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After the tragic death of a newly arrived Ex-pat, ESL kindergarten teachers Simon and Darin, steal the corpse in order to perform the final rites for the fallen stranger. Their quest for the perfect burial spot becomes a quixotic odyssey along Taiwan's picturesque East Coast Highway, where they encounter welcoming families, violent gangsters, personal demons, and Nikita, their traveling companion. The duty, transport, and dementia fueled by frequent substance abuse, ignites an internalization in all three characters as they define their personal feelings concerning mortality, purpose, burial rites and the concept of legacy.
The Austin Chronicle recommends this event in "Aftershocks: Finding Inspiration in the Devastation of the 921 Earthquake." Read the full feature here.
Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of "art as a subversive act," independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi ("I Am a Sex Addict") goes overboard. Told that he can do whatever he wants except make fun of the Sheik, who rules the country and finances the Biennial, Zahedi decides to do just that. He turns his camera on the Biennial itself and gleefully presses every culturally sensitive button he can find. But his court jester antics fail to amuse. Zahedi's film is banned for blasphemy and he is threatened with a fatwa.
The Austin Chronicle recommends this event in "Art as Acts of Subversion and Immersion: 'The Sheik and I,' 'Trash Dance,' and 'Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters'." Read the full feature here.
Thirty-five years in the life of Max (Keith Poulson), his best friend Sal (Nick Offerman) and a woman they both adore, Lyla (Jess Weixler).The trio stumble through mandatory but seemingly unfulfilling entanglements, at weddings, funerals, hospitals, eateries, divorce courts and the tool shed. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.
The Austin Chronicle recommends this event in "Poker Face: The Life Cycle of Man as Deadpan Farce." Read the full feature here.
In search of a simpler life, a young couple returns home to Alabama where they set out to eat the way their grandparents did – locally and seasonally. But as their new diet forces them to navigate the agricultural industrial complex, they soon realize that nearly everything about the food system has changed since farmers once populated their family histories. A thoughtful and often funny essay on community, the South and sustainability, "Eating Alabama" is a story about why food matters.
The Austin Chronicle recommends this event in "The Place Is the Thing: The influence of Geography in a Quartet of Docs." Read the full feature here.
"The Central Park Effect" reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green and the equally colorful, full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration. Acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen, an idiosyncratic trombone technician, a charming fashion-averse teenager, and a bird-tour leader who’s recorded every sighting she’s made since the 1940s are among the film’s cast of characters. Featuring spectacular wildlife footage capturing the changing seasons, this lyrical documentary transports the viewer to a dazzling world that goes all but unnoticed by the 38 million people who visit the park each year.
The Austin Chronicle recommends this event in "The Place Is the Thing: The influence of Geography in a Quartet of Docs." Read the full feature here.
Produced by Oxford Film and Television, Wikileaks: Secrets and Lies is Bafta winner Patrick Forbes' seventy-six-minute documentary of the Wikileaks affair as told by the people involved: personal, moving and frequently hot tempered, it documents history in the making and establishes a new frontier for technology and journalism. A definitive factual account of the Wikileaks affair, the film features the first major television interview with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
The Austin Chronicle recommends this event in "Attack of the Cybermen: Activism Powered by the Internet." Read the full feature here.
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