Japan's Lost Wolves
8 minutes, 2003 USA by Tracy Graziano

Once worshiped within Japan as god-like creatures of the mountains, Japanese wolves were turned into noxious animals by socio-cultural influences causing their population to slowly dwindle. Here Brett Walker uncovers the story of Japan's lost wolves.

Jenin Jenin
54 minutes, 2002 Palestine by Mohamed Bakri

'Where is God,' an elderly man desperately wonders when surveying the debris in the Palestinian refugee camp Jenin.

The film, directed and co-produced by Palestinian actor and director Mohammed Bakri, includes testimony from Jenin residents after the Israeli army's Defensive Wall operation, during which the city and camp were the scenes of fierce fighting. The operation ended with Jenin flattened and scores of Palestinians dead. Palestinians as well as numerous human rights groups accused Israel of committing war crimes in the April 2002 attack on the refugee camp. Jenin Jenin shows the extent to which the prolonged oppression and terror has affected the state of mind of the Palestinian inhabitants of Jenin.

Bitterness and grief are the prevailing feelings among the majority of the population. Many have lost loved ones or are still searching for victims and furniture among the debris. A little girl, who does not seem to be much older than twelve, tells her story but knows no fear. The ongoing violence in her day-to-day life only nourishes her feelings of hatred and the urge to take revenge. She tells what she would do to Prime Minister Sharon if he visited the camp and she shouts that the Palestinians will never give up the struggle. They will keep on producing children, who can continue the fight against injustice.

The sad question forces itself on the spectator. What will become of a country, a people when its children are confronted with war and violence from a very early age?

Banned in Israel, Jenin Jenin is dedicated to Iyad Samudi, the producer of the film, who returned home to Yamun after the shooting of the film was completed. On June 23, as Israeli forces besieged Yamun, Samudi was shot and killed as he was leaving a military-closed area with three friends.

www.arabfilm.com

Jesus Camp
84 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady Montana Premiere Special Presentation

A growing number of Evangelical Christians believe there is a revival underway in America whereby Christian youth must assume the leadership of the conservative Christian movement. Jesus Camp follows a number of young children to Pastor Becky Fischer's Kids on Fire summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, where kids as young as 6 years-old are taught to become dedicated Christian soldiers in God's army. The film is a first-ever look into an intense training ground that recruits born-again Christian children to become an active part of America's political future.

www.jesuscampthemovie.com

15 minutes, 2004 16mm, USA By Nancy Stein

Joey is an intimate and vivid portrayal of the lives of children growing up amid gangs and violence in South Los Angeles. Joseph "Joey" Swift lived in a neighborhood where violent gangs bully and murder freely and often without consequence in part because police are overwhelmed and witnesses intimidated. His friends and family struggle to cope with his untimely and unfair demise.

11 minutes, 1991 16mm, USA By Les Blank

Born in 1903, Julie Lyon, sister of Old Time fiddler Tommy Jarrell, lights up this gem of a film as she spins tales of her Appalachian childhood in North Carolina -- and her first romance. In telling stories of her life, from her midwife grandmother riding horseback through ice storms to deliver babies to her proper but whimsical courtship of her husband, Julie evokes in an inimitable way a world of times gone by: of the memories that lie behind a patchwork quilt or a yellowed daguerreotype.

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