
2008 Official Film Selections
Learn more about the 2008 Official Film Selections for the Eugene International Film Festival and the winners of that year.
Winners
Best Narrative Feature
“Leaving Barstow”
Kevin Sheridan
Madelon Smith
Best Feature Documentary
“Shall We Gather at the River”
Don McCorkell
Best Comedy Feature
“Of Golf and God”
Ryan Mains
Best Young Audience Feature
“Girl Disappears”
Peter Tromba
Cyndi Tromba
Most Socially Engaging Feature
“Vacinne Nation”
Gary Null
Best Youth Theme
“Where Do The Children Play”
Christopher Cook
Best Short Short by a Pacific Northwest Filmmaker
“In the Company of Trees”
Sylvie Peltier
Best Horror/Sci-Fi Feature
“The End”
Jeremy Thomas
Best Making Of/Behind the Scenes Featurette
“7 Visions”
Larry Reed
Best Narrative Short
“Maine Story”
Nina Chemik
Best Documentary Short
“Africa’s Daughters”
Natalie Halpern
Most Socially Engaging Short
“Carissa”
David Savage
Best Comedy Short
“Whitebread & Goatman”
Steve Hosford
Best Short Short by a Pacific Northwest Filmmaker
“The Collinwood Campaign”
Ryan Mains
Best Art/Experimental Short
“The Visitor”
Paul Anderson
Best Horror/Sci-Fi Short
“The Janitor’s Office”
Karen Neilsen
Best Young Audience Short
“Adina’s Deck, Skyes Cyber Bullying Mystery”
Debbie Heimowitz
Jason Azicri
Best Narrative Short Short
“Music is Fun For Everyone”
Eva Honegger
Best Comedy Short Short
“One Year Later”
Joseph Andolina
Best Short Short by a Pacific Northwest Filmmaker
“Annie’s First Dates”
Michael Gaston
Best Short Short Animation
“Ruby Rocket, Private Detective”
Sam Neimann
Best Art/Experimental Short Short
“Long Night Drone”
Neil Forman
Most Original
“Notes from the Acrid Plain”
Jonathan Ashley
Most Memorable
“The Last Word”
Jess Quakenbush
Best Production Design
“Rabia”
Muhammad Ali Hasan
Best Cinematography
“One of the Oldest Con Games”
Leslie King
Best Overall Production Excellence
“The Showdown”
Fulvio Sestito
Anthony Sestito
Biggest Bang for the Buck
“Whitebread & Goatman”
Steve Hosford
More 2008 Selections
A Totem of the Northwest Coast
A Day’s Work
A Letter to Colleen
A Little Bit of So Much Truth
A Man’s World
A Sentence for Two
AIR
Absolutely Safe
Adina’s Deck, Skyes Cyber Bullying Mystery
Africa’s Daughters
Annie’s First Dates
Attending Service
Awaken That Light
BENT
Burma’s Open Road an Insight into Myanmar
Carissa
Chocolate: Pathway to the Gods
D.O.P.E.
Ed Vern’s Rock Store
Mulholland Highway becomes Memory Lane in Ed & Vern’s Rock Store, which timelines the evolution of the Sunday Drive. Jay Leno frequents this automotive retreat to share the joy of the road. (43 min.)
Elegy
A journey through lost love that brings us back to living as told through music and animation. (3 min.)
First
Welcome to the bedrooms of ten women, ages sixteen to eighty-nine, to hear intimate stories of their first sexual experiences. (39 min.)
Flight of the Elephants
An incredible account of eight Asian elephants as they journey from rural Thailand, experience months of quarantine, embark on an enormous Russian Illyusion to a remote Indian Ocean island and then finally arrive at their new homes in Sydney and Melbourne Zoos. (52 min.)
Girl Disappears
A young girl, Chloe, dies when she is hit by a car. Her friends can see her ghost, until one by one they celebrate their 13 th birthday, passing from girlhood into their teens. The title refers to the literal disappearance of Chloe and the symbolic coming of age for each of her friends. Set in Eugene, OR this student film was largely written and improvised by the cast. (110 min.)
Hybrid Pedal
A thousand-mile bike ride from Portland, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah to draw attention to endangered wild lands in the Western United States. (27 min.)
I’m Pretty, Too
Do you kick a man when he’s down or rescue him? (18 min.)
In the Company of Trees
The world of those who love the company of trees is presented. Some want to live in trees, while others want to climb or adventure in them just for the fun of it. Is it a return to nature, childhood nostalgia or a spiritual quest. (52 min.)
Irish Twins
Different men – just how much becomes apparent on the night of their father’s funeral. (20 min.)
Kilowatt Ours
The wires are followed from our light switches to environmental catastrophes such as mountain top removal, air pollution, childhood asthma and global warming. “Kilowatt Ours” offers an enlivening recipe for transforming America into a clean energy nation. (55 min.)
Komi – A Journey Across the Arctic
Komi, A Journey Across the Arctic In the north of Siberia, close to the Polar Circle, live two Komi families who raise reindeer. Witness their incredible way of life, the rhythm of the animals they herd and the polar climate over a one year period. (53 min.)
Leaving Barstow
High school senior Andrew hopes for a bigger world – but his devotion to his mother, Sandra, and his attraction to newcomer Jenny combine to keep him tied to home. He must choose between his future and the people he loves now. (89 min.)
Long Night Drone
A music video that chronicles “the building of a rock star” (4 min.)
Loon
Forced to move to Florida with his eccentric parents young Carson Lind, must confront them when he begins to suspect there is an eerie presence in their old historic Spanish casa. (28 min.)
Lost Crossing
After running away from home, 15 year old Marie finds herself stranded in a small town and cornered by a dangerous situation. She is rescued by Sheila, a fellow traveler. A disturbing secret catches up with them and Marie must find a way out of town. (29 min.)
Maine Story
When her high-school sweetheart unexpectedly returns to town, Shelly is forced to confront those things she’s been avoiding, including her 12 year-old son. (24 min.)
Man Meets Barbara
Director Dieter Weihl falls in with a band of women-hungry 70-something Latin dancers. Headlined by “Cuban Pete,” the Bronx-raised Puerto Rican Mambo King, each seeks their golden ticket – someone who can get them to “another level of living.” (68 min.)
Minotauro
Fight Against Your Past. Dream of Your Future. Defy Your Destiny. Flora, a Mayan girl in Mexico, can see the future in her dreams; but always the future of others, never her own. (101 min.)
Music is Fun for Everyone
Music is Fun for Everyone is a drama about eight year old Kevin, who discovers his passion for playing the piano. (6 min.)
99 to 1: Ovarian Cancer and Me
In the summer of 2005 the doctors said they were 99% sure filmmaker Phoebe Brown did not have ovarian cancer. She turned out to be the 1%. This is her story. (20 min.)
Notes from the Acrid – Plain with Burton Hoary Vol. 7
Naturalist Burton Hoary hosts a survey of the toxic landscape known as the ‘Acrid Plain,’ peopled by the masked descendants of the human race. This chapter focuses on the Harvesters, their obscure practices and the perils they face. (15 min.)
Of Golf and God
When Daniel, a 24-year-old pizza delivery guy is dumped by his long-term girlfriend, he accidentally summons God to his side to help him cope with the ordeal. God deals with Daniel on his own level, leaving him believing that there may be more to life than ex-girlfriends. (82 min.)
Of Love and Race
Forty years after ‘Loving v. Virginia’, four interracial couples talk love and race. (14 min.)
On Paper Wings
In 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb claimed the lives of the only people killed on the continental U.S., in Oregon, as the result of enemy action during WWII. Forty years later, the decision to fold a thousand paper cranes would unite the Japanese and American civilians affected by this incident. (67 min.)
One of the Oldest Con Games
It’s 1959. A pair of con artists are about to fleece a grieving widow (Fionnula Flanagan). One-upmanship is the art of the con. (20 min.)
One Year Later
A woman is so obsessed with the sound of her own voice it takes her over a year to realize she’s been living with the wrong man. He has been patient with her and has become fond of the sound of her voice. (3 min.)
Passing Poston
Four Japanese-Americans reveal how their lives were shaped, defined and impacted by the time they spent forcibly interned during World War II. In the last chapter of their lives they are still trying to find meaning in the inexplicable. (60 min.)
Rabia
A story about a woman who must blow herself up, in order to exist. (24 min.)
Randal
Randal collects geodes. Sometimes they have crystals inside, sometimes they don’t. But you never know unless you break it open. (21 min.)
Reserved To Fight
Four Marines are documented for four years after coming home from combat in Iraq as they struggle through social and psychological reintegration. Living with loved ones as they suffer from a psychological disorder that is difficult to acknowledge these veterans grapple to find purpose and healing. (77 min.)
Rex
When Jenn, a new-age trust fund baby, has an accident, she must find a way to relieve her guilt and restore the natural order of things. Her artist husband, Eric, becomes part of the solution over dinner. (9 min.)
Ruby Rocket, Private Detective
Ruby Rocket fits into, and then breaks the mold of the hard drinking, hard living, hard boiled detective. She’s the anti-anti-hero who can get the job done! Well, usually. (3 min.)
Seasons of Migration
Cambodian immigrants in Long Beach, CA explore culture shock through classical dance and elaborate wardrobes. (57 min.)
7 Visions
7 Visions, celebrates the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. This highly original production uses specially designed lighting sources to project the shadows of masked actors, puppets, and scenery, producing a stunning example of a new kind of visual theater, where a character can be six inches high one moment and fifteen feet tall the next. (30 min.)
Shall We Gather at the River
The film examines the impact of urbanizing animal populations without a way to handle the vast amounts of sewage generated. (90 min.)
Six Seconds of Freedom
The Angola Prison Rodeo as told through the eyes of the participants… convicted rapists and murderers. They do not practice. At rodeo time they simply put on hats and spurs and become cowboys. It’s one of the wildest rides you’ll ever take. (53 min.)
SKYLAB is Falling!
As a U.S. space station crashes toward earth, a young Punjabi boy struggles with the dread that his home is SKYLAB’s target. (7 min.)
The Cave: An adaptation of Plato’s Allegory in Clay
An adaptation of Plato’s, “Allegory of the Cave” animated in clay. (3 min.)
The Collinwood Campaign
Trevor and Kyle, two bumbling junior advertising executives, are unexpectedly given the coveted Collinwood Watch Campaign. They find themselves at a crossroads: deliver the pitch of a lifetime, or be tossed to the side. (15 min.)
The End
Joseph could see what no one else could… This time he saw it looking right back at him. (108 min.)
The Janitor’s Office
Five teenagers try to escape the janitor’s office of their high school while there is a murderous rampage happening outside the doors. (8 min.)
The Last Word
The inevitable story of failure every American has anticipated but hoped would never have to be told. An innocent man in Texas is executed and those involved are exposed. (90 min.)
The Life Penalty
How did a rebel public defender from Colorado throw a monkey wrench into America’s “death machine” Slip into a juror’s seat as David Wymore and other nationally recognized criminal defense attorneys bring their fight against the death penalty to the front line: the courtroom. Featuring two Bob Dylan songs, including the never before released ‘Ballad of Donald White’. (74 min.)
The Showdown
A confrontation between a batter and a pitcher in a high-stakes baseball game, juxtaposed against a deadly duel between two gunslingers in the old west. (18 min.)
The Visitor
A lonely woman makes herself a man-sized rag doll. (12 min.)
Trouble in the Water
Gary, a proud African-American has grown suspicious and alienated from his own people. A chance meeting triggers a chain of reflection and memory that promises to liberate him after all. (17 min.)
Twilight Mile: The Life of Bill McChesney Jr.
Bill McChesney Jr., an accomplished athlete while at Eugene’s South Eugene High School and All-American at the University of Oregon, had intensity surpassed by no one. He died in a tragic car accident in 1992 in Newport, Ore. (8 min.)
Vaccine Nation
Discover the truth about the history of vaccines and how they have NEVER been proven to be safe and effective for anyone. Join director Gary Null PhD and over 40 of the world’s foremost vaccine experts in this shocking exposé that will shatter the truth as you know it. (90 min.)
War Eagle, Arkansas
“War Eagle, Arkansas” is a character-driven drama about a young man’s choice of whether to leave his family and friends or seek a career in baseball. It is based on the true heartfelt story of two very close childhood friends. (94 min.)
What I See When I Close My Eyes
Phnom Penh’s 20,000 street kids are being helped by Mith Samlanh/FRIENDS INTERNATIONAL. The children’s stories presented range from the simple wish of a young girl to have enough soap, to the bold dream of a teenage boy to help drug addicts kick their habit and find work. (30 min.)
Where Do The Children Play?
Fifty years ago, people started moving to suburbs in pursuit of the American Dream. But life out there has become far from ideal for their children, as they find themselves increasingly living in isolation, separated from nature, battling obesity, and suffering with mental health problems. (57 min.)
Whitebread and Goatman
Two shady undercover cops have put together what could be the biggest score of their lives – but when things don’t exactly go according to schedule, the partnership inches toward the breaking point and dark secrets begin to emerge…or do they. (7 min.)
Woven Ways
“Woven Ways”shares the stories of the Navajo people, the land and livestock that sustain their culture and economy, and the environmental injustices that threaten their health and well-being. (50 min.)
Yamana, Nomads of the Fire
The Yamana were the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego, and were at one time the guardians of an extraordinary civilization. Now extinct, they used their ingenious instinct to survive for thousands of years in an extreme land. (52 min.)