2 0 0 8 F U L L S Y N O P S E S
HOME ABOUT US CALL FOR ENTRIES BIFF2007 PRESSROOM NEWSLETTER SPONSORSHIP CFS VOLUNTEER CONTACT US
 | ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
(YOU'LL NEED THE PROGRAM NUMBERS TO ORDER TICKETS, SO JOT THEM DOWN. THANKS)
3 Peaks 3 Weeks a Michael Brown Film
PROGRAM 13. Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, 4:30 p.m.
USA/Colorado, feature documentary, 2007, 52 min.
Directed by Michael Brown.Produced by David D’Angelo. World Premiere
BIFF audiences get a sneak preview of this film, whose world premiere will be in March 2008 at the Royal Geographical Society, London. In 2007, 10 novice mountain-climbing women braved frozen hands, altitude sickness, exhaustion and the clock to climb Africa's three highest peaks, Mount Kenya, Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro in just three weeks. Together, they raised $300,000 for three African charities including the St. Jude Secondary Campus in Tanzania. Between each peak, they visited with and became passionate about the local recipient organizations to which every dollar received can have a direct impact. Each of the women paid their own way so that all funds raised went directly to the three causes. Coming soon: 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge 2009, an event that aims to bring together women from around the world who are willing to challenge themselves beyond their comfort zone—physically and emotionally—all to make a difference in Africa.
All 10 women will be coming to BIFF from around the world to see the film for the first time. Michael Brown, David D’Angelo and the crew from Serac Adventure Films also in person. Presented in conjunction with the Women’s Wilderness Institute (www.womenswilderness.org).
20 Seconds of Joy
PROGRAM 10, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, 10 a.m.
Winner, Banff International Film Festival,
"I don’t want to die, I want to live…I am pretty good in running away and this is my escape!'
This sad, amazing film follows 5 years of the career of the world's greatest woman BASE-jumper, Karina Hollekim, as she performs her trademark aerial somersaults and heart-stopping free-fall swoops that barely miss the jagged faces of the highest vertical cliffs on earth.. Karina's movie-star smile conceals a melancholic personal life that includes a brain-damaged mother and a father who abandoned her in her teens. In interviews, both her parents and Karina open their lives to the camera at a very deep level, and one begins to comprehend the anatomy of the uniquely human urge for self-destruction, and to understand a young woman who is addicted to adrenaline and continually takes greater risks to get her "20 seconds of joy," until her career suddenly, tragically, inevitably stops...just as her helmet-cam did on her very last jump.
Alexander Nevsky
SPECIAL EVENT D.Saturday, 7:30pm, Macky Auditorium on the CU Campus
Film Directed by Sergei Eisenstein
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra does Nevsky LIVE with The Ars Nova Singers
Conducted by Michael Butterman
BIFF is proud to collaborate with the Boulder Philharmonic on this screening of the 1938
historical drama based on the life of Alexander Nevsky. The film depicts the 13th-century
conflict between the Teutonic Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and the Russian
People of Novgorod. Filmed during the Stalinist era when the Soviet Union was at odds
with Nazi Germany, the movie, which Stalin asked director Sergei Eisenstein to make,
was intended to warn the Soviet people of German aggression. Clips from the film will
be screened as the Boulder Philharmonic plays Prokofiev’s brilliant score. The Ars Nova
Singers will also contribute to this unique and unforgettable performance. Prior to the evening’s screening of Alexander Nevsky, the Boulder Phil welcomes Judith Ingolfsson, who will perform Korngold’s dramatic and tuneful violin concerto.
American Black Banjo Player
PROGRAM 6. Friday, 6:15pm, Boulder Theater
USA, short documentary, 2008, 8 min.
Directed and produced by Otis Taylor. Edited by Cassie Taylor.
Otis Taylor and Cassie Taylor in person
A short film documenting the recording session of African-American bluesmen
playing banjo, including Guy Davis, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Keb Mo,
Don Vappie and Otis Taylor. Filmed during the recording of the album “Recapturing
the Banjo” produced by legendary bluesman Otis Taylor, and highlights the fact that the banjo came
from Africa. A short musical set by Otis and Cassie Taylor follows the film.
Aria Next Door
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
USA/Colorado, short film, 2007, 7 min.Directed by Brad Stabio. Brad Stabio in person
Aria Next Door won Best Film at The Shoot Out 24 Hour Filmmaking Festival. Now in its fifth year, the Shoot Out Boulder is a pioneering film festival that challenges filmmakers to trust their courage, imagination and determination to make a 7-minute film in just 24 hours. The Shoot Out will return to Boulder on October 10-12, 2008.
Autism: The Musical
PROGRAM 28. Sunday, 12:00pm, Boulder High School
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 93 min Boulder Premiere
Directed by Tricia Regan. Boulder Premiere
(World Premiere to rave reviews at Tribecca, winner of a dozen major film festivals and on the short list for the Academy Awards Best Documentary 2008)
Steeped in a sense of optimism, this remarkable film follows five autistic children over the course of a year as they write, rehearse and produce their own full-length musical, tossing aside all stereotypes in the process. Moving and dramatic, the film follows the joys and tribulations of the kids and their families during this amazing stage production. The modernday epidemic of autism is as vivid and fierce as an hot-button topic in our country today. One in 10,000 kids were afflicted with the condition just over a decade ago; now it’s 1 in 150. On the short list for the Academy Awards Best Documentary 2008.
Brief discussion to follow with Betty Lehman, Executive Director of the Autism Society of Colorado,
Beauty Mark
PROGRAM 20. Saturday, February 16, Boulder High School, 11 a.m.
USA/Colorado, feature documentary, 2008, 74 min. Colorado Premiere
Diane Israel, Director and Exec. Producer. Kathleen Man, Director and Editor
Carla Precht, Director and Producer
Diane Israel, Kathleen Man, Carla Precht, and world-class athletes and local celebrities in person
Examining popular culture's toxic emphasis on women's weight and looks, psychotherapist and former world-class triathlete Diane Israel tells her own story and interviews champion athletes, body builders, fashion models and inner-city teens about their experiences relating to self-image. This deeply personal, loving and funny film asks questions that have needed to be asked for a long time... How do our families influence our relationships with our own bodies? How does the culture get inside of our hearts and heads? In what ways do sports serve to make us sicker instead of healthier? Notable luminaries such as playwright Eve Ensler, author Paul Campos and cultural critic Naomi Wolf provide their own insights. This courageous, powerful, poignant film is for anyone who has ever felt invisible because they didn't conform to our culture's impossible, unhealthy, abnormal beauty standards.
Beyond the Call
PROGRAM 4, Friday, February 15, Boulder Theater, 2 p.m.
USA/Afghanistan, feature documentary, 2007, 82 min.
Directed by Adrian Belic, Boulder Premiere
Adrian Belic and Dr. Jim Laws of Knightsbridge International in person
Co-presented with the CU Department of Communication and faculty member Dr. Jane Elvins
This film was the big hit of the Tribeca Film Festival and comes from the filmmakers behind the Academy Award nominated documentary "Ghengis Blues."
Filmmaker Adrian Belic follows ex-Army medical corpsman Artis and his two partners—heart specialist Jim Laws and organizational whiz Walt Ratterman—as they deliver humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors in places that no other relief agency would dare to go. After a few minutes of salty banter from these guys, you realize that Mothers Teresa they ain’t. “We’re not there to change anybody’s politics, we’re not in the God business and we pay our own way,” they explain. “We do what we can, when we can, because we can.” The film is a journey into the heart of humanity and darkness, all the while serving up incredible good cheer, great stories and absolutely no B.S. to anyone (well, except maybe the black-marketers)."hilarious, exciting and heart-wrenching..." Tribeca Film Festival
CARMICHAEL & shane
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
Australia, short film, 2006, 6 min.Boulder Premiere. Directed by Rob Carlton and Alex Weinress.
A single father raising twins decides on a non-PC method of parenting.
CARMICHAEL & shane is a mock documentary short film about Angus Wilson, a single father of two-year-old twin boys. Though he loves both children equally, Angus believes it is in the boys' best interests for him to choose a favorite.
Charlie Bartlett
PROGRAM 14. Saturday, 6:30pm, Boulder Theater. USA, feature film, 2007, 97 min.
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey, Jr., Hope Davis, Kat Dennings
Director: Jon Poll. Writer: Gustin Nash
Producers: David Permut, Barron Kidd, Jay Roach, Sidney Kimmel
Executive Producers: William Horberg, Jennifer Perini, Trish Hofmann, Bruce Toll
Special pre-release screening from MGM
Among the classic high-school rebels of American movies, there have been truants,
delinquents, pranksters and con artists – but there has never been anyone quite like Charlie
Bartlett. An optimist, a truth-teller and a fearless schemer, when Charlie slyly positions
himself as his new school’s resident “psychiatrist,” dishing out both honest advice and
powerful prescriptions, he has no idea the ways in which he will transform his classmates,
the school principal and the potential of his own life.This is the premise of the provocative, Prozac-era comedy Charlie Bartlett, in which a wealthy teenager’s foray into bathroom-stall psychiatry becomes a smart, funny and touching one-man-battle against the loneliness, angst and hypocrisy of the modern world. Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog) stars as Charlie Bartlett, who has been kicked out of every private school he ever attended. And now that he’s moved on to public school, he’s simply getting
pummeled. But when Charlie discovers that the kids who surround him – the outcast and the
popular alike – are secretly in desperate need, his entrepreneurial spirit takes over. Hanging
up his shingle in the boys’ restroom, Charlie becomes an underground, not to mention
under-aged, shrink who listens to the private confessions of his schoolmates, and makes the
imprudent decision to hand out the pills he’s proffered from his own psychiatric sessions.
Meanwhile, at home, Charlie keeps charming his way out of an inevitable confrontation with
his adoring but utterly overwhelmed mother Marilyn (Hope Davis). Then, Charlie Bartlett makes his big mistake: falling in love with the beautiful and bold daughter (Kat Dennings) of the school’s increasingly disenchanted Principal (Robert Downey,Jr.), who is hot on his trail. As Charlie Bartlett’s world and fledgling psychiatric practice unravel, he begins to discover there’s a whole lot more to making a difference than handing out pills. (John Poll...("Austin Powers," Meet the Fockers," "The 40-year-old Virgin,")...will appear in person for audience Q & A.)
Coco-Nuts
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
Norway, short film, 2006, 10 min. Boulder Premiere. Directed by Charlotte Blom.
A wildly original and completely fresh mix of fiction film and documentary. Lina´s lusty longing for her lover receives an absurd and musical twist during an unexpected encounter in a coconut cake factory.
(Winner of The Nordic Short Film Award, DKK 50.000 Grand Prize.)
Conversing with Aotearoa
PROGRAM 13. Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, 4:30 p.m.,New Zealand, short animated film, 2006, 14 min. Boulder Premiere. Directed by Corrie Francis.
In an age of technological integration and urban life, people turn to the natural world for renewal. What draws us to wilderness when we realize something in our lives is missing? In this unforgettably beautiful animated documentary, New Zealanders of all backgrounds attempt to fathom their deep passion and love for the wild places...
The Job
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
USA, short film, 2007, 3 min.Directed by Jonathan Browning, appearing in person. Boulder Premiere
"The biggest cheer for all of the short films and features I've seen has gone to Jonathan Browning's "The Job," a three-minute film that plays role reversal, portraying what it might be like if white-collar workers were subjected to day-laborer treatment. Brilliant… " The Austin Chronicle,
The Life Penalty
PROGRAM 19, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Library, 6:30 p.m.
USA/Colorado, feature documentary, 2007, 74 min.
Directed by David Quint.Produced by Doug Bry,
How did a rebel public defender from Boulder, Colorado throw a monkey wrench into America’s ‘death machine”? Slip into a jurors seat as David Wymore and other nationally recognized criminal defense attorneys bring their fight against the death penalty to the front line – the courtroom. Casting a revelatory and often uncomfortable light on our judicial system, “The Life Penalty” shakes the ethical and moral foundations of capital punishment in the contemporary United States. David Quint, Doug Bry, former public defender Judy Lucero and CU law professor H. Patrick Furman in person.
The Monastery
PROGRAM 22. Sunday, February 17, Boulder Theater, 10 a.m
Denmark, feature documentary, 2006, 84 min.Directed by Pernille Rose Gronkjaer. Colorado Premiere
(Winner of the world's most prestigious documentary prize.. the Joris Ivens Award at the International Documentary Festival (IDFA) in Amsterdam)
An extraordinarily beautiful film shot in an other-worldly castle in the lush Danish countryside, "The Monastery" centers on the castle's current owner, Mr. Vig, a flinty 82-year-old lifelong bachelor who looks like a scary Dickens character, but has a great sense of humor, boundless ladder-chimbing agility, and is a whiz on the computer. But Mr.Vig's deliberately small world is turned upside-down when he decides to will his estate to the Church to be converted into a monastery. To set the conversion in motion, the Church sends a strong-willed cadre of nuns who spend their time praying, castle cleaning and averting their eyes from Vig's bohemian neighbor who lets the nuns share his crops (all except for the cannabis), The nuns are led by a certain Sister Amvrosija, a pragmatic, determined woman, and a five-year battle of wills ensues as Vig and the Nun negotiate and squabble, with often unexpected hilarity. Vig admits to being completely baffled by Sister Amvrosija, and his lifelong bachelorhood has clearly left him ill-prepared for negotiating effectively with members of the opposite sex, but he does eventually, and grudgingly, learn to do just that... That is the uncommon charm, intimacy and grace of this magical film.
PROGRAM 1, Valentine’s Opening Night Gala & Film
Thursday, February 14, 6:00 pm, Boulder Theater. Doors open 6:00 pm Appetizers & cocktails 6:00-8:00 pm
Music by The Hazel Miller Jazz Trio 6:00-8:00 pm Food by The Cheesecake Factory Film 8:00 pm
Then She Found Me,
USA, feature film, 2008, 100 min.
Special pre-release screening from ThinkFilm
Written by: Helen Hunt, Vic Levin and Alice Arlen from an original novel by Elinor Lipman
Starring: Academy Award winner Helen Hunt, Academy Award nominee Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick and Ben Shankman
Rating: “R” by the MPAA for language and some sexual content
“A smart, subtle and seriously funny dramedy bound to find favor with sophisticated audiences…” Variety
In her hilarious directorial debut, Helen Hunt plays April Epner, a New York school teacher in full mid-life crisis and desperate to have a baby. In quick succession, her lovable but boyishly immature husband of a few months, Ben (Matthew Broderick), dumps her, her adoptive mother dies, and her biological mother, Bernice (Bette Midler), a brassy, self-absorbed talk-show host, body-slams her way into April’s life and tries to establish a mother-daughter relationship using the same aggressive interview techniques that made her talk show successful. April finds solace in the arms of sweet-natured Frank (Colin Firth), the father of one of her students, but finds that many of the ever-changing mysteries of life can never really be solved. A labor of love by the deliberately deglamorized Hunt, this sweet film of vertiginous mood swings remains grounded with affectionate observations of human reality. This film recently opened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Feature.
The Replacement Child
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
USA, short student film, 2007, 25 min. Boulder Premiere.
Directed by Justin Lerner. Starring Travis Young. Justin Lerner and Travis Young in person
After spending a year in a juvenile center for beating up his stepfather, Todd Turnbull returns to his backwoods hometown a repentant, deeply religious boy. When he finds his best friend Michael withering away without any medical attention due to the family's spiritual beliefs, Todd must make a choice: let his friend die or break his oath of non-violence and take matters into his own hands.
The Singing Revolution
PROGRAM 30. Sunday, 3:15pm, Boulder High School
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 97 min. Colorado Premiere
Directed by Jim Tusty and Maureen Castle. Jim Tusty in person.
"Imagine the scene in 'Casablanca' in which the French patrons sing 'La Marseillaise' in defiance of the Germans, then multiply its power by a factor of thousands, and you've only begun to imagine the force of 'The Singing Revolution'." The NY Times
This is one of history's most thrilling stories...about how dozens of Estonian students in 1987 began gathering publicly and singing "forbidden" patriotic songs...about how those dozens became hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands, then HUNDREDS of thousands! Finally in 1991, without a political party or a political leader, the Singing Revolution ended the crushing 40-year-long Soviet occupation of Estonia without the loss of a single life. Tears seem to flow wherever this film is screened - the passion of the music, the magnificance of the chorales and the emotional roller coaster of this grand, operatic and potentially fatal game of "chicken" have sparked a visceral reaction in film-festival audiences throughout the world.
True North
PROGRAM 12. Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, 2:30 p.m.
Germany/UK/Ireland, feature film, 2006, 96 min. US Premiere
Directed by Steve Hudson.
(World Premiere at the Toronto Film Festival)
"...one of the decade's best films about fathers, sons and human struggle.
Morally resonant, deeply-felt drama... storm sequences of terrifying power" - Variety
A grim, whiskey-soaked Joseph-Conradian thriller about adventure and guilt on the high seas, this impressive feat of filmmaking...filmed on a real fishing trawler as it rolls and dips through battering North Sea storms... shows the cascade of ghastly, inintentioned choices people are sometimes forced to make when they temporarily abandon their true values, (True North.) First mate Sean's own moral compass is thrown askew when he accepts a huge amount of money to smuggle Chinese immigrants from Belgium to Scotland, in order to save his father's fishing trawler from repossession. He sneaks the Chinese into the hold of the ship without the knowledge of his father, a tough old sea dog called "the Skipper," who, instead of heading straight home, heads the boat far north into the North Sea to make one last catch. Below deck, conditions become unspeakable. This finely-balanced example of socially-engaged storytelling manages to find a well of sympathy for both perpetrator and victim in the vast world-wide tragedy of human trafficking.Presented in association with the Boulder Asian Film Festival and the Boulder Asian Pacific Alliance
Two Swimmers
PROGRAM 10, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, 10 a.m.
United Kingdom, short documentary, 2006, 24 min. Colorado Premiere
Directed by Steven Sander. Steven Sander in person.
Proving that documentaries are one of the most powerful mediums for telling a story, this famous film follows a young man, Tim Denyer, who, with the help of his coach, Mark Rickhuss, had overcome a debilitating back injury to not only walk again, but to accept one of the world's most difficult athletic challenges, swimming the English Channel. Showing the intense bond between coach and athlete and the extreme dedication necessary to achieve a goal, "Two Swimmers," shows what happened that day of Tim's Channel attempt, and the shocking events that follow.
War Dance
PROGRAM 6. Friday, 6:15pm, Boulder Theater
Uganda/USA, feature documentary, 2007, 105 min.
Directed by Andrea Nix and Sean Fine. Boulder Premiere
Ugandan activist Marcellina Otii and her family, along with other Ugandan members of
Team Africa, will join us for this Q & A.
(On the Academy Awards Short List for Best Documentary 2008)
"...a profoundly moving cinematic work of art...that elevates nonfiction filmmaking to its highest level:
Sundance Film Festival
Each child has a story to tell. Rose, 13, witnessed the brutality of her parents murder. Dominic, 14, is an escaped child soldier haunted by the two people he was forced to kill. Nancy, 14, struggles to keep her three baby siblings alive, all in the endless squalor of the 60,000-person Potongo Refugee camp in war-torn Uganda. But this year, they have something magical to look forward to.The Patongo Primary School has qualified to compete in the National Music Competiton in Kampala, and, although most have never left the camp, their dreams are filled with towering buildings, plentiful soda and all manner of unimaginable wonders. Children's voices are heard, singing strong, without fear; their feet stomp to the rhythms of their ancestors, they dance about their families, their homelands, their future, but most of all they dance to win. Over 20,000 schools will complete but only one will be champion, and no one expects it to be Patongo. Schools in refugee camps don't win awards...
(If you like traditional African music, you won't believe this soundtrack. Download it at http://wardancethemovie.com/)
Dalai Lama Renaissance
PROGRAM 5, Friday, February 15, Boulder Theater, 4:15 p.m.
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 80 min. Boulder Premiere.
Directed by Khashyar Darvich.. Khashyar Darvich in person
(narrated by Harrison Ford)
Fresh from sold-out screenings in film festivals throughout the world, this beautiful film tells the light-hearted story what happened when the Dalai Lama of Tibet invited 40 of the West’s leading, most innovative thinkers in their respective fields to his residence tucked away in the Himalayan mountains of Northern India to discuss the world’s problems and how we can solve them. What transpired was unexpected, powerful, funny and nearly disastrous, all captured by an 18 person, 5 camera film crew.
For these western “Synthesis” participants, it began with a chaotic and grueling journey through the spirited culture and colorful land of India, to Dharamsala, at the foothills of the Himalayas, where the Dalai Lama leads the exiled Tibetan People. Their immersiom into the clambering, crowded yet intimately friendly sights, smells, and sounds of the culture caused them to reflect on the different values of community, home, family, money, material possessions, and the idea that wealth is not about material wealth, it is truly about happiness and the love of people.
Death of Shula
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
Israel, short student film, 2007, 25 min. Boulder Premiere. Directed by Asaf Korman.
From Cannes. "25 minutes...That’s all it takes for one of the world’s next great filmmakers to announce himself."
An old man, Yossi, is mystified by the failure of his very busy family to show grief for their old, sick dog, Shula, who Yossi must put to sleep and bury by himself. Is he witnessing his own future? This beautiful, stunning film takes surprising cinematic risks as the director and his family members play themselves in a story based on reality.
Enemies of Happiness
PROGRAM 25. Sunday, 12:15pm, Boulder Public Library
Afghanistan/Denmark, feature documentary,2007, 59 min.Directed by Eva Mulvad
Co-presented by Present Tense Film Series www.presenttensefilms.com
(World Cinema Prize, Sundance)
Surviving 4 assasination attempts, 28 year-old National Assembly Delegate Malalai Joya embodies the courage to change the world and to stand in the forefront of battle. Malalai Joya conducts her parliamentary campaign in the remote desert province of Farah, the heart of poverty in Afghanistan.
To be a politician means that one’s office must function as a social security office and even a hospital. Among her visitors is a 100-year-old woman who treks two hours to offer loyalty and herbal medicine. King Solomon-style, Joya acts as folk mediator and advocate, adjudicating between a wife and her violent, drug-addicted husband and counseling a family forced to marry off their adolescent daughter to a much older man. The dust settles heavily in the sunlight. It is here where she negotiates with clan leaders and opium kings.
Protected by armed guards, Joya heads to poor rural areas to address crowds of women, pledging to be their voice and "expose the enemies of peace, women, and democracy." In the presence of her fierce tenacity, we can imagine the future of an enlightened nation.
Everybody Wants to Be Italian
PROGRAM 26. Sunday, 2:15pm, Boulder Public Library. USA, feature film, 2008, 100 min. Colorado Premiere
Directed by Jason Todd Ipson.
Soulmates are like fish, they’re everywhere. A lovelorn fishmonger who has spent
nearly a decade trying to win back his ex-girlfriend gets involved in a case of mistaken
ethnicity in this warm-hearted romantic comedy. It’s been eight years since
Jake’s girlfriend left him, and despite the fact that she’s now married with three
children he refuses to move on. Fed up with their depressive pal’s unwillingness to
let go of the past, Jake’s friends set him up on a blind date with a beautiful Italian
woman from Boston’s North End. Though Jake is convinced that such a woman
would never even consider dating a non-Italian, a quick crash course in how to fake
it may prove just the trick to helping him learn to love once again.
Forever, Never, Anywhere
Program 18, Saturday, 4:30 pm, Boulder Public Library
Austria, feature film, 2007, 89 min. Colorado Premiere. Directed by Antonin Svoboda.
This funny Jean-Paul-Sarte-meets-Stephen-King intellectual puzzle has been the hit of top film festivals from Rotterdam to Toronto. Let’s say you’re an accordian-playing hitchiker, you’re picked up by an archeologist and his drunk brother-in-law and, seconds later, the driver swerves off the road to avoid a beautiful jogger and the three of you plunge into a dense forest. The car’s reinforced doors automatically lock you in (think Christine), and the glass is bulletproof because the vehicle was formerly owned by Kurt Waldheim. Finally, after days of inane conversation with people you don’t even like (think No Exit), your savior comes in the form of a nerdy kid who, unfortunately, turns out to be a sadist. How do you get out of the car with just a piece of string?
Glass, Concrete & Stone
PROGRAM 22. Sunday, February 17, Boulder Theater, 10 a.m.
USA, short student documentary, 2007, 11 min. Colorado Premiere.
Directed by Doug Nicholas.
A short film about buildings.
Greensboro: Closer to the Truth
PROGRAM 16. Saturday, February 16, Boulder Library, 10:15 a.m.
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 83 min. Boulder Premiere. Directed by Adam Zucker.
On November 3, 1979, a heavily armed caravan of Klansmen and Nazis drove into Greensboro, North Carolina and confronted anti-Klan marchers. During the ensuing gunfire, captured on videotape by four TV crews, five anti-Klan marchers were killed and 10 others wounded. Despite overwhelming evidence, no one was ever convicted. The film portrays a number of the participants -- five of the survivors and two Klansmen -- who have been scarred by murdered spouses, physical injuries, public and judicial persecution, and shifting political realities over the past quarter century. In 2004-2006, the survivors converge as Greensboro mounts a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the hope of putting its demons to rest, similar to the highly successful T & R Commisions of South Africa and Chile. They investigate and listen to all sides of the event, the first time such a form of justice was utilized in the U.S. Filming the entire two years of the Commision's work, Adam Zucker ("A Boy's Life") produced this riveting documentary that lovingly chronicles the survivors’ reminiscences of this turbulent time in American history.
In the Name of the Son
PROGRAM 23, Short Films 2. Sunday, 12:00pm, Boulder Theater
USA, short student film, 2007, 25 min. Boulder Premiere. Directed by Harun Mehmedinovic.
Winner of American Film Institute Award, and awards at Telluride and Sarajevo.
After escaping execution, Tarik, a Bosnian prisoner of war, immigrates to the United States looking to leave his past behind. Years later, the man who spared his life shows up on Tarik's doorstep asking for a favor: he wants to die.
In Times of War: Ray Parker's Story
PROGRAM 25. Sunday, 12:15pm, Boulder Public Library
USA, short documentary, 2006, 29 min.
Directed by Mark and Christine Bonn. Mark and Christine Bonn in person
With passionate, funny, non-romanticized remembrances of World War ll and his 4 years in a German POW camp, outspoken 84-year-old former B24 Navigator, Ray Parker, tells it like it really was. He joined the war at 18 the day after Pearl Harbor because he "believed in the America that FDR had fashioned. He created the America that I felt loyal to." Life in a POW camp was a story of ingenuity more than anything else as we are treated to one anecdote after another about making lamps, newspapers, radios, and booze out of next to nothing. "I get very upset when Americans talk about cutting corners on the Geneva Convention, because I know what will happen to our men...If I had not been under the Geneva Convention, I would not be here today." Those were the times.
Iron Ladies of Liberia
PROGRAM 24. Sunday, 2:30pm, Boulder Theater
Liberia/USA/Colorado, feature documentary, 2007, 77 min. Boulder Premiere
Directed by Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott Johnson. Produced by Henry Ansbacher
Daniel Junge, Henry Ansbacher and members of the Liberian community in persons
(Big hit at the Toronto Film Festival)
How do you rebuild a country from zero after 14 brutal years of civil war? This film has one good answer—let women lead. With many of the men of the country missing or dead, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President of Liberia by an overwhelming majority of the country’s 1.3 million women voters, becoming the first woman ever elected head of state in Africa. But that was just the beginning. This funny, outspoken grandmother of six (with an MBA from Harvard) shook the country to its male dominated foundations by appointing women to its most powerful positions, all the while facing mortal danger, not the least of which was the constant threat that brutal dictator Charles Taylor might return. This unforgettable film puts us in the room with President Sirleaf as she and her “Iron Ladies” forge a democratic African revolution.
King Lines
PROGRAM 2, Friday, February 15, Boulder Theater, 10 a.m.
USA/Colorado, feature documentary, 2007, 60 min.
Directed by Peter Mortimer. Peter Mortimer in person
Chris Sharma, 25, is hailed as the world’s best rock climber, a pioneer who has mastered some of the most spectacular and difficult routes in the history of the sport. (He also falls a lot!) On a never-ending quest to find the world’s “biggest, most badass line," Sharma moves with the agility and grace of a ballet dancer as he rapidly makes his way up the world’s most outrageously difficult and beautiful rock climbing formations. Peter Mortimer’s extraordinary gift for storytelling makes Sharma’s humility come through—the way he battles anxiety before a difficult climb, the way he backs down from a problem pitch because he’s too scared, his infallible self-deprecating humor. These are the little touches that make a great film, one that you hate to see end.
Last Hat in Town
PROGRAM 8, Friday, February 15, Boulder Library, 4 p.m.
USA/Colorado, feature documentary, 2007, 76 min. Boulder Premiere.
Directed by Zachary Fink. Zachary Fink in person
This extraordinary film chronicles the transformation of the Rocky Mountains from wide-open ranch land to a patchwork of natural gas drilling sites. Three very unique men are struggling to find new ways to live in this changing landscape. We get to know and care about each of these characters, and, through their eyes, we begin to comprehend the vast social and environmental impacts to Colorado of the shift from ranching to drilling, and we see first hand, the loss of a way of life
Les Paul: Chasing Sound
PROGRAM 9, Friday, February 15, Boulder Library, 6:00 pm
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 86 min.
Directed by John Paulson. John Paulson in person
He is the Godfather of the electric guitar, the inventor of multi-track recording and overdubbing, and the architect of Rock ‘n’ Roll. His virtuosic playing, and the mythical Gibson electric guitar that bears his name, inspired legends of the rock ‘n’ roll revolution. Take a ride with this 92-year-old legend as he plays his standing Monday night gig at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City and tells his own rags-to-riches story, with special appearances or vintage duets with Steve Miller, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, Jimmy Paige, Bonnie Raitt, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, The Rolling Stones and Tony Bennett. This is one of the most important musical documentaries of our time, and it shows that a lifetime of rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll end up looking like Keith Richards.
Magnetic Squirrel in Dog Dazed
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
USA/Colorado, short animated film, 2007, 3 min. World Premiere.
Directed by Patrick Mallek. Patrick Mallek in person
Old-school Saturday morning cartoon fun! If you like your squirrel well done, then this cartoon’s for you.
Mr. Reaper's Really Bad Morning
PROGRAM 23, Short Films 2. Sunday, 12:00pm, Boulder Theater
Canada, short animated film, 2006, 17 min. Colorado Premiere.
Directed by Kevin D.A. Kuynik and Carol Beecher,
In the 21st century, Death, Mr. G. Reaper, has been reduced to your average 9 to 5 working stiff, eking out an ineffectual existence, reduced to a pale shade of his former glorious self. The film has him wake up, get ready for work, wait for a bus and suffer humiliation at the hands of Norman the Daisy. The film, with it's slapstick madness and frantic pacing, is in four parts and is structured loosely on Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
" Mr. Reaper's Really Bad Morning will have you stomping flowers long after its meager 17 minutes have dazzled your unsuspecting senses."
My Name is Ahmed Ahmed ( And I can't fly anywhere.)
PROGRAM 23, Short Films 2. Sunday, 12:00pm, Boulder Theater
USA, short documentary, 2006, 8 min. Colorado Premiere
Directed by Matthew Testa.Colorado Premiere
Such is the hilarious life of Ahmed Ahmed, a Egyptian-American stand-up comedian, who, in the tradition of great minority comics, mixes stinging truths with self-deprecating wit to charm even the toughest audiences. "In hate crimes, we're still fourth behind blacks, gays and Jews."Ahmed says,"I mean, what do we have to DO?"
No Room For Gerold
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
Germany, short animated film, 2006, 5 min. Colorado Premiere
Directed by Daniel Nocke.
(Voted Best Performance by Animated Character at the Platform Animation Festival)
After ten long years in the apartment, Gerold the crocodile is being thrown out. Is there a conspiracy against him? Does newcomer Ellen the wildebeest have something to do with it?
Row Hard, No Excuses
PROGRAM 17. Saturday, February 16, Boulder Library, Noon
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 88 min.Directed by Luke Wolbach, Boulder Premiere
Rower Tom Mailhot in person
(A big hit at Slamdance.)
In this great personal epic of endurance and wit, John Zeigler and Tom Mailhot, two slightly-past-prime adventurers enter a rowboat race across the Atlantic, an event that is as psychologically challenging as it is physically brutal.
Lacking a sponsor, they dig deep into their personal savings and build their own boat even though the event has no prize money. Unfortunately, like the heroes of "Moby Dick" and "The Old Man and the Sea," the duo allow their simple pursuit of a dream to morph into near-fanatic obsession. Careers, marriages and credit scores are all threatened in this test of the outer limits of human endurance during a mid-life crisis. But it's impossible not to be swept away by the terrible grandeur of the sea and the indomitable courage of our heroes as they bicker and squabble their way across the Atlantic into an uncertain future.
Running Down the Man
PROGRAM 2, Friday, February 15, Boulder Theater, 10 a.m. USA, short documentary, 2006, 18 min.
Directed by Travis Rummel and Ben Knight. Boulder Premiere. Travis Rummel and Ben Knight in person
When was the last time you saw a grown man sprinting down an empty beach in Mexico, waving a 9 foot fly rod, while in hot pursuit of a fish resembling Elizabeth Hurley? Join us as we explore the arcane pursuit of fly-fishing for Rooster fish from the beaches of Baja Sur, Mexico and the zealotry and commitment that it takes to successfully angle to them.
Shut-Eye Hotel
PROGRAM 11 – SHORTS PROGRAM 1, Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, Noon
USA, short animated film, 2007, 7 min.Directed by Bill Plympton. Colorado Premiere
Shut-Eye Hotel is a film-noir murder mystery that takes place in a sleazy hotel. As cops investigate the gruesome murders, they become victims of this evil force. What Jaws did for swimming, Shut-Eye Hotel will do for sleeping.
Son of Man
PROGRAM 3, Friday, February 15, Boulder Theater, Noon
South Africa, feature film, 2006, 86 min.
Directed by Mark Dornford-May. Colorado Premiere
Brief discussion to follow with Dr. Marie Ego, Sisters of Loretto, and other Biblical scholars
"One of the most extraordinary and powerful films at Sundance, this is the story of Jesus, told in episodes from the New Testament, but set in present-day Africa...(The film) sends an unmistakable message: if Jesus were alive today, he would be singled out as a dangerous political leader, just as he was the first time around." Roger Ebert
This story of Jesus is told as a gritty African fable with joyous, fullthroated South African music in beautiful landscapes strewn with impoverished shantytowns.Its adaptation to modern South African customs creates scenes that are unforgettable. Refreshingly free of doctrinal and fundamentalist bigotry, this film will be loved by Christian and non-Christian alike for its universal message of innocence, forgiveness, tolerance and joy.
Salim Baba
PROGRAM 23, Short Films 2. Sunday, 12:00pm, Boulder Theater
India/USA, short documentary film, 2007, 15 min. Boulder Premiere
Directed by Tim Sternberg.
Salim Muhammad is a 55-year-old businessman who lives with his wife and five children in the slums of North Calcutta, India. Since learning his craft at his father's side at the age of ten, he has made a living screening discarded movie trailers for the locals in the streets in his neighborhood using an 1897 hand-cranked projector mounted onto a portable theatre. He hopes his family will carry on his legacy.
Seeing Sally - A Psychic's Tale
PROGRAM 27. Sunday, 4:15pm, Boulder Public Library
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 87 min.
Directed by Peter Goodman. Peter Goodman in person
"...her unfeigned rapport with people make s believers of us all." World Premiere, 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Peter Goodman's charming film tells the unbelievable story of Sally Morgan, a feisty English mother who supports her big family with her strange ability to see and hear dead people. This funny documentary follows the ever-confidant Sally to the USA, where she tries to win media attention to find a larger audience for her services. Sometimes she gives us goose-bumps with her eerie accuracy, and sometimes she's just dead wrong...but all along the way, the bubbly Morgan reaches out to believers and skeptics alike, even the film crew. But the world-wide, multibillion-dollar psychic industry does have its joyless detractors however, and Sally meets her's head-on by consenting to a series of scientific tests conducted by a respected university researcher.. Will Sally be debunked...or go on to fame and fortune?
Southland Tales
Friday & Saturday, 7:00pm and 9:45pm, Muenzinger Auditorium on the CU campus (for location, please see:
internationalfilmseries.com/maps.shtml). Tickets on sale at the door only. Free for VIP Passholders
Presented by the International Film Series. Germany/USA/France, 2006, feature film, 160 min.
Special thanks to producer (and CU alum) Judd Payne for personally bringing the print to the International Film Series.
Directed by Richard Kelly
Director Richard Kelly is known best for his indie cult classic Donnie Darko. When this
film first hit theaters, viewers described it as “an acquired taste.” Later, it turned
into a cult sensation that resonates today with repeat screenings. In his latest film,
Southland Tales, Kelly returns to his roots of creating another messy and confrontational
black comedy, but this time the political and dystopian tropes have really hit a
nerve. Alternately described as “brilliant” or “flailing,” Southland Tales still made it
on some “top ten films of the year” lists and, we suspect, will ultimately become another cult gem.
Stranded: I’ve Come From a Plane That Crashed On The Mountain
PROGRAM 31. Sunday, 6:00pm, Boulder Theater
France, feature documentary, 2007, 113 min.Colorado Premiere
Directed by Gonzalo Arijon. Executive produced by Mark Silvera
"Sundance 2008’s most celebrated film..." - Indiewire. "a cinematic tour de force...the deftly wrought tale will have audiences eating out of its hand."- Variety.
For the first time ever, survivors of the famous 1974 Andes plane crash tell in their own words their harrowing story of one of the greatest of all tales of human survival. Director Gonzalo Arijon accompanies survivors and their children back to the mountaintop location, and, as their memories flood back, the men tell the details of their horrifying story...the crash-strewn bodies of their friends, the two and a half months of bitter cold and fading hope, the later avalanche that killed eight more of their teammates, their agonizing decision to consume the frozen remains of their friends to delay their own starvation. Arijon intercuts the survivor's reminiscences with electrifyingly dramatized flashbacks, recently discovered photographs, and an interview with the shepherd who first saw two of the survivors stumbling down the mountain..."They smelled of the grave." he says. Days after "Stranded" won the top prize at the International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam, the people and the press there were still talking about this film.Co-presented with the Boulder Adventure Film Festival. Antonio Vizintin, one of the survivors, will appear for audience Q & A
Sputnik Mania
PROGRAM 21, Saturday, February 16, Boulder High School, 1 p.m.
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 86 min.
Directed by David Hoffman, Colorado Premiere. David Hoffman in person
(Winner of 2007 International Documentary Association Award, Amsterdam)
To America, it was as great a shock as Pearl Harbor. To a paranoid country whose schoolchildren were already trained in surviving a nuclear attack, a country that had seen half of the planet taken over by Communism, a country that believed in the natural superiority of it's own technological abilities, the Russian Sputnik was a devasting, humiliating, threatening blow.Military leaders and congressional hawks like Lyndon Johnson slammed President Eisenhower and pushed hard for a program to put hydrogen bombs in space.Congress expanded the nuclear inventory from 1200 to 20,000 bombs, as tens of millions of Americans participated in a nationwide underground civil defense drill. Throughout 1958, as tensions increased, the U.S. and U.S.S.R. between them tested a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere every three days. Now, with the help of recently released documents from the former Soviet Union, the full story of how close we came to global nuclear war can be told for the first time.
But Sputnik also shocked the country into providing millions of new scholarships and jobs in science, technology and education, an unparalleled technological revolution whose far-reaching effects are still being felt today. Presented in association with Ball Aerospace and The Boulder Public Library Film Program
Taken
PROGRAM 23, Short Films 2. Sunday, 12:00pm, Boulder Theater
USA/Colorado, short film, 2007, 4 min. Boulder Premiere
Directed by Don Sniffen. Don Sniffen in person
When an old woman at the bank slips Joe a note saying she has been taken hostage, he must steel himself to find the courage to help. After a daring rescue he learns the truth about the victim who has been 'Taken'.
Tanghi Argentini (Tango Argentina)
PROGRAM 23, Short Films 2. Sunday, 12:00pm, Boulder Theater
Belgium, short film, 2006, 13 min.Directed by Guido Thys.
Qualified for 2008 Academy Awards.
Despite the faceless and cold atmosphere at his work place, an office clerk tries to make his colleagues happy. Instead of the cliche Christmas gifts, Andre goes to great lengths to give his colleagues something real and precious. Tanghi Argentini is a modern fairy tale.
Taxi to the Dark Side
PROGRAM 15. Saturday, February 16, Boulder Theater, 9:15 p.m.
USA, feature documentary, 2007, 106 min. Boulder Premiere.
Directed by Alex Gibney.
(On the Academy Awards Short List for Best Documentary 2008)
Oscar-nominee Alex Gibney ("Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room") presents a methodical, harrowing, in-depth look at the torture practices of the United States in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, using, as a springboard, the case of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver, (later found to be innocent) whose death was concluded through autopsy evidence, to have been caused by five days of sustained torture by US soldier-interrogators in a US prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. Dilawar joined 37 others who have been found by official autopsies to have died from systematic, deliberate injuries while in US prisons abroad. There could be countless others never reported.
"I thought we were supposed to be the good guys!" ...Through interviews with former Bush Administration officials, this shocking film shows how we became a nation whose government openly renounced the Geneva Conventions and officially sanctioned the use of torture for the first time in in our 220 year history. (It will be difficult for the Bush Administration to paint this film as far-left anti-war propaganda, because most of the people interviewed were either Republicans or in the US Armed Forces.) How importantly does the Bush Administration regard "Taxi To The Dark Side"? Just last week, the Motion Picture Association of America (reportedly under pressure from the Defense Department) BANNED the official poster for this film because it contains a small picture of two US soldiers leading a prisoner who has a gunny sack over his head. BIFF, of course, will display the "forbidden" poster (shown here) prominently in the lobby during the screening of the film.
The Beckoning Silence
PROGRAM 7, Friday, February 15, Boulder Theater, 9:30 p.m.
UK, feature documentary, 2007, 73 min. Colorado Premiere
Directed by Louise Osmond.
"It's an unbelievable tale by one of the great storytellers of our day. "Touching the Void" was one of the great climbing films ever made, and The Beckoning Silence is a stunning successor" Alpinist Film Festival
A heart-stopping film by mountain-climbing legend Joe Simpson – best known for "Touching the Void" in which he crawls five miles back to camp with a shattered leg after a horrifying thousand foot fall into a crevasse. This time Simpson recreates, on location, the cold, terror and horror of Toni Kurtz--a brilliant young mountaineer--who, with three other climbers, attempted the first climb of the North Face of Eiger in 1927. One by one, Kurtz's partners were killed, leaving him alone, dangling at the end o