2012 Official Film Selections
Learn more about the 2012 Official Film Selections for the Eugene International Film Festival. Click the selection photos for more information on each film.
A Big Love Story
Sam was a 260 lb. NFL prospect. Now, he’s a lonely 413 lb. bowling alley cashier. He works to lose weight and find love. His personal trainer is tough and hot. Can he find love while she is kicking him into shape?
American Autumn: an Occudoc
In the global culture of today, capitalism empowers greed. This documentary suggests we need to weave our moral fiber into a blanket of broad national success.
Amos
Set in South Central LA, a 17 yr old works to fit in with his gangster friends. Running from a rival gang he meets Lucy, a theater student in the campus building where he seeks refuge.
An American Boy
Producer Don Hughes revisits his childhood with historical accuracy, period props and childhood activities. There’s church balcony mischief, the piano recital from hell, a first crush and a secret tunnel. Back by popular demand.
Animal House of Blues
BEST DOCUMENTARY BY A PACIFIC NORTHWEST FILMMAKER
The untold story of how the Merry Pranksters from Ken Kesey to Curtis Salgado and the Robert Cray Band helped create the Hollywood Blockbuster and Eugene movie icon, “Animal House.”
Baby Boy Church
Late Discovery Adoptees face an identity crisis when everything they have believed about themselves, their ethnicity and family members, is different than their life experience to that point.
Back Door Channels: The Price of Peace
The true story of the behind-the-scenes negotiations of the 1979 Camp David Peace Accord, a brief moment in time when Arabs and Jews embraced peace together. This is a tale of secret missions, internal power struggles and diplomatic brinkmanship never before revealed. A riveting revelation in retrospect.
Beating Justice: The Martin Lee Anderson Story
Teenager Martin Lee Anderson is killed by guards at a Florida "boot camp." They are all acquitted in this story of race, class and justice in the State of Florida juvenile justice system. Producer: Bill Lawson (Co.), Brett Ader (Co.), Brittany Loveall (Assoc.), Jeff...
Camilla Dickinson
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Camilla Dickinson finds her privileged Upper East Side NYC life changing direction with the failing marriage of her parents. Her best friend’s brother provides comfort and an adventurous new world.
Chip and Dory
Adapted from an old folktale. A shooting star brings Chip, a black sheep, and Dory, a white sheep, together for the first time.
Delta 180: Changing Lives in the Mississippi Delta
A program based in Salem, OR is benefiting at-risk youth in Greenville, MS. Through grass-roots mentoring despair is turning into hope, one degree at a time.
Distance
A father and son fail to communicate in this humorous look at discovering common ground.
Dreams Awake
While on vacation a disconnected family is stranded. Family drama becomes a spiritual awakening as they explore their dreams, illusions, and immortality under the influence of mystical Mr. Shasta.
Election Day
Could anything be more unsettling than American high school politics? A political thriller!
Fairytale
Reality takes a bite out of Kate’s imaginary life with her siblings.
For the Love of the Music: The Club 47 Folk Revival
Folk music was launched as a national phenomenon from a Cambridge MA jazz club. After Joan Baez made her first appearance at Club 47 the music changed. Features Taj Mahal, Judy Collins, Tom Rush, Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Jim Kweskin, Jackie Washington, Jim Rooney, Peter Rowan, and others. Narrated by Peter Coyote.
Forever Mankind
Speechwriter William Safire was tasked with writing the contingency speech President Richard Nixon would give if the Apollo 11 mission to the moon should end in disaster. What would the astronaut’s families, the nation and the world need to hear?
Grace Running
Grace is 14 and ready for change. She is a gifted artist and a good person. Where will her life experiences take her?
In Godfather’s Movie
BEST COMEDY SHORT
Mastering the unscrupulous bureaucracy of crossing the border between Moldavia and Romania proves troublesome for an actor. Inspired by real events.
In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey
John Fahey (1939-2001) is often identified as the godfather of “American primitive guitar.” He spent his last two decades in Salem, OR.
In the Pines
BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT
Part science fiction, part psycho-thriller, part poetry, these are the elements of a quest by a young woman in her search for extraterrestrial meaning.
Just Talking
A failed relationship sputters along under the guise of “just talking.” Confronted by her younger sister Maddie, Olivia is caught between rebellion and young Maddie’s sage advice.
Knitting Girl, The
A young girl is able to knit surprising solutions to events in her life and to the benefit of others.
Living Things, The
A cast of organisms sing, dance, mutate and populate the emotional experience of the song “The Living Things” by the Spinto Band.
Love & Hate
BEST MAKING OF, BEHIND THE SCENES
A behind the scenes look at making a movie set in the early days of train travel using new technology now available to filmmakers.
Marvin
BEST ANIMATION SHORT
Marvin was born with a hole in his head. A cork proves to be an unreliable fix. Things fall out when it is removed and his life becomes an adventure.
Mating for Life
Sandhill cranes mate for life. This is a personal pilgrimage by the filmmaker to experience their spring migration and reflect on our mutual need for connection to each other and to nature.
Miss Gripweed’s Treat
Origin: Eugene, OR
Length: 18 min
My License
BEST YOUNG AUDIENCE SHORT SHORT
A young girl receives her drivers license, much to her father’s dismay. Created by a 6th grade student.
Nobody’s Child
Annie asks Paul, who is gay, to raise her son if she should lose her life to breast cancer. Paul is not so sure it’s a great idea.
Not Today
Human slavery in India serves as the path to redemption for a spoiled young man, risking his life to help others along the way.
On The Wings of Men
Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, first ever Prime Minister of the Bahamas, is battered by US Foreign Policies in the 1980’s. Many remember him as “Father of the Nation.”
Opa’s War
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Proud of her Canadian grandfather who served with the Allies in WWII, a young woman discovers a photograph of her late Austrian grandfather during a visit to her ancestral home, in full Nazi uniform. She struggles to reconcile how the two men she loved as a child could have battled on opposite sides.
Out on a Limb
David “Squirrelman” Csaky received international attention when Seattle officials evicted him from his elaborate tree house where he had been living for two years. The tree house became an instant neighborhood icon when a fall windstorm stripped the tree of leaves that had served to hide his home.
Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey
Freak climate disasters in the Himalayas have triggered an activist movement never before seen in the region. Seven hundred people journey across the perilous mountains on foot to educate villages on global warming and environmental preservation in this timely documentary.
Private Sun
Private moments under the sun are precious and rare for Mariam who suffers from vitamin D deficiency. Instructed by her doctor to sunbathe, she is threatened by nosy neighbors, an overbearing sister-in-law and Israeli surveillance planes.
Purple Story, The
A young reporter helps an old man assaulted by a gang of hooligans. His life then seems to fall apart, leading to a situation where he himself needs someone to help him.
Remake
BEST COMEDY SHORT SHORT
Which is better, the original movie, or the remake? Two thieves find themselves on the horns of a dilemma while burglarizing a home.
Removed
Three captive tigers from a failing Texas shelter are transported to their new home in North Carolina.
Repressed
An adult woman lives with hidden memories of child abuse. This is a social awareness drama in which she seeks an understanding of herself that is an unsettling journey into her childhood.
Rocky Tandoori
Tandoori is a chicken. He’s about to take on the coop’s huge head chicken to prove that organic feed makes for healthier chickens. But wait there’s more. Tandoori is not even supposed to be in the coop. It’s a case of mistaken identity and only his human friend Walter can set things right.
Shaggy Dog Project
A collection of short films from Eugene filmmakers. This will be the premiere for the films screened.
Shane
A daughter is reluctant to tell her mother the truth about who she is dating.
Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen
BEST INTERNATIONAL SUBJECT DOCUMENTARY
America’s most frequently performed choral composer, Morten Lauridsen, spends his summers on Waldron Island, Washington. Filmed in California, Scotland, Germany and at his island home. Featuring international luminaries and performances.
Singing Bill O’Reilly
MOST ORIGINAL
What’s worse than being sued for sexual harassment? Having an opera performed featuring the text of the complaint and transcripts of O’Reilly’s audio-taped phone calls to the victim.
Stagecoach Bar: An American Crossroads
BOARD CHOICE AWARD
Seventy years in the making, the “Coach” is a musical cocktail of cowboys, millionaires, tourists, drifters, disco dancers, two-steppers and locals. Music, the splendor of the Tetons and a taste for the wild west has created a crossroads community like no other.
Stetson, Street Dog of Park City
BEST YOUNG AUDIENCE SHORT
Stetson, a tan and brown terrier has been abandoned on the streets of Park City Utah. His social skills are at their best as he explores the town in search of a new home.
Sun Dog
A broken lighthouse and a “sun dog” are the only hope for Cara when her father goes missing at sea.
Terra Blight
Computers are creating an international nightmare of hazardous waste. How many people will be injured or die as a result of our advanced lifestyle? In some countries it is children that suffer from recovering this waste.
Biggest Story Problem, The
MOST SOCIALLY ENGAGING DOCUMENTARY
Why is it that elementary school students in the United States do well in math and then drop to the bottom tier by the 10th grade? This documentary highlights student successes in the US and Finland.
Company of Thieves, The
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT BY A PACIFIC NORTHWEST FILMMAKER
A deal with the devil pits a trio of partners in crime against each other.
Mountain Runners, The
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Thought to be the first adventure races held in the United States, the Mount Baker Marathon pitted two teams of amateur runners, one team using Model A cars against another team using a special train. That was just to get to the starting line of the footrace to the summit of 10,781 foot Mt. Baker, then back to town using the same transportation.
The Nautics: Save Your Money
BEST ART SHORT SHORT
A malt shop romance recaptures the look and feel of the 60’s.
Weather Outside, The
BEST FEATURE BY A PACIFIC NORTHWEST FILMMAKER
Max finds himself separated from his family on Christmas Eve. He ultimately comes to the conclusion that his wife has left him and taken their children along with her. One year after the disappearance, he begins to discover that he might have one last risky chance to get them back.
Thief
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
A woman’s expensive cell phone is stolen at a local night market. The thief’s motivations are exposed like the peeling of an onion.
This is Kelly
At just over 400 lbs., Kelly Gneiting, the gentle giant from Fort Defiance, AZ, accomplishes a death defying athletic challenge. You will be cheering him on as you watch a person of ponderous proportion move heart, mind and mass into the record book.
This Time Last Winter
Iona is unable to remember a violent incident, leading her into confusion. The healing potential of a talking circle allows her to enter the moment of choice with confidence.
Three Days (Of Hamlet)
BEST ART FEATURE
Working with Richard Chamberlain, Stefanie Powers and others, Actor/Director Alex Hyde-White dares to look into the mirror of infinite reflections as he and his cast perform a staged reading of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in only three days. Souls are exposed.
Two Close
BEST PILOT
Twins Tristan and Trevor are selected as roommates due to a computer error as they enter college. Having grown up together, they are looking for new relationships of their own making.
UNFIT: Ward vs. Ward
Who is more fit to raise a child, a convicted killer or a lesbian? This is the true story of Mary Ward and her murderous husband.
Visions of Mustang
Residents of Mustang, Nepal, with an average altitude of 13,000 ft., suffer one of the highest rates of cataract blindness in the world due to the extreme sun exposure found at that altitude. Eighteen doctors embark on an arduous tourney to proved much needed care.
Wet and Wetter
Walter watches with distress as Tandoori wastes water at every turn. With the aid of their neighbors he teaches friend a lesson.
Who Bombed Judi Bari?
Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were falsely arrested for car bombing themselves on May 24, 1990. Having survived the bomb but now stricken with cancer she gives her deathbed testimony about her colorful history with Earth First!
