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Program 1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#2
Big Cities Short Stories

PROGRAM#3
Catching Out

PROGRAM#4
Truth Seekers

PROGRAM#5
The Odds Of Recovery

PROGRAM#6
Getting There

PROGRAM#7
Altered Realities

PROGRAM#8
To Know is Always Better

PROGRAM#9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It

Sofa
Hyekung Jung
2001 3 min Color BetaSP Korea/Germany West Coast Premiere
Sofa is an absurd animated split screen comedy about 2 people who live together without acknowledging each other. It is a film about relationships, miscommunication and animal rights.

The Great Yiddish Love
Diane Nerwen
2002 15 min B/W DV US Wolrd Premiere
In 1937 Marlene Dietrich turned down Nazi agents who wanted her to return to Germany and make films there. Instead she became an American citizen, broadcasting anti-nazi propaganda during WWII. Her films were banned by the Third Reich, and Zarah Leander became the reigning star of nazi-era musicals and melodramas. The erstwhile rivals are brought together in Nerwen's video, which combines clips from Leander's and Dietrich's movies with a 1930's era Yiddish soundtrack to create a deliriously poignant lesbian love story.

Peep Show
Debbie Garcia Bruce & Natalie Repp
2002 1:18 min Color VHS US
Pink and blue marshmallow Peeps get it on, do an animated jig and overpopulate the earth. You’ll never look at these Easter confections the same way again.

Then a Year
Kelly Reichardt
2002 14 min Color BetaSP US
Using a collage of sound from sensationalized TV “true” crime shows and eerily beautiful soft focus Super 8 footage, Reichardt creates a narrative of love and betrayal. Amy Taubin of the Village Voice calls Then a Year “lyrical, ominous and evocative of how horribly love can hurt.”

Super Buy More
Liz Blazer
2001 1:20 min Color 16mm US
Sylvia loses her husband in an aisle at the local Super Buy More only to find him propositioning another lady…

Lustmord
Gwynne Fulton
2002 10 min Color/B/W 16mm Canada
Shot in black and white and optically printed on color stock, Lustmord is a surreal horror film which tells the story of a deranged hospital chambermaid’s nightmarish fantasies and repressed desires. Fulton images a carnival of the perverse where sexual paranoia triggers fears of infection and sickness as punishment for moral and sexual transgression.

Lola Ferrari
Hope Tucker
2001 1:50 min Color US West Coast Premiere
Hope Tucker transforms an obituary from a list of public accomplishments to a revelation of the deceased’s most private moments.

Making Out in Japan
Janet Merewether
1996 9 min Color BetaSP Australia US Premiere
Structured as a language lesson, Making Out in Japan is five easy steps to attain intimacy in Japanese. The subtleties of love are humorously regimented into dry language drills. Images from Japanese television shows are used and their meaning ultimately altered to that of a search for love and a demonstration of lust.

French Kissing
Francien van Everdingen
2 min Color 16mm The Netherlands US Premiere
An optically printed kiss.

The Velvet Tigress
Jen Sachs
2001 11 min Color 16mm US Northern California Premiere
This award-winning highly-stylized animated drama uses recreated newspaper headlines and narrative sequences to tell the bizarre story of the 1931 Winnie Ruth Judd “Trunk Murders.” Was it a crime of passion or just cold blooded murder?

Fingers, Mouth
Zoey Kroll
2002 5:20 min Color VHS US World Premiere
With wonderfully sly interview techniques Fingers, Mouth reveals how boys find their way through the female anatomy.

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Program 2
Big Cities Short Stories
Take a peek into the lives of a host of characters in this series of shorts set in Australia, Vietnam, Israel, Africa, the US and more. These funny, heart wrenching and touching films are meticulously crafted portraits of people both real and fictional.

PROGRAM#1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#2
Big Cities Short Stories

PROGRAM#3
Catching Out

PROGRAM#4
Truth Seekers

PROGRAM#5
The Odds Of Recovery

PROGRAM#6
Getting There

PROGRAM#7
Altered Realities

PROGRAM#8
To Know is Always Better

PROGRAM#9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It

Program 3
Catching Out
The adventure begins on the porch of a grainer hurtling through the Mojave Desert. The journey continues into the unconventional terrain of an American sub-culture. Catching Out follows contemporary train hoppers as they navigate between the constraints of society and the freedom of the road. Train hoppers in person!

Catching Out: the act of hopping a freight train
Sarah George
2002 80 min Color Video US San Francisco Premiere

Co-presented by Red Vic Movie House
Sponsored by SF Guardian

The adventure begins on the porch of a grainer hurtling through the arid expanse of the Mojave Desert. The journey continues into the unconventional terrain of an American sub-culture—train hopping. Catching Out features a seasoned eco-activist named Lee, a young nomad named Jessica and a tramp couple named Switch and Baby Girl. In three interwoven stories, Catching Out follows these contemporary trainhoppers as they navigate between the constraints of society and the freedom of the road. As their personal stories unfold, the rails recede into the background— we visit Lee’s cozy forest home, meet his parents and eventually follow him to a hobo gathering in Dunsmuir, CA. Jessica settles temporarily in San Francisco with family and friends. Switch and Baby Girl grapple with their new lives as parents. Incorporating visually lush time lapse photography with the honest and often touching interviews with these modern day hobos, Catching Out takes viewers on a ride across America.

The City Sleeps
Teri Lang
2002 3:30 min Color DV US
A stunning look at a San Francisco night.

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Program 4
Truth Seekers
Films that explore the search for understanding, whether of war, hunting or the nature of community. Filmmaker Victoria Gamburg will screen her film Right Road Lost. Chris Willging will present her newst work Standing at Ground Zero, an uplifting film about one mans experiences during World War II.

PROGRAM#1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#2
Big Cities Short Stories

PROGRAM#3
Catching Out

PROGRAM#4
Truth Seekers

PROGRAM#5
The Odds Of Recovery

PROGRAM#6
Getting There

PROGRAM#7
Altered Realities

PROGRAM#8
To Know is Always Better

PROGRAM#9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It

A Conversation with Haris
Sheila Sofian
2001 6 min Color 16mm US
Using a documentary interview with a young Bosnian immigrant as her soundscape and hand-painted animation as her pallet Sofian allows the viewer to experience the violence and tragedy one boyßs family endured in A Conversation with Haris. With dignity and maturity beyond his 11 years Haris recounts his life and the family members he lost.

Right Road Lost
Victoria Gamburg
2002 11 min Color 16mm US
"Midway on our lifeßs journey, I found myself in dark woods, the right road lost. To tell about those woods is hard...so tangled and rough and savage..." Danteßs Inferno. So begins Victoria Gamburgßs Right Road Lost. Born into a family of military men Phil Rios had another dreamãhe wanted to be an artist. Chronicling his own history and participation as a soldier in the Vietnam War and as a National Guardsman in the Persian Gulf Rios explores his Right Road Lost. Using photos from his own collection Rios tells the chilling story of an operation in the Persian Gulf. "We were going in there to kick out an evil person and restore democracy," but what happened would haunt him for years to come.

Pilots Are Badass
Cheryl Park
2002 10 min Color US
Eager to be a "real man" Peter joined the air force. Pilots Are Badass exposes one man's search for an identity that will give him power and respect. In candid and often funny interviews Peter reveals his ideas about relationships, war and his definition of a good woman.

The Hunter's Guide
Kerry Hustwit
2000 25:40 min Color 16mm US
The Hunter's Guide documents the age-old ritual of hunting in a stunningly shot, meditative documentary that reveals the beauty, the horror and the camaraderie of this "sport." Cinema veritÈ footage of hunting and images of the hunter painting delicate portraits of his prey are intercut with audio interviews of the filmmaker's father as he talks about his love of hunting and his daughter's history of trying to deter him from his passion. Hustwit's film is an attempt to understand her father's obsession and explore the almost ceremonial act of killing.

Encierro
Nicole Haeusser
1998 3 min Color Super 8 UK US Premiere
Filmed in Spain in lush color super 8 film, Encierro or Enclosed explores one bullßs challenge and the "art" of a bullfight.

Drawing the War
Lena Merhej
2002 3:30 min B/W BetaSP Lebanon/US World Premiere
Drawing the War chronicles the horrors one child observes while growing up in the Middle East.

Standing at Ground Zero
Chris Willging
2001 17:30 min Color 16mm US San Francisco Premiere
Standing at Ground Zero uses one mans experiences during World War II to create a stirring story of war, accountability and humanity. Warren Kreml was only a teenager when he was drafted; through his retelling of the events he experienced and through the use of archival footage the viewer is taken on a journey through Nagasaki just after the atomic bomb was detonated. With haunting original music and the calm and thoughtful words of one soldier turned pastor, Standing at Ground Zero is an honest and intimate story of transcendence and forgiveness.

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Program 5
The Odds Of Recovery

Co-Presented by SF Cinematheque Sponsored by The Lexington Club and Paisley's Restaurant
Su Friedrich will be in attendance to present the World Premiere of her new film The Odds of Recovery. Both poignant and funny this intimate portrait takes a look at the realities of aging, the web of Western medicine, personal growth and understanding

The Odds Of Recovery
Su Friedrich
65 min, Color, 16mm US World Premiere Filmmaker in Person
The Odds of Recovery is the story of Friedrich's battle with a multitude of often unexplained illnesses, the series of operations she endures and her struggle to understand the web of Western medicine. Both poignant and funny this intimate portrait takes a look at the realities of aging, personal stagnation and growth. It allows the viewer to peek into the filmmakerßs fight to understand her body as well as the private world of a long-term relationship as well. Friedrich weaves documentary and first person experimental filmmaking to create a film that falls between genres allowing her to approach her subject in a way that recognizes its complexity. The Odds of Recovery includes a series of texts from medical and self help books, the principles of T'ai Chi and gardening books. The viewer is led on a journey through the seasons which tells a story of rebirth and one woman's determination to understand and gain control over her body and her life.

Beloved
Andrea Leuteneker
US 2002 10 min Color silent 16mm World Premiere
With its rich colors and time-lapse photography, Beloved is an ode to the beauty of flowers and a love poem to the filmmakerßs lover.

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Program 6
Getting There
This live music extravaganza will include the World Premiere of local filmmaker Natalija Vekic's The Girl With The Pearl Suspended. Also in attendance is performance artist, puppeteer and filmmaker Nancy Andrews with her film The Reach of an Arm.

PROGRAM#1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#2
Big Cities Short Stories

PROGRAM#3
Catching Out

PROGRAM#4
Truth Seekers

PROGRAM#5
The Odds Of Recovery

PROGRAM#6
Getting There

PROGRAM#7
Altered Realities

PROGRAM#8
To Know is Always Better

PROGRAM#9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It

Madame Winger Makes a Film
Helen Hill
2001 9:45 min Color 16mm Canada
Inspiring people near and far, award winning animator Helen Hillßs newest creation, Madame Winger Makes a Film, will entice even the most technically inept people to make a movie.

The Reach of an Arm
Nancy Andrews
2001 30 min B/W 16mm US West Coast Premiere Filmmaker in person
Performance artist, puppeteer and filmmaker Nancy Andrews will present her new film The Reach of an Arm. Andrews puts a twist on the story of the great move West and the search for fortune in gold in this live action and animated filmic journey. The bucktoothed heroine, Peculiarity Goodin, heads the family in this tragicomic Grapes of Wrath-esque film which reveals the harsh realities of traveling as a family. The film's original score will be played live by local musicians with Andrews on percussion.

The Divine Miracle
Daina Krumins
1973 5.5m Color 16mm US
This comic homage to the "holy one" recreates Jesus's last moments on the cross and his journey to heaven. Bodiless angels fly around him as he takes his last steps into the next life.

The Girl With The Pearl Suspended
Natalija Vekic
2002 16 min Color 16mm World Premiere Filmmaker in person
This fairytale about a young man entranced by a fantasy-filled book hearkens back to both the luscious Technicolor of an MGM musical and Kenneth Angerßs surreal extravaganzas. Tristan is a reclusive young man on an illusive search determined to fill the void in his life by surrounding himself with the precious objects he collects. Complete with freak show scenes, live snakes and acrobats, The Girl is a thrilling ride where daydreams and nightmares intersect.

Hike Hike Hike
Anouck Iyer
2001 4 min B/W 35mm US West Coast Premiere
Using live action footage of a dog sledding team and painstakingly animating each frame in photoshop Iyer creates a gorgeously animated jaunt through the snow in Hike Hike Hike.

The Travelling Eye of the Blue Cat
Shawn Atkins
2001 16 min Color 35mm US
Using meticulously crafted photo-collage animation, The Travelling Eye of the Blue Cat tells the surreal story of a woman, her lover, two blue cats and the violence they all share. The surreal narrative unfolds swiftly taking unexpected turns as it explores notions of love, jealousy, death and rebirth.

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Program 7
Altered Realities
A series of films that take a haunting and humorous look at altered environments. Using optical printing and innovative animation these filmmakers create surreal almost science fiction worlds of a future to come. Including Abigail Child's Dark, Dark where the noir world of Hollywood is literally turned upside down.

PROGRAM#1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#2
Big Cities Short Stories

PROGRAM#3
Catching Out

PROGRAM#4
Truth Seekers

PROGRAM#5
The Odds Of Recovery

PROGRAM#6
Getting There

PROGRAM#7
Altered Realities

PROGRAM#8
To Know is Always Better

PROGRAM#9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It

Perseverance and How to Develope It
Jenny Perlin
2002 14 min Color/B/W US World Premiere
Perseverance and How to Develop It investigates the connections between depression, self-help, controlled environments and success in the US. Taking its title from a self-help book written nearly a hundred years ago, the film reveals how 20th century industry relied on books like Perseverance to instill a drive for individual success in young workers. Perlin pulls together interviews, recreations of people acting out their neuroses and rare archival footage of union riots from the 1940s as well as texts from self-help books and Freud to create ironic connections between a success-oriented work force then and now.

Bautismo
Casey Koehler
2002 5:30 min B/W 16mm US California Premiere
This found footage hand-processed film creates a dreamlike state. The Bautismo or "baptism" infers a woman caught at sea fighting to keep afloat and away from the surreal demons that haunt her.

Dark Dark
Abigail Child
2001 16 min B/W 16mm US
This amazing deconstruction of filmic narrative creates an atmosphere of suspense that rests not on story but technique, as fragments of Hollywood films are eerily rotated and repositioned to create a sinister world of romance and danger. This is a many-layered film, one that is visually gorgeous and is also a maze of interpretive possibilities. With haunting music by Ennio Morricone.

Switch Center
Ericka Beckman
2002 10min Color 16mm Hungary/US
This beautifully crafted film was shot in decommissioned water plants and water towers in Budapest. Using editing as her vehicle Beckman transforms these abandoned spaces into one space that comes alive with workers. Beckman calls Switch Center "a tribute to the futuristic Soviet Industrial Architecture of the post war period, and a reaction to its conversion into shopping malls and global corporate office structures of the present day."

Vessel Wrestling
Lisa Yu
2001 13 min Color 16mm US
Using jello, clay and human hair Yu manufactures a domestic space gone awry. While a woman waits for her child to come to dinner the audience is introduced to the unearthly creature she awaits. The space is transformed into a world where hair balls have a mind of their own and humans melt into light fixtures only to ooze own of the walls in erotic delight. This stunning film snagged Yu the award for Most Promising Filmmaker at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Sharp Proofing
Pearce Williams
2002 8 min Color DV US West Coast Premiere
With an unsettling blend of fiction and realism Sharp Proofing takes viewers behind closed doors of a psychiatristßs office. Our protagonist reveals her worst fears and phobias in this deadpan and succinctly written animated narrative.

Effigy Ù specimens 4 to 12
Sheri Wills
2000 2 min Color DV US CA Premiere
By placing organic materials directly onto unexposed 35mm film and flashing it with light Wills creates an eerie atmosphere of anticipation.

Hatching Beauty
Amy Hicks
2001 10 min Color 16mm US
Altering time and motion, this cleverly conceived film uses stop-motion, live action and found footage to tell the humorously unsettling story of a single mom as she considers selling her ovum for some extra cash.

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Program 8
To Know is Always Better
Films that redefine the concept of "educational" media and reveal the peculiar worlds of controlled environments, gated communities, atomic bomb aftermath and manipulated celluloid. Local filmmaker Cade Bursell will present the World Premiere of her new film Test Sites. Also including new films by Naomi Uman and Jennifer Reeves.

PROGRAM#1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#2
Big Cities Short Stories

PROGRAM#3
Catching Out

PROGRAM#4
Truth Seekers

PROGRAM#5
The Odds Of Recovery

PROGRAM#6
Getting There

PROGRAM#7
Altered Realities

PROGRAM#8
To Know is Always Better

PROGRAM#9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It

Introduction to Living in a Closed System
Brittany Gravely
2001 18 min Color 16mm US California Premiere
Introduction to Living in a Closed System is a ruptured educational film that explores the notion of self-contained utopian environments. Working on the assumption that the worldßs every shift and weather change is controlled by engineers Introduction takes an eerie journey to a world with a synthetic future.

Fluid
Maria Raponi
1999 5 min Color Silent 16mm Canada US Premiere
A gorgeous optically printed film, which uses live action and collage to convey the movement of air through the body.

Hand Eye Coordination
Naomi Uman
2001 10 min Color/B/W 16mm US
Award winning filmmaker Naomi Umanßs shares the pleasure of hand made moviemaking in Hand Eye Coordination.

In Order Not To Be Here
Deborah Stratman
2002 33 min Color/B/W 16mm US East Bay Premiere
In Order Not To Be Here explores consumer culture in corporate and suburban America. Shot entirely at night this beautifully grainy 16mm film documents the use of surveillance video, security patrols and other forms of "protection" from those who do not fit into the world of shopping malls and closed communities. This jarring film is complete with surveillance footage and a creepy sound track which includes news anchors covering fires, robberies and other natural and man made tragedies.

Clins De Vue
FrÈdÈrique Devaux
2000 4 min Color 16mm France
Utilizing 35mm found footage from documentary and narrative films Deveau optically prints and repositions these disparate stories.

Test Sites
Cade Bursell
2002 15 min Color 35mm US World Premiere Filmmaker in person
Test Sites explores and comments on the testing process employed during the development of the atomic and thermo-nuclear bombs. Employing picture and sound from newly de-classified military operations, medical and other archival films plus original footage shot at the Nevada Test Site, the print seeks to re-investigate bomb-related testing, specifically the recently disclosed, non-consensual medical experiments conducted on US citizens. By scotch taping found footage onto 35mm stock Bursell literally reframes the governments role in the making and testing of these bombs.

Fear of Blushing
Jennifer Reeves
2001 6 min Color 16mm US
Acclaimed filmmaker Jennifer Reeves' Fear of Blushing takes the viewer on a roller coaster ride of visceral experiences with this hand-painted, bleached and optically printed film. Reeves uses the mixture of corroded emulsion and a menacing sound-scape to evoke anxiety, pleasure and shame.

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Program 9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It
A series of historical and contemporary films that pay homage to the architecture, the culture and the pace of New York City. Including legendary photographer Helen Levitt's stunning film In the Street, Shirley Clarke's wonderfully funny documentary Skyscraper and Abigail Child°Øs Some Exterior Presence.

PROGRAM#1
This Crazy Thing
Called Love

PROGRAM#2
Big Cities Short Stories

PROGRAM#3
Catching Out

PROGRAM#4
Truth Seekers

PROGRAM#5
The Odds Of Recovery

PROGRAM#6
Getting There

PROGRAM#7
Altered Realities

PROGRAM#8
To Know is Always Better

PROGRAM#9
NYC, Just Like I Pictured It

Bridges-Go-Round with a jazz score by Teo Macero
Shirley Clarke
1958 3.5 min Color 16mm US
Using the magic of film to set Manhattan's bridges free from their moorings, Clarke sends them on a dizzying carousel ride around the city, scored to two separate musical tracks--each of which alters the viewers perception of the images.

In The Street
Helen Levitt
1952 16 min B/W Silent 16mm US Print Courtesy of the Exploratorium Film Collection
Legendary photographer Helen Levittßs stunning portraits of children on the Upper East Side come to life in her only motion picture, a silent meditation on street culture, In The Street.

Vanilla Egg Cream
Johanna Hibbard
1999 7 min Color 16mm US CA Premiere
The beautiful and meditative animated film Vanilla Egg Cream chronicles the daily life of one couple while living in an eclectic neighborhood in New York. Street music and exterior city sounds mingle as the couple argue and share an intimate moment.

Go Go Go
Marie Menken
1962-64, 11.5 min Color Silent 16mm US
Menken takes a stop motion tour through New York in this energetic classic from another era. Cars on the West Side Highway weave in and out of traffic while boats glide peacefully on the water.

Skyscraper
Shirley Clarke
1959 20 min Color/B/W 16mm US
The dazzling images of 666 Fifth Avenue being built from the ground up are set to a jazzy score of beat-style poems and songs, blended with the voices of actors playing construction workers, in this unique and wonderfully funny document. Magnificently capturing the speed and spirit of New York City, its inhabitants and its structures, Clark transforms the meaning of industrial documentary and reveals the collaborative process in making this gem of a film.

Bridges-Go-Round with an electronic score by BeBe and Louis Barron
Shirley Clarke
1958 3.5 min Color 16mm US
See above

Some Exterior Presence
Abigail Child
1977 8min Color/B/W Silent 16mm US
Awash with red tones Some Exterior Presence uses reedited and optically-printed footage from a documentary Child shot in the Bronx and Brownsville boroughs of NYC in 1975. This beautiful piece is a unique look at one community.