The 37th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival February 24 - March 1, 2015
Directors: Stacy Jill Calvert & Hassan Pitts Assistant Director: Honna Veerkamp Film Alternatives Officers: Julius Jefferson - President Emma Oliver - Vice President Tara Lowry - Secretary Russell Konzelmann - Treasurer Film Alternatives Members: Alex Vargas Danny Robbins Dylan Gibson Jerome Veit Keith McNew Nico Skorzewski Patrick Ostrander Big Muddy Film Festival Jurors: Anna Margarita Albelo Melika Bass Bob Paris Digital Muddy Juror: Nia Burks Pre-Screening Committee: Angela Aguayo Jessica Allee Lilly Boruskowski K. Brattin Melissa Calvert Shay Chess Wago Kreider Betsy Morici Ramona Tucci Deborah Tudor Alan Metz Walter Metz
John Michaels Award Committee Chair: Sarah Lewison Host: Angela Aguayo Committee: Jessica Allee S. Chess Georgia De La Garza Paul Matalonis Cathy Talbott M J Smerken Courtney Smith Sharifa Stewart Tod Kington Special Thanks: Rhonda Rothrock Jyotsna Kapur Jay Needham & The Global Media Research Center Dean Dafna Lemish The 37th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival is made possible with the help of the SIU Department of Cinema & Photography, the College of Mass Communications & Media Arts, SIUC Student Fine Arts Activity Fee, The SIU Undergraduate Student Council and sponsorship from WSIU.
Follow us on the web: www.bigmuddyfilm.com
THE 37TH ANNUAL BIG MUDDY FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY THURSDAY 10:00 AM Alt Shorts
SIU Student Center
SIU Student Center
SIU Student Center
1:00 PM Doc Shorts
1:00 PM Sci-Fi Shorts Adult Shorts
11:00 AM Juror Workshop: Nia Burks
1:00 PM Juror Presentation: Melika Bass
Comm Bldg. Rm 8
10:00 AM Saturday Morning Family Time FREE
SIU Student Center
1:00 PM Juror Presentation: Bob Paris
1:00 PM Animated Lives
Comm Bldg. Rm 1116
3:00 PM John Michaels Showcase
3:00 PM John Michaels Showcase
SIU Student Center
SIU Student Center
1:00 PM World Cinema
SIU Student Center
1:00 PM Juror Workshop: Anna Margarita Albelo
Comm Bldg. Rm 1116
3:00 PM John Michaels Showcase SIU Student Center
SIU Student Center
7:00 PM Special Presentation: Edgar Barens
SATURDAY
SIU Student Center Comm Bldg. Rm 1116
6:00 PM Opening Reception
SIU Student Center
10:00 AM Potluck Shorts
10:00 AM Travelogues
SIU Student Center
7:00 PM Identities
FRIDAY
7:00 PM Love, Etc
SIU Student Center
SIU Student Center
10:00 PM Experimental Shorts WDBX
6:00 PM Docs @ Morris
Guyon Auditorium
7:00 PM Friday Night Fun Juror Presentation: Anna Margarita Albelo Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf
SIU Student Center
7:30 PM Docs @ Morris
Guyon Auditorium
SIU Student Center
3:00 PM John Michaels Award Winner Showcase: Finding The Gold Within FREE African American Museum
SUNDAY 10:00 AM Girls Make Movies Retrospective FREE SIU Student Center
11:00 AM Best of the Fest Big Muddy Awards FREE
SIU Student Center
1:00 PM Closing Reception FREE
SIU Student Center
3:00 PM World Cinema II SIU Student Center
6:00 PM Docs @ Morris Guyon Auditorium
7:00 PM Narrative Features
SIU Student Center
7:00 PM World Cinema @ Morris Guyon Auditorium
4:00 PM FREE Big Muddy Directors’ Choice: Sunday Night Feature & Shorts
Longbranch Cafe
Venues: A. SIU Student Center 1255 Lincoln Dr. Guyon Auditorium at Morris Library 605 Agriculture Drive WDBX 224 N. Washington Street Longbranch Cafe 100 E. Jackson Street African American Museum University Mall 1237 E. Main Street Communications Building 1100 Lincoln Drive
37 Years of Big Muddy
The 37th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival Jurors:
An Essay by Film Alternatives Member, Patrick Ostrander
As winter begins to conclude at the end of February, the Big Muddy Film Festival returns to Southern Illinois University in the town of Carbondale, Illinois. Although an audience could just attend the new release or a matinee of the latest mainstream film at their local movie theater, the Big Muddy Film Festival provides an opportunity to see some of the best independent films from around the world. The Big Muddy Film Festival is produced by Film Alternatives, a Registered Student Organization (RSO) that allows SIU students to become involved in the production and execution of the festival. For the past three years, I have been a proud member of Film Alternatives, and have worked hard with the other members of the group to bring this long-standing tradition to the Southern Illinois community. Through the leadership of our graduate instructors, I have learned about the responsibilities and requirements needed to organize the festival and collaborated on ideas and promotional projects with my fellow colleagues. This year, we have a selection of films programmed with subjects that can leave an audience in stitches, concerned, and entertained. Over the course of thirty-seven years, the Big Muddy film festival has brought countless audiences from across the world to a campus where films and filmmaking become focused beyond the lecture hall. Whether attending for a few hours, or the entire week, Big Muddy offers the audience the opportunities to experience films, learn about the process of production, and talk with people who are passionate about films. After all, the next big name may be sitting among us or on the big screen.
Anna Margarita Albelo
Anna Margarita Albelo is a globetrotting CubanAmerican filmmaker, journalist and cultural activist. Her feature film, “Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf?” has screened in over 100 international film festivals, won 10 international awards, and is distributed worldwide, as are her past three documentaries: “HOOTERS, A Lez in Wonderland,” and “Gay, and so what?” Anna has been a regular collaborator for Canal Plus France for whom she has written and directed the short film, “The Turkey” (Cannes Film Festival’s CRITIC’S WEEK, 2008), as well as, several original documentaries on gay and lesbian culture exploring Cuba, Palm Springs
Juror Workshop: Collaborative filmmaking from A-Z: (from shorts to features to docs.) Friday, February 27, 2015 - 1:00PM Communications Building, Room 1116
Juror Presentation: Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf? Friday, February 27, 201 - 7:00PM SIU Student Center Auditorium
Melika Bass
Bob Paris
Melika Bass is a Chicagobased moving image artist who creates experimental narrative films and experiential installations. Recent shows include the Torino Film Festival in Italy, a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2011); the BFI London Film Festival,UK; Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York; Kino der Kunst, Munich; and the Ann Arbor Film Festival.Bass is the recipient of an Artadia Award, two Media Arts Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, the Kodak/Filmcraft Imaging Award from the Ann Arbor Film Festival, andan Experimental Film Prize from the Athens International Film Festival. Bass was one of a dozen international filmmakers commissioned by the Icelandic band SIGUR ROS to create an original video for their “Valtari Mystery Film Experiment.”
Bob Paris’ electronic art has screened at venues around the world including the Whitney Biennial, the Image Forum Festival in Tokyo and the Rencontres Internationales in Paris and Berlin. He currently directs The Cluster Project, an ongoing web gallery and blog that uses multimedia artworks to explore weapons, war, civilian casualties and pop culture. In 2015 Paris will launch online the Disturbance Cycle, a series of works that resurrect scenes from the TV coverage of the 1992 L.A. riots to explore spectacle, social disaster, and historic amnesia. Paris received a master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He is currently an associate professor in Kinetic Imaging at VCU’s School of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia, where he teaches socially engaged media and video production.
Juror Presentation: Melika Bass
Wednesday February 25, 2015 - 1:00PM-3:00PM Communications Building, Room 008 Melika Bass will be speaking about the creative arc in her implementation of linear films for theatrical viewing and installation work.
Juror Presentation: ART, WAR, & THE CLUSTER PROJECT
Thursday February 26, 2015 - 1:00PM-3:00PM Communications Building, Room 1116 Bob Paris, director of The Cluster Project, presents a tour of the project’s online multimedia works on weapons, war, civilian casualties and pop culture.
Introducing: The Digital Muddy Expanded Media Festival
The Digital Muddy Expanded Media Festival Juror: Nia Burks
The first annual Digital Muddy Expanded Media Festival includes 31 artists and collaborators creating works ranging from (but not exclusively) gif based imagery, digital environments, interactive websites and data driven experiments that expand the concepts of contemporary cinematic and narrative exploration. Explore these works at www.digitalmuddy.com Scan the QR code below to access the website via your smartphone
Juror Presentation:
Friday, February 27, 2015 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM Communications Building, Room 1116
Nia Burks is an American artist working in the medium of video, sound, and movement. Her research investigates sincerity, belonging, and loneliness, as exhibited through the lens of pedestrian culture in user generated content websites, primarily YouTube. Through the creation of a sound/image relationship via editing, her work recontextualizes appropriated footage in an effort to call attention to spectacle, simulacra, and gaze. The aim is to use connection to investigate disconnection through the visual cues of performance identity as it relates to authenticity. Her movement work incorporates pole dance as both content and as object of cultural transmission. She recieved a BFA in Sculpture from from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MA in Digital Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art, and an MFA in Photo/Film from Virginia Commonwealth University. She currently lives on the East Coast with her dog/best friend, Grrr. She is represented by Art Claims Impulse Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Her exhibition record
The 2015 John Michaels Award John Michaels was a cinema student at SIUC in the 1980s who dedicated his work to peace and justice. While a student, he traveled to Cuba with Professor Emeritus and Big Muddy Film Festival founder Mike Covell and Edgar Barens, recent Academy Award nominee who will kick off this year’s festival with Prison Terminal, to document the daily life of people immersed in that living revolution. Closer to home, Michaels worked on a film about a St Louis church that gave sanctuary to refugees from El Salvador escaping persecution from a dictatorship at home. After leaving Carbondale, Michaels was diagnosed with brain cancer, which he did not survive. To memorialize his work, the Big Muddy Festival added a new award category to encourage filmmakers who focus on creating inspiring stories about struggles for social justice, locally and in the world. Each year, a jury of local activists and engaged residents spends a day watching documentaries in order to select the ones that offered the most relevant, impassioned and engaged perspectives to the many troubles of our time. This year we viewed films covering a range of subjects, environmental racism, police brutality, institutional racism, industrial toxins and dangerous petro-infrastructures, and struggles for true democratic representation. The most inspiring films revealed a vision of the possible- ways that people are reorienting themselves within the society by creating new communities, by conducting their own research and by forging new possibilities for the cultivation of non-violence, mutual care and justice as a public form of love.
The 2015 John Michaels Award Winner:
Finding the Gold Within
Finding the Gold Within is an inspiring documentary about the storytelling pedagogies of a youth program in Akron Ohio called the Alchemy Project. This gorgeously photographed film leaves viewers with a feeling of concrete hope and awe for the young men who are its subjects, as we see them become articulate spokespersons for their developing values of community and integrity. The Jungian based Alchemy nurtures young men within a circle of love and compassion, where together, participants support each other on the project of cultivating the inner capacities one needs to face life’s journey Screening: Saturday, February 28 at 3:00PM African American Museum University Mall 1237 E. Main Street Carbondale
The 2015 John Michaels Award - Second Place
Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence In Portland Oregon
The film is an acute and compassionate look at the realities of police brutality in Portland, Oregon. Produced through a collective study process by resident participants, the film is crucially relevant for keeping the problem of police indemnity in the public eye. Screening: Friday, February 27 at 3:00PM SIU Student Center Every day of the festival at 3:00 PM, we will feature a John Michaels Award nominee. Screenings will be held in the SIU Student Center Auditorium Wednesday February 25 In an Ideal World Thursday February 26 Crying Earth Rise Up The Uprising
Tuesday February 24, 7pm SIU Student Center
LITTLE WHITE LIE (1:05:00)
2015 Big Muddy Opening Night Feature Film Directed by: Lacey Schwartz Little White Lie tells Lacey Schwartz’s story of growing up in a typical upper-middle-class Jewish household in Woodstock, NY, with loving parents and a strong sense of her Jewish identity — despite the open questions from those around her about how a white girl could have such dark skin. She believes her family’s explanation that her looks were inherited from her dark-skinned Sicilian grandfather. But when her parents abruptly split, her gut starts to tell her something different. At age of 18, she finally confronts her mother and learns the truth: her biological father was not the man who raised her, but a black man named Rodney with whom her mother had had an affair. Afraid of losing her relationship with her parents, Lacey doesn’t openly acknowledge her newly discovered black identity with her white family. When her biological father dies shortly before Lacey’s 30th birthday, the family secret can stay hidden no longer. Following the funeral, Lacey begins a quest to reconcile the hidden pieces of her life and heal her relationship with the only father she ever knew.
Tuesday February 24, 7pm CONTINUED
Wednesday, February 25, 10am SIU Student Center
MARIA (12:00)
Directed by: Katarzyna Plazinska External and internal forces quietly struggle against one other in this enigmatic portrait of dislocation.
THIS IS NOT THE END (7:17)
Directed by: Hilary Campbell A look into the life of the Campbell family as they are now.
WHAT’S IN A NAME (12:00)
Directed by: Daniel Robin What’s in a Name is about sculpting identities, both in terms of how the world sees us and how we view ourselves. These themes are woven into the juxtaposition of two stories that form a dialogue across generations. In the 1930’s the filmmaker’s grandfather changed the family name to avoid anti-Jewish quotas and get engineering work designing the Los Angeles freeways. The filmmaker reclaims the name for his online identity, a film festival books his ticket under this name, and he’s taken into a holding cell accused of being an imposter. The question of Jewish identity and authenticity of culture is examined through home movies, archival footage, interviews and abstract recreations.
WHERE IS ELLE-KARI AND WHAT HAPPENED TO NORIKO-SAN?
(49:20) Directed By: Dvorit Shargal A nostalgic, fascinating and heart-breaking journey into the core of the series books, “children of the world”, a very popular photographed children books in black & white from the mid of the 20th century. The books, which are still printed in Israel were created by the Jewish-Swedish photographer, Anna Riwkin-Brick (19081970). Nine of them were written by Asrtid Lindgren. This is a twisted unbelievable detective story, which follows the missing heroes of the books: Elle-Kari the girl from Lapland, Noriko-San the girl from Japan, Dirk the boy from Holland, and some Israeli heroes. Were there real children? Where are they now?
FEBRUARY 28 (12:05)
Directed by Diana Galimzyanova Guarded and aloof cancer survivor is trying to return to the normal life and forget the horrors of the defeated disease that are still haunting her. She finds a new job but it seems that she has nothing in common with other people. Socially withdrawing herself, she is stuck inside her own world filled with despair and flashbacks.
N64Q: BORN FREE (11:35)
Directed by: Sasha Gransjean After spending almost half a century in Los Angeles, originally in search of revolution, ultimately the owner of a pet fish store, Kyoto is forced by financial situations and health issues to return to his home country, Japan.Kyoto has uploaded his story into the collective consciousness to be seen by his future self who is using the lens of technology to learn from his past. In this, his story ends up a vehicle for a message, driven by an intimate personal portrait.
CHAPRI (6:00)
Directed by: Katarzyna Plazinska Light, shadow, and sound imprint themselves in this impressionistic portrait of ephemeral making.
MATERNITY TEST (14:00)
Directed by Irene Lusztig Eleven women are invited to audition to read a text composited from anonymous mothering.com forum posts. In turns, they narrate an intimate experience of traumatic c-section birth. The collective reading raises shifting questions about idealized birth, maternal language, reality, performance, public feminism, and private confession.
Wednesday, February 25, 1PM SIU Student Center OUT OF DEEPWOOD (22:50)
Directed by Craig Weflen. The Trinity River Audubon Center is natural setting of discovery, education, and tranquility. Yet this location, on the edge of the Deepwood neighborhood, has not always been so peaceful. For 25 years the City of Dallas turned a blind eye to over two million cubic yards of trash being dumped illegally. This is the story of a neighborhood’s fight for justice and the reclamation of land toward a new future.
PENNY (33:00)
Directed by: Elizabeth Sher Meet Penny Cooper: champion of the marginalized, criminal defense, lesbian, and supporter of women artists who has been at the forefront of profound societal changes in America.
OFF_LINE (15:00)
Directed by Yalma Pardo OFF_LINE is a documentary about the human right to information, and by extension of the right of access to the Internet; it seeks to decipher if the root of misinformation (and lack of information) in the island lies in the economic limiting the Cuban government, in the embargo imposed by the United States to our country, or the need (of the authorities) to control the information accessed by citizens.
NOT ANYMORE: A STORY OF REVOLUTION (14:29)
Directed by: Matthew VanDyke A short film about the conflict in Syria as experienced by a 32 year old rebel commander, Mowya, and a 24 year old female journalist, Nour, in Aleppo, Syria. The film clearly and concisely shows why Syrians are fighting for their freedom, told through the emotional words of two powerful characters whose lives have been torn apart by war. Winner of over 80 awards and screened in more than 200 film festivals around the world.
STICKY (20:00)
Directed by Jilli Rose Exiled from the tropical paradise where they evolved, a handful of remarkable stick insects, the last of their kind, clung to life on a single, windswept bush on a remote sea stack for 80 years. Now they’re back from the brink of extinction, but when can they go home?’Sticky’ is a celebration of the persistence of life, dedicated people of science, and the little creatures underfoot.’Sticky’ is a celebration of the persistence of life, epic people of science, and the little creatures underfoot.
Wednesday, February 25, 3PM SIU Student Center JULY THE TWELFTH 1984 (12:35)
Directed by: Jordan Baseman July The Twelfth 1984 is an experimental animation based on the actual audio recording of the State of Georgia execution of Ivon Ray Stanley on July the Twelfth 1984. We hear the voice of Willis Marabel an assistant to the warden at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison. From a small room adjacent to the death chamber Marable watched the execution through a one way mirror and over the telephone described in detail exactly what transpired to officials in Atlanta. We see his words flash before us as we hear him dispassionately describe bearing witness to the death of a human being.
Wednesday, February 25, 6:00 PM SIU Student Center OPENING RECEPTION (light snacks and drinks will be served) Wednesday, February 25, 7:00 PM SIU Student Center
John Michaels Award Showcase In an Ideal World (83:11) (Tied, 3rd Place)
Directed by: Noel Schwerin Follow three men over seven years inside a California prison as they struggle to survive and to change, themselves as well as their brutal environment. Direct from the frontlines of America’s locked down racial system, their stories expose–and honor–the human drama at its core, revealing the institutional nature of racial hierarchies, and the hope and hidden risks of transformative change
SPECIAL PRESENTATION: PRISON TERMINAL (40:00) Directed by Edgar Barens
PRISON TERMINAL: THE LAST DAYS OF PRIVATE JACK HALL is a moving cinema verité documentary that breaks through the walls of one of Americas oldest maximum security prisons to tell the story of the final months in the life of a terminally ill prisoner and the hospice volunteers, they themselves prisoners, who care for him. The film draws from footage shot over a six-month period behind the walls of the Iowa State Penitentiary and provides a fascinating and often poignant account of how the hospice experience can profoundly touch even the forsaken lives of the incarcerated. Q&A with director Edgar Barens after screening
HARD-BOILED WONDERLAND (31:33) Directed by: Wook Steven Heo A documentary portraying everyday landscapes of a peaceful but trembling place, Japan.
Thursday, February 26, 10AM - Travelogues SIU Student Center
A QUEER PEACE (2:40)
Directed by: Bryce Wolfe The experience of a transgender Peace Corps Volunteer living and working in Kyrgyzstan.
NO LOVE LOST (14:46)
Directed by: Shekhar Bassi A Jewish boy nurturing a secret romance with a Muslim girl, despite the realities of their backgrounds, is unaware he is being stalked. While the young lovers struggle to be open about their relationship, the stalker’s obsession reveals a thought provoking turn culminating in the trio coming face to face.
SIGNALS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? (5:00)
Directed by: Shayna Connelly Absence haunts our daily rituals. SIGNALS: WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? imagines our specters interrupting those routines. Do we hear their signals or are we too absorbed in the monotony of motion to notice?
MOTOTANAKA DÉRIVE (4:17)
Directed by: Michael Lyons, Malte Steiner S.R.T. – Sadder but wiser. Reform. Take hold company. This Super 8 film documents an aimless walk through one of Kyoto’s former outcaste neighbourhoods, which continues to exist below normal Japanese living standards. Despite pro-active legislation, people from families associated with such areas can experience discrimination. The soundtrack was created using a self-built apparatus we call ‘The Octopus’. Voltages from light sensors on the projection screen control an analogue modular synthesizer allowing the film itself to act as a score.
REAL WEST (29:17)
Directed by Kevin T Allen. Real West is an ethnographic portrait of two roadside ghost towns in South Dakota. It is also the tale of two elderly proprietors who devotedly maintain these sites. Such roadside attractions conjure the mythical West through material and cultural artifacts, from a decrepit wagon wheel to an out-of-tune player piano. Tourists are encouraged to not only experience, but also to re-enact these historical environments. The film uses contact microphones and super-8mm film as archaeological tools to uncover the material traces of this living history.
MY FATHERLAND VEGAS (8:23)
Directed by: zvika nathan A mysterious traveler arrives in Tel Aviv on a flight from USA. He grabs a cab to visit his sick father, whom he has not been in contact with for 30 years. A surprising, yet interesting, relationship develops between the passenger and the taxi driver during their short ride from the airport to the hospital
DEPENDING ON TRAFFIC (24:00) Directed by: ben cotti Three short stories in one long traffic jam. It’s ‘leil aseder ‘ , all roads in Israel are packed and people are anxious to get to their family in time for the ‘seder ‘.
Thursday, February 26, 1:00 PM Sci-Fi Shorts SIU Student Center
HAT TRICK (4:30)
Directed by Katherin McInnis. Hat Trick is an animated exploration of magic and moon landings, made entirely with “behind the scenes” stills from pre-digital cinema and NASA simulations. The movie also features an original soundtrack by Matthew Leonard, played on a reconstituted theater organ.
INTO THE DARK (14:24)
Directed by Lukas Hassel Sometime in the future, two men strapped in back to back, on a journey from Moon to Earth. Real Justice. Just Reality.
THE PLACE WHERE YOU LIVE (15:08)
Directed by Alexis Van Hurkman A professor of physics is abducted by her counterpart from an alternate dimension–one where her husband has died. Replaced by her doppelganger, she struggles to rebuild the machine and reopen the gateway between worlds to regain the life that should be hers.
NOSTALGIC (11:11)
Directed by Ronald Eltanal. An aging scientist must decide whether to continue taking an experimental drug that reconnects him to loved ones in his crumbling past, at the risk of being unable to form new memories.
A BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF NOTHING (31:07)
Directed by: Blake Labriola Moses Beal lives in a world with a limited timeline. When his friends, family, and co-workers all start to literally disappear, he is left questioning the purpose of spending the remainder of his days alone.
Thursday, February 26, 1:00 PM Adult Shorts SIU Student Center DEADLY (8:45)
Directed by Aidan McAteer. Deadly tells the story of Boney, a working stiff in a dead-end job. That is until he has a run-in with a spirited old lady named Bridie…
LADY AND THE FROG (3:12)
Directed By: Tina Hsu A frog wakes up in a bag of mixed vegetables at a supermarket. A lady runs by and grabs the bag.
BETWEEN TIMES (14:24)
Directed by Ru Kuwahata. From the wall of a small town bakery, a cuckoo clock recounts a day where bread was sliced one second thick, lovers fell in sync and time rarely flowed at an even rate.
COFFEE (4:24)
Directed by Kevin McNulty The “true” story of the lives affected by America’s addition to coffee. “Coffee” is a satirical look at consumerism and how most people don’t really care where their products come from as long as they work, are cheap or taste good. This film looks at one such product; coffee.
C.T.R.L (3:15)
Directed by: Mariana Conde A young man’s attempt at a first contact with a love interest is hijacked in a most entertaining way.
MIDNIGHT MUNCHIES (11:03)
Directed by: Karen Linton A comedy about two dudes in search of donuts who end up in a car chase with a screaming woman. Who knew getting donuts could be so dangerous?
Thursday, February 26, 7:00 PM Love, Etc SIU Student Center BREAD AND BUTTER (1:29:14)
Directed by Liz Manashil. Amelia Karinsky is 30 and obsessed with her virginity. “Bread and Butter” chronicles how she learns that independence is more important than a mismatched romance.
Thursday, February 26, 3:00 PM John Michaels Showcase SIU Student Center CRYING EARTH RISE UP (56:40) (Tied, 3rd Place)
Directed by: Suree Towfighnia Crying Earth Rise Up is a compelling story of the human cost of uranium mining and its impact on the water, land and people of the Great Plains.
THE UPRISING (79:00)
Directed by Peter Snowdon. The Uprising shows us the Arab revolutions from the inside. It is a multi-camera, first-person account of that fragile, irreplaceable moment when life ceases to be a prison, and everything becomes possible again. This feature-length documentary is composed entirely of videos made by citizens and long-term residents of Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya, Syria and Yemen. The film uses this footage, not to recount the actual chronology of events or analyse their causes, but to create an imaginary pan-Arab uprising that exists (for the moment) only on the screen.
FLOWERS (8:20)
Directed by Sabina Sattar A boy falls in love with a deaf and mute girl and has to find a way to communicate his feelings for her.
M4M: SEEKS LOVE (4:00)
Directed By: Barton Girdwood Bob Metcalf wants to find a boyfriend, but at 70 years old he’s finding that’s easier said than done. He’s computer illiterate and over 150 miles from the nearest gay bar; Bob is the gay guy boys block on Grindr. M4M: Seeks Love demonstrates what happens to one man who never found love but won’t give up.
JOY KEVIN (01:02:00)
Directed by: Caleb Johnson A tiny dancer (Tallie Medel, ‘The Unspeakable Act’) and her struggling-comedian husband find co-habitation at odds with their art. JOY KEVIN is the often funny and sometimes dark exploration of whether true love is more likely to make a house into a home or a bonfire.
Thursday, February 26, 10:00 PM Late Night Experimental Shorts WDBX FM ORACLE (7:00)
Directed by: Douglas Urbank Suppliant seeks, and receives, answer from Oracle. Access is through an intermediary. The answer is transmitted, deciphered, and relayed. Combination of in-camera exposure and rayogram, new and expired film stock. Synthetic sound.
OCEAN (11:35)
Directed by Stephanie Maxwell In this film, sunlight on moving water and bottom sand reveal the infinitely animated and ever-changing world of visual compositions and events that have a charged, emotive power when presented as distinct variations and themes interwoven with the musical score.
SOUND OF A MILLION INSECTS, LIGHT OF A THOUSAND STARS (1:30)
Directed by Tomonari Nishikawa The night was beautiful with a starry sky, and numerous summer insects were singing loud. The area was once an evacuation zone, but now people live there after the removal of the contaminated soil. This film was exposed to the possible remaining of the radioactive materials.
NOCOM (9:45)
Directed by: Walter Ungerer The film title is an abbreviation for no comment.
INKJET 3056A (05:10)
Friday, February 27, 10AM - Potluck Shorts SIU Student Center Out There (16:51)
Directed by Dan Currier. Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Joe Crain, a 15-year-old Haile Louisiana farm boy lies about his age to get into the Navy. A few years later, Joe is a coxswain of a landing craft as he lands troops on Omaha Beach during the Normandy Invasion of France on June 6, 1944. In addition to Normandy, Joe went on to land troops in Cicely Italy, Southern France and Okinawa, Japan. Hear the first hand details and emotions of the Normandy invasion from someone who was there and was proud to serve his country in the United States Navy.
Support the Troops: A Veteran’s View (10:24)
Directed by: Paul Riedner A returning Iraq veteran, feeling isolated from the country which raised him, struggles to resolve his new view of war and America. The use of darkness, shadow, silence, and light illicit the characteristics of a national conversation that is not happening. On the streets of Minneapolis, he strips down the phrase, ‘Support the troops,’ and asks the audience to consider…a different point of view.
Seven Ways From Sunday (7:30)
Directed by:Robert Sickels Every once in a while, often when we least expect it, somebody randomly interacts with us in a way that forces us to gaze upon ourselves through the lens of how others see us and that can forever alter our perception of how we fit into the world.
Directed by Karissa Hahn. A cinegel swatchbook is scanned onto clear leader using an HP-Deskjet household printer. A rhythmic exploration of pure color traveling through a digital space. Color information is translated into beams of Red, Green, and Blue.
Champion (4:04)
ALL THE MEMORY IN THE WORLD (01:12:00)
Carry On (16:30)
Directed by:Mike Olenick Memories, mirrors, madness and Memento collide in this experimental video essay focusing on the photographs and photographers in thousands of narrative films. All the Memory in the World is a stream-of-consciousness meditation on cinema, photography, identity, memory and dreams narrated by an insomniac who obsesses over images.
Directed by: Danny Ryan Ke’Eric Hinton, a Golden Glove amateur boxer from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, gives us a glimpse of his life as boxer, trying to make a name for himself and a father, trying to provide for his family. Directed by Yatao Li During the brutal withdrawal of Japanese forces at the end of WWII, a Chinese father does whatever he can to save his family.
The Looking Planet (16:38)
Directed by Eric Law Anderson. During the construction of the universe, a young member of the Cosmos Corps of Engineers decides to break some fundamental laws in the name of self-expression.
Friday, February 27, 1:00 PM World Cinema SIU Student Center
The Mortal Flame (06:38)
Directed by: Daniel Crawford On a cold and endless night, follow our Faceless Wooden Guide through fire, earth and ice to unknown depths. Frozen in time, the Immortal Caretaker and Her eternal machine await encased in the facade of their own fading story. Can the Wooden guide and the Immortal Caretaker fill the eternal machines hollow lungs in time to generate a life giving tale?
RE:BELIEF (06:55)
Directed by: Raymond McCarthy Bergeron re:belief’, is a 3D Printed, hand crafted, zoetropic animated short-film that asks if recalling memories can break a cycle.
Let Go (03:56)
Directed by Danielle Braddish As a young woman’s mother grows old, she finds that being able to let go is one of the most important lessons you can learn.
Friday (10:00)
Directed by Alex Cunningham In our not-so-distant future, there is no ice. The continents are gone, and only our mountain ranges exist above the sea, many forming as islands. Friday lives alone on her island, in symbiosis with the nature around her. She reads the signs from her island; a storm is coming. Will she stay with her home? Or will she venture outside the land she’s never left?
Working Title (15:55)
Directed by: Irina Arnaut In this absurdist take on the hero’s journey, the filmmaker plays the role of an artist in pursuit of inspiration. At once emboldened and tormented by her own creative ambition, her artistic and cinematic predecessors, and even by her DP, she careens through a cavalcade of cultural influences before erupting in a deceptively charming slapstick routine.
Zone 7 (01:32:00)
Directed by: Carlo Obispo Diana (Krystle Valentino) and her little brother (Miggs Cuaderno) go through life and childhood in a country farm village particularly called “Purok 7” (Zone 7) where they experience the familiar, delightful ride that is growing up, along with the challenges that they are forced to deal with despite their young age. For one, their father is living with another woman in the area while their mother is working abroad. Set against a backdrop of laid-back living and copious optimism characteristic of country life, Zone 7 is an endearing tale of innocence and reality, and the wonderfully inescapable bonds of community.
Wallas on Velos (23:03)
Directed by: Alton Valadares ‘Wallas on Vellos’ is a film about 4 men in the city of Mumbai whose lives are linked together by a common element; they all make their living on bicycles. The film follows Sabir who sharpens knives (churi walla), Abdul, a milkman (doodh walla), Namdeo, a lunch box deliveryman (dabba walla) and Imran who sells cold drinks (cold drink walla), as they make their way through the chaotic streets of this teeming metropolis on their bicycle.
Friday, February 27, 3:00 PM John Michaels Award Showcase SIU Student Center
Friday, February 27, 6:00 PM Guyon Auditorium Davids and Goliath
Directed By: Leon Lee Nobel Peace Prize nominees David Matas and David Kilgour investigate the organ harvesting trade in China and uncover one of the world’s worst crimes against humanity.
Friday, February 27, 7:00 PM SIU Student Center
Arresting Power: Resisting Police Violence in Portland, Oregon. (02:30:00)
Directed by: Jodi Darby, Julie Perini and Erin Yanke Arresting Power explores Portland’s unique history of policing, race relations and community resistance from the 1960s to present. Arresting Power has been in production for over two years, born out of frustration from witnessing decades of police misconduct, demands for change, and hollow responses from the city government. As media artists and community activists, we have spent time in meetings, on the front lines of protests and behind cameras and microphones collecting stories of local police issues for the past 15 years. Arresting Power is the culmination of that work. We see Arresting Power as a living document. It is a film that will be used as a tool for teaching and organizing. Our goal for this project is to shed light on the the struggle for police accountability in Portland and to inspire dialog that will affect real change in the city.
Juror Presentation: Anna Margarita Albelo Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf?
Directed By: Anna Margarita Albelo The day after her 40th birthday, a filmmaker who’s sacrificed her love life for her film career realizes she has neither, decides to embark on adapting an all-female version of, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Q&A to follow with Anna Margarita Albelo
Friday, February 27, 7:00 PM (CONTINUED)
Friday, February 27, 7:30 PM Guyon Auditorium
Myrna the Monster
Directed by Ian Samuels A heart-broken alien dreamer from the moon transitions into adult life in Los Angeles like any other 20-something-yearold.
The Night Guardian
Directed by: Brian Ott On his deathbed Stanley Simmons meets with his estranged family. His son won’t speak to him and he finds the only way to communicate with his grandson is to tell him stories about a superhero from his day called The Night Guardian.
Henny’s Opus in B Minor
Directed by: Andrea Conte A humorous and heartfelt story of Henny Nixon’s love for classical music, told in the first-person while she approaches the end of her third act.
Ham Over Rice
Directed by Ying Liu. Packed with associative images, visual puns and wordplays, “Ham over Rice” deconstructs the Chinese myth of the legendary archer Houyi who saves the world but loses his immortality. The myth is filtered through a mixture of live action, animation, pictorial text, narration and sounds.
My Kingdom
Directed by Debra Solomon A not so meditative meditation on the nature of personal space…
Dwarves Kingdom (01:14:00)
Directed by: Matthew Salton One day, a Lord of the Rings-obsessed Chinese real estate investor met a little person on the train. This downtrodden man’s openness about his trouble finding a job inspired the businessman to try and help: he created an amusement park where people with dwarfism could live and earn money performing. Though the park has attracted negative attention from groups like Little People of America, Dwarves Kingdom attempts to capture what the park means to its workers.
Saturday, February 28 10:00 AM - FREE EVENT Saturday Morning Family Time SIU Student Center Zeke and the All-Inclusive Cat House (4:33)
Directed by Susan Shay Brugger Even a mild-mannered tomcat can run into an obstacle to his dream vacation.
Treasure Nest (05:09)
Directed by:Meng Chwen (JOY) Tien A 3D animated short following Blue and Peanut’s journey across the land in search of hidden treasure.
Saturday, February 28 1:00PM SIU Student Center
Lily’s Big Day (4:42)
Directed by: Berlin Demuth, Maezy Dennie, Ocean Demuth, Sol Demuth Lilly, a 10-foot tall orange monster, steps out for a special day at Wilma’s Super Salon. Patrons gasp and stylists glitch as the affable giant bumbles her way through a beauty ritual like no other.
Up in a Plane (09:12)
Directed by Rachel Moore. A granddaughter’s grief is transformed by her imagination into an adventure of love and joy that bikes, flies, and dances all the way from the Canadian prairies of the early 1900’s to Europe in WW2, to the present, and beyond.
The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead and Roundhead
(01:01:00) Directed by Elliot Cowan When their home is destroyed, Boxhead & Roundhead must head to the big city to battle red tape, rent, rats and the rat race to get it back. Art and industry, friendship and foul play are all in the mix in this, the most stressful adventure of all
Almost There (1:33:00)
Directed by: Aaron Wickenden and Dan Rybicky Almost There is a coming-of-(old)-age story about 83-year-old Peter Anton, an “outsider” artist living in isolated and crippling conditions whose world changes when two filmmakers discover his work and storied past. Shot over eight years, ALMOST THERE documents Anton’s first major exhibition and how the controversy it generates forces him to leave his childhood home. Each layer revealed reflects on the intersections of social norms, elder care, and artistic expression. (Q&A with directors after film)
Animation Hotline (5:24)
Directed by Dustin Grella. Animation Hotline is a series of short animations where anonymous messages on the artist’s voice mail provide the content for these sometimes insightful, sometimes bizarre micro-shorts. The project started in 2011 and is currently in it’s 3rd year. We’d like to share the animations and stories that we’ve created and collected in 2013.
Saturday, February 28, 3:00 PM - FREE EVENT John Michaels Award Showcase African American Museum
Saturday, February 28, 3:00 PM SIU Student Center Nowhere I’d Rather Be (8:48)
Directed by: Joachim Pfefferkorn In the dead of winter a hopelessly depressed teenage runaway finds himself in a Quebecois ski resort amidst remodeling.
Liar’s Dice (1:03:00)
Finding the Gold Within (1:32:00) (Winner, John Michaels Award) Directed by: Karina Epperlein Six young black men from Akron, Ohio, enter college, determined to redefine society’s images and low expectations. Despite their confidence, the stark reality of being away from home brings a series of crises. Well trained in critical and metaphorical thinking, and unusually articulate about their inner lives, each of the protagonists guides us to his core. Since sixth grade, they have been part of the innovative mentoring program ‘Alchemy, Inc.’ that uses mythological stories, drumming and writing. In the twice-yearly reunion workshops, everyone speaks of his trials and his triumphs with authenticity, intelligence, honesty and heart.In turns quiet, thoughtful and exuberant, the six protagonists grow before our eyes, whether navigating racial provocations, or seeking support with new friends, estranged fathers and wise grandmothers. (Q&A with cast, after the film)
Directed by Geethu Mohandas. The canvas of the film stretches from a small village on the mountains called Chitkul, which borders China to the industrial land of big dreams, Delhi city.It’s about a young mother, Kamala and her 3-year-old daughter from a tribal community who embarks on a journey leaving their native land in search ofher missing husband. Along this journey she encounters an army deserter who realizing the perils of the journey ahead for them, decides to accompany them to their destination. This film talks about a sense of futility; anger against the system and also explores the dynamics of a man woman relationship. It’s a linear narrative travel story with a more alarming backdrop of the socio political conditions of India today.
Saturday, February 28, 6:00 PM Guyon Audutorium Changing Face of Harlem (14:47) Directed by Shawn Batey Told through the personal accounts of residents, business owners, politicians, developers, and clergy, Changing Face of Harlem explores the development and transition of the historic Black community over a ten- year span. The film tackles the pressing issues of class and cultural preservation as the neighborhood struggles to change for the better. (Q&A with director after film)
Saturday, February 28, 6:00 PM Guyon Audutorium
Saturday, February 28, 7:00 PM SIU Student Center
The Urban World (41:00) Directed by Warren Bass The Urban World is a 41 minute documentary set in India’s fifth largest city where a major development project is displacing tens of thousands of slum dwellers who have lived all their lives on the banks of the Sabarmati River. The film looks at the move in human terms by following the experiences of one particular family. Gaia (14:47) Directed by Erin Fowler and Nick Graalman Gaia (Mother Earth) is struggling for survival in an increasingly degraded and urbanised planet. Through the language of dance, Gaia tells a universal story relevant to everyone that inhabits the earth.
Nocturne (1:17:00)
Directed by: Saul Pincus An insomniac falls in love with a sleepwalker. (Q&A with director after film)
Intermission Alexandria Leaving (1:26:00)
Directed by: John Zhao A teen runaway dashing to reunite with the girl she loves, is lead astray when her ex-boyfriend and promised getaway lift ropes her on a joy ride she never wished for. Alexandria Leaving spends one night in the life of a closeted teen whose only way out to a brighter future is through a resentful past.
Sunday, February 28, 10:00 AM SIU Student Center Girls Make Movies Retrospective
Girls Make Movies is a week long residential filmmaking experience that was offered to young women by the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts for the past five years (2009-2014). Each year, campers spent an intensive seven days learning to plan, shoot, and edit short films. We will look back at some of the films produced during this amazing camp.
Sunday, February 28, 11:00 AM SIU Student Center Best of the Fest Big Muddy Film Festival Awards
Sunday, February 28, 1:00 PM SIU Student Center Big Muddy Film Festival Closing Reception Join us as we close out this year’s festival.
Sunday, February 28, 4:00 PM Longbranch Cafe Director’s Choice - Sunday Night Feature & Shorts
WSIU, MCMA, and the Carbondale Public Library present...
SPRING
2015 Join WSIU, the SIU College of Mass Communication & Media Arts, and the Carbondale Public Library for Community Cinema, a series of free screenings and discussions of films from the Emmy-winning PBS series Independent Lens.
All Events 2:30pm at the Carbondale Public Library! FEBRUARY 21
AMERICAN DENIAL
Explore the power of unconscious biases and how they impact notions of race and class today. Moderators: Dr. Joseph Brown, SIU Africana Studies; Derrick Langston, SIU Center for Inclusive Excellence; Cathy Field, Carbondale Racial Justice Coalition.
MARCH 21
THE HOMESTRETCH
Three homeless teenagers brave Chicago winters, high school pressures, and life alone on the streets to build a brighter future.
APRIL 18
LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
Over the course of 40 years, a gay couple – a Filipino American and an Australian – take on the U.S. government to fight for marriage and immigration equality.
WSIU is Proud to Support the 37th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival! Carbondale Public Library
See You Next Year! WWW.BIGMUDDYFILM.COM