Tampa Film Fan

The Sunscreen Film Festival presents its winning films from its 3rd year.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Pangea International Café
34 N. Fort Harrison Avenue
downtown Clearwater

6:30-11 p.m.

6:30 p.m. — The fun begins with a wine, olive oil and cheese tasting and an informal viewing of 2008’s winning films.

8 p.m. — Enjoy an encore screening of Art of Pain – winner of the 2008 Sunscreen Film Festival Audience Award.

9:30 p.m. Socialize more while enjoying Pangea’s cash coffee and dessert bar.

The Gasparilla Film Festival is partnering with the Global Film Initiative (GFI) to host Global Lens 2008, a GFI-sponsored traveling film series. GFI promotes cross-cultural understanding and diversity by presenting developing world feature films in over forty major U.S. Cities, with their prestigious film series entitled Global Lens. GFI is considered one of the foremost leaders in funding and distributing world cinema. Its film board is comprised of well known, accomplished international filmmakers, such as Pedro Almodóvar, Lars von Trier, Mira Nair and Lucy Barreto, to name a few.

Past and present partners of the Global Lens Series include:

The Museum of Modern Art in New York
The American Film Institute
The Chicago International Film Festival
Gene Siskel Film Center
Miami International Film Festival
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
San Francisco Art Institute
Sarasota Film Society and The Seattle International Film Festival
Walker Art Center
Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Denver Film Society
Salt Lake Film Society

Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication Tom Garrett at University of Tampa states: “It’s a wonderful international experience for University of Tampa’s Film Media Arts Program and its students to be involved - to have first-look exposure to the Global Lens series along with the Gasparilla Film Festival.”

Studio(at)620’s co-Artistic Director, G. David Ellis: “The Studio(at)620 is very pleased and excited to be a part of Global Lens 2008 and host these films through October. The Global Lens series will be a wonderful compliment to our evenings at the International Film Cafe. You can travel the world in the comfort of the Studio(at)620 and enjoy free popcorn too!”

John Rosser, Executive Director of the Gasparilla Film Festival: “The Gasparilla Film Festival is proud to hold the 2008 Tampa Bay exclusive rights for a world-class film series such as Global Lens 2008. We are particularly thrilled to be working with such high-quality local partners as the University of Tampa and Studio(at)620 on screening these important films. Our organization continues to grow, and we look forward to continuing to support such worthwhile endeavors as Global Lens.”

CONSOLIDATED SCREENING SCHEDULE:

Friday, May 23 — Bunny Chow (South Africa), Studio(at)620, St. Petersburg
Friday, June 6 — movie title TBD, U of Tampa, Reeves Theater
Friday, June 27 — The Kite (Lebanon), Studio(at)620, St. Petersburg
Friday, July 11 — All For Free (Croatia), Studio(at)620, St. Petersburg
Friday, July 25 — movie title TBD, U of Tampa, Reeves Theater
Friday, August 22 — The Fish Fall in Love (Iran), Studio(at)620, St. Petersburg
Friday, August 29 — movie title TBD, U of Tampa, Reeves Theater
Friday, September 26 — The Bet Collector, Studio(at)620, St. Petersburg

MINI-FESTIVAL #1, University of Tampa, Reeves Theater
Fall 2008, TBD, 7 screenings

HCC Performing Arts Building
Outside

• 11 a.m.
  Cyanotype Workshop
  Tickets: Free
  Part of Moving Thought:A Mobile Exhibition of Artists’ Books

HCC Campus
Ybor Room

• 11 a.m.
  Screen Actors Guild: Independent Films and Low Budget Agreements panel
  Tickets: Free
  Are you considering producing your own film? Don’t know where to start? Plan to attend this workshop, presented by Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Conducted by David Fazekas, SAG South Region Executive, this workshop will introduce and explain SAG’s various low-budget agreements, including special agreements for short and student films. David will walk you through the process of signing a SAG low-budget agreement from start to finish and answer any other questions you might have about the Guild.
• Noon
  Sunshine in the Dark: History of Films Made in Florida workshop
  Tickets: Free
  Historians Susan Fernandez and Robert Ingalls have identified more than 300 films about Florida to analyze how filmmakers have portrayed the state and its people from the silent era to the present. In their presentation, Fernandez and Ingalls will discuss their findings about location settings, plot lines, and characters that dominate films produced both by Hollywood studios and independent filmmakers. Their book Sunshine in the Dark: Florida in the Movies is the first complete study of how the movie industry has immortalized Florida’s extraordinary scenery, characters, and history on celluloid.
• 1:30 p.m.
  Filmmaker Panel: The Documentary — Form and Function, Greg Musselman (moderator)
  Tickets: Free
  The Festival is screening a number of titles that are considered to be in the genre of documentaries but take very different approaches to this important form of cinema. Filmmakers presenting at the fest will provide insight into their individual vision and approach to their subjects, discuss the challenges of capturing “real life”, and share stories of the journey of making a movie. Panelists: Bari Pearlman (Daughters of Wisdome), Pete Guzzo and Paul Guzzo (Ghosts of Ybor:Charlie Wall), Linda Booker (Love Lived on Death Row), Shawn Cheatham (Sightseeing), Charles Lyman (Persistence of Vision), Brenda Medina (Holy Biker), Allison Koehler (Untitled) and Manny Mendoza (Stop the Presses).
• 3 p.m.
  Portraits
  Tickets: $5.00

Auntie and Me, produced and directed by Victoria Jorgensen
A filmmaker documents her first meeting with her newly discovered “Auntie Pam”, the product of the filmmaker’s Hemingwayesque grandfather who worked as a photographer in Honduras in the 30’s and 40’s and Pam’s mother Josephine, the family’s caretaker. Director Victoria Jorgensen will be present.

Holy Biker, produced by Pantalla Films
A biker community embraces an unlikely new member. One of the directors, Brenda Medina, will be present.

Bally Master, directed by Gary Beeber
Enter the bizarre world of Scott Baker, master of the Bally stage at Coney Island’s “Sideshows by the Seashore”. Watch Scott as he performs his most outrageous sideshow routines and talks in depth about his life, the history of geeking and of the sideshow.

Kuna Ni Nuang (My Mother Said), produced and directed by Jessica Sison
In this day and age, when everything is documented and even cell phones have cameras, one woman has no souvenirs or photos of her beloved mother. Meet Elena Bautista, 99 years…YOUNG.

Dinner Table, produced and directed by Song E. Kim
A couple is having dinner on an ordinary day. The girl casually asks the boy who the food is. He answers. However, his manner of speaking takes her to her psychological journey.

• 4 p.m.
  Global Snapshots
  Tickets: $5.00

Con el Toque de la Chaveta (With a Stroke of the Chaveta), produced and directed by Pamela Sporn
This film takes viewers into the legendary cigar factories of Cuba where we witness the unique tradition of “la lectura de tabaqueria”, the collective reading of literature while tabaqueros roll habanos.

Not Only Just Coffee, directed and photographed by Patricia McInrov
An experimental and personal documentary exploring themes of immigration, death and media along the U.S./Mexico border and beyond. Coffee serves as a centerpiece to understand and connect cultures, histories and people throughout the work.

Mimoune, directed by Gonzalo Ballester
Illegal immigration is not only a problem for our society. Not only does the illegal immigrant suffer from social uprooting but also the most difficult part of this situation: the family division.

• 6 p.m.
  Strong Short Stories
  Tickets: $5.00
  Strong language - viewer discretion advised.

Alicja Wonderland, directed by Martin Gavreau
You will see, you will love me too.

Made in Japan, produced and directed by Ciro Altabas
“…My mother admitted that the man who I thought was my father was not my father.”

On the Grind, produced and directed by Karla DiBenedetto
A social portrait featuring street rapper Artino Rope, who faces the possibility of homelessness and must reconcile the consequences of his quest for fame.

For A Few More Marbles More, written and directed by Jelmar Huffen
Four ten-year-olds are kicked out of their favorite playground by two aggressive drunkards. When they realize their parents are not going to help them, they have only one solution. They have to find a way to get the toughest boy in the neighborhood to help them.

Gustav Braustache and the Auto-Debilitator, produced and directed by Rob Cunningham and Tony Mullen
Gustav Braustache, inventor of the Pedestrian Direction Reverser and other popular devices, has never been one for managing the mundane details of daily life. His unconventional method of rent payment along with the untimely misfiring of his Position Despecifier launch him on a bizarre journey.

Anti-Narrative Number 4, written, produced and directed by Jeremy Kruse
An experimental film in which a man’s life is examined.

HCC Performing Arts Building
Main Stage

• 11 a.m.
  Stop the Presses:The American Newspaper in Peril, produced and directed by Manny Mendoza and Mark Birnbaum
  Tickets: $5.00
  The woes of the American newspaper put democracy at risk. As paid circulation, ad revenue and stock prices plummet, can the Internet take up print journalism’s historic role as the public’s chief watchdog. One of the directors, Manny Mendoza, will be present.
• 1 p.m.
  El Inmigrante, directed by John Sheedy, David Eckrenrode and John Eckrenrode
  Tickets: $5.00
  A documentary film that examines the Mexican and American border crisis by telling the story of Eusebio de Haro, a young Mexican migrant who was shot and killed during one of his journeys north.
• 2:30 p.m.
  Nice Bombs, directed by Usama Alshaibi
  Tickets: $5.00
  Filmmaker Usama Alshaibi returns to Baghdad to reunite with his family after nearly 24 years, documenting his unique relationship to an Iraq that is much different from the country of his childhood.
• 4:30 p.m.
  Daughters of Wisdom, produced and directed by Bari Pearlman
  Tickets: $5.00
  An intimate portrait of the nuns of the Kala Rongo Monastery who study and practice full-time, creating new opportunities for themselves and for the community they serve. These nuns, who are receiving unprecedented educational and religious training, are preserving their rich cultural heritage even as they slowly reshape it. The director, Bari Pearlman, will introduce the film and discuss the film.
• 6:30 p.m.
  Ghosts of Ybor:Charlie Wall, directed by Pete Guzzo, written by Paul Guzzo
  Tickets: $10.00 (Sold Out)
  Despite being Florida’s earliest crime lord and one of the nation’s most colorful individuals in the early 1900s, little is known about Charlie Wall outside of the tiny Tampa historic district of Ybor City. Using photos, paintings, old film footage, reenactments (including his famous assassination escape when they drove backwards through traffic), written history and oral history, 1 Day Films showcases the most comprehensive history ever told about Charlie Wall and the first documentary ever produced on this legendary Florida crime figure. Director Pete Guzzo and writer/researcher Paul Guzzo, Tampa filmmakers and brothers, will be present.
• 8:30 p.m.
  Killer of Sheep, directed by Charles Burnett
  Tickets: $5.00
  Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. Writer/director Charles Burnett submitted Killer of Sheep, his first feature film, as his thesis for his MFA in film at UCLA. The film was shot on location near his family’s home in Watts in a series of weekends on a shoestring budget of less than $10,000, most of which was grant money. HCC’s Carlton Williams will introduce the film and moderate a discussion after the screening.

HCC Performing Arts Building
Studio Theater

• 1 p.m.
  Animation Snapshots
  Tickets: $5.00

Bottled, animated and directed by Jian Lee
Bottled is about two people living in glass bottles. The bottles are located in an artist’s studio and the characters are the creations of the artist. The hand, the artist, creates another male character for the woman to save her from loneliness.

Torn Asunder, produced and directed by Bob Barancik
This video creatively explores the increasingly frayed American national psyche. The young urban voices are two of Tampa Bay’s most popular performance poets. The art and post-production were handled by two baby boomers.

Dinner Table, produced and directed by Song E. Kim
A couple is having dinner on an ordinary day. The girl casually asks the boy who the food is. He answers. However, his manner of speaking takes her to her psychological journey.

Simulacra, produced and directed by Tatchapon Lertwirojkul
In the vast universe, there’s one robot planet where everything is machines and robots. One day, one robot found the one organic lifeform existing in his world. He decides he must have it.

Almost Like One of the Family, produced and directed by Astrid Goransson
In 1933 Anna-Helèn Johansson wrote 30 letters to her sister Clary. Anna-Helèn, young farmer’s daughter, got the chance to live in a city household in Stockholm. There is a flow of descriptions in these letters and above all - a flow of feelings. Anna-Helèn was supposed to be like a member of the fine opera-family Stiebel. Instead, she became their maid.

Butterfly Effect, directed by Venda Lee and Chad Lung
On a bright, sunny morning, Eric and his neighbors in blue uniforms start the day in their bizarre town. An old brown briefcase fallen from the sky pushes them to a marathon. From the town with queer factories and the broccoli path, to the four characters and their replicas, all made in hard cut photos, this stop-motion video took more than half a year to create.

Lovely Academic Slaughter Houses, directed by David Finkelstein
An improvised meditation on the box-like conceptual mindset of academia, as it attempts to grapple with the bubblelike flow of the real world, with animated illustrations.

• 3 p.m.
  Program 1
  American Underground and Personal Films of the 1950’s through 1970’s
  The personal film and its sources, “Images from the lives of the filmmakers.” Presented by Charles Lyman.
  Tickets: $5.00

Peter Hutton - Images of Asian Music - 29 minutes (excerpt)
A minimalist film, linked impressions of a trip to Asia, contemplative.

Will Hindle - Saint Flournoy Lobos-Logos and the Eastern European Fetus Taxing Japan Bride in West Coast Places - 30 minutes (excerpt)

Will Hindle - Sucking Alabama Air - 15 minutes
The effect of current culture and reading on the life and art of the filmmaker. Charles Manson and the 1960s.

Gunvor Nelson - My Name is Oona - 10 minutes
The filmmaker uses moving images of her daughter’s first years of life to evoke the passages of childhood. With Robert Nelson and Dorothy Wiley.

Scott Bartlett - 1970 - 30 minutes (excerpt)
A visual diary of events in the filmmakers life: trips and voyages, a wife and a film business, the joys and disappointments of a career working in a new art form.

Ralph Arlyck - An Acquired Taste - 26 minutes (excerpt)
A ride through the thoughts of the filmmaker about his growing family and the effort to capture his world on film.

• 5 p.m.
  Experimental Visions
  Tickets: $5.00

Untitled (2007), produced and directed by Allison Koehler
A portrait of humanity, lonely and estranged. Director Allison Koehler will be present.

The Distance to the Sun, directed and produced by Andrea Doimi
Bob Lazar talks, while we move to one of the most secret places ever, the “Groom Lake S4 Zone”. The “Area 51″ shapes a far mind-location for a unique deep experience.

Themes and Variations for the Naked Eye, produced and directed by Caitlin Horsmon
This film borrows tropes from the still life and aspires to the medical film. The curious subject uses a series of demolitions to think through the status of ordinary objects and their pictorial histories.

• 7 p.m.
  Saint Death
  Directed by Eva Aridjis
  Tickets: $5.00
  In Mexico there is a cult that is rapidly growing — the cult of Saint Death. This female grim reaper, considered a saint by followers but Satanic by the Catholic Church, is worshipped by people whose lives are filled with danger and violence.
• 9 p.m.
  Tin Can Man, directed by Ivan Kavanaugh
  Tickets: $5.00
  Recently dumped by his girlfriend for another man, working in a job he hates, things could be better for Peter. One night, while he is alone in his apartment, there is a knock at the door. His life will never be the same again.

Sunday, April 20

HCC Campus
Ybor Room

• 11 a.m.
  Un Poquito de Tanta Verdad (A Little Bit So Much Truth), directed by Jill Freidberg
  In the summer of 2006, a non-violent, popular uprising exploded in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Some compared it to the Paris Commune, while others called it the first Latin American revolution of the 21st century. But it was the people’s use of the media that truly made history in Oaxaca.
• 1 p.m.
  Chuck Norris — A Cultural Icon for Kids? Visual Literacy and Children
  Tara Schroeder and James Welsh
  How do young people use things they’ve seen in the world around them to tell stories and make movies? How and why has Chuck Norris become a cultural icon for kids? How does a seemingly carefree and simple two-minute animated film created by two third graders communicate the complexities of political responsibilities of office holders and their constituencies?

  Join young filmmakers from Tampa Theatre’s Let’s Make Movies summer camp as they screen their stop motion and live action digital short features and talk about their filmmaking experiences. Tara Schroeder from Tampa Theatre and James Welsh from USF College of Education’s Florida Center for Instructional Technology will discuss how to interpret, understand and evaluate meaning and purpose in the embryonic stages of children developing a visual literacy vocabulary. Young filmmakers will be present.

• 2 p.m.
  Films for Families (Selected Titles)

Kuna Ni Nuang (My Mother Said), produced and directed by Jessica Sison
In this day and age, when everything is documented and even cell phones have cameras, one woman has no souvenirs or photos of her beloved mother. Meet Elena Bautista, 99 years…YOUNG. Director Jessica Sison will be present.

For A Few Marbles More, written and directed by Jelmar Hufen
Four ten-year-olds are kicked out of their favorite playground by two aggressive drunkards. When they realize their parents are not going to help them, they have only one solution. They have to find a way to get the toughest boy in the neighborhood to help them.

Gustav Braustache and the Auto-Debilitator, produced and directed by Rob Cunningham and Tony Mullen
Gustav Braustache, inventor of the Pedestrian Direction Reverser and other popular devices, has never been one for managing the mundane details of daily life. His unconventional method of rent payment along with the untimely misfiring of his Position Despecifier launch him on a bizarre journey.

Butterfly Effect, directed by Venda Lee and Chad Lung
On a bright, sunny morning, Eric and his neighbors in blue uniforms start the day in their bizarre town. An old brown briefcase fallen from the sky pushes them to a marathon. From the town with queer factories and the broccoli path, to the four characters and their replicas, all made in hard cut photos, this stop-motion video took more than half a year to create.

• 3 p.m.
  Program 2
  American Underground and Personal Films of the 1950’s through 1970’s
  The “poetry” and “psychology” of personal film. Where the images come from. Making films about what you know best and personally. Presented by Charles Lyman.

Bruce Conner - Mongoloid - 14 minutes
Found footage. One of the first MTVs ever, on a song by DEVO, now widely featured on YouTube. Sarcasm, humor and detachment, by a founding member of Canyon Cinema Cooperative. Discovery of evidence in past image making and relevance to the present.

Ed Emshwiller - Thanatopsis - 5 minutes
A psychological film which deals in visual metaphors and the mental state of the filmmaker.

Will Hindle - Chinese Firedrill - 12 minutes (Restored print)
The psychological disposition of the artist, depicted in metaphors such as broken glass, and computer cards. Items picked up by the filmmaker in daily life and installed in a constructed studio set. A seminal film, winner of the top prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

George Kuchar - Hold Me While I’m Naked - 15 minutes
A funny film, which takes a humorous view of the motivations for making a film — such as success with opposite sex.

Stan Brackage - Window Water Baby Moving - 12 minutes
The filmmaker reflects on the birth of his child. Bold in its exploration of anatomy, voluptuous and fertile and intensely personal.

Charles Lyman - The Persistence of Vision - 12 minutes
A reflection on the pleasures and dangers of raising a child. A mix of Charles Manson, insanity, drug-induced visions, quiet joys, personal lives recorded in film.

• 4:30 p.m.
  Sightseeing, directed by Shawn Cheatham
  The life of a lonely travel journalist is disrupted when he returns to critique his childhood home where unresolved family enigmas lie in wait. Director Shawn Cheatham will be present.

HCC Performing Arts Building
Main Stage

• 11 a.m.
  Moving Portraits
  Tickets: $5.00

Bally Master, directed by Gary Beeber
Enter the bizarre world of Scott Baker, master of the Bally stage at Coney Island’s “Sideshows by the Seashore”. Watch Scott as he performs his most outrageous sideshow routines and talks in depth about his life, the history of geeking and of the sideshow.

Dark Green, produced and directed by Lisa Broome-Price
During the winter of 2006, filmmaker Bill Santen followed Lexington, Kentucky native Kris Kelly as she prepared to move out of her apartment and into urban wilderness.

Human Scale, produced and directed by Herma Balasundaram
Two twenty-something friends try to survive the instability of early adulthood while battling serious bipolar disorder.

One of the Last, produced and directed by Paul Zinder
Mauro is a 78-year-old Italian peasant who loves his life. He picks olives, grapes, cherries. He wonders why anybody would want to do anything else.

• 12:30 p.m.
  The New Samaritans, directed by Alexander Shabataev, Sergey Granklin and Efim Kuchuk
  Tickets: $5.00
  On the mountain Gerizim located between Palestine and Israel live the most ancient people in the world, the Samaritans. The Samaritans have existed for over 3600 years, but the current number of descendants is less than 900. In the early 21st century their spiritual leader broke one of their fundamental commandments, the strict prohibition of intermarriage with non-Samaritans. The first two lucky men set off to faraway lands in search of brides, on a quest to save this ancient civilization.
• 1:30 p.m.
  War Dance, directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix
  Tickets: $5.00
  Nominated for the Academy Award’s Best Documentary, War Dance follows three children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda as they compete in their country’s national music and dance festival.
• 3 p.m.
  Love Lived on Death Row, directed by Linda Booker
  Tickets: $5.00
  Love Lived on Death Row tells the story of four siblings whose father was sentenced to die for the murder of their mother. Orphaned and estranged, they raised themselves while they lived with hate, anger and confusion as their father lived on death row. But in 2004, they collectively decided to visit him in prison, seeking answers so they could move on with their adult lives.
  Director Linda Booker will be present to discuss the film.
• 5 p.m.
  Moving Portraits
  Tickets: $5.00

Auntie and Me, produced and directed by Victoria Jorgensen
A filmmaker documents her first meeting with her newly discovered “Auntie Pam”, the product of the filmmaker’s Hemingwayesque grandfather who worked as a photographer in Honduras in the 30’s and 40’s and Pam’s mother Josephine, the family’s caretaker. Director Victoria Jorgensen will be present.

Holy Biker, produced by Pantalla Films
A biker community embraces an unlikely new member. One of the directors, Brenda Medina, will be present.

One of the Last, produced and directed by Paul Zinder
Mauro is a 78-year-old Italian peasant who loves his life. He picks olives, grapes, cherries. He wonders why anybody would want to do anything else.

HCC Performing Arts Building
Studio Theater

• 11 a.m.
  Things Behind the Sun, directed by Allison Anders
  Tickets: $5.00
  Presented by Robert Ingalls and Susan Fernandez, who introduce the film and lead a discussion after the screening. This serious, powerful film centers on a Florida-based musician, Sherry (Kim Dickens), whose hit song recounts the dark story of her childhood rape. Sherry doesn?t quite remember the experience, and when she is approached by a man from her past, she is unaware that he harbors a dark secret about what actually happened to her when she was a 12-year-old girl.
• 1 p.m.
  Several Friends, directed by Charles Burnett
  Tickets: $5.00
  Several Friends, was which was originally planned as a feature but ended up a short. The film is a series of loose, documentary-style vignettes sketching the lives of a handful of characters, mostly played by amateurs (Burnett’s friends) living in Watts. Much of the film’s theme and aesthetic (even some of its actors) ended up in Killer of Sheep.
• 2 p.m.
  Charles Burnett Shorts
  Tickets: $5.00

The Horse, directed by Charles Burnett
The Horse is a boy’s coming-of-age story, written and directed by Charles Burnett. On and around the porch of an abandoned, disintegrating farm house an assortment of characters anxiously await the violent death of a horse. The film won “First Prize” at Oberhausen’s Short Film Festival. It was restored by UCLA Film and Television Archive.

When It Rains, directed by Charles Burnett
In this jazz-inspired short film, a self-described urban “griot” spends New Year’s Day canvassing his neighborhood to scrape together enough rent money to keep a mother and daughter from losing their apartment. Featuring a cast and crew made up of director Charles Burnett’s own circle of friends, this film recalls his earlier works in its South Central Los Angeles setting and outstanding music.

Quiet as Kept, directed by Charles Burnett
The latest short film by Charles Barnett, Quiet As Kept is the story of a family displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

• 3 p.m.
  My Brother’s Wedding, directed by Charles Burnett
  Tickets: $5.00
  Charles Burnett wrote, directed and produced this low budget independent film on location in the area of South Central Los Angeles where he grew up. Like his films Killer of Sheep and To Sleep with Anger, the locale and the personality of the neighborhood was as important as the characters.
• 4:30 p.m.
  HCC Student Film Program
  Tickets: Free

Untitled (I Still Believe) by Lashara Sullivan and Osdel Porro: a look at the reality that those who serve in the armed forces face and a moving portrait of their humanity.

The Truth Behind JonBenet Ramsey by Daniel Kathman and Daniel Rodriguez: two students pursue their own investigation and draw their own conclusions about the death of JonBenet in this pseudo-documentary.

Affliction by Kyle Despiegler: a suspenseful thriller where paranoia turns into an even greater tragedy.

Exactly by Liz Guillot, Fae Turner and Mike Spindle: an inspirational music video for the song Exactly by Amy Steinberg.

One Egg Makes a Difference by Mike Mars and company: a young college student relives an unbelievable and embarrassing personal experience.

Mens REA by Brittney Buchanan and company: a man’s descent into his own mind.

Underpong:A Drunken Tale of Glory by Steve Kelly and company: Set in the 1980s, Underpong details the glorious victory of the underdog U.S. Beer Pong team against the Russians. Student directors will be present.

HCC Performing Arts Building
Music Studio

• 6 p.m.
  Peter Tush Eats Celluloid
  Tickets: Free
  Cuban composer Alfredo Rivera and the HCC Jazz Band present the premiere of Rivero’s “Film Score for an Imaginary Film”.

April 18, 7 p.m. — A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral, directed by Saman Salour (Iran)

While the names of Mohssen Makhmalbaf and Abbas Kiarostami have been well known for years as heralding a renaissance of Iranian film, a new generation of young filmmakers is making their mark on the international film circuit. Saman Salour is one of the latest to be critically acclaimed at international festivals with his minimalist dark comedy A Few Kilos of Dates for a Funeral, whose wry sense of humor and simple directness has been compared to the early work of Jim Jarmusch.

This film is continuing our collaboration with the Dali Museum, presenting films from around the world that in various ways fit into the “Avant-Garde and Surrealist Film” tradition. After each of these films Nathan Andersen will moderate a conversation about the film for those who would like to remain.

Coming soon:

April 25, 7 p.m. — Funky Forest:The First Contact, directed by Katsuhito Ishii (Japan) — The funniest and most over the top crazy films seen in a very long time.

What I Disliked: This movie tries to be all things to all people, but ends up being not much to anyone. Kate Hudson’s character Tess, a steward on a millionaire’s yacht, is finally divorcing her irresponsible husband of eight years, surfer dude and treasure hunter Finnigan (Matthew McConaughey), who has just discovered the 18th century Spanish “Queen’s booty” they’ve searched for all these years. On the run from his financier’s thugs, however, Finnigan can’t recover the treasure without Tess’s help and her millionaire boss’s financial support. “Fool’s Gold” starts out as a romantic comedy, turns into an action/adventure thriller, and finishes as an over-the-top, predictable jumble of genres and storylines. The only consistencies were the weak characters and the regular whacks to the head that Finnigan received throughout the movie.

Would I Recommend?: Only if you’re overwhelmed, overworked and in desperate need of vegging out with a big bucket of popcorn in front of a brightly colored, flimsy flick for a couple of hours. Otherwise, save your money.

In the SHOWCASE are two productions you will not want to miss.
1. Blood Lust — a horror thriller produced by the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association and written by our own Miriam Goodspeed.
2. Rodman Dam Murders — a story based around true crimes, also produced by FMPTA and written by Barbara Harrington.
3. Rumor also has it that Larry will be showing his short production The Black and White Truth and Lies.

Mark Keim and Candice Jovan will also be updating us on the latest progress with their production and group project entitled The Electric Picasso.

Since the last meeting when Joe Gaudet showed two Sony Corp.-produced award-winning shorts, many have requested to see more and so Joe is planning on putting a few each month on the screen. There is so much to learn from these brief presentations and it was good to hear your positive responses these past several weeks. Along these lines, since there have been questions regarding cameras and their workings, Curtis Graham is planning on putting on a state-of-the-art demonstration for the group during our May meeting with his new red camera. He will also be providing us with a short about the much talked-about feature film he shot and Ron Satlof-directed/produced Misconceptions at that time as well.

SPEED DIAL and get involved;
** WRITERS and ACTORS - Call Barbara Harrington about her group (727) 572-6345
** GET YOUR PRODUCTION ON THE EDUCATION CHANNEL - call (813) 254-2253 ext 206
** LEARN IMPROV !! - call Larry Bukovey at (813) 300-0339
** ENTER AND ATTEND THE ANNUAL FMPTA GALA - call Carole Ferrill (321) 632-7488

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:
** Greenscreen / Studio space available by the day, week, month at Indie Studios. Call Helen Graham, Booking Manager at (727) 822-8070.
** Need Post Production - Professional Editing - call Joe Gaudet at (727) 324- 8686.

Florida SuperCon (FSC) announces its call for film entries for the 2008 Florida SuperCon Independent Film Festival (FSCIFF), which will take place during the 2008 Florida SuperCon Multi-Genre Convention held May 23-25, 2008. Both short (films under 45 minutes) and feature-length films will be eligible. Film genres can be comic book, horror, sci-fi, fantasy and related subjects.

Tampa Film Review is a monthly showcase of local independent films and is held every second Friday of the month and is free.

This month’s lineup includes: