Festivals

Friday, November 13, 2009

6:00 p.m.
Just Off Sunset
Director: Frank Zagottis
12 minutes
Best Narrative Short

Sultry nightclub singer Sweetheart has been workin’ overtime to support her struggling screenwriter boyfriend, Joe, hoping one of his screenplays will sell, star her and lead to the fame and fortune her ambition craves. Joe decides he’s had enough of Hollywood, wants to move back to the Midwest and take her with him, but to get his screenplay produced she gives in to the lustful desires of her sleazy bad-boy nightclub boss, whose father runs a major studio. Lust, greed and ambition create a dangerous and twisted mix not seen in the Hollywood on the big screen… But is always found just off Sunset.

 

6:20 p.m.
Fire Cry: What Hip Hop Means to Me
Director: Vanessa Salomon
13 minutes
Best Documentary Short

Hip hop is more than just a trend – to these three dancers it's their way of life.

 

 

6:30 p.m.
Awards Ceremony and
Panel Discussion: “Now I Have a Film, What Do I Do?”

Panelists:
Ben Sinclair
Ben Sinclair has been working with Current TV as a Viewer Created Ad-Message (VCAM) outreach associate for the bulk of 2009.  His outreach has afforded him the opportunity to forge connections with burgeoning, talented filmmakers all over New York City. Ben, also an actor and filmmaker himself, spends his free-time creating humorous short videos with his collective, OnlyOkayLooking Films.



Dorothy Thigpen
For the past ten years, Dorothy Thigpen has been the Executive Director of Third World Newsreel, a non-profit media education, production and distribution organization. She was formerly the Director of Production Services at Women Make Movies from 1992 to 1998.  In addition to her career as a media arts administrator, she has worked in various capacities in film and digital video production. 



Joanna Lagstein
Joanna Lagstein is currently a Manager of Ad Sales Marketing at Current.  Day-to-day, she works to bridge the gap between advertisers/sales and producers/editorial. She develops new, exciting ideas for brands that wish to work with Current and producers that want to gain exposure. She began her career in radio, with Clear Channel and spent the past few years working on creating original branded content for MTV, mtvU, and MTV Tr3s. She has worked on popular programs such as The Rotten Tomatoes Show, The Hills, Tila Tequila, TRL, and many others. She is also a writer and producer for ADD4TV, a series of short skits being produced in NYC.  

 

8:10 p.m.
Display Devices
Directed by David Finkelstein
25 minutes

Based on a completely improvised performance, Display Devices imagines a pixilated universe, in which tiny rectangles of pure color combine into images which display coded messages of gender, philosophy, and urgent personal visions.

 

 

8:40 p.m.
The Trip
Directed by Sean Folkl
5 Minutes
Best Experimental

A hallucinogenic chase within a man’s own conscience. What is real?

 

8:50 p.m.
Prospect Park, Clearing
Directed by Bob DeNatale
6 minutes

Butoh, the modern dance form that began in Japan fifty years ago, emphasizes the state of mind of the performer.  The butoh dancer strives for an egoless, intentionless mind and an open, receptive body.  Three butoh dancers improvise in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, highlighting the moments of transition between casual, daily consciousness and the butoh consciousness.

 

9:00 p.m.
Birthright: Mothering Across Difference
Directed by Celine Parrenas-Shimizu
75 minutes
Best Professional Documentary Feature

Tremendously the work of women in the United States, mothering is understudied, undervalued and underrepresented. Birthright captures the everyday demands a diversity of new mothers face. In becoming mothers, women forge alliances and connections in order to survive the everyday demands that eat them up as well as fuel them with joy.

 

Saturday, November 14, 2009

12:00 p.m.
No Identity
Directed by Zahra Fazli
65 minutes

In contemporary Iran, a country where sexuality is monitored and sometimes criticized, there are some people who favor their own gender for relationships. Are they abnormal? Are they different? Are they real people? One filmmaker sets out to see what is hidden from view… who in Iran has no identity.

 

1:10 p.m.
Avenue of the Immigrants
Directed by Nina S. Matter
30 minutes

The idea of this short documentary was to question the reality and power of the American Dream through the experiences of two young French immigrants living in New York City.

 

 

1:50 p.m.
The Weight of Emptiness
Directed by Sean Folkl
11 minutes

Life’s contrasts. Tragedies. A favorite place. A boy and girl in love.

 

 

2:10 p.m.
A Different Conversation
Directed by Lindsay Emery and Jonathan Cross
50 minutes

A Different Conversation explores the experiences of college students on a trip to Jerusalem. Drawing from multiple religious and cultural backgrounds, these students generate individual and collective narratives as to how religion is both relevant and alive today. Within the context of Jerusalem’s political tensions, the students explore interfaith dialogue and the interactions of the many religious traditions that inhabit this sacred space.

 

3:00 p.m.
Industry Workshop, Financing

KEVIN R. FRECH – DIRECTOR / CO-PRODUCER
Kevin R. Frech is the director of “Bowery Dish,” which explores the connection between trendy restaurants and gentrification on skid row.  The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, played at the Sao Paolo International Film Festival, and currently shows on the Sundance Channel. Kevin’s writing credits include “On The Borderline,” a Lion’s Gate release starring Eric Mabius (“Ugly Betty”) Elizabeth Pena (“Lone Star”) and R. Lee Ermey (“Full Metal Jacket”).  He has won screenwriting awards for works such as “Three Blind Mice” and “Mean Time.” Kevin’s video design work for theater includes “Christine Jorgensen Reveals,” Dodger Stages, East to Edinburgh Festival as well as winning an EDDY award for design excellence for “Blue Man Group: Live at Luxor,” Luxor Theater, Las Vegas. 

 

5:00 p.m.
Vitreous Floaters
Directed by Justin Jones
76 minutes

Follow several young adults in this authentic, immersive look at college life as they test the boundaries of their relationships and use love and sex as means to an end.  They just might be able to get what they're after, if only each could figure out what exactly that is.

 

6:20 p.m.
HER
Directed by Michael Santana
56 minutes

Nine year-old Natalia Mercado is taken in the night by the famous Legend of La Llorona while camping with her mother. There are no witnesses nor leads in the case, prompting ghost researcher Adrian Vasquez to investigate on his own - from a paranormal angle.  Mayhem ensues as the team pokes and prods around Lake Brody looking for an answer.

 

7:30 p.m.
EMMY
Directed by Ken Cohen
8 minutes

In this fast-moving horror short, Tess, an athletic bicyclist, and her grumpy boyfriend Brent, find themselves seeking help from a quiet, lonely religious man and begin to suspect that there are some dark secrets hidden in the walls of his house.



7: 45 p.m.
The Shoot
Directed by Nina S. Matter
13 minutes

She is attacked by the tool that should have provided her greatest exposure to the world; he came to think that he was all powerful because he controlled people’s image as if it was their soul. The virtual world of representation eventually replaces reality in the mind of those who are too close to it.

 

8:05 p.m.
Ukiyo
Directed by Mei-chun Kuan
16 minutes

Love! Who knows how it happens and ends? Ukiyo – Japanese for “floating world” – is about the three stages of a romance between a man and a woman presented in dances. Affection, agony and isolation occur in relationships when people fall in love.

 

8:30 p.m.
I.Q.
Directed by Aaron and Austin Keeling
80 minutes

Principal Thompson, under pressure to raise his student’s grades, turns to a mysterious product, NCLB240, which promises miraculous results.  When five students test these “vitamins,” they display immediate improvements.  But, as the pills are distributed throughout the school and as time dwindles, Thompson is forced to take drastic measures exposing the truth behind NCLB240.


 

2006

Big Mini DV Film Festival 2006 Winners

Best Experimental:
Libera, Jeff Denis.

Best Documentary Long:
10 Days in Malawi,Brian Ekdale.

Best Documentary Short:
Sleuthing Mary Shanley, Patrick Mullins.

Best Narrative Short:
Detroit: Not For Wimps, Leigh Richert.

Special Recognition Docudrama:
No Retreat From Destiny: The Battle That Rescued Washington, Kevin R. Hershberger.

Guest Speaker

Allan Brown

Alan BrownEmmy and ACE award winning cinematographer Allan Brown, has been a moving force within the industry for almost 17 years.  “Big Al,” as he is known by his friends and colleagues, is widely regarded as a Hi-Definition video expert by his peers.  He is also a co-founder and partner of Silverback Digital Productions (SDP) which produces digital, hi-definition 24P, 1080i and 720P video imagery.

As part of SDP, Allan recently served for the third straight year as the technical director for Banco Poplars annual Christmas DVD/CD project.  Some of SDP’s other clients Ford Fiesta, CBS, ABC, BET, Listerine and Adidas to name a few. SDP is currently finalizing the edit of its first self-produced TV pilot.

In addition to his work with SDP, Allan also served as HD Production Specialist on the recently released theatrical presentation, “Martin and Orloff”, an independent “film” and on three others, all yet to be released.

Allan continues to freelance with major television networks in order to keep his finger on the pulse of the ever-evolving television industry.  Allan views his fieldwork as essential to his personal learning cycle.

Judging Panel

Allan Brown
Audrey Bernstein
Maureen Nappi
Matt Waugh
Rodney Hurley
Hans Dudelheim
Lynn Hassan
Larry Banks

Festival Director:
Larry Banks

Assistant Festival Director:
Sonya Brown

Festival Creator and University Liaison:
Kevin Lauth

Screening Schedule

4:00PM FRIDAY NOVEMBER 10 2006

4:00PM - No Retreat From Destiny: The Battle That Rescued Washington, Kevin R. Hershberger (01:46:00) Docudrama.
Synopsis: The true story of the Confederacy�s last invasion and the attack on Washington, DC.

5:50PM - Sleuthing Mary Shanley, Patrick Mullins (00:23:00) Documentary Short.
Synopsis: A historical family documentary about a celebrated undercover New York City Policewomen.

6:15PM - Quantum Words, Gil Dekel (00:01:42) Experimental.
Synopsis: The Quantum power of words to affect our physical reality.

6:20PM - Life, Expression College for Digital Arts C/O William Craig (00:06:00) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: The length of a father’s love.

6:30PM - AWARD CEREMONY & SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER

8:30PM - Libera, Jeff Denis (00:13:00) Experimental.
Synopsis: Bizarre ritual of a middle-aged man.

8:45PM - 10 Days in Malawi , Brian Ekdale (00:51:00) Documentary Long.
Synopsis: Medical volunteers witness Malawi’s beauty and despair face-to-face.

9:40PM - Detroit: Not Fort Wimps, Leigh Richert (00:17:45) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: A hilarious comedy about kids from Detroit back in the late 70s.

12:00PM SATURDAY NOVEMBER 11 2006

12:00PM - York Street, Jason Cusato (01:36:00) Experimental.
Synopsis: Sometimes inspiration finds you.

1:40PM - Mohawk Wash, Manfred Merchan (00:24:00) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: Two friends come across the dead body of an illegal immigrant.

2:05PM - Buddy Nunziata, Stephen M. Bono (00:03:00) Documentary Short.
Synopsis: Buddy Nunziata, a true New York character, unknowingly spreading good will everyday.

2:10PM - Tough Luck, Alexander Lewis (00:05:23) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: Two young superheroes find things out the hard way.

2:15PM - Home Permanent, Bruce N. Taylor (00:29:00) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: Split ends, broken dreams.

2:45PM WORKSHOP AND BREAK UNTIL 5:00PM

5:00PM - The Good Coffee House Music Parlor, Joe Coppa (00:28:00) Documentary Short.
Synopsis: A documentary about an acoustic music venue in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

5:30PM - Invisible, David Khachatorian (00:11:50) Experimental.
Synopsis: A convenience store clerk works on New Year’s Eve over the course of three consecutive years.

5:45PM - Inheritance, Expression College for Digital Arts C/O William Craig (00:09:30) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: A man rents a room in a large house where he investigates strange sounds.

5:55PM SHORT BREAK

6:05PM - The Birth of Serfs, Mirco Chen (00:41:17) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: Toby Kepler’s world is ending, but so is everyone elses.

6:50PM - Thick & Thin, Jordan Canning (00:25:00) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: Sometimes home is the last place you want to be.

7:15PM - One by 1, Jason Clarke (00:10:00) Narrative Short.
Synopsis: The future looks like you and me.

7:25PM - Visions Revealed, Yasmin Mistry (00:01:12) Experimental.
Synopsis: An experimental, animated video designed to raise awareness of non-verbal language.

7:30PM - The Luring, Dawn A. Gilardi (00:09:00) Experimental.
Synopsis: They won’t be leaving, but their organs will . . .

2005

Winners

Best
Narrative (Short)

Julieta y Ramon
running time: 16:45
by: Hugo Perez

Best
Documentary

Dope Sick Love
running time: 92:00
by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud

Best
Experimental

Sugar in Wartime
running time: 3:00
By: David Presley

Julia Mintz
(Producer/Post Production Supervisor)

File written by Adobe Photoshop® 4.0

Award winning Creative Director and accomplished visual artist, Julia Mintz, co-founder of Full Res Productions, spends her career focusing on the marriage of new technology and design.   Ms. Mintz began her forays into digital media at Tape House Interactive in New York City: producing websites, enhanced CD-ROMS and interactive media art designs.

At the Advanced Imaging Center for Tape House, Julia worked as a Senior High Definition Producer where many of the first high definition projects in the U.S. were completed.  Her experience in High Definition culminated her with the first nation-wide High Definition Broadcast.  Ms. Mintz’s relationship with NASA and NHK Enterprises produced multi-camera High Definition coverage of shuttle missions STS 92, STS 99, and STS 105 with complete Surround Sound coverage.

Julia has taught numerous seminars on HD Production and Post: HD EXPO Workshops, the Santa Fe Cinematographers Workshop, The International Film and Television Workshops ME, and the National Film Art Festival in Hong Kong.  Recent projects include her role as post-production supervisor for the documentary on “The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo” with award winning director/producer Amy Stechler.

Ms. Mintz’s dedication and enthusiasm continues to build paths into the future of high definition technologies that has branded her an innovator in the television and film industries.

BIG Mini-DV will host a special screening of “The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo” at 5:15 pm, Saturday November 12, 2005.

2004

.
Winners
.

Best Narrative (Feature)
Necrolog
Steven D. Addair

.
Best Narrative (Short)
Roadside Attractions,
C.J. Roy

Best Documentary (Feature)
Final Solution
Rakesh Sharma

.
Best Documentary (Short)
The Old Man and Hemingway
Hugo Perez & William Charles Moss

Best Experimental
Quadruped Mirror
Tim Reardon

 

 

FRIDAY 11/5                          5pm – 10pm

Synopsis: Chris lives in his own little world with his own little friend. Hew would  like nothing more than to get to know the girl at the launderette, but can he find the courage and will his little friend behave or not?

Synopsis: The story follows a Seattle writer as he struggles to write a follow up to his recent best seller. As he navigates the frustrations of his personal and professional life, he becomes intrigued by a mysterious woman whose unlikely story sets in motion a series of perplexing discoveries that connect strange events in the past and present.

Synopsis: This visual poem looks at an innocent bike ride through the Lower East Side and multiplies every nuance by four. Familiar objects become moving mathematical equations. The spinning of the spokes. The blurring of the ground. The slight grimace on the girl's face. Every aspect is slowed down and examined in great detail.

Synopsis:  A romantic comedy about a young man and woman who are unexpectedly reunited under unique circumstances.  Set during a baptism, it tells the story of Brian and Angela, a former couple who after breaking up months earlier find themselves sitting next to each other at the ceremony.  They voice their feelings for one another as they try to respect their surroundings.  After a surprising moment and some sage advice, it's what happens in these surroundings that just might lead Brian and Angela back where they belong... with each other.

Synopsis: The first thing one notices about Gregorio Fuentes is his eyes.  "Everything about him was old except his eyes..." was the way that Hemingway described Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea. Out of a 102 year-old face that is as worn as the side of a mountain, Gregorio's eyes shine brightly. Gregorio was Hemingway's boat-captain from 1938 until Hemingway's death in 1961, and provided the template for several Hemingway characters including the old fisherman Santiago. This is a documentary that chronicles the long friendship between Ernest Hemingway and Gregorio and the way that forty years after his death, Hemingway is remembered by his friend.

Synopsis: A fable-thriller set in Surreal Middle-America. A local trouble-maker receives a deadly lesson in irony after harassing a quiet stranger passing through town.

Synopsis: A modern-day film noir, set in a seaside Gothic mansion.After the death of his son, a hired killer struggles to escape the haunts of a lifetime of sin.  Now asked to kill another man’s wife, Alexander Poversky tries to hold onto what’s left of his sanity as he spirals downward into a never-ending nightmare, making it increasingly difficult to stomach his chosen profession.  Each death has become a tragedy, a tragedy followed by an obituary, an obituary with a name and a past.  A name and a past for Alexander, he only wishes to forget.

SATURDAY 11/6   10 AM – 10 PM

Synopsis: When a trendy young couple enter a quaint antiquarian book-store seeking a present for their friend, they find more than they bargained for. Mysterious shopkeeper JAY (Adam West) takes the couple into the world of his books, leading them through four amazing stories: “Abernathy,” “Nex’s Diner,” “Life Replay,” and “Fighting Spirit.” Still indecisive, the couple ask about two plain-looking tomes at the end of the shelf. What happens next they could never have imagined.

Synopsis: The hypnotic draw of the stunning Icelandic landscape together with the ideal of a courageous and freedom-loving Icelandic soul is Icelandic-Canadian Dale Kalbfleisch’s heritage from his mother. This quirky and charming documentary takes the audience on a trip to discover the filmmaker’s roots, and his personal history leads to the history and myths of this small but fascinating country in the middle of the sea.

Synopsis: A candid look at the city dubbed Murder Town USA by the national media – Youngstown, Ohio. Within the restrictions of a fifteen-week semester and three hundred dollar budget, a group of college students attempts to capture the identity of a community haunted by its past.  The first locally produced documentary focusing on Youngstown’s association with organized crime. Interviews with local politicians, experts, and public figures take a step beyond the city’s bloody history, in an effort to find out why Youngstown remains In the Shadow of the Mob. 

Synopsis: Nate Wannemaker is a man with a passion -- for snow, in all its myriad forms, and snow shovels, in particular. From their supple curves to their long handles, Nate cares for his shovels like family. Wife Kate dutifully enables Nate's instinct for snow removal. Son Nate, Jr. wants out – out from the shovels, the snow, the cold. Nate's chance to become a role model for his son is triggered by a rival neighbor, The Bear, who has never met a flake of snow he hasn't obliterated with gas-powered machinery. His zealous snow throwing crosses a line and sparks a confrontation with Nate. As a result, Nate Jr. learns a cold lesson in pride and family.

Sypnopsis: ARGYLE SOX is a frightening world where original artists are stripped of their creativity and kept away from  society at large. Only one artist remains but he grows lonely and impatient as his identity screams to be revealed. Is he going to give up his creativity to be like everyone else? Or spend the rest of his life living in fear?

Synopsis: Two speaking actors and one silent drag queen improvise a meditation on shame, artifice, and ecstasy. The video takes us on a journey into an inner landscape, which includes a description of the desserts offered to pilgrim visiting a mystical shrine, a feather duster which makes apartments dirtier rather than cleaner, and a mysterious tapping sound which ruins a nights' sleep. Multiple layers of overlaid imagery and text help the viewer to make sense of the complex soundtrack, which consists of two simultaneous monologues plus music, by bringing out the emotional and musical threads which run through the piece, while highlighting key phrases of text.

Synopsis: A study of the politics of hate. Set in Gujarat, India, during the period Feb/Mar 2002 – July 2003, this documentary examines the consequences of Hindu-Moslem polarization in the state. It probes the causes and consequences of the genocidal violence against Moslems in 2002 by right-wing cadres in Gujarat. A censorship ban on this documentary being shown in India was only lifted in October 2004.

Synopsis: Originally created for the modern dance piece “To Every Story” by Spela Sterle & Dancers, this video describes the dichotomy between natural and urban environments through visuals and narration, shot entirely on location in New York City and upstate New York.

Synopsis: An insight into the Madrid Atocha train station where the most bloody terrorist bomb attack in Spain’s recent history occurred on March 11th, 2004. Also a tribute to the survivors, their families and the people of Spain who demonstrated for change.

Synopsis: A documentary about the 2003 – 2004 High School Basketball season in New York City when the “Abraham Lincoln Railsplitters” of Brooklyn, led by Senior Sebastion Telfair, were the talk of the town.

 Synopsis: "anyone who's right is wrong and who's wrong is right...."

Synopsis: In 1990 Prague was proclaimed the “Left Bank of the 90s,” -- the new European haven for American artists, (just as Paris had been the expatriate home of Hemingway, Stein and Miller in the 1920s.) This herald rang out like a clarion call, summoning expatriate North Americans from Nova Scotia to the Golden Gate. Rex-Patriates is a satire that follows the lives of four expatriate Americans, a writer, an entrepreneur, a theater director and a physical artist, who venture to Prague after the fall of communism. Bedazzled by the city’s beauty, cheap beer, and liberal lifestyle, they set out to forge an artistic renaissance. But was Prague really a breeding ground for artistic genius? By the mid-90s the expatriates’ dreams are foiled and Prague becomes a dark cauldron of failure. The obvious solution would be to leave the city, but there is just one problem…the old crone. It is as Franz Kafka observed:“Prague doesn’t let go. This old crone has claws. One has to yield or else.”

Synopsis: An inside look at the top 78 college debate teams in the USA. Two-person teams participate in as many as eleven 2 hour debates over 4 days debating topics they have studied and researched over the past year. The contestants speak 400 words per minute and spend as much time researching as Master’s students devote to their thesis, all to win the Larmon Trophy.

Synopsis: A couple of years after joining the race to yuppie-dom, Courtney and William have a hard time reconciling everything they lost from their bohemian days.

 

Synopsis: “With this paint I liberate. With his touch he affirms. In this space I release, praise …. renew.”

 

 

 

Synopsis:    Just how far can you take the concept of “product placement” in movies? A director and his star / lover are on their way to Miami International to catch a flight to New York to sign a product placement deal for their new indie movie, “Invasion of the Biscayne Babies” when the drawbridge on the Venetian Causeway suddenly goes up, blocking their way. There’s nothing to do but … talk.

Synopsis:  Set in a fictional America where the positions in our society that have been traditionally occupied by  Blacks and Whites are reversed, Ice Cream takes a unique look at race relations, poverty,  politics, and neglect in our inner- city communities of today.

Synopsis: After a deadly falling out with his superior officer, Russian soldier Dogadko flees into the Chechen wilderness.  He befriends a strange Chechen girl whose brother is one of the anti-Russian rebels.

 

 

.
2004 Festival Sponsors 
.

 


Adobe Systems Inc.

 


B&H Photo Video Pro Audio

 
Film/Video Arts

2003

No data

2002

.
Winners
.
Best Narrative (Feature)
Clarke M. Smith
The Ethereal Plane
Norwalk, CT


.
.
Best Narrative (Short)
Christian Davis: 
CopyCat
Santa Monica, CA

Best Documentary (Feature)
Rakesh Sharma: 
Aftershocks: The Rough Guide to Democracy
Mumbhi, India


.
Best Documentary (Short)
Celine Parrenas Shimizu:
The Fact of Asian Women
Santa Barbara, CA

Best Experimental (Short)
Merri Cyr:
The Call
Brooklyn, NY

.
Top Picks
.
Markus Rudolf Goerg: 
Wide Asleep
Los Angeles, CA


.
Jim Bernfield: 
The Best Thanksgiving Ever
Brooklyn, NY

Tina Cesa Ward: 
Thank the War
Astoria, NY


.
Courtney Graff: 
AIDE
Culver City, CA

Todd McCammon and Linda K. Moroney: 
If Spielberg Made a Snuff Film
Astoria, NY


 
 
 
 
.
2002 Festival Sponsors 
.

donation of 2 Digital Video Collections
Adobe Systems Inc.

donation of a certificate for three FVA classes 
Film/Video Arts

donation of two cases of 25 mini-DV tapes
Adwar Video

donation of the Panasonic DMR-T3030 DVD Recorder
Armatos Pro Digital Video

donation of two $500 gift certificates
B&H Photo Video Pro Audio