Dance of Sisyphus
86 minutes, 2003 Super 16mm, Germany By Bert Schmidt

Ernest Montego, born Ernst Kuhn in Aschaffenburg, Germany in 1936, has been a juggler for over 50 years, and can toss and twirl balls, hoops and clubs through the air like no other. As a twelve year old, he went to the cinema and saw the duo Francis and Lottie Brunn in the Bavaria film "Tonelli" - and decided that juggling would be his future. What he didn't realize at the time was that his choice of career was actually influenced by his own half-brother and -sister, an internationally famous juggling team who had made a name for themselves in the USA with the greatest circus in the world: "Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey". A quarter of a century after that decisive visit to the cinema, Ernest Montego, now a master juggler himself, finally met his half-brother and in Las Vegas. By telling the story of this remarkable family of entertainers and their individual careers, the film depicts a profession that has all but vanished from the limelight over the past decades.

strandfilm Gmbh
Gartenstr. 96, 60596
Frankfurt am Main
Germany
49 69 96317220
schmidt@strandfilm.com
www.strandfilm.com

29 minutes, 1991 3/4" Video, USA By Jacob Young

Despite terrible problems, Jesco White struggles to live up to his father's legacy as the finest dancer in the Appalachian Mountains.

“Jacob Young's bizarre documentary brilliantly captures American Hillbilly life before it disappears." - London Daily Mail

“ It's John Waters meets Tennessee Williams” - London Independent

Mid- Western Regional Emmy Award Winner

MOVIEFISH Video Production & Distribution
Bill Motley
1875 S. Bascom Ave.
Ste.116, #183
Campbell, CA 95008
800.788.4087
moviefish@pobox.com
www.DancingOutlaw.com

Daughters of Wisdom
70 minutes, 2007 miniDV, Tibet/USA By Bari Pearlman Sneak Preview Asia Docs Series

Daughters of Wisdom is an intimate portrait of the nuns of Kala Rongo Monastery, situated in the remote Nangchen region of Northeastern Tibet. Since the 8th century, monasteries have been the spiritual and cultural centers for areas like Nangchen and monastic life has mostly been available only to men. Since 1990, however, the Kala Rongo Monastery has been granting women new choices and changing attitudes that no longer serve the greater good of the community. Daughters of Wisdom is the story of this exceptional community that could not have existed twenty years ago yet thrives today.

www.daughtersofwisdom.com

The Days and the Hours
8 minutes, 2006 HDV, USA By John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson Northwest Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Every morning in downtown San Francisco, homeless people arrive at a church to sleep in the pews. Filling row after row, more than a hundred exhausted men and women find refuge from city streets and shelters. We hear them describe their lives before they lost what most people take for granted. The Days and the Hours is a documentary meditation on the thin line that separates homeless people from everyone else.

www.stanford.edu/~samuelso/tdth.html

De Arbol a Arbol
28 minutes, 2006 miniDV, Spain By Belén Gonzalez Blanco North American Premiere Documentary Short Competition

De Arbol a Arbol ("Trees from Trees") documents the creative processes of wood artist and craftsman Urcino Martinez. A quiet and meditative film, De Arbol a Arbol's tempo and spare dialogue resonates with both the pace of the artist's work and the realities of the natural world.

www.stanford.edu/~samuelso/tdth.html

10 minutes, 2004 16mm/Hi8/Super8, USA By Roger Teich

Devil's Teeth is a film about the only sea urchin diver at the Farallon Islands off the coast of California, his dreams and frequent encounters with Great White Sharks, his past shooting downers and getting Hepatitis C. Roger Teich says about the film, “I have tried to make a parable about finding freedom when your insides are fucked up, how to deal with illness and fear, a child's tale about staring into the monster's yellow eyes. I know from my own life that chronic illness and pain aren't choices that we make, but jumping into black water with big white sharks is a choice Ron Elliott makes, and I find great beauty in that."

Roger Teich
rteich@juno.com
www.devilsteeth.com

Dig
4 minutes, 2006 DV/BetaSP/Animation, Australia By Bridget Elizabeth Walker Northwest Premiere MiniDocs Competition

Dig is a hand-wrought ethnographic, historical, animated, live-action rendition of an industry, a people, a place and the humble potato.

bridg3t_walk3r@hotmail.com

Distorted Propaganda
67 minutes, 2006 miniDV, China/USA By Jeff Lodas World Premiere Documentary Feature Competition

Through the window of Chinese propaganda in Tibet, Distorted Propanda looks at topics such as education, entertainment, urban development, religion, political anniversary celebration, and Tibet's peaceful liberation. Delving directly into the propaganda world, the film both illuminates and raises questions about these topics through interviews with Tibetans for whom propaganda existed as an integral part of daily life.

www.distortedpropaganda.com

Dodge City
5 minutes, 2005 DVCAM/miniDV/DigiBeta, USA By Jeff Dell

This short reminds us of the horrible toll war takes on children. Two children are exploring a playground miniature of Old Dodge City, a name synonymous with violence of the Old West. The health and vigor of these children at play becomes a shocking contrast to the scenes of children injured by war that begin to appear. Be prepared for some disturbing images.

Jeff Dell
6 Longridge Lane
East Hampton, NY 11937
(631)324-0276     
jdell@hamptons.com

15 minutes, 2004 miniDV, USA By Roberto Oregel

A visual and audio landscape into Noam Chomsky's ideas on terrorism, world dominance, and survival.

“In the final montage, Oregel's Chomsky rolls on like Eisenstein's Potemkin leaving you panting for more and hoping for a holiday weekend."
 - Radio Free Maine

Roberto Oregel
725 Spring St. #18
Los Angeles, California 90014
213 629-8150
oregelfilms@aol.com

Don't Fence me In
30 minutes, 2004 DV/Beta, Burma By Ruth Gumnit

Since 1962, Burma has been ruled by a military junta. Despite its former prosperity and its rich resources, it was voted least developed nation by the UN in 1987, and human rights atrocities continue to prevail. Forced from their homes by the government, more than 100,000 people live in refugee camps along the border between Burma and Thailand; hundreds of thousands more hide in jungles on the Burma side. They are the Karen people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Burma. Don't Fence Me In chronicles the life of 70-year-old freedom fighter Major Mary On and her people's struggle for self-determination. Mary explains how the Karen are fighting for their very survival; the Burmese military's goal is "to wipe the Karen away so if you want to see them you'll have to go see them in the museum. See just an image or picture." Her charismatic storytelling is accompanied by rare, clandestine footage smuggled out of the Karen refugee camps.

Cynthia Close, Exec. Director
Documentary Educational Resources
101 Morse Street
Watertown, MA 02472
ph. (617)926-0491
fax (617)926-9519
www.der.org
docued@der.org

17 minutes, 2005 35mm, USA By Leslie Dektor

The ring allows us to see the lives and feelings of the circus performers and how they reflect our own lives. Do You Want the Elephant Music is an artistic endeavor that captures the imagination with its unique cinematography and editorial style. What is it that lies always outside or behind the ring? We are being asked to look elsewhere.

Best Cinematography - 2005 Hermosa Shorts Film Festival

Leslie Dektor

1151 N. Highland Ave.
Hollywood, CA   90038
(323)466-3455
info@dektor.com

165 minutes, 2006 Mixed Formats, USA By Hart Perry and Dana Heinz Perry Special Presentation

The Drug Years chronicles the rise of illicit drug use in America and its cultural impact in the second half of the twentieth century. This epic recounting of American drug culture is told through dozens of exclusive interviews with actors, musicians, journalists, policy advocates, former drug smugglers, and former drug enforcement agents help to weave the complex tapestry of the American drug culture. The Drug Years explores how popular culture shaped and reflected public perceptions of illicit drugs and how they became part of the nation's political landscape.

www.perryfilms.com