Moondance Film List

Short Films

BROAD BEANS (Greece) Comedy by Konstantia Kontaxis, Trakeboukelatomat Productions.
Inspired by a Pythagorian golden verse, this visually succulent film is a bizarre & increasingly apocalyptic yet comic tale of revenge & superstition in a small Greek town.

THE BUSE (US) Sci-fi Dark Comedy by Kelsey Scott, FSU Film School.
New Buse would rather be a Muse. Buses are here to harass mankind, but one, New Buse, doesn't want to be mean to mortals anymore. Can he escape his fate, and earn his umbrella, without being caught by the head Buse, Murphy's Law?

CAT'S CRADLE (AUSTRALIA) Dark Comedy/Drama by Liz Hughes, Camma Productions.
In this film by an Aboriginal Australian woman, Dad is dead on the dining room table. His family cannot afford to bury him, so they set out with his corpse on their shoulders to find a final resting place for their father. Shot in grainy black & white, with no dialog & only ambient sounds, this surreal, incredibly poignant film has won awards all over the world for its quiet yet harrowing portrait of desperation and love.

CHOMP (CANADA) Comedy by Tammy Bentz, Ani Bo Productions.
A film that combines slam poetry, digital video and music to create a sexy satire to sink your teeth into and to startle the tastebuds. In a deflated moment, an ordinary woman acts in an extraordinary way and finds herself feasting on an admiring young man, and forever alters her taste for life's experiences.

CROSSROADS (US) Drama by Sally Kaplan & Novuyo Masakhane, AFI Presents.
Using the West African Yoruba tradition, a mysterious shape-shifter weaves through this colorful, classic tale of an African-American father searching for his long-lost son, and the chance encounter that brings them together again. Kaplan & Masakhane are local Boulder filmmakers.

GEORGIA PEACH BOY (US) Fantasy/Drama by Mamie McCall, FSU Film School.
Tonya, a very large woman, wants only one thing in life: a baby. But when her wish is magically granted, and she suddenly finds her baby in the pit of a giant peach, she discovers she's not the only one wanting the miraculous child. A tragi-comic story of dreams-come-true, money, seduction, betrayal and a giant peach.

GOHBI AND GOD (US) Dramedy Invited film Vangelis Maderakis, USC/Peter Stark Producing Program.
Two boys, a run-down neighborhood in Los Angeles, a rooster, and the denizens therein make a small world which is changed by the goodness of one boy. Beautifully filmed and acted. The director's & cinematographer's talents evident in this film make us laugh & cry…and we see what we may have missed…and how we really do care about this minor cosmos.

I WANT TO MEDITATE (US) Comedy/Drama by Somyung Sohn, Amalgam Films.
During meditation, a serious young Asian man manages to accidentally levitate himself right out of his house, then finds himself locked out, while the rest of the world mindlessly passes him by.

JACK & JILL (US) Drama by Sheri Hellard, POV/Full-Fill-It Productions.
Everyone has a dream they often spend their life trying to achieve, and sometimes, the journey is more important than the goal. Two people, in this almost surrealistic, almost tragi-comic drama, face overwhelming odds that drive them to the edge of total despair, and yet, they meet, seemingly by accident, are torn apart, and finally confront their demons together, thereby discovering that elusive butterfly: hope.

THE MASK MAKER (US) Drama by Amy Waddell, Mount Parnassus Pictures & AFI Presents.
During the "Great war", soldiers who were severely disfigured in combat were asked by the French government not to show their faces in public. A mask-maker who carries his scars internally helps an ostracized, disfigured soldier, and in doing so, is healed. A memorable tour de force of an avant garde film.

MAMMAN, Y'A UN MONSTRE DANS MON LIT! Mommie; There's a Monster in my Bed (CANADA) Drama by Martine Fortin, Acrair.
A young woman, trying to find some splinter of happiness and love in her life, remembers the drama of her childhood, growing up in a poor country family with a terrible secret. Before it was even completed, this film was selected to be presented at the World Film Festival in Montreal & since then, it has been selected for 18 other international festivals, and has been awarded the nomination for Best Short Film at the prestigious Gala des JUTRA (Quebec's Oscars‚)

MORSDAG MOTHER'S DAY (NORWAY) Drama by Angela Amoroso, Seaside Scripts.
A mother visits her son in an institution, where he has a gift she is unwilling to accept. The gift is more of an accusation than he realizes, and she has a message he doesn't want to hear. They speak at cross-purposes, and in that short time, a lifetime of hope and pain is revealed.

MY DIVORCE (US) Comedy/spoof by Andrea M. Clark, Lionheart Films.
An hilarious and all-too-true mock-documentary comedy entirely made up of outrageous comments by friends & family, made to the filmmaker during her rough & tumble divorce.

MY MOTHER RECEIVED A WOUND (US) Drama/comedy (invited film) by Eric Bosse, One-Eyed Films.
This tongue-in-cheek poignant little drama addresses one's relationship with good ol' Mom. A young man willingly capitulates to Mom's crazy wishes in an extremely odd way.

ODESSA (US) Drama by Amy Lyndon, Dream Big Productions.
Starring Martin Luther King's eldest daughter, Yolanda King, this film is set in 1969, and tells a courageous story of forgiveness, desegregation and love, and the strength to stand up for what is right and good.

THE SHANGRI-LA CAFÉ (US) Drama Written & directed by Lily Mariye, Nice Girls Films & AFI.
This touching drama weaves an allegorical tale of a Japanese-American family who conceals their ethnicity and reluctantly adopts discriminatory practices in order to operate a popular Chinese restaurant during the hostile post-WWII climate of Las Vegas in the late 1950s. The ultimate decision Emiko must make, and the effect it has on her young daughter, will profoundly change their lives.

TELLYVISION (NEW ZEALAND) Drama by Liz Hughes, Rhinoceros Pictures.
In this surrealistically-filmed story, a pair of bored, lonely, TV-starved lovers in a minimalist, barren world embark upon an absurd journey in search of fulfillment. How will they unite with the one thing that binds them, and fit it into their world, and thus satisfy their fondest dreams?

TWO AT NIGHT (ISRAEL) Drama by Hadass Shuvi, Camera Obscura.
A battered and submissive wife finds herself a participant on a nocturnal odyssey with an unfamiliar and mysterious woman. Encountering a variety of strange characters, each discovers something about herself, and something about freedom of choice.

THE WATER GHOST (US) Drama/fantasy by Elizabeth Sung, AFI.
A mystical encounter with a beautiful spirit trapped in a dark lake forces a young Chinese-American girl to face the death of her belovéd mother. In an underwater dance of life and death, the two come to an understanding of sorts. She sacrifices her own feelings of fear and anger to free the spirit from the lake, and is finally able to move on with her own life.

Documentary Films

94 YEARS & 1 NURSING HOME LATER (USA) by Laurel Greenberg.
A rarely-seen, intimate view of elder-hood, as the filmmaker struggles to communicate with her father & grandmother, near the end of the grandmother's life. This very touching, funny and honest film relates across the generations and lingers in the mind long after the credits roll. The grandmother's efforts to spare her son & granddaughter anxiety, & her attempts to hide her loneliness and desire to just be with them at home, amongst her family, is poignant and memorable.

CLOTHESLINES (USA) by Roberta Cantow.
Buffalo Rose Productions. The symbolic and artistic role of laundry in womens' lives. The image of the clothesline is emblematic of the often-unseen work of women. The film uncovers the pain, drudgery and isolation of a woman's chores, while it celebrates the wisdom, folklore and humor of women.

COMPANIONS/TALES FROM THE CLOSET, (Norway) Invited film by Bergstrom & Neant-Falk, LittleBig Productions. Women in late middle age rediscover lost loves from their early lives, after the husbands and children, and their lives as wives and mothers. They settle gratefully back into the arms of the teenaged girls, now elderly ladies, they once loved, never forgot, and now are free to love again.

I THINK I CANNES (USA) by Phyllis Stuart. P.S, Productions.
A young, enthusiastic underdog of a wannabe filmmaker visits the world's most famous film festival…and is kicked out of everywhere, yet perseveres and eventually gets her shots…well, sort of. An insider's hilarious behind-the-scenes look at the Cannes Film Festival, warts & all.

LA FRONTERA (USA) THE BORDER by Barbara Martinez-Jitner, El Norte Productions.
"As we leave our land, our culture is erased forever". This Latina filmmaker exposes the sad reality of women fleeing virtual slavery in NAFTA factories in Mexico. Martinez-Jitner lived in the shacks and instant communities: the shanty-towns of Tijuana, while filming this documentary, traveled with a Mixtec Indian woman to Oaxaca to bid farewell to her family forever, and then documented her illegal crossing to "El Norte".

LAST JOURNEY INTO SILENCE (Israel) Shos Shlam by Shlam Productions.
The wall of silence still remains for some Holocaust survivors. The elderly men & women in this film were hospitalized in mental institutions for sometimes 40 years, but have now been relocated to a hostel for Holocaust survivors, imprisoned in the hell of their memories, where they do not even remember the Holocaust, and emptiness and inner time rule their lives.

LAS VEGAS WEDDING (USA) Invited film by Janice Engel, Cobalt Films.
An inside look at the often-humorous, sometimes sad, usually tacky side of drive-in weddings, garish wedding chapels, and neon-lit marriages made in Las Vegas. Engel takes us down the aisle to experience the whole gamut of the Vegas wedding ceremony, a rite of rhinestones and tattered, plastic, momentary happiness among the casinos, where all sorts of couples gamble on connubial bliss.

MARIE (USA) by Jadina Lilien.
A day in the life of a thoroughly mad pack-rat of a 70 year-old woman, who lives in abundant squalor amidst what she considers riches…she must clamber over piles of junk, garbage and everything she's ever owned in order to even get out the door. Marie tells us her philosophy of life, and almost convinces us!

MY LEFT BREAST (Canada) by Gerry Rogers, Pope Productions.
A longtime Newfoundland filmmaker, Rogers was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. This very moving, intimate and often-humorous portrait is presented with a powerful mix of vulnerability and generosity, as Rogers opens up both her body and soul to the camera.

WITHOUT LYING DOWN (USA) by Bridget Terry, Chaise Lounge Productions.
An excavation of the legacy left by the women of early Hollywood, as seen through the remarkable life of one of the most successful screenwriters ever, Frances Marion. Marion wrote over 200 films, won 2 Oscars ‚, and for 3 decades, was the highest-paid screenwriter in the world. This film traces the lives and careers of many powerful women in the budding Hollywood film industry who, without lying down, had a profound and lasting influence on the birth of that industry.

WOMEN'S PRIVATE PARTS (Hong Kong) by Wong Chun Chun, Mandarin Films, Ltd.
This film was created by an all-women crew, and documents the real and private side of modern Chinese women, who are commonly perceived as conservative and subservient. But after experiencing the revelations in this passionate & shocking film about the Chinese sex-industry, you'll see another side of some of the women of China, and you'll see how women are much the same, worldwide, when it comes to the subject of men & sex.

Animation Films

ANOREXIE (Germany) by Jenni Tietze.
A pointed examination of the dark world of anorexia through animation that is at once frightening, and full of light on the subject, in this straightforward, surrealistic story of a science-fictional company called United Diets.

A DANCER DROPS OUT OF THE SKY (Australia) by Karen Pearlman.
The Physical TV Company. Animated, digitally-generated choreographic images allows our hero to slide from Italy to Australia to Poland and back to the clouds in a single, extended phrase.

FIRE (UK) by Roya Kafi-Rezaee, Northern Production Fund/University of Northumbria at Newcastle.
This traditionally hand-drawn animated film, by an Iranian director/animator, deals metaphysically with fire as a symbol of power and life, and with the relationships between man and woman, when one's power over another is destined to destroy.

FIRST PERSON SINGULAR (USA) by Kim Zumpfe, Zumpfe Productions.
God (whether male or female is unknown) almost accidentally creates the universe from his/her hands, and in the process, creates music and even allows a brief cameo appearance by primitive homo erectus. Clay animation by a talented Boulder animator.

FLIGHT OF THE STONE (Germany) by Suzanne Horizon-Franzel, Sultana Films.
In this memorable and surprising film, a cobblestone is torn out of its natural environment and is made into a tool of violence, hurled at a perceived enemy, and yet…the stone misses its target and enters into an orbit around the Earth. It impacts on varied people in its strange journey through many countries, before it returns to the hand that threw it. The film took two years to shoot, and was an adventure for the entire crew (more than 500 people!), who literally walked around the world, and shot one frame every few steps. Using a technique called pixillation, they then inserted the stone into digitized scenes.

THE GREEN MAN OF KNOWLEDGE (Scotland) by Rachel Bevan-Baker, Red Kite Productions.
In this Jack and the Beanstalk story, a young man ventures forth and finds himself in a land of enchantment, where he encounters the Green Man of Knowledge and completes 3 challenges, but only with the help of a beautiful girl, with whom he, of course, falls in love. Bevan-Baker's film, "Beelines", won the Moondance 2000 for best animation.

RICK & STEVE (US) Invited Film by Q. Allan Broka. Posh Productions.
The happiest gay couple in all the world give a dinner party and invite their lesbian friends for quiche, and then all hell breaks loose in this Lego-hell of hilarity and irreverent, tell-all comedy of errors.

Moondance 2000 Favorite Films

BEELINES (Scotland) Animation by Rachel Bevan-Baker, Red Kite Productions.
June sixth, bees arrive in my life a swarm settles in the garden! I remember Granny taking a swarm. Looked like magic! Winner of the Moondance 2000 animation category.

THE BRIDE & THE BROOM (Spain) Animation by Mabebe Delgedo.
A ghetto housewife dances into an animated, fantastic dream world of beauty and a handsome lover, and back again.

THE EGG (USA) Animation by Linda Kudzmas, Fried Egg Films.
A one-minute animation film that answers an age-old question: who came first; the chicken or the egg?

IDOLLE (Germany) Animation by Petra Schroder & Anja Perl, Dibolfilm.
A flower chooses her moment to sing her song, sending a mini-cat to extreme measure, in this animation film that was up for an Oscar nomination in 2000.

KATHRYN AND HER DAUGHTERS (USA) Documentary by Sandra Pfeifer.
Kathryn, an elderly rural farmwife raised seven children in a traditional lifestyle in the 50's. Archival photos and down-to-earth interviews with Kathryn and her daughters are sure to warm your heart. Winner of the Moondance documentary category.

PEACOCK BLUES (USA) Drama Devorah Cutler -Rubenstein. Chanticleer Films & Showtime Network. A Gritty romantic comedy about a tattoo artist and a numbers runner who team up to win a tattoo competition. (This is the first time a tattoo convention has actually been filmed.) Winner of the Moondance 2000 short film category.

PUMP (USA) Dark comedy by Abigail Severance, Belle Cote Pictures.
A woman decides her broken heart is useless and she discards it, or tries to, in this powerful and surrealistic film noir.

THE UNIQUE ONENESS OF CHRISTIAN SAVAGE (Australia) Drama by Jennifer Ussi.
Victoria College of the Arts. Filmed on the Veldt of South Africa, two young boys, one black and one white, form a friendship that is torn apart by apartheid and the church. Winner of the Moondance Columbine Award 2000, and subsequently screened at Cannes 2000.

Special Screening of Animation Films From Klasky-Csupo

Klasky-Csupo has put together a special two-hour retrospective of girl-power animation films for the whole family, cartoon-buffs and of interest to animators and animation writers. Maja Almsko & Bonita Versch, top animators at Klasky-Csupo, will present the screenings, and will answer questions afterward.

THE SIMPSONS, RUGRATS, THE WILD THORNBERRYS, REAL MONSTERS, EDITH ANN, MAD TV PILOT, ROCKET POWER, AS TOLD BY GINGER