Ha Ha Ha America
17 minutes, 2006 miniDV, China By JD Ligon 2007 Best MiniDoc Northwest Premiere MiniDocs Competition Asia Docs Series

Ha Ha Ha America is a quirky, humorous examination of economic relations between the United States and China. In the filmmaker's words, it is "a love letter from China to America thanking us, and the current administration, for all the business."

www.hahahaamerica.com

Hammer and Flame
10 minutes, 2005 Digital Betacam, UK/India By Vaughan Pilikan

The hull of an immense tanker broken open like an eggshell. A man descending into a dark trap of sparks and smoke. A crankshaft broken in two using only a chisel and a pair of sledgehammers. Circles within circles, ship following ship. In the demolition wards of Northern India we enter an enigma, a world at the edge of our own, where in an unending cycle the greatest of manmade titans are unpieced with the simple tools of hammer and flame.

Vaughan Pilikian
Unruowe
2 Hesperus Crescent
Isle of Dogs
London, England E14 3AD
United Kingdom
+44 (0) 7940 212 770
www.unruowe.com
vaughan@unruowe.com

96 minutes, 2005 miniDV, USA By Joe Cultrera

How does a film about Catholic clergy abuse not descend into depression?   It helps when the victim doesn't act like one - but uses his own intellect and humor to fight back. Unlike any other look at this topic - Hand of God is a provocative tale of one survivor and his family.   Beyond the headlines, statistics and ecclesiastical spin, filmmaker Joe Cultrera grounds the story of his brother Paul - an abuse survivor - in the details of their Sicilian-American Catholic upbringing.   From indoctrination to abuse; silence to dialogue; resignation to action, the film follows one person's internal and external journey from potential priest to scathing critic.   The paint is peeled off generations of blind faith as a family tries to regain its spiritual footing, and a survivor comes to incendiary conclusions about Corporate Catholicism.   This is a visually compelling and poetic portrait of family, community and the triumph of individual spirits.

Zingerplatz Pictures
200 Park Ave South
Suite 1612
N.Y., NY 10003
(212)529-3841
www.zingerplatz.com
info@zingerplatz.com

29 minutes, 2004 DVCAM, USA By Niklas Vollmer

With an almost frightening intensity, videomaker Niklas Sven Vollmer captures the enveloping void of fatherhood in "HAPPY CRYING NURSING HOME."   In penetratingly honest detail, Vollmer charts the feelings of loneliness, jealousy and tenderness, the bitter, complex cocktail of despair and love that define his relationships to his child, his partner * and his camera.

A powerful and witty, self-referential treatise on technology's gendered function and an analysis of what the camera means in a father's hands.   It treats the paradoxical elements of helplessness and control asserted each time the camera comes on. The tape's palimpsest of sound and image combines complex layers of still photography, video, audio and text.   Sound and image work in tandem and then diverge into delirious collage.

"HAPPY CRYING NURSING HOME" engages with experimental film history, and the ecstatic, romantic vision of parenting in films like Stan Brakhage's "Window Water Baby Moving".

Niklas Vollmer
2796 Alston Drive SE  
Atlanta, GA   30317  
(404)378-1278
niklas@gsu.edu

Hardwood
29 minutes, 2004 DVCAM, Canada By Hubert Davis 2005 Best Documentary Short

Hardwood is a personal journey by director Hubert Davis, the son of former Harlem Globetrotter Mel Davis, who explores how his father’s decisions affected his life. Now a coach for young basketball players in Vancouver, Mel recalls falling in love at first sight with Hubert's mother, a white woman, at a time when racism made their union impossible, and then his subsequent marriage to a black woman and the birth of their son. Both women in Mel's life, the mothers of his two sons, speak movingly about love and betrayal, and both sons speak of the pain of their absent father and its effect on their mothers. Elegantly structured, Davis uses personal interviews, archival footage and home movies to delve into his father’s past in the hope of finding a new direction for his own.

National Film Board of Canada
1123 Broadway, Suite 307
New York, NY 10010
212-629-8890
j.sirabella@nfb.ca
www.nfb.ca/hardwood/

Herder's Calling
24 minutes, 2004 miniDV, Canada/Kyrgyz Republic By Najeeb Mirza

“This is where I was born and also where my parents were born - my ancestors have been coming here for 200 years”, says Akim Aliev Datka, a pensioner who has returned to tend horses and sheep on his ancestral pasture lands 200 km from Bishkek, the capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. But he is one of the very few to return; others are leaving for the cities. Life on the high pastures can be difficult, but herding has been a mainstay of Central Asian life for millennia. Herders' Calling focuses on Akim Datka’s pastures, following the lives of families living there. From requisite duties such as tending the herds, to entertaining neighbors and engaging in traditions of song and sport, Herders' Calling offers a glimpse into the life of the Kyrgyz herders. And at times, it simply captures the quiet existence of life in this expansive and distant land.

Najeeb Mirza
3651-109 street
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6J 1C2
(780) 434-3929
najeeb@newyoke.com
www.newyoke.com

Hidden Wars of Desert Storm
60 minutes, 2000 USA by Audrey Brophy

On August 2nd, 1990, Saddam Hussein launched his troops against Kuwait, triggering the first major international crisis of the post-Soviet Union era. But was this invasion a surprise in the first place? Were all diplomatic means utilized to try to resolve the issue peacefully? Was there any threat from Iraq against Saudi Arabia or against any of the other Gulf states? Why wasn't Washington's rhetoric against Saddam ever matched by any real support to the Iraqi opposition groups? Since they failed to weaken Saddam Hussein's power, what were the actual results of the U.S. sanctions against Iraq? What is true behind the mysterious "Gulf War Syndrome" that goes on affecting hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans and local Iraqi populations?

A two-year investigation, HIDDEN WARS OF DESERT STORM brings answers to all of these questions, based on documents never before seen on television and backed by interviews of such prominent personalities as Desert Storm Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, former U.N. Iraq Program Director Denis Halliday, former UNSCOM team-leader Scott Ritter and many others. This careful study of the events leading up to and during the first Gulf War in Iraq provide a fascinating and disturbing historical context for the current U.S. involvement in the region.

A large selection of archival footage, an original soundtrack by acclaimed composer Fritz Heede and narration by two-time British Academy Award-winner John Hurt all contribute to making HIDDEN WARS a fast-paced, informative documentary that is resolutely accessible to a general audience.

www.arabfilm.com

Highway Amazon
12 minutes, 2003 miniDV, USA By Ronnie Cramer

Highway Amazon documents the strange saga of Christine Fetzer, a female bodybuilder who travels the country wrestling men on beds in hotel rooms. Between “sessions” she discusses her unique method of earning a living and talks about her former career as an exotic dancer. After pulling down a couple of beers, she even spills the beans about bodybuilders and drugs.

"Outrageously weird and funny!" - Westword

Miami Short Film Festival, Best Documentary

Ronnie Cramer
Scorched Earth Productions
P.O. ox 101083
Denver, CO 80250
303-778-6264
ronnie@cramer.org
www.cultfilms.net
sepnet.com/rcramer/highway.htm

76 minutes, 2004 miniDV, USA By Sut Jhally & Jeremy Earp

Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire examines
how a radical fringe of the Republican Party has used the trauma of the 9/11 terror attacks to advance a pre-existing agenda to radically transform American foreign policy while rolling back civil liberties and social programs at home. The documentary places the Bush Administration’s false justifications for war in Iraq within the larger context of a two-decade struggle by neo-conservatives to dramatically increase military spending in the wake of the Cold War, and to expand American power globally by means of military force. At the same time, the documentary argues that the Bush Administration has sold this radical and controversial plan for aggressive American military intervention by deliberately manipulating intelligence, political imagery, and the fears of the American
people after 9/11.

imMEDIAte pictures
4818 Park Blvd. #4
Oakland, CA 94602
510-482-9019
www.hijackingcatastrophe.org
enival@earthlink.net

Hitler's Hat
47 minutes, 2003 USA by Jeff Krulik

A documentary about a Jewish GI who found Hitler's top hat, crushed it, and took it home as a souvenir of war...where it sat buried in his magic trick closet for 50 years.

"Witty and touching documentary" - THE NEW YORK TIMES

Holy Warriors
30 minutes, 2006 DVCAM, Russia/Afghanistan/Chechnya By Marianna Yarovskaya Northwest Premiere Documentary Short Competition

Holy Warriors chronicles the spiritual upheaval brought about by war. Offering profound insight into the resilience of the human spirit during trying times, Holy Warriors demonstrates the traumatic effect of enlisting unwilling soldiers in wartime and highlights the pertinent link between war and religion. As one characters states, "There are no atheists in a foxhole."

www.holywarriorsthemovie.com

87 minutes, 2005 Super 16mm, USA By Roberta Grossman

Nearly all Indian nations sit on land threatened by environmental hazards. This is one of the most important but least-known human rights stories in America today. The realities that the tribes live with are bleak -- children play near radioactive waste, rivers that tribes depend on for food are poisoned and reservations are completely surrounded by strip mines and smoke stacks spewing noxious fumes. Homeland: Four Portraits of Native Action takes a hard look at these realities and chronicles the efforts of four remarkable Native American activists leading the charge in these new Indian Wars. They are dedicated to forcing change – to save their land, preserve their sovereignty and ensure the cultural survival of their people.

Katahdin Productions
Roberta Grossman
323-337-1177
rgrossman@katahdinproductions.com
www.katahdinproductions.com

80 minutes, 2005 Super 16mm, USA By Rick Minnich

Hillbillies haven't died off; they've simply become neo-hillbillies. Three families of musicians in the Ozark Mountains of Southwestern Missouri give new meaning to the word "hillbilly." Float down the backwaters, soak up some old time religion, savor a washboard duel, and bask in the neon lights of the pseudo-hillbilly showtown Branson. Lean back and merge into hillbilliness .

Hoferichter & Jacobs GmbH
Alte Schönhauser Str. 9
10119 Berlin, Germany
+49-30-3087-4560
www.hoferichterjacobs.de
info@hoferichterjacobs.de

Hoop Dreams
176 minutes, 1994 Beta SP, USA By Steve James, Frederick Marx & Peter Gilbert

Hoop Dreams is the remarkable true story of two American dreamers; an intimate reflection of contemporary American inner-city culture, following two ordinary young men on the courts of the game they love. Plucked from the streets and given the opportunity to attend a "white" prep school and play for a legendary high school coach, William Gates and Arthur Agee both soon discover that their dreams of NBA glory become obscured amid the intense pressures of academics, family life, economics and athletic competitiveness. But most importantly, both boys remain focused on their dream, no matter how hard tragedy strikes or how desperate their situation becomes. It is their faith in the game that unites their family and gives each person hope. And it is this faith that ultimately allows them to build upon their failures as well as their triumphs and make for themselves a potentially better life.

“One of the greatest movie going experiences of my lifetime.”
  - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

George Foster Peabody Award, 1995

Kartemquin Films
1901 W Wellington Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657
773-472-4366
zak@kartemquin.com
www.kartemquin.com

Horns and Halos
79 minutes, 2002 DVCAM, USA By Suki Hawley and Michael Galinsky 2004 Best Documentary Feature

HORNS AND HALOS captures the unlikely connection of three men - an ex-con turned celebrity biographer, a janitor come underground publisher, and U.S. President George W. Bush - whose paths to power and popularity become tangled in a controversial book.

Rumur Releasing
164 Hall Street
Brooklyn, NY 11205
(718)636-0949
www.hornsandhalos.com

Hot Afternoons Have Been in Montana
16 minutes, 2005 16mm, USA By Ken Kimmelman

Based on the esteemed 1925 Nation prize-winning poem by Eli Siegel, this dramatic and colorful montage, combining still photography, live-action and special effects, shows how a hot afternoon in Montana is related to the whole world--people, places, things, events-past and present.   It so deeply honors the earth--its land, history and people.

"Ken Kimmelman's reproduction, on film , of Eli Siegel's magisterial poem, is an extraordinary achievement. It matches, in its visual beauty, the elegance of Siegel's words, and adds the dimension of stunning imagery to an already profound work of art." - Howard Zinn, Historian

Imagery Film,Ltd.
91 Bedford Street
New York, NY 10014
212-243-5579
ifl.home.mindspring.com
ifl@mindspring.com

How It Is With Phooie
87 minutes, 2007 DVCAM, USA By Mike Steinberg Sneak Preview

How it is with Phooie offers a personal look at the director’s father, Phil "Phooie" Steinberg, a 35-year veteran of the music industry. Chronicling Phooie’s personal life and his relationship with the music industry, an affair that began as a radio DJ in the 1960s, the film explores Phooie's quirky sensibilities: his compulsive record collecting, his lifelong obsession with 16 mm film prints and his love of cinema. As the mass-corporatization of the music industry threatens Phooie’s once predictable world, the question remains: Will the world change Phooie?

www.oolyakoo.com

Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
69 minutes, 2003 USA by Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller

Author of the million-copy-selling A People's History of the United States, 81-year-old Howard Zinn is the activist academic as working-class hero. This affable, craggy professor has an unmistakable voice—he's the embodiment of Depression consciousness and urban Jewish poverty projected into the social struggles of the '60s. A onetime longshoreman, Zinn found his first teaching job at Spelman College, a school for black women in Atlanta, and thus was a participant in, as well as a historian of, the civil rights movement. Fired for his activism, Zinn landed at Boston University in 1964, just in time to speak out—and not for the last time—at Boston's first mass rally against the war in Vietnam. Teaching again merged with political action, most spectacularly when Zinn accompanied Tom Hayden to Hanoi to bring home three released P.O.W.s.

You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train, which takes its title from Zinn's recent memoir, provides the historian with a platform to address the Afghan and Iraqi wars. But Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller's fond portrait, less documentary than infomercial, is unrelentingly and in the end self-defeatingly positive—albeit effective in showcasing Zinn's charismatic personality. The pop-star ambience is enhanced by Matt Damon's voice-over narration. Damon not only grew up next door to Zinn in Cambridge but gave A People's History a mighty plug when he recommended it to his therapist, Robin Williams, in Good Will Hunting: "This will knock you on your ass."

www.agitfilm.com

Hybrid
92 minutes, 2001 USA by Monteith McCollum

How do you illustrate the vision at the center of Milford Beeghly's career a man for whom hybrid corn represented the cause of a lifetime? Dancing ears of corn, snippets of old commercials, and visual meditations on the rich Midwest farmland that nurtured Beeghly's faith in the miracles of hybridization are among the creative ways chosen by the maker of the new film, "Hybrid, " to bring the laconic Beeghly's worldview to life.

The result is a quirky, poetic opus that says as much about the pragmatic spiritual values and emotional inhibitions of the American hinterland as it does about that archetypal Midwesterner, Milford Beeghly.

Indican Pictures
URL: http://indicanpictures.com
8205 Santa Monica Blvd. Suite 200
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Phone: 323-650-0832
Fax 323-650-6832
Email: admin@indicanpictures.com