About Baghdad
90 minutes, 2004 miniDV, Iraq/USA By Bassam Haddad, Adam Shapiro, Suzy Salamy, Maya Mikdashi, & Sinan Antoon

About Baghdad revolves around the return of Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi poet, to his native Baghdad this last July, after twelve years of exile in the United States. The viewer sees Antoon searching for the familiar places and faces he left behind only to discover that they’ve been covered under the wrinkles drawn by tyranny, time, sanctions and yet another war. More than a dozen Iraqis from all walks of life are introduced: Antoon’s childhood friend, middle-class women, a thirty-something cab driver, a women’s rights activist, intellectuals, a retired 70-year old man, an artist, three high-school girls, a female lawyer who was imprisoned and tortured in Saddam’s time, among others. These characters reflect on how they survived Saddam’s tyranny, UN sanctions and three wars, and share their views and feelings about a precarious present and an uncertain future being shaped by American military presence.

InCounter Productions
1212 W Street, NW
Washington, DC 20009
202-494-0471 Cell
www.aboutbaghdad.com
info@aboutbaghdad.com

23 minutes, 2004 HD, Spain By Miguel Angel Rolland

Writing with images: this is the departure point in this documentary. A portrait of four graffiti writers from Madrid and Barcelona: SUSO33, ISRA, SIXE and KAPI. They are part of a pioneering and illustrated generation in Street Art. For that same reason, their words and the development of four pieces (one by each artist) are the guides through this documentary. Shot in High Definition AEROSOL shows these four people's passion about a new, radical, urban and deserving of greater respect art.

Miguel Angel Rolland
Calle Colmenares 13 4C
Madrid, Madrid 28004
Spain
+34915218802
lanterna@ya.com
www.docusmadrid.org
www.aerosoldocumental.com

5 minutes, 2005 16mm, USA By Erin Hudson

From the intimate vantage point of a senior community swimming pool, water and time suspend both body and memory. This film travels underwater and above water to create a gentle meditation on growing old, feeling young, and living life.

Erin Hudson
650-380-8601
www.rotationfilms.com
hudson.erin@gmail.com

57 minutes, 2003 16mm, USA By Mary Lance

A groundbreaking documentary on the internationally renowned painter, designated by ARTnews Magazine one of the world's top-ten living artists. This documentary was shot over a period of four years, from 1998 through 2002, Agnes Martin's ninetieth year. Interviews with the artist are cut with shots at work in her studio in Taos, New Mexico, with photographs and archival footage, and with images of her work from over five decades. It is a venue for Martin to speak about her work, her working methods, her life as an artist, and her views about the creative process. She also discusses her film, Gabriel and reads from her poetry and lectures. In keeping with Martin's chosen life of solitude, she alone appears in the documentary.

New Deal Films, Inc.
PO Box 2953
Corrales, NM 87048 USA
505-897-9738
www.newdealfilms.com
newdealfilms@earthlink.net

A Hard Straight
72 minutes, 2004 miniDV, USA By Goro Toshima

A gang member, a hustler, and a small-time dealer. They served their sentences, they're on parole. Now they're about to discover that walking out the prison gates is just the beginning. A Hard Straight is a documentary about doing time on the outside. The film interweaves the stories of two men and one woman as they attempt to construct new lives outside prison. We see them from the ecstatic moment of their first taste of freedom to the inevitable frustrations, joys, and banality of life outside of prison; and finally, to either a successfully established life on the outside or a return to prison. A Hard Straight is an extremely intimate, dramatic, and compelling film that exposes the truth behind the radical transition from prison life to society and sheds a bright and unblinking light on the profound experience of doing time and trying to go straight.

South by Southwest Film Festival 2004- Best Documentary Feature

One Arm Productions, Inc.
832 York St. #6
Oakland, CA 94610
(415) 412-2293
goroto22@hotmail.com
www.ahardstraight.com

A Quiet Place to Make Noise
8 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Brian Ziffer Northwest Premiere Big Sky Award Category

A Quiet Place to Make Noise is an abstract audio-visual exploration into the emotional depths of loss in nature. Utilizing time-lapse video, spoken words by Buddhist Philosopher, Alan Watts, and music by Japanese composer Joji Hirota, video artist Brian Ziffer intrigues us with the visual beauty of nature and allows us to meditate on our role and relationship to the surrounding natural world.

www.naoism.com

A Revolving Door
40 minutes, 2007 DVCAM, USA By Marilyn Braverman and Chuck Braverman 2007 Best Documentary Short World Premiere Documentary Short Competition

A Revolving Door is the story of 33 year old Tommy Lennon. Struggling to deal with the dual diagnosis of mental illness and drug addiction, the film focuses not only on Tommy's life but also on his family's frustration, helplessness, courage and resilience. Was it a surfing-related head injury that turned Tommy's life upside down? For 20 years, Tommy has been stuck in a revolving door of homelessness, drug abuse, mental institutions and jails. Will Tommy and his loving family learn to deal with this constantly shifting reality?

www.arevolvingdoor.com

Alice Sees The Light
6 minutes, 2006 miniDV/16mm, USA By Ariana Gerstein Northwest Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Alice laments the loss of her view of the universe, one of her initial reasons for living in the country. The change in her environment is the result of "security lighting" for a large corporate storage facility. A poetic meditation on light polllution.

www.thirtymilesfromanywhere.com

Almost Real: Connecting in a Wired World
47 minutes, 2002 miniDV, Canada By Ann Shin

Almost Real focuses on a few individuals for whom the Internet has become a lifeline, a way to connect with like-minded souls in surprising ways.

The early promise of the Internet could never have predicted people like these: a cyber punk based on an anti-aircraft rig in the English Channel who operates the world's first rogue Web server, a monk developing "wireless prayer technology," and a "gamer" who re-creates himself in an online game. Even traditional concepts of school, marriage and retirement are mutating: a disillusioned eight-year-old opts in favour of home-schooling, a retired couple moves into an Internet-controlled seniors' complex, and a recent divorcée exchanges vows online with a man she has never met.

With insightful commentary by sci-fi writer William Gibson, virtual reality creator Jaron Lanier and 'post-national' writer Pico Iyer, Almost Real is a snapshot of the end of the first phase of the Internet--a far less utopian age than some had hoped.

National Film Board of Canada.
Visit the Site

American Blackout
92 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Ian Inaba Montana Premiere Documentary Feature Competition

Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney took an active role investigating the voter disenfranchisement that occurred in 2000 but soon found herself in her own election debacle after publicly questioning the Bush Administration about the 9-11 terrorist attacks. American Blackout gains unprecedented access to one of the most controversial and dangerous politicians in America and travels from Florida to Georgia to Ohio examining the contemporary tactics used to control our democratic process and silence political dissent.

www.americanblackout.com

53 minutes, 2002 By Travis Wilkerson 2004 Big Sky Award

AN INJURY TO ONE provides a corrective - and absolutely compelling - glimpse of a particularly volatile moment in early 20th century American labor history: the rise and fall of Butte, Montana. Specifically, it chronicles the mysterious death of Wobbly organizer Frank Little, a story whose grisly details have taken on a legendary status in the state. Much of the extant evidence is inscribed upon the landscape of Butte and its surroundings. Thus, a connection is drawn between the unsolved murder of Little, and the attempted murder of the town itself.

Travis Wilkerson
First Run Icarus Films
32 Court St. 21st Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718)488-8900
mailroom@frif.com
www.frif.com

An Unreasonable Man
122 minutes, 2006 DVCAM, USA By Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan Montana Premiere Special Presentation

During the past forty years, Ralph Nader has built a legislative record that rivals any contemporary president. Seat belts, airbags, product labeling, and scores of other important consumer protections are largely due to the efforts of Ralph Nader and his citizen groups. Yet today, when most people hear the name Ralph Nader, they think of the man who gave the country George W. Bush. Is he really to blame for George W. Bush? An Unreasonable Man traces the life and career one of the most unique, important, and controversial political figures of the past half century.

www.anunreasonableman.com

...And Then There Were Four
21 minutes, 2005 miniDV, USA By Leah Helaine Bell Northwest Premiere Special Presentation

Seventy-seven year old Laura Ann Gamble has taken on the task of raising four of her grandsons, ages five through eight, whose parents have been unable to care for them. The four brothers not only have trouble with authority but also have not fully learned to respect one another. However, due to their grandmother's guidance, the boys are improving every day and becoming the exceptional children that they are destined to be. ...And Then There Were Four tells the story of Laura Ann Gamble and her challenge to provide a better life for her grandsons as she did for her own children.

leah@unt.edu

52 minutes, 2005 miniDV, France By Steve Moreau

The incredible story of two young men: Sébastien Lefebvre, a Frenchman aged 27, and Jeremy Hinton, an Englishman aged 23. Coincidence and confidence in each other brought them together. They had only known each other for a few hours, spoke different languages, and had different approaches to navigation and life in general. Together, on the 22nd of October, 2003 at 7 o'clock in the morning, they set forth from the island of La Gomera on one of the most difficult sporting events in the world: rowing across the Atlantic Ocean.

Les Films du Voilier
32, rue de l'Arcade
75008 Paris - France
+33 (0) 1 40 06 07 36
www.lesfilmsduvoilier.com
info@lesfilmsduvoilier.com

39 minutes, 2001 By Ellen Spiro USA

ATOMIC ED AND THE BLACK HOLE tells the story of a former Los Alamos National Laboratory machinist-- turned atomic junk collector-- known as Atomic Ed. Over 30 years ago, Ed quit his job making "better" atomic bombs and he began collecting what he calls "nuclear waste", non-radioactive high-tech discards from the Los Alamos National Laboratory which are auctioned off dirt cheap every month in a gigantic government yard sale.

As the self-appointed curator of an unofficial museum of the nuclear age called "The Black Hole", Ed reveals a history of government waste that was literally thrown in a trash heap. By transforming his ironic junkyard into a genuine museum, Ed hopes to preserve the artifacts of Los Alamos' hidden history.

Awards: Best Documentary Short, South by Southwest Film Festival, 2001
Melbourne International Film Festival, 2001
Hot Springs International Film Festival, 2001
Peace and Justice Filmmaker's Award, 2001
Audience Award and Judges Competition First Place Award, Alibi Short Film Fiesta, Albuquerque, 2001

www.mobilusmedia.com

A Well Spent Life
44 minutes, 1971 16mm, USA By Les Blank

A deeply moving tribute to the Texas songster, Mance Lipscomb, considered by many to be one of the greatest guitarist of all time. Mance was not "discovered" until 1960, when Chris Strachwitz first recorded him for Arhoolie Records. Before that, Mance lived by sharecropping, surviving the brutality of a system not much better that slavery. Amazingly, instead of growing bitter, the tough times made him sweet. The film captures Mance's music, set in his hometown of Navasota, Texas.

Flower Films
10341 San Pablo Avenue
El Cerrito, CA 94530
(510)525-0942
www.lesblank.com
Blankfilm@aol.com