FEATURE NARRATIVES

Home - 2004 Schedule
Feature Narratives - Feature Documentaries
Shorts: Death, Confusion & Hysterics - Shorts: Love & Hate - Shorts: Coming of Age
Shorts: Animation - Short Documentaries - Shorts: Focus on Music
Shorts: Screening With - Shorts: Almost Midnight
Youth Forum: Youth Forum: Narratives - Youth Forum: Docs

Panels - Music - Specials

View by Calendar date and venue
Wednesday/Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday
View Films, Panels and Concerts by name and category

ADMISSIONS

Directed by Melissa Painter
USA / 2004 / 92 minutes

Synopsis:
Evie (Lauren Ambrose) – seventeen, brilliant, disarmingly direct, and with a fish-out-of-water sense of humor – may or may not be on her way out the door of her childhood home and on her way to college.  Emily, her older sister, has savant syndrome and is severely mentally impaired.  The two sisters have an odd bond.  Neither girl sees the world through everyday eyes, and Evie cannot quite wrench free from the perpetual childhood her sister inhabits. Her mother (Amy Madigan) is always too busily mothering one to notice the other.  James, the gorgeous next-door neighbor, may or may not succeed in his pursuit of Evie. 

Admissions is the story of a girl who just wants to be a “good person” – a refreshing anachronism in today’s teenage culture, and who messes up brilliantly in her attempts at it.  It is about how the worst troubles can be caused by the best intentions, how one family’s secrets are finally revealed as the result of a white lie, and ultimately, how the reconciliation between a mother and daughter lets a girl grow up. 

Bio:
Melissa Painter attended New York University's Graduate Film Program, where she received a teaching assistantship in writing, directing actors, and advanced editing.

Her 35mm short, Jump, premiered at the New York Film Festival in 1996, and went on to Sundance, Bilbao, Edinburgh, and many other festivals. Wildflowers, a film about children of children of the ‘60s, which was developed at the Sundance Institute Filmmakers / Screenwriters Lab with Daryl Hannah and Clea DuVall, was her first feature. The film screened at numerous film festivals and took the Best Narrative price at South by Southwest. It enjoyed a limited theatrical release in Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, and was released on video by Monarch Video, and was purchased for cable by the Rainbow Network. Admissions, with Lauren Ambrose, Amy Madigan, and Christopher Lloyd, is her second feature. She just completed principal photography on location in Montana for her third feature, which she wrote and directed. Steal Me, the story of a young kleptomaniac who has a mother fixation.

Main:
Director: Melissa Painter
Producer: Annette Vait
Screenwriter: Dawn O'Leary
Cinematographer: Paul Ryan
Editor: Robert Frazen
Music: Martin Tillman

Principal Cast: Lauren Ambrose, Scott Adsit, Christopher Lloyd, Amy Madigan, Taylor Roberts, John Savage.

Directed by Martin Scorsese
Original Score by Elmer Bernstein
USA /  1993 / 139 minutes

Elmer Bernstein received on of his fourteen Academy-Award nominations for this score which features several memorable original waltzes.

Courtesy of  Sony Pictures Entertainment
 

Directed by Brant Sersen
USA /  2004 / 91 minutes

Synopsis:
Banned from the world of paintball for ten years, Bobby Dukes, the former Hudson Valley champ, has returned to reclaim his title. Faced with rejection by his former teammates, Bobby joins forces with an unlikely ally, assembles a band of misfits, and attempts to erase the figures of his tainted past..

Blackballed features Rob Corddry as Bobby Dukes. Rob currently serves as a correspondent for Comedy Central’s Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Filmed in Liberty, New York.

Bio:
Brant first achieved critical success with his documentary Release, which premiered before a sold-out audience at the 1999 New York Underground Film Festival. Acquired for worldwide distribution by Victory Records, Release debuted at no. 28 on the Billboard Top 100 Videos chart and remained there for eight weeks. Shortly afterward, Brant was commissioned to direct the documentary Sick of It All: The Story So Far. While involved in these projects, he directed two music videos for DJ Ming & FS, both of which received heavy rotation on MTV's AMP.

BlackBalled marks Brant's narrative feature film debut. The film, shot predominantly in a cinema verité style, is largely improvised and showcases the comedic timing of its accomplished ensemble cast.

Main Credits:
Director: Brant Sersen
Producer: Darren Goldberg
Screenwriters: Brant Sersen, Brian Steinberg
Cinematographer: Johnathan Goldsmith
Editor: Chris Lechler
Music: Bob Warner, Pablo Rieppi

Visit Website
 

CAVEDWELLER

Directed by Lisa Cholodenko
USA / 2004 / 120 minutes

Synopsis:
The Showtime original picture Cavedweller tells the story of a passionate woman whose chaotic present and disturbing past collide when she returns to her native Georgia to win back the love of the two little girls she left behind. The film stars Kyra Sedgwick, Aidan Quinn, Sherilyn Fenn, Jill Scott, Regan Arnold, Vanessa Zima,  and Kevin Bacon.

Kyra Sedgwick plays Delia, who escaped her abusive marriage and abandoned her two young daughters by joining a rock group that was touring through her hometown.  As a singer/songwriter with the group, Delia makes a new life for herself and has a third daughter, Cissy, with lead singer Randall Pritchard.

After Randall’s death in a car accident, Delia decides to take the angry, grieving Cissy with her to Georgia.  Delia’s hope is to regain custody of the children she left behind, now in their teens, so that she can make a better home for them all. But to do this, Delia must

confront the demons from her first marriage, the hostility of her ex-husband’s family, and her own doubts about her past decisions.  She also has to win back the trust and love of her two older daughters without damaging her already tense relationship with Cissy.

The film is directed by Lisa Cholodenko, who wrote and directed the critically acclaimed High Art and Laurel Canyon. The screenplay for Cavedweller is by Anne Meredith and is based upon the novel by Dorothy Allison. The executive producers are Orly Adelson, Kyra Sedgwick, and David Yudain.

Bio:
Lisa Cholodenko started working in film as an assistant editor on studio features such as Boyz N the Hood and To Die For. Drawn to New York's independent film scene, she attended Columbia University's graduate film program where she made two highly regarded short films, Souvenir and Dinner Party. Her first feature, High Art, won the 1998 Waldo Salt Screenwriting Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2002, her second feature, Laurel Canyon, was screened in the Director's Fortnight at Cannes, the Sundance and Toronto film festivals, and garnered IFP Spirit Award nominations for its lead performances. Cholodenko has also directed episodes of Six Feet Under and Homicide: Life on the Street.

Main Credits:
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Executive Producers: Orly Andelson, Kyra Sedgwick, David Yudaine, Robert Halmi, Jr.
Producer: Michael Levine
Screenwriter: Anne Meredith
Cinematographer:
Editor: Amy E. Duddleston
Principal Cast: Kyra Sedgwick, Aidan Quinn, Sherilyn Fenn,
Jill Scott, Vanessa Zima, Kevin Bacon

Visit Website

Courtesy of  Showtime Independent Films
 

CHAIN

Directed by Jem Cohen
USA / 2004 / 99 minutes

Synopsis:
As regional character disappears and corporate culture homogenizes our surroundings, it’s increasingly hard to tell where you are. In Chain, malls, theme parks, hotels, and corporate centers worldwide are joined into a monolithic “superlandscape” that shapes and circumscribes the lives of two women. One is a businesswoman studying the international theme-park industry. The other is a young drifter, living and working illegally on the fringes of a shopping mall.

“This experimental feature/doc succeeds in being both mesmerizing and thought-provoking as it explores geographical and emotional displacement.” (Jeff Economy)

A good bit of the film was shot in upstate New York!

Bio:
New York filmmaker Jem Cohen's work includes Benjamin Smoke (2000), Lost Book Found (1996), Instrument, with the band Fugazi - 1999, Amber City (1999), and Buried in Light (1995). Both Chain and Benjamin Smoke premiered in the Berlin Film Festival's Forum section. Cohen's work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, and has been featured on PBS, the Sundance Channel, the BBC, and ARTE. Cohen has worked extensively with musicians, including Vic Chesnutt, R.E.M., Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sparklehorse, Elliott Smith, Jonathan Richman, and Patti Smith.

Main Credits:
Director: Jem Cohen
Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Jem Cohen
Cinematographer: Jem Cohen
Editors: Jem Cohen, David Frankel
Features: Miho Nikaido, Mira Billotte

Visit Website

Courtesy of  Antidote Films

CHORISTS (LES CHORISTES)

Directed by Christophe Barratier
French / 2004 / 95 minutes
In French with English subtitles

Synopsis:
Clement Mathieu, an unemployed music teacher, is hired as a supervisor at a boarding school for troubled youth.  Immediately upon his arrival, he witnesses how the boys constantly act up and torture would-be teachers. Rachin, the school director, resorts to harsh punishments and a strong fist in an attempt to keep the pupils in line. Optimistic and positive-minded, Mathieu chooses alternate methods of punishment for the rowdy children so that they don’t have to face Rachin’s whip. Gradually he earns the students’ trust, and he decides to start a school chorus to introduce the students to his musical passion.  His class takes to the experiment, the musical structure begets discipline among the students, and the overall life at school improves. Rachin, jealous of Mathieu’s success, quickly disbands it, but word about the chorus gets out to the school’s board, who request a concert.  However, without  Rachin’s permission to rehearse, many obstacles stand in Mathieu’s way. Will he and his chorus be able to pull off the concert that the school’s future hinges on?

Christophe Barratier is a classical guitarist, a graduate of the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, and winner of several international music competitions.

In 1991, he was hired by Jacques Perrin of Galatée Films., where he acted as associate producer on Children of Lumiere, Les Enfants de Lumière, Microcosmos, Himalaya and Winged Migration.

In 2001, he directed his first film, a short subject based on Maupassant’s story Les Tombales ans starring Lambert Wilson and Carole Weiss. Broadcast on Canal+ and FR3, it was a selection at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival.

Produced by Galatée Films and cowritten with Philippe Lopes-Curval, Chorists is Barratier's first feature film.

Main Credits:
Director: Christophe Barratier
Producers: Arthur Cohn, Jacques Perrin
Screenwriters: Christophe Barratier, Philippe Lopes-Curval
Cinematographers: Carlo Varini (AFC), Dominique Gentil (AFC)
Editor: Yves Deschamps
Music: Bruno Coulais

Principal Cast: Gerard Jugnot, François Berleand, Jean-Baptiste Maunier, Jacques Perrin, Kad Merad, Marie Buñel, Philippe du Janerand, Jean-Paul Bonnaire, Maxence Perrin, Didier Flamand
 

Courtesy of  Miramax Films
 

Nisha Ganatra returns to  Woodstock with Cosmopolitan, in which a suddenly-single bachelor, an attractive neighbor, and a popular women’s magazine are the ingredients of a delicious romance that pays homage to classic Bollywood cinema while spinning a modern love story that is uniquely its own. From the director of Chutney Popcorn and the writer of Monsoon Wedding,

 “Cosmopolitan mixes the bittersweet comedy of real life with the intoxicating magic of rediscovered love.”

Starring: Roshan Seth, Carol Kane, Maghur Jaffrey, Purva Bedi

Bio:
Nisha Ganatra's first feature film, Chutney Popcorn, received much acclaim, garnering Best Feature Film awards at the Outfest Los Angeles and San Francisco film festivals and Audience Awards at the Berlin International Film Festival, Newport Film Festival, Paris International Film Festival, and Madrid International Film Festival.

In addition to Cosmopolitan, Nisha recently completed production on Cake, a romantic comedy starring Heather Graham. Her past work includes Fast Food High for Susan Cavan (Stealing Harvard, Superstar, Brain Candy) and Real World New York for MTV and the Road Rules/Real World Challenge. Nisha is in development for feature films with Jane Startz Productions (Ella Enchanted, Tuck Everlasting, The Baby Sitter's Club, The Mighty).

Main Credits:
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Producers: Brian Devine, Jason Orans, Jen Small
Cinematographer: Matt Clark
Screenwriter: Sabrina Dhawan (based on a story by Akhil Sharma)
Music: Andrew Lockington (songs by Chris Rael)

Visit Website
 

Preceded by
SANGAM


Directed by Prashant Bhargava
USA / 2004 / 22 minutes

Synopsis:
Raj, a recent immigrant from India, and Vivek, a disillusioned Indian-American, meet on a subway to Brooklyn.  As each longs for what the other takes for granted, they must confront the currents that bind and divide them.

Bio:
Prashant Bhargava is an award-winning filmmaker and designer, whose interest in the arts began as a graffiti artist in his native chicago.

For the past eight years, as creative director of his own production company, Prashant has designed and directed commercials, titles, and promos for such films as John Frankenheimer's Path to War, Mira Nair's Hysterical Blindness, Raoul Peck's Lumumba, and Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher. Notable projects include branding Cinemax's Reel Life documentary series and the HBO original series OZ, Def Poetry Jam, and The Wire. Other projects include promotions for Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Missy Elliot, Talib Kweli, Accenture, PBS, Bravo, and IBM.

His work has appeared in numerous festivals and has been recognized by the New York Foundation of the Arts, the Broadcast Designers Association, and Adobe Systems.

Prashant is currently developing a feature film. He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Main Credits:
Director, Screenwriter, Editor: Prashant Bhargava
Producer: Mark Mann
Cinematographers: Cybel Martini, Jay Silver
Music: Qasim Ali Naqui

Visit Website
 

Directed by Shona Auerbach
UK / 2004 / 104 minutes

SYNOPSIS:
Dear Frankie is a heartwarming and often humorous tale of nine year old Frankie and his mom, Lizzie, who have been on the move ever since he can remember.  To protect her son from the truth, Lizzie has invented a story to satisfy Frankie's curiosity. She regularly writes Frankie a letter from his make-believe father who works aboard a ship traveling to exotic lands. However, Lizzie soon finds out his 'father's' ship will be arriving in a few days.  Now, Lizzie must choose between telling Frankie the truth and hatching a desperate plan to find the perfect stranger to play the perfect father.

Directed by Shona Auerbach, Dear Frankie stars Emily Mortimer (Young Adam, Lovely and Amazing, Bright Young Things), Gerard Butler (Tomb Raider 2, Timeline, the forthcoming Phantom of the Opera), and Jack Mcelhone (Young Adam) as Frankie. Sharon Small (About a Boy, Glasgow Kiss), Mary Riggans, Jayd Johnson and Sean Brown co-star.

BIO:
Shona Auerbach began her career as a stills photographer but, aware of the creative limitations, decided that she wanted to work with moving images.  She studied film at Manchester University, and cinematography at Leeds completing her MA at the Polish National Film School in Lodz.  It was during this period that she made her 35mm directing debut with the short film Seven.  This was named Best Short Film at the British Short Film Festival in 1996.

THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY



Directed by Robert Margolis and Frank Matter
USA / 2004 / 85 minutes

Synopsis:
They say America is the land of opportunity, but it’s also the land of elusive dreams. The Definition of Insanity is an intimate character study of  Robert (Robert Margolis), an actor moving past his prime who is still chasing that one great role. His life begins to unravel as he struggles to survive in a competitive and often-brutal environment, without realizing how his obsession affects the people close to him. Like many artists living on the fringe, Robert faces the existential questions: How much of his life does he want to sacrifice to art? And at what point is it time to move on? When he meets legendary film director Peter Bogdanovich (playing himself), that question is answered in an unexpected way.

The Definition of Insanity is a tragicomic film about big dreams and everyday rituals, humiliating defeats and little triumphs, and the inexplicable optimism–some might call it delusion–that keeps us going.

Bio:

DOWN TO THE BONE

Directed by Debra Granik
USA / 2004 / 101 minutes

Synopsis:
In upstate New York, Irene (Vera Farmiga) struggles to raise two sons, keep her stale marriage together, and manage a secret cocaine habit.  

Isolated in a dead-end job at a strip mall on the edge of town, Irene isn’t sure when she went from high school partying to skimming off the grocery money to supply her growing habit.

Desperate to alter her life, she puts herself in rehab, hoping she can reshape the world she has made with her husband, Steve (Clint Jordan). But once she’s back home, the distance between them seems to widen, and Irene ends up falling into an affair with Bob (Hugh Dillon), a nurse and former addict she met in rehab.

Bob’s attention and affection revives her pushed-aside life, but all too soon she realizes they have more in common than she bargained for.

Bio:
Debra Granik studied at the Massachusetts College of Art, Brandeis University, and Edinburgh University before attending the Graduate Film Program at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. Snake Feed, her first short film at NYU, won Best Short at Sundance (1998), and she was later invited to attend the Sundance Institute Filmmakers/Screenwriters Lab to develop the script for Down to the Bone. While in development on Bone, Granik completed her second short film, Side by Side, and was the director of photography and codirector on Thunder in Guyana, a feature documentary currently on the festival circuit. Down to the Bone is her first feature film. Granik currently has several projects in development, including two documentaries.

Main:
Director: Debra Granik
Producers: Susan Leber, Anne Rosellini
Screenwriters: Debra Granik, Richard Lieske
Cinematographer: Michael McDonough
Editor: Malcolm Jamieson
Music: East River Pipe, JOMF, Low, Tortoise and Slug

Principal Cast: Vera Farmiga, Hugh Dillon, Clint Jordan, Caridad “La Bruja” de la Luz, Jasper Moon Daniels, Taylor Foxhall

Visit Website
 

ELEPHANT SHOES



Directed by Christos Sourligas
Canada / 2004 / 79 minutes

Synopsis:
Alexis and Manny are a “twelve-hour” couple whose turbulent love affair is told over the course of a half-day. Their romance begins with a chance meeting on the street, then is fast-forwarded to Manny’s apartment, where they share an unforgettable one-night stand that feels like a lifetime.

Elephant Shoes was produced by One Man Band Films, an independent film production company founded by award-winning filmmaker Christos Sourligas. Sourligas´s short films include Vomit Boy, The Last Supper, and Park Ex., which was awarded the Canadian Multicultural Award by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Sourligas has recently optioned another feature-length comedy script, slated for production in 2005, to a Montreal-based film company.

Main:
Director/Producer: Christos Sourligas
Screenwriter: Christos Sourligas
Cinematographer: Luc Montpellier, CSC
Editor: Joseph Bohbot

Principal Cast: Stacie Morgain Lewis, Greg Shamie

Visit Website
 

Preceded by Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher

Synopsis:
Since mankind has evolved out of the caves and into tract homes, what has survival of the fittest come to mean? This question is hilariously and disturbingly examined in The Fittest, a darkly comic tale of survival in suburbia.  Freddy Grant desperately wants to have a child but his defective sperm keeps him from getting his wife, Grace, pregnant.  As his infertility puts increasing strain on their marriage, Freddy strikes up an affair with his co-worker, Jill, who is involved in an on-again, off-again relationship with Freddy’s sadistic boss, Al.  Insecurity and a biological imperative lead to some bad choices and Freddy's world begins to unravel.

Filmmaking team Jeffrey and Joshua Crook (The Crook Brothers) give Darwin a new spin in this dark comic tale of suburban lust. Infertility turns to infidelity when office drone Freddy, wounded by his wife's rejection when she learns he can't conceive, turns in solace to an illicit affair -- with his boss' mistress. Freddy's bad choices pile up until he has to learn to eat, or be eaten. Fans of the Farrelly Brothers will appreciate this wickedly funny story that'll have you laughing and cringing, often at the same time. (Jeff Economy)

Principal Cast: Jason Madera, Angela Grant, Christina Caparoula, Chris Ferry, Josh Crook

Visit Website
 

JAILBAIT

Directed by Brett C. Leonard
USA / 2004 / 89 minutes

Synopsis:
The United States correctional system has been the inspiration for many notable films over the years, from the chain gangs of Cool Hand Luke to classic prison–break films like Escape from Alcatraz, but rarely has prison life been illustrated with the candor and emotional realism of writer/director Brett C. Leonard’s Jailbait. The film craftily uses the confinement of a prison cell to intensify the emotional stakes between prisoners Jake (Stephen Adly-Guirgis) and Randy (Michael Pitt), as they non only confront ugly truths about each other, but about themselves. Leonard’s deft touch and careful pacing never falter, and Pitt and Adly-Guirgis allow the relationship between Randy and Jake to grow organically and with great nuance. Jailbait is a major achievement, an intimate film that feels larger than life.

A haunting opening score sets the tone, pulling us deep into the bowels of a maximum security prison in this gripping psycho-sexual tug-of-war where Jake, a lifer asserts his dominance over Randy, an ethereal young man facing 25 years. Brilliant performances and artful angles lead to a powerful, yet understated ending. (Barbara Pokras)

Jailbait Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the Lake Placid Film Festival in 2004) marks Brett C. Leonard's filmmaking debut. His stage works include: Guinea Pig Solo, New York's Public Theater and Labyrinth Theater Company; Scotch and Water, New York's Parkside Lounge and London's New Company; The Memory of Love's Refrain, New York's Interart; and Roger and Vanessa, London's Latchmere Theatre and Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Main:
Director/Screenwriter: Brett C. Leonard
Producers: Dan O'Meara, Linda Moran, Rene Bastian, Corbin Day, Brett C. Leonard
Cinematographer: John J. Campbell
Editor: Ron Len
Music: Ed Tomney

Principal Cast: Michael Pitt, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Laila Robins, David Zayas
 

KING OF THE CORNER

Directed by Peter Riegert
USA / 2004 / 93 minutes

Synopsis:
A social comedy about the dangers of navigating life without a compass, King of the Corner paints a portrait of Leo (Peter Riegert), his family, and his world. His father (Eli Wallach) is dying, his daughter is growing up, his protégé is after his job, his wife (Isabella Rossellini) is running out of patience, and his judgment is becoming blurred. Leo has met the enemy and it is himself, but through a twist of fate and the wisdom of his rabbi (Eric Bogosian), he achieves self-redemption and is allowed a second chance.

Featuring music by rock n’ roll legend Al Kooper, Peter Riegert’s directorial debut is a humorous, honest, and multi-faceted look at how one man turns his midlife crisis into a midlife opportunity. King of the Corner was co–written with Gerald Shapiro based on Shapiro’s collection of short stories, Bad Jews and Other Stories.

A seasoned cast, clever dialogue and dark humor infuse the story of Leo Spivack, a middle aged man on the verge of losing everything. Color is used to good effect in the cold. blue boardroom where Leo fights for his life, and a funeral scene is memorable for its off the wall humor, gentle wisdom and a fine soliloquy. (Barbara Pokras)

Bio:
Peter Riegart has appeared in more than thirty films, including Animal House, Local Hero, Crossing Delancey, The Mask, and Traffic. Television credits include The Sopranos, Barbarians at the Gate, and the final episode of Seinfeld. His short film By Courier was nominated for an Academy Award in 2000.

Main:
Director: Peter Riegert
Producer: Lemore Syvan
Screenwriters: Peter Riegert, Gerald Shapiro
Cinematographer: Maurico Rubinstein
Editor: Mario Ontal
Music: Al Kooper

Featuring: Peter Riegert, Isabella Rossellini, Eli Wallach, Rita Moreno, Beverly D’Angelo, Eric Bogosian, Dominic Chianese, Jake Hoffman

Visit Website
 

KONTROLL

Directed by Nimrod Antal
USA-Hungary / 2003 / 107 minutes
Hungarian with English subtitles

Synopsis:
Bulcsu is an undercover officer who checks tickets in the Budapest Metro–not the most popular job on the planet!

He and his rag tag crew deal with outrageous excuses from the public, inventive pranks from their nemesis, after-hours antics, and a possible serial killer.  

At the same time, Bulcsu's personal life is in turmoil, and his only solace comes from a kindly driver and her sexy bear-costume-clad daughter. 

“Shot at night in the stations and tunnels of the Budapest Metro, Nimrod Antal’s hyperkinetic Kontrol exploits every fear of the underground, with its live tracks, rattling carriages, narrow platforms and nighttime population of wackos, weirdos and the simply strange.”

(Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter)

Bio:
Nimrod Antal started his film studies at the Film Workshop of Pasadena Art Center in 1991. After moving to Hungary he studied at the Hungarian Academy of Drama and Film, from which he graduated as a film director in 1995. Kontroll is his first full-length feature film.

Main:
Director: Nimrod Antal
Producers: Tamas Hutlassa, Nimrod Antal
Screenwriters: Jim Adler, Nimrod Antal
Cinematographer:
Editor: Istvan Kiraly
Music: Neo

Principal Cast: Sandor Csanyi, Csaba Pindroch, Zoltan Musci, Sandor Badar, Zsolt Nagy, Eszter Balla, Lajos Kovacs

Courtesy of  THINKFilm
 

THE MACHINIST

Opening Night in Rhinebeck

Directed by Brad Anderson
USA / 2004 / 98 minutes

Synopsis:
Trevor Reznik has not slept for a year. His every waking minute has become an unremitting nightmare of confusion, paranoia, guilt, anxiety, and terror, each of which provides part of the escalating series of clues that will lead to the source of his mysterious affliction in this inventive psychological thriller by Brad Anderson (Happy Accidents, Session). Featuring Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, John Sharian, Michael Ironside, and Larry Gilliard.

Trevor Reznik has a truly epic case of insomnia: he hasn't slept a wink in over a year. And if the decline of his physical and mental health weren't bad enough, he's also lost the respect of his co-workers, who shun him after his maladies lead to a horrific industrial accident. In the days that follow, Freddy is convinced they want him fired ... or worse. As the increasingly distraught Trevor, Christian Bale is a study in nightmarish paranoia in Brad Anderson's gritty psychological thriller.
(Jeff Economy)

The Darian Gap, Brad Anderson's first feature film, screened in competition at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. Because of that film, he was honored by Variety in 1997 as one of the “Ten Leading New Independent Directors to Watch”. In 1998, his film Next Stop Wonderland, featuring Hope Davis and Philip Seymour Hoffman, was picked up at Sundance by Miramax. It won the Grand Prix and Audience Award at the Deauville Film Festival and the Excellence in Filmmaking Award from the National Board of Review.

In 2001, Anderson had the unusual experience of having two of his films simultaneously hit theaters, both to overwhelming critical praise: the romantic comedy Happy Accidents (IFC Films) and the psychological thriller Session 9 (USA Films).

His television direction includes episodes of Homicide, HBO's The Wire, and the FX hit The Shield.

Main Credits:
Director: Brad Anderson
Executive Producers: Carlos Fernandez, Antonia Nava
Producer: Julio Fernandez
Screenwriter: Scott Alan Kosar
Cinematographer: Xavi Giménez
Editor: Luis de la Madrid
Music: Roque Banos

Principal Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, John Sharian, Michael Ironside, Larry Gilliard

Visit Website

Courtesy of Paramount Classics
 

ONG BAK:
THE THAI WARRIOR

Directed by Prachya Pinkaew 
Thailand / 2003 / 105 minutes

Synopsis:
One dark night, a former native of a rural Thai village has his men steal the head of the town’s Ong Bak (Buddha statue) to win favor with ruthless Bangkok crime boss Khom Tuan. The locals regard the theft as a catastrophe, and seek a champion to retrieve their lost treasure. They find their man in Ting (Tony Jaa), an orphaned youngster raised at the local temple and schooled by Pra Kru, a kindly monk, in the ancient system of Muay Thai: Nine Body Weapons.

Ting travels to the mean streets of Bangkok, where he’s forced to compete in illegal street fights, taking on both local and foreign opponents to win the head of Ong Bak from the pitiless underworld kingpin.

In a small peaceful Thai village of Nong Pradu, the sacred festival of Ong-Bak is held but once every 24 years. When an unscrupulous businessman steals the head of the ceremonial Buddha, young Ting ventures into the seamy Bangkok underworld to track down the thief and reclaim the town's treasure. Along the way, the warrior-in-training uses his traditional Muay Thai fighting skills to overcome his adversaries and dish out divine retribution. Extraordinary feats of Thai martial arts and Jackie Chan-style stunts are showcased in this action-packed tale of unlikely alliances formed in the name of brutal justice. (Jeff Economy)

Bio:
Born in 1962, Prachya Pinkaew graduated in 1985 from Technology Nakornratsima College, where he majored in architecture. He began his career in 1990, working at Pack Shot Entertainment, first as art director and later as creative director. In 1992, he became director for music videos and since won several Best Music Video Awards at the Golden Television awards in Thailand. In 1992, Prachya had the opportunity to direct his first feature film, The Magic Shoes, which was followed in 1994 by his second, Romantic Blues.

Since 1998, he has been focusing on producing. He is the head of an independent production house, Baa-Ram-Ewe, which has a distribution deal with Thai Major Studio, Sahamongkolfim International Company Limited. Prachya has produced many popular Thai films, including the vampire movie Body Jumper (2001); the action comedy Heaven 7 (2002); the horror movie 999-9999 (2002); (Official Competition in the Puchon Fantastic Film Festival 2003); and the musical Hoedown Showdown (2002). This year, he produced the art house comedy Sayew, the horror drama {The Unborn}, and the artistic drama Fake. Prachya has just been promoted to be the director of the Thai Film Association.

Main Credits:
Director: Prachya Pinkaew
Executive Producer: Somsak Techaratanaprasert
Producers: Prachya Pinkaew, Sukanya Vongsthapat
Screenwriter: Suphachai Sithiamphan
Cinematographer: Natawut Kittikun
Editor: Thanat Sunsin
Music: Atomix Clubbing

Principal Cast: Tony Jaa, Petchthai Wongkamlao, Pumwaree Yodkamol, Rungrawee Borrijindakul, Chetwut Wacharakun, Wannakit Siriput

Courtesy of  Magnolia Pictures
 

OUR MUSIC
(Notre Musique)
 

Directed by  Jean Luc Godard
France / 2004 / 90 minutes
French with English subtitles

Synopsis:
A film in three parts:

Hell   -   Purgatory   -   Paradise

Hell. Images of war. Aeroplanes, tanks, battleships, explosions, gunfire, executions, populations in flight, devastated countryside, destroyed villages. All in black and white and in colour. Silent images, four sentences, four pieces of music.

Purgatory: Contemporary Sarajevo, martyred like many others. Real and imaginary characters. A visit to Mostar Bridge as it is being reconstructed symbolises the passage from guilt to forgiveness.

Paradise: a young woman - whom we saw in Purgatory - self-sacrificed, finds peace by the water, on a small beach guarded by US marines.

Bio:

Main:
Director, Screenwriter: Jean-Luc Godard
Producer: Jean-Paul Battaggia, Zyba Galijasevic
Cinematographer: Julien Hirsch, Jean-Christophe Beauvallet

Principal Cast: Sarah Adler, Nade Dieu, Rony Kramer, Georges Aguilar, Leticia Gutierrez, Ferlyn Brass, Simone Eine, Jean-Christophe Bpuvet, Elma Dzanic, Juan Goytisolo, Mahmoud Darwich, Jean-Paul Curnier, Pierre Bergounioux, Gilles Pecoueux
 

Courtesy of  Wellspring Media 
 

Saturday, October 16, 11am at Town Hall in Woodstock
 

p.s.

Opening Night in Woodstock

Directed by Dylan Kidd
USA / 2004 / 97 minutes

Synopsis:
Louise Harrington (Laura Linney), a divorced, thirty-something admissions officer at Columbia University’s School of Fine Arts, is intelligent, pretty, successful, and… unfulfilled. That is, until a graduate school application crosses her desk and she arranges to interview the young painter who sent it in. When Scott Feinstadt (Topher Grace) appears, he bears an uncanny resemblance to Louise’s high school boyfriend and one true love, an artist who died in a car accident twenty years earlier. Within hours of the interview, Louise and Scott have embarked on a passionately uninhibited older woman/younger man affair. But is Scott merely a reminder of Louise’s lost love? And is he just trying to wheedle his way into the Ivy League?

Adding to the romantic are Louise’s best friend from high school, Missy (Marcia Gay Harden), who shows up to claim the affections of the boy; Louise’s codependent ex-husband, Peter (Gabriel Byrne); her cynical mother (Lois Smith); and her fresh-out-of-rehab brother (Paul Rudd).

Torrid and tender, serious and sexy, p.s. features a career performance from Laura Linney (Mystic River, You Can Count on Me) and a breakthrough leading-man turn for Topher Grace (Traffic, That 70’s Show).

p.s., based on Helen Schulman’s novel of the same name and shot entirely in New York City, is a romantic fable about getting a second chance at first love.

Bio:
Dylan Kidd's first film, Roger Dodger, won the Lion of the Future Award at the 2002 Venice International Film Festival, Best Feature Film at the inaugural Tribeca Film Festival, Best First Feature from the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle and several Independent Spirit and IFP Gotham Award nominations. For his indelible work as Roger Swanson in that film, Campbell Scott received the Best Actor Award from the National Board of Review.

When I read the novel, I realized that Louise Harrington was as fascinating a puzzle as Roger Swanson in Roger Dodger, says Kidd, drawing out some surprising affinities between the two works. These two films form a sort of 'cinema of arrested development.' They involve characters with all the trappings of adult life the wardrobe, job success who gradually reveal themselves to be locked in place emotionally.

Main Credits:
Director: Dylan Kidd
Producers: Robert Kessel, John N. Hart,
Jeffrey Sharp, Anne Chaisson
Executive Producer: Michael Hogan
Screenwriters: Helen Schulman, Dylan Kidd
Cinematographer: Joaquin Baca-Asay
Editor: Kate Sanford
Music: Craig Wedren

Principal Cast Laura Linney, Topher Grace, Lois Smith, Gabriel Byrne, Marcia Gay Harden, Paul Rudd

Courtesy of  Newmarket Films
 

Directed by Robert Altman
USA/ 1984 / 90 minutes

Robert Altman's adaptation of the one-man stage play about former president Richard M. Nixon features a high-powered performance by Philip Baker Hall (Magnolia) as the unraveling president. The dramatic dialogue takes place in Nixon's personal office shortly after his resignation--brought about by the

Watergate scandal--where the fallen leader, in a drunken frenzy of self-justification and resentment, comments acerbically on the various personalities and situations he encountered and bemoans his fate. His targets include presidents of the distant past, the Kennedy family, and leaders from other countries as well as anyone who ever doubted him in his quest to attain ultimate power. The only one who emerges unscathed is Nixon's mother, whom he continued to worship even after her passing. Altman uses his versatility as a director to keep the films single location from becoming claustrophobic and stagnant. By cutting between Nixon himself and a security monitor that is taping his drunken tirade, Altman blurs the line between reality and fiction even more strikingly, rendering a Nixon with a very human and yet televised face. Filmed while the director was a visiting professor at the University of Michigan, Secret Honor remains an insightful and interpretative glimpse into the mind of one of America's most notorious presidents.

...A cinematic tour-de-force....[Hall's] contribution is a legitimate, bravura performance...

Included in the New York Times 10 BEST FILMS OF 1985

Bio:
Throughout his extraordinary career, Robert Altman has surprised, entertained and challenged audiences with vibrant, freewheeling films that stretch the boundaries of the medium.

Altman's more than thirty features bear witness to an extraordinary creative range: films made with enormous casts (Nashville, A Wedding, Short Cuts), as well as one with a solitary cast member (Secret Honor); films celebrating male camaraderie (M*A*S*H, California Split), and those exploring women's consciousness (Images, Three Women, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean).  He has inverted, satirized and enriched genres like the western (McCabe and Mrs. Miller), the gangster melodrama (Thieves Like Us), the detective film (The Long Goodbye, the biography (Vincent and Theo) and the English drawing-room whodunnit (Gosford Park). His source material has included comics (Popeye), the theater (Streamers, Fool for Love, Harold Pinter's The Room and The Dumb Waiter), contemporary politics (Tanner '88) and contemporary literature (Short Cuts).

Altman's work with actors is legendary.  His use of music has broken ground in films as different as McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Nashville, and Kansas City.  He has been applauded for the technical innovation of multi-layered soundtracks and for his pioneering use of the zoom lens.  While his subjects and themes have been diverse, he has often cast an irreverent eye on the institutions, mores and foibles of American life, matching that with an encompassing, unsentimental humanism.

Altman has received five Academy Award nominations for Best Director (Gosford Park, Short Cuts, The Player, M*A*S*H, and Nashville) and three for Best Film (M*A*S*H, Nashville and Gosford Park). 

In 2003 he made the critically acclaimed The Company, starring Neve Campbell, Malcolm McDowell, James Franco and the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. His four-episode sequel to the 1988 television series, Tanner '88, written by Garry Trudeau and starring Cynthia Nixon and Michael Murphy, airs on the Sundance Channel in October, 2004. In November 2004 he directs an opera of his 1978 film, A Wedding, at Chicago's Lyric Opera.

Other awards include: at Cannes, the Palme D'or/Best Film (M*A*S*H), and Best Director (The Player); the New York Film Critics Circle, Best Film (The Player, Nashville), and Best Director (Gosford Park, The Player , Nashville); the Venice Film Festival Grand Prix, Best Film (Short Cuts); the British Academy Award (BAFTA) for Best British Film (Gosford Park), Best Director (The Player) and Best Foreign Television Series (Tanner '88); opening night of the New York Film Festival (Short Cuts, A Wedding); and an Emmy for Best Director (Tanner '88).

Main Credits:
Director: Robert Altman
Screenwriter(s): Donald Freed and Arnold Stone
Cinematography: Pierre Mignot
Featuring: Philip Baker Hall
 

SPEAK

Directed by Jessica Sharzer
USA / 2003 / 92 minutes

Synopsis:
The feature debut of director/co-writer Jessica Sharzer, Speak is the tragicomic story of a smart, spirited high school freshman who has been stunned into silence by an unspeakable event.  Based on the award-winning novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak echoes its heroine’s stubborn honesty and sardonic humor as it follows her journey from traumatized isolation to brave disclosure.  Sharzer vividly renders a teenager’s world, displaying a brightness and sensitivity that is perfectly matched to character and story.  Unfolding over the course of the school year, Speak  captures the absurdities and torments of high

school, where speaking up can lead to trouble for students and teachers alike.  But for the film’s protagonist, expressing herself is the only way to confront a shattering experience, and thus cope with it.  

Bio:
Jessica Sharzer makes her feature directorial debut with Speak. She holds an M.F.A. in film and television from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Her thesis film, The Wormhole, received the Student Academy Award Gold Medal in narrative, among other prizes. Other directing credits include the short film {Fly Cherry}, written by actress Michele Greene and starring Sharon Lawrence; and the five-hour series Making a Scene: Advance Scene Study with Suzanne Shepherd, featuring Joan Allen, Bebe Neuwirth, Athol Fugard, Danny Glover, and the late Gregory Hines.

Sharzer is slated to adapt and direct Lizzie Simon's memoir My Bipolar Road Trip Through 4-D for HBO Films. She has also adapted and will direct Turgenev's First Love at Universal Studios, and her original screenplay Pretty Lies is currently in development.

Main:
Director: Jessica Sharzer
Producers: Fred Berner, Matthew Myers
Screenwriters: Jessica Sharzer, Annie Young Frisbie
Cinematographer: Andrij Parekh
Music: Christopher Libertino

Principal Cast: Kristen Stewart, Hallee Hirsh, Elizabeth Perkins, Eric Lively, Robert John Burke, Steve Zahn, D.B. Sweeney

Courtesy of  Showtime Independent Films
 

UNDERTOW

Directed by
David Gordon Green
USA / 2004 / 107 minutes

Synopsis:
Set in a contemporary South untouched by time, Undertow is a dramatic thriller about two brothers who run away from home to guard a secret following the death of their father and the arrival of their greedy, troubled uncle.

Bio:
David Gordon Green was born in Arkansas and raised in Texas. He studied filmmaking at the North Carolina School of the Arts and has directed several short fiction and documentary films. His debut feature, George Washington, played at the Festival in 2000, where it shared the Discovery Award. His second film, All the Real Girls, received a Special Jury Prize for Emotional Truth at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Undertow is his third feature.

Main:
Director: David Gordon Green
Executive Producers: Alessandro Camon, John Schmidt
Producers: Edward R. Pressman,
Terrence Malick, Lisa Muskat
Screenwriters: Joe Conway, David Gordon green
Cinematographer: Tim Orr
Editor: Zene Baker, Steven Gonzales
Music: Phillip Glass, Michael Linnen, David Wingo

Principal Cast: Jamie Bell, Devon Alan, Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, Shiri Appleby, Leigh Hill, Robert Longstreet, and Kristen Stewart.

Courtesy of United Artists

UNKNOWN SOLDIER

Directed by Ferenc Toth
USA / 2004 / 78 minutes

Synopsis:
Ellison, known as L, is a smart, carefree eighteen-year-old who has been brought up by his proud and loving father, Sam, since the death of his mother when he was five. Father and son share a relationship that fulfills and nourishes them both, and that insulates L from many of the world’s harsh realities. But when tragedy strikes, L’s life changes drastically. As he faces basic issues of survival, L confronts his future, and the decisions he makes in desperation will change him forever. He is an Unknown Soldier on a cold and unforgiving battlefield–the streets of Harlem.

Bio:
Ferenc Toth has been writing screenplays and fiction since leaving the business world for a creative career many years ago. He’s worked on several independent films in New York City, most recently as a producer on the critically acclaimed, multiple-award-winning feature Manito. Unknown Soldier is Ferenc’s directorial debut.

Main:
Director/Screenwriter: Ferenc Toth
Producer: Sean Bachrodt
Cinematographer: Steve Carillo
Editors: Frank Reynolds, Sam Neave
Music: Peter Calandra

Featuring: Carl Louis, Randy Clark, Postell Pringle, Layla Edwards, Carl Garrison

Visit Website

 

THE WOODSMAN

Closing Night in Woodstock

Directed by Nicole Kassell
USA / 2004 / 85 minutes

Synopsis:
Kevin Bacon, an indispensable fixture of American cinema for the past twenty years, delivers one of his finest performances in The Woodsman, a harrowing and moving tale of one man’s attempt to re-enter society.

After twelve years in prison, Walter moves into a small apartment across the street from an elementary school, gets a job at a lumberyard, and mostly keeps to himself.  He finds unexpected solace in Vicki (Kyra Sedgwick), a tough-talking woman who promises not to judge him by his history.  But Walter cannot escape his past.  A convicted sex offender, he is shunned by his sister, lives in fear of being discovered at work, and is hounded by a suspicious police detective (Mos Def). And, after befriending a young girl in a neighborhood park, Walter must also grapple with the terrible prospect of his own reawakened demons.

The Woodsman is an unnerving, ultimately hopeful portrait of compulsion and hard-won redemption, based on a play of the same name.

Principal Cast: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Benjamin Bratt, Mos Def, Eve, Michael Shannon, David Alan Grier

Courtesy of Newmarket Films

Films, Panels and Concerts by name and category

Wednesday/Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday
When ordering tickets, please consider the distance between Woodstock, Rhinebeck and Hunter.
Click here for more info and directions

*Schedule is subject to change
Tinker Street, Upstate Films and the Catskill Mountain Foundation Theater are 35mm facilities.
Upstate and CMFT will also screen beta sp and digibeta films.
Bearsville, Mountain View, WCC are are beta sp & digibeta