2008 FESTIVAL PROGRAM
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Opening Night Shorts
Friday, May 2, 7:30pm
Borja Cobeaga, Spain, 11 min.
During an ordinary afternoon on the job, a gigolo walks into an apartment to find a client like none he’s ever met before. Simply and touchingly told, The First Time is a funny short film about experiencing new things.
Floris Kaayk, Netherlands, 8 min.
Metalosis Maligna documents a chronically debilitating disease where patients fitted with medical implants suffer from wild metallic growths. With spectacular visual effects and a documentary style, the film offers a frightening futuristic vision of technology overtaking humanity.
Shih-ting Hung, USA, 9 min.
Seven-year-old Viola packs a suitcase and climbs a floating staircase into the sky. She soon discovers that her journey will unite her past, present, and future into a fanciful adventure, part life and part dream.
Boris Schaarschmidt, USA, 15 min.
Walter is a peaceful college groundskeeper who loves nothing more than the grass that he lovingly nurtures on the football field. Insects and root-rot are the greatest issues on his mind until he realizes that his beloved lawn is threatened by a much larger danger that will force him to take drastic action or watch everything he’s worked for be destroyed.
Samuel Tourneux, France, 9 min.
It is a battle of wits when a priest attempts to sell a stingy old man a time machine that will take him to Heaven. Religious hypocrisy and the fear of death are front and center in this 2007 Academy Award Nominee for Best Animated Short.
Peter Ghesquiere, Belgium, 15 min.
When her husband is killed at the hands of a dictatorial regime, a woman tells her little boy that his father went on a trip to the moon. Set in a beautiful and surreal world, Moonglow is a stunning vision of hope and resilience under oppression.
Asier Altuna, Spain, 4 min.
One afternoon in the Spanish countryside a group of men gather to watch and wager on a fight between two rams. When one of the spectators becomes caught up in the spirit of the battle, an ironic scene unfolds.
Treasure
Melissa Bouwman, USA, 3 min.
When a little girl finds a treasure in her yard, her identity is magically transformed, but an unfortunate realization shortly thereafter threatens to bring reality crashing down and destroy her newfound state of whimsical happiness.
A.J. Bond, Canada, 14 min.
In Hirsute, a young scientist struggles with a formula that will become the greatest scientific breakthrough in human history, unless it drives him mad first. In the midst of his toil, he is visited by a person who forces him to question the wisdom of his task. Festival alumni A.J. Bond, producer of 2005 short Why the Anderson Children Didn’t Come to Dinner, returns to AVIFF with his directorial debut.
Jonas Geirnaert, Belgium, 11 min.
Four neighbors go about their lives doing innocuous little tasks. One hangs a painting while another does the laundry. They quickly realize however, how difficult it can be to remain a good neighbor.
A discussion with the filmmakers will follow the screening.
Join us for late-night pizza and short films at an after-party featuring the work of AVIFF alumnus Greg Benson at Nick’s Pizzeria, 43755 15th Street West, between Avenues J & K. Free admission with a festival pass or opening night ticket stub.
Filmmaker in Focus: Daniel Opitz
Saturday, May 3, 11:15am
AVIFF is proud to welcome back German filmmaker Daniel Opitz, director of the unforgettable documentary The Elephant Man which screened at the festival in 2004. Opitz returns this year to discuss a duo of documentaries about the lives in and near the waters around the Hawaiian island of Maui. Combined, The Ultimate Surf and The Humpback Code feature some of the most stunning ocean photography captured on film.
Ka Nalu Nui - The Ultimate Surf is an award-winning 2001 film about a group of oceanmen who brave "JAWS," the largest waves on the planet every winter off the Maui coast. The film records both the tremendous physical stunts of the surfers and their philosophies about chasing danger in paradise. (53 min.)
Opitz’s newest film, The Humpback Code (2008), sinks beneath the waters to explore the mating grounds of the humpback whale as it swims through the Hawaiian islands on its annual migration north. Focused on the unique song that all male humpbacks sing each year, the film explores both the mystery of the "singers" and the scientists who study them. (45 min.)
Daniel Opitz will be in conversation to discuss the art of capturing beautifully lyrical images in extreme environments.
Saturday Afternoon Shorts
Saturday, May 3, 2:00pm
Jose Mari Goenaga, Spain, 9 min.
Sitting at a toll line on a highway, a young man feels drawn to a strange woman waiting a few cars away. He has a split second to decide whether or not to communicate with her in this touching film about fleeting connections.
Suzie Templeton & Hugh Welchman, UK/Poland, 27 min.
In this modern spin on a classic children’s tale, Peter is placed in a poor, industrial wasteland, forbidden from playing in the forest by his overprotective grandfather. When Peter disobeys and ventures into the woods, trouble ensues in the form of a wolf. Prokofiev’s classic score serves as the sole narration for this stunning stop-motion film which won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Animated Short.
Ben Piety, USA, 14 min.
AVIFF alumni Ben Piety (Lonely Lights. Color of Lemons) returns with a visual mix tape highlighting the simultaneous holding on to and letting go of lost love. Cleverly manipulating point-of-view, the film catalogs the moments of a simple lazy morning where past, present, and future collide. Official Selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Corrie Francis, USA, 5 min.
In her most recent animated film, AVIFF alumni Corrie Francis (Tracks, 2004; Conversing with Aoteroa, 2007) explores the importance of public greenspaces for the past, present, and future of a society.
Shyam Balsé, India/USA, 21 min.
When Govinda, a young Indian-born doctor living in the US, reluctantly returns home to visit his sick father, he is plagued by a deep secret. While struggling to convince his father to accept the treatments of modern medicine, he realizes that his entire family is desperately in need of healing. Masterfully shot and executed, Monsoon explores the ties of blood and religion, as well as facing personal demons in an era in which people are increasingly loosing touch with their histories.
Nahomi Maki, USA, 4 min.
An alien creature casts its lure into the sky and waits for a catch that swims among the stars until it is driven into a mystical dreamworld by the power of the majestic, living moon.
Lie Detector
John Moran, USA, 15 min.
When Andrew -- a human lie detector who grows burning hot whenever he hears an untruth -- goes to work, he usually just succeeds in melting things and making people uncomfortable. However on the day he realizes that his best friend is about to become caught in the middle of a giant falsehood, he attempts to use his powers for something much larger.
A discussion with the filmmakers will follow the screening.
Documentary Spotlight: Operation Filmmaker
Saturday, May 3, 4:45pm
Nina Davenport, USA, 92 min.
When a young and charismatic film student, Muthana Mohmed, stands in the rubble of Baghdad’s film school and explains to an American audience that his dream of becoming a filmmaker has been destroyed – first by Saddam Hussein, then by American bombs, actor/director Liev Schreiber takes action and invites Muthana. to join the production of his new film Everything is Illuminated, shooting in Prague. What unfolds is a riveting and multi-layered documentary portrait of how American good will deteriorates into a cross-cultural endeavor gone awry. Even more complex is the increasingly entangled and codependent relationship between the documentary filmmaker and her subject. Full of unexpected twists and turns, Davenport has created an engaging parable that perfectly captures the follies of our times.
Nina Davenport will be in conversation following the screening.
Feature Spotlight: Walk the Talk
Saturday, May 3, 8:00pm
Matthew Allen, USA/Sweden, 105 min.
After accidentally shooting his older brother, self destructive teenager Roy is paroled into the care of his uncle Erik, a successful self help guru with a seemingly picture perfect life. However, Roy’s misanthropic instincts prove too much for Erik’s hyper-achieving household when the motivational exercises and workout routines that built the family’s fortune continue to fall short. With standout performances from 24’s Evan Ellingson and veteran actors Cary Elwes and Illeana Douglas, Matthew Allen’s smart and funny satire of the self help industry strikes just the right balance between bite and heart to offer audiences a hugely entertaining comedy as well as a moving story of connection and finding personal integrity.
Writer/Director Matthew Allen will be in conversation following the screening.
Join us for a private after-party following Walk the Talk, hosted by Black Angus (located across the Cinemark parking lot). Free admission with a festival pass or ticket stub.
Midnight Movie
Saturday, May 3, Midnight
György Pálfi, Hungary/Austria, 92 min.
One of the most audacious films in recent years, young Hungarian hotshot György Pálfi’s allegorical attack on his country’s successive governmental philosophies is a true feast for the eyes (if you have the stomach for it). It chronicles three generations of men in the same family, each beset by extreme obsessions: sex, gluttony, and taxidermy. Pálfi infuses a sense of jaw-dropping wonder as he explores his fascination with nature, immortality, and the body politic (pun intended). With the visual stylings of Terry Gilliam, the thematic preoccupations of David Cronenberg or David Lynch, and the subversive nature of fine art master Francisco Goya or Francis Bacon, Pálfi has created one of the most talked about films on the festival circuit since its international debut at Cannes. Taxidermia is a film to be reckoned with – literally.
Documentary Shorts
Sunday, May 4, 11:30am
Josh Raskin, Canada, 5 min.
In 1969 fourteen-year-old Jerry Levitan climbed through the window of John Lennon’s hotel room and persuaded him to participate in an interview. In I Met the Walrus, filmmaker Josh Raskin interprets the conversation between Lennon and Levitan into a lyrical animated film. 2007 Academy Award Nominee for Best Animated Short.
Brian Davis, USA, 20 min.
In the busiest coroner’s office in the world, three individuals work surrounded by death. As they reveal the skills of their trades, they also allow us into their internal worlds which are constantly negotiating the tension between dead bodies and the live people they used to be.
John Hawk, USA, 6 min.
Locally shot in the Antelope Valley, Nadaland examines the haunting images of desolate landscapes shaped by wind and sand and the occasional human structure. Strikingly shot, this meditative film makes familiar images unique and provocative.
Matthew Williams, USA, 22 min.
In 1997 Matthew Williams was an idealistic college graduate who wanted to make a difference by teaching inner city kids. Frustrated about the lack of funding and support for the video program he was struggling to create, he stopped teaching four years later. In 2007 Williams went back to the Bronx to find the children he had taught and learn about their lives as young adults.
Lauren Greenfield, USA, 32 min.
American documentary photographer Lauren Greenfield sets her sights on children in Los Angeles as young people from both the posh and poor sides of town share their feelings about money. At once shocking and funny for its frightening insights on kids and consumerism in America, the film offers a striking portrait of the materialistic culture we inhabit. Official Selection of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Jonas Odell, Sweden, 15 min.
In Never Like the First Time! four individuals recount the stories of their first sexual experiences. Director Jonas Odell employs a different animation technique to reveal the excitement, awkwardness, apprehension, and desire of each person’s story.
A discussion with the filmmakers will follow the screening.
Documentary Spotlight: Twisted
Sunday, May 4, 2:30pm
Naomi Greenfield and Sara Taksler, USA, 79 min.
This hilarious and heartwarming documentary explores how eight balloon twisters’ lives are dramatically transformed by a little piece of latex. With more than a few jaw-dropping balloon sculptures on offer, filmmakers (and self proclaimed balloon-twisters) Sara Taksler and Naomi Greenfield take us to Twist and Shout, America’s premier balloon twisting convention, where we meet an eclectic array of the world’s most accomplished twisters. More of a character study than a competition doc, Twisted invites us to understand how everyone from a five-time felon to a molecular biologist can become inspired by a flying octopus or a Trojan horse, made completely from balloons. It is a story about people who discover that once you can make a balloon dog, you can do anything.
Featured twister Vera Stalker will be in conversation following the screening.
International Spotlight: Ben X
Sunday, May 4, 5:00pm
Nic Balthazar, Belgium, 93 min.
Belgian writer/director Nic Balthazar adapts his own novel into a stunning debut feature about an introverted, autistic boy who retreats into the world of online gaming to escape the pressures of the outside world. Skillfully exploring themes of high school bullying, autism, and the influence of computer gaming on today’s youth, Balthazar blurs our ability to differentiate between reality and fantasy as we become increasingly anchored in Ben’s dark imagination. Despite the film’s impressive sense of technical style, the audience stays firmly rooted in its compelling and sympathetic central character. First a literary bestseller and then a hit play, the film has picked up grand prizes at festivals throughout the world.
Closing Night Shorts
Sunday, May 4, 7:30pm
Susan Metzger, USA, 14 min.
Struggling to distinguish herself in the male-dominated flavor laboratories of Red Ace Cola, Dr. Elizabeth McCovovich ignores the paperwork assigned to keep her out of the way and sneaks into the lab to conduct secret taste tests. Beautifully designed and shot, The Red Ace Cola Project, pays eloquent homage to the women who have struggled to make breakthroughs in business, art, and science.
Jean-Bernard Marlin & Benoit Rambourg, France, 14 min.
When a twelve year old boy is consumed by displaced rage and the desire to impress his ex-con father, he solicits his friends to kill another boy from his neighborhood. Tremendously written and acted, Thick-Skinned is an intensely real portrait of children struggling to cope with and emulate violence in the adult world.
Arjun Rihan, USA, 3 min.
In this fanciful animated film by Arjun Rihan, the two towers of the famous Golden Gate Bridge come to life as lovers who are destined to be together and yet are forever held apart by the bridge they support between them.
Albert Jan van Rees & Diederik Ebbinge, Holland, 7 min.
When 8-year-old Eric visits a public sauna for the first time with his mother, he is amazed at what he sees. Naked offers a unique spin on childhood point-of-view as we witness his enchantment and fascination with the human body.
Eli Akira Kaufman, USA, 21 min.
When a charismatic mattress salesman meets a young insomniac who suffers from backaches and loneliness, he attempts to push her to change both her lumpy futon and her secluded, static life. Eli Akira Kaufman, director of past festival favorites Winning the Peace (2006) and Unzipped (2007), returns to AVIFF with his newest film.
Ben Shalom, USA, 2 min.
Animator Ben Shalom creates a world in which both machines and the human form are manipulated and transformed in a beautiful and unsettling vision of creation and metamorphosis.
Monika Lind, USA, 13 min.
When the headmaster’s daughter becomes the only girl in an all boy’s school, jokes, insults, and eventually fists are destined to fly. The Only Girl is a fresh and funny take on teen romance.
Yusuke Murakami, Japan/USA, 6 min.
While fishing off a secluded pier, a man pulls in an expensive and possibly dangerous catch. Onnazuri is a clever and funny meditation on many of the interactions between people in modern society.
Preston DeFrancis, USA, 17 min.
When Bryce, who does everything big, decides to propose to his girlfriend, he enlists the help of his three closest friends to make the night his biggest production ever. When the ring goes missing right before he pops the big question however, he must piece together the mystery from the wildly different versions each person tells.
A discussion with the filmmakers will follow the screening.
