"ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT" is a unique documentary starring elephants, one female in particular, who will break your heart if nothing else. The fortunate elephant in question is Lorna, a lovable pachyderm who was released from a life sentence as a St. Louis circus slave at the age of seventeen by her keeper and trainer who had fallen deeply in love with her -- and turned over to an Elephant refuge where she could live out the rest of her days free to roam greener pastures in the company of other four legged creatures of her own kind. The film is mainly about the separation that broke the former keeper's heart -- David Balding, now aging and wheel-chair bound -- because the refuge decided that Lorna was suffering from post captivity trauma and needed to unbond from her two-legged companion in order to resume normal elephanthood -- therefore, no visiting privileges! In all seriousness, this is a truly touching one-of-a-kind film, heart-rending and heart-warming at the same time, and obviously a labor of love as well as a plea for intelligent animal rights, by lady director Lisa Leeman, who took ten years to film it. A must-see ASAP, and Lorna should get some kind of special Oscar. One wonders what Sabu would think about all this ...





"Vlast" (director/producer Cathryn Collins) means "power" in Russian and this review of the persecution, high profile trial, and eventual imprisonment of a Jewish oligarch-entrepreneur,
<=Mikhail Khodorkovsky, makes the case that the new Russia, under the viselike grip of Vladimir Putin, former ace agent of the dreaded KGB, is now worse off than it was under Communism.
Following the regime change in the early nineties Khodorowsky, along with many others, became an overnight billionaire when he took over the petroleum giant Promos. When he got a little too big for his boots and started making noises about true political reform, even suggesting that he might run for office -- he and his followers were either hounded into exile or put into prison. Interviews with his defense lawyer, now living in the US, are particularly telling about the new Russian abuse of power at the highest levels, and the entire tenor of the film is set at the very beginning by an elderly Russian lady in a protesting crowd who exclaims "Vote for Putin? --Are you kidding! --We knew what would happen if the KGB ever got back in power..."
Director Cathryn Collins had no filmmaking experience before this, but did have a long term interest in the Soviet Union, and the result is a remarkably professional, informative, and rather terrifying piece of documentary filmmaking.


Alex Deleon at the LA Film Festival