2009 Official Film Selections
Learn more about the 2009 Official Film Selections for the Eugene International Film Festival and the winners of that year.
Winners
Best Narrative Feature
The Waiting List
Producer: John Vogel
Director: Mike Vogel
Writer: Mike Vogel
Best Feature Comedy
All’s Faire in Love
Producers: Michael Mendelsohn, Randy Mendelsohn, Scott Reed, Ron Singer
Director: Scott Marshall
Writers: Jeffery Wine, R.A. White
Best Overall Production Excellence
The Inner Circle
Producer: Joe Dain
Director: Camille Poisson
Writer: Camille Poisson
Best Feature Documentary
Tapped
Producers: Sarah Gibson, Stephanie Soechtig
Directors: Stephanie Soechtig, Jason Lindsey
Writers: Josh David, Jason Lindsey, Stephanie Soechtig
Best Art Feature
Mitsein
Producer: Aparna Malladi
Director: Aparna Malladi
Writer: Aparna Malladi
Best Foreign Feature
Inner Calm
Producer: Christine Yun Yee Cheung
Director: Becky Preston
Writer: Becky Preston
Most Socially Engaging Feature
The Providence Effect
Producers: Rollin Binzer, Tom Hurvis
Director: Rollin Binzer
Best Family Issue Feature
One Peace At A Time
Producer: Christy Ellinger Pipkin
Director: Turk Pipkin
Writer: Turk Pipkin
Best Feature by a Pacific Northwest Filmmaker
Politics of Sand
Producer: Thomas Olsen Jr.
Director: Thomas Olsen Jr.
Writer: Kathy Straton
Best Horror/Sci-Fi Feature Unremembered
Producer: Shane Latimer
Director: Greg Kerr
Writer: Greg Kerr
Best Short Narrative
Adina’s Deck, The Case of the Online Crush
Producers: Debbie Heimowitz, Jason Azicri
Directors: Debbie Heimowitz, Jason Azicri
Writers: Debbie Heimowitz, Jason Azicri
Best Short Documentary
Hot Wind: America’s Fallout Casualities
Producer: Kirsten Alaqidy
Director: Kirsten Alaqidy
Most Socially Engaging Short
$100 a Day
Producers: Gwen Essegian, Mark Ligon
Writer: Gwen Essegian
Best Comedy Short
The Optician
Producers: Christopher Billows, Jane McGee
Director: Jane McGee
Writers: Christopher Billows, Jane McGee
Best Short by a Pacific Northwest Filmmaker
Ascending the Giants
Producer: John Waller
Director: John Waller
Writer: John Waller
Best Art/Experimental Short
Magritte Moment
Producer: Ian Fischer
Director: Ian Fischer
Writer: Ian Fischer
Best Animation Short
Gerald’s Last Day
Producer: Shel Rasch
Directors: Justin Rasch, Shel Rasch
Writer: Justin Rasch
Best Horror/Sci-Fi Short
Chains
Producer: Sharon Lewis
Director: Sharon Lewis
Writer: Sharon Lewis
Best Short Short Narrative
My Dearest Love
Producer: Marc Wiskemann
Director: Marc Wiskemann
Writer: Marc Wiskemann
Best Short Short Comedy
The Devil’s Matchmaker
Producer: Jonathan Bowen
Director: Jonathan Bowen
Writer: Jonathan Bowen
Best Short Short Animation
Sebastian’s Voodoo
Producer: Joaquin Baldwin
Director: Joaquin Baldwin
Writer: Joaquin Baldwin
Most Original
My Homework Ate My Dog
Producer: Kenhalo Bernet-Millan
Director: Crystal Page
Writer: Derek Rethwisch
Most Memorable
Moonlight
Producer: Jeremiah Birnbaum
Director: Celik Kayalar
Writer(s): Celik Kayalar
Best Cinematography
The Swing
Producer: John Versical
Director: John Versical
Writers: Bryan Camody, John Versical
Biggest Bang for the Buck
Rimshot
Producers: Kevin King, Tony Rago
Directors: Kirk Diedrich
Writers: Kevin King, Tony Rago, Kirk Diedrigh (co-writer)
Cut to the Chase
The Important Things
Producer: Andrew McCormick
Director: William M. Akers
Writers: Mark Cabus, William M. Akers
Board Choice Award
3 Days Blind
Producer: Chris Keith
Director: Clete Keith
Writer: Clete Keith
Board Choice Award
Autism: Made in the USA
Producers: Manette Loudon, Gary Null
Directors: Manette Loudon, Gary Null
2009 Selections
3 Days Blind
The Keith Brothers (Chris and Clete, sons of actor Byron Keith) produced and directed this comedy about a dysfunctional family gathering at their father’s Beverly Hills estate to celebrate his 75th birthday. Vividly funny and filled with humorous digressions like blow-up dolls, an eBay addiction, and a sneaky, silent gardener, this indie production bounces along with the spit-fire dialogue, outright looniness, and memorable characters rarely found in mainstream Hollywood productions.
$100 A Day
In 1991, Rick Walker was convicted for a murder he did not commit. After 12 years in some of California’s most dangerous prisons, he was exonerated, and entitled to $100 for each day of false imprisonment. That started a whole new battle: becoming a political pawn in the fight over California’s budget. This engaging story, about one man’s struggle for justice in the current era of bitter partisanship, examines the ideal, the hope, that our elected officials can transcend their narrow perspectives and be inspired to do the right thing.
A Christmas Tale
“South Park” meets the Yuletide season as eight-year old Leroy has just seen the girl next door and is in love! Now, what does a quick witted eight year old with no money and no help from family get a girl for Christmas?
Abandoned
When a young single mother loses her job and can’t pay the rent, she constantly ducks her landlord. Increasingly anxious and afraid as the landlord threatens to evict her, she is forced into one, last desperate act.
Adina’s Deck: The Case of the Online Crush
The growing problem of cyber-infatuation gets an exciting mystery story treatment. A bunch of tech-savvy kids discover how young Ally’s on-line “boyfriend” isn’t as romantic as he seems as they use their skills to find out who he really is.
All’s Faire In Love
Set in a modern day Renaissance Fair, “All’s Faire in Love” is about a dysfunctional group of renaissance fair enthusiasts in Elizabethan dress-up, dishing out all the kooky trickery and deceit the royals, peasants, and witches can throw at an audience.
Director Scott Marshall, son of comedy king Gary Marshall and nephew of Penny Marshall, has a funny bone going back to the days of “Laverne and Shirley,” “Happy Days,” and movies like “Pretty Woman” and “Beaches.”
Ascending the Giants
Following the demise of the Klootchy Creek Spruce, an Oregon landmark, Portland arborists Will Koomjian and Brian French set forth on a journey to locate a new Oregon State Sitka Spruce champion. As they visit several giant contenders along the windswept Oregon coast, both arborists reveal their motives run deeper than collecting data and naming a new champion. This documentary short features great cinematography of the awesome beauty of these big trees.
Autism: Made in the USA
Autism is a major growing health problem in America and there are many theories as to why. This feature length documentary examines what autism is, peels away many misconceptions, and shows how concerned parents and health care providers can finally take some solace in finding effective treatments for this debilitating childhood disease.
The Beneficiary
Three lives are tragically altered when an ordinary event ignites a chain reaction of paranoia and murder. Devious characters, a jigsaw puzzle plot, and strong writing, acting and directing add up to that rare short that delivers high on the fright and nerve-racking meter.
Brake, Breaking, Broken.
First time writer/director Will Dages out of Kent, Ohio gives us a memorable short about love at first sight-a couple in love that have to decide between doing what they want and what’s right. Add in a third party, who is unknowingly keeping them apart, and this film becomes a moving journey about loving someone you cannot be with.
Chains
Canadian actress Sharon Lewis (“Degrassi: The Next Generation”) gets behind the camera to direct this moving, atmospheric, Sci-Fi short. The Aretians, who survive underground on dumped waste, are experts in recycling and re-using rubbish. Sunlight and clean water are scarce. But the artist Chain, along with her lover Fric, decide to buck the accepted doctrine of functionality and grow something completely useless…a beautiful Gerbera daisy. Charged with the crime of “wasting” water, the jury sentences them to take turns shooting themselves until one dies. But before Fric will fire the gun at himself he demands to see the flower. The Artisan people begin to demand it as well, and they are shown the first flower they have ever seen. A riveting story.
The Component
A mysterious salesman arrives at the doorstep of an Inventor and his wife and offers them an important component that will change their lives, or not.
Crossroads On The Columbia: Oregon Confronts America’s Energy Future
This insightful documentary is a chronicle of how a community responds to out-of-state energy speculators who wish to build LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) terminals in the Columbia River Estuary near Astoria, Oregon. Grass roots activism, salmon recovery, native perspectives and cultural issues make this a moving story of America at the crossroads of sustainable energy or reliance on foreign fossil fuel.
The Devil’s Matchmaker
Loner, slacker, and all-round flop with the ladies, Alexander is a matchmaker who gets people together based on their fun and funny last name combinations – like Hanus-Deeds or Harrie-Privates. And when it works, as it often does, he gets to keep the humorous wedding announcements as trophies.
Diamond
The emotional strain of trying to steer a dysfunctional family in the right direction is explored in “Diamond.” Eleven year old Diamond tries to connect with his father, who is in jail. His grandmother arrives to take care of him, but she thinks the father is nothing but poison for the child. Diamond grows more and more desperate to see his Dad.
È Finita la Commedia
In a parked car in a residential neighborhood, father and son discuss love, sex, mother and death. Oh, did they mention mother? It’s “an atypical connivance, a fissional relationship” and above all it’s great dialogue in a mystery about what these two are about to undertake.
Family History
This animated painting explores the quixotic nature of memory where the emotional space between motherhood and daughterhood intersect. We watch as the painting repeatedly layers new images on top of the old with expressive brushwork – a metaphor for the way we bring to each life experience the sum of all the previous ones.
Gaining Ground (Land Gewinnen)
A young illegal immigrant couple spends their time furtively avoiding the German authorities. When they have to enroll their young son in school, they are likely to be exposed and maybe deported. Their sleazy landlord has comes up with a plan to help them. Winner of several independent short film awards.
Gerald’s Last Day
Gerald the dog has been scheduled for termination by the pound at 5:00 – but he’s full of hope, putting on an expressive face as each person walks by his cage, imagining what it would be like to be their ideal pet. Winner of the Best Animation Prize of the 2009 International Family Film Festival.
The Ghost-Eye Tree
Take a journey with two children through the woods of a magical town where they encounter the haunted tree known as The Ghost-Eye Tree. Experience the wonder of their imaginations as they embark on an adventure they will never forget. Produced and crewed entirely from students and alumni of Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY.
Gideon the Great: The Flying Ace
This pilot is a short for an actual show in development. Animated in bright colors and original textures, we enter the mind of a young boy, Gideon, as he takes us on a fun and adventurous ride through the sky battling the Red Barron.
GoalBall
Goalball is a sport that was created for blinded war veterans in the 1940s, now played by visually impaired teens in schools for the blind. This documentary tells the story of three visually impaired teens who play at the Oregon School for the Blind. Led by their coach Eric Paterson, each relishes the opportunity to play the sport and each learns important life lessons.
Gushng
Two young brothers, Shannon and Webber, struggle to support each other in the face of their parents’ divorce. Webber is getting into more and more trouble at school and Shannon feels lost trying to figure things out. Both feel powerless when they discover Webber’s first-grade teacher is a factor in the divorce.
H for Hunger
“H for Hunger” will catch you off guard for its passion and clarity. Don’t miss this raging perspective on the despicable loss of life around the world due to ineptitude, greed and apathy. Your next meal will be a punctuation mark in your understanding of world hunger.
“H for Hunger” was originally released as a French language film with its North American Premiere taking place at the Eugene International Film Festival in 2007. Following the success of the film in Europe it has been re-released as an English language film.
Hanging Plant
The plant guy gets curious about a couple’s inverse machine while they are away on vacation. He gets stuck upside down, waiting for their return. And when they do – well that’s when the fun really begins.
Hay Daze
Some light-hearted fun on the harvest celebration in central Montana showing how the farmers extend their imaginations to create eye-popping hay-bale sculptures.
Health, Money and Fear
This timely documentary about health care isn’t what you expect. It doesn’t bore you with talking-head policy wonks, but is visual, clear, and logical; it’s a movie that informs as it entertains.
Made in Portland by an ER doctor, we get the frontline perspective of one who deals with health care everyday, and knows full well the bottom line of how we spend more money and get less care than any developed country.
But this film also goes beneath policy issues to explore the basic emotion health care brings to the fore: fear: fear of liability, fear of not having enough, and the fear of death.
Hot Wind: America’s Fallout Casualties
Between 1951 and 1991, the United States Atomic Energy Commission detonated 928 nuclear warheads on and under the Nevada desert. In southern Utah, generations of down winders have suffered from radiation-induced illnesses.
“Hot Wind” portrays the personal stories of suffering in the patriotic Mormon community of Parowan. They not only have to deal with the physical consequences of radiation poisoning but the psychological trauma of having been betrayed by the United States government as well.
The Important Things
Director William Akers creates the reality you expect in an exceptional narrative short and turns it upside down. Protagonist Peter Hollister, a documentary filmmaker, takes his camera with him to visit the people in his life – his father in the hospital, his old lover in Paris, an ex-wife, a best friend who’s dying, and more- provocative things happen.
His burning desire to confront his failings is met with anger by his sister, bewilderment by his composer, and a general unforgiving irritation. Confessing to his wife that he has something to tell her, she is enraged, thinking he’s been cheating.
When he says he has incurable cancer, she falls apart. This moving narrative shows how nothing is what it seems when it comes to what matters most in life. You may even leave the theater believing that this narrative is a documentary. This is short filmmaking at its best.
Infection
Don’t Breathe. Don’t Stop Running. Don’t Trust Anyone. The barriers between earth and hell are crumbling a biological Armageddon is coming, infecting anything and everything.
Inner Calm
Would you cross the boundaries of eternity for the one you love? The latest production from British writer/director Becky Preston asks: if you lost a loved one and could move into the afterlife to find them, would you risk playing with Death to accomplish your goal? It’s not fair to reveal more, but the combination of fantasy and romance makes for a moving film.
The Inner Circle
A compelling coming-of-age story inspired by true events, about five free-spirited teenage girls who are drawn together against the backdrop of a New England Catholic boarding school in 1964. When a secret is uncovered that threatens to disrupt the school’s strict rules of conduct and silence, the girls question their own beliefs and bond together to challenge authority, and each other.
Irene in Time
Celebrated Hollywood director Henry Jaglom will entertain EIFF fans with a winning drama-comedy about father-daughter relationships and how they influence the choices women make about the men in their lives. Like his most famous film, “Eating” (1990), about women with eating disorders, “Irene in Time” offers an insightful reach into the female psyche, for he directs by challenging the actors to use their real personalities as a guide in shaping characters and plot.
Jim Thorpe, The World’s Greatest Athlete
This documentary about the life and times of the American Indian from Oklahoma, lauded as the greatest athlete of the 20th century, hero of the 1912 Olympics, and an early pro-football star, is a marvelous historical presentation. Jim Thorpe was more than a sports legend. He became a tireless advocate of Indian rights, urging Native Americans to take destiny into their own hands, railing against the paternalistic policies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs – whose unofficial motto was “To save the man you must kill the Indian.”
The Labrorers
Sometimes a man has to do his honey-do-list…or does he? Steve wants to spend his Saturday watching sports, but his wife has a honey-do-list with a time limit. He finds his own way.
Living to Dream
The issues facing undocumented college students are explored in this documentary short. The film focuses on Andrea, a junior at Loyola Marymount University, and her struggles to achieve a higher education and fit in amongst the college crowd. Immigration experts, family, and friends discuss Andrea and the many difficulties facing undocumented youth today in America.
Magritte Moment
EIFF is pleased to have the Oregon Premiere of “Magritte Moment,” a surreal, existential, and stimulating visual observation about a painter searching for his muse. Made by Columbia University Film School graduate Ian Fischer, it stars Tom Noonan (What Happened Was, Manhunter) and Mizuo Peck (Night at the Museum).
Memorize-You-Saw-It
The twenty-year civil war in Uganda isknown for its brutal guerrilla warfare and the commonuse of child soldiers. When film student Jon Betz stayed in a Ugandan orphanage, using his camera to document the war through the children’s eyes, he found them willing to talk about the impact of being a child soldier, of the effects of constant violence and abuse, and what it’s like for a generation of young people to know nothing but war. He also examines the complicated and mixed results of humanitarian aid. The orphaned children are clearly touched by Jon and express their dreams as to how his film will help once it’s shown in America.
Mitsein
A young woman sees her image in a painting at a gallery and goes on an existential journey looking for the artist who created her and so seeks to recreate herself. Wonderful production values.
Moonlight Sonata
Can we escape the consequences of our moral choices? Are our sins ever forgotten or live on in our repressed memories? This psychological thriller about an affluent San Francisco family headed toward destruction is a gripping, modern day film noir.
My Dearest Love
This stunningly photographed short shows love transcending culture, family, and tradition, all through the pain and longing of a beautiful Indian woman’s face as she is about to marry.A highlight among the EIFF short films.
My Homework Ate My Dog
In an education system over dependent on standardized tests, Lyle Licketti is just the rebel to rage against the system. He lies constantly, puts off homework, and can convince his classmates that his lies are true.
Then his homework comes to life and he must persuade his disbelieving class to flee before the homework monster consumes them, like it did his dog. One thing stands in the way, his logical third grade teacher…Mrs. Cee.
This vibrant blend of live action and animation from the USC Film Production Studio is a movie parents and children will not only enjoy but will talk about long after leaving the theater.
The Nature of Existence
All the Mysteries of the Universe -Explained! Sortof… This is a worldwide quest that tackles manyprevailing questions about philosophies, religionsand belief systems.
Filmmaker Roger Nygard interviews spiritual leaders, scholars, scientists, artists, buffoons, and others that have pontificated on behalf of God or freakedout humanity.Why are we here and what are we supposedto do about it? What started the Universe, and wasit a mistake? Does God exist, and why does he seem so interested in our sex lives?
New Project, By Any Other Name
A compelling psychological thriller. The story, set off by a coincidental chain of events, shows two people weaving through their respective journeys of deceit and revenge. The tapestry they weave is dark and coarse.
Nightgardener
The life of a garden after dark: Balinese dancers sway on the petals of clematis flowers, Russian singers perform in a calla lily. In The Nightgardener disparate images that capture an idea about the humanity of the world play on floral screens.
One Peace At A Time
The film follows director Turk Pipkin’s (“The Sopranos,” “Friday Night Lights”) five-continent, two-year search for an answer to one basic question: Can we provide basic rights – water, nutrition, education, healthcare and a sustainable and peaceful environment – to every child on earth?
He informatively seeks out the experts. With music from the likes of Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, Pipkin chronicles Indian orphanages of the Miracle Foundation, Ethiopian water projects, family planning agencies in Thailand, and the Architecture for Humanity global design challenges for the Himalayas, the Amazon and the slums of Nairobi. The documentary challenges individual, businesses, and foundations to see what they can do to improve the world.
The Optician
When love at first sight needs a second chance…magic glasses might help. And funny things happen. Overly shy optometrist John is in love with his shop assistant, Barbara, but too scared to ask her out.
When John finds a pair of glasses that allow him to see 10 seconds into the future they’ll surely help him win Barbara’s heart. But the more John uses the glasses to predict the future the more they mislead him, and things begin to go awry.
Out Here in the Fields: Quail Hill Farm
Quail Hill is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm located in Amagansett, New York. The farm has over 200 member families, with 30 acres of land in production. This prime, resort area land is part of a 192 acres Peconic Land Trust donated by Deborah Ann Light in 1995. The inspirational story of this donation and the success of the farm is vividly shown and told through the voices of Ms. Light, Scott Chaskey (manager/farmer). Beautifully photographed by Alec Hirschfeld.
Parables, The Cafeteria
When Caroline notices a troubled student sitting by herself in the school cafeteria, she is faced with a difficult choice of whether or not to reach out to the girl and risk being ostracized by her group of friends. Her decision, however, has consequences she never could have imagined. The Cafeteria is a modern day retelling of the parable of the Lost Sheep.
The Perfect Cappuccino
Filmmaker Amy Ferraris, searches the coffee shops of America for a cup of cappuccino equal of those she’s tasted in Italy. This simple idea is a pretext for a highly entertaining and surprisingly complex exploration of how Starbucks’ mass marketing overwhelms independent coffee makers offering a much better product.
Politics of Sand
The story of Oregon’s beaches has a long and storied history. This historical and timely documentary focuses on the efforts to keep the Oregon coast accessible to the public, beginning with Governor Oswald West’s 1913 struggle to pass his landmark legislation. Featuring interviews with many of the living key players as well as voices from the past-“Politics of Sand” provides testimony to the fruits of citizen action.
The Providence Effect
When President-to-be Barack Obama visited Providence St. Mel School in inner city Chicago he was following in the footsteps of President Regan who had visited twenty years earlier. For almost 30 years now this celebrated, all-black parochial school has had a 100% success rate of getting its graduates accepted to college.
Paul J. Adams is the man behind the story – a diehard idealist and fundraiser who shaped Providence into a non-profit independent school. And this fascinating documentary not only chronicles his story, but interviews graduates, who explain how the school changed their inner city lives. It also takes you into the classroom to see how teachers are supported in teaching, and how dedicated and proud they are to be working at a first rank college preparatory school.
Reach
A tiny robot is given the gift of life with only one limitation, the length of his power cable. When a curious bird appears at the workshop window, his lust to live outside of his reach may be his demise.
Redemption Stone: The Life and Times of Tom Lewis
Tom Lewis, born into a poor family of sixteen children in a small Southern town, navigates his way through the world as a migrant worker, a factory laborer, a soldier, and finally a riot cop on the mean streets of Washington, D.C. An African-American storyteller of quiet power, Tom’s life takes a final twist when he buys a burned out old house in the roughest D.C. neighborhood and opens up a place called The Fishing School. It’s here that Tom’s extraordinary life spirit turns hardship into hope for the children of his community.
Return to Tarawa: The Leon Cooper Story
Leon Cooper, a World War II combat veteran returns to Tarawa where he was a participant during the War in the Pacific. Here, many American soldiers still lie forgotten 65 years after the battle and the US government has done nothing to repatriate their remains.
To add insult to injury, live ammunition– America’s – is still scattered everywhere on this tiny, densely populated island. And on the hallowed ground of Red Beach, where hundreds of Americans were killed by Japanese gunfire, piles of garbage cover the battleground. Ed Harris narrates. Leon Cooper will be attending the festival.
Rimshot
Rimshot is the story of a doctor who buried his true dream, and finds the key to unlock it inthe most unlikely of places. Part magical realism, part dark comedy, Rimshot proves sometimes in life you’re the punch line and sometimes you’re the joke.
Rose
Carter is getting ready for a planned engagement, best friend Jeff pressures him to blow it off. Blow off his engagement! What guy hasn’t heard that! Filmed in Beaverton, Portland, and other Oregon locations,”Rose” has fun pumping up the “guy-fear” about getting married.
Scion
A moody and provoking short of a lonely being struggling to escape an insulated existence and search for companionship.
Scrimshander
A friendship blossoms between an inquisitive young boy and a solitary bone carver. But, the old man’s mysterious past catches up with him, resulting in terribleconsequences.
Sebastian’s Voodoo
This is a stunning 3D animated short from the UCLA Animation Workshop. The story is simple: A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death. Winner of over 45 awards including Festival de Cannes Short Film Corner (09); Audience Choice, Ashland International Film Festival (09); Best Animated Film, Indie Fest(09); Best Animation, Student Film Marin County Festival of Short Film and Video(’09), and many more.
Severing the Soul
Recently found footage interweaves an account of Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy procedure in 1941 with an overview of the psychosurgery movement of the 1930’s through the 1960’s in the US.
Signs of Life
Do you believe in extraterrestrial intelligence? Christopher is a robot created to search the galaxy for intelligent life. But he’s become attached to his creator, Jeanne, and doesn’t want to leave Earth. She has to decide which is more important: Chris or the mission.
Skylight
EIFF presents a first: an animated mockumentary. About the ecological plight of penguins in the Antartic, it’s a simply hilarious computer graphics short.
Small Comforts
This is a heartfelt drama about a young girl, Moira, who accepts her new family arrangement.Through a personal commitment she creates the comforts of home.
The Soul Snatcher
A Catholic zealot from the 17th Century is granted eternal life in exchange for taking the Souls of Non-Believers. Made in Eugene.
Sounds Good to Me
It’s no fluke that college a cappella groups are putting on some of the most fun concerts and making some of the best music across the nation. Their popularity grows every year.
In this enjoyable documentary we follow several college a cappella groups from auditions, to rehearsals, to internal auditions, to performances for their college fans to an international competition that culminates at Lincoln Center in New York City. Covering a year in the life of several groups, we see how they’re formed and work hard to make flat out ‘fun’ music together.
Included, among others, are: Non-Sequitur, from Columbia University; The Dear Abbeys, from Boston University; and Milk&Cookies from Mt. Holyoke. The Hult Center and U of O are featured as well.
Stalk Much
Can stalking be funny? You bet. After a crushing breakup, Michael works through the five stages of grief with the help of psychologist Dr. Lieber. Things are great – until his sister reveals shocking news that hurtles Michael towards a final confrontation – and a new true love. Well, kind of, sort of. Maybe?
Stealing Second
A fumbling romance between college students Sean and Kelly sparks this fun “guy-talk” short. Made by Eugene native Alex Richanbach and featured on the Glamour magazine website and on Will Ferrell’s FunnyOrDie.com, EIFF is happy to provide audiences this big-screen showing. An insightful comedy about connecting with the opposite sex.
The Swing
Jacob King suffers through many sleep deprived nights, drinking, trying his best to ignore a family and past that have fallen apart around him… Then there’s that noisy swing in the yard. Laughter from the yard grows louder and more intense at night, more realistic. The dreams grow more vivid and the flashbacks more revealing of the events that occurred the night his wife and daughter left for good. An appealing drama.
Tah-Dah
Canadian animator Stacey Chomiak gives us hand-drawn Bentley the Bug, a sophisticated gentlemanly sort, who makes music with Farmer Henry in the corner of a barn. Previously screened at the West Hollywood Film Festival this short boasts great color, shading and animated movement. Entertainment for the whole family.
Taos
John Wahlberg (RIB HILLIS, seen often in “CSI” and “Two and a Half Men”) works as a corporate attorney in a large Washington D.C. law firm, trading his nights and weekends for extra cash and the promise of a secure future. Lyndsey Palmer (JULIE DORRIS, “Desperate Housewives”), John’s girlfriend, wants more from life, from him. Through a series of circumstances John becomes stranded in Taos, where encounters with local residents bring to the surface wounds that are both old and new. This dramatic personal journey shows how one deals with unexpected loss while forging a balance between competing families, work and personal interests.
Tapped
Is access to clean drinking water a basic right or a life giving commodity to be bought and sold? We know how some multinational corporations will answer, for they sell a staggering 80 million single-serving bottles of water a day!
“Tapped” reveals the effort to privatize water, the one resource that should never become a commodity.Battles over water as civilization spread west was nothing compared to what is coming.This riveting documentary on dwindling municipal water supplies, environmental pollution from bottled water containers, and health concerns with the product will have you headed for the faucet.
Water will become more scare over the next decade and your access to water will depend on your ability to pay vastly more than you presently pay for better and environmentally friendly tap water.This EIFF film is a highlight of the festival.At a recent sneak peek showing, many unopened bottles of water were found discarded in the theater as the audience left.
Uintah United
In 1922, a small western town was rocked with the news that the local school principal had shot and killed one of his students. Uintah United tells the remarkable and inspirational story of the principal’s successor, Golden Kilburn, who dramatically changed the lives of some troublesome students and healed a community.
PBS filmmaker Issac Goeckeritz, used the unique technique of “Scrapbook Socials” to bring townspeople together to go over past events and review old photos to be used in the film.
Unremembered
A sci-fi twist on “Memento,” this drama is a thrilling story told in non-linear time. John Outis doesn’t have a past, but his life history is being restored in the present, dramatically altering the lives of his friends, his wife, and his lover. As he begins to remember more, his past threatens to end his future until he receives the aid and guidance of Tina Plantes, a brilliant and unconventional physics professor.
The Visited
“The Visited” takes place in one scary library where writer Edward is losing his grip on reality. As his disturbing visions of an alien abduction intensify, he must distinguish reality from insanity before hurting someone he loves.
The Waiting List
Anyone up for an overnight adult pajama party? With vodka? And maple bacon donuts?We”re having it at a preschool! Portland writer-director Mike Vogel”s film is a keenly observant comedy about a group of parents spending the night in a preschool classroom so they can be first to get their kids on the enrollment list.
A witty, right-on, and very unsentimental view of parenting.Excellent cast and well crafted screenplay.Based on real events this is a very special EIFF presentation.Filmmaker and cast members attending.
What Would It Look Like?
This 25-minute retrospective challenges us to reflect on the state of the world and ourselves, and to listen more closely to what is being asked of us at this time of unprecedented global transformation.
Interviews with eight individuals who are actively addressing and working with these very questions in their communities, this short documentary asks what the world would look like were we to realize our own potential, both individually and collectively? Is such change even possible?
Among those interviewed are Kyodo Williams, Zen teacher/ social activist, Tenzin Palmo, one of the first Westeners to be ordained as a Buddhist nun, and Orland Bishop, of the Shade Tree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles.
Who’s Good Looking?
For Robert Altman fans that can’t resisthis style of single-take, over-lapping dialogue, thisfun short, made in Portland, is right up your alley.As a couple winds their way through a skin care boutique,sarcastic dialogue on notions of beauty expose theirnarcissism. A clever relationship comedy.
Without
In this exciting, twist-ending short, a woman is trapped in a room with a vicious Doberman watching her every move. As she struggles to break free her captor will be revealed at the very end.
Woodlands Seasons 1
Blending images of the same forest scene shot over the course of a year, “Woodlands Seasons 1” reflects on experiencing many moments at the same time. A combination of photo collage, video, and animation, it moves us into a dreamlike world of the transitory experience of nature.
Zap Squad and the Sand of Time
A secret team of super kids is called upon to protect the world from the self-proclaimed evil genius Baron Von Vaughn. Action, adventure, and 3D effects, make this animated cartoon fun for the entire family.
