25 Years Of Jr. Junkanoo - Youth Film Workshop (short) before Closing Night Film THE SAPPHIRES
This year BIFF, Esso Bahamas Limited and BTC are pleased to provide the Youth of our nation with the opportunity to learn how to make a film in a day. 15 students from 4 schools: C.C. Sweeting, Woodcock Primary, A.F. Adderley Jr. HIgh School, C.R. Walker, participated in making a film in a day. The making of this year’s film is “25 Years Of Junior Junkanoo.” This exciting project will educate students on the art of film-making and give them an opportunity to tell the world the story of Junior Junkanoo. The Premiere will be unveiled before the BIFF Closing Night Film, December 9 at 6:30pm. Bahamas / 2012, 28 mins
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A Man with a Voice: Chronicles
the Bahamian legend, Norman Soloman. Norman Soloman, a journalist,
politician, an activist and a business man. This film sheds light on
his journey while also illuminating the changing political landscape of
of our pre-independent Bahamas to recent. Bahamas / 2012, 59 mins
Maria Govan - Attending
Friday, December 7 / 11:00am
Saturday, December 8 / 3:00pm
What happened, that 24th of December? This is what officer Chartier wants ton find out. To understand, he will have to go back 48 hours earlier : Franck's Christmas eve. Franck : insignificant drama-teacher, Franck belongs to a nameless and leaderless commando : the Animal Liberation Front.
Jerome Lescure
France / 2011, 96 mins
Friday, December 7 / 4:20pm
Hugh Masekela - musician, activist and father was exiled from his family and native South Africa for over 30 years as a direct result of Apartheid. Undaunted, he would find musical success in America with the 1968 number one hit, Grazin' In The Grass, and in 1971 he would father a son, Selema Mabena Masekela.
Jason Berg
USA / 2012, 30 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 1:00pm
Set in the concrete jungles of
South Central Los Angeles, Amos follows the story of a young 17 year old
kid trying to live up to the expectations of his gangster community.
After a robbery goes horribly wrong Amos is chased by rival gang
members, seeking refuge on a well-to-do college campus.
Taylor Maxwell
USA / 2012, 29 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
»Read More
Apartment In Athens, Appartamento ad Atene
Athens, 1943. An apartment is
requisitioned to provide accommodation for a German officer. In the
apartment live the Helianos, a middle-aged couple who used to be
well-off. He is an intellectual, moderate and patient. She is an
anxious, sickly housewife. They have a ten-year-old son who is filled
with melodramatic revenge fantasies and a twelve-year old daughter. With
the arrival of Captain Kalter everything is wiped out. The methodical,
ascetic, cruel Karter is a military god who inflicts terror.
Ruggero Dipaola
Italy / 2011, 95 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
A story where the restive city of Mexico is offered
as background characters to draw psychological and human postures
typical of a big city. A story where morality, religion and reason are
manipulated for selfish personal gain by individuals who change their
destiny with crafty opportunism.
Ernesto Fundora
Mexico / 2011, 17 mins
Friday, December 7 / 3:00pm
Arise captures the portraits
and stories of extraordinary women around the world who are coming
together to heal the injustices against the earth. The film weaves
together poetry, music, art and stunning scenery to create a hopeful and
collective story that inspires us to work for the earth. Our film shows
how women are becoming self-sustainable, feeding their children,
re-building their communities and bringing about environmental
stability.
Lori Joyce and Candice Orlando - Attending
USA / 2011, 117 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 11:00am
Saturday, December 8 / 6:30pm
At age six, child prodigy
painter Declan Truss was propelled into the art world as a rare marvel,
but by seventeen, the tightrope of notoriety is catching up with him.
Declan seeks inspiration as the immense pressures of an impending
coming-of-age exhibition loom.
Doug Karr - Attending
USA / 2012, 89 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 1:30pm
Sunday, December 9 / 5:00pm
When NASA announced the closing
of its shuttle program on July 8th, 2011, with the final launch of the
space shuttle Atlantis, it triggered an outpouring of public interest
not seen since the days of the Apollo moon missions. Millions of people
from all over the world converged on Florida’s Space Coast in the rainy
days leading up to the final launch, including Ben Goddard (Jason
Ritter) and Allison Talbot (Kate french). Two spectators who meet and
cross paths on the day before the launch in the town that lives in the
shadow of the space shuttle. Starring Jason Ritter, Kate French, the
residents of Titusville and the crew of STS-135, Atlantis was filmed in
co-operation with NASA.
Matthew Ornstein
USA / 2012, 19 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 12:00pm
Baseball In The TIme Of Cholera
As the cholera epidemic rages
in Haiti, the UN denies responsibility for introducing the disease
despite mounting evidence. This is the story of Joseph, a young baseball
player, and a Haitian lawyer fighting for compensation for the victims.
As the epidemic spreads, the two stories intersect in the struggle for
survival and justice.
David Drag & Bryn Mooser
Haiti, USA / 2012, 27 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 1:00pm
Nyoike ('Nyo'), in an attempt
to get back into the rhythm of his life, returns to his bar after
spreading the ashes of his wife, Hope, on the Georgetown seawall. Still
reeling from the loss he is not in a hospitable mood when his longtime
friend and photographer, Fargus, shows up uninvited.
Fargus fails to
engage Nyo and leaves a picture he had taken of Nyo and Hope on the
counter. Nyo's wedding ring, and now this picture, are all that he has
left of his wife.
Kojo McPherson
Guyana / 2012, 16 mins
Friday, December 7 / 1:00pm
Giselle a recent college graduate and her younger sister Mia, are at the nexus of events that will affect their lives and the lives of their friends forever. Malik has been in love with Giselle for years, she knows this and leads him to the brink at times, but holds back using the excuse of her boyfriend abroad. Malik's best friend, Kimani is the resident 'playa' constantly on the prowl, has one woman who is the apple of his eye but he can't contain her. Giselle's closest friends are Mariah, serious and Law School bound and Stacy the only one in a stable relationship with David. Mia loves life, she has what she considers a dream relationship with a much older man Dennis, whom she believes is not married. She often places herself at the centre of attention with her friends, Marissa and Josanne with tales of her sexual encounters with Dennis. This often disgusts Josanne, but Marissa is always prods her on for the explicit details.
M. Omari Jackson - Attending
Trinidad & Tobago / 2012, 96 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 2:00pm
Saturday, December 8 / 12:45pm
In this darkly comedic drama,
two couples reunite over the course of two incendiary evenings where
anything can happen. Grace and Carlo are a newly married New York
couple who visit their old friends Sharyl and Joel in their huge
Midwestern home. But despite their wealth, the hosts are in a violently
destructive marriage. Two years later, the couples reunite in New York,
but now the tables are turned as the young couple struggles with their
marriage, parenthood and financial woes, only to discover that their old
friends are even more successful and much happier than they were
before.
Dan Mirvish - Attending
USA / 2012, 90 mins
Friday, December 7 / 6:10pm
Sunday, December 9 / 1:00pm
Ginger Baker is known for
playing in Cream and Blind Faith, but the world's greatest drummer
didn’t hit his stride until 1972, when he arrived in Nigeria and
discovered Fela Kuti's Afrobeat. After leaving Nigeria, Ginger returned
to his pattern of drug-induced self-destruction, eventually settling in
South Africa, where the 73-year-old lives with his young bride and 39
polo ponies. This documentary includes interviews with Eric Clapton,
Steve Winwood, Carlos Santana and more. Beware of Mr. Baker! With every
smash of the drum is a man smashing through life, and smashing the
filmmaker’s nose on the last day of filming.
Jay Bulger
USA / 2012, 92 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 1:00pm
When longtime best friends,
Jeremy and Monica say their goodbyes before Jeremy's big move, they find
themselves holding onto more than just their friendship. Separately in
committed marriages, the two experience an overwhelming emotional shift,
exacerbated by the circumstances that bring them together and alone
again.
Jamie Lee
USA / 2012, 88 mins
Friday, December 7 / 2:30pm
Black Irish is the story of a
young man who can't afford to take care of his family. In order to get a
much needed promotion he must hide his true identity.
Anika Poiter - Attending
USA / 2012, 15 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 2:00pm
»Read More
When Syd, an eccentric
bookseller with delusions of grandeur fueled by red wine, recruits his
teenage neighbor Curtis as a creative collaborator, the longstanding
chill between Curtis’s family and Syd’s bohemian housemates begins to
thaw, unleashing repressed secrets, healing old wounds, and sparking new
connections.
Laura Colella - Attending
USA / 2012, 90 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 11:00am
William Trubridge attempts to break his own free diving record by going 300 feet into Dean's Blue Hole with just two bare feet and one breath of air.
Martin Khodabakhshian
Long Island, Bahamas /USA / 2012, 51 mins
Friday, December 7 / 12:15pm
Sunday, December 9 / 5:00pm
Born June 25, 1936 in Nassau,
Kendal Hanna is a painter and a sculptor known as one of the Bahamas'
first abstract expressionists. Early in Hanna's life he began
experimenting with abstractions through a process which he describes as
his "subconscious mind expressing itself on the canvas." During his
twenties, Hanna was diagnosed with schizophrenia and prescribed an
electric shock therapy course of four treatments per week for an unknown
period of time. Upon his release two years later, Hanna used art to
recover his motor capabilities and mental acuity. Now 75, Hanna has
become one of the Bahamas' most celebrated artists, prolifically
releasing work described as "carefully considered and contemplated,
provocative and masterful." In BRIGIDY BRAM, Hanna reveals his inner and
outer realities through his artworks, memories and one-of-a-kind sense
of humor. The National Art Gallery of the Bahamas celebrated Kendal
Hanna with a retrospective exhibition of his art on his 75th birthday.
Board chair D. Gail Saunders wrote in the foreword to the catalog:
"Kendal's life was a struggle, but in spite of the numerous difficulties
and hurdles, he persisted with his art and endured. His art, which is
usually described as abstract, is not understood by everyone. But many
have come to love his work and have grown to recognize and connect with
the passion he expresses in his paintings and sculpture.....A modest
giant, Kendal Hanna today is counted among the leading Bahamian artists
of our time."
Toby Lunn & Laura Gamse - Attending
Bahamas / 2012, 35 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
»Read More
Beyond B-grade, beyond
post-post-modern melodrama, 'Burning Hearts' unfolds in its own world –
one foot in the economic sigh that is Japan today and the other in the
glory days of the 1980's bubble. Get ready for full-frontal angst and
unbelievable action straight out of the Super Nintendo's 'Final Fight'.
Love it or hate it, you've never seen a short like 'Burning Hearts'.
James McFay
Japan / 2011, 16 mins
Friday, December 7 / 3:00pm
The film centers around young, African American
female Momo. While taking the subway home from picking up her niece, she
encounters a group of men singing for spare change. When one of the
members of the group passes her, hat in hand, she spots her name
tattooed across his arm. Looking into his eyes, she instantly recognizes
him as her estranged biological father.
Talibah Newman
USA / 2012, 20 mins
Friday, December 7 / 1:00pm
A cadaver wakes up to say a
last goodbye to his wife but discovers a truth in death he didn't know
in life. Starring Christopher Lloyd, Tavi Gevinson and Kathy Bates.
Featuring the music of Neil Young.
Jonah Ansel
USA / 2012, 7 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
Based on the memoir by Andy
Summers, Can’t Stand Losing You follows an extraordinary musical
journey, from Summers’ early days on the English music scene to his
chance encounter with drummer Stewart Copeland and bassist Sting, to the
trio’s charttopping international success as The Police. The film
includes exclusive interviews with the band members during The Police’s
worldwide reunion tour, along with extensive concert footage proving
they’re as vital as ever.
Andy Grieve - Attending
USA / 2011, 83 mins
Friday, December 7 / 9:15pm
After Receiving an esteemed
Photography scholarship to the university of his dream Darnell Smith’s
life is turned upside down when his mother’s ongoing illness suddenly
becomes severe. With no one to provide for his family, Darnell takes
measures into his own hands.
Evan Kaufmann - Attending
USA / 2011, 85 mins
Friday, December 7 / 11:00am
Sunday, December 9 / 1:00pm
The winds of parkour has blown
to China, and has made its way on to the big screen. The players jump
up and down the buildings, into house and over the rooftops, releasing
the youthful explosive energy and achieving pride via its dangerous
moves. A young man has landed himself in conflict with his mother when
he wants to give up school to pursue parkour as a career; the age-old
question of career versus hobby takes on a new twist, with performances
by China’s top parkour group.
Patrick Kong
China / 2011, 90 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 1:00pm
In 18th century Holy Roman
Empire, a series of events will turn an ordinary day in to an
extraordinary experience for a woman whose life will never be the same.
Alonso Alvarez Barreda
Germany / 2011, 15 mins
Friday, December 7 / 1:00pm
When their dad dies
unexpectedly, estranged siblings Russell, Jane and their adopted
brother, Alex, come home to tend to his remains. Though a stubborn and
proud bunch, they are able to agree on one thing: nobody wants to keep
the ashes. With little guidance and mounds of resentment among them, the
three must work together to achieve a proper goodbye. The man who split
them apart brings them closer together as the siblings learn what it
means to be a family without their dad.
Ken J. Adachi - Attending
USA / 2012, 83 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 7:00pm
Sunday, December 9 / 2:45pm
Western Feature:
The
year is 1870, and a fragmented America still strains to pick up the
pieces from a savage Civil War. Martha (exciting newcomer Clare Bowen)
and her husband Heck (David Call, TINY FURNITURE) are living on a
homestead Martha’s father purchased on the rural New Mexico frontier and
struggle to make ends meet.
Jared Moshe
USA / 2011, 93 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 5:00pm
He has a partner, Andre. One of
Franck's jobs is to smuggle clandestine people to New York. Franck is
going though midlife crises of a crime officer. He wants to change his
lifestyle. His next job will get him into a complicated situation where
he will have to smuggle a person from the border and take him to New
York. The problem is that he is not given the address where he has to
take the stranger. Franck is stuck with this package until his partner
Andre calls him to tell him where he has to go.
Fabien Mariano Ortiz
France / 2012, 11 mins
Friday, December 7 / 3:00pm
In an eerily quiet courtroom
hallway, Lois anxiously awaits the announcement of docket number 32357.
Valerie, a successful retail buyer, rushes to take a seat along the
bench we find Lois sitting on. The ominous voice that bellows from the
speaker inspires a conversation between Lois and Valerie. As the two
women grow more comfortable they realize their meeting is anything, but
by chance. What the two women discover will change their lives moving
forward. Docket 32357 examines the need to overcome loneliness even from
the most unexpected of places and how we feel once that opportunity is
squandered.
Randy Wilkins
USA / 2011, 14 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 1:00pm
After being brutally tortured
by his classmates, Morad - a teenaged boy from an Arab village in the
North of Israel - is suffering from a severe post-traumatic shock,
disconnecting himself from the world around him.
Dani Menkin - Attending
Israel / 2011, 90 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
Favorite Waltz (Valse Favorite)
What is the best way to be dump by an emotional boyfriend ?
Deborah Helpert
France / 2012, 14 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
Professional stuntman Jim Ford
(Knight and Day, The Surrogates, The Bounty Hunter) helms this perilous
martial arts style short film about a man whose car breaks down in a bad
part of town. When he decides to walk home, he encounters some astute
street thugs who get in his way.
Jim Ford
USA / 2012, 4 mins
Friday, December 7 / 3:00pm
Lala Du, a woman in her late
twenties who finally manages to land a job as a lowly secretary in the
sales department of a prestigious international firm. Hard working,
dedicated, and overflowing with ideas and energy, she quickly catches
the eye of her superiors, in particular that of sales director David
Wang. Lala’s efforts pay off as she rises quickly up the corporate
ladder, and even manages to win the notoriously tough and grumpy man’s
heart in the process. Unfortunately, there are still a number of
obstacles in her way, both on the job and off, as David Wang’s ex,
Mei-Gui Rose, who just happens to be another company director, looks to
make trouble for her new love rival.
Jinglei Xu
China / 2011, 100 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
Laugh. Cry. Vote for the Little
Guy. There’s no family dog strapped to the roof of his car, but
political candidate Grant Cogswell has his own set of image problems,
starting with the fact that he likes to dress up as a polar bear and
he’s currently an unemployed music critic. In Stephen Gyllenhaal’s
bittersweet, uplifting comedy GRASSROOTS – based on the true story of
the 2001 Seattle City Council election – Cogswell becomes a
mono-maniacal man of the people, rallying an unlikely posse of misfits,
slackers, and square pegs to his seemingly hopeless David-and-Goliath
battle against a firmly entrenched incumbent.
Stephen Gyllenhaal
USA / 2012, 97 mins
Friday, December 7 / 8:00pm
What happens when one industry
has too much power? Politicians become pawns. Laws are created and
prevented. Regulations are bypassed. Information is controlled. Dissent
is stifled. Our climate changes. And people die. 'Greedy Lying Bastards'
presents a searing indictment of the influence, deceit and corruption
that defines the fossil fuel industry. From the Gulf Coast to the tiny
nation of Tuvalu, from Nigeria and Uganda to Peru and Alaska, filmmaker
and political activist Craig Rosebraugh documents the impact of an
industry that has continually put profits before people, waged a
campaign of lies designed to thwart measures on climate change, used its
clout to minimize infringing regulations and undermined the political
process in the U.S. and abroad.
Craig Rosebraugh
Belgium, Denmark, Germany Peru, Switzerland USA, Uganda, UK / 2012, 90 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 5:00pm
"Habibi," a story of forbidden
love, is a fiction feature set in Gaza. Two students in the West Bank
are forced to return home to Gaza, where their love defies tradition. To
reach his lover, Qays grafittis poetry across town.
Susan Youssef - Attending
Gaza / 2011, 92 mins
Friday, December 7 / 7:45pm
HAITI UNTOLD chronicles the
personal journey of a few famous and not-so-famous individuals who have
put their heads and hearts to the task of effecting radical change in
Haiti, following the devastating earthquake of 2010.
Dan Shannon, Isabelle Depelteau - Attending
Haiti, Canada / 2012, 90 mins
Friday, December 7 / 5:30pm
Nell’s feet hang over her tiny
bed, she can’t squeeze through her little front door, her miniature
meals leave her hungry, and the tiny debt collector won’t go away. This
is a film about being trapped in your life and what it takes to break
out.
Kate Marks
USA / 2011, 12 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
In small residential town by
the Trondheim's fjord Anna and Anton are starting to enter into
adolescence. They live in a place where nature is as spectacular as it
is isolating. A microcosmos that forced them to build a strong bond
during their childhood and that, now, are trying to find out what will
it evolve into. They deal with boredom in different ways. Anton is eager
to explore the world beyond the buble-like universe he lives in. Anna
spends most of her time with Bamse, her big fluffy dog. One day, Bamse
finds a mysterious wooden box on the beach.
Pedro Collantes
Spain, Norway / 2012, 16 mins
Friday, December 7 / 1:00pm
»Read More
Shot over eight years, MAKING MARIKA is the
coming-of-age journey of fiery, Juilliard-trained pianist Marika
Bournaki, who will stop at nothing to become a world-class concert
pianist. Marika's parents never realized their youthful dreams in music
and ballet, but saw her raw talent age age 5. Her father-turned-manager,
Pierre, then risked everything -- including his career, family and
marriage -- to make Marika into a star.
Bobbi Jo Krals-Hart
Canada / 2012, 85 mins
Friday, December 7 / 11:00am
Saturday, December 8 / 3:00pm
INOCENTE is a personal and
vibrant coming of age story about a young artist's determination never
to surrender to the bleakness of her surroundings. At 15, Inocente
refuses to let her dream of becoming an artist be caged by being an
undocumented immigrant forced to live homeless for the last nine years.
Color is her personal revolution and its sweep on her canvases creates a
world that looks nothing like her own dark past. INOCENTE is both a
timeless story about the transformative power of art and a timely
snapshot of the new face of homelessness in America: children. The
challenges are staggering, but the hope in her story proves that her
circumstances do not define her, her dreams do.
Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
USA / 2012, 40 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 11:30am
Sunday, December 9 / 3:00pm
Lloyd, the anti-hero, the
fallen hero and main protagonist, is out of control with drugs and left
unchecked, he must fulfill his “karmic” debt with Solo. Lloyd
represents a young man with a, “Peter Pan” complex, who refuses to grow
and face his harsh reality. Lloyd wants to change, but first must deal
with Solo and wake up in the, “Hell”, he has created. He falls in love
with Heather, who changes his life and causes him to come to terms with
reality.
Rob Heydon
Canada / 2011, 65 mins
Friday, December 7 / 9:30pm
JACKSON BURNSIDE, NATIVE SON,
chronicles the diverse life and times of this deeply respected Bahamian
cultural icon. He loved his Bahamas with a burning passion, devoting his
life to exposing the rich design, architecture & heritage of his
native land. After his education abroad, and becoming an assistant to
Louis I. Kahn, he returned to the Bahamas where he further developed his
talents as a painter, architect, philosopher, mentor & Junkanoo.
Karen Arthur & Thomas Neuwirth - Attending
Bahamas, USA / 2012, 70 mins
Friday, December 7 / 7:30pm
Saturday, December 8 / 4:15pm
Once upon a time there was a
girl that lives happily with her grandmother in El Salvador.One day she
wokes up and find out that her grandmother had die, suddenly she was
helpless, without parents, without home, without economic means.She
yearns for a better life, so when she heard the fabulous stories of the
coyote, that promised her new horizons at "El Norte" (USA), she decided
to take the risk to search a promising future. Jocelyn and the Coyote is
a journey of the evolution of a girl that, in the way, transforms into
an adult woman.
Pilar Colome, Jose Lovo, Maria Cilleros - Attending
El Salvador / 2012, 7 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
Today is a big day, he has an
appointment with a professor of medicine specializing in hair loss. This
meeting will change the course of his life.
Aurelien Drach
France / 2012, 8 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
Claire, a young woman living
under the oppressive authority of her stern older sister, struggles for
independence. When her brother's ghost pays her a chilling visit in the
middle of the night, Claire considers what it may take to finally live
on her own terms.
Maya Anand - Attending
USA / 2012, 17 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 1:00pm
Three men. One night. A crime
that would sever their friendships but connect them to each other for
life. After spending the last fifteen years trying to deny it, they will
finally be forced to revisit the one night that changed their lives.
Facing a lengthy prison sentence, RUSS MAHLER, a career criminal armed
with a destructive secret, blackmails the only man that can get him off
the hook, Manhattan District Attorney GRAHAM SEIFERT, whose Chief of
Staff EVAN MIDLAND is called upon to facilitate a resolution.
Michael Wolfe - Attending
USA / 2011, 93 mins
Friday, December 7 / 3:00pm
In 1971, during Bangladesh’s
war of independence, Meher falls in love with a soldier from the enemy
side. When her love is In 1971, during Bangladesh’s war of independence,
Meher falls in love with a soldier from the enemy side. When her love
is discovered, she is shamed and silenced by her family and society.
Rubaiyat Hossain
Bangladesh / 2011, 120 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 11:00am
Mission of Mermaids is about
the current state of the ocean. Ms. Rockefeller takes a radically
personal approach in the film, based on her deep love and concern for
the seas. She invokes a mythical and spiritual connection, using the
metaphor of the mermaid, as well as describing dire facts: ocean
acidification, over-fishing, and pollution. This personal approach
offers a powerful way to open a dialogue about changing the human
relationship to the sea, knitting our past reverence for the natural
world with our understanding of the urgent need to change course. Also
present in the film are many ocean stewards, artists and activists who
advocate change and educate the public on making choices in their daily
lives to improve the health of the ocean.
Susan Rockefeller
USA / 2012, 15 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
MR. SOPHISTICATION is the story
of Ron Waters, a controversial comedian in the vein of Richard Pryor or
Lenny Bruce, who is having a second chance at fame and love.
Danny Green - Attending
USA / 2012, 97 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 4:15pm
After living in American for
many years, Jian Ping finally finds the courage to write 'Mulberry
Child', a book about her traumatic childhood during Mao's Cultural
Revolution in China. A time when millions had their lives destroyed and
their reputations ruined. Jian's father, Hou Kai, a high ranking
government official, was one of those people. Sadly, Jian's American
raised daughter Lisa has little interest in her Chinese roots or her
mother's memoirs. But during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Lisa travels
with her mother to China to visit her dying grandfather ,Hou Kai. It is
on that journey that LIsa finally reads' Mulberry Child' and finds that
her mother's past haunts her own future.
Susan Morgan Cooper - Attending
China, USA / 2012, 85 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 12:00pm
Sunday, December 9 / 3:00pm
As young boys; Found object
sculptor JACK and his brother VINCENT witnessed the brutal murder of
their parents. Twenty years later, the man convicted of the crime is
released from prison and is found stabbed to death shortly after his
release. Who killed the killer? All signs point to Vincent who battles
the demons of mental illness and sleep paralysis – a condition that
blurs the line between the real and unreal. To protect his brother, Jack
is forced to confront his own demons and uncover the painful truth of
what really happened on the night of his parents murder.
Stephen Dest - Attending
USA / 2012, 87 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 2:45pm
Gibbon, raised by his
overprotective mother and aunt, has never been outside. After
discovering a take-out menu in the foyer, he begins to wonder what it
means to become a man and see the world. On the anniversary of his
grandfather's death, Lucy, an unexpected visitor arrives. Gibbon falls
instantly in love at this first sign of the outside world.
Charles Rogers
USA / 2012, 12 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
PEARL, based on the poem of the
same name by former US Poet Laureate, Ted Kooser, tells the story of a
mid-western poet (Dan Butler) bringing news of his mother's passing to
her cousin and childhood playmate, Pearl (Frances Sternhagen). When
Pearl confides some unsettling news of her own, the visit turns in
unexpected direction. PEARL is a tender story of people struggling to
navigate life's transitions.
Dan Butler
USA / 2012, 17 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 2:00pm
Best friends Paulie and Harry
are enjoying a leisurely round of golf on the local links. Their slow
pace of play, however, frustrates the group behind them. When a ball is
hit at Paulie from behind, a breach of etiquette quickly escalates into
a dangerous conflict. Trapped in a sand bunker, the two close friends
confront their adversary as well as long-standing issues with their own
relationship.
Paul Wagner
USA / 2012, 12 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
Mariam is instructed by her
doctor to sunbathe in order to reverse the vitamin D deficiency that is
causing her a bone illness. But with nosy neighbors, an overbearing
sister-in-law and Israeli surveillance planes, private moments under the
sun are precious and rare.
Rami Alayan
Palestine / 2012, 25 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 2:00pm
Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred are
in a home for retired opera singers. Every year, on October 10, there is
a concert to celebrate Verdi's birthday and they take part. Jean, who
used to be married to Reggie, arrives at the home and disrupts their
equilibrium. She still acts like a diva, but she refuses to sing. Still,
the show must go on... and it does.
Dustin Hoffman
UK /USA / 2012, 100 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 6:30pm
On Nelson Mandela's birthday,
photographer Scott McDermott captured famous faces – e.g. Clint
Eastwood, Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman - raising hands to pledge to
improve their planet. In Kelly's film, writer Elliot Kotek ponders the
experiences behind these simple gestures - war, peace, violence,
freedom, fame, disease - and considers the impact of these hands on our
environment.
Elliot V. Kotek
US/Ireland / 2011, 8 mins
Friday, December 7 / 8:00pm
"Red, Amber, Green" depicts the
lives of three Jamaican teenage boys struggling to make ends meet on
the difficult streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Making a living primarily as
vehicle window washers and street vending when cars stop for traffic
lights, they hustle to take advantage of every opportunity, including
entertainment. These friends, by virtue of the 'yielding forces' of
traffic lights to provide their 'bread and butter', have incorporated
these colors into their lives as a quick reminder of how to deal with
their daily struggles, including learning and growing from each other,
and even finding a way to help those less fortunate.
Chritopher Byfield
Jamaica / 2012, 18 mins
Friday, December 7 / 3:00pm
Spread over a single weekend in
present-day Cincinnati, this debut feature from Brandon Harris,
unabashedly influenced by John Cassavetes’s “Husbands,” dives into
shared grief with candor and a refreshing curiosity. Reuniting three
childhood friends for the funeral of a fourth, the film is a riveting
portrait of young men in shock and in mourning as the tragedy stirs
feelings that have long lain dormant. As the men distract themselves
with batting cages and pool tables, women and cocaine, the actors never
flinch from dialogue so raw and close-ups so clinging that they have
nowhere to hide." - Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times.
Brandon Harris - Attending
USA / 2012, 67 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 9:00pm
Sunday, December 9 / 4:00pm
In 428AD, Bodhi, a Southern
India prince became a Buddhist monk and set off for China, earning a
hallowed reputation as a mystical martial artist. Following his death,
his remains mysteriously disappeared. Hundreds of years later, Zhang, a
high-ranking court official, is assassinated by Drizzle. Zhang's son
Jingxiu, whilst mourning his father's death, is assailed by a group
assassins.
John Woo
China / 2011, 117 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 5:00pm
Rising from Ashes” is a feature
length documentary about two worlds colliding when cycling legend Jock
Boyer moves to Rwanda, Africa to help a group of struggling genocide
survivors pursue their dream of a national team. As they set out against
impossible odds both Jock and the team find new purpose as they rise
from the ashes of their past.
T.C. Johnstone - Attending
Rwanda, South Africa, United Kingdom / 2012, 80 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:15pm
Friday, December 7 / 3:30pm
For the last 900 years, every
Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday the residents of the quiet English town
of Ashbourne have come out to play a crazy game of football. The goals
are three miles apart and streets, rivers, tunnels, fields and 5000
people lie between them. If you are born north of the river you are an
Up'ard and south a Down'ard, and on these two days the town is split by
fierce but friendly rivalry, where families are divided and friends
become foe. The only thing that matters is getting the ball to the goal.
Joanne Postlewaite
UK / 2012, 47 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 4:00pm
A director and playwright
spends a summer out in the country with his girlfriend and his brother.
He tries to write a play for them to star in, but he becomes more and
more jealous, and all he can think about is his girlfriend and his
brother together. When they try to rehearse what he has written his
demons finally take over.
Hans Montelius - Attending
Sweden / 2012, 12 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
SHE examines the lives of
several female impersonators living in the CaribbeanDuring the annual
Ms. Drag Bahamas beauty contest,Kevin Taylor and Kareem Mortimer speak
to several drag performers and transgendered.
Kareem Mortimer - Attending
Bahamas / 2012, 8 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
Sole is a compulsive binge eater who looks through
her window at Jasmine her perfect and pretty neighbor. Sole is compelled
to try to make friends but Jasmine is completely resistant.
Tchaiko Omawale
USA / 2012, 13 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 1:00pm
Sarah and Riley have been best friends ever since he was four and she was six years old. For just over a decade they lived in a globe of bliss. Unfortunately, for a year their world of ecstasy has been rotating like a counter-clockwise timepiece. Nonetheless, the duo endeavors to flee from sadistic forces that reside outside of a once deserted room of a previously eminent building. In the contrary, Riley is unable to escape, for in the time of darkness shrieking sound of ill-fated sous continuously penetrate the walls of the room as well as the dreams of his precious slumber. When awaken by the howling of his parents, Riley seeks consolation from Sarah who is capable of enduring the eerie weeping of her late grandmother.
Will Robinson
Bahamas / 2012, 1 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:15pm
Friday, December 7 / 3:30pm
»Read More
Christian is a Copenhagen wine seller on the brink of bankruptcy.
Equally unsuccessful in just about every other aspect of life, it has
been 17months since his wife Anna left him. Anna works as a soccer agent
in Buenos Aires and now lives a life of luxury with Argentina's top
player Juan Diaz. Then one day Christian and their 16-year-old son Oscar
get on a plane to Buenos Aires. Christian arrives under the pretense of
wanting to sign the divorce papers, but in truth, he wants to try to
win Anna back.
Ole Christian Madsen
Denmark / 2011, 99 mins
Friday, December 7 / 4:30pm
Nearly a decade after
deportation from the United States, Inspector Boniface Koomsin (Yao B.
Nunoo) makes the last payment on a “perfect” counterfeit passport, only
to have it stolen. Desperate to recover it, Boniface enlists the
resources of the police on the pretense of a stolen pistol, and follows a
tip to the capital city of Accra and the counterfeiter who crafted the
fake document. In Accra, Chief Inspector Oscar Darko (Fred Amugi), who
is investigating an armed robbery, intercepts Boniface. Both believe
their cases are connected. Together, they follow a lead to casino
hostess Serwah Bimpong (Abena Takyi), who refuses to cooperate.
Deron Albright - Attending
Ghana / 2012, 89 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 5:00pm
THE IRAN JOB follows American
basketball player Kevin Sheppard as he accepts a job to play in one of
the world’s most feared countries: Iran. With tensions running high
between Iran and the West, Kevin tries to separate sports from politics
only to find that politics is impossible to escape in Iran.
Till Schauder - Attending
USA, Iran, Germany / 2012, 80 mins
Friday, December 7 / 6:00pm
The Phantom Father (Tatal Fantoma)
The stranger than paradise”
Robert Traum meets in front of „Cinema Paradiso” with Sami-the
projectionist after an adventurous, mysterious and funny journey, to
finally find love. Unique, yet symbolic, this is the story of an
American professor who is compelled to turn his back on a successful
career and get on the road that takes him through danger, the unknown
and the surreal, back to the roots to reclaim his identity. The quest
takes the hero, masterfully portrayed by Peter Greenaway and Francis
Ford Coppola actor Marcel Iures, back to the Old World that rewards our
traveler with a double love story. On the one hand he finds romantic
love, on the other the passion for old cinema, nomad, popular, naïve and
generous.
Lucian Georgescu
Romania / 2011, 90 mins
Friday, December 7 / 1:00pm
The Sapphires - Closing Night Film
1968 was the year that changed
the world. And for four young Aboriginal sisters from a remote mission
this is the year that would change their lives forever. Around the
globe, there was protest and revolution in the streets. Indigenous
Australians finally secured the right to vote. There were drugs and the
shock of a brutal assassination. And there was Vietnam. The sisters,
Cynthia, Gail, Julie and Kay are discovered by Dave, a talent scout with
a kind heart, very little rhythm but a great knowledge of soul music.
Billed as Australia's answer to 'The Supremes', Dave secures the sisters
their first true gig, and fly's them to Vietnam to sing for the
American troops. Based on a true story, THE SAPPHIRES is a triumphant
celebration of youthful emotion, family and music.
Wayne Blair
Australia / 2012, 103 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 6:30pm
Luke, 25, is autistic and has
lived a sheltered life with his grandparents. But his world is turned
upside down when his grandmother dies and he is forced to live with his
dysfunctional relatives who have no patience for him or his senile
grandfather, who they quickly force into a nursing home. Luke is left
with his grandfather’s final semi-coherent words: “Get a job. Find a
girl. Live your own life. Be a man!” For the first time in his life,
Luke has a mission. He is about to embark on a quest.
Alonso Mayo
Canada / 2012, 90 mins
Friday, December 7 / 12:30pm
Saturday, December 8 / 11:00am
The gruesome death of Jed, a
new American arrival in Taiwan, shakes the Ex-pat community. Floundering
kindergarten teachers and fledgling mag editors “Country” Simon (24)
and Darin “the Barbarian” (28) decide to give the corpse a proper
burial.
Mark Jarrett - Attending
USA, Taiwan / 2012, 95 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 4:00pm
Friday, December 7 / 10:00pm
This Ain't California is a celebration of the lust
for life, a contemporary documentary trip into the world of roller
boarding in the German Democratic Republic. A coming-of-age tale of
three teenagers and their passionate love for a sport on the crumbling
tarmac of the streets in the German Democratic Republic, which was
considered very ill-fitting. The punk fairy tale is a story of the
subversive powers of fun in that part of Germany, which had lost touch
with its citizens.The film follows its three heroes from their childhood
in the seventies through their teenage rebellion in the eighties,
ending in the last summer of their life in the German Democratic
Republic in 1989, when their life changed forever. And follows them to
2011.
Marten Persiel
Germany / , 90 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 1:15pm
Saturday, December 8 / 11:00am
'Thugs, The Musical' is a faux
documentary about Michael Gardner, a mediocre, slightly delusional,
'non-urban' black actor in Hollywood. After years of auditioning but not
being considered 'black enough' to be cast in any of the stereotypical
roles that his fellow black actors have been getting (the Gangsta, the
fast-talking Sidekick, the doomed Black Guy at the party in the horror
movie), Michael decides to write, direct and star in his own theater
production - an epically bad play called 'Thugs, The Musical!' - to show
Hollywood (and the world) that he, too, can 'act black.'
Liam Sullivan
USA / 2012, 25 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 3:00pm
A middle-aged man named Antwan
struggles with depression. He used to be a famous lute player, and his
wife a world-renowned ballerina. Now he lives in a small French village
in Provence. Him and his wife have a past that is full of music, dance
and art, but it is hidden deep under the surface of their current lives.
Villagers, including the town Priest, try and get him involved with
life again, but have failed time and time over. It is only when an old
friend and musician appears in the village, that something changes in
Antwan.
Sophie Kohn and Feike Santbergen- Attending
Netherlands / USA / 2012, 17 mins
Friday, December 7 / 1:00pm
When their luxurious tour bus
breaks down, budding hip-hop group Travis Porter becomes stranded in the
remote town of Red Rock. After the bus driver witnesses a horrific
crime, the group discovers the town's deadly secrets & they must
escape by any means necessary.
Ryan Lightbourn - Attending
Bahamas, USA / 2012, 20 mins
Friday, December 7 / 9:15pm
Does love conquer all? Through
one brief phone conversation, Tu & Eu follows several star-crossed
lovers around the world whose differences have put their long time love
affair at a critical impasse.
Edward Shieh
Portugal / 2011, 15 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 2:00pm
Produced by an Academy Award-winning team including
the Executive Producer of Taxi to the Dark Side and the Editor of Inside
Job, UPRISING tells the inside story of the Egyptian revolution from
the perspective of its principal leaders and organizers, including four
Nobel Peace Prize nominees. Their success in forcing the downfall of a
brutal dictatorship has changed the face of the Middle East and provided
hope for millions of oppressed people across the world. Above all, it
is a story of profound hope, of courage rewarded, of a people who beat
back a police state and threw off the shackles of decades of degradation
and oppression.
Fredrik Stanton - Attending
Egypt, USA / 2012, 84 mins
Saturday, December 8 / 3:00pm
A feature docu film of a person who for 10 years nail himself in the cross every holy week, but for faith or just for show?
Jarell M. Serencio
Philippines / 2012, 15 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 11:00am
Kelly J Richardson
Brazil / 2012, 60 mins
Thursday, December 6 / 11:30am
Sunday, December 9 / 3:00pm
Womanish Ways, Freedom & Democracy
Five Bahamian women – Mary
Ingraham, Georgiana Symonette, Mabel Walker, Eugenia Lockhart and Dr.
Doris Johnson – led the Women’s Suffrage Movement in The Bahamas. The
journey to female enfranchisement spanned more than a decade, and took
place alongside the dramatic backdrop of the Burma Road Riots in 1942,
the General Strike in 1958, the Labour Movement of the 1950s and the
quest for Majority Rule. Bahamian women voted for the first time on
November 26th 1962.
Marion Bethel, Maria Govan - Attending
Bahamas / 2012, 80 mins
Friday, December 7 / 1:30pm
Saturday, December 8 / 1:15pm
Expectations and reality clash
in this compelling and eerie drama that follows the ups and downs of a
casual one night stand. Liu and Yan go out one evening in search of a
physical release. Like most college students, Liu is eager and open to
meeting girls and hitting on them at the local bar. But he gets much
more than he bargained for when he uses a popular pickup method to
attract the attention of the older, mysterious Yan. What first starts as
a flirtatious game of cat and mouse quickly escalates into a real one
night stand.
Michael Thai
China / 2012, 16 mins
Sunday, December 9 / 2:00pm
»Read More
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