Archives > 2005 > Documentaries
- Continuous Journey
- Cuba Today! - un hazard habanero and Tres Veces Dos
- Dance! - Ursa Dream and Dances of Ecstacy
- The Devil's Miner
- Emmanuel's Gift
- The Gits
- Going Through Splat: The Life and Work of Stewart Stern
- Jump
- The Liberace of Baghdad
- Life in a Box
- Oil and Water and Peaceable Kingdom
- Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
- Ride of the Mergansers and Trout Grass
- Shakespeare Behind Bars
CONTINUOUS JOURNEY
Canada/2004/87 min.
West Coast Premiere
Of the 376 Indian passengers on the KOMAGATA MARU in 1914, all came
to Canada assuming that they, as British subjects, would be free to
settle anywhere in the Empire that they, as veterans of the British
Indian Army, had risked their lives to defend and expand. They were
wrong. The Continuous Journey Regulation of 1908 stopped them less
than a mile from the Vancouver shore where they were held without food
or water for more than two months. This regulation stated that immigrants
from Southern Asia could not enter Canada unless they arrived on a
vessel that had made a continuous journey from their homeport. A shrewd
and cynical piece of legislation, the act purported to be non-exclusionary
but was actually designed to keep a significant number of non-Caucasians
out of the country. The incident helped to fuel the growing Indian
independence movement. Filmmaker Ali Kazimi, an Indian immigrant now
living in Canada, ingenuously uses archival material and actual historical
testimonies to create this cautionary documentary.
A word for the wary: Injustice is not a sometime thing.
Director/Producer, Ali Kazimi; Editors, Graeme Ball,
Ali Kazimi.
SPONSOR: Victoria Express
CUBA TODAY!
Perhaps it's a throwback to the Cold War, but contemplating life in a Communist country still brings visions of government oppression, cultural suppression, and personal repression. Particularly in creative life. Yet these two films - one an Italian documentary, the other by three young Cuban filmmakers - suggest otherwise. Economic and political hardships are evident, but the creative spirit thrives in Cuba today.
Un hazard habanero
Voice from an Island
Italy/2004/49 min.
Spanish with English subtitles.
West Coast Premiere
Cuba is a country in fast evolution. Youth are in ferment: They are seeking new routes to let themselves be known as well as new languages to communicate in any artistic form from music to literature, to cinema and the visual arts. This film grew out of casual encounters between the artists and the filmmakers who try to draw a map among the new Cuban generations that use art as a means of communication.
Director, Chiara Bellini; Producer, Francesco Scura; Cinematographer, Francesco Carini; Editor, Paola Freddi; Sound, Francesco Sabez.
And
TRES VECES DOS
Three Times Two
Cuba/90 min.
Spanish with English subtitles.
Northwest Premiere
Theatre Three young Cuban directors deliver a sexually charged omnibus film. Taking its cues from three memorable love affairs, this trio of tales moves from Hitchock-inspired thriller to politically tinged musical to steamy erotica. FLASH tells a modern-day tale of a Havana photographer haunted - and tempted - by the image of a long-dead 50s fashion model. Moving from Havana to the countryside, LILA revisits political turbulence (and musical trends) of Cuba's past through an elderly woman's recollection of an adolescent love, retold entirely in song. In the film's finale, LUZ ROJA tracks the rain-soaked, gorgeously physical affair between a psychologist and a blind woman. Three remarkable stories of modern Cuba, three distinct styles and three new Latin American voices, brought together in one feature film. THREE TIMES TWO lets audiences experience Cuba at its most immediate and most startling.
Directors, Pavel Giroud, Lester Hamlet, Esteban Insausti.
SPONSOR: Pane d'Amore
Dance!
The human's desire and capacity to dance, to move, to express the inner workings of the mind and the soul, is explored in these two films.
URSA DREAM
USA/2005/6 min.
Spanish with English subtitles.
West Coast Premiere
A young girl is introduced to the power and potential dangers of creative self-expression in this short hand-painted and drawn animated film. It ends with a surprise communication that assures her survival, but not her safety.
Director/Writer/Cinematographer/Animator, Kate Brown; Producer, Michael Mideke; Music, Eric Sbar.
And
DANCES OF ECSTASY
USA/2002/59 min.
DANCES OF ECSTASY is a sensory journey into the mesmerizing world of trance and music that binds dancers from Manhattan to Morocco. The film travels to various traditional and modern day rituals to discover what is the altered state experience which people seek through dance. In these rituals, whirling dervishes from Turkey, Orisha priestesses from Nigeria and Brazil, and shaman healers from the Kalahari and Korea pulse to the same beat as thousands of young people at an all-night techno dance party in an Australian forest. DANCES OF ECSTASY celebrates the universal human experience where rhythm and dance unite us.
Director/Writer, Michelle Mahrer; Producer/Co-writer,
Nicole Ma; Cinematographers, Paul Elliott, Michelle Mahrer; Sound,
Nicole Ma, Paul Finlay; Editor, Sioux Currie.
SPONSORS: Phoenix Rising and William James Bookseller
THE DEVIL'S MINER
with Co-director Kief Davidson
USA/2005/82 min.
West Coast Premiere
Welcome to hell: the mines of Cerro Rico, Bolivia, known to the local tribes as "the mountains that eat men." Here, death can be sudden and unexpected, and Satan is worshipped as a god, capable of protecting his followers from misfortune. Through this inferno we follow 14-year-old Basilio Vargas, a child-laborer who began working as a fatherless 12-year-old in the pits that are said to have claimed eight million lives since the Spanish conquistadors first began extracting silver. Today, average life expectancy for miners is between 35 and 40, and still some 800 children toil in the sweltering darkness. An angry, impassioned piece of filmmaking, packed with unforgettable images and an indomitable spirit.
Directors/Producers, Kief Davidson, Richard Ladkani; Cinematographer, Richard
Ladkani; Editor, Kief Davidson; Music, Leonardo Helblum
and Andres Solis.
Cast: Basilio Vargas, Vernardino Vargas, Vanessa Vargas, Manuela
Altica Vargas, Braulio Jancko, Patre Jesus, Satumino Ortega, and the
miners of Cerro Rico.
SPONSORS: The Clothes Horse and The Palace Hotel
EMMANUEL'S GIFT
USA/2004/80 min.
Northwest Premiere
Recently featured on ABC World News Tonight and other networks, Emmanuel
Ofosu Yeboah of Ghana has become a role model for millions of Africans
and others with disabilities. Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, this is the
story of a disabled orphan whose father abandoned him, whose village
dismissed him and whose country thought him better off dead. While
Emmanuel's message is vital: people with disabilities are valuable
contributors to any society, his method is inspirational. Emmanuel
begins his quest with a bicycle ride, over 600 kilometers, across Ghana
with one leg and continues to spread his vision with grit and resolve.
Ultimately, this is the story of a young man who had nothing, but gave
everything and changed an entire nation.
Winner of the Audience Award at the 2005 Cinequest Film Festival in
San Jose, California.
A word for the wary: Bring your handkerchiefs.
Directors/Producers: Lisa Lax, Nancy Stern; Cinematography,
Samson Chan; Editing, April Wilson, Meredith Paige; Music,
Jeff Beal.
SPONSORS: Skookum and Pacific Traditions Gallery
THE GITS
with Director Kerri O'Kane and Producer Jessica Bender
USA/2005/90 min.
The first time Matt Dresdner heard Mia Zapata sing, he knew she was
destined to front the punk rock group he dreamt of forming. In the
fall of 1986, Dresdner, Andrew Kessler, Steve Moriarty and Zapata became
The Gits. In 1989, they relocated from Ohio to Seattle in search of
a new life and a larger audience. Quickly gaining popularity in the
Seattle music scene of the early 1990s, they distinguished themselves
with a soulful, street-punk sound at a time when "grunge" was putting
Seattle on the map. Characterized by powerful, driving music and Zapata's
poetic lyrics, major record labels took notice. But just as The Gits
were poised to explode onto the national music scene, an unfathomable
tragedy struck. This film celebrates the band's enduring musical legacy
while embracing the soul of the legendary Mia Zapata.
A word for the wary: Joy and sadness, shock and awe all in the
space of a couple of hours.
Director, Kerri O'Kane; Producer, Jessica Bender; Cinematographer,
Sean Kirby; Editor, Staci Dekker; Music, The Gits.
SPONSORS: Quimper Sound and Ichikawa Japanese Cuisine
GOING THROUGH SPLAT: The Life and Work of Stewart
Stern
with Director Jon Ward and screenwriter Stewart Stern
USA/2005/104 min.
Twenty years ago, Stewart Stern, the gifted screenwriter of many classics, including REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, TERESA, THE UGLY AMERICAN, SYBIL, and RACHEL, RACHEL, abruptly left Hollywood for the Pacific Northwest. Seattle director Jon Ward looks for the reasons why in this new documentary. A Port Townsend favorite since his first appearance at the Rose Theatre's 10th anniversary in 2002, Stern made a name for himself in Hollywood without any help from his famous uncle, Adolph Zuckor, head of Paramount Pictures. He forged friendships with the likes of James Dean, Montgomery Clift, and Marlon Brando. GOING THROUGH SPLAT allows Stern to speak for and about himself and explain just what "going through splat" means. The film features interviews with associates and friends like Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Dennis Hopper, Sally Field, and Eva Marie Saint, another Port Townsend favorite. A word for the wary: Prepare to be delighted.
Director/Producer/Screenwriter, Jon Ward; Cinematographers,
Jon Ward, Ian Magdich, Derek Hughes; Editors, Jon Ward, Rochelle
Bartholomew, Music: Stephen,Thomas Cavit.
SPONSOR: Scarecrow Video
JUMP
a return engagement with Justin Bookey
USA/2005/70 min.
World Premiere
Northwest-raised in an amphibian-friendly family, Justin Bookey won the 2004 Port Townsend Film Festival best documentary short for his film about the giant, phallic, geoduck clam, 3 FEET UNDER, which went on to PBS broadcasts throughout the country and received an Emmy nomination. Now, he's back with a full-length doc inspired by a famous Mark Twain short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Each spring the California community celebrates its history with a jumping frog jubilee. JUMP follows the sweat, sacrifice, and dedication of three frog teams and a solo jumper in their annual quest to be Calaveras County's top frog jockey. In some counties, length is everything.
Director/Producer, Justin Bookey.
Cast: Lee Giudici, Bob Fasano, Michael Ziehike, Sr.
SPONSORS: The Buzz and Swain's Outdoors
THE LIBERACE OF BAGHDAD
UK/2004/75 min.
West Coast Premiere
With two inches of ash perpetually dangling off his cigarette and his thinning hair pulled into a rakish ponytail, Samir Peter looks more like a '50s beatnik than a classically trained concert pianist who once enjoyed celebrity status in his country. He was, in fact, a musical phenomenon in pre-Saddam Iraq, a self-proclaimed Liberace of Baghdad, a likeable character whose life, like so many in that war-torn country, has been put on hold by dictatorship and war. Samir provides an ironic, near-fatalistic window into the daily horrors of his nation, while never losing sight of his dreams, which include living in America - the country his daughter and many other Iraqis blame for their nation's chaos. A word for the wary: Out of chaos comes something still undefined.
Director, Sean McAllister; Producers, Mette Heide, Nick Fraser, Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Sean McAllister, Johnny Burke; Editor, Ollie Huddleston; Music, Samir Peter; Researcher, Ruth Tilley.
Preceded by two short films taken by and about members of Charlie
Company, an eight helicopter support group attached to the Fifth Battalion,
158th Aviation Regiment, while on assignment in Iraq.
SPONSOR: Brent Shirley & Associates
LIFE IN A BOX
with Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer & James Dean Jay Byrd
USA/2005/92 min.
Pacific Northwest Premiere
Fans of the queer country duo, "Y'all," and the uninitiated alike
will be charmed by this down-home tale that follows this unique pair
on their musical tour across America. Taking to the road in a modest
trailer home - a cramped yet comfy habitat that has inspired their
titular tune - the singing duo is more than a decade into their curious
career as the film opens. Out, proud and prodigiously talented, Steven
(in overalls) and Jay (in his lucky green dress) strum, toot, and harmonize
sweetly on "We're Still Poor and We're Still Happy." Enter Roger, a
fellow free spirit who transforms the dynamic duo into a romantic menage
a trois. Frisky bedfellows don't necessarily make simpatico bandmates,
however, and the story rolls on.
A word for the wary: The lucky green dress is not for sale.
Director/Producer, Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer; Cinematography,
Roger McKeever; Editor, Carl Weichart; Music, James
Dean Jay Byrd, Steven Cheslik-Demeyer.
SPONSORS: Wandering Wardrobe and Harborside Inn
OIL AND WATER
USA/2005/26 min.
Filmed before and after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, OIL AND WATER is a portrait of Prince William Sound as seen by a Bellingham man in a kayak. It is a love song to nature, a mourning cry for the wounded natural world and an attempt to navigate despair. The film explores our relationship to the earth and why human beings are so destructive as civilization continues to evolve.
Director/Cinematographer, Corwin Fergus; Producer/Editor, Daniel Hammill.
And
PEACEABLE KINGDOM
USA/2004/70 min.
Imagine awakening one day to realize that the work you were trained to do since birth went against the deepest part of your being. In PEACEABLE KINGDOM, former farmers and farm animal rescuers share the life-changing experiences that led them to question some of society's most fundamental assumptions about animals. Anthropologist Jane Goodall has called the film "a masterpiece."
Director/Editor/Sound, Jenny Stein; Producer, James
LaVeck; Cinematographer, Jason Longo; Original Music,
Moby.
SPONSORS: Summer House and the Food Coop
PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA
USA/2005/67 min.
World Premiere
As narrated by legendary counterculture filmmaker John Waters, the
Salton Sea was once known as the Riviera of the West. Tucked into the
southeast corner of California, it was a haven for jetsetters and vacationers.
Created by accident, it is now one of the country's worst ecological
disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and
birds by the thousands. Still, a hardy few hang on there, hoping for
help to come along to restore the lake to its former glory. Congressman
Sonny Bono was himself once dedicated to saving the lake, until he
went skiing one day. Eccentrics abound in this surreal landscape: the
naked guy who waves to passing RVs, the man who built his own holy
mountain, beer loving Hungarian Hunky Daddy, the guys who plan to get
rich someday when this virtual sewer becomes a Riviera again.
A word for the wary: Hair-raising and hilarious; part history lesson,
part cautionary tale.
Director/Producer/Cinematographer, Christopher Metzler; Director/Editor,
Jeff Springer; Narrator, John Waters.
SPONSOR: MarinerBank
RIDE OF THE MERGANSERS
USA/2004/11 min.
West Coast Premiere
The Hooded Merganser is a rare and reclusive duck found only in North America. Every spring, in the Great Lakes region, the wary hen lays and incubates her eggs in a nest high in the trees. Just 24 hours after hatching, the tiny ducklings must make the perilous leap to the ground below to begin life in the wild. This age-old rite is rarely observed. RIDE OF THE MERGANSERS brings this hidden drama to the screen.
Director/Producer/Cinematographer/Writer, Steve Furman.
And
TROUT GRASS
USA/2005/50 min.
West Coast Premiere
Coursing from the verdant hills of southern China to the majestic
streams of Montana, TROUT GRASS is a story of passion, international
partnership and the discovery of place in our natural world. The film
walks us through the entire process of transforming bamboo from a vibrant
species of grass to a super-conductive splitcane fishing rod. The story
takes us from a remote village in China, where the raw material is
selected specifically for rod makers, to a rustic workshop in Montana
where 12' x 2" pieces of grass are crafted into highly revered three-ounce
fly rods.
A word for the wary: You may turn into a birdwatcher or a flyfisher,
or both.
Director/Cinematographer, Ed George; Producers,
Andy Royer, Josh Moro; Writer, David James Duncan; Music,
Woody Simmons; Picture and Sound Editor, Gail Steiger.
SPONSORS: Fleet Marine and Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op
SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS
with Director Hank Rogerson
USA/2004/92 min.
A revelatory trip into prison life as the Shakespeare Behind Bars theatre troupe, a group of hardened inmates at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in Kentucky, cast and direct themselves in roles reflecting their personal history and fate and, just as in Shakespeare's day, the men play all the female roles. The inmates' individual stories, including information about their heinous crimes, are interwoven with the plot of "The Tempest" as these men delve deeply into the characters they portray while confronting their personal demons. SHAKESPEARE BEHIND BARS is an extraordinary story about the creative process and the power of art to heal and redeem - in a place where the very act of participation in theatre is a human triumph and a means of personal liberation.
Director, Hank Rogerson; Producer, Jilann Spitzmiller; Cinematographer,
Shana Hagan; Editor, Victor Livingston; Music, James
Wesley Stemple.
SPONSORS: Imprint Books and Port Townsend Sails