3rd Annual Hartford International Film Festival Schedule

Listing of films screening at the 2008 Hartford International Film Festival
Title Filmmaker Country Year Runtime Language Venue
3 Américas Cristina Kotz Cornejo USA 2007 96 min. English and Spanish with English Subtitles Real Art Ways
  This film tells the story of 16-year old América Hart Campos, a teenager in Boston who is forced to leave the U.S. after a family tragedy and go live in Argentina with her reclusive anti-American grandmother whose language and culture she only partially understands.
The Art of Love and Struggle Jessica Habie USA 2006 78 min. English La Paloma Sabanera Coffeehouse
  This documentary profiles twelve women: artists, singers, emcees, activists, poets and writers who come together to attempt to outline the obstacles that face the female artist. The film navigates the challenges of poverty, politics and personal sacrifice while exploring love, identity and urban culture.
Artery John Fink USA 2008 4 min. English Art Cinema
  Dreams and reality, time and space are fused together in this experimental film. Striking colors are combined with stark black and white photography. Artery is a temporal and metaphorical journey where hand made images are combined with an experimental computer-composed musical soundtrack, infused with sound and visions of the New York City grid system.
Between Night Scott Ballard USA 2008 17 min. English Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
  A single night. A street sweeper. A discovery and a surprise departure from routine.
Bleeding Green Kevin Massicotte USA 2008 19 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  In April 1997 the Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League played their final game in Connecticut and the team moved to North Carolina. Though the team has been gone for over a decade, the Hartford Whalers Booster Club remains active. Bleeding Green is the story of the fans who never gave up on their team.
Born Again Sohrah Khosravi Iran 2008 17 min. Farsi with English Subtitles Real Art Ways
  This documentary is about a 60-year old man named Hajat who left his life in the city for his own reasons and moved to the desert of Southern Iran. Hajat has been living alone for over 15 years without any connection to urban life.
Coming to Grips Lori Mona Petchers USA 2008 30 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  Inspiration plus reality equals creative process. Coming to Grips is an inside look at the creative process of a Connecticut choreographer as she grapples with a situation beyond her control.
Cornelius Giovanny Blanco USA 2008 81 min. English Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
  A narrative feature about a man who, following a nervous breakdown, tries to re-connect with his young son.
Dean and Me Heath Eiden USA 2008 88 min. English Red Rock Tavern
  Heath Eiden picks up a Handicam to film the birth of his first child. He ends up capturing a rare political movement as led by fellow Vermonter Howard Dean. By showing the primary process candidates go through to run for President, the film shows how Dean's ‘Take Back America’ in 2004 paved the way for Obama's ‘Change’ campaign in 2008, and asks the audience: Is this any way to elect a President?
The Devil Among Us: America's First Witch Hunt Andy Blood USA 2008 78 min. English Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
  A Connecticut documentary about the Windsor Witch Trials that took place 50 years prior to those in Salem, Massachusetts.
Diamonds in the Rough Brett Mazurek USA 2007 72 min. English and Luganda with English Subtitles Cinestudio
  A documentary feature that explores the emergence of hip hop in Uganda as a tool for social change in Uganda and beyond. Narrated by Michael Franti, it tells a gripping story of the way that Ugandan rappers risk political reprisals by creating rhymes that tell the stories of the victims of the bloody civil war and the long, corrupt reign of Uganda's political leaders.
Disneyland Dream Robbins Barstow USA 1956/2008 30 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  This film is a documentary of a 1956 trip to Disneyland, California by the five members of the Barstow Family of Wethersfield, CT as winners of a nation-wide contest sponsored by ‘Scotch’ brand tape, narrated by producer Robbins Barstow.
The Exiles Kent MacKenzie USA 1961 72 min. English Aetna Theater, Wadsworth Atheneum
  The highly acclaimed feature originally released in 1961 and restored in 2008 about young Native American men and women living in Los Angeles, transplants from reservations in the Southwest.
Gamers Richard Dobbs USA 2008 7 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  Luke is a videogame addict and he just got a hold of War Machines, the hottest new game. He wants his best friend to play it with him immediately, but Scott has to study and has other ideas.
Holy Modal Rounders: Born to Lose Sam Douglas & Paul Lovelace USA 2008 90 min. English Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
  A feature-length music documentary about an American psychedelic folk band and their bazaar 40-year musical career.
I Covered My Eyes Paul Turano USA 2008 29 min. English Art Cinema
  A visual essay reconsidering television newscasts witnessed by the filmmaker as a child in the 1970s and early 1980s with an eye toward understanding the impact on his sense of personal and political identity in an increasingly vulnerable world.
Intimidad David Redmon and Ashley Sabin USA 2008 72 min. English La Paloma Sabanera Coffeehouse
  This film is an original Mexican love story about family relationships and the meaning of “home.“ Cecy and Camilo, both 21, recently moved to the border, Reynosa, Mexico, from Santa Maria, Puebla with a dream to save money, buy land, and build a home. A year later they return to their rural hometown to reunite with their two year-old daughter Loida. What seems like a satisfying reunion turns into a confusing dilemma that transforms the course of their marriage.
Invisible Girlfriend David Redmon and Ashley Sabin USA 2008 72 min. English Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
  This documentary tells the story of Charles as he goes on a Quixotic journey through rural Louisiana on a big red bicycle, accompanied by his invisible girlfriend Joan of Arc, to deliver a candle to a woman he admires. Along the way, he encounters, farmers, a witch, a tin man, and a man who honors the dead.
The Juche Idea Jim Finn USA 2008 62 min. Korean with English Subtitles Art Cinema
  The Juche Idea is the official state ideology of North Korea, incorporating religion, social regime and political systems. This film deconstructs the concept with irrepressible irreverence, weaving regurgitated state dogma and subversive culture-clash comedy into a fictionalized account of an artist's experience on a Juche ‘art camp’.
LoRes Fest 2008 Hartford USA 2008 60 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  This is the third annual installment of the 24-hour Hartford grassroots video-making experience known as LoRes Fest.
Nature's Transcendental Painter: George Chaplin Dore Hammond USA 2008 10 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  This Connecticut film documents the artist who creates phenomena that can be felt with color.
The Painting Alireza Taleb Zadeh Iran 2007 21 min. Farsi with English Subtitles Hartford Children's Theatre
  An old man wanted to paint a new picture different from those he had done before. And so he did.
The Phony War of Memories Simon Baele Belgium 2008 28 min. Dutch with English Subtitles Hartford Children's Theatre
  Several civilian survivors of the World War II Battle of the Bulge and the Siege of Bastogne describe their personal memories of these events. This film explores the construction of history and questions of general truth vs. personal truths.
The Road Taken… The Merritt Parkway Lisa Seidenberg USA 2008 33 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  An eclectic history of Connecticut's favorite road, the Merritt Parkway, on its 70th anniversary. This documentary features rarely seen historical footage and an interview with Henry Merritt, relative of Congressman Shuyler Merritt, for whom the parkway is named.
Searching for G Liz Topp USA Work-in-Progress 20 min. English Art Cinema
  A work-in-progress documentary that explores the ever-questioned “G Spot.”
Snake Skin Nathan Pancione USA 2008 4 min. English Art Cinema
  This experimental film depicts a fight to the end between a roadrunner and its masculine nemesis, the rattlesnake.
Still Bill Director USA Work-in-Progress 10 min. English Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
  Still Bill follows the story of Bill Withers, best known for his classics, “Ain't No Sunshine“, “Lean on Me”, “Lovely Day” and “Just the Two of Us”. But Wither's musical life is just one part of a complex man who was raised in the coal-mining towns of West Virginia, sailed for nine years with the Navy, rose to the top of the charts and then left it behind to raise a family.
Stolen Moments Hector Serra USA 2008 29 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  A dying mother tries to mend her relationship with her estranged son.
Tarzan and the Rocky Gorge Robbins Barstow USA 1936 30 min. English Hartford Children's Theatre
  This film is a fictional teenage adventure drama filmed in Hartford and the wilds of Granby in 1936 by then 16-year old Robbins Barstow and his two younger brothers, narrated by Robbins.
Travel Video 8: Bullet Train – Tokyo to Kyoto Paul Echeverria USA 2008 5 min. English Art Cinema
  A study of landscape within the cinematic frame. The recurrence of fast-paced movement and blurred imagery alludes to similar emotions expressed via abstract painting. This video suggests a traveler who is exploring the routines and daily happenings of the newly found environment.
Trouble The Water Tia Lessin & Carl Deal USA 2008 96 min. English Bow-Tie Cinemas Palace 17
  This award-winning documentary feature tells the story of an aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, who survive Hurricane Katrina and then seize a chance for a new beginning. It's a redemptive tale of self-described street hustlers who become heroes that takes you inside Hurricane Katrina in a way never before seen on screen. This film is not just about New Orleans. It's about America.
Under My Garden Andrea Lodovichetti Italy 2008 19 min. Italian with English Subtitles Art Cinema
  The 10-year old boy in this Italian short film is convinced that his neighbor has killed his wife and buried her under his garden, as evidenced by the large ant nest that the boy has been examining for a while.
Walk on By Lisa Wolfinger USA 2008 14 min. English Wilde Auditorium, University of Hartford
  This film tells the story of an unspoken attraction between two people that is destined never to be fulfilled. If life is a series of choices, then these two make choices based on mistaken assumptions about each other. Luckily, the two discover that life goes on and that new opportunities for love are just around the corner.