 
Special screening – Focus on Music
 


Photo text: Funk Brothers Jack Ashford, Pistol Allen, Joe Hunter
and Eddie Willis with Joan Osborne – photo by Karen Sas

9/20 - 6:30pm at Tinker Street Cinema ($12)

Based on Allan Slutsky’s award-winning book of the same name, Standing in the Shadows of Motown tells the story of the Funk Brothers. Their music is famous around the world, though their names are not. They put the backbeat¾the soul¾into the countless hits of Motown Records for such legendary performers as Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, and many others. Joining this legendary hit-machine onstage are such incredible contemporary vocalists such as Ben Harper, Joan Osborne, Meshell Ndegeocello and Montell Jordan and R&B greats Chaka Khan, Gerald Levert and Bootsy Collins. Print courtesy of Artisan Entertainment

Paul Justman studied philosophy before becoming an independent filmmaker.  He co-edited Cocksuker Blues, a documentary about the Rolling Stones directed by Beat photographer Robert Frank, and went on to edit all or portions of other significant musical documentaries, including Influences:  James Brown and MC Hammer and Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll (about Chuck Berry), directed by Taylor Hackford.  He gained fame for his breakthrough musical videos for the J. Geils Band (in which Justman’s brother, Seth, plays piano), The Cars, Diana Ross and others.  Documentaries Justman has directed include Postcards from the Road, The Circle of Life, The Doors in Europe and Let the Good Times Roll.  He directed  his first  feature, Rock and Roll Hotel, in 1984.

Director:  Paul Justman
Writers:  Walter Dallas, Ntozke  Shange
Executive Producers:  Paul Elliot, David Scott
Producers:  Sandy Passman, Allan Slutsky, Paul Justman
Directors of Photography:  Doug Milsome, Lon Stratton
Editor:  Anne Ericson

STRAIGHT OUTTA HUNTERS POINT
A documentary by Kevin “Y2K” Epps
2002 – HUNTERS POINT, USA – 74 min
 
In competition – feature docs
 
A real, raw look at life in San Francisco’s notorious Hunters Point Projects; a hip-hop mecca, a family neighborhood, a toxic waste site, a drug infested battleground--a black ghetto. The documentary open eyes to the crisis of black youth in America.
9/21 - 7:15pm at Woodstock Community Center ($8)


A lifelong resident of San Francisco’s Hunters Point Housing Projects, Kevin “Y2K” vowed to turn the trials of ghetto life into a source of creative expression.  Inspired by Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It and John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood, Epps began to research filmmaking.  In 1995 he discovered San Francisco’s Film Arts Foundation’s workshops and classes and subsequently became an intern at the Citivision  public access channel.  As the youth violence in Hunters Point increased, Epps turned the camera on his neighborhood.  The  resulting film and soundtrack, Straight Outta Hunters Point, is the first release from his company, Mastamind Productions.

Producer/Photographer/Director:  Kevin  “Y2K” Epps
Producer/Editor:  Joshua Gallaghan

STRANGE FRUIT
A documentary by Joel Katz
2001 – USA – 57 min
 
Focus on Music - Films of the Hudson Valley/Catskills
 
The first short documentary exploring the history and legacy of the Billie Holiday classic song. The song's evolution tells a dramatic story of America's radical past, using one of the most influential protest songs ever written as its epicenter. The saga brings viewers face-to-face with the terror of lynching human beings, and manages to spotlight the courage and heroism of those who fought for racial justice. It’s also a tribute to popular culture as a force that helped give rise to the Civil Rights Movement.

9/21 - 4pm at Bearsville Theater ($8)  

 
Joel Katz is a New York based film and video maker.  His works include Corporation with a Movie Camera (1992), a videotape about how corporate representations have shaped Americans’ ideas about the Third World; Dear Carry (1997), a documentary essay based on the life and travel films of New York jewelry designer Caroline Wagner; and Strange Fruit (2002), a documentary about the famed anti-lynching protest song of the same title.  Katz’s work has been awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Jerome Foundation and numerous other agencies.  He is an Assistant Professor in the Media Arts Department of New Jersey City University and serves on the Board of Directors of Third World Newsreel.
 
Cinematographers:  John Miglietta, Thomas Torres
Editor:  Joel Katz
Composer:  Don Byron, Jr. 
Sound:  Thomas Torres, John Osborn, John Coppola
 
 
Screening with
LITTLE SAMMY DAVIS

 
UNCLE FRANK
A documentary by
Matthew Ginsburg
2001 – USA – 85 min
 
In competition – feature docs/focus on music

Presented by
9/20 - 4:30pm at Bearsville ($8)

“Hey, Frank, are you gonna get naked or what?”  Frank Pour is asked as he sits on a blanket with two topless women and a handful of Gen X-ers at Woodstock ‘99 in his hometown of Rome, New York. “I can’t, I got a wife,” he says. He is also eighty-five years old. Filmed by his great-nephew Matthew, over the course of two and a half years, the documentary follows Frank on a unique journey through the so-called golden years. Print courtesy of HBO

Matthew Ginsburg is a first-time feature filmmaker with 12 years of experience as a television producer/writer.  Based in New York City, his recent credits include the History Channel’s Live From Pearl Harbor:  A 60th Anniversary Special and the weekly documentary/magazine show This Week in History.  During a five-year stint as a staff senior producer for VH1, he produced, wrote and directed dozens of documentaries and shows including Legends:  Bruce Springsteen and 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll.  Matthew also created and executive produced VH1’s Emmy Award-nominated RockStory.  A graduate of Ithaca College, he is an experienced journalist with five years of live television news production and three Associated Press Awards to his credit.  Uncle Frank marks Matthew’s feature-length documentary directorial debut and the premiere production of his company, Clark Street Films.
 
Director/Director of Photography:  Matthew Ginsburg
Executive Producers:  Dana Brunetti, Ross Partridge, Kevin Spacey
Producers:  Matthew Ginsburg, Andrew Morreale
Editors:  Andrew Morreale, Pierre Takal
Composer:  Frank Pour
 
Screening with POPULI

WEST 47TH STREET
Directed by Bill Lichtenstein & June Peoples
2001 – USA – 104 min
 
In competition – feature docs
 

9/22 - 9:30pm at Bearsville ($8)

A window on the lives of people who are often feared and ignored, and seldom understood. This warm and intimate film follows four people with mental illness, off the streets and out of homeless shelters, in and out of the hospital, at home and at work, over the course of three years.  With a luminous simplicity that belies its epic scope, West 47th Street presents a story about people who approach tremendous obstacles with humor, optimism and grace.  The film represents a radical return to cinéma verité documentary style, without interviews or narration.
 
Founder and president of Lichtenstein Creative Media, Inc., Bill Lichstenstein’s award-winning  documentary work in television, film and radio spans 30 years.  A graduate of Brown University and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Bill began his work in television, working at the news divisions of several major networks.  At his company, Bill oversees the production of  documentaries  and programming on subjects of social importance, including the weekly radio program, The Infinite Mind.  Bill’s work as a television, print and radio journalist has won him dozens of  major journalism awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting --  television and radio’s highest