Hartford International Film Festival: Recession Edition
Date: Saturday, November 7th, 2009
Time: All Day
Address: Downtown, Hartford, CT 06103
PLEEEEASE tell people stop complaining that there's nothing to do around here while they sit around missing out on things like the Hartford International Film Festival. It just makes them sound foolish.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7
5:30 PM Cocktail Party at Firebox Restaurant
7:30 PM at the STUDIO @ BILLINGS FORGE
Blue Sky - short
[20 min. | USA | 2009] Director: Luke Sieczek
Who am I? Friend... enemy... both? Our friendship has always been a problem. We never know what to do with it: what is possible and what is impossible between us. Blue Sky is a coming-of-age story about four characters dreaming of love and friendship. A world of daydream and fantasy merges with a reality that reverberates with uncertain expectations. Thoughts and emotions turn into snow, wind, sunlight and rain.
Woodpecker - feature film
[75 min. | USA | 2009] Director: Alex Karpovsky
Fanatical birdwatchers have descended upon a small town in the Arkansas bayou in hopes of finding the celebrated Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Declared extinct in the 1940’s, the bird has apparently been spotted by numerous experts. Enter amateur birder and poet Johnny Neander, who has convinced his taciturn sidekick that he will be the one to find the elusive woodpecker. The ensuing chaos divides the small town between believers and non-believers, rabid environmentalists and opportunistic entrepreneurs. Much like the bird itself, Woodpecker explores the intersection of fact and fiction, manipulating our notions of documentary and narrative techniques within a tragic comedy about hope, perception, and some very very strange birds.
9:00 PM at the STUDIO @ BILLINGS FORGE
Chasing Cats and Cars - short film
[12 min. | Malaysia | 2009 | Mandarin, Cantonese, & Malay with English subtitles] Director: Liew Seng Tat
What can a leg do without the man who should be fixed to it? About how you can forget a leg and the leg decides to go its own way. Exercise in its own form of absurdism. Jokes are good if you tell them well. Strange jokes have to be told even better. The maker likes really strange jokes and that's why he practices telling them well. Man takes his injured friend to the hospital. There it becomes apparent that a leg is missing.
Call Me If You Need Me - feature film
[104 min. | Malaysia | 2009 | Mandarin, Cantonese, & Malay with English subtitles] Director: James Lee
James Lee’s newest indie film is a classic brotherhood gangster yarn fronted by a lead turn by local music wunderkind Pete Teo. Ah Soon and Or Kia are two cousins who grew up together in a small village. As an adult, aggressive Ah Soon now lives in the city and works as a debt collector. He invites Or Kia, the simpler and more righteous of the two, to join his expanding business. It would be Ping, Ah Soon’s new girlfriend who would act as the bridge between the two me, as the age-old themes of loyalty and honor are explored.
11:30 PM at ART CINEMA
Mary Mays Suicide Letter - short film
[8 min. | USA | 2009] Director: John Fink
The film tells the story of Mary, a women haunted by a personal tragedy that tears her marriage to a success...
LoliGirls: The Story Behind the Frills and Bows - short film
[18 min. | USA | 2009] Directors: Kate Slomkowsky & Linsey Taylor
This short documentary follows 3 American girls who are enamored with the Lolita fashion and lifestyle.
ShowGirls: Provincetown, MA - feature film
[72 min. | USA | 2009]
ShowGirls: Provincetown, MA is a feature documentary about a small town talent show with a strong dose of vaudeville where an eclectic mix of locals, drag queens and the occasional tourist passing through vie for the $500.00 prize and their chance at fame on stage. Known as a local institution, this popular show takes place Monday evenings over the summer as acts of varying artistry, skill, range, and grit vie for the coveted title of “ShowGirl.”
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8
10:30 AM - BRUNCH AND A MOVIE @ THE RED ROCK TAVERN
Mama and Nardo - short film
Director: Alec Tuckman [8 min. | USA | 2009]
Mama and Nardo is an animated cartoon in the vein of South Park, Family Guy, and The Simpsons. Mama takes Nardo and friends to a summer camp. Upon arrival, they discover there’s a serial killer, named Jason Fourknees, on the loose. Nardo and Mama soon fall victim to this psychopath and must learn to work together or die.
Barstool Cowboy - feature film
[90 min. | USA | 2008] Director: Mark Thimijan
An unemployed Cowboy who can’t find love vows to stay on a barstool for three months hoping to find some answers at the bottom of a beer bottle. Shortly thereafter, he meets a young female art student and quickly forgets his misery. The pair begin to transform each other’s worlds while spending time drinking, dancing, and examining the mysteries of life. Will the Cowboy finally find love or should he have just stayed on his barstool?
1:00 PM at LA PALOMA SABANERA
Hallelujah the Hills - feature film
[82 min. | USA | 1963] Director: Adolfas Mekas
A very bizarre low budget comedy about two men who take to the woods to purge their obsessive attraction to a woman named Vera who dumped them both for a shmuck. This quirky little film is on the verge of being hilarious. However, it never quite gets all the laughs it shoots for. As a result, it is only mildly amusing, but worth a viewing if you're in the mood for something light and off the beaten path.
Hallelujah the Villa - short film
[28 min. | USA | 2006] Director: David Avallone
David Avallone revisits Adolfas Mekas’ 1963 film: Hallelujah the Hills.
4:00 PM at LA PALOMA SABANERA
Carnivalesque Films' New Work In Progress
David Redmon and Ashley Sabin returns to the Hartford International Film Festival with their new documentary which follows Russian and US modeling scouts as they scour Siberian landscapes in search of teen girls to become models in Tokyo. Followed by Q&A with directors David Redmon and Ashley Sabin [Running time TBA | USA | 2009].
7:30 PM at the STUDIO @ BILLINGS FORGE
You Wanted To Make A Film? - short film
[25 min. | Israel | 2008 | Hebrew with English subtitles] Director: Gali Weintraub
A complex relationship between Gali, born disabled and the couple, Zehava, a polio victim and Oren, a folk dancer, son of disabled parents who decide to put on a dance performance together.
Still Bill - feature film
[77 min. | USA | 2009] Director: Damani Baker
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.
PRICE:
Recession buster all-access festival passes are $20, and individual screenings are $7.
LOCATIONS:
Firebox Restaurant
539 Broad St
Hartford, CT 06106
The Studio @ Billings Forge
(Next door to the Firebox Restaurant)
Art Cinema
255 Franklin Ave
Hartford, CT 06114
La Paloma Sabanera Coffeehouse
405 Capitol Ave
Hartford, CT 06106
Red Rock Tavern
369 Capitol Ave
Hartford, CT 06106
