November 22, 2005

CINEWOMEN NY and WOMEN MAKE MOVIES

present:

THE MOSAIC OF BIOGRAPHY

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

DREAMS OFJAGADINA

Nora Malone

29 minutes

A portrait scripted from the experiences of Serbian émigré Suzana Jeremic, Dreams of Jagodina merges experimental dreamlike visuals and documentary storytelling to intimately explore the mother-daughter relationship within the context of domestic violence. Using the motif of Suzana’s vivid, recurring nightmares, her haunting family history unfolds.

She makes passionate attempts to end her family’s suffering but when on the verge of womanhood, she must make the most difficult decision of her life: to assume the role of victim in keeping her family legacy, or to strike out on her own to create a life that is different.

ANOTHER BROTHER 

Tami Gold

60 minutes

A moving biographical portrait of one ordinary yet extraordinary man, Clarence Fitch. An African American veteran of the Vietnam War, Clarence was like many veterans in the hardships he endured -- racism, poverty, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS -- yet uncommon in his ability to transform these experiences through a life of political activism.

In telling Clarence's gripping personal story, the film provides a unique window onto the Vietnam War, racism in America, and a host of social problems which have ravaged America for the past three decades. The film is narrated chiefly by Clarence in an audio taped interview by William Short, a fellow Vietnam veteran, before Clarence's death from AIDS.

October 25, 2005

GHOULISH TIMES:

Life, Love, Loss, Lust

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

Shorts:

HOLLOW

Jen Soemantri

Paul is suspicious that his girlfriend Esther has been hiding something from him. To her annoyance, he pressures her to tell him the truth. Little do they expect that her secret is going to haunt them both this Halloween night! Jen's personal genre of choice is horror. She created a very intriguing hybrid of horror/ drama beautifully shot which deals with a young couple's choice and how this choice comes back to haunt them. A fascinating spin on the art of the horror film.

About the filmmaker:

Jennifer Soemantri was born and raised in Indonesia and moved to Los Angeles at age 15. She attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts film school. She graduated with Honors at age 20 and was given the Founders Day Award for being in the highest bracket of scholastic achievement. Her experience includes working for Creative Artists Agency, director Kimberly Peirce, Miramax Films, Atlas Entertainment and Samuelson Productions. Hollow has participated in more than 25 festivals/ film screenings and has won 4 awards. Since then, Jennifer has completed 4 spec commercials and is currently wrapping post- production on her latest film Post -Mortem. Jen will direct the music video for the winner of the Turningpoint Music Festival and is developing her first feature.

CARLA COPE

Aileen McCormack

Set to the beat of a music video against a hip, sensual edit pace, shot in Super 8 with mixes of hypnotic archival stock, Carla Cope, tells us her story of simultaneously dating both a fireman and a policeman and the heart that broke because of it during 9/11. The film follows Carla through the city as she looks back on all she has lost while grappling with the uncertainty of her future. Aileen has put together an explosively alive visual and audio treat. This hi-8 stunner takes the audience on a haunting stroll by a woman torn between two lovers who perished on 9/11.

About the filmmaker:

Alak Films is a family venture founded by Aileen,Tim and Sheila McCormack, whose hands-on approach influences every aspect of their filmmaking, from conception to completion. Alak Films has been producing underground short films for the last two decades. The three change roles for each film, from acting to editing to directing, in an on-going creative process. Alak's trademark style incorporates Super 8 film and archival stock, which is assembled together at a fast and furious pace, creating new stories out of old footage.

Feature:

GOD IN THE MACHINE

Kathleen Harty 

Take a strung-out, karmic ride with a young woman facing her past and her present. God in the Machine is a unique story told in an equally unique way. It features people and puppets, raw contemporary art and the classic illustrations of Beardsley and combinations of Photoshop and video rearscreen projections. Newsroom slave and cinephile Danna develops a rare illness that causes pain with sex, and, as her life deteriorates, doctors, sad dates and yoga bring no relief. Soon, Danna begins to question WHY this illness happened. Could it be karma? Are those flashbacks memory or imagination? Will she ever be loved if she can’t have sex? Tennessee Williams meets Tim Burton on a ride with Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose.

About the filmmaker:

Kathleen Harty is currently working on her next feature film - Flown. She is a former NBC news editor as well as former assistant to both Steve Buscemi and the President of Christie's. Her short, Smoke and Mirrors, won a PBS Independent Images award. God in the Machine is her first digital feature. Kathleen has never forgotten her amazing first job: sweeping David Bowie’s dressing room, where she learned to appreciate all things strange.

September 27, 2005

IMAGINATION: A TO Z

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

EL EPISODIO

Caroline Bell

3:15 minutes

An old gentleman dances his way down a city street. His stylish moves seem to be ignored by the young people and children he passes. Just before the film runs out, he finally finds a dance partner. El Episodio was shot hand-held using one roll of Super 8 film. The music was composed specifically for the film.

LITTLE WISHES: THE ALASITAS FESTIVAL OF LA PAZ

Patricia Llosa

17:00 minutes

Throughout the year craftsmen and ordinary citizens of all levels of skill prepare miniatures to be sold in the streets of La Paz, Bolivia during the annual Alasitas festival in January. The miniatures are of food, cars, homes, building tools, computers, diplomas, condoms; they run the gamut of human needs and desires and are purchased for a nominal fee by those who wish to acquire the reality that the miniature represents.

TO THE SEA

Erika Jakubassa

12.30 minutes

A journey into the emotions and dreams of a woman on the edge. A story told in images and sounds.

WHY A DUCK

Doris Toumarkine

11:00 minutes

Several dramas swirl around an otherwise peaceful pond where ducks and swans suggest to an assortment of kids and grown-ups that there are better ways for humans to behave.

DERAIL

Catalina Santamaria

8:00 minutes

A collage of images and sound reflections of the rhythms, textures and daily choreography of the New York City subway. 

152nd STREET

Sascha Just

10:00 minutes

This silent film tells the story of Phoebe whose view of life is limited to her block, her stoop on 152nd Street. An attractive stranger interrupts her solitary routine of observing the neighborhood. Phoebe allows herself to be seduced, invests deep feelings in this brief affair and in turn runs the risk of losing a man who has secretly cared for her for a long time. 152nd Street is the third part of the short film trilogy entitled Triangles. 

A SOUTH BRONX TALE

Janis Astor del Valle

13:35 minutes 

Ariana lives in one of the most homophobic "hoods" in the South Bronx, so coming out is not an option. But when she feels her life and reputation are threatened, 15-year old Ariana must choose between honoring herself or her familia. 

THE MENS ROOM

Gladys Bensimon

5:30 minutes

An animated history satirizing Hollywood's history of male domination.

July 26 , 2005

THE CALM:

After The Storm

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

M 

Arzuna Veloz

13 minutes

M is about survival and the inspiration to keep living after loss. It is the story about a girl who finds strength within herself even when the world around her is crumbling. 

L-O-V-E 

Tamiko Joye Ball

28 minutes

A young woman gets caught in a dangerous love triangle with her ex-boyfriend and incarcerated lover. As she tries to make sense of her situation, her life is turned upside down when her lover is released from prison and her ex-boyfriend won't let go.

BEAUTIFUL CITY

Patricia Mulcahy

23 minutes

Beautiful City explores the myth of a safer city during the Giuliani years; from the perspective of the inhabitants of one crime infested neighborhood.The backdrop of the glittering New York City skyline provides a striking contrast. 

SPARKS

Virginie Danglades

15 minutes

A beautiful dancer who works as a cleaning lady at the hospital showcases her electrifying talents while dancing luxuriously in front of the patients...and when she dances, their world comes to a stop.

June 28, 2005

"IN SEARCH: Of..." 

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

EVERDAY

Pei-Lin Kuo

7 minutes

A young Chinese female office worker uses her imagination to build herself a new but not real relationship through some photographs that she secretly takes of one man in the subway stations.

THE RING 

Jeanne Omlor

15 minutes

George (Georgina) an uptight, young businesswoman is sent to Paris to find her grandfather, Pierre's wedding ring. What she went in search of transforms into something else.

NO VERBAL RESPONSE 

Helena Smith

15 minutes 

Is Martin brain dead? The surgeons want to take him to theatre for organ donation. How can Dr. Megan Pillay be sure and what will she do?

LOWER EAST SIDE STORIES

Liselle Mei

38 minutes 

A series of four sequential portraits of women living in the Lower East Side of New York City. The characters' individual struggles for validation and self fulfillment are presented against the unique social and cultural back drop of this immigrant neighborhood.

May 24, 2005

PAST/PRESENT:

Forgetting and Remembering

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

Q&A with flimmakers Catalina Santamaria, Julie Lynch

and indie legend Gil Holland

EXCEPT MY SOUL...

Catalina Santamaria

Obsession and sanity come to the forefront as lonely and reclusive Alex follows the sounds of the person next door, to the point where reality dangerously blends with fantasy. 

About the filmmaker:

Catalina Santamaría is a filmmaker and photographer born in Bogotá, Colombia. In 1995 she moved to New York to pursue her studies in filmmaking at The New school for Social Research. Except My Soul... is her second film. In 1998, her first film, Derail, was awarded the Kodak Cinematography Award and The First Place Audience Award at The New Heaven Film Festival. Both films participated in several festival around the world. She is currently working on her feature film Luminescence which was awarded a grant from The Jerome Foundation.

GETTING OFF

Julie Lynch 

Set in 1992, Getting Off is about Josie, a downtown artist locked in a compulsive cycle of sex and alcohol. When a friend is diagnosed with AIDS, Josie and her two friends take an HIV test. As they await for their results, the three women are forced to examine their lives. 

About the filmmakers:

Julie Lynch

Writer/Director/Producer 

Julie Lynch wrote, directed and produced the award- winning independent feature, Getting Off. Getting Off  premiered on Showtime in September, 2005. Julie is also the host of the new PBS travel show, Great Finds, set to premiere later this year. Most recently, Julie was commissioned to write a courtroom drama about a serial pedophile and the school that harbored him. 

Enrique Chediak

Director of Photography

Enrique Chediak most recently shot A Home At the End of the World based on the Michael Cunningham book. Other recent credits include: Brown Sugar, The Good Girl, The Safety of Objects, Song Catcher, The Boiler Room, The Faculty. Enrique received the award for Best Cinematography at Sundance '97 for Hurricane Streets.

Gill Holland

Producer

Nominated for the Spirit Award for Producer of the Year 1998, Gill Holland produced Morgan J. Freeman's triple Sundance award-winning Hurricane Streets, the Fox sit-com Greg the Bunny, Spring Forward (on many critics' top ten lists for 2001), and the Emmy-nominated Dear Jesse and Sundance 2005 Competition selection Loggerheads. He is developing a movie about The Wright Brothers and one on Jeff Buckley. 

Eilhys England

Producer

Eilhys England produced Love or Money. Her feature projects in development include a film based upon the memoir by David Hackworth. With her husband, Eilhys has written the thriller, The Price of Honor and Steel My Soldier's Heart.

Nadia Leonelli

Producer 

Nadia Leonelli produced Acts of Worship, Desert Blue, The New Yorker in collaboration with Les Films Du Requin, and co-produced Hurricane Streets.

April 26, 2005

COMMUNICATION:

It's Not Always Easy

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

ROOM FOR ONE

Ambika Samarthya

A dashing hero, a sleazy cop, and a wet sari , a Bollywood film does not make - or does it? Room for One explores the dynamics of egos and desires on and off set in Bombay, India.

ON THE CLIFFS

Lisa M Perry

Best friends Penelope and Dora are the producers/stars of a local cable access show. Devoted to staging classics based on Cliffs Notes, problems arise when interpreting George Orwell's Animal Farm.

MÉNAGE À TROIS

Kimberly M. Wetherell

Brandon intends to spend a romantic day with his girlfriend, Lindsay, before he leaves for Paris. But his plan backfires, as their final day together becomes one long tussle between Brandon and her cell phone, each vying for Lindsay's undivided attention.

HOW I LEARNED TO SPEAK TURKISH

Therese Schechter

Chronicles one American woman's obsession with Turkish men. Her attempts to understand their language, culture and psyche leads to a revealing exploration of cultural cliches and the 'exotic other.'

FROZEN RIVER

Courtney Hunt

A border crossing through Mohawk territory between New York State and Québec, two women smugglers -- one white and one Mohawk -- are confronted with a dilemma when, after crossing the border with two Pakistani illegals in the trunk, they realize that they have left behind a bag containing a Pakistani infant.

March 22, 2005

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

SOAKED

Stephanie Daniels

10 minutes

 For a dancer who's on the slide off the cusp of young, she needs to find her dances wherever she can. She dreams of Giselleand Swan Lake. Instead she's got twitching set to Beethoven.

ANN'S HOARD

Ellen Lake

8 minutes

Confessions of a hoarder. Ann considers herself more of a hoarder than a collector. She has vases, covered glass dishes, hats, wigs, loads and loads of jewelry, most bought from eBay. She stashes her collections in the attic, garage, under beds, and in the closets.

LADIES ROOM

Kate Bernstein

12 minutes

Young women in their most intimate environment - the bathroom. From sterile public schools to underground warehouse raves and glitzy hotel rooms, this short film tells an insightful, playful and provocative story of a group of NYC girls in a variety of situations and bathrooms.

A PLACE LIKE THIS

Yvonne Kenney

59 minutes

A Place Like This takes us into the Jeanne d' Arc, an all-women's residence; and focuses on some of the lives of the diverse and eccentric residents. An in-depth portrait emerges, leaving us with a greater understanding of the values and risks of women-only communities and the challenges women face while pursuing their dreams.

January 25, 2005

LIFE CYCLES: Women Full Circle

Two Boots Pioneer Theater

155 E. 3rd Street

www.twoboots.com

BELLE

Ruth Sergel

16 min

"Old age ain't no place for sissies."

- Bette Davis

Belle is a subversive fable of old age and beauty. A short fiction film that explores the intersection of age, race and our expectation of others.

WE GOT US

Joan Brooker 

26 min

Hilarious and heartwarming, We Got Us captures four elderly Jewish women during their weekly Mah Jong game, as they reminisce about their childhood, marriage, illness, and bereavement-all the while embracing the present and boldly coping with the challenges of old age.

VERONIKA'S BIRTHDAY

Jessica Burstein

39 min

A sometimes hilarious and often unsettling study of a grandmother, a daughter, and a granddaughter who continue their dysfunctional relationships.