Film Descriptions
Absolute Zero
Alan Woodruff • Drama • 27:13 • awoodruff@hotmail.com • East Coast/PA Premiere
A train makes its way through the countryside toward the city. Part of its load is a refrigerated wagon used for transporting meat to the markets. Inside the otherwise empty wagon, a man keeps a grim log on the wall - a first-hand account of death by freezing. Only later it is discovered that the refrigeration unit wasn’t operating. The temperature in the wagon never fell below 68F, yet the man dutifully manifests, and records, the symptoms of hypothermia as he dies a needless, painful death. The story is told using a combination of archival and imagined material to speculate on the man's final hours.
Amosaica: The Embellished Life of Isaiah Zagar
Max Negin • Greensboro, NC • Documentary (Student) • 12:00 • maxnegin@yahoo.com • World Premiere
A documentary about the man behind many beautiful mosaics around Philadelphia and around the country. You meet the man behind the cracked tiles and mirrors including how he overcame his initials struggles as an artist. Isaiah is known world-wide for his work, and his passion for his art is matched by his passion to share his technique with anyone willing to strap on an apron and learn.
Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art
Jim Ruxin • Burlingame, CA • Documentary • 14:44 • debbie@szyk.org •
PA Premiere
This film documents the introduction of the Polish-Jewish World War II political artist Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) to a group of students and teachers at Mercer Island High School in Seattle, Washington. Irvin Ungar, curator of The Arthur Szyk Society, encourages the students to share their reaction to work that is as vivid, profound, and worthy of discussion today as it was over 60 years ago. In addition to his anti-Axis art, Szyk was most well known in Jewish circles for his illuminated Passover Haggadah.
Backyard Shadow
Karl Staven • Philadelphia, PA • Experimental/Art • 4:00 •
karlstaven@hotmail.com
A former tree exists only in the shadows that are cast from its branches.
Broken Wind
Brian Lipko • West Chester, PA • Animation (Student) • 2:07 • movifan@comcast.net • World Premiere
The power line has always been a gathering place for quiet, golden birds. However, when an outsider intrudes on their silent meeting, it's going to be a blast. Told through colorful animation and humorous sound effects, Broken Wind will be one to remember.
Comme un Aimant (Like a Magnet)
Olivier Vandenbussche • Brussels, Belgium • Drama • 13:42 • ovdb@mindmirrorpictures.com • World Premiere • Strong Racial Language
Frederic, 25, a white garage worker, torches the car of a black customer while the customer is away on holiday. On the basis of the victim’s accusation, Frederic is summoned and held for questioning. He then chooses the only lawyer he knows, another customer of the garage, who is also black... Matthew, 55, a black lawyer, meets Frederic during his time in custody. Frederic confesses his guilt. Matthew hesitates about defending a white racist who he knows to be guilty but in the end accepts.
Contrition
Brian Emery • Bronxville, NY • Drama (Student) • 21:20 • bemery@slc.edu •
PA Premeire
Mary, a devoutly religious woman, mourns the loss of her run-away daughter while her husband, Alan, struggles to hold the family together. Casey, 11, receives and collects postcards from his sister with great enthusiasm while Stephen, 17, secretly applies to college and can't wait to get away from home. The parents' separate memories of how their daughter left, however, will not fade away and paint a very different picture of what actually happened.
Crayon
Brian Lipko • West Chester, PA • Animation (Student) • 5:40 •
movifan@comcast.net • World Premiere
What if you could create your own world? A young boy and his orange crayon are thrown into perilous samples of adventure, horror and fantasy in this colorful dream. Driven only by its musical score and its original imagination, Crayon is any journey you want it to be.
Dark Chocolate
Russell Geary • Oxnard, CA • Drama • 22:00 • russgeary@earthlink.net •
PA Premiere
A middle aged man struggles to overcome addiction so he can experience the love of a new relationship. Catherine has come into his life and helped him stay sober for the last 30 days.
Desarrollo Humano
Beltran Rengifo • Madrid, Spain • Documentary • 29:30 • hibrida@hibrida.es • PA Premiere
Every year, the United Nations Organization (U.N.) publishes a Report on Human Development which establishes a worldwide ranking of countries based on statistical indicators. Norway appears as the most developed country on the planet, while Niger again takes last place on this prestigious list. This documentary arose from the intention of getting to know the people who live in these countries. But it reveals that peoples happiness is not necessarily tied to the concept of development as we usually understand it.
Die Flugbegleiterin (The Stewardess)
Marcin Glowacki • Berlin, Germany • Comedy • 11:09 • marcing@web.de • PA Premiere
Where desire ends and addiction begins. A film about the amount of food in a society which has lost its proportions, about the work of people, who don't know anymore, what their calling is…
Disconnected
Cheol-Woo Park • Los Angeles, CA • Drama (Student) • 16:47 • cpark08@hotmail.com • East Coast/PA Premiere
A wrong-number message left on his new cell phone leads Josh to a mysterious woman desperately looking for someone that disappeared, followed by a series of surreal events that will blur his sense of reality and will put him in a place he's never expected to be.
Dissolve
Aldo Romero • Ozone Park, NY • Drama • 12:33 • ar826@verizon.net • World Premmiere
This film blurs the line between reality and fantasy, insanity and madness. Kenneth, an actor, reveals to the theater manager his fear of a man named Edmond, who wishes to usurp his place on stage. That night, as Kenneth takes his final bows, the theater transforms into a broken-down stage and the audience is replaced by Kenneth’s son, Edmond, and a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist slyly coaxes Kenneth out of the theater. As Edmond attempts to leave, he is stopped by the imaginary theater manager. The location reverts back to Kenneth’s fantasy theater and the audience reappears, dragging Edmond onto the stage. Edmond dramatically ages and collapses, while the audience wildly applauds. He has finally become his father, usurping Kenneth’s place on stage!
Diva
Josephine Mackerras • Paris, France • Drama • 7:07 • onearthprod@gmail.com • World Premiere
Escaping his home-town that has completely rejected him, alone, Vincent goes to Paris to be entirely Herself, but life is never that simple..
Dog Down
Brian Loschiavo • Ryan Ogden • West Hollywood, CA • Comedy • 10:40 • blosch6@gmail.com • East Coast/PA Premiere
When Sam makes the ill-fated decision to pay an outrageous vet bill without consulting his overbearing fiancée, he finds that his newly acquired Chihuahua isn't the only Dog Down. In this dark comedy, Sam recounts the string of unfortunate events that lead to his eventual demise — namely a sick puppy and a Swedish car manufacturer.
Escape from the Fire
Joel Dunn • New York, NY • Drama (Student) • 13:00 • jdunn@theory-films.com • World Premiere
It is a cold, dark day in Nazi occupied Poland during 1943. Having just narrowly escaped from a concentration camp, seven year old Avi races desperately through a thick forest while being pursued by SS officers. He runs frantically trying to avoid capture. Avi decides to find shelter in a large, broken down barn in the distance. Inside the barn, he is discovered by a young girl, and both are frightened by the thought of being found: Avi by the Nazis and the girl by her abusive father. These two abused children overcome immense danger, and in their fight for survival, rediscover a little bit of humanity left in a world filled with evil and hatred.
Father
Amy Miketic • New York, NY • Drama • 7:20 • North America Premiere • www.liquidcouragefilms.com • info@liquidcouragefilms.com • Mature Themes
“Father” examines a group therapy session for men who were sexually abused as children. What should be a right of passage for a father and son takes a sad turn as one survivor confronts another on what exactly he means by the word beautiful. The audience is left with the feeling that these men may never be able to completely heal from the wounds inflicted on them when they were children.
First Memories
Soo Hee Han • Jersey City, NJ • Animation • 4:15 • hansoohee@hotmail.com • World Premiere
A baby who has been in a baby carriage drops a baby bottle on the street. The bottle opens and milk spreads out on the ground. At that point a woman running from the opposite direction steps on the spread-
milk. Suddenly she falls into it. She is thrown into confusion after she has come into the other space..
Four Thorns for Aidan
Josh Smith • Berwyn, PA • Drama (Student) • 27:33 • info@fourthorns.com
Four Thorns For Aidan is about a man who has lost the will to live after the death of his parents and sister in a car accident. He attempts to reconcile with his painful past through a naive little child named Rebecca whom he accidentally kidnapped while stealing a car. Rebecca's mother must reconcile with her lack of care for Rebecca. As she fights to support her family, she now must decide whether to stay at home and help the police find her daughter, or to attend an important interview.
Glimpse
Dustin Grella • New York, NY • Experimental/Art • 8:49 • email@dustingrella.com
Glimpse, an experimental nine minute animated short using stop motion photography, is a study of the life of painter Willem de Kooning and a stream of consciousness narrative concerning the impermanence of life.
Going Home
Jeff Buccellato • Manahawkin, NJ • Drama • 21:30 • duke525@aol.com • jeffbuccellato@aol.com • World Premiere
As a troubled young man walks home from school, a chance meeting shows him that there are many ways to reach his destination.
Gone
Brian Cavallaro • Los Angeles, CA • Drama • 22:00 • ballfour@email.com
James has lost his only son. He can’t concentrate at work, and his relationship with his wife is crumbling. When James wakes one morning to find his wife missing, he doesn’t think things could get any worse. Until, he realizes that everyone is missing. James goes on a journey of determination and love to get back the only family he has.
Good Soil
Craig Shimahara, Santa Monica, CA • Drama • 22:17
craig@endurance-productions.com • World Premiere
Ships from Europe brought Christianity to the shores of Japan in 1549. For decades the seeds of faith grew under the watchful gaze of the shogun. But the fear of foreign influence eventually gave rise to persecution. By 1624 Japanese Christians had only a few more years of peace. Masuda Jinbei, a Japanese Christian of the samurai class, draws his strength from his faith, family, and fencing. Life is good, until the shogun decrees a brutal policy of religious cleansing. A disillusioned and bitter apostate named Michijiro spearheads the inquisition and challenges Jinbei’s faith. Now Jinbei must choose between his loved ones and his God. “Good Soil” is a story of vitality and conviction with a climatic duel between ideological rivals.
Hail Mary
Pete Safran • Doylestown, PA • Comedy • 29:55 • suzpetesafran@msn.com • World Premiere
Are sports the new religion? Is the quest for the Super Bowl as important to some as the quest for God? This romantic comedy between a sports fanatic, Joe and a devout Catholic, Mary, shows the eerie similarities between sports and religion as the two try to 'convert' each other to their respective worlds. 'Hale Mary' takes religion head on in a witty and entertaining way.
Hartslagen (Heartbeats)
Vincent Coen • Brussels, Belgium • Drama • 13:14 • vincent.coen@brutele.be • World Premiere
The night before leaving the parental nest: in dreams Fannie revisits key moments in her life. The times when she had to choose between holding on or letting go, the times when she felt her heart beat.
Honey and Sting
Sybil Mair • Warwickshire, England, UK • Drama • 19:54 • sybilhmair@yahoo.co.uk • PA Premiere
In another-worldly garden a beekeeper tends his hives of magical honeybees. Each day he bids these fabulous creatures leave their Eden and reveal the bittersweet essence of desire to an unsuspecting world.
I’m In the Mood for Death
Carolyn London • New York, NY • Comedy • 11:55 • carolynlondon@nyc.rr.com • PA Premiere
Jamie has planned the perfect death down to the very last detail. But just as she’s ready to die, life decides to get in the way.
In Between
Jose E. Iglesias Vigil • Przykop, Purda, Poland • Drama (Student) • 16:40 • filminbetween@gmail.com • PA Premiere
In between solitude and love, is there a place for sincerity?
Alicia is pregnant and wants to have the child. Her partner Mateusz, moved by a hidden reason, doesn’t agree with her life-changing decision.
Fearing loneliness Mateusz will have to confront his own existential struggles.
Interior Bedsit-Day
James Larkin • London, England • Comedy • 11:25 • chantelle@film38.com • World Premiere
A desperate writer in his decrepit bedsit, searching for inspiration types: ‘INT. BEDSIT-DAY’. Each time he tries to leave his bedsit, he finds himself straight back in it. Climbing out of the window, the same thing happens. Remembering his Scene Heading, understanding dawns. He types: ‘EXT. PARK-DAY’ and opens his door to a beautiful London park. Seeing the potential, he races back to his computer. When he types ‘EXT. TROPICAL BEACH-SUNSET’, a beautiful woman walks towards me with open arms, he opens the door to his own Paradise. With the sand between his toes, he falls into the arms of a beautiful woman. Then his clumsy writing partner arrives with jammie doughnuts and presses the delete key...
Keys
Christopher Babers • Los Angles, CA • Drama • 23:00 • damenfletcher@mac.com • christopher@microcosm-films.com • PA Premiere
When Leann receives a grim diagnosis of cancer, she and her bi-racial son Eli travel back to her childhood home in the Midwest, in order for Leann to make amends with her estranged father. Upon her arrival, the healing between these two takes shape in the most unlikely of ways. Keys is the dramatic story of a broken family that discovers healing within the broken keys of an old piano.
La Combinaison (The Combination)
Serge Adam • Paris, France • Drama (Student) • 11:52 • erjadam@noos.fr • East Coast/PA Premiere:
A dock worker plays the same lottery numbers for ten years. The numbers finally come up, with a prize of two million euros! He remembers the sarcastic remarks expressed by his friends, and as he sits on the sofa he dreams of racing cars and beautiful loves. Will he leave his wife for this new lifestyle? Is he dreaming when his wife comes back home, shouting out that the numbers came up...?
A Lesson in Biology
Keno Rider • West Hollywood, CA • Drama • 20:00 • karpa@verizon.net •
World Premiere • Gay/Lesbian/Mature/Sexual Themes
The Deep South. Prom night, 1968. High school biology teacher, Mr. Williams, becomes distraught watching his star student, Tom, dance the night away, and suddenly disappears. When Tom finds his mentor hiding behind the bleachers, he shepherds him off into the mossy woods, confronts him about the secret relationship they've had and forces him to admit his true feelings. Flashbacks reveal the night of passion that Mr. Williams would rather forget and that Tom will always remember. When they are nearly caught in an embarrassing moment, Mr. Williams relents, giving Tom one, brief moment of solace, before sending him off toward his future. In the end, Tom has been able to move on, while Mr. Williams remains entrenched in his place and in his past.
Life In a Bowl
Todd Bieber • Winfield, PA • Comedy • 17:00 • tgbieber@flexibleframe.com • World Premiere
A post-apocalyptic office comedy set in the not too distant future, where a lonely worker finds joy in a strange companion. Unfortunately, his new “friend” happens to be illegal.
Love On Track
Alison Heather • Sydney, Australia • Comedy • 4:15 • info@loveontrack.com
The promise of true love goes temporarily off the rails when a man and woman have a misunderstanding on the Sydney monorail. Hardly a word is spoken, yet passions ignite and feelings fray. The denouement takes place on a station platform, when a pair of buskers help get the romance back on track.
Memories from the Box Office
Todd Bieber • Winfield, PA • Documentary • 8:00 • tgbieber@flexibleframe.com • World Premiere
This short documentary draws parallels between a young student and an aging woman by linking their memories of working at an historic Art Deco movie theatre.
Most látszom, most nem látszom (Now You See Me, Now You Don’t) • Attila Szász • Budapest, Hungary • Drama • 29:50 • szasz@extremefilm.com • PA Premiere
It seemed like an ordinary day. Dad is experimenting in the lab, Mom is at home boiling water, while their six-year-old son, Alex, is playing around her. But this day is different. This day Dad brings something home from the lab. And the next morning, Alex becomes invisible.
PK-Granny
Jo Meuris • Los Angeles, CA • Animation • 1:35 • jo_meuris@hotmail.com • PA Premiere
A little old lady gets mugged by a man on a bicycle. When she realizes that there is no one around to help her, she decides to take matters into her own hands. It's a good thing Granny knows Parkour! A film about self-empowerment, animated the old way - by hand, with pencil on paper and a light-box.
Passing
Jolie Hales • Irvine, CA • Drama (Student) • 5:00 • joliehales@gmail.com • PA Premiere
Customers and employees watch as a young man enters the local flower shop to pick up the usual love-professing items: heart balloons, cards, and of course, flowers. Some onlookers smile, while others sigh with wishes of romance of their own. Some, including an aged Rob, can't help but look on in annoyance and disgust. It is only after Rob leaves the flower shop that he realizes things are not always as they seem... a realization that inspires Rob to see his own life in a different light.
PK-Granny
Jo Meuris • Los Angeles, CA • Animation • 1:35 • jo_meuris@hotmail.com • PA Premiere
A little old lady gets mugged by a man on a bicycle. When she realizes that there is no one around to help her, she decides to take matters into her own hands. It's a good thing Granny knows Parkour! A film about self-empowerment, animated the old way - by hand, with pencil on paper and a light-box.
Rabia
Muhammad Ali Hassan • Orange, CA • Drama (Student) • 23:30 • World Premiere
Rabia is a woman who must blow herself up in order to exist. From the moment she straps explosives to her bare body, we are exposed to flashbacks of Rabia’s past, filled with abuse, rejection, and struggle. By the time she steps onto a popular Israeli beach, awaiting to kill hundreds of innocent civilians in a massive explosion, we find ourselves asking whether Rabia’s act is one of evil or one of heroism?
Email: info@rabiamovie.com
Rebel Song
Simon Arthur • Glasgow, Scotland, UK • Drama • 14:52 • simonarthur1@googlemail.com • PA Premiere
A farmer who is too infirm to farm, and too old to make love, grows to hate his youthful wife. Her beauty, her life and love of it, are cause for hatred in him. He wants to abuse her, break her down and rub her in the dirt, so he’ll be the cockrel, and she the hen. And so he bribes the biggest, ugliest, hulking gorilla of a man he can find, to chop down the trees, and tear up his wife. But this man has the mind of a child, he doesn’t understand concepts of sex, psychology or superiority. And so the farmer has to try and train him to treat his wife well, give her what she needs, and whether she wants it or not. The farmer, who is frail in body and struggles to walk, conquers both of them, purely because they are too weak-minded to fight back or even just walk away. They’re convinced they need him to survive, that they’re the ones who are selfish, and they’re letting the farmer down. Yet, as the man and wife become increasingly terrorized, they form a child-like bond, whispering thoughts of escape together, out of the forest.
Reflections
Timofey Yuriev • Toronto, Ontario, Canada • Experimental/Art • 3:59 • i@yuriev.tv • World Premiere
We are all made of water, it brings us life. It can also bring death. Every so often, someone dies in the ocean, rivers, lakes…and sometimes, they return. They appear to those who knew them, only for a short time, then disappear again. They do not speak, they observe. No one knows why they return, whether it is to feel, to see, to experience, to live again, or whether they just became a part of the greater living entity, the water itself. All we know is that these events have been occurring for a long time.
Sarah + Dee
Karen Dee Carpenter • Philadelphia, PA • Drama (Student) • 19:47 • karendee_2000@yahoo.com • birdpictures@gmail.com
Sarah & Dee revolves around two young, house-cleaners that hate their jobs. Their work takes them out of their blue-collar neighborhood and into the wealthy suburbs where they feel the sting of their inferior position. When they discover a stash of money they have an opportunity to change their lives- but it’s going to cost them.
Saturday Night Newtown, Sunday Morning Enmore
Christopher Johnson • Australia, NSW • Drama • 7:30 • cj@christopherjohnson.com.au • PA Premiere
Claire wakes up on Sunday morning – in Enmore – next to Matthew, who is definitely “not her type”. Her memories of the night before are hazy, to say the least, and she tries to leave quickly; but Matthew is surprisingly imaginative and appealing, and by the time she leaves, she wants to stay. A story of romantic possibilities.
Short Film: Gone (Bill Madden)
Andrew Watson • Newport Beach, CA • Experimental/Art • 2:59 • madmuse@comcast.net • World Premiere
Bill Madden brings the worlds of film and music together with a metaphorical environmental warning alert. This compelling video raises questions, fusing art, social commentary, and music to spark debate on what it means to be alive and grapple with the consequences of environmental change. The video communicates the need to reverse the effects of climate change while there's still time. The film is directed by Andrew Watson of Current TV, an interactive cable TV channel founded by Al Gore.
Signage
Rick Hammerly • Washington, DC • Drama • 12:00 • idlerichpro@aol.com
Lex, a forty-one year old man, struggles to maintain his marketability in today's gay world. Will his encounter with Jonathan, a young deaf man, at a local gay bar, help to relieve or merely reinforce his fear of growing older in this youth and beauty-obsessed culture?
Silver Tongues
Simon Arthur • Glasgow, Scotland, UK • Drama • 24:50 • simonarthur1@googlemail.com • PA Premiere
A wandering couple travel the road, becoming different people in each town they descend upon, playing a gleefully sadistic game of deceit. In this, the second part of the story, they prey on the care home of senile dementia sufferers, convincing them they’re family members.
Simulacra
Tatchapon Lertwirojkul • Jersey City, NJ • Animation (Student) • 4:06 • tatchapon_me@yahoo.com • PA Premiere
In the vast galaxy, There are one robot planet which every natural life was extinct, There's only machine and robot live in that planet. One day, one robot found a piece of organic life existing in his world. He's very excited about his discovery and want to save that organic piece. Unfortunately, that piece is in the dangerous and restrict area in his planet. Finally, he decides to risk and save that piece. Then his adventure begins.
So Long
SPC Brandon Bley • Vancouver, WA, • Drama • 11:46 • michael.brandon.bley@us.army.mil • World Premiere
What would you do with an empty apartment, an ocean of alcohol, and one night of freedom left before shipping off to the most dangerous place on earth?
Stranger
Chris Zonnas • New York, NY • Drama • 17:10 •
zonnas@earthlink.com •
World Premiere
A stranded drifter encounters a mysterious woman on the side of the road. As the two converse, it seems she may have foul intentions. However - she is playing a game more dangerous than she realizes...
Stuck
Bruce A. Block • Burbank, CA • Comedy • 10:53 • roughactor@aol.com •
World Premiere
A stalled elevator provides the metaphoric arena for one man to express his life's crisis. Trapped alone with a beautiful woman, he becomes increasingly more claustrophobic and panic stricken. Through the release of his anxiety, he begins to open up about the personal struggles in his life, including his dreams and regrets.
The woman empathizes with his fears, encouraging him to reveal his true feelings about his self image and his 'stuck' condition, and to move beyond his comfort zone. Somewhat reluctantly, he verbally begins to relate the frustrations with his work and his love life, while intercut images reflect his mind's desire to possibly pursue something more, namely the woman who shares his current space.
Take Out
Jonathan Budine • Nutley, NJ • Drama • 4:35 • info@takeouttheshort.com
From Director Jonathan Budine, and Writer Bill Hall comes their first original short film, Take Out. The story of a woman on a journey into a dark unknown cavern she considers familiar… the parking garage. Relying on her inner strength, she must trust her instincts to carry her, unharmed, back to her family. Heart-pounding suspense may make this the most tension filled car retrieval ever. Introducing Mary Ann Emerson, with an appearance by Fangoria's own scream queen, Debbie Rochon, this short shocker of a film illustrates how unsafe it is to be alone in a parking garage these days… Regardless of why it is that you're there!
Tell Me What To Do
Ji Sung Lee • Seoul, South Korea • Drama (Student) • 11:21 • peel1895@gmail.com • World Premiere
Everything you ever wanted?
The Addiction of Ethan Lonemyer
Anthony Mastanuono • Los Angeles, CA • Drama • 25:00 • anthonymastantuono@sbcglobal.net • World Premiere
In the story, we follow the main character Ethan Lonemyer, an ordinary young professional struggling to cope with a sudden streak of insomnia. His foolishly happy go-lucky best friend Jon offers a simple solution, take sleeping pills. Ethan’s psyche strays and is tested with the continuous intake of sleeping pills. With the day-to-
day struggles of constant disappointments and ridicule at work and with women, he becomes addicted to the pills and looses control. The short film captures Ethan Lonemyer’s quarter-life crisis as it inundates his psyche and affects his work, love and life. We then see him take control of his destiny in an unexpected way.
The Beanie Baby Soldier
Larry Mendte • Philadelphia, PA • Documentary • 10:00 • Mendte@kyw.com • World Premiere
Corporal Stephen McGowan of Newark Delaware joined the army to avenge the attacks of 9/11. He volunteered to go to the front lines of Iraq. There he did something wonderful. He was able to reach out to the children and make them feel a little differently about America. His legacy of hope is still being carried on today. This is the story of The Beanie Baby Soldier.
The Lost Journal of Vice Marceaux
R Burningham • Los Angeles, CA • Drama (Student) • 12:00 • jrburningham@gmail.com • World Premiere
When God wishes to punish us, he answers our prayers. Inspired by true events, The Lost Journal of Vice Marceaux is the tragic story of a doctor who lost his family in Boston's smallpox epidemic of 1779. Their loss along with the overwhelming suffering around has caused him to lose faith in God. When a patient dies while Vice is weighing her, he discovers an unexplainable loss of 21 grams. Vice has discovered he can weigh the human soul at the moment of death. The scientist in him becomes obsessed that his salvation can be proven.
The Miracle
Jeffrey Jon Smith • Chicago, IL • Comedy • 29:00 • info@themiraclemovie.com • PA Premiere
In confession to her priest, Tekki Lomnicki, a little person, reveals that she has dishonored her mother. Her confession spins out in a series of stories: her dramatic birth, her difficult childhood and painful relationship with her mother and, finally, the fateful trip they eventually made to the holy shrine at Lourdes. In her memories a storytelling nun, Saint Bernadette, her rambunctious family, Little League baseball, musical comedy, and the romantic Paris of her dreams all live again. But Tekki will have to face the truth of what happened at Lourdes if she is to win a chance at redemption.
The Pardoner’s Tale
Dan Olsen • Los Angeles, CA • Drama (Student) • 17:23 • info@pardonerstalemovie.com • World Premiere
Based on Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th-century short story of the same name, The Pardoner’s Tale follows three friends as greed tears them apart. During the Great Depression, Jacob, Jeremiah, and Lucas leave behind lives of loss in Montana and set out to find work in Colorado. On their way, they must employ desperate and selfish measures to get by, often stealing from others in order to survive. When they stumble upon a resting place that should provide some relief, they instead find something that opens a door into the darkest part of who they are.
The Predator’s Return
Jerald Fine • Aventura, AL • Drama • 14:00 • jeraldalan55@aol.com •
World Premiere
Abe, a former concentration camp survivor, is a resident of a nursing home. The newest resident of the facility is the same Nazi officer that murdered his entire family 60 years earlier. A nightmare confrontation is about to take place.
The Tribe
Tiffany Shlain • Mill Valley, CA • Documentary • 17:45 • t@tiffanyshlain.com • East Coast/PA Premiere
What can the most successful doll on the planet show us about being Jewish today? Narrated by Peter Coyote, the film mixes old school narration with a new school visual style. The Tribe weaves together archival footage, graphics, animation, Barbie dioramas, and slam poetry to take audiences on an electric ride through the complex history of both the Barbie doll and the Jewish people- from Biblical times to present day. By tracing Barbie's history, the film sheds light on what it means to be an American Jew in the 21st Century.
Theodore
Jorge Moran • Nashville, TN • Drama (Student) • 23:17 • mcreatiev@yahoo.com • PA Premiere
This film is shot on location in Savannah, GA. The film takes a somewhat dark but endearing look at the life of a lonely schizophrenic African American man named Theodore.
Things Worse Than Death
Michael Gambino • New York, NY • Comedy •13:20 • mikegambino@mac.com • ccarbone3@yahoo.com • World Premiere
We meet Vladimir and Estragon as they continue their long-running, friendly competition. We follow them through a typical day, strolling through NYC's Central Park, blind to the beauty of Manhattan's great backyard. This comic journey explores the culinary and the sexual, the sophomoric and the existential, the sick and the transcendent. And it's funny.
Treasure of Riverside Park
Jason Sokoloff • Brooklyn, NY • Drama (Student) • 4:45 • jsok@jsokfilms.com • World Premiere
Alex seeks to find truth and love while another wants to steal it away; a surprising and deadly love triangle on the streets of New York ensues in this gritty modern film noir.
Tredyffrin Township… The First 300 Years
Jane Pollini • Berwyn, PA • Documentary • 30:00 • info@sagefilmandvideo.com • World Premiere
This historic documentary was produced to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Tredyffrin, a township in Chester County PA. Using journal entries, photographs, archival film footage and interviews with residents and educators, this documentary takes the viewer from the Paoli Massacre during the American Revolution to the early days of the Valley Forge Music Fair and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. The audience will get a glimpse of life in the Valley before Route 202.
Underground
Michael Medeiros • New York, NY • Drama • 18:55 • bparkfilm@gmail.com • PA Premiere
Shot entirely in subway stations and trains, Underground explores the physical and emotional worlds beneath the surface of everyday reality. As we watch Frank searching through glaring stations and dark tunnels, we begin to wonder what will happen if he finds who he's looking for. Then, when he finally sees young Ben, a brief window of opportunity opens where each holds the key to leaving the underground and going back to the world above.
Voor een paar knickers meer (For A Few Marbles More)
Jelmar Hufen • Utrecht, Netherlands • Drama • 11:03 • info@kairosfilms.nl • PA Premiere
Four ten–year-olds are kicked out of their favorite playground by two aggressive drunkards. When they realize their parents are not going to help them, there’s only one solution. They have to find a way to get the toughest boy in the neighborhood to help them.
War Hero
Alison Heather • Sydney Australia • Drama • 13:04 • aheather@optusnet.com.au • PA Premiere
We enter the life of Ivor, a Vietnam War veteran, at the point where he has just made contact again with his estranged son. Ivor has asked his artist son to paint his portrait, a work commissioned by a returned serviceman’s association. During the course of the film, it becomes clear that war has had a devastating impact on the life of this man: invading his psyche, changing his persona, breaking up his family and separating him from a wife and son he still loves. The film focuses on Ivor’s need to heal the family rift, and reveals how the experience of war has impacted on him. This is essentially a love story and a reconciliation story with an underlying anti-war theme.
What I See When I Close My Eyes
Leslie Hope • Los Angeles, CA • Documentary • 29:32 •
leslieannhope@hotmail.com • PA Premiere
A clear-eyed look at how Phnom Penh's street children are being helped by Mith Samlanh/FRIENDS-INTERNATIONAL, an organization serving street living and working kids through the provision of vocational training, shelter, food, education, counseling, art classes and outreach. The children of FRIENDS tell their stories in their own voice in answer to the simplest of statements: What's My Name, How I Live, What I Want and Who I Am. Much of the film is told through the progress of the creation of life-sized self-portraits the children draw of themselves in answer to the question, 'What do you see when you close your eyes?'
Movies
Film Schedule • Friday 4•25•08
The Cultural Center @ the Chester County Historical Society
7:00-9:00pm (also shown @ Masonic, Sat., 9:30)
In Between ----drama/student
I'm In The Mood For Death ---- comedy
The Tribe ---- documentary
War Hero----drama
Dissolve ----drama
PK-Granny---- animation/student
Disconnected ---- drama/student
Silver Tongues---- drama
9:30-11:30pm (also shown @ CCHS, Sun., noon)
For A Few Marbles More---- drama
Father---- drama
The Addiction of Ethan Lonemyer---- comedy
Simulacra ---- animation/student
Escape from the Fire ---- drama/student
Things Worse Than Death---- comedy
Memories … Box Office---- documentary
Now You See Me,
Now You Don’t----Drama
The Masonic Lodge
7:00-9:00pm (also shown @ KoC, Sat., 2:30)
Honey and Sting---- drama
Love On Track---- comedy
Tredyffrin Township.---- documentary
First Memories---- animation/student
Stranger ---- drama
Lost Journal Of Vice Marceaux ---- drama/student
Rabia---- drama/student
9:30-11:30pm (also shown @ CCHS, Sat., noon)
Underground---- drama
Crayon ---- animation/student
Dog Down ---- drama/comedy
Amosaica: Isaiah Zagar ---- doc/student
Diva---- drama
Theodore---- drama/student
Interior. Bedsit - Day ---- comedy
Good Soil ---- drama
Film Schedule • Saturday 4•26•08
The YWCA - Youth Film Blocks
The films shown in the Youth Blocks were all films created by students in junior high or high school. They have not been juried.
We are very excited to have such a large Youth representation!
11:00am-12:30pm
Darkness ---- drama
Break Dancing & Street Soccer… ----Documentary
The Wonderful World of Art---- doc
Insomnia ---- doc
Le Crayon de Mort---- comedy
Bullying Hurts ---- doc/psa
Tickle My Temper---- comedy
Post Post Production ---- doc
Tombstone Blues---- drama
1:00-2:30pm
Dr. Phil or Dr. Do-Little---- doc
A Growing Issue: Students and Sleep---- doc
Through Thick and Thin---- drama
Clouded Dimensions---- sci-fi
PBJ ---- comedy
Restoring La Comunidad ---- doc
The Sights Unseen---- drama
Outsanity ---- drama
In A Place Like This ---- doc
Flattering Dust ---- drama
The Cultural Center @ the Chester County Historical Society
noon-2:00pm (also shown @ Masonic, Fri., 9:30)
Underground---- drama
Crayon ---- animation/student
Dog Down ---- drama/comedy
Amosaica---- Isaiah Zagar doc/student
Diva---- drama
Theodore---- drama/student
Interior. Bedsit - Day---- comedy
Good Soil ---- drama
2:30-4:30pm (also shown @ KoC, Sat., 7:00)
Passing ---- drama/student
Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art---- documentary
Broken Wind ---- animation/student/PA
Hail Mary ---- comedy/PA
GONE ---- drama
So Long ---- drama/comedy
Short Film: Gone experimental
Dark Chocolate ---- drama
7:00-9:00pm (also shown @ KoC, Sat., noon)
Comme un aimant ---- drama
KEYS ---- drama/student
Glimpse---- experimental
Four Thorns For Aidan---- drama/student/PA
OCCUPIED---- comedy
Going Home ---- drama
The Beanie Baby Soldier ---- documentary/PA
9:30-11:30pm (also shown @ KoC, Sun., 2:30)
The Pardoner's Tale ---- drama/student
Treasure of Riverside Park ---- comedy/student
A Lesson in Biology---- drama
Reflections---- experimental
Tell Me What To Do ---- drama/student
The Miracle ---- comedy
Stuck ---- drama/comedy
Hartslagen ---- drama
The Knights of Columbus
noon-2:00pm (also shown @ CCHS, Sat., 7:00)
Comme un aimant ---- drama
KEYS ---- drama/student
Glimpse ---- experimental
Four Thorns For Aidan ---- drama/student/PA
OCCUPIED ---- comedy
Going Home ---- drama
The Beanie Baby Soldier ---- documentary/PA
2:30-4:30pm (also shown @ Masonic, Fri., 7:00)
Honey and Sting ---- drama
Love On Track ---- comedy
Tredyffrin Township---- documentary
First Memories ---- animation/student
Stranger ---- drama
Lost Journal Of Vice Marceaux ---- drama/student
Rabia ---- drama/student
7:00-9:00pm (also shown @ CCHS, Sat., 2:30)
Passing---- drama/student
Arthur Szyk: Soldier in Art ---- documentary
Broken Wind ---- anim./student/PA
Hail Mary ---- comedy/PA
GONE---- drama
So Long ---- drama/comedy
Short Film: Gone---- experimental
Dark Chocolate ---- drama
9:30-11:30pm (also shown @ KoC, Sun., noon)
The Predator's Return---- drama
Life in a Bowl ---- comedy/PA
Take Out ---- drama
Desarollo Humano ---- doc/student
Backyard Shadow ---- experimental/PA
Absolute Zero ---- drama
Rebel Song ---- drama
The MASONIC LODGE
7:00-9:00pm (also shown @ CCHS, Sun., 2:30)
Saturday Night Newtown---- drama
Sarah + Dee ---- drama/student
Die Flugbegleiterin ---- comedy
Contrition ---- drama/student
What I See When I Close My Eyes---- documentary
Signage ---- drama
La Combinaison---- drama
9:30-11:30pm (also shown @ CCHS, Fri., 7:00)
In Between ---- drama/student
I'm In The Mood For Death ---- comedy
The Tribe---- documentary
War Hero ---- drama
Dissolve---- drama
PK-Granny ---- animation/student
Disconnected---- drama/student
Silver Tongues ---- drama
Film Schedule • Sunday 4•27•08
The Cultural Center @ the Chester County Historical Society
noon-2:00pm (also shown @ CCHS, Fri, 9:30)
For A Few Marbles More---- drama
Father ---- drama
The Addiction of Ethan Lonemyer ---- comedy
Simulacra ---- animation/student
Escape from the Fire---- drama/student
Things Worse Than Death ---- comedy
Memories … Box Office ---- documentary
Now You See Me, ---- drama
Now You Don’t
2:30-4:30pm (also shown @ Masonic, Sat., 7:00)
Saturday Night Newtown---- drama
Sarah + Dee ---- drama/student
Die Flugbegleiterin ---- comedy
Contrition ---- drama/student
What I See When I Close My Eyes ---- documentary
signage ---- drama
La combinaison ---- drama
The Knights of Columbus
noon-2:00pm (also shown @ KoC, Sat., 9:30)
The Predator's Return ---- drama
Life in a Bowl ---- comedy/PA
Take Out ---- drama
Desarollo Humano---- doc/student
Backyard Shadow ---- experimental/PA
Absolute Zero ---- drama
Rebel Song ---- drama
2:30-4:30pm (also shown @ CCHS, Sat., 9:30)
The Pardoner's Tale ---- drama/student
Treasure of Riverside Park ---- comedy/student
A Lesson in Biology---- drama
Reflections ---- experimental
Tell Me What To Do ---- drama/student The Miracle comedy
Stuck---- drama/comedy
Hartslagen ---- drama
About me: April 24 – 27th, 2008
Presenting the Best in Independent Short Film! The 4th Annual West Chester 'Short' International Film Festival, Presented by Ruggeri's General Sales Cadillac-Saab and Comcast will be held once again in the beautiful borough of West Chester. Over 85 short films will be screened and judged in competition throughout the weekend. Work has been submitted from Australia, Canada, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Poland; from many U.S. filmmakers and of course, from filmmakers right here in Pennsylvania. West Chester is a great place to be during Film Festival Weekend. Experience something completely original and take the opportunity to get the inside story behind the films by talking with the filmmakers. The West Chester Film Festival has something for everyone. Not only will we screen great films, the WCFF has scheduled lectures and workshops presented by Industry Professionals, a film scoring competition using cutting edge music software technology and the always popular Filmmakers Meet and Greet. This year, the Festival is proud to be presenting three scholarships to exceptional Film and Video Arts High School students from West Chester. The Opening Night Party on Thursday April 24th and our Closing Night Awards Party on Sunday April 27th are events not to be missed. Plan to visit West Chester during Film Festival Weekend April 24th - 27th, 2008 and enjoy our film arts, lectures, entertainment, parties and everything else the Borough of West Chester has to offer!
Opening Night Party!
Thursday, April 24th • 7-10pm • $40 • The Cultural Center at The Chester County Historical Society • 225 North High Street
Sponsored by Lifestyle Magazine
Celebrate the kick off of the 2008 West Chester International Short Film Festival at the Chester County Historical Society! Join us for an evening of cocktails, heavy hors d'ouevres, music by the Alex Bartlett Group, and great conversation with filmmakers, directors and film buffs. Dress is smart casual. Open to the Public with advance tickets available here or at the door. WCFF members receive 20% OFF each ticket, so become a member today!
Movies! Movie! Movies! — See the Schedule links above for Descriptions, Film Block Schedules & Venues.
Friday, April 25th • Film blocks: 7-9:00pm; 9:30-11:30pm
Saturday, April 26th • Film blocks: noon-2:00pm; 2:30-4:30pm; 7-9:00pm; 9:30-11:30pm • Youth Blocks at the YWCA: 11:00-12:30; 1:00-2:30pm
Sunday, April 27th • Film blocks: noon-2:00pm; 2:30-4:30pm
Ticket prices are $7 per film block. Become a WCFF Member and receive 20% off the Opening Night Party and discounted film block tickets for $5! $6 with Senior Citizen or valid Student ID, Youth Film Block tickets are $5.
If you wish to purchase tickets for the entire weekend, the cost is $50 - a $34 savings!
Purchase in advance online or at the door (cash only).
Closing Night Awards Party!
Sunday, April 27th • 6-10pm • $15 • The Cultural Center at The Chester County Historical Society • 225 North High Street
Join us for great food and drink from local restaurants as we present the WCFF Awards Party – we kick it up a notch with our version of the Awards Ceremony. See the WCFF Award winners ONE MORE TIME!!!! The "Chester", the WCFF unique Statuette will be presented to the films judged Best in the categories of Animation, Drama, Documentary, Comedy, Experimental/Art, Student, PA Filmmaker and Audience Choice. In addition, the Regional Center for Women in the Arts will present a $500 cash award to the Best Film by a Woman Filmmaker. The winner of the Film Scoring Workshop competition will be announced and the WCFF•Comcast Student Film Scholarships presented. Advanced tickets can be purchased online or during the Festival at the Chester County Historical Society, 225 N. High St. If you've attended in the past, you know this party is a blast! And, it is the Best Deal in Town. What a Great way to finish up Film Festival Weekend!
Workshops – See the 2008 Workshop Series link above for Details!
Project Soundwave: Music and Scoring in Film • Friday, Saturday, Sunday April 25-27 • The Masonic Lodge – 2nd Fl. • 10 South Church St. • FREE
Musical scores that accompany film create a mood and reinforce the Director's style and theme. To gain insight and provide an interactive experience, WCFF Educational Workshops this year focus on Music and Scoring in Film. Throughout the weekend, our presenters and panelists will discuss the history of music in film. Workshop attendees will receive instruction on using software scoring tools to actually score a film. Teams will compete to score the WCFF Film 'Stunt Friend' with the winning team’s score presented at the Closing Night Awards Party. Length: continuous throughout the weekend, see schedule.
Lecture/Discussion – From WC to LA
Tim Chambers • Director, Producer, Filmmaker
Saturday, April 26 • 4:45-5:30pm • The Knights of Columbus • 110 W. Market St. • FREE
West Chester's own Tim Chambers is readying his return to the big screen as producer, writer and director of "Our Lady of Victory". As President of Quaker Media Productions, Tim has encountered the trials and tribulations which accompany the process of taking a local story and transforming it into a feature film. Set to engage audiences all around the world, Tim will share his entertainment industry experiences which have taken him from West Chester to LA (and everywhere in between) while keeping an eye out for that next great story.
Filmmakers Meet & Greet • Saturday, April 26 • 5:30-7:00pm • Pietro's Prime • 125 West Market St. • FREE
When the Lecture ends, the Meet and Greet begins! Join us at Pietro's Prime for a casual wrap-up to the afternoon as you get the chance to meet the filmmakers up close. Take the opportunity to discuss their work with them, filmmakers love the opportunity to meet with the film going public and here's your chance. Find out what really goes on behind the camera. Don't forget, our evening Film Blocks start at 7:00! Make sure your visit Pietro's Prime. They are offering all film goers a 10% discount on your food bill throughout the weekend. Just show your ticket stub to your server and it is wise to stop in and reserve a table.
All workshops are FREE and Open to the Public. In some cases, seating may be limited.
West Chester Film Festival Judging Categories:
Short Films:
All Films run Under 30 minutes. Film Blocks run 2 hours or less. Each Film Block screens twice during the weekend.
Awards will be presented for:
Best Drama
Best Comedy
Best Documentary
Best Animated Film
Best Student Film
Best Experimental/Art Film
Best Pennsylvania Filmmaker
Audience Choice • Voted by Film-goers throughout the Weekend
Best Film by a Woman Filmmaker • Presented by the Regional Center for Women in the Arts
Who I'd like to meet: All are welcome..especially Filmmakers, writers, directors, producers, actors, Graphics Designers, editors, musicians, artists, grips, Directors of Photography, Sponsors.
