Film submission is currently underway (submit your film), and a schedule will be posted in early May 2010.

Meanwhile, here's the schedule from last year:
Download printable schedule (PDF)

[Jump to Cobalt Room Schedule]

FRIDAY MAY 22

8:00 PM – Brews and Bros: A Special Outdoor Screening at Tröegs Brewery

BYOC (Bring your own chair) to this special outdoor screening of Strange Brew. Seating begins around 6:00 p.m. The movie will start around dusk (approximately 8:15) and runs for 90 minutes. The film will be projected on the side of the brewery building. The first 100 attendees will each receive one free jelly donut. There will be popcorn, food and beer concessions available from 6 p.m. until the end of the movie.

Tröegs Brewery, 800 Paxton Street, Harrisburg

Strange Brew: The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie
by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas
Comedy, 90 minutes (1983)

Something is rotten at the Elsinore Brewery. Bob and Doug Mackenzie (as seen on SCTV) help the orphan Pam regain the brewery founded by her recently-deceased father. But to do so, they must confront the suspicious brewmaster and two teams of vicious hockey players. Based on Shakespeare's “Hamlet,” Bob and Doug Mackenzie play the roles Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. A hilarious (and accurate) representation. (synopsis by Stewart Clamen)

Shown with:
The Wishing Bone
by Micah Mood, 7 minutes.
A young man learns this lesson all too intensely, as he finds the one thing that can ruin a birthday even more than a canceled dinner date, a lost job, illness, and rancid food - and that one thing might just find his leftovers sending him six feet under.

SATURDAY MAY 23

11:00 AM – Animation Experimentation

Stranger's Poem
by Geer DuBois, Los Angeles, CA
Animation, 5 minutes
Two people, who exist only as memories, rewrite emotions that haunt their personal stories. They seem unaware that isolation has shaped their perceptions of reality...until they meet.

Piety
by Shahrzad Sharifian, Vancouver, Canada
Animation, 2 minutes
A personal observation of the relationship between religion and war. The film uses Sufi dance as a symbol of religion and the divinity of the universe, images in the background that convey the struggle of humankind through the ages of war and conflict to highlight the idea of the filmmaker’s observation, which is false piety.

Paradoxes and Oxymorons
by Kate Raney, Syracuse, NY
Animation, 1 minute
An animated version of John Ashbery's poem “Paradoxes and Oxymorons,” narrated by DJ Spooky.

Eldorado
by Will Kim, Los Angeles, CA
Animation, 1 minute
Eldorado is a short animated film about loss of hope, created with watercolor paint on paper.
A man's journey to discover his dreamland fails when he realizes that the dream is not reachable.

In Search of the Colors
by Will Kim, Los Angeles, CA
Animation, 8 minutes
“What do I imagine as I add the first drops of color to a blank sheet of paper?” It is time to celebrate the talents and dreams of ‘Alexander’s House’s Family. In this animated documentary film, Will Kim uses various hand-drawn and painterly animation techniques to tell a story of his own experiences from this home for people with developmental disabilities.

Only Love
by Lev Polyakov, Brooklyn, NY
Animation, 15 minutes
A tragicomedy about a Dictator, a Rebel, and Love. It is a darkly humorous tale of a dictator facing the ghosts of his past misdeeds, a man's eternal search for love, and the terrible price one sometimes has to pay for it. Brimming with nonstop creative energy, this traditionally animated short is a feast for the eyes and ears with beautifully painted backgrounds and an outstanding orchestral score.

Alice’s Attic
by Robyn Yannoukos, Los Angeles, CA
Experimental, 4 minutes
A stop-motion animation film about a fragile character who has to face her fears that lie waiting in the silence of the darkness. In giving power to objects surrounding her and allowing them to overpower her, the result of her actions has unforeseen results.

Checkoo
by Erik Rosenlund, Stockholm, Sweden
Experimental, 12 minutes
An underperforming office worker does everything he can to fit in. A tragic comedy about life in modern society that is all about pace and rhythm.

12:00 NOON – Quirky Tales

Love Sick Love
by PJ Gaynard, Glendale, CA
Narrative, 22 minutes
A young couple, on their first date, end up back at his place for a sexy Halloween evening. They learn how little they know about one another as the night goes onward. Jason is a reclusive artist who surrounds himself with his work. Vicki is a smart-talking dancer. They seem to have a common goal, to get each other into bed. However, their separate motivations lead to startling revelations that are larger than either of them can handle.

Magritte Moment
by Ian Fisher, New York, NY
Experimental, 17 minutes
Lost and disillusioned punk painter Trevor wants to be like Rene Magritte. Unable to create, he sells out to a religious group, taking a commission. After bumping into a strange tall man wearing a bowler cap while in the park, he is given a magic wallet. He then meets Karen, but blows his chance with her because of his fear. He creates the painting and finds that he is changing. No longer a punk, his tattoos disappear, his hair is no longer dyed and he finds that he has lost himself. He reaches out to the tall man with the bowler cap, but finds more questions than answers.

It’s Not You
by Michael LaVoie, Tarrytown, NY
Narrative, 8 minutes
Rob meets up with his girlfriend at a cafe to break up with her in person and before she arrives he imagines all of her possible reactions.

1:00 PM – Growing Older

Donor Unknown
By Moira Glace, New Orleans, LA (Harrisburg area native)
Narrative, 17 min
A young woman looking for a new direction is set to sell her eggs for money which would allow her to travel and find her true calling. An easy decision on the surface turns to a much more inner search.

Into the Unknown
by John Dion, Los Angeles, CA
Narrative, 14 minutes
Life for retired couple Al and Fern is as peaceful as the lake in their cottage's backyard until the fateful day they discover a black hole growing in their shower drain! Enter Gus, the mysterious, all-knowing plumber, who shows Al and Fern that a magical sinkhole in their bathroom may be the least of their problems.

4:10, Seeking Grace
by Ramesh Anthony, Philadelphia, PA
Narrative, 20 minutes
An aging man, a bunch of flowers, the station, and the endured wait. Martin hasn't seen Grace in 30 years. As he waits anxiously, he meets a curious stranger and the story about Martin and Grace unfolds through their conversation.

2:00 PM – Experiments in Film

Soaring Roaring Diving
by Miriam Harris, Auckland, New Zealand
Experimental, 6 minutes
An animated film that intertwines drawing, Super8 footage, collage, and 2D and 3D animation, with a textured soundtrack that employs both music and found sounds. The film is about personal journeying, coping with grief and loss, and ultimately resurfacing, together with themes of childhood memories, summer in the South Pacific, the metaphors of swimming and diving, and the proverbial glass half-full or half-empty question.

The Sky Underground
by Kat Lo, Los Angeles, CA
Experimental, 6 minutes
The film paints a world through the eyes of four people. It is a rich visual tapestry depicting one long, hot summer. It is a tribute to the glory - and longing - of youth. A tribute to the ecstasy that a party can bring (and the simultaneous darkness).

Somewhere Between Here and There
By Liss Platt, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Experimental, 10 minutes
Comprised of images of Brooklyn, New York, Hamilton, Ontario and the roadways that connect these cities, Somewhere Between Here and There is a rumination on places we call home, It explores the complexities of coming and going, and the loss experienced when trying to return. The experimental form and aesthetic of the film is, in part, an homage to my filmmaker friend, Diane Bonder. (Diane Bonder visited Moviate in the spring of 2004 and showed a wonderful program of her work in Stage Two at Whitaker Center and the Artsfest Film Festival screened a few of her beautiful films. Diane passed away on June 23rd, 2006 from Pancreatic Cancer)

Corridors of Echos
by Tatsushi Tahara, New York, NY
Experimental, 8 minutes
An experimental ghost film shot in Japan. Work that exercises the core essence of black and white cinematography - lights and shadows. Inspired from visions of walking in and out of old Buddhist temple corridors, as if lost in the labyrinth of a bad dream.

Within Threshold
by Kathleen Rugh, Ithaca, NY
Experimental, 13 minutes, 16mm film
A journey through time and space driven by a longing for a self-reflective state during an ever-changing life. The film acts as an exploration through states of consciousness and follows the filmmaker’s desire to communicate the intangible into a visual language.

Isabell
by Kathleen Rugh, Ithaca, NY
Experimental, 7 minutes, 16mm film
Isabell presents views of a domestic space juxtaposed with audio from an elderly man’s discarded answering machine tape. The tape was discovered in an abandoned automobile factory in Detroit and contains dialogue and messages centered around the loss of a dear friend, Isabell.

3:00 PM – Skewed Perspectives

Agamemnon Counterpart
by Michael Robinson, 1 minute, animation, Marysville, PA
In 2571 in the heap of crushed stone among the ruins of that not determined turn blue planet it was found video cassette. The fact that you intend to see, has to it no relation. This is completely different record. Music and drawings by Dave From 2001.

Attackazoids!
by Brian Lonano, Staten Island, NY
Narrative, 7 minutes
One woman struggles to survive in a ghostly world besieged by giant killer robots. A science fiction nightmare combining live action, stop motion animation and bizarre sound to create a unique and haunting vision of an alien invasion.

Imminent
by Randall Good, Los Angeles, CA
Narrative, 9 minutes
Two friends shop. One stares at the other. They go places.

Mangled Beyond Use / Fermenting Rot – Hog Caller
By Tom Richards, Middletown, PA
Narrative/Experimental/Music Video, 4 minutes and 3 minutes
“Mangled Beyond Use” –the Hog Caller guys are cruising around the radioactive lands of Middletown, PA. A full tank of gas and an unfortunate run-in with Old Scratch himself.
“Fermenting Rot” – It’s birthday cake and pig-head piñata time again kids at Hog Caller take us on a super fun journey along the filthy banks of the Swatara Creek.

The Heart is What Remains
by Alexandra Roxo, Brooklyn, NY
Experimental, 14 minutes, Super 8mm, sound by Eluvium, Valet, and Dormant
A young woman sleeps under a tree, dreaming of the thorns and roses that caused her to bleed. A young man finds her under the tree and with her blood awakens her. Together they awake and enter the world of love. They experience the sweetness of love, and the stillness of love and after time they experience the death of love. With the shattered illusions of love comes a sacrifice and a separation. The lovers divide and each experience a symbolic death that frees and transforms them, releasing them from each other’s heart strings into the future.

Dec. 2666
By James Hollenbaugh, Manheim, PA
Narrative, 12 minutes.
Santa Claus returns from a long Christmas eve and heads to the bar to wind down. After meeting up with Jesus, things get crazy as Santa and Jesus deal with a conflict of interest, women, and taboo subjects! -Voted “Weirdest Film” at the Backseat Film Festival/Philadelphia, and selected for the Best of Backseat Film Festival at the Philadelphia Film Festival.

4:00 PM – Andy Warhol film star Taylor Mead in person! Plus, a rare screening of vintage Warhol film “Tarzan and Jane Regained…Sort of”

Taylor Mead (born December 31, 1924 in Grosse Pointe, Michigan) is a writer and performer who starred as Tarzan in Andy Warhol's Tarzan and Jane Regained…Sort of, and in Ron Rice's beat classic The Flower Thief. In the mid 1970s, Gary Weis made some short films of Mead talking to his cat in the kitchen of his Ludlow Street apartment on the Lower East Side called Taylor Mead's Cat. One film of Mead extemporizing on the virtues of constant television watching aired during the second season of Saturday Night Live.

Mead lives in New York City, and continues to regularly perform and read poetry at The Bowery Poetry Club. His latest book of poems is called A Simple Country Girl. He was the subject of a documentary called Excavating Taylor Mead, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2005. He has been "a beloved icon of the downtown New York art scene since the 60s."

Tarzan and Jane Regained…Sort of
by Andy Warhol, New York, NY (1964), rare 16mm film print.
Starring Taylor Mead, Dennis Hopper, Claes Oldenberg

A playful avant-garde parody of Tarzan and Jane with locations in Hollywood, Malibu, Venice, Pasadena, and Topanga Canyon, and at the Santa Monica pier and the Beverly Hills Hotel. The film was recently screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Taylor Mead will also recite his poetry at the Meet and Greet Reception

8:00 PM – Festival Meet and Greet Reception, Appalachian Brewing Company, 50 N. Cameron Street, Harrisburg

Everyone’s welcome to attend the festival’s “meet and greet” event on Saturday at 8:00 pm, where filmmakers and film lovers can get together.

9:00 PM: a special live performance with Taylor Mead
“THE TAYLOR MEAD SHOW”
Taylor Mead is one of the first of Andy Warhol’s “Superstars” and has been in many films including Midnight Cowboy and Coffee and Cigarettes. Come hear Taylor Mead tell stories and recite his poetry, 9PM.

12:00 MIDNIGHT: It’s Midnight Madness at the Midtown with Eraserhead!
Midtown Cinema, 250 Reily Street, Harrisburg

Eraserhead
by David Lynch, (1977), 108 minutes, new 35mm print.

Is it a nightmare or an actual view of a post-apocalyptic world? Set in an industrial town in which giant machines are constantly working, spewing smoke, and making noise that is inescapable, Henry Spencer lives in a building that, like all the others, appears to be abandoned. The lights flicker on and off, he has bowls of water in his dresser drawers, and for his only diversion he watches and listens to the Lady in the Radiator sing about finding happiness in heaven. Henry has a girlfriend, Mary X, who has frequent spastic fits. Mary gives birth to Henry's child, a frightening looking mutant, which leads to the injection of all sorts of sexual imagery into the depressive and chaotic mix. (synopsis by Rick Gregory)

SUNDAY, MAY 24

11:00 AM – Stylistic Approaches

Imprint
By Sarah O’Donnell, and local filmmaker Jonathan Boal, Lemoyne, PA
Narrative, 11 minutes
A man searches for lost memories by connecting his mind to a printer. Images of his recent and distant past surround a blank area of missing information. His obsession takes its toll.

Random Access Memory
by Gavin Rehder,
Experimental, 11 minutes
An exploration of the aesthetic of the VHS medium. The film explores Vertov's 'Kino Eye'. The camera man’s eyes are the lens, and his mind is magnetic tape, he sees only what he has previously seen and recorded.

The Last Moment
by Deco Dawson, Winnipeg, Canada
Experimental, 29 minutes
A multi-fractured, multi-genred narrative that uses five styles of film history; Film Noir, Dogme 95, late Era Hitchcock, Tarantino and 60’s New Wave, to explore the final moments of a man’s life and the ill fated relationship woes leading up to his death.

12:00 NOON

The Mole
by Katie Mahalic, Chicago, IL
Narrative, 10 minutes
After getting struck by lightning, a man who is plagued by an explosive bleeding mole is saved by an agoraphobic woman who is afraid of people, blood, and germs. Could this once-in-a-million situation lead to romance for the awkward and anti-social duo?

South of Heaven
By Jonathan Vara, 97 minutes. 2008.
PeeWee’s Playhouse meets Pulp Fiction. Roy Coop is just home from the Navy to write a book, but unfortunately for him, those barbershop quartet gangsters mistake him for his brother while looking for their boss's kidnapped daughter. Two fingers lighter, they leave him lumped up without the desired information. In comes the femme fatale, Veronica, like she just stepped out of Nadja, oh and I forgot to mention: one of the hoods is Jon Gries who was Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite. Now that was enjoyable! (from Fantastic Fest)

2:00 PM

Out of the Blue
by Alexandra Roxo, Brooklyn, NY
Experimental, 8 minutes, Super 8mm.
A woman in a surreal world experiencing a pomegranite in a skewed reality.

Make Out with Violence
Dead is the present tense.
By the Deagol Brothers. 105 minutes, 2008.
A zombie film for fans of Wes Anderson…
A genre-bending tale of a boy trying to fulfill his unrequited love for a girl who has risen from the dead. It tells the story of twin brothers Patrick and Carol Darling, newly graduated from high school and struggling to come to terms with the mysterious disappearance of their friend, the bright and beautiful Wendy Hearst. When a drive through the countryside surrounding their suburban community leads to the discovery of Wendy's mysteriously animated corpse, the boys secretly transport the un-dead Wendy to an empty house in hopes of somehow bringing her back to life.

“Make-Out with Violence defies easy categorization. Sometimes it’s at war with itself, as though it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, as though it were made up as it went along. At other times it calms down and plays out like a gloriously trashy, minor-key Eurocult sensation.” –SXSW review, Peter Martin.

4:00 PM – Revisiting a Classic

Gold
by Bob Levis, New York, NY
Comedy, Experimental, 91 minutes, 1968.
In 1968 gold is once again discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A train full of fellow travelers set out for gold country but a corrupt cop and a politician with a wandering eye conspire to take control. A tag-a-long trickster the 'Hawk' with the help of the town drunk thwart their plans. Classic hippie film from 1968, featuring the comic stylings of Del Close, an actor, improvisational comic and mentor to such comedians as John Belushi, John Candy, and Bill Murray” stars in this newfound classic.

Shown with:
The Tigress and the Claw
by Jason Herr, Harrisburg, PA
Experimental, 3 minutes.
Music video for Emma Cora.

8:00 PM – Special Andy Warhol Screening

Chelsea Girls
by Andy Warhol
rare 16mm dual projection film print.
Chelsea Girls is Andy Warhol’s first major commercial success, and features many of Warhol's superstars. The film follows the lives of several of the young women who live at the Chelsea Hotel, and comprises various scenes shot at the Chelsea Hotel, the Factory and at various apartments including the Velvet Underground's apartment on West 3rd Street in the Village.

Warhol first brought up the idea for the film in the back room of Max's Kansas City, Warhol's favorite nightspot, during the summer of 1966 and shot the footage for The Chelsea Girls from June to September 1966. It was generally improvised except for two scripts sent in by Ron Tavel who mailed the scripts to Warhol from Los Angeles.

When the film was initially released, Newsweek praised it as the "Iliad of the underground."

MONDAY, MAY 25

11:00 AM – Exploratory Documentaries

Severing the Soul
by Barbara Klutinis, San Francisco, CA
Documentary, 18 minutes
Found footage interweaves an account of Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy procedure in 1941 with an overview of the psychosurgery movement of the 1930’s - 1960’s in the US.

Invisible Girlfriend
by David Redmon, New York, NY
Documentary, 76 minutes
A man named Charles rides his big, red bicycle through rural Louisiana to find his invisible girlfriend, Joan of Arc. Along the way, he meets a variety of people to guide him to his final arrival in New Orleans.

1:00 PM – Crime, Punishment, and a Local Tragedy

Rough Cut
by Todd Klick, Los Angeles,CA /Mt. Gretna, PA
Documentary, 81 minutes
On January 10th, 2003, a woman was found murdered in her Pennsylvania home. Eight months earlier an independent film was shot on the nearby Appalachian Trail. How did these two events tie together? Rough Cut explores the twisted tale of two young filmmakers who had a dream of making a horror movie...and the bizarre events that followed.

3:00 PM – Central PA Stories

Route 30
by John Putch, Studio City, CA (via Central PA)
Narrative, 88 minutes
Starring Curtis Armstrong (from Moonlighting, Better Off Dead, Revenge of the Nerds)

Three interconnecting stories from South Central Pennsylvania:

‘Deer Hunters Wives’ tells of the frustrations of Civil War tour guide Mandy, who obsesses on Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed at the battle of Gettysburg. While her friend June struggles with an internet porn scheme to make extra money.

‘What I Believe’ focuses on a man who seeks the help of a Christian Scientist to heal his back pain and explain the Big Foot that chased him.

‘Original Bill’ is the story of a writer who buys a rural farmhouse hoping to find unique inspiration to write his novel. He is sidetracked by his Amish neighbor, who smokes, drinks & swears.

Schedule of Events
Cobalt Room at Whitaker Center

SATURDAY MAY 23 – COBALT ROOM

11:30 AM – Children are the Future

The Sitting Machine
by Paul Hunt and Julie Kauffman, Lancaster, PA
Documentary, 90 minutes
This character-driven verité documentary about children, learning and creativity, follows eight fifth graders in Rheems, Pennsylvania, as they set out to design and build chairs that can hold their own weight using only cardboard and glue. In Mrs. Smith's enrichment class they put away textbooks and learn to question the ordinary, take risks and solve problems themselves. With no interviews or commentary over a seven-month arc, it's a chance to observe the emerging personalities and natural drama of eight 10-year-olds. It's a heartfelt fifth-grade experience of creativity, frustration, hilarity and triumph.

2:00 PM – Big Coal, Big Business

Hard Coal: Last of the Bootleg Miners
by Marc Brodzik, Kimberton, PA
Documentary, 83 minutes
Pennsylvania’s independent anthracite coal miners don’t fear dying from a dynamite blast gone wrong hundreds of feet underground. They fear the federal agencies in charge of keeping them safe. This film explosively yet poignantly answers why.

Shown with:

Selling the Howl
by Nick Harvey, Illinois
Experimental Documentary, 8 minutes
This film examines masculinity, sexuality, and spectacle through documentation of amateur professional wrestling and autograph signings by famous American Gladiators. Viewers engage in a narrative experience pushed into the realms of comedy, dark fantasy, and horror. The camera becomes an active participant in the action working hand in hand with sound design.

And
FUNLAND (carnival)
by Kevin Vogrin, Reading, PA
Experimental Documentary, 3 minutes
An expressionistic look at one of the most nostalgic images of Americana.

4:00 PM – An Unknown Hero

No. 4 Street of Our Lady
by Barbara Bird, Richie Sherman,  and Judy Maltz
State College, PA, Documentary, 90 minutes
If your neighbors were being hunted down and came to your door begging for help, would you risk your life to save theirs? This film tells the remarkable, yet little-known, story of Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish-Catholic woman who hid 16 of her Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust, while cleverly passing herself off as a Nazi sympathizer.

SUNDAY, MAY 24 – COBALT ROOM

11:00 AM – Documenting the Struggle to “Make It” in Hollywood

My Big Break
by Tony Zierra, Central PA
Documentary, 106 minutes
This controversial documentary follows five roommates trying to make it in Hollywood who face the unexpected consequences of fame. While popular shows like Entourage offer a fun, fictionalized view into the workings of the film industry, My Big Break shows the good times along with the darker side of becoming a celebrity. The documentary is a rare, raw look at life in Hollywood that reveals what can happen if your dreams unexpectedly come true.

Shown with:

Homeless in Hollywood
by Hollis McLachlan, Cannonsburg, PA
Documentary, 6 minutes
Marcus is a homeless Australian man living in the United States. He has no income, no savings, and a lot of acting experience. He could go home. He could give up. But Marcus believes he is in Los Angeles for a reason and is sickened at the thought of leaving behind what could lead to his success.

The film follows Marcus on a day in the life of a homeless actor. Foreign to America, homeless, and alone, Marcus shows the audience what faith and determination can bring to someone who has next to nothing but an intangible dream. Marcus's journey is Our journey; the American dream of traveling west, leaving 'it' all behind for something that just might happen if we only stick it out to see for ourselves.

1:00 PM – Strange Adventures and Celebrities

Fan Mail
by Sean Christensen, Phoenix, AZ
Documentary, 5 minutes
This film is the true story of someone's first and only fan letter written to their favorite celebrity. A poignant look at the creative process and the self-critical nature of the entertainment industry, writer/director Sean Christensen puts the pen in the audience's hand, and gives them an inside look at what it means to be someone on the outside, looking in through the gates of Hollywood.

Horsefingers 3: Starf*cker
by Kirsten Kearse, Brooklyn, NY
Narrative, 13 minutes
Emma is dressed and ready for her cult meeting but she’s got the wrong address. Uncomfortable in her wig and horse hooves, Emma waits at a local bar. As fortune would have it, she bumps into someone she knows, Lem, an actor from a movie she worked on years ago. He doesn’t recognize her but he does like her outfit. What follows is a bizarre date between a script supervisor in a costume and a minor movie star - also wearing a costume. Funny, unsettling and just plain creepy, the film provides a life lesson to be remembered.

Knocked Down
by Ted Collins, Los Angeles, CA
Narrative, 22 minutes
A wide-eyed wannabe whose youth is but a speck in his rearview mirror, finally sets out from the hinterland for the brass ring marked “Hollywood,” and to make his father proud – or at least stop his giggling. Can Tommy Williger’s optimism withstand the reality of a town with enough lack-of-success stories to fill its latest entertainment news magazine show, Unemployment Tonight? Or will he crack and one day transform into a ticking time bomb with a fake Mohawk? Written by award-winning Cheers/Seinfeld veteran, Andy Cowan.

Oona’s Story
by Sara Bencivenga, Los Angeles, CA
Experimental, 12 minutes
Oona is a character exploring her new film. The film seems to have a mind of its own. It plays tricks on her: sudden edits bring her unexpectedly into different scenes and a ridiculous leading man is on the hunt for her. Oona is convinced that a woman (Magda) is controlling the strings from behind a ubiquitous advertising campaign. At her wits' end, Oona dives off the end of a pier in hopes of escaping it all, but only ends up in an underwater set. There, she finally meets Magda in the flesh and learns she is the director of her own movie.

2:00 PM – Pushing the Envelope

Un cadeau pour...
by Valerio De Bonis, Pietragalla, ITALY
Experimental, 6 minutes
This is an experimental work that is an intellectual path in which you can find a clear progression from life pleasure to death; in fact there are tow parts separated and differentiated by the different use of visual and sonorous materials: the first is a continuous sequence of actions and gestures that emphasize the “joy of life”, the second one, on the contrary, can be considered a succession of sudden flashbacks that represent the unexpected end of the beauty in small things’ life. Too often it happens that children under 5 years of age die in absurd ways provoking a strong reaction among the public opinion. I describe this trouble with a smile.

Haunted House
by Kevin Krutz, Philadelphia, PA
Narrative, 11 minutes
As little Kay journeys through a strange and scary new place, we soon realize that this is no ordinary haunted house.

Coddled Birds
by Sebastijan Jemec, Jocelyn Spaar, and others, Charlottesville, VA
Experimental, 9 minutes
A mondo-style film based on Hansel and Gretel, this trashy film tells of two 'kids' escaping their oppressive, selfish parents and bleak home only to stumble into the odd cluttered home of two witches, disrupting their delicate relationship, snapping sexual tension and culminating in a glutenous culinary catastrophe.

Pass Wayside
by Sebastijan Jemec, Jocelyn Spaar, and others, Charlottesville, VA
Experimental, 6 minutes
Based on the fable of two sisters. The good sister speaks...and jewels fall from her tongue. The evil one vomits frogs with every spilled word. The roles of animals as a mirror of man and metaphor.

Cleopatra’s Teeth
by Mika Kiburz, Moab, UT
Experimental Documentary, 17 minutes
An oral historian pursues a long distance love affair with the most powerful woman of the ancient world, on an expedition to fill the cavities of decal. Oh, how we must communicate with the future! And upon the excavation in the year 8113 Common Era, this text will be obsolete.

3:00 PM – More Experiments in Film

A Realistic Fear
by Carling McManus, San Francisco, CA
Experimental, 3 minutes
Using only handmade techniques, found footage and newspaper clippings 'free-fall' through the frame to explore the impact of media imagery and the psychology of fear.

Different Parts
by Lindsay Greer, Carbondale, IL
Experimental, 2 minutes
An exquisite corpse-like exercise that combines bodies and suggestive gestures in an effort to explore the disjunction experienced between sex and intimacy. It combines edited found footage with original text.

Little Johnny Discovers
by Benjamin Wilson, Carbondale, IL
Experimental, 4 minutes
An exploration of boyhood sexual identity using found footage, including sexual education films and scientific films about the body. The image and sound of the original footage has been manipulated in order to create profound, and at times, comedic meanings.

Adrift
by Cathy Lee Crane, Etna, NY
Experimental, 12 minutes
A poetic fable, the film follows an American woman who comes to Rome to die. On her way to the bridge of St. Angelo, she encounters a young girl who taunts her with visions of a lost innocence.

The Nightgardener
by Jennifer Hardacker
Experimental, 10 minutes
The life of a garden after dark: Balinese dancers sway on the petals of clematis flowers, Russian singers perform in a calla lily. Disparate images that capture an idea about the humanity of the world play on floral screens.

Double Thunder
By Potter-Belmar Labs, San Antonio, Texas
Experimental, 6 minutes.
The first movement of this meteorological metaphor logs a journey, through town and countryside, far away from home. The second is a composition of solace and stillness. In the third and final movement, we weather a sudden thunderstorm.

Life Reloaded
by Viktor Gasic, Dortmund, Germany
Experimental, 12 minutes
The film is an experimental project, which investigates the forms of cinematic language and its metaphors in the context of today’s acceleration. In that context the media play an important role. They create a virtual reality which calls 'real” life into question.

Murmur
by Peter Byrne, Rochester, NY
Experimental, 7 minutes
A contemplation on memory and landscape. In this experimental piece the artists blend live action footage with abstract hand drawn and computer generated composite animation sequences. This collaborative work combines music and ephemeral visual sequences in order to evoke a layered, shifting, and evolving sense of place.

4:00 PM

Skylight
by David Baas, Toronto, Canada
Animation, 5 minutes
A mock animated documentary about the ecological plight of penguins in the Antarctic, possibly foretelling cataclysmic results for the rest of the world.

Repaired?
by Seung-Hoo Ihm, San Francisco, CA
Animation, 3 minutes
Two stupid aliens try to fix their UFO after crashing from the Moon to the Earth but they don't know how to fix it. While one tends to follow by the manual to fix it, the other wants to do by instinct. Finally they fixed the UFO but they encounter an unexpected situation.

The Magistical
by Loraine Cernak, Winston Salem, NC
Animation, 84 minutes
Once upon a time a guardian was chosen to watch over all living things. She was called the Magistical. Hoping to preserve all precious life, the Magistical created a spell. This spell granted the last of every type of creature, immortality. However, to one very evil Draken, the spell would carry a very different meaning than intended. By killing all other Drakens, she would become the last. Without fear of death, such a beast could rule the world. Now only one baby cub stands between her and her evil ambitions. And between them stands a small, but determined, obstacle, named Foible.

MONDAY, MAY 25 – COBALT ROOM

11:00 AM – Strange Stories, Strange Twists

Rooftop
by PJ Gaynard, Glendale, CA
Narrative, 11 minutes
Johnny Sanchez, a greasy, scumbag, prince of crime, is picking off rival dealers. Determined to find out how, Lionel Hamlin perches on a rooftop to spy on him. Lionel, however, is unprepared for what happens next: a young couple sneaks up to the roof for some ice cream, locking the door behind them. Suddenly stranded on a rooftop with Sanchez getting away, Lionel and the kids have to figure out how to get off the roof without alerting anyone or getting killed.

The Lesson
by Paul Natale, Woodside, NY
Narrative, 16 minutes
In this contemporary film noir, an imprisoned teacher learns that the student she supposedly raped is responsible for her arrest and upon release seeks revenge.

The Double
by Rani DeMuth, Los Angeles, CA
Narrative, 24 minutes
Meet Steven Roberts (Eric Roberts), a self-assured psychologist concerned less with his family and more with the promotion of his new book, the ironically-titled 'Deepening Our Connection to Others.' Indulging his new fiancée’s whimsical interest in the psychic art of astral projection, Dr. Roberts participates in a series of mental exercises designed to cultivate the ability to separate consciousness from the physical body. It's an idea Roberts doesn't take seriously until his airplane develops engine trouble…

12:00 NOON – Far Eastern Perspective

Li Tong
by Nian, Liu, Beijing, China
Narrative, 74 minutes
An eight-year-old girl, Li Tong, loses her bus pass one day after school. Penniless, she decides to walk home. On her way, she encounters a warm-hearted old lady who tries to help her, a security guard in front of a bar, a trendy young woman, a man wearing a panda costume, and even a little thief attempting to steal a pet dog from an old man. After getting a ride to the wrong address, Li Tong's journey becomes more complicated as she soon finds herself hopelessly lost. Only the son of a migrant worker who begs in the city offers her a helping hand. The two of them become unlikely companions, each learning a bit about the world of the other as the little beggar helps Li Tong on her quest home.

2:00 PM – In the Line of Fire

Open Air
by Shira-Lee Shalit, Manhasset, NY
Narrative, 12 minutes
Under the watchful eye of a hidden sniper, two women attempt some form of normality in their everyday lives, knowing one misstep would mean immediate death.

Beyond the Call
by Adrian Belic (Academy Award nominee for “Genghis Blues”)
Documentary, 82 minutes
In a Mother Teresa meets Indiana Jones adventure three middle-aged men, former soldiers and modern day knights travel the world delivering life saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians in some of the most dangerous yet beautiful places on Earth, the front lines of war.

4:00 PM – Festival Final Thoughts

Pink Bag
by Susan Hippen, New York, NY
Narrative, 2 minutes
When a naive woman emerges from a pink bag into a retro kitchen where appliances attack, she's forced to choose between old habits and freedom.

I Love (Hate) You: Mitchum
by Kate Raney, Syracuse, NY
Experimental, 5 minutes
Using manipulated footage from several film noirs focusing on Robert Mitchum, the film investigates the spaces between self and others.

Pure White
by Helena Doyle, Ireland
Animation, Documentary, Experimental, 5 minutes.
An interpretative piece, exploring notions of age, memories and the power of dreams.
Longing, searching for connections with grandparents and childhood dreams, looking for meaning.

Agnes Moorehead is God!
by Tanya Meronk, New York, NY
Narrative, 19 minutes
Picture it…Christmas Eve 1967, snow gently falling...a café. Gay Lesbian icon Barbara Stanwyck is seated calmly perusing a magazine. Agnes Robertson Moorehead enters, in full 'Endora' mode, and the Sapphic fur starts flying...oh yes! There will be blood....and cocktails.