34x25x36 | Jesse
Epstein
An inside look at the Patina V Mannequin Factory, where model women are
sculpted with perfect proportions.
Alone in Four Walls
| Alexandra Westmeier
Teenage boys in a Russian prison tell their stories under a sympathetic yet
incisive gaze.
At the Death House Door
| Steve James, Peter Gilbert
This film offers an unflinching look at the career of Carroll Pickett, who
presided over ninety-five executions during his fifteen- year tenure as death
house chaplain to the Walls prison unit in Huntsville, Texas.
Be Like Others
| Tanaz Eshaghian
In Iran, gay men and women are encouraged by the state to undergo sex-change
operations or risk capital punishment if they remain true to their
identity.
Beautiful Son
| Julianne Yamamoto King, Don King North American Premiere
In their quest for answers to their son's autism, one family offers a
comprehensive look at this heartbreaking condition, examining possible causes
and seeking alternative treatments.
Beginning Filmmaking
| Jay Rosenblatt
For her fourth birthday, a filmmaker father surprises his daughter with a
video camera and the complications inevitable to both parenting and filmmaking
ensue.
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) | Ellen Kuras,
Thavisouk Phrasavath
Exquisitely photographed over twenty-three years, this epic film follows one
family of Laotian refugees who escaped the ravages of the Vietnam War to
resettle in the United States.
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
| Christopher Bell
An exhilarating synthesis of interviews, archival footage, and striking
personal testimony provide an in-depth look at body image in America and the
increasing role of performance enhancing drugs in Americans' quixotic search
for perfection.
Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy
| Alice Elliott
Buoyed by their profound friendship, two women with disabilities defy all
odds to live independently in their own house.
Bomb It | Jon
Reiss
The most comprehensive documentary about graffiti and street art to date,
BOMB IT features original interviews from around the world and footage of
graffiti writers in action.
Boogie Man | Stefan
Forbes World Premiere
The rollicking, controversial story of Lee Atwater, a blues-playing kingmaker
who helped elect three Presidents, reshaped American politics, and rocked the
(Grand Old) Party.
Breadmakers |
Yasmin Fedda
A brief and loving portrait of the Garvald Bakery, where a devoted team of
workers with learning disabilities prepare breads for all of Edinburgh.
Bulletproof Salesman
| Petra Epperlein, Michael Tucker
When the United States invaded Iraq, it presented the Perfect War for Fidelis
Cloer, supplier of luxury armored vehicles and self-confessed war
profiteer.
Calavera Highway
| Renee Tajima-Peña World Premiere
The sweeping story of a family of seven brothers grappling with the meaning
of masculinity, fatherhood, and a legacy of rootless beginnings.
City of Cranes
| Eva Weber
Crane operators offer us an unparalleled view of London as their huge,
graceful machines sweep and pluck above the city's skyline.
La Corona | Amanda
Micheli, Isabel Vega
Four inmates compete fiercely for the crown in the annual beauty pageant of a
Bogotá women's prison.
Daughters of Wisdom
| Bari Pearlman
For the first time, cameras are invited into the Kala Rongo Monastery, home
to a vibrant and resilient community of Tibetan Buddhist nuns.
Don't Get Me Wrong
| Adina Pintilie
Patients debate the weather, God, and other forces beyond their control in
this poignant view of life in a Romanian psychiatric hospital.
Flying On One Engine
| Joshua Weinstein
The bizarre survival saga of Dr. S. Dicksheet, an eccentric and irreverent humanitarian
who has performed more than 140,000 cleft lip surgeries for free in his
native India.
Forbidden Lie$
| Anna Broinowski
The life and deceptions of a con artist, Norma Khoury, who wrote a
"non-fiction" best-seller about an honor killing in Jordan.
Full Battle Rattle
| Tony Gerber, Jesse Moss
In a fake village secluded deep within the Mojave Desert, the U.S. army
enlists thousands of role-players, including over two hundred Iraqi exiles,
to help train soldiers soon to be deployed to Iraq.
GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts
| Scott Hicks
A riveting and intimate profile of the preeminent composer Philip Glass at
work and at play, crafted in contrasting tones, from the comical to the
profound.
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S.
Thompson | Alex Gibney
A richly entertaining and thoughtful look at the "gonzo" journalist
and great American iconoclast.
Good Ol' Charles Schulz
| David Van Taylor
For fifty years, Charles Schulz captivated and comforted millions with his
comic strip Peanuts, but worldwide success did not quiet his own
Charlie Brown-style doubts.
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
| Lisa F. Jackson
Filmmaker Lisa F. Jackson, a gang rape survivor herself, documents the tragic
plight of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo who are raped
in the name of war.
Holding Fast
| Mary Harron & John C. Walsh World Premiere
This lyrical observation of a Tibetan refugee center in Darjeeling, India
indelibly blends music and image.
The Horseman
| Tell Johansson, Peter Gerdehag North American Premiere
This is the story of Stig-Anders, a truly old-fashioned farmer whose epic
love for his horses and the remote Swedish village they call home represents
the last of a dying breed.
In A Dream | Jeremiah
Zagar
Isaiah Zagar, a renowned mosaic artist who has covered over forty thousand
square feet of Philadelphia with tile, mirror, paint, and concrete, comes
under the scrutiny of his son's camera in this portrait of a complicated
marriage.
Infinite Justice
| Karl Tebbe
This darkly whimsical short film reconstructs scenes from the Iraq War using
action figures and war toys.
Lakshmi and Me
| Nishtha Jain North American Premiere
A filmmaker in Bombay grapples with her relationship with her part-time maid,
Lakshmi, against a backdrop of old feudal attitudes that still govern
relationships between employers and their "servants."
The Last Conquistador
| John Valadez, Cristina Ibarra World Premiere
When sculptor John Houser sets out to create an enormous bronze statue of
Juan de Oñate for the city of El Paso, his subject's vexed colonial legacy
sparks passionate opposition.
Left in Baghdad
| Peter Jordan, John Kane
The tragicomedy of a soldier who has to pick out a new left arm after losing
the original in Baghdad.
Life. Support. Music.
| Eric Daniel Metzgar World Premiere
After a devastating brain hemorrhage fells a musician, he and his family
mount an enormous and inspiring struggle for rehabilitation.
Lioness | Meg
McLagan, Daria Sommers North American Premiere
This film presents the untold story of female support soldiers in Iraq who
have been sent into direct ground combat in violation of the military's
official policy.
Lucio | Aitor Arregi and
Jose Mari Goenaga
Lucio, a seventy-five-year-old Spanish anarchist, recounts his exploits as a
"good bandit" who swindled twenty-five million dollars from the
First National Bank (now CitiBank) in support of radical social
movements.
Man on Wire
| James Marsh
In 1974, young Frenchman Philippe Petite spent an hour balancing on a high
wire suspended between the new Twin Towers of the World Trade Center before
being hauled off by police. Through meticulous recreations and intimate
interviews with all involved, this moving film unveils the intricate
preparations for what was to become the "artistic crime of the
century."
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories
| Andrey Paounov
Along the Danube in northern Bulgaria lies the sleepy and mosquito-ridden
town of Belene, where the residents hold on to hopes of an atomic future, but
are unable to deal with their troubled past.
My Daughter the Terrorist
| Beate Arnestad
This rare, inside portrait of two young female Tamil Tigers provides sobering
insight into the psychology and motivations of people who are firmly
committed to a life of terrorism.
My Olympic Summer
| Daniel Robin
In this somber and visually mesmerizing film, Daniel Robin re-examines 8mm
home movies of his parents in the context of his own recently failed
marriage.
Neither Memory Nor Magic
| Hugo Perez World Premiere
The fascinating and poignant story of Hungarian poet Miklos Radnoti, who
perished in the Holocaust but was able to preserve his startlingly original
writings.
Observando El Cielo
| Jeanne Liotta
An experimental film about the movement of the night sky.
Of Shadows and Men
| Aurélien Foucault, Cédric Quennesson World Premiere
In this lovely short film, the centuries-old practice of Chinese shadow plays
emerges as the forefather of cinema.
The Order of Myths
| Margaret Brown
The secret societies and young kings and queens of Mardi Gras in Mobile,
Alabama, inhabit a world invested in many traditions, including
segregation.
Paradise | Jerzy
Sladkowski
This wry and absorbing Swedish film depicts an older married couple as they
embark upon an interior decorating project that uncovers their profound
differences yet also suggests how relationships stand the test of time.
Paradise - Three Journeys In This World
| Elina Hirvonen
A lyrical exploration of the fragile hopes and harsh realities of African
immigrant journeys to Spain.
Please Vote For Me
| Weijun Chen
When third graders in rural China elect a class monitor, three determined
aspirants and their crafty parents plot strategies and devise dirty tricks
for victory.
Salim Baba | Tim
Sternberg
On the streets of Kolkota, India, Salim Baba runs a "cinema cart"
with a one-hundred-year-old hand-cranked projector. Children trail this
enchanting relic of an earlier age for a glimpse of a flickering magical
world.
Sally Gross - The Pleasure of Stillness
| Albert Maysles, Kristen Nutile US Premiere
This film chronicles avant-garde dancer and choreographer Sally Gross's
fifty-year career with breathtaking archival performance footage and follows
her for eight months as she prepares her newest piece, The Pleasure of
Stillness.
The Siamese Connection
| Josh Gibson World Premiere
Quirky and unpredictable, this film tells the story of conjoined twins Chang
and Eng Bunker, who lived in Mt. Airy, North Carolina from 1839 to 1874.
Song of a Sperm Donor
| Emmanuel Dayan World Premiere
This short movie pits the right to know against the need to know and nature
against nurture as it brings new meaning to the phrase "Whose your
Daddy?"
Stranded: I've come from a plane that
crashed on the mountains | Gonzalo Arijon
The incredible story of the famous 1972 plane crash in the Andes reveals the
importance of friendship and solidarity in the face of extreme obstacles.
Summerchild
| Iris Olsson North American Premiere
Eleven-year-old Svetlana lives in a children's home in Karelia, Russia, but
she will spend what promises only at first blush to be an idyllic summer in
Finland with host parents.
Surfwise | Doug
Pray
Trading in a budding medical career for surfing in the 1950s, Dr. Dorian
"Doc" Paskowitz built his own way of life, traveling the continent
in a 24-foot-long camper with his wife and nine kids in tow.
The Tailor | Óscar
Pérez
Simultaneously comic and unsettling, this film casually observes the tense
business transactions— replete with thinly veiled hostilities—that unfold
inside Mohamed's tiny shop in Barcelona.
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
| Lisa Merton, Alan Dater World Premiere
This film pays tribute to the determination and courage of Nobel Peace Prize
winner Wangari Maathai, who founded the Green Belt Movement to empower rural
women in Kenya and ended up sparking a national political crusade to protect
the environment, human rights, and democracy.
Tehran Has No More Pomegranates!
| Massoud Bakhshi
Fusing hypnotic visual aesthetics with satirical humor, Tehran Has No More
Pomegranates embraces the documentary tradition of the city symphony for
a wry look at Tehran's cultural and political history.
To See If I'm Smiling
| Tamar Yarom US Premiere
Female Israeli soldiers recall their mandatory military service in the
Occupied Territories and reveal the real horror of war: it corrupts and
destroys everyone it touches.
Today The Hawk Takes One Chick
| Jane Gillooly
In Swaziland, a country ravaged by AIDS, elderly women—or "gogos"
(grandmothers)—take care of children, many of them orphans. But what
will happen when the gogo is gone?
Trouble the Water
| Tia Lessin, Carl Deal
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Ninth Ward resident Kimberly Roberts turns
on her video camera and so begins an inspiring story of heroism and
resilience.
Up the Yangtze
| Yung Chang
This film takes the viewer on a poignant farewell tour of the Yangtze River,
meeting some of the two million inhabitants of shoreline villages who will
lose their homes when the Three Gorges Dam is completed.
What Do We Want, When Do We Want It
| Alex Jablonski
Ideas of activism, urgency, and religious faith (captured in a letter between
Thomas Merton and Czeslaw Milosz) flow in counterpoint to the casual
soundtrack and visual pacing of this thought-provoking rumination on American
protests of military activity in Iraq.
Opening Night - Trumbo
| Peter Askin US Premiere
Legendary blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo is perhaps best known for
his work on Spartacus and Roman Holiday. This eloquent film,
based on the play by his son Chistopher Trumbo, brings together a remarkable
group of actors to read from the screenwriter's famously candid letters, thus
revealing a man of great courage, integrity, and wit.
Center Frame: The Black List
| Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
In this film directed by famed portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders,
Elvis Mitchell conducts riveting interviews with twenty prominent African
American artists, CEOs, politicians, and activists. Chris Rock, Vernon
Jordan, Toni Morrison, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and others reflect, often
humorously, on what it means to be on the "blacklist."
Center Frame: Body of War
| Ellen Spiro, Phil Donahue
Body of War chronicles the physical and mental struggles of soldier
Thomas Young after he returns home from Iraq paralyzed by a bullet to his
spine. Now in a wheelchair, he painfully and courageously transforms himself
into an anti-war activist, traversing the country to speak out for peace.
American Teen
| Nanette Burstein
An intimate look at the lives, hopes, and dreams of four high school seniors
living in a small Indiana town.
The Axe in the Attic
| Lucia Small, Ed Pincus
Filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small embark on a cross-country road trip to
interview evacuees displaced by Hurricane Katrina and in the process reveal a
great deal about themselves.
Free Student Screeing
- Blindsight | Lucy Walker
Inspired by renowned blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer's miraculous
ascent to the top of Mount Everest, a group of teenagers from Braille Without
Borders in Tibet join him on a physically and emotionally demanding adventure
to one of the mountain's highest peaks.
Diaries (1971-1976) |
Ed Pincus
In this intensely personal memoir, pioneering documentary filmmaker Ed Pincus
shows us how he embodied the utopian hopes, fears, and neuroses of the
sixties generation when he set out to create an enlightened, unconventional
life through his filmmaking practice.
Encounters at the End of the World
| Werner Herzog
In his first documentary since Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog travels to
the farthest point of Antarctica to film a group of over a thousand
unwavering individuals who battle unimaginable conditions in search of
scientific discovery.
Flow: For Love of Water
| Irina Salina
This timely film offers a terrifying portrait of the growing scarcity and
misuses of the world's most essential resource: water.
Marcela | Helen
Trestikova
Helen Trestikova spent twenty-six years chronicling the often tragic life of
Marcela—whom we first meet in Czechoslovakia as a young bashful bride
stealing puffs on a cigarette and looking for all the world like a refugee
from American Bandstand circa 1965—and the result is a striking example of
the raw power of documentation.
A Promise to the Dead
| Peter Raymont
Based in part on his own memoir "Heading South, Looking North," this
film explores the extraordinary experiences of renowned Chilean-American
novelist and playwright Ariel Dorfman, who barely escaped with his life when
Augusto Pinochet overthrew the government of Chile's socialist president
Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973.
Sex: The Revolution
| Hart Perry, Richard Lowe
An excerpt from VH1's epic series on the sexual revolution of the 1960s and
'70s, which takes us from the groundbreaking research of Alfred Kinsey
through the impeachment of President Clinton and beyond by intercutting rare
footage, classic clips, iconic music, and an extraordinary range of
provocative interviews.
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
| Jeffrey Schwarz
The life and work of schlockmeister William Castle, who ballyhooed his cheapie
horror movies into immortality, are celebrated in this delightful tour
through the maestro's shoddy masterpieces.
SNEAK PREVIEW THURSDAY
| Michael Christoffersen
With revealing court footage and probing interviews, this film masterfully
presents the trial of Slobodan Milosevic before the United Nations war crimes
tribunal at The Hague.
SNEAK PREVIEW FRIDAY
| Julie Checkoway
For the past ten years Billy Pappas has been painstakingly working a single
portrait. Now that the piece is finally finished, there is just one more
step: show the piece to David Hockney.
Filmmaking has found a home in North
Carolina. For the past twenty years, the state has ranked third in the
country in film, television, and commercial production but it has also
nurtured a growing independent sector, evident in grassroots screenings and
established festivals across North Carolina. Still emerging but endlessly
resilient and resourceful, the film community has forged its own support
systems and created its own organizations as it has evolved, in the spirit of
the collaborative art form it is.
The North Carolina Arts Council believes
that artists are essential to a healthy and vital quality of life,
contributing not only to economic growth and well-being but also to the
intrinsic values that make the state a desirable place to live. As a result,
the Arts Council provides both resources and information to support the
development of artists and illuminate the networks available to help them
survive and prosper in their practice.
In addition to the resource sections of www.ncarts.org, artists should also
consult the Grants section where they will find descriptions of grant
programs and tips on preparing successful proposals and the Touring Artists
description, for artists who share their art in short or long-term
school-based or community residencies.
For more information, call or e-mail
Arts Council Community Internship
Opportunity
The North Carolina Arts Council is accepting
applications for two paid internships with local arts councils or arts
centers through May 1, 2008. This opportunity provides two individuals with a
three-month intensive internship with one of the state's local arts councils
or arts centers under the supervision of the executive director or staff
member who will help the intern design a training program within the spectrum
of community arts administration. The interns will have the opportunity to
live in the community they serve through a stipend of $4,000 to cover living
expenses.
In order to be eligible to apply, the
applicant should be a U.S. citizen or hold a permanent resident alien status.
Applicants must have at least a four-year college degree and demonstrate a
strong interest in a career in community arts administration. Applicants must
complete an application form, and a narrative and submit a resume and
references. (For a complete list of requirements, visit http://www.ncarts.org/grants_category.cfm?ID=33)
Applications must be received in the Arts Council office by 5 p.m. on May 1.
Further questions about the internships
should be directed to Janie Wilson, Arts in Communities Director, at (919)
807-6508 or by e-mail at Janie.Wilson@ncmail.net.
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A young would-be director once came to him
for advice, and John Ford pointed out two landscape photographs in his
office. One had the horizon at the top of the picture, and the other had it
at the bottom of the picture. Ford said "when you know why the horizon
goes at the top of the frame or the bottom of a frame, then you're a
director," and threw the kid out of his office. The would-be director
was Steven Spielberg.
