Detroit Docs International Film Festival Is Celebrating Year 3! from November 11-14, 2004

Highlights include this year:

Screening over 100 documentaries from all over the world including the U.S., Canada, Scotland, Australia, Germany, Israel, United Kingdom, Poland, and Japan

Introducing three new venues; Wayne State University, Detroit Institute of Arts & the Museum of New Art

Welcoming 30+ filmmakers and visitors from out of town to attend the festival with their works

Festival kicks off with an Opening Night Gala at Wayne’s Welcome Center, Thursday, November 11, 2004, 7 pm – 10 pm

Highly acclaimed line-up of films, including a special screening of award winning “Go Further” with special guest filmmaker Ron Mann
All new filmmaker workshops hosted by acclaimed documentary filmmakers

Complete line up underneath:
3 Girls I Know...
Director: Paula Mozen
Origination: Atlanta, GA
Run time: 54 min.

Takes an unflinching look at three distinctly different teenagers-Maggie, Ari and TiShaun-who pondered Mozen's questions and gave her an up-close-and-personal look at how they dealt with relationships, sexuality, pregnancy and HIV/AIDS. Each reflects on the decisions she made and the consequences of those decisions, good and bad, as she struggles toward adulthood.


A Carnival of Dissent
Director: Nathan Hall
Origination: Milwaukee, WI
Run time: 17 min.

Focuses on the activities of the anti-war movement that was born out of outrage over the current Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq. Specifically, the film focuses on the city of Milwaukee as a case study for the movement.


A Fool's Errand
Director: Evan Mather
Origination: Los Angeles, CA
Run time: 5 min.

Drawing upon the Korean penchant for elaborate public art the film documents the construction of a recent installation by artists to celebrate the season of Lent and the temporal nature of decay. Profiles renowned public artist Naomi Wong Mai-Xing as she directs the installations construction and provides commentary on the piece and how it fits with her design philosophy.


A is for Auschwitz
Director: Zach Smilovitz
Origination: Franklin, Michigan
Run time: 27 min.

The story of Izidor Smilovitz and Rita Mermelstein, two survivors of the Holocaust. The film covers their lives in Czechoslovakia, the atrocities committed against them, and their survival. From the trenches of forced labor to the crematorium at Auschwitz, Izidor and Rita share their miraculous tale of endurance.


A Man of Words
Director: Susan Palazzolo
Origination: Madison Heights, MI
Run time: 7 min.

Poet ML Liebler has a passion that burns both on stage and in the classroom. We see him performing live and involved in a poetry workshop held weekly. Interviews, film footage of Detroit, and historic digital images are all set to the music of a song called "Assassination," written and performed by Liebler on his latest CD.


About Baghdad
www.aboutbaghdad.com
Director: InCounter Productions
Origination: Washington, DC
Run time: 91 min.

About Baghdad takes us into the streets of Iraq's capital, after the fall of Saddam, to talk to ordinary Iraqis about the invasion and reconstruction of their country. Dozens of interviews, often literally filmed in the street, comprise an immediate and timely portrait of what the conflict meant to the people of Baghdad, and what the occupation means to them now.


Alone Across Australia
Directors: Ian Darling and Jon Muir
Origination: Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Run time: 52 min.

Jon Muir is a professional adventurer. He's done some amazing adventurer-type stuff: a non-Sherpa assisted climb of Everest; a South Pole expedition. But no one had ever done this. Probably no one had ever even thought about doing this: He walked across Australia, from south to north. Just him, a little (300 lb!) supply cart, a video camera and his spunky Jack Russell terrier Sarafine. He'd find his own food and water along the way. Eighteen weeks, across deserts and hills and rivers and 1,600 miles-a grueling trek through breathtakingly beautiful country. Never has a movie portrayed the experience of being so utterly alone, truly in the middle of nowhere, so vividly. An awesome feat, and an astonishing film that won a standing ovation at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.


And So Goodbye
Director: Jim Hickey
Origination: Edinburgh, Scotland
Run time: 24 min.

Tells the extraordinary story of producer Robin Mitchell who finds some hand made movie magazines at home from which he learns about a film his father starred in and produced in 1943. With his father too ill to tell him the story himself, Mitchell embarks on a search that leads him to find the film and the home of its director Robert Edwards. In a revealing interview Edwards talks of his lifelong passion for film and tells about the small group of enthusiasts in Fife who were behind the film's production. In a moving climax to the documentary, Mitchell re-unites these elderly filmmakers at a 60th anniversary screening of their film.


Another Road Home
Director: Danae Elon
Origination: New York, NY
Run time: 78 min.

Ms. Elon, the daughter of Amos Elon, one of Israel's leading intellectuals finds herself wondering about the family of Musa Obeidallah, a Palestinian man who came to work for them as a housekeeper, handyman and babysitter in Jerusalem after the 1967 war. Her search leads her to Paterson, N.J., where several of his sons now live, and then to a reunion with Mr. Obeidallah himself.


Army of One
Director: Sarah Goodman
Origination: Vancouver, CANADA
Run time: 70 min.

Gaining remarkable access to the military bases, Goodman follows a trio of young adults who decide to enroll in the military: Nelson Reyes is a Puerto Rican kid who wants to prove himself with a uniform; Thaddeus Ressler is a Chicago stockbroker who wants to make a difference following 9/11; and North Carolina's Sara Miller has nothing better to do after getting her degree in dance.


Art Liberates
Directors: Solo Avital & Adam Horowitz
Origination: Israel/Germany
Run time: 52 min.

Two young Israeli filmmakers interviewed a variety of artists from Berlin, home of those who dare to create in a challenging and cold place. After the fall of the wall, especially young people of all walks of art, have been attracted by the wide open spaces, the dark past and the endless opportunities. A fresh cinematic language, daring camera work, and a penetrating original sound track by the filmmakers try to capture it all.


Beauty Will Save the World
Director: Pietra Brettkelly
Origination: New Zealand, UK, Libya
Run time: 62 min.

Before Saddam and Osama, Colonel Moammar Gadhafi was one of the most reviled leaders in the world. Libya still ranks in the Axis of Evil roster. Why then does this hotbed of anti-Americanism host the most iconic of Western competitions - a beauty pageant? A first for Libya, anathema to traditional Muslim life, and even a burr in the saddle of many Western cultures, this battle of the beauties is guaranteed to produce some heated, if not scandalous, events. Beauty Will Save the World follows the exploits of 19-year-old Teca Zendik, the American contender for the crown. She sets out with her political loyalties in check, even refusing to wear the competition uniform - a t-shirt emblazoned with Gadhafi's likeness. How then does she assume the position of Honorary Consul to the US for Libya in a mere matter of months? Marvel at how diplomatic ties are re-established between two nations, enjoy the behind-the-scenes antics of a beauty pageant, and seize the chance to see rare footage of Gadhafi himself in this accidental political documentary. - Myrocia Watamaniuk


Bedroom Radio
www.scottishscreen.com
Director: Doug Aubrey
Origination: Glasgow, SCOTLAND
Run time: 41 min.

A story of pirate radio, love, life and death on a different frequency. Irony rules at the fringe of Scottish society when what is positive is illegal.


Beyond the Fence
Director: Carol Jacobsen
Origination: Ann Arbor, MI
Run time: 15 min.

A conversation, inter-cut by prison footage, between three women who served long prison sentences and became activists inside. They discuss human rights violations in Michigan's women's prisons, which were identified as one of the worst prison systems in the nation by Amnesty International, especially with regard to sexual assault by guards, medical neglect, and retaliation.


Boy Who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan
www.theboywhoplaysonthebuddhasofbamiyan.com
Director: Phil Grabsky
Origination: Brighton, ENGLAND
Run time: 92 min

Eight-year-old Mir Hussain is fun, cheeky, inquisitive, energetic and bright. He also lives in a cave and owns virtually nothing - though to him this is normal; it is all he's known. The film follows Mir's life through three seasons: Summer, Winter, Spring. In post-Taliban Afghanistan, though much has changed and is changing, there is no guarantee that Mir will survive life in a cave - the sickness, dirt, dust, lack of water and food. Yet his engaging story is not one of gloom and doom but that of a normal child who takes life as it comes and finds entertainment wherever he can. His playground is the rubble and tunnels of the destroyed Buddhas of Bamiyan, the shelled and burnt-out town bazaar, the orchard of the local militia. Through his eyes we see the destruction of the town, the ever-present militarization and the welcomed but watched presence of the Americans. Mir has no clue what it is all about but he knows how to have fun.


Bums' Paradise
www.bumsparadise.com
Directors: Andrei Rozen & Tomas McCabe
Origination: Berkeley, CA
Run time: 53 min.

Bums' Paradise depicts the lives of the men and women who lived in the ten-year-old Albany Landfill community prior to their eviction. It follows them through the eviction and documents them one month after the eviction. The film emphasizes their concepts of community as well as the amazing art that they created. Instead of being a documentary about homelessness, Bums' Paradise considers the question: What if the homeless -- the indigent, the bums -- told their own stories?


By Any Means Necessary
www.lesproductionsisca.ca
Director: Isaac Isitan
Origination: Montreal, CANADA
Run time: 52 min.

This provocative documentary examines two leading currents in contemporary African-American thinking-Afrocentrism and the reparations movement-both of which represent the black community's response to centuries of political, economic and social oppression. Afrocentrism, as discussed in interviews with parents, teachers and students, aims to redefine the black identity and reconstruct the historical memory of African-Americans. The reparations movement, in contrast, believes in "righting the wrong," by claiming a fair share of the wealth that black labor helped create in previous centuries. The video features interviews with leading African-American educators, activists, intellectuals, as well as scenes from the October 1995 Million Man March in Washington, D.C.


Café 1996
Director: Jess Fulton
Origination: San Francisco, CA
Run time: 6 min.

Amidst a context of gentrification, Café 1996 remembers Oakland's cultural heritage through the reflections of retired professional saxophone player and lifelong resident, Paul Jones.


Checkpoint
www.firsthandfilms.com
Director: Yoav Shamir
Origination: Israel
Run time: 80 min.

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip have been under Israeli military authority since 1967. Over three million Palestinians live under Israeli occupation. When travelling from one village or city to another to go to work, to visit relatives, or to get medical treatment, they must pass through Israeli checkpoints. These checkpoints, essentially the first points of contact between the two people, have an enormous significance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. From 2001 to 2003, director Yoav Shamir filmed at these checkpoints. The result is a chilling look at the destructive impact of the occupation on both societies.


Competition
Director: Maciej Adamek
Origination: Poland
Run time: 26 min.

The characters in this film - girls aged from 6 to 11 years, take part in a beauty contest for small children - Mini Miss Poland. The film shows their dreams, which usually concern quick and easy success. And success means for them fame and money. Winning the beauty contest is meant to be the first step in their career of a model or an actress. One of the girls even says that if she doesn't succeed to be a model or an actress, she would like to retire, since retired people get money for nothing...


Containment: Life After Three Mile Island
www.containment.net
Directors: Chris Boebel & Nick Poppy
Origination: 60 min.
Run time: Brooklyn, NY

Examines the legacy of the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant (TMI) from the perspective of the nearby community of Middletown, Pennsylvania. Containment explores the accident's long-term effects on local residents, including the rise of anti-nuclear activism, psychological consequences and the debate over health effects. Much like the radioactive waste permanently interred in the damaged Unit 2 reactor, the accident at TMI refuses to go away. The film follows a small group of activists who continue to protest against the plant, and shows how the accident is commemorated on its 20th anniversary. Containment maps out the tensions and divisions that continue to run through Middletown, asking not only whether radiation can truly be contained by four-foot-thick concrete walls, but whether fear and anger can be contained by the process of history. What is the half-life of memory?


Crystal Ship
Director: George Wyllie
Origination: Scotland
Run time: 24 min.

The exploration of the many complications - engineering, political and corporate, that accompany the building of a Crystal Ship high above a bridge crossing the River Kelvin.


The Master & His Pupil (De Meester en Leerling)
Director: Sonia Herman Dolz
Origination: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Run time: 88 min.

When the Russian maestro Valery Gergiev conducts, he makes the western classical tradition look like a force of nature. We see him in this movie from the perspective of the orchestra and it's as if every part of him is wired into the music. Sonia Herman Dolz's escorts three young conductors - one Spanish, one Dutch, one Anglo-Chinese - through a Gergiev conducting masterclass. They work through Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy and Prometheus, pieces chosen, one assumes, for their furious intensity and rich variety of tone. The master watches and listens, then cajoles, corrects, teases, chastens and encourages his three awed and avid pupils. As he breaks down their inhibitions, pulls their heads out of their scores and compels them to communicate with the players, the handing on of a potent expressive tradition becomes indistinguishable from the transmission of vitality itself.


Discordia - When Netanyahu Came To Town
www.nfb.ca/discordia

It's September 9, 2002, and a scheduled appearance by Benjamin Netanyahu has sparked heated debate at Montreal's Concordia University. By the end of the day, the "Concordia riot" has made international news, from CNN to Al-Jazeera. Discordia documents the fallout from that eventful day - following three young campus activists as they negotiate the most formative year of their lives. Filmmakers Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal jump into the fray with street-smart bravado and a handheld camera. Buoyed along by hip-hop artist Buck 65, they offer a tonic reflection on the current state of Canadian student activism and the enduring value of a tolerant and open mind.


Dishes - A Documentary About Collecting Fiesta
www.fiestadocumentary.com
Director: Amy Levine
Origination: Kalamazoo, MI
Run time: 46 Minutes

Fiesta is the name for the Homer Laughlin China Company's line of brightly-colored plates, bowls, pitchers, mugs, and other dishware. It can be identified by its concentric circles that gradually get closer together and by its mark of "Fiesta" on the back. Used in millions of homes, Fiesta is one of the most popular items for sale on eBay and at antique malls. Through the years, Fiesta has maintained its popularity. In fact, it is the most collected line of dinnerware and one of the most sought-after collectors items. But why is it so popular? And why do people hoard vintage pieces and retired colors? Why is there so much excitement when the company adds a new color? What, exactly, is the big obsession with these dishes? Or are they more than dishes?


Dissident
www.lokifilms.com
Director: Heidi Ewing
Origination: New York, New York
Run Time: 26 Minutes

The film is the first-ever look at the life and challenges of Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya and his groundbreaking Varela Project, the Cuban civic movement that calls for a national referendum on democratic reforms. Paya, who, along with his small group of activists, has been threatened, followed and generally harassed since the project picked up speed one year ago, has vowed to persist until the Cuban people are granted a referendum, which is guaranteed by the Cuban constitution.


East End Kids
www.informactionfilms.com
Director: Carole Laganière
Origination: Montreal
Run time: 52 min.

The film sets out to give voice to children growing up in an impoverished Montreal neighborhood - children who, people say, have few chances of escaping their condition, yet who have hopes and fears and desires like everyone else on the road to adulthood. By filming the children in their own environment, wherever they are and want to go, the film gains insight into their daily lives and their perspective on the world.


The Effects of Small Change
Director: Melissa Gerr
Origination: Portland, Oregon
Run time: 7 min.

A humorous and contemplative look at the coin tossing ritual performed by tourists at the Trevi Fountain in Rome.


Entertaining Vietnam
www.entertainingvietnam.com
Director: Mara Wallis
Origination: 53 min.
Run time: San Francisco, CA

Mara Wallis belonged to this forgotten group for three years in the late '60s. Now a filmmaker, Mara returns to the intensity of the times to tell this compelling story in "Entertaining Vietnam." The entertainers we meet returned repeatedly to Vietnam, hitching rides from base to base to perform on the backs of trucks and on landing zones at remote outposts ... some died in the process. Interweaving rare archival footage and interviews with veteran performers from Australia and the U.S., "Entertaining Vietnam" offers new insight into a tumultuous time by taking us to a place only a few really experienced.


Father's Day
www.newday.com
Director: Mark Lipman
Origination: San Francisco, CA
Run time: 38 min.

Haunted by his inability to prevent his father's death at age 17, the making of this film came to span twenty years as Lipman tried to construct an image of his father from the stories of relatives and from psychiatric records unearthed from hospital archives. The film circles around to become an inquiry into Lipman's own life - the choices he has made and how his father's life resonates within his own. Using evocative home movies and poetic imagery, Father's Day allows the viewer to become immersed in intimate conversations about death, suicide and mental illness. There are no easy answers or tidy conclusions and so the film creates an unusual space for viewers to reflect upon their own lives.


Final Run: Storms of the Century
Director: Ric Mixter
Origination: Saginaw, MI
Run time: 60 min.

Mixter highlights many of the Great Lakes most famous sinkings and includes exclusive interviews with survivors from the Great Storm of 1913, and rare storm footage from the 1940 Armistice Day Storm. His first hand accounts of diving the wrecks make this program unique.


Fortunate Son
Director: Scott Wilcox
Origination: Des Moines, Iowa
Run time: 4 min.

To promote a new jean, a patriotic Wrangler commercial incorporated two lines of Creedance Clearwater Revival's 1969 song, Fortunate Son. The song states that the privileged can escape war. This film examines the commercial's use of the song and the remaining eighteen lines - the real meaning of the song - that while the privileged are safe in bed, the common man fights for his life.


Girl Wrestler
www.girlwrestlermovie.com
Director: Diane Zander
Origination: Austin,TX
Run time: 57 min.

Tara is thirteen. She likes to go to the mall... and she wrestles boys. On her journey to the national championships, she battles critics who believe girls shouldn't wrestle boys; she struggles with her father's drive for her to succeed; and she fights with her own body to control her weight.


Go Further
www.gofurtherthemovie.com
Director: Ron Mann
Origination: Toronto, Canada
Run Time: 90 min.

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 travellers 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; a man who teaches environmental activists to use humor as a strategic weapon. And 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.


good morning YOKOHAMA
Director: Satoshi Ono
Origination: Yokohama-shi, Japan
Run time: 12 min.

At Yokohama Station, 7 a.m., commuters pass through the automated passenger gates and briskly walk the underground passage leading to the platforms. A traffic control man calls out to watch their step, but noone seems to notice him. The platform is overflowing with people waiting for the train. The camera captures the faces, the figures and the everyday of Yokohma people during morning rush hour.


Haley & Madonna
Director: Tim Nagae
Origination: Ann Arbor, MI
Run time: 67 min.

Haley Crabtree, a 13-year old girl diagnosed with cerebral palsy, has been involved in local Miss America pageants since she was 5 years old and has performed on stage singing, "Don't Laugh at Me" at several local pageants. After moving with her family to Michigan from North Carolina, Haley made friends with one of the Miss Michigan contestants, Madonna Edmond, who later became the Miss Michigan 2003. Madonna was so moved by Haley's singing that they decided to perform together at a local pageant. While Haley sings "Don't Laugh at Me," Madonna dances her own choreography behind Haley. Besides depicting Haley and Madonna's lives, this documentary examines what a disabled individual faces in her life from that person's point of view. This program also discusses about the Miss America organization and medical information about cerebral palsy.


Hardwood
www.nfb.ca/hardwood/
Director: Hubert Davis
Origination: New York, NY
Run time: 29 min.

A personal journey by director Hubert Davis, the son of former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis, who explores how his father's decisions affected his life. Elegantly structured into three chapters entitled "love," "recollection" and "redemption," Davis uses personal interviews, archival footage and home movies to delve into his father's past in the hope of finding a new direction for his own.


Hummingbird
www.hummingbirdmovie.com
Director: Holly Mosher
Origination: Venice,CA
Run time: 48 min.

After reading an article about the child sex trafficking industry, Holly Mosher began to research this little talked about problem. During that search, she came across two remarkable programs that work directly with street children in the beautiful coastal city of Recife, Brazil - a worldwide hub for sex tourism. Hummingbird goes onto the street to see the reality of these kids, and then goes into the programs to see just how these high-risk kids can be helped. Although the recovery process is slow - it can be successful.


ICARUS OF Pittsburgh
Director: Evan Mather
Origination: Los Angeles/Finland
Run time: 5 min.

Archie McNally is known as the "greatest Pittsburgh Steelers fan ever" because of his daring exploits during the 1979 AFC Championship game when - using a suit of his own construction - he attempted to fly to heaven to visit his dead father.


In a Nutshell: A Portrait of Elizabeth Tashjian
Director: Don Bernier
Origination: Brooklyn, NY
Run time: 80 min.

Between 2001 and 2004, filmmaker Don Bernier documented the goings-on of the Nut Museum and its curator, Elizabeth Tashjian (a.k.a. The Nut Lady). Tashjian, a first generation American of aristocratic Armenian immigrants, has lead a unique life: at age nine, a concert violinist; at twenty-two, an award-winning painter studying at the National Academy of Design in New York; at age forty-seven, a devoted Christian Science healer; and, at the youthful age of sixty, creator of the one and only Nut Museum in Old Lyme, CT. Today, at ninety-one years old, Tashjian has found herself immersed in a strange new chapter of her prolific life. After a series of tragic events surrounding her health and finances, she is now penniless and confined to a nursing home against her will. The contents of the Nut Museum have been permanently removed and her beloved home has been sold to the highest bidder. Declared insane by her state-appointed conservators, Elizabeth Tashjian is fighting to preserve her identity and regain the life she has built as a singular person.


In Vienna They Put You in Jail: Max Birnbach Story
Director: Cheryl Blaylock
Origination: New York, NY
Run time: 52 min.

One day Max Birnbach, a young man working in his father's store in Vienna, heard the words, "You a Jew?" "Yes, I am," he replied. "In the car with you." The remarkable story traces his imprisonment by the Nazis, a dramatic escape to Switzerland, the desperate efforts to save his parents and a momentous meeting that made possible his emigration to America.


James Benning: Circling the Image
www.germanunited.com
Director: Reinhard Wulf
Origination: Koeln, Germany
Run time: 84 min.

Since the start of the 70s, 60-year old artist and filmmaker, James Benning has been one of the most outstanding representatives of American avant-garde film. He has always filmed and produced his 16mm films alone and without any assistance. Since the end of the 1980s he has lived in Val Verde, a small town near Los Angeles and has been teaching at the California Institute of the Arts. The American landscape is a primary focus of his work. With long shots that are heavily influenced by photography, he takes a meditative look at the archaic natural world and the technical encroachments of man. Circling the Image accompanies Benning for a week as he searches for locations and films the first two shots for his own film "13 Lakes."


Jim Crow's Museum
www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/
Director: Clayton Rye
Origination: Big Rapids, MI
Run time: 29 min.

This film tours through the continuum of anti-black material items produced in the past and present. Often disturbing, this flow of images and commentary is designed to remind the audience of the causes and effects of racism.


Joey
www.americangirlproductions.com
Director: Nancy Stein
Origination: Glendale, CA
Run time: 15 min.

An intimate and vivid portrayal of the lives of children growing up amid gangs and violence in South Los Angeles. Joseph "Joey" Swift lived in a neighborhood where violent gangs bully and murder freely and often without consequence in part because police are overwhelmed and witnesses are intimidated. His friends and family struggle to cope with his untimely and unfair demise.


Just a Little Bit Crazy
www.crashtestlabs.com
Director: Will Dotter
Origination: Austin, TX
Run time: 58 min.

Every year the first weekend of April the Taylor Jaycees hold their annual National Rattlesnake Sacking Championship and Arts & Crafts Show. The teams consist of 2 men, a sacker and a bagman trying to get 10 snakes into burlap sack as fast as possible. Getting bit is inevitable. Guinness World Record holder and snake sacking champion Jackie Bibby & Ken Garret have been the team to beat for over a decade, but the mother/ son sacking team of Bobby Duke and Betty Harris feel like they have been cheated out of the title for all these years. Will they finally come out on top?


Lily Tomlin's Detroit
www.captainhookup.com/3ac/thegate.html
Director: Kevin Leeser
Origination: Detroit, MI
Run time: 30 min.

A semi experimental “conversation” with the wildly dynamic artist about her childhood and growing up Detroit. Originally interviewed in 2001 for the larger work in progress called “Detroit The Documentary”. Prior to the interview I shot the 2 neighborhoods where Mrs. Tomlin grew up and prepared a video to show her while the cameras rolled. What one may not realize is that you don’t so much interview Lily Tomlin, as sit and listen in awe as she bounces from memory to memory in a sort of free association waterfall.


L'axe du mal (Axis of Evil)
Director: Pascal Lievre
Origination: Montreal, Canada
Run time: 6 min.

Citing an article on George W. Bush, "Armed and Threatening World Peace," the lyrics of "Axis of Evil" are sung to the melody of the original Jermaine Jackson/Pia Zadora song "And When the Rain Begins to Fall." The two actors are filmed in front of the cliché honeymoon destination, Niagara Falls. There, they declare their love for one another with the same words Bush used to declare war on terrorism.


L'horloge Interne (The Internal Clock)
Director: Frank Wimart
Origination: Montreal, Canada
Run time: 15 min.

Tells the story of the unusual relation with time experienced by a religious watchmaker suffering from a condition causing him to age in appearance at half the rate of a so-called "normal" person. His exceptional destiny intrigues...


Life to Live
Director: Macie Adamek
Origination: Warsaw, Poland
Run time: 20 min.

A touching look at blind children preparing for independent life by teachers at the Center for Blind People. The children practice everyday activities, buttoning clothes, tying shoelaces and moving in the space around them. These simple tasks create enormous physical challenges for the children, yet they seem full of joy with the perception that there are no barriers or limits for them.


LIFERS: A Prison Documentary
www.lifers.us
Director: Mark Mederson
Origination: Austin, TX
Run time: 65 min.

Examines the life without parole (LWOP) prison sentence in America. According to The Sentencing Project, there are currently over 31,000 men, women and children serving life sentences in America with no opportunity for parole. With the growing number of lifers, prisons are starting to resemble old age homes complete with wheelchairs, walkers and hospice centers. The film highlights the stories of inmate