FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 - Innis Town Hall

Friday, October 1, 2010 - Innis Town Hall - Room 222

PROGRAM 2 – 7:00PM – 8:35PM

This Town – 4m, U S A

Directed by: Randy Scott Slavin
Smoking, drinking, and hanging out. Another day in the life of suburban teens except today they plot their 'escape.'

Kenosis – 9m, U S A

Directed by: Stephen Riehl

A writer suddenly awakes in the middle of the night. Inspiration has struck and he must follow its lead. He works through the night on what will be his masterpiece only to find that it will come at a price.

Working It Out – 6m, Canada

Directed by: Michael Welfle, Lucas Santo

Seven years ago Reza Poursaheh, along with two older sisters move to Canada while their parents remain back home in Iran. With only an annual visit from his father, and no contact with his mother, Reza has difficulty adjusting to a new lifestyle in upper-class suburban Oakville, Ontario. Reza enters the competitive world of bodybuilding in the hopes of working on his self-confidence and finding a community in which he can gain acceptance. At age nineteen Reza has already become the number one junior bodybuilder in Ontario. In addition Reza meets Marilyn Meunier, a figure model at a bodybuilding show and enters into a relationship with her. Reza seems to have accomplished his goal but he is still feeling a void. While his sisters move on with their lives and his relationship with Marilyn ends, Reza continues his search for stability and a sense of belonging.

Staubkaskade – 7m, Germany

Directed by: Stefan Pautze

In fact, fractals are nothing new. As colorful illustrations they have been appearing in media for many years. But there is more behind this. Fractals provide the mathematical tool set to describe the complex structures of nature. They even might represent one of its main principles. The easiest way towards understanding them is to start experimenting oneself. For this reason the Koch-Curve was modified and translated into a computer program, to form a tool to search for the grown, living, alien shape.
There are no poetic concepts behind the project's name. 'Dust' is the mathematical description for a set of non-connected points. The cascade is a synonym for the principle of recursion, the basic technique behind the created computer program.

Sudden Death – 9m, Canada

Directed by: Michael Welfle, Lucas Santo
Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome is a genetic heart disorder characterized by an abnormal heart rhythm, which can predispose a young person to a sudden cardiac death. Sudden Death follows the life of two families tragically affected by the disorder.
Alex Corrance was an enthusiastic, energetic kid finishing up his final year of studies at Oakville Trafalgar High School. A promising hockey player, Alex died suddenly on the ice during one of his hockey tournaments. After his death, his mother Debbie was tested and subsequently diagnosed with one of the SADS conditions. Sadly, she passed on the gene to Alex. Ginelle Johnston is an 18-year-old Queen’s University Student whose father died suddenly while water-skiing. Ginelle was diagnosed with Long QT syndrome, a form of SADS. In an attempt to deal with the heartbreaking death of her father, she poured herself into her hockey to help her cope. Unfortunately, and because of the disorder, she has not been able to continue. Ginelle now lives with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, which allows her to live a relatively normal life and which will hopefully save her life should her heart suddenly stop beating. Alex’s parents and Ginelle Johnston both work with the Canadian SADS foundation to help raise awareness about the SADS conditions and educate the public on the warning signs of these disorders.

Mozambique – 14m, U S A

Directed by: Alcides Soares

Alcides Soares is a sixteen-year-old AIDS orphan, one of half a million living in Mozambique today. An American television writer (Neal Baer) and movie director (Chris Zalla) gave Alcides a movie camera and taught him how to shoot. The result is a moving chronicle directed by Alcides himself. His journey to find a family and make a new life in a country that has been ravaged by AIDS is a story repeated millions of times everyday throughout Africa. As Alcides's story unfolds, we meet the orphans of Reencontro, an organization in Moputo that provides these children with bare sustenance. The Reencontro orphans were also taught photography by a group of American and Mozambican photographers and provided with still cameras so they could tell their own stories about the impact of AIDS on their lives. Their pictures, sometimes tragic, often hopeful and always honest, appear throughout 'MOZAMBIQUE' as a reminder that these children's voices must be heard. In telling his story, Alcides finds an elderly woman to live with and, unexpectedly, is reunited with his younger brother whom he hasn't seen in ten years. AIDS tears families apart, but the resilience of children like Alcides can make new families out of tragedy.

Within Sight of Shore – 44m, Canada

Directed by: Ian Macmillan

On April 16th 1945, HMCS Esquimalt, a Canadian Minesweeper led by Captain Robert C. Macmillan, became the last Canadian ship sunk in the Second World War. Torpedoed off the coast of Nova Scotia, those that survived the blast were stranded for 61⁄2 hours in the ice-cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, leaving only 27 of the 71-man crew alive. As the son of her captain, Halifax-based composer Scott Macmillan has a particular interest in the story of HMCS Esquimalt, and as Musician-in-Residence of the 2007/2008 St. Cecilia Concert Series, he commemorated the event with an original composition. Having never had the opportunity to meet his grandfather, filmmaker Ian Macmillan, Scott’s son, joins his father in seeking to answer his own questions regarding the tragedy. From the lens of a camera, Ian watches Scott meld research with a unique creative vision and lay the groundwork for his composition.
Narrated by R.H. Thomson, WITHIN SIGHT OF SHORE tells a great Canadian war story from a uniquely Atlantic Canadian perspective, as music and family celebrate a ship, a captain and the legacy left behind.

PROGRAM 3 – 8:50PM – 10:30PM

Anything – 4m, U S A

Directed by: Lynne Jacobellis

'Anything' is a short music video featuring singer/songwriter Alison Coster. A narrative, the plot follows a young girl who dreams to become a singer, but struggles with stage fright and pitch. With the support of her mother - telling her she can be 'anything,' she eventually returns to her dreams as an adult and proves that you can, in fact, be 'anything you want in this world.'

Anthony Part One – 5m, Canada

Directed by: Ryan Alexander
Contemporary dance with a hip-hop influence are fused together with visual effects achieved through optical printing.

Beneath The Falls – 7m, Canada

Directed by: Chris De Rosa

Niagara Falls has been called the honeymoon capital of the Canada but many people are unaware that Niagara Falls is also the suicide capital of the Canada - an average of 15 suicides each year. Wes Hill Jr. devoted his entire life to the Niagara River, he has been called the 'Niagara River Man' and said to have had an 'encyclopedic knowledge' of the river. During his lifetime, Wes recovered an estimated 500 bodies from the Niagara Gorge. The story follows Dave Hill, Wes's youngest son, as he tells the story of his father's legacy.

Linger – 15m, Singapore

Directed by: Beeli Sim
A phone call from an unknown woman; abandoned pots and pans; an old newspaper cutting that reveals an unfulfilled wish - Ming tries to cope with life after her mother’s death but realizes that the past constantly echoes and that grieving knows no bounds.
Autobiographical and based on real life events, LINGER touches on the theme of loss, grief and self-salvation. It depicts the process of grieving that a daughter and her father have to go through in the shadows of a sudden loss. As both characters grieve in their own ways, they are forced to face the past, their regrets and eventually, each other.

Frugal – 9m, Canada

Directed by: Ryan Alexander, Ian Daly
Kimberly Clancy, owner of Frugalshopper.ca is just that - a frugal shopper. Everything She buys, she buys with a coupon... and I mean everything! There is a subculture in Canada, connected via the Internet, of avid deal hunters. These people convene on Kimberly's website, where they post, search for, and share coupons and information about sales. The website has over ten thousand registered users, and counting. The film follows the economically savvy Kimberly, and the driven and enthusiastic Frugalshopper member Mary Frances-Davis as they scavenge the isles of their local grocery store for the best deals. They search with growing intensity until they come to the checkout, where we see just how much money can be saved... and the results speak for themselves!

The Greater Meaning of Water – 56m, U S A

Directed by: Sky Christopherson
Freediver Max Avery (Justin Flint Williford) journeys to his inner-most depths as he pursues competitive freediving as a relief from a chronic lung disease. Yet his passion for the extreme sport is widening a rift between him and his father (Mark Brunetti), a physician, who fears his son's risky descents will cost him his life. As Max trains for a world record attempt, he must convince his father that freediving is the key to finding freedom from his disease. Written and directed by Sky Christopherson, former Olympic cyclist to communicate the experience of 'Flow', a term used by sports psychologists to describe exceptional mental states during training and competition.