52nd Rochester International Film Festival

2010 Festival

Thursday April 22, 8 pm

 

Un Café pour l’Amérique

Luxemburg, Belgium narr, 20 min.

Jossy Mayor

Pierre is a very shy man in his sixties, recently retired, with neither family nor friends.  What will he do now? Fortunately, he lives next to a café.

 

Murder For a Dime

FSU ,Tallahassee , Fl

narr, 14 min.

Charles Cagle

The killing of a famous outlaw and a dime store novel meet in this old fashioned western.

 

An Unfinished Romance

Sydney, AUSTRALIA

narr, 10 min.

Alison Heather

A romantic comedy about two strangers, two hookers, two paper boats and a whole raft of assumptions.

 

Late Bloomer

Herzliya, ISRAEL

narr, 13 min.

Yitzchak Enav

An older gentleman, in the heat of sexual fantasy, has to face the cold immediacies of realities.

 

Lovesick Fool

Woodland Hills, CA, anim,  6 min.

Dominic Polcino

A depiction of a man’s ongoing frustrations and disappointments in the area of love.  At times funny, poetic, profound. Or just sad?

 

Ticket

Sunnyvale, CA

narr, 11 min.

Shaun Au

Wei Gao

After 100 years of westernization, a lot of young Chinese who emigrated to the West chose to express their “east-meet-west-ness” through an arranged marriage. Ka is about to demonstrate just how this is done.

 

Prayers for Peace

New York, NY

anim, 7 min.

Dustin Grella

A narrative stop-motion animation confronting the memory of the animator's younger brother killed in the current conflict in Iraq.

 

 

 

Friday April 23, 8 pm

 

Early Checkout

Ballina , AUSTRALIA, narr, 7 min.

 

Jim Lounsbury

Two men, one body, no idea!

Boond (A Drop)

Mumbai, INDIA,

narr, 26 min.

Abhishek Pathak

In a remote village in India, sometime in the future, is a fitting metaphor that power rests in those who control the resources.

 

A Complete History of the World in 7 Minutes or Less

 

FSU, Tallahassee, FL narr, 8 min.

Thomas Lorne

A tongue-tied professor of linguistics fails in his attempts to talk to an interesting woman at the local bookstore.

 

Lightheaded

Petaluma, CA

anim, 5 min.

Mike Dacko

A journey we take with temperature sensitive candle creatures

who sacrifice what they know to become who they are.

 

The Hole

Seoul, South Korea, narr, 21 min.

Hana Hwang

Yujn, a 16 year old girl, becomes aware of the story of her young brother’s disappearance.

 

Sebastian’s Voodoo

Sherman Oaks, CA anim, 4 min.

Joaquin Baldwin

A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from death.

 

The Confession

Brooklyn, NY

narr, 8 min.

Jason Cusato

After witnessing her brother commit murder, an emotionally distraught young woman turns to the church.

 

LASTRAIN

Madrid, SPAIN,

narr, 23 min.

Tony Lopez

A young man arrives in a discotheque, confused . When he suddenly sees “her”, he experiences unique and indescribable feelings and voices extraordinary predictions.

 

 

Saturday April 24, 4 pm

 

When Life Gives You Lemons

Thunder Bay, CANADA, narr, 8 min.

Lee Chambers

Retired Oscar-winning actor Calvin Adams attempts to outwit some neighborhood kids in a sour or sweet battle.

 

Notes on the Other

Madrid, SPAIN

doc, 14 min.

Sergio Oksman

Each summer, a crowd of  Ernest Hemingway doubles meet in Key West, Florida, to commemorate the death of one of America’s most prolific journalists and fiction writers.

 

Whisperwalk

Toronto CANADA

narr, 17 min.

Elli Weisbaum

Robert Walsh

One cannot pass up a shopping coupon for revealing underwear, even in a retirement community in Florida!     

     

Land Gewinnen  (Gaining Ground )

Hamburg, GERMANY narr, 20 min.

Mark Brummund

A young, illegal immigrant couple spends their time furtively trying to avoid the German authorities until the well-being of their young son dictates that they resolve their untenable situation.

 

The Offering

Sunnydale, CA

anim., 9min.

Michael Zachary Huber

Cogswell Polytechnical College

Is there anything that is not immune to a woman’s power of seduction, even golden statues?

 

The Killing of Mary Surratt

Rocklin, CA

narr, 23 min.

Chris King

Boardinghouse innkeeper Mary Surratt was one of four southern sympathizers tried, convicted and executed in 1865 for conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln - but was she really guilty?

 

True Beauty This Night

Sherman Oaks, CA

narr 10 min.

Peter Besson

Last night, Rhett Somers met the love of his life. Now all he has to do is convince her. Not an easy feat considering how they met.

 

 

 

Saturday April 24, 8 pm

 

The Incident at Tower 37

North Hampton, MA

anim, 11 min.

Chris Perry

In the middle of a dry desolate landscape stands Tower 37, a shimmering water processing station, siphoning every last drop of water from a pristine lake.

 

Zimbabwe

FSU, Tallahassee, FL narr, 16 min.

Anjuli Hinds

Amidst the turmoil and uncertainty of a militant regime, two young children of Zimbabwe are forced into a fight they hardly understand.

 

Summer

Columbus, OH

anim, 2 min.

Marc Wiskeman

The love we find on a warm summer evening is sometimes the most fleeting love of all.

 

Flint Creek

Pasadena, CA

narr, 22 min.

Christopher Hall

1813, western New York. A young settler on the war-torn Niagara Frontier witnesses a war crime deep in the wilderness and must decide whether to put his life at risk and help an unlikely friend.

 

El Encargado (The One in Charge)

Madrid, SPAIN

narr, 8 min.

Sergio Barrejón

Martin, 9 years old, has been entrusted by his teacher with quite a tough job.

 

Some boys don’t leave

Los Angeles, CA

narr, 16 min.

Maggie Kiley

What happens when the break-up happens but the break does not?

Starring Jessie Eisenberg from "The Squid and the Whale"

"Zombieland" and "Adventureland".

 

The Macabre World of Lavender Williams

Hollywood, CA

narr, 26 min.

Nicolas Delgado

Eight year-old Lavender Williams, who recently lost her mother to cancer, sets off on an epic journey to find her Dad.

Featuring Christopher Lloyd from "Back to the Future" and Rex Linn from CSI: Miami.

 

 

2009 Festival

Thursday, 8:00pm

 

Los Angeles, CA           Room in New York                   John Kaiser                                     5 minutes

                                  A visual interpretation of Edward Hopper's 1932 painting,                   

                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                      

Chicago, IL                  Revolutionary Wall                 Carl Paoli                                        24 minutes

                                  The filmmaker sets out to document an elusive and                           

                                  controversial graffiti artist. Will the artwork lead him to                      

                                  the artist?                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                       

Long Beach, CA           Purge                                      Brad Kammlah                                16 minutes

                                  Struggling to mask the pain from years of abuse, Joy finds                

                                  herself trapped in a secret addiction.                                                

                                                                                                                                      

Sherman Oaks, CA      Worth                                      Kathi Carey                                     7 minutes

                                  When an undescript violin shows up at an upscale auction,                 

                                  it seems out of place until…..                                                           

                                                                                                                                      

Sweden                       Karklesbarn (Love Child)       Daniel Wirtberg                               7 minutes

                                  What happens to a young child when a new addition comes                

                                  into the family?                                                                              

                                                                                                                                      

UK                              Sick                                         Michael Rymer                                 15 minutes

                                  As Brian's story slides backwards through 15 years of                       

                                  therapy,  his daughter's crashes forward after one                            

                                  devastating night.                                                                           

                                                                                                                                       

Toronto, CA                 Skylight                                   David Baas                                     5 minutes

                                  A mock animated documentary about the ecological                          

                                  plight of penguins.                                                                          

                                                                                                                                       

Australia                     Pigeonhole                              Nicole Tanzabel                               6 minutes

                                  An old man living in a high-rise council flat, manages                         

                                  self sufficiency.                                                                              

                                                                                                                                      

S. Korea                     Mr. Vending Machine               CGI Lab, Hae Jung Suk                    22 minutes

                                  Mr. Ven-ma, who makes coffee in a vending machine,                       

                                  befriends a girl who misses her father.                                             

                                                                                                                                      

                                                         Friday, 8:00pm

 

Valencia, CA                Alternative                              Andrew Swan                                  4 minutes

                                  Revenge or forgiveness? One man's choice will forever change          

                                  his life.                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                      

Brooklyn, NY               Old Days                                  Matthew Shapiro                              23 minutes

                                  Lillian, 74 years old, enters a retirement community and                    

                                  struggles to find her niche.                                                              

                                                                                                                                      

Rochester, NY              Harold Please                         Lindsay Berkebile                            15 minutes

                                  Harold, a recluse, has become so consumed with his relational           

                                  fantasies outside his window, that he fails to see the                          

                                  relationship inside his apartment.                                                     

                                                                                                                                      

Florida                        Sam and Zoe                           Catherine Rehwinkel                        9 minutes

                                  When Zoe's father suddenly dies, a dark secret threatens to              

                                  ruin her relationship with Sam, her boyfriend and best friend              

                                  since childhood.                                                                              

                                                                                                                                      

Rochester, NY              Thanks to the Whistleblowers                                                     Dave Puls/Animatus Studio     5 minutes

                                  An expression of appreciation to a special group of people                 

                                  who risk so much to disclose what is hidden from us.                         

                                                                                                                                      

FSU/Florida                  On the Road to Tel Aviv          Khen Shalem                                   19 minutes

                                  A young Israeli makes a quick decision when he sees a                     

                                  suspicious-looking Arab woman enter the same bus as                      

                                  his fiancee.                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                      

Los Angeles                 Interpretation                         Lin Oeding                                       7 minutes

                                  A romantic couple's brief encounter with a few philosophical               

                                  thugs unfolds in an unusual way.                                                      

                                                                                                                                      

New York, NY               Arranged                                 Suraj Das                                       27 minutes

                                  Ashok's parents are pressuring him into an arranged                         

                                  marriage, but he has met the beautiful Maya whom                           

                                  he wants to marry.                                                                         

                                                                                                                                       

                                                         Saturday, 4:00pm

 

Brazil                          Before It's Gone                     Paulo Leierer, Luiz Otavio Pupo         15 minutes

                                  A dark-humored story about Almeida,  a 30 year old man,                 

                                  who discovers he has only one week left to live.                                

                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                      

Tupper Lake, NY          A Matter of Degrees               The Wild Center                               24 minutes

                                  See a time when mastodon's roamed the valleys of the                     

                                  Adirondack Mountains, tapirs swam its rivers and whales                   

                                  slid above places where towns stand today. Produced for                   

                                  The Wild Center and narrated by Sigourney Weaver, it takes             

                                  you on an epic trip to witness how much climate shapes                     

                                  our lives.                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                      

Pasadena, CA              Open Your Eyes                      Susan Cohen                                   14 minutes

                                  Struggling to come to terms with her life after breast cancer,             

                                  Julia gets more than she bargained for when she attends                   

                                   a bridal shower.                                                                            

                                                                                                                                      

Ottawa, CA                  Profile                                     Sharon Katz                                    4 minutes

                                  An experimental film about profiling by an airport detection                

                                  device.                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                      

Oxford, OH                  Written Off                              Cameron Berner, Com 414C            5 minutes

                                  Follow a day in the life of a pencil and meet the people                                              

                                  who interact with this inanimate object.                                            

                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                      

FSU/Florida                  The Best Man                          Justin Lazernik                                 7 minutes

                                  The wedding is ready to begin. Why is the groom still missing?                                   

                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                      

Seattle, WA                 Dry Rain                                  Matthew J. Clark                              23 minutes

                                  Joey is traveling cross country with his father who continues              

                                  to stop along the way to call Joey's mother for money.                      

                                                                                                                                      

                                                         Saturday, 8:00pm

 

New York, NY               Firecracker Flower                 Frank Hall Green                              17 minutes

                                  In this yellow & yellow satire, we meet B who is an outcast at                

                                  school. When she finds out that the other girls have stalkers,             

                                  she pines for one of her own.                                                          

                                                                                                                                      

Pasadena, CA              In the Dark                             Alex Fazeli                                      17 minutes

                                  A double agent, hunted by the revolutionary government,                  

                                  agrees to exchange crucial information with the CIA in return             

                                  for safe passage out of the country.                                                 

                                                                                                                                      

Burbank, CA                Animated American                James Baker/Joe Haidar                   15 minutes

                                  A toon hating executive has a 'hare' raising experience when             

                                  he meets an out of work toon rabbit.                                                

                                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                                                      

Manhasset, NY             Open Air                                  Shira-Lee Shalit/David Peterson        12 minutes

                                  Under the watchful eye of a hidden sniper, two women attempt          

                                  some form of normality in their everyday lives knowing that one        

                                  misstep will mean immediate death.                                                 

                                                                                                                                      

Iran                            Butterflies Die in Snow           Karim Azimi                                    15 minutes

                                  A director and writer are driving through the mountainous                  

                                  countryside looking for a subject for their film. On this journey           

                                  they encounter many strange experiences.                                       

                                                                                                                                      

Rochester, NY              A Voice from the Lantern       Anton Zane                                     17 minutes

                                  A young Japanese woman, working in a peep show parlor in              

                                  California desperately wants to go home. She devises a plan             

                                  to make contact with her Grandfather in the afterlife so he                 

                                  can guide her spirit home.                                                               

                                                                                                                                       

FSU/Florida                  My Four Inch Precious            Sou Yun Sim                                   11 minutes

                                  A scruffy and lonely garbageman discovers dreamy romance

                                  when a beautiful woman blossoms out of a magical flower.                 

 

2008 Festival

 

Wednesday, April 30, 7:00 pm

 

INSTANT KARMA

Director/Producer/Writer: Tristan Higgs; US, 2008, 8 minutes

Alex attempts to end a run of bad luck by trying his hand at credit card fraud.

 

MURDERING MAMA’S BOY

Director/Writer: Katherine Cunningham-Eves; US, 2007, 18:27 minutes

 

A young girl’s obsessive jealousy towards the seven-year-old boy her mother nannies for, drives her to desperate actions.

 

TEMPORARY VIRGIN

Director: Tatsushi Momen; Japan, 2007, 3 minutes

The visual images depict metaphors of a love fantasy in a very romantic and abstract way.

 

STILL(E)

Director/Producer/Writer: Susan Schwarzwald; US, 2006, 25:38 minutes

Through the lens of memory, the daughter of a refugee from Nazi Germany revisits the pain of remembering, tinged with the fear of forgetting that silently haunts her father, herself, and now her young daughter as well.

 

ERIN GO WRONG

Directors/Writers/Animators: Brian Kavanagh and Joshua Huber; US, 2007, 4 minutes

Things go awry for two leprechauns who have kidnapped the Easter Bunny.

 

CHAIN

Director: Hyunmi Park; South Korea, 2007, 16:20 minutes

How far would you go to save a loved one?

 

CLARITY

Director/Writer: Miles Duffy; US, 2007, 10 minutes

A schoolteacher awakes in a cold sweat from a bizarre dream.

 

THURSDAY, MAY 1, 8:30 pm

THE REPLACEMENT CHILD

Director/Writer: Justin Lerner; US, 2007, 25 minutes

Todd returns to his conservative, backwoods hometown to find that his best friend, Michael, is deathly ill and his family refuses medical attention for him.

 

TELL ME WHAT TO DO

Director: Lee Ji Sung, Producer: Joanne Hurley, Writer: Ivaila Minov; UK, 2007, 11:21 minutes

Everything you ever wanted?

 

OUT OF THE SHADOW

Director/Writer: Andrew Bartels; US, 2007, 8 minutes

A young man being raised by a racist father re-evaluates his upbringing after witnessing a lynching.

 

MEDIUM RARE

Director:  Stefan Stuckert; UK, 2007, 14 minutes

Carl is running for his life.  When a beautiful woman offers him an unexpected hiding place, his life seems to change.  But desire is about to lay its own subtle trap…

 

KIRKSDALE

Director/Writer: Ryan Spindell; US, 2007, 22 minutes

A troubled teenager and a lecherous deputy fight for their sanity and their lives in Kirksdale Hospital, a decaying mental asylum in 1960’s Florida.

 

SOLDIERS OF SISYPHUS

Director/Producer: Bob Barancik, Animator: David Puls; US, 2006, 4 minutes

A meditative look at the futility of war.

 

G8

Director/Producer/Writer: Make It Short Movie Project; Canada, 2007, 10 minutes

World leaders gather for a G8 summit in Thunder Bay, Canada just as known terrorist, Lutero Babych is spotted in the city.

 

DAVID BIANCHI’S SOLDIER

Director/Daniel J. Pico, Writer/Producer: David Bianchi; US, 2007, 11 minutes

An experimental film told in performance poetry outlining a day in the life of a soldier on the front lines of the Iraq War.

 

FRIDAY, MAY 2, 7:00 pm

Movies on a Shoestring 50-Year Golden Retrospective

Director Dan Reardon    Producer Josephine M. Perini

Enjoy a short compilation of some of the notable films of the original 1,062 that have been screened in the Rochester International Film Festival since 1959

 

L’ORO ROSSO   (THE RED GOLD)

Director: Cesare Fragnelli, Writer Alessandra Recchia; Italy, 2006, 12:22 minutes

Erika, who has run away from Romania, lives her life in Apulia in southern Italy with a lovely daughter and terrifying memories of the past.

 

MIA

Director/Writer: Catherine Rehwinkel; US, 2007, 7:43 minutes

A ten year-old girl struggles to reconnect with her childhood crush, an older cousin who has returned from Vietnam frighteningly different

 

PISMO (THE LETTER

Director/Writer: Matvei Zhivov; Canada, 2007, 15 minutes

A wounded Russian soldier puts his wife to an emotional test with a result he does not anticipate.

MOJADO

Director/Producer/Writer: Angela Trevino; US, 2007, 22 minutes

After 15 year-old Anne plays a prank on her maid, Sofia, grave repercussions result for Sophia and her 16 year-old son, Miguel.

 

REBEL SONG

Director/Writer: Simon Arthur; UK, 2006, 14:52 minutes

A woman and two men play out their broken lives amongst the swaying trees.

 

THE WALL

Director/Writer: Michael Lloyd Green; US, 2007, 7:30 minutes

A New York City cellist plagued by years of unbearable guilt, seeks solace in the music of a Holocaust survivor with whom he shares a tenement wall.

 

SPEED DATING

Director/Producer/Writer: Crystal Liu; US, 2007, 15 minutes.

A yellow comedy about a young woman who devises a sure-fire way to meet the man of her dreams.

 

SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2:50 pm

BORDERLINE

Director/Producer/Writer: Sam Lembeck; US, 2007, 10 minutes

A dark comedy about maternal love and first dates.

 

CONFLATION

Director/Writer: Stéphanie Joalland; US, 2007, 14 minutes

Carol wakes up one more time totally confused.  Is she a single mother struggling to get by as a free-lance photographer or a brilliant scientist with a loving husband?

 

COSMOS

Director/Writer: Clayton Hable; US, 2007, 22 minutesDuring the fall of the USSR in 1991, a lone cosmonaut circles the earth in Space Station Mir without communication and unaware of his country’s collapse.  Some will call him the last Soviet Citizen.

 

FORasTEiRO

Director/Writer: Thiago Fogaca, Producer: Priscila Andrade; Brazil, 2007, 12:09 minutes

The son of circus performers avoids intimacy with anyone because he is always moving.

 

ZEFIRINO:  THE VOICE OF A CASTRATO

Director: Gerardo Puglia; US, 2006, 22 minutes

A celebration of the art of a castrato singer named Zefirino, an imaginary character written and performed by Anthony Roth Costanzo.

 

RACCOON AND CRAWFISH

Co-Directors and Animators: Calvert J. Waller III, Karabo Legwalla, Peter Hale; US, 2007, 7:30 minutes

Like many Oneida Indian legends, this story uses characters from the animal kingdom to teach a moral.  A hungry raccoon searches for food, ending up in a battle with a crawfish

 

EDGAR AND ELIZABETH

Director/Writer: Renee Webster, Producer: Melissa Kelly; Australia, 2006, 17 minutes

Elizabeth is the shy, new photocopy girl.  Edgar is the stuttering photocopier repairman who comes to repair her extremely vicious copier. Workplace attraction has never been so dangerous.

 

PENGUIN:  THE MUSICAL

Director/Writer: David William Metzger; US, 2007, 8:21 minutes

Abe is madly in love with Lilly. He must find a way to tell her before she leaves to tag penguins in Antarctica.