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

A Shift in Perception
16 minutes, 2006 Super 8mm, Australia By Dan Monceaux Northwest Premiere MiniDoc Competition

A Shift in Perception is a humanistic, informal examination of living with blindness. Taking an experimental approach to documentary making, conversations with three blind South Australian women are illustrated using a broad range of camera techniques on Super8 film. The filmmakers use stop-motion animation, time lapse and other methods of abstraction to invite viewers to celebrate the beauty of the women's unique perspectives. With an experimental score by composer Alex Carpenter, the film washes over it’s audience like a dream; a heightened sensory experience.

www.danimations.com.au

18 minutes, 2006 HDCAM, USA By Nina Gilden Seavey Northwest Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Residents at the St. Mary's Court Retirement Community in Washington D.C. agree that nothing is better than Pearl Mallory's sweet potato pie. Hailing from rural Virginia, Pearl is one of eight children born of the sons and daughters of slaves. Now, at the age of 82, Pearl has lived nearly her entire life in kitchens where she cooks for senior citizens. This tender and humorous portrait of Pearl and the aged residents reveals how simple things often contain the greatest meanings.

www.GWU.EDU/DOCCENTER

Chains
5 minutes, 2006 HDV, USA By Khanti Smith and Cory Shaw Montana Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Chains shows the creation of a graffiti mural by the famed GM5 Crew. The mural retells the story of the origin of Hip-Hop and its roots in freedom. Using time-lapse photography, the film captures the entire creation process and sheds new light on the art of graffiti and hip-hop culture. This film was made entirely in five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org

7 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Valerie Krex and Bruce Tibbensee World Premiere MiniDocs Competition

How high can they go? Follow Coach Carrie and The Dragons to the Mount Helena Open for a behind the scenes look at the charged world of competitive cheerleading. This film was was made entirely in five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org

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

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

17 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Mary Firth Montana Premiere MiniDoc Competition

This emotionally powerful documentary chronicles the difficult journeys of five women from the time they learn of their pregnancies to the signing of adoption papers. The Giving explores how and why these women make what is perhaps the most difficult decision a mother could face. Pulling their stories from the shadows of society, this film shatters the myth of the careless, abandoning birthmother and reveals, once again, that courage and selflessness are found in the most unassuming places.

www.thegiving.info

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

In The Glow
8 minutes, 2007 miniDV, USA by Stewart Copeland World Premiere MiniDocs Competition

Part personal film, part pseudo-scientific study and part observational essay, In the Glow explores the banal, yet oddly beautiful, world of blank billboards.

www.gohomefatboy.com

10 minutes, 2006 Animation, Canada By Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre Montana Premiere MiniDoc Competition

An intimate look at cinematographic creation, McLaren's Negatives is a
visual essay that shares with us the secrets of legendary animator Norman McLaren.

"This charmingly animated documentary waltzes gracefully through the life and films on animation hero Norman McLaren." New Zealand Film Festival.

www.mjstpfilms.com

8 minutes, 2006 miniDV, Israel By Udi Efrat Northwest Premiere MiniDoc Competition

My Small Piece of Land is the story of one man's desire for freedom and the resulting conflicts that put in jeopardy his ability to provide for his family. This film was made in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org

Old Shadows, Old Mountains
6 minutes, 2006 DVCAM, China By Jonna Vasquez Arong Northwest Premiere Asia Docs Series MiniDocs Competition

While more youth are increasingly moving to Beijing to pursue their dreams, what do the older folks dream about in a small village tucked away in the mountains 60 miles away? In a village where the average age is in the mid-50s, the folks who fought to survive in the revolution are now struggling to maintain dying customs, including their own version of traditional opera. Made in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org
www.joannarong.com

6 minutes, 2006 DV, USA By Hilari Scarl World Premiere MiniDocs Competition

Laws and physical obstacles prohibiting skateboards in public spaces roused an ambitious bunch of skaters to build their own skate park under a freeway and embrace the poetry and freedom of the sport. Made in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org
www.HilariScarl.com

Relative Freedom
9 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Joe Kuehne Northwest Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Relative Freedom documents the director’s journey to interview members of his immediate family about their feelings on his homosexuality. Over the course of three days, the director and his filmmaking team traveled from Washington, D.C. to Ohio and Michigan to interview his parents and five siblings. The film documents the family’s difficulty reconciling their love for their son/brother with their firm religions beliefs. Ultimately, Relative Freedom addresses our changing definitions of family. This film was made in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org

Relatively Free
8 minutes, 2006 miniDV, Germany By Dalia Castel and Alessandro Cassigoli Northwest Regional Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Relatively Free presents a humorous trip through the history, politics and ideologies of East and West. Arvid, a life-long resident of East Berlin, serves as tour guide as he searches for freedom during a rainy day in Berlin. This film was made entirely in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org

Riding on Impulse
7 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Marianne Zugel, Toni Matlock, Tonya Easbey and Greg Twigg World Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Riding on Impulse presents a fresh view of contemporary western living. The film is a poetic illustration of the personal fulfillment that motivates the committed, outdoor enthusiast. In the mountain town of Missoula, Montana, the adventures of local characters reveal the key to their personal sense of freedom and quality of life. With an original score by resident musicians, the liberating rhythm of strings leads the viewer on a reflective and inspiring journey. This film was made entirely in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org

Un-Natural State
8 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Kirk Mangels Northwest Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Un-Natural State examines the absurdity of a little-known civil rights circumstance in the nation's capital. For more than 200 years, the residents of Washington, D.C. have fallen through a loop hole in the Constitution, and have never had representation in the U.S. Congress. There is no democracy in the capital of the United States of America. Made in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.worthyfoes.com

Whitfield
5 minutes, 2006 miniDV, USA By Nate Biehl, Tylor Larson and Steve Abitell World Premiere MiniDoc Competition

Between 2001 and 2004, Seth Whitfield served three combat-filled tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq as a Ranger in the U.S. Army. Seth's brutal first-hand accounts of his experience present an intense and revealing look at the life of a warrior as he discovers the flaw behind the War On Terror. Made in just five days as part of the International Documentary Challenge.

www.documentarychallenge.org