Screening I

Thursday, June 14, 3-5 pm

Thalian Hall

(in order of screening)
 

FISSION

Kun-I Chang is a New York based motion graphic designer whose arts include animation, video and drawing. Kun-I creates work that contrasts real life and the drawn image. In his recent work, he combines the technique of video shooting, 2D motion graphic animation and rotoscoping. Instead of the eye-popping visual style, it's a film that uses a captivating image to tell a sparse, but lush, story.

Director: Kun-I Chang

School of Visual Arts (NY)

Life, Death, Afterlife, Etc.

One man. One impenetrable hair. One run-away brain chunk…

Director: Peter Letz

Wesleyan University

Closure

Closure is an experimental narrative that tells the story of Berhnard, an elderly German immigrant and former Nazi soldier. Berhnard’s story is told from the first moment that his life flashes before his eyes until he takes his last breath. During these brief minutes Berhnard is taken on a surreal journey through the woods. Around every horrifying turn he relives his strained relationship with his family and his complex feelings about his involvement in the Nazi party. The emotional and physical struggles Berhnard faces as he runs through these moments of his past depict both the eternal pain he fears and the impossibility of achieving closure as a result of his mistakes. Driven by the frozen scream of a woman watching her son's execution, Berhnard is forced to stop running as the end nears and finally face his actions. He discovers his deep regret for the pain and destruction he brought to the lives of many innocent men, women and children. While free from any legal condemnation for his sins, Berhnard faces a much more powerful punishment, his own conflicting feelings of ingrained patriotism and powerful regret. This story aims to challenge the conventional concepts of the villain, the victim and the constant human struggle to accept and find peace with the difficult and often harmful choices and decisions we make.

Producer: Kate Dowd

Director: Paul Kennedy

New York University

...and then there were four

Seventy-seven year old Laura Ann Gamble, mother of 11, grandmother of 18 has taken on the daunting task of raising four of her grandsons (ages five, six, seven and eight). Their parents, one white and one black, had been suffering from drug addiction and were in and out of jail. Their other grandparents, the only white family in the area, 15 minutes down the road are only able to visit periodically. With other family members reluctant to take them, she adopted the boys. Sedric, age five, has suffered from physical defects since he was a child. His fingers and toes were webbed at birth and now he is just becoming fully potty-trained. These children, disadvantaged and deprived, coming from a rough family life of foul language, unkempt living conditions and poor grooming were enrolled in school, instructed on their manners, signed up for after school programs and for the first time in their lives, fed three meals a day. Their father, recently released from prison is trying to reconstruct his life so he can better provide for them. The four boys still have trouble with authority and obedience and have not fully learned to respect one another but are improving everyday and being molded into exceptional children. Laura Ann Gamble has accepted this challenge to provide a better life for these boys, as she did her own children. One single parent, shaping and supporting two generations; this is the documentation of the strength of a grandmother to raise her children's children.

Producer/Director: Leah Bell

University of North Texas

American Algolagnia

Algolagnia, by definition, is a paraphilia in which images of extreme violence, pain, or death cause some sort of sexual arousal. In American Algolagnia, the viewer is asked to look at three separate images; two show sexually suggestive imagery, the other shows violent imagery. Which is harder to look at, and why? This piece comments on Americans complete apathy to images of violence, but we seem to grow increasingly more and more uncomfortable in our own bodies, and with our own sexuality. American Algolagnia doesn't offer the answers, just simply poses the question. What bothers you more, and why?

Director: Erin Zerbe

Virginia Commonwealth University

Orbiting

Trevor is stuck living with his parents and his life is going nowhere fast. As he desperately tries to write his sci-fi novel, a serious case of writer's block is the least of his concerns. When he is sent by his coupon-savvy mother and pissed-off dad to run a very important errand, the 30-something slacker finds himself facing humiliation and failure. Provoked to take surprising action, Trevor seems at last driven to change his life. Can he do it?

Producer/Director: Karen Glienke

UCLA

Pomiedzy (In Between)

Director: Jose Iglesias

The Polish National Film School

Glimpse

Glimpse, an experimental nine-minute animated short using stop motion photography, is a study of the life of painter Willem de Kooning and a stream of consciousness narrative concerning the impermanence of life.

Director: Dustin Grella

University of Akron

Thursday, June 14, 3-5 pm

St. Thomas Preservation Hall 

Brotherly Lore

David comes home one day to find his beloved car totally smashed beyond recognition. In his distress and confusion he asks his brother, Brandon, who ironically already happens to be at the scene of the crime, ”What happened to my car?” Brandon automatically devises a story about how he was walking down the street when a mad cow broke free from a farm truck and ended up pursuing him throughout the neighborhood in a rage. Scaring innocent bystanders, hiding in dumpsters as well as a head on car collision is the basic summary of his story. Of course, this isn't counting the Mole People, Nemian Lion or the Hydra that also miraculously find their way into the explanation. This story is so, outrageous, so insane, so completely unbelievable, that it totally questions his credibility for being innocent of the damages. David refuses to believe Brandon's version of the story, and decides to stick to what he believes is more realistic: Brandon totaled it. Nonchalantly Brandon leaves the scene with a “Fine don't believe me, I’m out of here” and a quick pat on the back for his brother. As David mumbles to himself, the chain of events takes a twist and it turns out that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, especially when it comes to any situation that may involve mad cows or mythical beasts ruining your only mode of transportation.

Producer/Director: David Concannon

Massachusetts College of Art

Breaking Boundaries: the Sondra Van Ert Story

Sondra Van Ert is one of the most decorated winter athletes in the U.S. Her career spanned three decades and two sports, facing social stereotypes such as sexism and ageism. Breaking Boundaries, the Sondra Van Ert Story celebrates this pivotal figure in American athletics. Filmmaker and professional snowboarder Jennifer Grace visits with Sondra and reflects upon her unique career and far reaching impact. Rejected in the 80s by the US ski team because of her age (23) Sondra turned to a new sport without such established prejudices. Snowboarding rejected many of skiings rules and provided an opportunity for Sondra to reach her athletic potential. Not only did Sondra log ten years on the snowboarding World Cup, she competed in two Olympics and has three World Snowboarding Championship podiums. She competed in her final Olympics at the groundbreaking age of 39. Sondra inspired a generation of non- traditional athletes including the film's director, Jennifer Grace, to push past social boundaries in the name of a dream. Breaking Boundaries isn't just about athletic boundaries. It’s about overcoming the obstacles that any dreamer faces.

Producer/Director: Jennifer Grace

Montana State University

Vanished Acres

Jerod Grot's once-prosperous farm is now a twisted shadow of its former self. With his land overrun by crows and a scarecrow with a mind of its own, Jerod is forced to seek solace in the fading happy memories of his past. Each day is as the next. But today, Jerod finds a lost love letter from his deceased wife. The letter is not to him, but rather to his scarecrow. With his world turned upside down, Jerod is met with many more memories - dark and unpleasant ones which he chose to ignore. As he confronts the scarecrow about the letter, these buried secrets begin to surface, shattering the uneasy peace that once existed on this haunted land, and forcing him to face his past as it truly was.

Producer: Michael Silberman

Director: Adam Bolt

Art Center College of Design

Rose Colored Glasses

Elizabeth remembers the joy and love that she felt during the relationship with her ex-boyfriend Nick. She is determined to rekindle the relationship despite her sister's efforts to discourage her. Upon arriving at Nick's apartment to reunite with him, Elizabeth is greeted in a very different manner than she had hoped for.

Producer: Kellen Parr

Director: Andrew Fortenbacher

Grand Valley State University

Heart, American Red Cross

Heart, American Red Cross Public Service Announcement was created for the American Red Cross to show the amazing things that the organization does for people across the world. The public service announcement features the Peggy Lee song, “Heart.” She donated the rights to the song to the American Red Cross, so we were able to honor a great woman while promoting an organization that has made a difference in so many lives. Happy and bright, the song speaks to the spirit of the American Red Cross organization. The commercial was done in a late 1940s look akin to nostalgic war posters. The unity and community that was created during this era is both cinematic and heroic. Viewers of all ages are inspired by this time in American history, which brings a sense of good will and charitable causes. The chorography of multiple dancers helped to create visual unity that the American Red Cross is known for. The spot was shot on 35mm film and was choreographed to be one continuous steady cam shot.

Director: Jennava Laska

Art Center College of Design (CA)

DOOBIE PINK or how I quit being a party freak...

Doobie Pink is a party freak. Drugs, alcohol, parties, and crazy rides in car: Nothing stops him. But tonight the fiesta doesn't turn up like planned and his life is affected. Little by little Doobie Pink becomes a genius in bakery.

Director: Sary Sehnaoui

Concordia University

Keeper of the Myth
While five kids are camping in the Northern Rocky Mountains, they have an encounter with a Mythological Creature.

Director: Kevin Callies

University of Oklahoma

The Lonely Lights. The Color of Lemons.

A visual study of a young jogger who is shown a series of inkblot paintings that propel him into a collection of stories and memories centering on childhood, questions of sexuality and an enigmatic girl.

Producer: Constantin Preda

Director: Benjamin M Piety

University of Central Florida

Til Death Do Us Part

After getting dumped days before her wedding, Helen puts on her dress and goes to the top of a 15-story building to jump. She throws her ring off the ledge and in a stroke of fate it lands 15-stories below in Gordon's coffee cup. He rushes up to Helen and tries to get her not to jump because he believes this isn't a coincidence and is sure Helen is his soul mate. Today also just happens to be the first day he has taken off his wedding ring from his failed marriage three years ago. In a fit of insanity Gordon runs up onto the ledge with Helen and begins to chant a mantra his psychiatrist gave him. He calms down and then Helen partakes in the mantra as well. Gordon and Helen talk, fall in love, and he convinces her to come off the ledge. But fate has other plans. Gordon tosses the ring back to Helen, and in an attempt to grab it she falls off the ledge catapulting Gordon's philosophies on life into chaos.

Producer: Amanda Ellis

Director: Bryan Nest

Chapman University (CA)