Yo Lo Vi (I Saw It) – Germany, 14:30 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: Tragedies of War, and other works by Spanish artist Francisco Goya, are imaginatively animated to give fresh poignancy to history.

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Nosferatu Tango – Switzerland, 12:00 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: A lovelorn mosquito falls for Nosferatu, the prince of vampires, in this charming, but tragic, tale of desire.

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Soar – Australia, 19:50 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: Simon, a professional actor is on his way to Melbourne for an audition and finds himself next to an obnoxious dork on a plane where there are no spare seats.

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Tram Stop – Australia, 15:00 minutes, 2002
Synopsis: While waiting for a tram, a young woman and man engage in conversation and picture a potential relationship. Will they catch the tram?

BIOGRAPHY: Bea de Visser studied design public space and painting, and left the Academy of Visual Arts to study electro-acoustic sound. She started her career as a performing artist, went on stage making sound works and live installations. Then she returned to painting, followed by two years residency at the Rijsakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amersterdam (’93-’94).

Archipelago – Spain, 17:00 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: Honeymooning with her husband Ben, Nina returns to the Caribbean island she left years ago for a new life. The two enjoy perfect love on a deserted beach until the past catches up with them.

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PROGRAM #6

Neptune’s Choice – Brazil, 15:22 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: With lush images, elliptical text and a haunting sound collage, this poetic work explores the artist’s impressions of Amsterdam.

BIOGRAPHY: Eder Santos was born in Minas Gerais, Brazil in 1960. He received a B.A. in Fine Arts and Visual Communications from Federal University of Minas Gerais. He has taught at Newton Pava College, Federal University of Minas Gerais, and Catholic University of Minas Gerais, and is a founding member of Emvideo, an independent video production company. His work has been broadcast internationally, and exhibited at Tucano Arts, Rio de Janeiro; The Kitchen, New York; FestRio, Brazil; International Festival of Television and Video, Montbeliard, France; Berlin Film and Video Festival, World Wide Video Festival, and the Bonn Videonale, among other festivals and institutions. Santos lives in Belo Horizante, Brazil.

BIOGRAPHY: After earning a BA in Film Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, writer/director Guy Lampron started his creative journey in live-action projects, working for commercials and music videos. In 1992, he discovered the creative opportunities of computer graphics. Excited by it, he strayed from his live-action world to focus on this new technology, writing and directing Croix de Guerre, his first computer animated short film. While directing Sentinelles in the last half of the 90’s, he worked as a 3D animator for various special effects companies in Montreal. Since joining Pygmee Productions, he has focused on the development of animation projects for film and television.

Grasshopper – Texas, 14:00 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: In Grasshopper, park-bench philosopher AJ Vaderha expounds on astrology and more productive avenues of contemplation. Done all in green, this animated but otherwise unedited fifteen-minute interview film is a good example of what happens when you approach the right stranger with a camera.

Roberta Wells – Texas, 8:00 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: Bertie, a frail, 77 year old woman with emphysema, struggles through a Thanksgiving afternoon with her overbearing family, her deteriorating health and her craving for a cigarette. Aunts, grandparents and kids sit, squashed together around a make-shift Thanksgiving table. They chatter excitedly and lovingly about the football game, Uncle Freddie’s forgetfulness, and the recipe for this year’s turkey.

Bertie sits in the corner, her skin sags, her big, brown eyes floating longingly around the table. She is connected to a large oxygen tank with tubes that run up her nose. Maggie, Bertie’s 40-year old daughter, sits next to her. She reminds her mother about her doctor’s appointment the next day, nagging her about being ready on time, about eating more as Bertie sits silently, aching to be left alone.

Roberta Wells is about savoring the sweetness of our quiet everyday lives.

Remembrance – Canada, 18:45 minutes, 2001
Synopsis: It is 1942, and Albert Graves is cursed with perfect recollection of every experience. He leads a cautious life touring his one-man memory show, and becomes spellbound by an attractive stranger in the audience who has a serious proposition.

Nada Que Perder (Nothing to Lose) – Spain, 21:00 minutes, 2001
Synopsis: A taxi driver and an aspiring actress cross paths, connect, and disconnect.

5 A.M. – Netherlands, 1:00 minute, 2003
Synopsis: A refined game with heroic slices of time in the monumental city.

BIOGRAPHY: Michiel van Bakel studied astronomy and psychology for several years before he chose for free expression at art academy. An investigative approach and a predilection for technology can still be seen in his work. Van Bakel has made videos as well as images and installations. In these he combines the elementary foundations of photography and video with digital animation techniques. While his approach is technical the film focuses on people.

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Einstein’s Playground – California, 16:54 minutes, 2002
Synopsis: When Albert Einstein dies, his assistant steals the brain of the famed physicist and sets off on a surreal journey into the mystical realm of time and space.

BIOGRAPHY: (See "5 AM")

The Most of My Worries – France, 10:00 minutes, 2004
Synopsis: Facing the life-threatening illness of a loved one, a family finds humor and relief in sharing a dramatic alteration of identity.

BIOGRAPHY: Born in Kiev, Taras Tomenko graduated from Kyiv University in 1997 with a degree in philosophy. Other films include THE SLAUGHTER HOUSE (1999) and THE ANGEL (2004).

Gowanus, Brooklyn – New York, 19:00 minutes, 2003
Synopsis: A 12 year-old girl, intrigued by her teacher’s secret life, is compelled to investigate further.

BIOGRAPHY: Hailing from Oakland, California, Ryan Fleck moved to New York in 1997 to study filmmaking at NYU. His student film STRUGGLE, detailing a racial confrontation on the set of a film about the life of former Black Panther Assata Shakur, received the Carl Lerner Award for Social & Humanitarian Significance and also screened in the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.

Anna Boden moved from her hometown of Boston, Massachusetts to New York City in 1997 to study film at Columbia University. On a short hiatus from school, Anna worked with a Seattle-based independent documentary filmmaker on a project about public school’s special education classroom, which sparked Anna’s interest in filmmaking.

Anna and Ryan began their artistic collaboration on the documentary short HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?, which received several festival awards and made its television broadcast premiere on PBS last summer and will screen on the Independent Film Channel in 2004. Ryan and Anna are currently in post-production on their first feature documentary, which they shot and co-directed in Cuba over the summer of 2003. Their most recent short film, GOWANUS, BROOKLYN, received the Grand Jury Prize in short filmmaking at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. GOWANUS, BROOKLYN is based on a feature screenplay HALF NELSON, which Ryan and Anna took to the Sundance Writer’s lab in June.

A Woman Reported – California, 5:00 minutes, 2004
Synopsis: In the brief moments before a hate crime, a young woman imagines her escape. Through a dramatic chase sequence through city park, A Woman Reported… lyrically illustrates the woman’s imaginary journey from the violent hands of her attacker into the safety of her girlfriend’s arms. Emotionally gripping and extremely intense, the short film focuses on the woman’s will to survive and her determination to return to her loved one.

BIOGRAPHY: No stranger to the short film genre, Chris Russo’s films have screened at hundreds of international film festivals since 1995. Her last film, Size ‘em Up, featuring Julie Brown, Stella Stevens, and Leisha Hailey, aired on both Showtime and the Women’s Entertainment Network in 2002. In 2003, Chris was a finalist in the IFP Director’s Lab for a feature script co-written by Kelly Hankin titled, Directed by Dorothy Arzner, which examines the life and career of legendary film director Dorothy Arzner. Chris won audience awards for Best Short Documentary at both Outfest 2000 and the 2000 Austin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival for her film, Straight Down the Aisle: Confessions of Lesbian Bridesmaids co-directed by Kelly Hankin. In addition to writing and directing, Chris works with television producers, studio executives and cinematographers on a daily basis in her role as Production Executive for Eastman Kodak Company in Hollywood.