DC Independent Film Festival (DCIFF)

From over 1,000 submitted films, the DC Independent Film Festival announced the finalists films selected to screen in the upcoming festival set for February 19 to 23, 2014. The feature film finalist include 3 MILE LIMIT, BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE, FINDING NEIGHBORS, GREENCARD WARRIORS, LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN, PAAT, SONS OF THE CITY, THE TOASTMASTER, and THEY WILL OUTLIVE US ALL. The documentary finalists include BROTHERS HYPNOTIC, FUREVER, OFIR, PARTNERS FOR PEACE, THE ROAD TO FAME, and THIS AIN’T NO MOUSE MUSIC!.

FEATURE FILM FINALISTS

3 MILE LIMIT

Directed by Craig Newland 
(New Zealand  /2013 / 105mins / DC Premiere)
Lead Cast: Matt Whelan and Belinda Crawley
It’s 1965 and rock music is shaking up the world but not in New Zealand. Richard Davis is determined to break the Government’s monopoly on broadcasting and bring rock n’ roll to the younger generation, and at the same time hold onto the woman he loves. A pirate radio station is born (based on a true story).

BLOOD AND CIRCUMSTANCE

Directed by Tim Gordan
(USA / 2014 / 97mins / World Premiere)
Lead Cast: Nathan Keyes, Cynthia Watros, David Baker
Inmate Joel Stabler is being examined by a psychiatrist charged with determining whether Joel is fit to stand trial.  The result is a psychological puzzle box, filled with questions in a world where there are no easy answers.

FINDING NEIGHBORS

Directed by  Ron Judkins
(USA / 2013 / 96mins / East Coast Premiere)
Lead Cast: Michael O’Keefe,  Blake Bashoff, Catherine Dent, Julie Mont
Late on a book delivery, stay-at-home graphic novelist Sam Tucker battles a mid-life crisis.  A comedic drama about the relationships between next-door neighbors as they explore creativity, aging, sexuality and friendship.

GREENCARD WARRIORS

Directed by Miriam Kruishoop
(USA / 2013 / 90 mins / East Coast Premiere)
Lead Cast; Angel Amaral and Manny Perez
The story of 14-year-old Angel, an undocumented Latino teen, and his family in Los Angeles struggling  to find their place in American society; set against the backdrop of American military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan.

LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN

Directed by Matthew Kowalchuk
(Canada/ 2013 / 88mins / US Premiere)
Lead Cast: Amy Matysio, Ben Cotton, Daniel Arnold
Lawrence is an ever-optimistic suit salesman for whom everything always goes right —  until he takes the cynical and suicidal credit collector Holloman under his wing, and everything starts to go very wrong. Based on the hilarious play by two-time Governor General’s Award winning writer Morris Panych.

PAAT  

Directed by Amir Toodehroosta
(Iran / 2013 / 77mins / US Premiere)
Lead Cast: Mostafa Sasani, Saed Soheili, Sonia Sanjari, Negar Hasanzade, Jamshid Noori, Mandana Nosrati, Fahime Dabbaghi, Babak Hamidifard, Behzad Ashkan, Maryam Movaghar
One dog, a big city, three women and a few days.  Many stories, but just the one dog.

SONS OF THE CITY

Directed by Marcus Richardson
(USA / 2014 / 77mins / World Premiere)
Lead Actor: Howard Brown
After the murder of his best friend, DC native Joe Young’s  bright future is thrown into a war he does not want to fight yet cannot find the courage to leave.

THE TOASTMASTER

Directed by Eric Boadella
(Spain and USA / 2013 / 81mins / East Coast Premiere)
Lead Cast: David Hovan. Kali Flanagan and Sevag Mahserejian
After a weekend of surreal adventures, Alek and Uncle Kapriel realize that, although they use very different tools—cinematography and actors versus poetry and cognac—their ultimate goal is the same: to immortalize a story.

THEY WILL OUTLIVE US ALL

Directed by Patrick Shearer
(USA / 2013 / 77mins / DC Premiere)
Lead Cast: Jessi Gotta, Nat Kennedy
New York City. 2016. Roommates Margot and Daniel attempt to survive this ‘new’ New York by avoiding it at all costs.  But with the advent of three strange deaths in their Brooklyn building…

 

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

BROTHERS HYPNOTIC

Directed by Reuben Atlas
Netherlands & USA / 2013 / 86mins
The eight young men in the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble are all sons of anti-establishment Chicago jazz musician, Phil Cohran. They grew up in the same house, in a family of 24 siblings, on a strict diet of jazz, funk, and Black Consciousness. Now grown, they must decide whether their fathers’ principles really are their own.

FUREVER

Directed by Amy Finkel
USA / 2013 / 80mins
An exploration of the dimensions of grief people experience over the loss of a pet, Furever confronts assumptions regarding attachment, religion, ritual, grief, and death, and studies the bonds that form between humans and animals, both psychological and physiological.

OFIR

Directed by  Mark McDannald
USA / 2013 / 58mins
When Ofir Drori discovered that no one was fighting to disprove Jane Goodall’s dark prophecy that apes in the wild would soon be extinct, he decided that he was the man for the job.   Fearless guerilla filmmaking to save the gorillas.

PARTNERS FOR PEACE

Directed by Ed Kucerak
Canada / 2013 / 101mins
Under the leadership of Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams and Mairead Maguir, a delegation of American and Canadian women journey to Israel and Palestine to learn about the decades-long conflict and to reach out in solidarity to women activists forging a path toward peace.

THE ROAD TO FAME

Directed by Hao Wu
China / 2013 / 80mins
A rare, intimate look at the coming-of-age of some of China’s most promising yet confused youth as we follow the rehearsal process of the graduating class at China’s top drama academy staging ‘Fame’ the musical, China’s first official collaboration with Broadway.

THIS AIN’T NO MOUSE MUSIC!

Directed by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling
USA / 2013 / 92mins
The story of Chris Strachwitz, the guiding force behind the legendary Arhoolie Records. Since 1960, Strachwitz has traveled with tape-recorder in hand  to plantations and prisons, roadhouses and whorehouses, churches and bayou juke joints. He returned with recordings that would revolutionize the sound of popular music.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

A SYNAPTIC ADVENTURE: TOURETTES AND BEYOND

Directed by Stephen Dijoseph
USA / 2013 / 12mins
A humorous and insightful journey through the mind of a composer/performing artist who grew up, lives and thrives with Tourette’s Syndrome .

ACE OF DIAMONDS

Directed by Anna Overgaard
USA / 2013 / 34mins
Nelson Dellis climbs mountains to raise awareness  for Alzheimer’s research and defends his extraordinary  title of two-time U.S. National World Memory Champion.

GUARDIAN OF GUANO

Directed by Ana Elisa Sotelo
USA / 2013 / 12mins
Isolation, commitment and knowledge shape the powerful work of guarding island birdlife in Peru.

LEAVING SHARPE

Directed by Justin Reifert
USA / 2013 / 12mins
In 2013, Washington D.C. Public Schools closed 15 schools in an attempt to cut costs and reduce under-enrollment. Sharpe Health, a school for students with special needs, was among them and the impact is real.

NO STRANGERS

Directed by Steven Kochones
USA / 2012 / 27mins
A celebration of cultural diversity through the images and commentary of acclaimed photographers, anthropologists and ethnographers.

SEARCHING FOR PERFECTION

Directed by Sergey Gavrilov
Russian Federation / 2013 / 18mins
Californian born ballerina – Joy Annabelle Womack – moved on her own at the age of 15  to Russia to dance Russian classic ballet professionally.

WHEELCHAIR DIARIES: ONE STEP UP

Directed by Reid Davenport
USA / 2013 / 27mins
Director Reid Davenport has cerebral palsy and was discouraged from studying in Europe based on his disability…so he went to Europe to find out the truth.

ANIMATION FINALISTS

A Life with Asperger’s
Directed by Jamie Ekkens  (USA / 2013 / 4mins)

Creation & Hope
Directed by Keith Carter and Gia Kereselidze  (USA / 2013 / 10mins)

Dogonauts: Enemy Line
Directed by Shel Rasch  (USA / 2013 / 17mins)

Elysian Fields
Directed by Ina Conradi  (Singapore/ 2013 / 10:50mins)

Fallt
Directed by Chadwick Whitehead  (USA / 2013 / 2:06mins)

Fibonacci Bread
Directed by Danijel Zezelj  (Croatia / 2012 / 7:40mins)

Girl Meets Boys
Directed by Shiyu Luo  (China / 2013 / 2:31mins)

Handle With Care
Directed by Jun Iwakawa  (UK / 2013 / 4:30mins)

Light Me Up
Directed by Derek Dolechek and Ryan Walton  (USA / 2012 / 9mins)

Salmon Deadly Sins
Directed by Steven Vander Meer  (USA/ 2013 / 7mins)

Sidewalk
Directed by Celia Bullwinkel  (USA / 2013 / 4:15mins)

Sausage
Directed by Robert Grieves  (UK / 2013 / 8mins)

Si Lunchai
Directed by Hannes Rall  (Germany / 2013 / 8:36mins)

The Missing Scarf
Directed by Eoin Duffy  (Ireland / 2013 / 6:35mins)

The Rose of Turaida
Directed by Ryan Grobins  (Australia / 2013 / 6:13mins)

Virtuoso Virtuell
Directed by Thomas Stellmach and Maja Oschmann  (Germany / 2013 / 7:20mins)

 

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With the last minute addition of the film Methhead, the film lineup is complete for the 2013 DC Independent Film Festival scheduled to run March 6-10, 2013, in Washington, DC.

In the film Methhead, directed by Jane Clark, Kyle Peoples (Lukas Haas) sees an opportunity to escape from his mundane reality, but his new friendship with Maia (Necar Zadegan) and Dusty (Blake Berris), and the trio’s love of crystal meth eventually cost Kyle everything – his job, his lover, his family and his home.

Other films on the lineup include:

FEATURES

BOYS ARE US
Switzerland / 2012 / 73mins / directed by Peter Luisi
After 16-year-old Mia gets hurt in love, she and her sister decide to take revenge on a boy. When other people and unexpected feelings start getting involved, the game of the two girls suddenly begins to take on dangerous proportions.

CAMERA SHY
Canada / 2012 / 91 mins / directed by Mark Sawers
A dark comedy about a corrupt city councilman (Nicolas Wright) whose life spins out of control after a mysterious cameraman begins terrorizing him.

HARD SHOULDER
UK / 2012 / 88 mins / directed by Nicholas David Lean
When Carl (Wil Johnson) reluctantly agrees to a strained weekend away with his family, a trip to the remote Welsh moors becomes a HORRIFIC fight for survival as a convoy of carnival travelers violently forces the family off the road.

SHOUTING SECRETS
Switzerland / 2012 / 88mins / directed by Korinna Sehringer
A successful Native American writer whose novel sold out his family finds himself pulled back home to San Carlos Apache reservation. A story about a Native-American family with unique struggles yet universal truths and a film with a stellar Native-American cast; Chaske Spencer, Gil Birmingham, Q’orianka Kilcher, Tyler Christopher, Tantoo Cardinal and Rodney A. Grant.

THE FIRST WINTER
Canada / 2012 / 72mins / directed by Ryan Mc Kenna
Offbeat and deadpan, this is a bitter-sweet tale about a young man in Portugal who, having impregnated a vacationing Canadian, must face the inhospitable Canadian landscape and its hopeless denizens when he emigrates to join her.

NORMAL
USA / 2012 / 75 mins / directed by Nicholas Richards
Near Normal, Illinois, but certainly far from normal, this is a strange day in the life of Phin (Geno Rathbone) who, stuck in a gorilla costume, must raise $3000 after his neighbor holds Phin’s car for ransom.

OROS (THE COINBEARER)
Philippines & USA / 2012 / 81mins / directed by Paul Sta Ana
A gritty, gripping story unfolds in a Philippine slum, where even death becomes a provider as people exploit the dead in order to survive by holding sakla (illegal gambling) at staged wakes.

BAROMAS (FOREVER)
India / 2012 / 124mins / directed by Dhiraj Meshram
Based on the Award-winning novel by Sadanand Deshmukh, this film visits rural India and the issues of corruption, unemployment and farmers’ suicides amidst harsh socio-economic conditions. The story of two brothers, both educated and jobless, who take on the system head on in entirely contrasting ways.

Feature Documentaries

BETWEEN TWO RIVERS
UK / 2012/ 98mins / Jacob Cartwright and Nick Jordan
An aesthetically powerful film about Cairo, Illinois, isolated at the confluence of the Ohio & Mississippi rivers, where North meets South. The film combines original cinematography and candid interviews with archive footage, unseen for over 40 years, capturing the town at the height of explosive racial tensions in 1969.

CORPORATE FM
USA / 2012 / 74mins / directed by Kevin McKinney and Jill McKeever
The internet didn’t kill radio, commercial radio is killing itself. Corporate FM reveals how buyout firms have changed radio and made handsome profits along the way.

DIRECTING DISSENT
Germany / 2013 / 65mins / Sophie Hamacher
John Roemer, high school teacher and social activist, takes us through heated battles of the Civil Rights Movement. Set in Baltimore, a city with a turbulent history of charged race relations, the film shows Roemer’s distinctive and unconventional style of teaching and his ardent call for activism.

LET THERE BE LIGHT
USA / 2012 / 97 mins / Peter Swanson
The film follows Rowan LeCompte and Dieter Goldkuhle as they make their last great window for Washington National Cathedral. These two grand masters of stained glass labor to create a masterpiece in a race against time. Told with stunningly beautiful images, this is a story about the struggle to create great art using glass and light.

LOS GINGER NINJAS
Mexico / 2012 / 76mins / directed by Sergio Morkin
In 2007, an unknown Northern California rock band called the Ginger Ninjas set out to tour Mexico. They had no van and no gigs. They hauled their instruments, camping gear and human-powered sound system on special load-carrying bicycles. An exploration of youthful freedom, transformation and relationships among these eco-travelers.

THE NEW WOMAN: ANNIE “LONDONDERRY” KOPCHOVSKY
USA / 2013 / 27mins / directed by Gillian Willman
Until 1894, there were no female sports stars, no product endorsement deals, and no young, Jewish mothers with the chutzpah to circle the globe on a bicycle. A film about Annie Kopchovsky, the eccentric, fiery woman who changed all of that.

WE WOMEN WARRIORS
USA / 2012 / 83mins / Nicole Karsin
In Colombia’s war-torn indigenous villages, three brave women from distinct tribes guide us through their worlds. Trapped in a protracted predicament that is fueled by the drug war, indigenous women are using their resources and tradition to lead in a transforming way imbued with hope.

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The 13th annual Washington D.C. Independent Film Festival (DCIFF) will take place March 3-13, 2011.  DCIFF will showcase more than 100 features, shorts, animations, and documentaries created btalented artists from around the world. Films are grouped by theme into 26 different sessions.

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