Crack in the Sidewalk
Director = Kris Kristensen
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 12 mins
Synopsis = Artists can impact strangers so deeply that they feel they"ve lost a personal friend when they die. On New Year"s Day, little-known musician, Bryan Harvey made national news when he was brutally murdered. To the world this was simply a sensational headline, but for those who treasured Harvey"s music, a part of themselves was extinguished.
Director Profile = Kris Kristensen"s directorial debut, INHERITANCE, received worldwide distribution in 2004. The film won second place for best picture and cinematography at HD-Fest, and was nominated for best director. The screenplay semifinaled at the Austin Heart of Film Festival. His other work includes the concert film, ELIXIRS & REMEDIES, starring Robyn Hitchcock and Grant Lee Phillips. Kristensen co-produced, filmed and edited the award winning short film WHITE FACE, and edited the SIFF Fly Film; BELLTOWN - FLICKERING MEMORIES. Kristensen is cofounder of THE FOCUS RING, a workshop that concentrates solely on the craft of directing actors. Currently, he is developing his next feature, and a television show based on THE FOCUS RING.
Denis A. Charles: An Interrupted Conversation
Director = Veronique N. Doumbe
Production = USA/2002
Duration = 75 mins
Synopsis = "Denis A. Charles: An interrupted conversation" is the story of one man's struggle to follow his dream and the obstacles he encounters in his professional as well as his personal life. Unknown to the mainstream, Denis A. Charles became a legend on the Avant-garde Jazz scene when his drumming caught the attention of many innovative musicians like Thelonious Monk, Steve Lacy, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, Sonny Rollins and many others. Performances shot during the last two years of his life, in venues across New York City interspersed with anecdotes told by Denis A. Charles himself, family members, friends and fellow musicians illustrate Denis's cling to music while waging a battle to simply survive.
Director Profile = V"ronique N. Doumb" has roots in Cameroon (Central Africa) and Martinique (West Indies). Born in France and raised in Cameroon, France and Ivory Coast, she studied Law at the University of Paris X, Nanterre in France where she obtained her "Licence en Droit" before moving to New York City. "Denis A. Charles: An interrupted conversation" marks V"ronique N. Doumb"'s feature film debut. This documentary received several awards: * Best Film/Video Documentary Production at the XVII Black International Cinema 2002 in Berlin, Germany. * 2002 Audience Award / Best Feature at the First Detroit Docs in Detroit, Michigan. * Ciny Award 2002 / Outstanding Documentary, CinewomenNY Screening Series at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City. V"ronique Doumb" also produced her the fiction "Luggage" http://ndolofilms.com/luggage/synopsis.html LUGGAGE tells the story of Sade, an African woman who, after many years of living in New York City, decides to visit her family back home. The news of her imminent arrival spreads like wildfire, and Sade finds herself besieged by requests for gifts. To make matters worse, post-9/11 airport security is less than sympathetic to the plight of the challenged traveller".
Dating Rubik's Cube
Director = Saya Hillman
Production = USA/2006
Duration = 39.55 minutes
Synopsis = Twelve people, from age 24 to 41, from teachers to investment bankers to musicians, from the single to the married to the divorced, from a variety of Chicago neighborhoods, get raw and personal on all things relationships - 60 minutes of fast-paced vignettes.
Director Profile = "Dating Rubik's Cube" is Saya Hillman's first film, created as a 'practice piece' to see if her dream documentary - following the heartbreaking yet uplifting lives of a few children from a low-income neighborhood - was an obtainable goal or just a lofty vision. She received a BA in English and Sociology from Boston College and now has a digital editing business in Chicago, Illinois.
The Wandering Samaritan
Director = Ohad Ufaz
Production = Israel/2005
Duration = 58 mins
Synopsis = Gadi Tzdaka has always felt trapped by the "ghetto walls" of the Samaritan neighborhood, with its strict form of education and stringent religious laws. His father Hillel wanted his first born son to adopt devout religious faith as he had, but Gadi longed for freedom. Gadi"s ancestors, the ancient Samaritans, split off from Judaism 3,000 years ago. They celebrate their holidays with pilgrimages to the ancient altar on Mt. Gerizim. Today, only 600 Samaritans remain. They live in two neighborhoods: one in the Palestinian city of Nablus and the other in the Israeli city of Holon. All those who left the neighborhood up to the present also ended up leaving the sect. At age 33, Gadi wants to live his own life - to be free to love, work, create, and raise his children in a more modern way. Filled with misgivings and indecision, he leaves the Samaritan neighborhood, despite the protest of members of his sect and his father`s anger. The Wandering Samaritan is about a man confronting his own past and identity. It documents the life of Gadi and the Tzdaka family on a personal level and explores the Samaritan tradition and the Samaritan way of life. The film portrays Gadi as a person straddling the fence between Israel and Palestine and between east and west. He is torn between his desire to preserve tradition and his hopes for progress and freedom -- between his respect for his father and his desire to fulfill his own dreams.
Director Profile = Since 1999: I made short documentary films for Television. 2000-2005: I`m leading Documentary script workshops in the Open University of Israel in the department of communications. 2000- 2002: moved to Rotterdam Holland by the end of 2001 started working for NIKMEDIA- National Dutch " Jewish broadcaster. 2002: moved back to Israel, finished "Going Dutch" my first long Documentary the film won first prize at the documentary film contest of the Haifa International Film Festival. 2003-04: Lead filmmaking workshops for criminal youth at Kedma youth village, the films won prizes and let the student achieve high school graduation diploma. 2004-2005: Lead filmmaking workshops in Oranim collage for teachers, give curses in documentary film high-school teachers in cinema and communication. 2004-5:The Wandering Samaritan, 60-minute documentary film for NIKMEDIA Channel - Nederlands1 and R.A.I Italy. The film was premiered in the International Jewish film festival in Jerusalem and is now screened in theatres across Israel. 2005-6: Film in progress - "Where Home Is" 60-minute documentary film for NIKMEDIA Channel - Nederlands1 and ZDF Germany. Tin Soldiers 60-minute documentary film for Israeli Television second authority.
The Story of Water Sprite
Director = Thomas Busch/Sabine Kuper
Production = Germany/Czech Republic 2006
Duration = 52 mins
Synopsis = The movie describes the Czech Republic from the viewpoint of an emigrant who lives in our days as author and translator in Germany. This emigrant, with the name Antonin Mares, lost the feeling being fixed to a single point and finds himself in an environment that is alien for him. We see how this experience and the landscape of his homeland itself become part of his last short story with the title The Water Sprite under the Rialto Bridge. Suddenly we are in a running environment, that is complex and versatile, and always connected with water and its circulation as an element of transition. We meet Antonin Mares in his exile in Munich where he lives since 40 years. With him and his nephew we travel to his home country. We are visiting places in this country in the area of Moravia and Bohemia which are also part of his short story. His narration is not only a tale about water and the Water Sprite but rather more a reflection of his emigration and the country he had left behind when he left Czechkoslovakia in 1968 after the Russian occupation. For him all this is connected with water, as he says: Water flows, you can"t force it into a line, it evaporates and comes down next year at a place where I won"t be.
Director Profile = Sabine K"per Born 1966 MA in Political Science/ Sociology and German Literature, University of Hamburg. Specialisation on Turkey and the Middle East. Publication: "Frauen in der T"rkei zwischen Feminismus und Reislamisierung." (Women in Turkey between Feminism and Islamisation), London, Hamburg 1992. The director chose Istanbul as her residence in 1992 and is a strict but loving critic of Turkey and its development process. As a correspondent for the German news channel n-tv she has traveled to destinations like Tehran, Damascus, Cyprus and Baghdad since 1997. Many of articles by the director about topics in Turkey, Iran and Iraq can be found in the archive of the weekly print-magazine jungle world, located in Berlin. line Thomas B"sch Born 1959 Studied Visual Communication, Science of Art and Philosophy at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kassel, focus: film and video. Research studies in Juba, Southern Sudan and Arabic studies. MA in Visual Communication "The Esthetic of the Unsettled". He worked as project manager for international art exhibitions with Christos M. Joachimides - Zeitgeist Society Berlin -, Norman Rosenthal - Royal Academy London - and Jan Hoet - Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst Gent. 1996 he has been the founder and publisher of the online magazine clubmedia. He has lived in Istanbul since 1998, during this period he was creative director for online presentations for Anadolu Grubu Turkey and other projects; he was also part time instructor at Istanbul Bilgi University, Faculty for Communication. Since 2001 he has been producing TV-programs and documentaries in partnership with Sabine K"per. Awards: 1993/94 P.S.1 Residency New York City; 1997 Fellowship Stiftung Starke Berlin; 1998 Residency Istanbul Berlin Senat for Science, Research and Culture.
American Actor
Director = Scott Vogel
Production = USA/2005
Duration = 73 minutes
Synopsis = Elliott Most, an up-and-coming documentary filmmaker, decides to pay tribute to his late father by making his next project about actors. After countless interviews with actors, Elliott stumbles upon Ernie Paconio, an L.A.-based actor with the 'spark.' Elliott and crew begin following Ernie everywhere in order to capture, on tape, what life as an actor is like. As the days wear on, Elliott becomes increasingly annoyed with Ernie's lack of ethics. The two men now clash over values and morality. Eventually, Elliott breaks the cardinal rule in documentary filmmaking- he interferes in the life of his subject...
Director Profile = Mr. Vogel has worked in the American film industry as a storyboard artist with Faye Dunaway, Ben Affleck, and others. His storyboards have facilitated filming on such television shows as "THE BERNIE MAC SHOW" and "JAKE IN PROGRESS." After writing and producing several shorts and other experimental films, American Actor stands as Scott Vogel's feature directorial debut.
For articles on almost any topic - Click Here
For tasty & easy Barbeque recipes - Click Here
For funny lists & jokes - Click Here
For Really Scary Ghost Stories - Click Here
To make terrific first impressions - Click Here
For jobs, job interviews & career resources - Click Here
For a list of some Icebreakers - Click Here