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FILMS
“A Sense of Being There”
Plimoth Plantation Intro Back to Top
A Sense of Being There: With Richard Leacock and
Collaborators
“What am I looking for? I hope to be able to create
sequences, that when run together will present aspects of my perception of what
took place in the presence of my camera. To capture spontaneity it must exist
and everything you do is liable to destroy it... beware!”
Arguably the most influential documentary filmmaker of
the 20th century, Richard Leacock grew up in a time when the relatively young
art of filmmaking begged for innovation. He deplored the then-state of
documentary films, filmed silently, and adorned with a “voice of God”
soundtrack. He dreamt of a new type of filmmaking where a single person could
travel fluidly into situations of all kinds and capture cinematic observations
that communicate “a sense of being there.” To do this, he needed a new kind
of camera: a lightweight, portable sync-sound rig freed from the constraints of
tripod, cable, and artificial lighting. For decades, every film he made was a
heroic struggle of his artistic vision versus the limitations of the current
technology.
The challenge of creating a new documentary form led to a collaboration with Bob
Drew and Time/Life to develop "a new kind of television.” In 1960,
Leacock had a technological epiphany: he invented crystal sync for cameras and
sound recorders, which finally made his dream possible. He also developed a set
of rules.
“No lights, no tripod, no microphone boom or pole,
never wear headphones (they make you look silly and/or remote), never more than
a two-person crew, never ask anyone to do anything and most especially never ask
anyone to repeat an action or a line. Allow lots of time, don’t shoot all the
time, if you miss something, forget it in the hope that something like it will
happen again. Get to know your subject if possible in order to generate some
kind of mutual respect, if not friendship.”
Armed with this new and affordable camera technology, a
new breed of independent filmmakers emerged and experimented with new movie
forms: Jonas Mekas, the Maysles brothers, Jean Rouch, D.A. Pennebaker and many
others.
With each successive challenge, Leacock attracted an ever-expanding community of
collaborators. At MIT, Leacock introduced his ideas to a younger generation of
filmmakers such as Ross McElwee, Michel Negroponte and Glorianna Davenport. This
program provides a lens into the successes and challenges of the art of
exploring “what took place in the presence of the camera,” how this approach
can communicate “a sense of being there,” and some reflection on the intent,
creation and distribution of documentary cinema in the future.
- Written by Glorianna Davenport
Plimoth Plantation Bios Back to
Top
Richard Leacock
 Born
in London on July 18, 1921, Richard Leacock grew up on his father's banana
plantation in the Canary Islands, until he was shipped off to boarding schools
in England at the age of eight. His attempts to describe to his schoolmates what
it was like living in the Canary Islands frustrated him repeatedly. At age 11,
Leacock was shown a silent film, TURKSIB, about the construction of the
Trans-Siberian Railroad. He was stunned, thinking, "All I need is a
cine-camera and I can make a film that shows you what it is like to be there.”
At age 14, he made Canary Bananas, which he scripted, directed, filmed
and edited. It tells you all you need to know about growing bananas but did not,
in his opinion, give you "the feeling of being there.” He has devoted his
life to achieving this goal.
Earning a degree in physics at Harvard enabled Leacock to begin to master the
technology of filmmaking. Meanwhile, he worked as cameraman and assistant editor
on other director’s films, notably To Hear Your Banjo Play (1941),
using a 35mm studio camera and 35mm film sound recorder, a rare achievement at
that time. Three years as a combat photographer in Burma and China, followed by
14 months as cameraman on Robert Flaherty's Louisiana Story, gave impetus to his
future work.
In 1954, Leacock wrote, directed, photographed and edited Toby and the Tall
Corn. The film appeared on prime-time TV and brought Leacock into contact
with Robert Drew, an editor at “Life” magazine in search of a new approach
to television reportage. The search for high-quality, mobile, synchronous
equipment to facilitate observation was on. By 1960 this was achieved and
resulted in Drew's film, Primary, an intimate observation of an election
with JFK and Hubert Humphrey. Not only did it give the viewer a feeling of being
there, it included synchronous dialogue. When Drew went to work for ABC-TV,
"Leacock Pennebaker" was formed, producing Happy Mother’s Day,
Don’t Look Back, Monterey Pop, A Stravinsky Portrait and many others.
In 1968, Leacock was invited to join Ed Pincus in creating a new film school at
MIT -- small but geared to their ways of working. Since 16mm filming was
becoming so expensive, they developed super-8 film synch equipment, with
modified mass-produced cameras that were much cheaper. It worked but was not
wholly satisfactory.
In 1989, Leacock retired and moved to Paris where he met Valerie Lalonde, with
whom he made Les Oeufs a La Coque de Richard Leacock (84 minutes), the
first major film shot with a tiny Video-8 Handycam to appear on prime-time
television in France. A combination of talent and love propelled the duo into
the digital age, both making films of their own choosing without the pressures
of TV producers -- films that do indeed give you "the feeling of being
there.”
Robert Drew
 As
an editor at “Life” magazine, Robert Drew specialized in the candid still
picture essay. As a Nieman Fellow at Harvard he worked out theories for
filmmaking based on candid photography in motion pictures, for which he
assembled a group of journalists and filmmakers -- among them Richard Leacock,
Gregory Shuker, D.A. Pennebaker, James Lipscomb, Hope Ryden, Mike Jackson, Tom
Bywaters, and Anne Drew. Robert Drew managed the engineering of lightweight
cameras and recorders and developed editing techniques to allow stories to tell
themselves through characters in action.
In 1960 Robert Drew planned, produced and managed the editing of Primary,
the first film in which the sync-sound motion picture camera was able to move
freely with characters throughout a breaking story (John F. Kennedy in
Wisconsin). Primary was recognized as a breakthrough in documentary
filmmaking (Robert Flaherty Award, American Film Festival Blue Ribbon).
Robert Drew expanded on his ideas by forming Drew Associates and producing films
that have become known, along with Primary, as the foundation of cinema
verite in America – On the Pole; Yanki No!; Crisis: Behind a Presidential
Commitment; The Chair(1st Prize at Cannes); and Faces of November
(1st Prize at Venice).
With producer Anne Drew, Robert Drew extended his candid filmmaking into the Arts:
On the Road with Duke Ellington and Man Who Dances: Edward Villella
(Emmy Award). Anne Drew produced many Drew films, most notably Kathy’s
Dance (New York Film Festival Blue Ribbon); Herself: Indira Gandhi;
and Life and Death of a Dynasty (co-produced with the BBC). In the field
of the Sciences, the Drews produced Men Encounter Mars and Who’s
Out There? (NASA). Under the umbrealla of National and International
Affairs, they produced Nehru; Men of the Tall Ships; London to Peking;
and My War, Mother and Ernie Pyle. Their contributions in the field of Nature
include: River of Hawks (Geographic Explorer); Messages from the Birds;
and Black Market Birds (Audubon/Turner). They also have made many films
which have appeared on PBS.
Robert Drew was the recipient of the IDA Career Achievement Award, conferred by
The International Documentary Association.
Albert Maysles
 Albert
Maysles and his brother David (1932-1987) are considered two of America’s
foremost non-fiction filmmakers, recognized as pioneers of "direct
cinema," the distinctly American version of French cinema verité. They
earned their reputations by being the first to make non-fiction feature films --
films in which the drama of human life unfolds as is, without scripts, sets, or
narration.
After receiving his B.A. from Syracuse University and his M.A. from Boston
University, where he taught psychology for three years, Maysles made the
transition to film in the summer of 1955 by taking a 16mm camera to Russia to
film patients at several mental hospitals, resulting in Psychiatry in Russia.
In 1960, Maysles was co-filmmaker (with Robert Drew) of Primary, a film
about the Democratic primary election campaigns of Kennedy and Humphrey. The use
of hand-held cameras and synchronous sound allowed the story to tell itself.
With their fine-tuned sense of the scene-behind-the-scene, the Maysles brothers
made Meet Marlon Brando (1965) and With Love from Truman (1966).
In 1968, they released the landmark non-fiction feature film Salesman, a
portrait of four door-to-door Bible salesmen from Boston. It won an award from
the National Society of Film Critics and is regarded as the classic American
documentary. In 1992, the Library of Congress saluted the film for its
historical, cultural and aesthetic significance.
Maysles was made a Guggenheim Fellow in 1965. His next two films became cult
classics: Gimme Shelter (1970), the dazzling portrait of Mick Jagger and
the Rolling Stones and Grey Gardens (1976), which captures the haunting
relationship of the Beales, a mother and daughter living secluded in a decaying
East Hampton mansion.
Maysles Films Inc. has produced many films on art and artists, including a
long-standing collaboration with celebrated artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude,
resulting in the The Gates (2005), and others. Maysles’ forays into the
world of music produced What’s Happening! The Beatles in the USA
(1964), as well as films about Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Vladimir
Horowitz, Mstislav Rostropovich and Wynton Marsalis. In 1994, Maysles filmed an
up-to-date portrait of the “greatest rock ‘n roll band in the world,” Conversations
With the Rolling Stones.
In 1994, the International Documentary Association presented Maysles with its
Career Achievement Award. Numerous awards followed, including the American
Society of Cinematographers’ 1998 President’s Award, given for the first
time to a documentarian. In 1999 Eastman Kodak saluted Maysles as one of the
world's 100 finest cinematographers. In 2001 Maysles received the Sundance Film
Festival Cinematography Award for Documentaries for LALEE'S KIN: THE LEGACY OF
COTTON. Also in 2001, LALEE’S KIN was nominated for an Academy Award.
D.A. Pennebaker
 D.A.
(Donn Alan) Pennebaker is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of cinema
verite filmmaking. The style revolutionized the documentary genre by discarding
narration, reenactments and other staged techniques in favor of direct and
uninterrupted observation, creating a fly-on-the-wall sense of immediacy.
Since 1977 Pennebaker has partnered with Chris Hegedus on a host of acclaimed
films. Most recently they co-directed, with Nick Doob, Elaine Stritch at
Liberty, which earned three prime-time Emmy nominations, including
Outstanding Direction of a Music, Comedy, or Variety Program. In 2003, they
completed Only the Strong Survive about some of the legendary rhythm and
blues performers, including Rufus and Carla Thomas, Mary Wilson, Jerry Butler,
Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett and the Chi Lites. The team received the D.W.
Griffith Award for Best Documentary of the Year and an Academy Award nomination
for their 1994 film The War Room, which followed Bill Clinton’s first
presidential campaign.
Pennebaker made his filmmaking debut with the 1953 short Daybreak Express.
In 1959 Pennebaker joined Drew Associates, a group of filmmakers dedicated to
furthering the use of film in journalism. Together, they produced such landmark
films as Primary, Crisis, and Jane.
In the 1960’s, Pennebaker’s portrait of Bob Dylan, Don’t Look Back,
and Monterey Pop, starring Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, were two of the
earliest films using real-life drama to have a successful theatrical
distribution. The year 1972 saw the release of Keep on Rockin’, with Bo
Diddley, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, among others, and it was Pennebaker
who filmed David Bowie’s final concert appearance as his most famous persona
in Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Pennebaker detoured to
Broadway for the television documentary Company—The Original Cast Album
about the recording of the Stephen Sondheim musical starring Elaine Stritch.
Other films resulting from the collaboration of Pennebaker and Hegedus include: The
Energy War; Town Bloody Hall; Elliot Carter at Buffalo; Delorean; Rockaby;
and Dance Black America. Their 1998 film, Moon Over Broadway,
about Carol Burnett’s return to Broadway, was cited by “The New York
Times” as the Best Documentary of the Year. The partners have devoted much of
their creative energies to short and feature-length films about music.
Derek Lamb: In Memoriam
(excerpts from Ken Gewertz, Harvard News Office)
 Derek
Lamb, one of the first teachers of film animation at Harvard and a prolific and
admired animator in his own right, died November 5, 2005 in Seattle after a long
struggle with cancer. He was 69.
Lamb began teaching at Harvard in the mid-1960’s in what was then known as the
Light and Communication Workshops, a division of Visual Studies (which later
became Visual and Environmental Studies). Robert Gardner, who was coordinator of
Light and Communications, recommended hiring Lamb after seeing one of his
animated films.
"I saw Derek's film The Great Toy Robbery and knew he had to come
to Harvard to counterbalance any tendencies toward solemnity in our
proceedings," Gardner said. “But levity was not the only quality embodied
by Lamb's films. They also made you think. Derek was a mightily accomplished
comedic storyteller. His highest hope and purpose was to use his gifts to
entertain and not simply divert. One walked away, if one could, from a film like
The Last Cartoon Man holding one's sides and pondering the weight of its
meaning."
Lamb taught at Harvard as a lecturer on Visual Studies until 1970, then
returned in 1986 and 1990 as a guest lecturer. Award-winning animator Caroline
Leaf '68 remembers his special qualities as a teacher. "Derek was an
enabler," Leaf said. "He had energy and made things happen. He wasn't
a teacher in the ordinary sense of the word, imparting information or know-how
or being a role model. He created an environment that buzzed. He made it
exciting to be active and try out new things."
Lamb won two Academy Awards for best animated short films -- in 1978 for Special
Delivery and in 1979 for Every Child. His other film credits include I
Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly, Psychic Parrot, The Hottest
Show on Earth, Why Me? and Afterlife. He also directed and
produced Karate Kids, a short, animated film designed to provide
AIDS-prevention information for street children. Most recently, Lamb served as
executive producer on the Emmy-winning PBS series, "Peep and the Big Wide
World."
Lamb is survived by two sons, Richard and Thomas, his wife Tracie, and a
granddaughter, Vivian – as well as the innumerable people whose lives he
enriched.
Plimoth Plantation Films Back
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Friday, July 21, Plimoth Plantation
A Sense of Being There: With Richard Leacock and Collaborators
Film Screenings and Events
Richard Leacock Future Filmmakers, Felix Awards
4:00pm, Theatre I
Canary Bananas
(1935) 8 mins, 16mm. B&W silent
Richard Leacock’s first film – shot on his father’s banana plantation in
the Canary Islands when he was fourteen years old – shows you “everything
you need to know about planting, harvesting, and packaging a crop of bananas.”
Richard Leacock Master Class
4:00pm, Theatre I
Making the sequence: in which Leacock details the circumstances that led to some
unusual sequences and techniques that invite the audience to be there.
Robert Drew Screening, followed by Q&A
4:00pm, Theatre II
From Two Men and a War
(2005) 62 mins, Mini-DV video, Color and B&W
Directed and edited by Robert Drew; produced by Anne Drew. Drew recounts his
World War II experiences as the youngest fighter pilot in the Army Air Corps,
being shot down over Italy, what he learned from rooming with war correspondent
Ernie Pyle, and how it all influenced his development of cinema verité.
Primary
(1960) 53 mins, 16mm B&W
Conceived and produced by Robert Drew, managing editor: photography and editing
by Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles , D.A. Pennebaker, and Terrence
McCartney Filgate. Senators John F. Kennedy and Hubert H. Humphrey battle to win
the Democratic Party’s Wisconsin Primary. This is the first film in which the
sync-sound camera moved freely with the characters through a breaking story;
and, it predates modern press coverage where a swarm of media always accompanies
the candidates.
First Films and First Films of a Kind
6:30pm, Theatre I
Bullfight at Malaga
(1959) 20 mins, 16mm (C or B&W?) Robert Drew and Richard Leacock A
Spanish bullfight shot with equipment that didn't work the way it was supposed
to. With Luis- Miguel Dominguin, Ernest Hemingway, and more.
Cine Senegal
(1983) 22 mins, 16mm Color
Karine Hrechdakian
A filming expedition in Senegal with Leacock.
Daybreak Express
(1953) 5 mins, Super-8 Color D.A. Pennebaker
This first film takes us on a ride on the now-defunct Third Avenue El train, set
to the music of Duke Ellington’s jazz classic “Daybreak Express.”
French Lunch
(1968) 14 mins, 16mm Color
Directed and edited by Nell Cox; photographed by Richard Leacock
A behind-the-scenes view of the kitchen of La Caravel, a gracious French
restaurant, as the master chef manages a busy lunchtime.
Jazz Dance
(1954) 20 mins, 35mm B&W
Directed by Roger Tilton; photographed by Richard Leacock and Bob Campbell One
wild night at New York’s Central Park Dance Hall, with music and performances
by trumpeter Jimmy McPartland, clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, pianist Willie
“The Lion” Smith and others.
Orson Welles
(1966) 10 mins, 16mm Color
Albert & David Maysles
Orson Welles discusses his plans for a new project about Spanish bullfighting
culture. An unfinished documentary about a film that was never made.
Panola
(1965, 1969) 20 mins, 16mm B&W
Ed Pincus and David Neuman
A portrait of a black man in Natchez, Mississippi, who may or may not be a
police informant during the heyday of the Civil Rights Movement.
Pat’s Tow
(1979) 10 mins, Super-8 Color
Ann Schaetzel and Mary Arbuckle
Inside and outside views of a notorious local tow yard.
Visit to Monica
(@1970) 7 mins, Super-8 Color
Richard Leacock
A portrait of a visit to Monica Flaherty’s country home.
VROOM
(1996) 8 mins, Color
Mary Jane Doherty
A film poem about an expert observer, a woman who spends the bulk of her time
and energy "getting there." Features Karine Hrechdakian.
You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
(1964) 12 mins, 16mm B&W
D.A. Pennebaker
A film about the wedding of LSD guru Timothy Leary never actually shows anyone
getting married, but it is full of amazing characters. With music by Monte Rock
III and Charlie Mingus.
Derek Lamb Tribute
with Special Guests
Friday, July 21, 7:30pm, Theatre II
Derek Lamb Tribute Film
38 mins. A selection of interviews from 1975 to 2005. Included are excerpts from
The Screening Room with Robert Gardner, and The Directors with Rod
Mckeown. Many of Lamb’s films are highlighted, including the opening titles
for PBS' “Mystery!,” Housemoving, and his film work for street
children in the world's urban centers.
The Derek Lamb Tribute will feature his films, television interviews with him,
and discussion about his approach to both animation and teaching.
I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
5:30 mins. Animation of a nonsense tune sung by Burl Ives. Of course, by the
time the song ends the old lady has swallowed much more than a fly.
Great Toy Robbery
6:45 mins. A cartoon starring the world's most-wanted good guy, Santa Claus. As
in all westerns, good wins over evil, but not before the robbers and the robbed
have romped through some odd situations.
Why Me?
10 mins Everyone ponders how he or she might face the knowledge of certain and
imminent death. This animated film shows the reactions of one individual who has
just been told him he has only a short time to live. In a terse and sometimes
humorous dialogue with his doctor, Nesbitt
Spoon runs the gamut of emotions commonly experienced by people trying to deal
with this devastating news.
Every Child
6:13 mins. This film illustrates one of the ten principles of UNICEF's
declaration of Children's Rights, namely that every child is entitled to a name
and a nationality. It is the story of a baby who appears on the doorstep of a
busy executive, and who is subsequently bounced from household to household down
the block. Nobody is interested in caring for the baby without a name.
Richard Leacock: Portrait Films
9:30, Theatre II
Introduction by Richard Leacock
Centerbeam
(1978) 20 mins, 16mm Color
Richard Leacock and John Rubin
A view of the Centerbeam art machine created by the Center for Advanced Visual
Studies of MIT and displayed at Documenta 6 in Kassel, Germany.
Queen of Apollo
(1970) 12 mins, Super-8 Color
Richard Leacock; sound by Elspeth Leacock
A portrait of a 16-year-old queen of a Mardi Gras ball in New Orleans.
Isabella Stewart Gardner
(1977) 30 mins, 16mm Color
A tribute to the rich and eccentric founder of the Gardner Museum in Boston.
Light Coming Through
(1980) 20 mins, 16mm Color
A portrait of Maud Morgan, painter.
“A 1960’s Night Revisited” -- Recreation of How Monterey Pop
Played in Theaters
10:00pm, Theatre II
Chiefs
(1968) 18 mins, 16mm Color
Richard Leacock and Noel E. Parmentel, Jr.
A convention of 3,500 American police chiefs and their wives at Waikiki Beach,
Hawaii features discussions about the Black Panthers, the Chicago Democratic
Convention, and the latest in weaponry.
Monterey Pop
(1968) 98 mins, 16mm Color
D.A. Pennebaker; photographed by Richard Leacock, Albert Maysles, Nick Proferes
and James Desmond
The first and greatest of the music festival films, - shot over three days in
June of 1967. Features stellar performances by Janis Joplin with Big Brother and
the Holding Company, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Who, Jefferson Airplane,
The Mamas and the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel, and many more.
Saturday, July 22, Plimoth Plantation
Panel -- Richard Leacock and Collaborators
3:00pm, Theatre I
Is Documentary Fiction? What is the Future of Film? A panel discussion focusing
on how CV has influenced fiction, vice versa, and what’s next?
Rutenbeck, followed by Q&A
3:00pm, Theatre II
Rutenbeck, Losing Ground, 16 mm, 57 mins, 1989
Psychological portrait of an Iowa farm family struggling to stay afloat.
Valerie Lalonde Screening, followed by Q&A
5:00pm, Theatre II
A Celebration of St. Silas
(1993) 30 mins, Mini-DV video, Color
Richard Leacock and Valerie Lalonde
The preparations for and celebration of the Heavenly Birthday of Saint Silas,
who brought the good news that one needn’t be circumcised to go to Heaven.
Featuring twenty-seven Anglican Priests, orchestra, solo trumpets, solo
voices...
Au Revoir Marie Laure: An Art Gallery at Work
(2006) 41mins., Mini-DV video, Color
Valerie Lalonde
Lalonde hangs around for the last days of an art show and observes the changes
of atmosphere.
She learns a lot about the entourage of flamboyant artist Marie Laure de
Noailles, a mythical patron of the Surrealist Movement. “Marie Laure de
Noailles, 1902-1970, Artist, Muse and Patron"; held at the Galerie du
Passage, Paris.
Hooray! We’re Fifty! 1943-1993
(1993) 30 mins, Hi-8 video, Color
Richard Leacock and Valerie Lalonde
Leacock attends his 50-year Class Reunion at Harvard.
Albert Maysles Screening, followed by Q&A
5:P30pm, Theatre I
Grey Gardens
(1976) 94 mins, 16mm Color
Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde and Muffie Meyer
A visit to the decaying East Hampton mansion where two highly eccentric
bluebloods -- Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edie (the aunt and first
cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis) – live in squalor and a kind of charming
madness.
Ann McIntosh on Jean Rouch, followed by Q&A
8:00pm, Theatre I
Tourou et Bitti: The Drums of the Past
(1967) 8 mins, 16mm Color
Jean Rouch
In a single protracted shot, Jean Rouch documents a Nigerian ritual where
dancers and drummers ask the spirits of the bush to protect their harvest from
locusts.
Screening Room: Jean Rouch
(1980) 64 mins, video Color
Robert Gardner interviews Jean Rouch in July 1980. Part of the “Screening
Room” series shot for commercial television.
Conversations with Jean Rouch
(2004) 40 mins, video Color
Ann McIntosh
A series of intimate conversations between Jean Rouch and several of his
friends, shot between 1978 and 1980.
Michel Negroponte and Ross McElwee, with Q&A
7:30, Theatre II
Methadonia
(2005) 88 mins, Mini-DV video
Michel Negroponte and Nick Pappas
A gritty, humane and controversial study of recovering heroin addicts on
methadone maintenance in New York City.
Charleen
(1980) 59 mins, 16mm Color
Ross McElwee
McElwee’s first portrait of the “wise and flamboyant” Charleen Swansea,
his long-time friend and former poetry teacher, who appears in all his later
films.
Sunday, July 23, Plimoth Plantation
Robert Drew – Drew Associates
3:30, Theatre I
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
(1963) 52 mins, 16mm B&W
Robert Drew; photographed and edited by Richard Leacock, D.A. Pennebaker, James
Lipscomb, Hope Ryden and Gregory Shuker
A behind-the-scenes look at government decision-making as President John F.
Kennedy confronts Alabama’s Governor George Wallace over racial desegregation
of the University of Alabama.
Hickory Hill
(1968) 18 mins, 16mm Color
Richard Leacock
George Plympton is our guide at a children's charity pet show at Robert F.
Kennedy’s Virginia estate.
Robb Moss and David Perry, with Q&A
3:30, Theatre II
The Same River Twice
(2003) 78 mins, 16mm Color and Mini-DV
Robb Moss
In 1978, Moss and a group of close friends took an exhilarating five-day rafting
trip down the Colorado River. He documented this experience in one of his first
films, Riverdogs. Decades later, he revisited five of these friends and
interweaves observations of their current lives with footage from his earlier
film to paint a compelling portrait of the idealistic 60’s generation
grappling with the realities of today.
Yukon Journal
(DATE TK) 55 mins, 16mm Color
David Parry
Richard Leacock: Musical Journeys
6:30, Theatre I
A Musical Adventure in Siberia
(2003) 56 mins, Mini-DV video, Color
Richard Leacock, Victoria Leacock, Natalia Tsarkova, and Vincent Blanchet
Deep in Siberia, Richard Leacock casts an observing eye on opera impresario
Sarah Caldwell as she prepares a troubled first-ever performance of Prokofiev's
“Eugene Onegin,” a symphonic drama banned by Stalin in 1937 and never before
produced. With the Eketarinsburg Symphony Orchestra.
Lulu in Berlin
(1984) 50 mins, 16mm Color
Richard Leacock and Susan Woll
Forty-six years after her last film and a year before her death, the exotic and
reclusive actress Louise Brooks granted Richard Leacock a rare interview. He was
forced to abandon his “no interviews” rule for this conversation, which
includes wry and insightful discussions of her work with Pabst, Leni
Riefenstahl, Greta Garbo, and Marlene Dietrich.
Glorianna Davenport, Screening and Q&A
6:30pm, Theatre II
Just Blue
(1979) 47 mins, Super-8 Color
Glorianna Davenport and Rachel Strickland
Davenport’s first film explores a labor dispute that pits the blueberry
harvesters of Washington County, Maine, against their employers.
Remembering Niels Bohr, 1885-1962
(1985) 29 mins, 16mm Color
Glorianna Davenport and Richard Leacock
A posthumous biography of Niels Bohr, “the Father of Quantum Physics,”
emerges from the tales told by family, friends, and colleagues. Featuring
interviews and excursions to significant places with Victor Weisskopf, Hendrik
Casimir, Aage Bohr, and Margarethe Bohr.
Winging-It
(1989) TK mins. Super-8 Color
Glorianna Davenport
An aerial trip ascending 8,000 feet through a cloud cover with no instru-ments
and an emergency landing and takeoff on I-80.
Don’t Look Back
9:00pm, Theatre II, FREE
(1967) 96 mins, 16mm B&W
D.A. Pennebaker
Pennebaker’s “fly on the wall” documentary follows Bob Dylan on-stage and
off during a three-week concert tour of England in 1965. With appearances by
Joan Baez, Donovan and many others.
Double Feature: Salesman and Primary
9:00pm, Theatre II, FREE
Salesman follows the lives of four door-to-door Bible salesmen. Chosen by the US
Library of Congress as one of the 25 Top American Films of historical, cultural,
and aesthetic significance.
Primary (refer to Robert Drew, Friday, 4:00PM)
Radisson Film Screenings Back
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All festival films are not rated. Some films, including
animated shorts, may not be suitable for young audiences. Please select
responsibly.
Film Credit Guide
Producer – Pr
Director – Dr
Cinematographer – Ci
Sound – So
Composer – Co
Writer - Wr
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Feature and Featurette Films
El Violin © 2005
100 Days
A local Hutu official is persuaded to implement the government's policy against
the Tutsi: To completely wipe them out. A story of love and brutality set in the
midst of an event the world is still trying to come to terms with – the
genocide in Rwanda. In Kibuye Church, the site of a massacre, Rwandan actors
played killers and victims, roles that were only too familiar to them.
01:36:00; Feature; Fiction;
10 Days in Malawi
Traveling with a medical aid organization, director Brian Ekdale discovers that
Malawi, although deeply plagued by poverty and HIV/AIDS, is not a place bereft
of hope.
00:51:00M; Featurette; Student Documentary; USA; 2006; Best Documentary at
Purple Violet Film Festival, NJ; Dr – Brian Eckdale; Pr – Laura Vazquez,
Brian Eckdale, Sean Henson, Gary Burns, Lois Self, Lynn Eckdale, Jill Henson
Angel City
A Hollywood writer’s dream assignment becomes a nightmare after she discovers
she’s starring in the film she’s writing for her lover. 01:28:00; Feature;
Fiction; 2006; World Premiere; Dr/Pr/Ed/Mu -- Niels Cederfeld; Wr – Sally
Hughes; Ci – Greg Capp
Angry Heart, The
Spotlights the epidemic of heart disease among African Americans through the
story of 45-year-old Keith Hartgrove, who has already experienced two heart
attacks and quadruple bypass surgery. 00:57:00; 2001; USA; Dr - Jay Fedigan
Sponsored by No Place for Hate
Big Enough
Meet seven people leading typical American lives. Yet they have grown up facing
challenges that are anything but typical. They are dwarfs, and this film
chronicles the changes and challenges in their lives over 20 years. 00:57:00;
2004; USA; Dr - Jan Krawitz; Best Independent Documentary, Carolina Film and
Video Festival
Sponsored by No Place for Hate
Desire
Nearly a decade in the making, this refreshingly honest film documents the
challenges and desires of a group of young women in New Orleans by letting them
film their own stories. 01:28:00; Nashville Film Festival, 2006 Reel Current
Award, Presented by Al Gore; New Orleans Film Festival, Best Documentary &
Grand Jury Prize; Dr - Julie Gustafson; Pr – Julie Gustafson and The Teenage
Girls' Documentary Project. Followed by Q&A with filmmaker.
El Violin
Don Plutarco, his son Genaro and his grandson Lucio live a double life: humble
rural musicians, they also support the campesina peasant guerilla movement’s
efforts against the
oppressive government. When the military seizes the village, the rebels flee to
the Sierra hills, forced to leave behind their stock of ammunition. Playing up
his appearance as a harmless violin player, old Plutarco has a plan: visit his
corn field to get his hidden arms. His music charms the army captain.
01:39:00; Feature; Fiction; Mexico/Spain; 2005; Dr – Francisco Vargas Qureedo;
An Uncertain Regard, Best Actor, Cannes International Film Festival, 2006
Everyone’s Got One
A talent-less janitor meets a Hollywood hotshot and stalks him until the mop
pusher ends up famous himself, not for filmmaking but for motivational speaking.
01:15:00; Feature; Fiction; 2006; Best Indie, New England Film Festival; Dr –
Garth Donovan; Pr – Garth Donovan, David Lewis, Jean-Paul Ouellette; Wr –
Garth Donovan
Johnny Slade’s Greatest Hits
The story of a struggling lounge singer who could never get a break. Johnny's
luck changes when he lands a gig at a hot new club. Little does he know that the
club is owned by a former high-profile mob boss, now in hiding. The
Dean-Martin-wannabe soon learns his "Greatest Hits" are more than
humble tunes. As his popularity rises, Johnny begins to draw a correlation
between the songs he is asked to perform and the morning newspaper crime
reports...
01:32:00; Feature; Fiction; USA; 2006
Kilomètre zéro
Iraq, 1988… Ako, is forced to join Saddam Hussein’s army. The unwilling
Kurdish soldier dreams of fleeing the country, but his wife Selma refuses to
leave while her old, bedridden father is still alive. Ako is sent away to the
frontline of the Iran-Iraq War. One day he receives orders to escort the return
of a fellow soldier’s corpse to his family. But his driver turns out to be an
anti-Kurd Arab. With flag-wrapped coffin in tow, the mismatched duo prepares for
an unexpected voyage across the majestic Iraqi landscape.
01:36:00; Feature; Fiction; France/Kurdistan; 2005; Official Selection ,
Competition at Cannes International Film Festival
Last Call: Dreams, Main Street and the Search for Community
The place stood on Main Street as the 1960’s turned into the 1970’s. The
Bosun Locker was a classic watering hole that became the center of town in more
ways than one. Then one day it closed its doors to the pressure of big money and
cultural change that defines Nantucket today.
00:55:45; Featurette; Documentary; USA; 2002; Dr – John Stanton
Last Stop for Paul
Cliff and Charlie live boring lives in LA. In an effort to spice up their
existence, Charlie suggests they go to the famous Full Moon Party in Thailand.
Cliff agrees on the condition that they first travel around the world. Short on
cash, they pose as travel writers for Frommers books, entitling them to free
food and lodging. Shot in more than 20 countries, the film chronicles Cliff and
Charlie’s unbelievable adventures.
00:82:00M; Feature; Full Length Comedy; USA; 2006; Best Picture at Sonoma Valley
Film Festival 2006; Winner Best Story Jury Prize at Foursite Film Festival 2006;
Dr – Neil Mandt; Pr – Neil Mandt, Michael Mandt, Maura Mandt, Marc Carter
Kilomètre zéro ©2005
Moro No Brazil
A journey through several regions, styles and generations, introducing Manca
master Silverio Pessoa, Forro legend Jacinto Silva, Afro-Reggae-Sambist
Margareth Menezes and Seu Jorge, the 36-year-old who became one of the most
important names in Brazilian popular music.
01:45:00; Feature; Documentary; Brazil/Germany/Finland; 2002; Dr – Mika
Kaurismäki; Wr ¬ – Mika Kaurismäki and George Moura
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Once known as the “California Riviera,” the Salton Sea is now called one of
America’s worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant lake, coughing up dead
fish and birds by the thousands. Congressman Sonny Bono almost saved it, until
he went skiing one day…
00:71:00M; Feature; Documentary; USA; 2005; Prix Special du Jury in Paris; HBO
Producer’s Award, Savannah Film Festival; 16 other awards; Dr – Chris
Metzler, Jeff Springer; Pr – Chris Metzler; So – Scott Hirsch. Narrated by
John Waters.
Return to Florence
A humorous look at American and British art students in romantic Florence,
Italy. In an intimate school setting, they learn the painting techniques of the
Renaissance period.
00:50:00M; Featurette; Documentary; USA; 2006 Dr – Nick Brandestini; Pr –
Nick Brandestini, Ellen Steiner
The Hole Story
Despite arctic temperatures sheathing Minnesota’s lakes in three feet of solid
ice, an inexplicable stretch of water surfaces on North Long Lake. Determined to
unravel this mystery, an aspiring director is slowly engulfed in a maniacal
search that leads to his own unraveling. 01:23:00; Feature; Fiction; 2005; Grand
Jury Prize, Best Narrative Feature, DC Independent Film Festival; Director’s
Choice, Best Narrative Feature, Northampton Independent Film Festival; Dr –
Alex Karpovsky; Pr – Rick Edrich & Alex Karpovsky
Trespassing
Nine years in the making, the film carefully unpacks a deadly controversy around
land rights, uranium mining, nuclear testing and the disposal of nuclear waste.
01:54:00; Feature; Documentary; 2005; Best Feature Documentary at the Boston
International Film Festival; Director’s Award at Santa Cruz Film Festival;
Gold Medal in Music at the Park City Film Music Festival; Dr – Carlos
Demenezes; Pr – Susana Lagudis
SHORTS 1
From Temerario
A Letter To
Sending a message in a bottle out to sea. Whether or not she receives a reply, a
line at least is cast.
00:04:00M; Student; USA; 2005; World Premiere; Dr – Emma Tripp; Pr – Emma
Tripp
Ad Man
Naïve advertising agent struggles to find new business in the big city.
00:11:00M; USA; 2005; Dr – Kaleo Quenzer, Iddo Patt; Pr – Chad Schaffer
Guide Dog
Sequel to the Oscar-nominated GUARD DOG. This time our hero helps blind people
with typical disastrous results. 00:05:45M; Animation; USA; 2006; Dr – Bill
Plympton; Pr – Bill Plympton
In The tradition of My Family
Billy wants a better scar than the one his father gave him. 00:15:41M; Student;
USA; 2005; Dr – Todd Davis; Pr – Todd Davis, Cody Baker, Patty Davis; Ci –
Austin de Besche; So – Mario Cardenas, G. John Garrett, Stewart Adam; Composer
– David Grimes
Just Your Average Arab
Follows the lives of several Arab-Americans following the events of 9/11.
00:19:00M; USA; 2006; World Premiere; Dr – Raouf Zaki; Pr – Raouf Zaki,
Chris Smalley
Morbid Curiosity
The videotaped confession of a woman who reveals her life-long struggle to
control her deadly thoughts. 00:05:30M; USA; 2006; Premiere; Dr – Cindy Baer
Puppet
A young man fabricates a simple sock puppet, not knowing the abuse the entity
will soon inflict upon its creator. 00:07:00M; USA; 2006; Tribeca Film Festival;
Patrick Smith
From In the Tradition of My Family
Sleep
An insomniac fights his inner demons while remembering his mother’s death,
which he witnessed first-hand. 00:05:00M; USA; 2006;
World Premiere; Dr – Matthew Overstreet, Christopher Adams; Pr – Matthew
Overstreet, Christopher Adams; So – Chris Lane
Temerario
Rio, a young cowboy shot and left for dead in the desert, dreams of a hideous
revenge. As an old man, Rio is then forced to confront the evil within himself.
00:09:51M; Student; UK; 2006; World Premiere; Dr – Carl Zitelmann; Pr –
Debbie Crosscup; So--Christopher Wilson; Composer -- Matthew Davidson
The Duel
Two swashbuckling heroes fight a comic duel on a deserted island to Lyadov’s
orchestral miniature “Baba Yaga.” 00:04:36M; 3-D Animated; USA; 2005; Dr –Raf
Anzovin; Pr – Steve Anzovin; So – Tim Dwyer, Raf Anzovin, William Young;
Music – Anatolli Lyadov
The Fix
A down-and-out sportswriter discovers the scoop of the century when he learns
that the upcoming Super Bowl has been fixed by the mob. Is the story worth
telling – and at what price? 00:08:30M; USA; 2006; Dr – Matt Burns
The Wolf
When John nearly runs down a little girl in red, he feels compelled to help her.
What happens when real-world and fairy tale morals mix?
00:11:01M; USA; 2006; Dr – Yari Wolinsky; Pr – Cary Wolinsky, Babs Wolinsky,
Amber Czapranki
SHORTS 2
From Over Easy
240
Geoff thought he was signing up for an experiment to make extra cash. 00:04:56M;
Fiction; USA; 2006; 48 Hour Film Project; Dr – Yari Wolinsky, Richard Stack,
Mike Kowalazyk; Pr – Cary Wolinsky, Babs Wolinsky, Amber Czapranki
An Untitled Dream
An honest and strange glimpse into the world of the subconscious. 00:03:58M;
Student; Fiction; USA; 2006; World Premiere; Dr –Andrew Lewis; Pr – Allison
Lorentson
Eddie’s Winning Date
Eddie loses a Super Bowl bet and must call back every woman he ever dated and
ditched.
00:15:30M; Fiction; USA; 2005; Dr – Julia Radochia; Pr – Jeremy A. Ward,
Julia Radochia
Getting Lucky
A woman in search of true love tries her luck on an Internet dating service
where she gets more than she bargains for and may even find herself---getting
lucky. 00:19:02M; Fiction; USA; 2005; Dr – Michael Baez; Pr – Stacy Marr,
Michael Baez
Over Easy
An old school thug attempts to make up for a series of “mistakes,” possibly
making things worse.
00:15:00M; Fiction; USA; 2006; U.S. Premiere; Dr – Michael DiBiasio; Pr -
Michael DiBiasio
Temporary Spy
Contessa’s plans for world domination are foiled when J. Withers is outsmarted
by the cunning Agent Singleton. 00:07:07M; Fiction; USA; 2006; 48 Hour Film
Project; Dr – Sacha Shawky; Pr – Eilene Fischer
The Father Unblinking
Story about how two people deal with the death of their child. 00:23:00M; USA:
2006 Dr – Ziggy Attias ; Pr – Sergei Krasikau, Ziggy Attias
SHORTS 3
From Mario Makes A Movie
Dead People
Portrait of Frank Butler, a local character in an economically-depressed small
town. 00:18:34M; Student; USA; 2005; Dr – Roger Deutch
Mario Makes a Movie
A developmentally disabled man learns how to use a movie camera. 00:11:42M;
Student; USA; 2006; Black Maria Film Festival; Dr – Roger Deutch
Muriel
An outrageous, Jewish New Yorker, reveals cheating husband, mental illness, and
a bedroom ceiling fan. 00:20:00M; Student; USA; 2006; Dr – Kim Romano; Pr –
Kim Romano
Night Elements
A meditation on fear of nightfall, darkness and violent weather. 00:03:00, 2006;
Dr/Pr – Tina Mills, Doug Hawes-Davis
Packrat
A story of two families whose lives have been shaped by parents who are
“packrats.”
00:28:00M; USA; 2004; Dr – Kris Britt Montag; Pr -- Kris Britt Montag, Ron
Alford, Alyer Breqau, Jessica Jennings
The Raven
Portrait of this mythical bird. 00:01:00; 2006; Dr/Pr - Tina Mills, Doug
Hawes-Davis
The Recyclergy
After “Earth Day” (‘70), recycling centers were abundant. Now only two
remain in San Francisco. 00:33:00M; USA; 2005; World Premiere; Dr – Jeremy
Kaller; Pr – Jeremy Kaller
Star Spangled Blues
About Gita’s family, peace, war, freedom, and American values. 00:08:00; 2006;
Dr/Wr -- Gita Saedi; Ken Furrow; Doug Hawes-Davis
Made In Mass
From Plymouth, Massachusetts: Discovering
America’s Hometown
This collection of competition films was filmed in Massachusetts. Explore grief,
stillness, desire, fear, a little parody and a little horror through the eyes of
these Massachusetts filmmakers. Co-Sponsored by Gallery East (Boston) and The
Video Underground.
Co-programmed by Duane Lucia
Plymouth, Massachusetts: Discovering America’s Hometown
A parody of post-war educational and
tourism films. 00:05:30M; Student Short; Fiction; USA; 2005; World Premiere; Dr
– Alyssa Gantz, Andrea Verbance; Pr -- Andrea Verbance, Alyssa Gantz
Grief
A documentation of Death Metal music movement through portraiture. 00:06:15M;
Short Documentary Portrait; USA; 2004; Dr/Ph/Pr -- Pia Schachter
Lumiére’s Nightmare
An animated allegory of the impending final showdown between digital and analog
film. 00:01:35M; Student Short; Fiction; USA; 2005; Dr –Andrew Lewis, Chris
Walsh, Kenny Boyer; Pr – Chris Walsh, Andrew Lewis
Maria
A compelling visual exploration of post-traumatic consciousness. 00:13:00M;
Color; Short; Student; Fiction; 2005; Most Original Voice, Roxbury Film
Festival; Dr/Pr--Nisha Murickan, London Parker-McWhorter
Aquarium
A series of impressions from an immersion into an aquatic realm. 00:07:50, 2004,
Color, Short, Experimental Non-fiction. Dr/Pr -- Paul Turano; Co -- John
Morrison
Dog Days
Profiles the Hamm family, living on Cape Cod with more than 12 Collies and 75
sheep. 00:08:49M; Short; Documentary; USA; 2005; Dr – Yari Wolinsky, Richard
Stack
Bingo Nation
Every Saturday night, it's the same battle: Joanna vs. the Bingo
Balls.00:06:40M; Student; Documentary; USA; 2005; Dr/Pr Stephanie Stender
Defiance
In counterpoint with GRIEF, this film explores Death Metal subjects as they move
between behavioral artifice and stark reality. 00:06:37M; 2004; Color;
Documentary Portrait; Pia Schachter
Means To An Ends
Two horror-crazed special effects artists are driven by a unique philosophy--the
best special effects are REAL. 00:13:30M; Color; Short; Fiction; 2005; Wr/Dr/Ed/Pr--
Jake Hamilton; Wr/Dr/Pr-- Paul Solet
Radisson Special Screenings Back
to Top
Plymouth Exchange
Plymouth Exchange is an initiative to exchange programs of work between START
Moving Image Festival in Plymouth, UK, and PIFF ‘06 in Plymouth,
Massachusetts. Independent filmmakers from southwest England present their very
individual animations, short dramas and experimental films -- an entertaining,
thought-provoking and quirky selection from START ‘06, www.sundog.co.uk/start/index.html.
The film schedule will be available online beginning July 10 at www.plyfilmfest.org.
Liquid Tales with Patrick Smith
Join special guest and Animation Artist, Patrick Smith, for a screening of
shorts followed by discussion and Q&A. Patrick Smith wanted to be a
professional skateboarder, but hurt himself and became an animator. His films
have been featured on MTV, several “Spike and Mike” collections, and
hundreds of international film festivals.
In 1999, Smith made his directorial debut in the Emmy-nominated MTV animated
series “Down-town.” He went on to direct several seasons of the popular
series “Daria.” In 2001 he opened his studio, Blend Films, which primarily
produces his independent shorts, but also produces multiple commercial
productions. In addition, Smith is a Professor and Senior Thesis advisor at the
Pratt Institute in New York, and is a curator and jurist for multiple film
festivals.
Puppet, 2006, 7:00M - A young man fabricates a simple sock puppet,
not knowing the abuse the entity will soon inflict upon its creator. Through an
escalating series of torture, the possessed puppet takes on the embodiment of
fear, chaos, and willful self-destruction.
Handshake, 2004, 5:00M - In this animated film, an innocent
greeting between two people is quickly transformed into a tangled struggle,
illustrating the twists and turns of a full-fledged relationship.
Moving Along, 2004, 3:00M - Dark imagery of conformity takes the
screen as hip hop, rhythm and poetry are visualized in the Planets’ track
“Moving Along.”
Delivery, 2001, 5:00M – Abuse leads to rage as two friends
compete for a delivered package. Was the result of this conflict worth the prize
found within the box? Delivery deals with the realistic consequences of rage and
violence, even within a cartoon setting.
Drink, 2003, 8:00M - A boy discovers a magic potion that allows
him to explore the universe within himself. A sip unleashes a violent reaction,
revealing a diverse cast of characters twisting and stretching their way out of
one another, forming a monumental pile.
Vietnam: A Television History
The late Richard Ellison, who lived most of the last 20 years of his life in
Kingston, Massachusetts, is being honored at PIFF’06 with a FREE screening of
one episode of the landmark PBS series “Vietnam: A Television History,”
followed by a panel discussion led by his wife, Sara Altther, who was his
publicist, and her guests, including Drew Pearson.
“‘Vietnam: A Television History,’ was the most
successful documentary produced by public television at the time it aired in
1983. Nearly 9% of all U.S. households tuned in to watch the first episode, and
an average of 9.7 million Americans watched each of the 13 episodes. A second
showing of the documentary in the summer of 1984 garnered roughly a 4% share in
the five largest television markets. Before it was aired in the United States,
over 200 high schools and universities nationwide paid for the license to record
and show the documentary in the classroom as a television course on the Vietnam
War. In conjunction with this educational effort, the Asian Society's
periodical, Focus on Asian Studies, published a special issue entitled
‘Vietnam: A Teacher's Guide,’ to aid teachers in the use of this documentary
in the classroom. ‘Vietnam’ won all of the industry’s major awards,
including six Emmys, a George Foster Peabody Award, the George Polk Award, and a
DuPont-Columbia Award.”
– Museum of Broadcast Communications
Drew Pearson has worked in television news and
documentaries since 1961, first for NBC and then ABC News, particularly in
Vietnam, where he produced documentaries on the war. He has been an independent
since 1976, based in Kittery Point, Maine, working on historical documentaries
for PBS and a number of programs about ecological issues.
Tribute to High Plains Films
 In
1992 and 1993, Doug Hawes-Davis and Drury Gunn Carr, neither one with any
previous knowledge of video production, set out independently of each other to
create two unrelated "no budget" documentaries. The two completed
films earned several unexpected awards at film festivals. When the two
filmmakers met at a festival and shared stories of technical difficulties,
trespassing charges, broken equipment, debt, arrests and other minor issues,
they decided to make a career out of it, and High Plains Films was founded. More
than a decade later, High Plains Films has won more than 40 awards, and the
films have been screened around the world and broadcast on nation-wide
television.
 In
2003, Doug Hawes-Davis founded the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Now in its
fourth year, the festival has become one of the top, non-fiction film events in
the world. It is a place for filmmakers to premiere new work and for audiences
to see innovative, new films back-to-back with classics in the genre. In 2005,
the Big Sky Film Institute (BSFI) was founded. The purpose of BSFI is to promote
and support these two entities.
America's National Forests : 11 minutes, color, 2005
Written and narrated by Rick Bass, America's National Forests is a
provocative essay film about the importance of the National Forest system. The
documentary features the dramatic scenery and wildlife of the federal forests
and covers current land management issues.
El Caballo : 54 minutes, Color/B&W, 2001
This film documents one of the most complex wildlife management issues today.
What constitutes a native species versus an exotic species? And, how do modern
wild horses fit into our view of the natural world?
Killing Coyote : 83 minutes, Color/B&W, 2000
"Everything you could want in a documentary. Ranchers want to protect their
livestock from these wily scavengers, hunters engage in bounty hunts for the
most dead bodies and cash prizes, animal rights activists seek to preserve
dignity and respect for a wild creature, and the political agencies, both on
civic and federal levels, listen to all these voices." - Missoulian
Libby, Montana: 124 minutes, Color/B&W, 2004
A small rural town in Montana is besieged by one of the largest health crises in
U.S. history. The town scrambles to treat hundreds who are sick and dying from
asbestos contamination, and the residents are left to wonder: How did this
happen in modern America?
Libby Montana
Green Rolling Hills : 29 minutes, color, 1995
From the disempowered, depressed communities of Appalachia to the global
deforestationcrisis, this is a video account of collusion between government
officials and one multinational corporation.
The Naturalist : 32 minutes, Color/B&W, 2001
Kent Bonar, who has been called the “John Muir of the Ozarks,” is one of
America's great naturalists. Living without modern amenities in the tradition of
Thoreau, Leopold and Muir, Bonar has spent his life observing and recording the
natural history of the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks. The film documents the work
and philosophies of this extraordinary modern-day woodsman.
This is Nowhere : 87 minutes, Color, 2002
Across North America, RVs have set up camp at the local Wal-Mart. Interested in
nature, meeting new people, learning about our history, these RV travelers want
the predictability and sameness that Wal-Mart provides them. The film details
the lives, motivations and philosophies of these Wal-Mart Campers.
Powder River Country : 34 minutes, Color, 2005
The Powder River Basin is a landscape of rolling hills, big skies, and subtle
beauty, rich in the history of our American roots. Native Americans lived here
for centuries. Custer made his last
stand here. For nearly 200 years, generations of homesteaders have ranched and
farmed these high plains. The rush for a new source of natural gas is
transforming the remote region and the future of agriculture is uncertain.
Wind River : 34 minutes, (CK color) 1999
"A taut and impassioned chronicle of a high-stakes, water-rights fiasco in
Wyoming." - Timothy McGettigan, Professor of Sociology, University of
Southern Colorado
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