2006 festival

51 Birch Street

Directed by Doug Block
A complex personal journey into the director's unique and yet universal family history.

a/k/a Tommy Chong

Directed by Josh Gilbert
Follow the famous stoner comedian as he prepares to serve time for selling drug paraphernalia across state lines.

Afloat

Directed by Erin Hudson
A group of mature, active and thoughtful adults share their feelings about life, aging and the healing power of buoyancy.

Air Guitar Nation

Directed by Alexandra Lipsitz
Covering the US Air Guitar Championships in Los Angeles and the World finals in Oulu, Finland, the film appreciates the enthusiasm of the fans and the weird sweetness of the performers.

The Angelmakers

Directed by Astrid Bussink
In Nagyrév, Hungary, 51 women were arrested for poisoning the men in their lives in 1929. In the village today, some of these women and their descendents share wisecracks as they tell the story.
US Premiere

Arctic Son

Directed by Andrew Walton
A young man raised in Seattle is reunited with his estranged father in a tiny Native Village 80 miles north of the Arctic circle. Can family ties and the lessons of the arctic help orient a lost son?
World Premiere

Asparagus! A Stalk-umentary

Directed by Anne de Mare, Kirsten Kelly
Oceana County, Michigan built its identity and livelihood around asparagus, but now its spear-struck residents and family farmers must contend with the detrimental effects of globalization.
World Premiere

Beyond Beats and Rhymes: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs in on Manhood in Hip-Hop Culture

Directed by Byron Hurt
Former college football quarterback Byron Hurt gives a first person account of his disenchantment with hip-hop's thug-centered, misogynist and homophobic culture.

Black Sun

Directed by Gary Tarn
This extraordinary piece of video art combines word, image and music to portray a life interrupted and renewed.

The Boy in the Bubble

Directed by Barak Goodman, John Maggio
The fascinating, heartbreaking story of the real boy who, due to an immune system disorder, was forced to live his life in a germ-free plastic enclosure.
World Premiere

The Chances of the World Changing

Directed by Eric Daniel Metzgar
What began as a desire to help save endangered turtles becomes an all-consuming passion for New Yorker Richard Ogust, who eventually shares his apartment with 1,200 rare specimens of tortoises from around the globe.
World Premiere

China Blue

Directed by Micha X. Peled
A rare perspective on the current state of Chinese Labor and its impact on global economy and culture told through the eyes of a 16-year-old worker in a blue jean factory.
US Premiere

Dead People

Directed by Roger Deutsch
A melancholy exposition of race, life and death in economically depressed small town America.

Demolition 7

Directed by Richie Sherman
A Super 8mm expressionistic portrait of life at a demolition derby, irony included. Testosterone and hammers, bullhorns and hymns.

EXIT

Directed by Fernand Melgar
In Switzerland the EXIT association provides suicide assistance. The stories of the people who choose to die and the escorts that guide them in a provocative film about the right to die.
North American Premiere

Filthy Gorgeous, The Trannyshack Story

Directed by Sean Mullens
A transgressive rock and roll drag show featuring subversive and absurdist performances, a fierce soundtrack and a transcendent spirit.
World Premiere

Freedom Summer

Directed by Marco Williams
Reframes the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi as the watershed event of the Civil Rights Movement.
World Premiere

Gray Days

Directed by Katherine Leggett
This short film explores North Carolina's upsurge in elderly prison inmates from two personal perspectives: Eighty-one year old Lonnie Laney resides at the McCain Correctional Hospital. Shirley, who is 67 years old, lives at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women.

Hammer and Flame

Directed by Vaughan Pilikian
A place where ships come to die. A fragment from elsewhere, a brief illumination of a world at the border of what we might care to imagine.

High Plains Winter

Directed by Cindy Stillwell
A short experimental film that looks at Montana's winter season in relation to ski- joring, human experience and culture.

I for India

Directed by Sandhya Suri
An affectionate tribute from a filmmaking daughter to her filmmaking family that explores the painful alienation of the expatriot.

El Inmigrante

Directed by David Eckenrode, John Sheedy, John Eckenrode
The Mexican-American border crisis is explored through the tragic story of the murder of a young Mexican migrant.

In Search of Mozart

Directed by Phil Grabsky
A deeply satisfying gift to the viewer in honor of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250th birthday.

In the Pit

Directed by Juan Carlos Rulfo
This beautifully crafted film follows the construction of a massive highway overpass in Mexico City.

The Intimacy of Strangers

Directed by Eva Weber
Solely constructed from overheard cell phone conversations, a love story of the modern age, transmitted for all to hear.

Iraq In Fragments

Directed by James Longley
Post-war Iraq in three acts. A stunning picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity.

John & Jane Toll Free

Directed by Ashim Ahluwalia
A provocative look inside a 1-800 call center outsourced in India and the workers who answer your calls.

Kabul Transit

Directed by David Edwards, Gregory Whitmore
Kabul Transit explores a city devastated by nearly three decades of war. Black humor and sardonic good sense keep Afghans attuned to the realities of their lives, even as politicians lay the groundwork for battles yet to come.
World Premiere

The Kings of Christmas

Directed by David Katz
In the outer boroughs of New York, the spirit of "abbondanza" (abundance) takes hold during the Christmas season, where the gladiators of garish compete against one another to mount the biggest and the brightest display of lights, reindeer and talking Christmas trees.

A Lion in the House

Directed by Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
Three remarkable children and the families who support them undergo prolonged and painful cancer treatments with grace, courage and wit.

Mary's Gone Wild

Directed by Blaire Johnson
Visit Mary Paulsen's Folk Art and Doll Baby Museum at the North Carolina coast, where an outsider artist turns trash and leftovers into a fantasy environment.

Mathew Barney: No Restraint

Directed by Alison Chernick
An illuminating look at the work of artist Matthew Barney during the shooting of his latest film aboard a Japanese whaling ship in the Nagasaki bay.
North American Premiere

Maxed Out

Directed by James Scurlock
Traces the explosion of consumer credit over the past few decades, focusing on the mercenary values, unethical business practices and often tragic repercussions of America's addiction to purchasing power.

Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company

Directed by Allan King
Veteran filmmaker Allan King breaks new ground in this compassionate portrayal of elderly people in decline.

My Country, My Country

Directed by Laura Poitras
A cinema verité documentary about the Sunni Arab boycott of the January 2005 elections in Iraq told through the eyes of Dr. Riyadh, a Sunni political candidate, father of six and medical doctor.

My Grandmother's House (La casa de mi abuela)

Directed by Adán Aliaga
A lyrical portrait of an aging woman and her granddaughter as they negotiate the passage of time in a small Catalonian community.

No Umbrella: Election Day in the City

Directed by Laura Paglin
Shot in a heavily democratic polling station in Cleveland, Ohio on Election Day in 2004, this short film calls into question any claims that there were no significant voting irregularities during the last presidential election.

North Korea: A Day in the Life

Directed by Pieter Fleury
A privileged view of the indoctrination and social organization of North Korean citizens. Ironically, the carefully controlled images reveal truth behind the veil of propaganda.

A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin

Directed by Eric Simonson
On the evening of VE Day, May 5th, 1945, Norman Corwin, the oft-called poet laureate of radio drama, presented an hour radio program that galvanized and electrified the nation.

Our Daily Bread

Directed by Nikolaus Geyrhalter
The story of how the food we eat gets from the ground to our table, told in dramatically framed shots and using only natural sound.
North American Premiere

The Peacekeepers

Directed by Paul Cowan
An intimate and dramatic behind-the-scenes view of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping, as they struggle to avert another Rwandan disaster, this time in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Photographer, His Wife, Her Lover

Directed by Paul Yule
A convoluted tale of fraud and scandal in the art world depicts the twisted relationship of steam train photographer, Winston O. Link, his second wife, Conchita, and her paramour.
North American Premiere

Purvis of Overtown

Directed by David Racugglia, Shaun Conrad
Engaging archival footage and frank talk about the commercial appropriation of Purvis Young's paintings tell the story of a renowned "outsider" artist.

Rain In a Dry Land

Directed by Anne Makepeace
A moving chronicle 18 life-changing months for two Somali Bantu families who journey from the Kakuma Refugee camp to destinations in the U.S. under the auspices of the USRP.

RANK

Directed by John Hyams
Three top-ranked bull riders compete in the World Championships in this thoughtful look at this gritty , jaw-dropping sport.

The Refugee All Stars

Directed by Zach Niles, E. Banker White
War refugees from Sierra Leone form an Afro-pop band and express the hope and loss of their brethren.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Directed by Peter Miller
The story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920 and electrocuted in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial.
World Premiere

SAZ

Directed by Gil Karni
A dramatic year in the life of 20-year-old Palestinian rapper Samekh Zakhut.
North American Premiere

Send Me Somewhere Special

Directed by Darren Hercher
The narrator/filmmaker sets out on a quixotic mission to make a film about people he's never met in a village he's never been to.
U.S. Premiere

The Shutka Book Of Records

Directed by Aleksander Manic
This entertaining portrait of a Roma community in Macedonia takes the form of a Fellini-like performance.

Sir! No Sir!

Directed by David Zeiger
The incredible, mostly forgotten history of the thousands upon thousands of GIs who actively resisted the Vietnam War comes to life in a groundbreaking film.

Site Specific_Las Vegas 05

Directed by Olivo Barbieri
This short experimental film re-imagines one of our most prominent cultural markers as an elaborate model landscape — the embodiment of the post-modern simulacrum.

Smiling in a War Zone

Directed by Simone Aaberg Kærn, Magnus Bejmar
When the filmmaker reads in her local paper about a young Afghan girl's desire to become a fighter pilot, this artist/pilot concocts an impossible mission to make the girl's dream of flying come true.
North American Premiere

So Much So Fast

Directed by Steven Ascher, Jeanne Jordan
A remarkable story of family enterprise and personal nobility, this film follows 29-year-old Stephen Heywood as he battles the paralyzing disorder ALS.

Songbirds

Directed by Brian Hill
The musical meets the documentary, in Sutton, England's Downview Prison, home to 250 female inmates from all over the world.

Stand Like Still Living

Directed by Peter Jordan
Set in a San village in western Botswana, this short film follows the lives of two people affected by AIDS.
North American Premiere

Surveillance 3

Directed by William Noland
Surveillance 3 places us in New York City on the final night of the 2004 Republican National Convention.  Amid a sea of both protestors and police awaiting the acceptance speech of President George Bush, young workers prepare for the launch of a new Diesel clothing store.

Sweet Dreams

Directed by Eric Latek
An innovative film that banishes the stereotype of the Italian-American man, the sport of boxing and the common assumptions of what it means to be tough.
World Premiere

Sweet Monster

Directed by Marco De Stefanis
A young child's night visions also become a nightmare for his father, who just wants to get back to sleep.
North American Premiere

The Wash

Directed by Lee Lynch, Lee Anne Schmitt
A meditative Super 8 portrait of a river wash and the impact of sprawl in a Southern California exurb.

Thin

Directed by Lauren Greenfield
A harrowing account of a group of young women struggling to overcome eating disorders at an inpatient rehabilitation facility.

This Film is Not Yet Rated

Directed by Kirby Dick
An investigative look at the history and the current state of film censorship that exposes the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) as well as the problematic censoring process it fights to maintain.

Tina Barney: Social Studies

Directed by Jaci Judelson
An upper-crust photographer lugs her large format camera into the surrealistically posh homes of European wealthy and comes away with astonishing images.

The Trials of Darryl Hunt

Directed by Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg
An incredible North Carolina story that exposes the racism and deep injustice of our criminal court system.

Turn Out the Light

Directed by Mira Jargil
How do you leave the home you've loved for 45 years? A short and sensitive film about closing the door.

Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela

Directed by Thomas Allen Harris
A personal journey of reconciliation. B. Pule Leinaeng ('Lee') was an ANC foot soldier, who sacrificed his life for the freedom of his country.

two headed cow

Directed by Tony Gayton
A raw and candid examination of the Flat Duo Jets and Dexter Romweber's rise and fall in the music industry as he struggles with the demons of psychosis, addiction and violence.
World Premiere

Vault Keys

Directed by Harvey Wang
Starting in 1992 at his father's request, Harvey Wang videotaped his father explaining how to access and assume his parent's assets. The juxtaposition of this ritual over 10 years delivers insights into the universal experience of ageing and bequeathals.

What Remains

Directed by Steven Cantor
A portrait of photographer Sally Mann and the creation of her most recent body of work: a meditation on mortality that explores themes of memory and death, decay and beauty.

Wordplay

Directed by Patrick Creadon
A fun and comprehensive look at New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz's work as well as puzzle makers and aficionados across the grid.

Workingman's Death

Directed by Michael Glawogger
A trip across the globe reveals some of the most dangerous, intense and brutal jobs and landscapes imaginable in a profoundly moving and strangely artful film.

Wrestling With Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner

Directed by Freida Lee Mock
An enlightening and complex portrait of one America's most accomplished and provocative playwrights.

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