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2.19.2008

upcoming films and event reminders

Lisa's Note: In addition to the following films don't forget to check out the Moving Image Museum films during President's week for the whole family, The Charismatic Megafauna String Orchestra at Perch in Brooklyn, Wednesday night @ 6:30pm and Golda Solomon—Blues for Winter’s End starting at 6pm sharp @ The Cornelia Street CafĂ©, this Thursday. (Details below in previous postings.) Enjoy!

MOVING IMAGE PRESENTS INNOVATIVE HURRICANE KATRINA DOCUMENTARY ‘THE AXE IN THE ATTIC’ WITH CO-DIRECTOR LUCIA SMALL IN PERSON




On Saturday, February 23, 2008, at 6:30 p.m. the Museum of the Moving Image will present a special screening of The Axe in the Attic, a moving documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by filmmakers Ed Pincus and Lucia Small. The film, which premiered at the 2007 New York Film Festival, incorporates the filmmakers’ personal responses to interviews with displaced New Orleans residents. Co-director Lucia Small will participate in a discussion following the screening, moderated by Assistant Curator Livia Bloom.

The Axe in the Attic documents Lucia Small and Ed Pincus’s 60-day road trip from New England to New Orleans, capturing emotional interviews with Katrina survivors and showing vivid scenes of the devastated landscape. The filmmakers encounter a range of evacuees grappling with the daily grind of their altered lives—from a close-knit African American family from New Orleans’ Lower Ninth starting over in the wintry hills of suburban Pittsburgh; to a single working mother raising two teenagers in a condo on the outskirts of Cincinnati; to Baker, Louisiana, where the residents of FEMA’s largest trailer park live as if in a refugee camp. In the process, Small and Pincus reveal their own role in these encounters and thus bring the viewer closer to the many stories in the film.

Lucia Small and Ed Pincus take a daringly personal and experimental approach to the material,” said Bloom, who organized the screening. “The strength of The Axe in the Attic lies in its intimacy, both in capturing the moving, articulate interviews with survivors, and in revealing the directors’ own emotions and motivations.”

The Axe in the Attic 2007, 110 mins. Video. Produced, directed, and written by Lucia Small and Ed Pincus. 

For a full press kit about The Axe in the Attic and to download images, go to The Axe in the Attic. Co-director Lucia Small is available for interviews.

MUSEUM INFORMATION
Hours: Wednesdays & Thursdays, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Fridays, 12:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays & Sundays, 11:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Tuesday, school groups only by appointment.)
 Film Screenings: Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and additional as scheduled.
Museum Admission: $10.00 for adults; $7.50 for persons over 65 and for students with ID; $5.00 for children ages 5-18. Children under 5 and Museum members are admitted free. Admission to the galleries is free on Fridays, 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Paid admission includes film screenings (except for special ticketed events)
Location: 35 Avenue at 36 Street in Astoria.
Subway: R or V trains (R or G on weekends) to Steinway Street. N or W trains to 36 Avenue.
 Program Information: Telephone: (718) 784-0077; Website: www.movingimage.us


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CWNY / NYWIFT Screening Series
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008 - 7:00PM

Five Short films exploring family bonds

Two Boots Pioneer Theater
155 E. 3rd Street, near Ave. A
www.twoboots.com/pioneer

Filmmaker Q&A,
After Party at No Malice Palace

free pizza / discount drinks
Tix: $6.50 CWNY/NYWIFT members,
students, pioneer members, $10 gen. public

www.cinewomenny.org

MY NOSE
GAYLE KIRSHENBAUM, Director/Producer/Writer
documentary, 13 mins
http://kirschenbaumproductions.com/mynose/

Synopsis
A single Jewish woman, her mother and her nose. A dangerous love triangle. One can hardly come closer to stereotypes than talking about Jewish noses and Jewish mothers. In My Nose Gayle Kirschenbaum proves that there is still room for an original take on both subjects. Her witty journey is an attempt to come to terms with both body image and family ties and is certain to make you laugh. Its endearing charm is also guaranteed to make you look at your profile as soon as you're out of the cinema.

Filmmaker Bio
GAYLE KIRSCHENBAUM 
An Emmy award-winning filmmaker, she has made documentaries for television. She also has produced news and reality shows including America's Most Wanted (FOX TV), New Attitudes (Lifetime series), and The Rosie O'Donnell Show (NBC). Her film, A Dog's Life: A Dogamentary premiered on HBO/Cinemax. The DVD is widely distributed. Ms. Kirschenbaum created a series called Judgment Day which premiered on HBO. LOOK WHO'S TICKING, a feature film written by Gayle was a winner of the AIVF Screenwriters Mentorship program and is in development along with a TV series called BODY PARTS.


PILLS
LIZ FOLEY/PETER HOBBS, Director/Writers
narrative, 14 mins
http://elyriapictures.com

Synopsis
What happens when Chris Nolan, out for a drive in the family car to pick up some heroin, discovers his mother Maggie stowed away in the back. Will he do the right thing and take her home, or will she go with him on an unusual adventure?
Pills, adapted from the feature script Funny Peculiar (which Rip Torn calls great American literature�) premiered at The Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films. Pills stars Ari Fliakos, a featured member of the Wooster Group, and Elizabeth Kemp, one of the leading lights of The Actors Studio.

Filmmaker Bios
ELIZABETH FOLEY has directed three films including the award-winning short film about Joan of Arc, Jeanne & Hauviette, which screened in 2001 at Anthology Film Archives in the CINEWOMEN NY/New Directors series. In 1999, she produced a UNICEF documentary narrated by Julia Ormond, as well as the award-winning short Silver & Gold, directed by Ben Wolf. Foley's producing credits include projects for Dean Silvers, Cinemax, Ikea, Florentine Films, Lear Television and Bravo. She teaches at the New York Film Academy, the International Film Institute, Five Towns College, and Borough of Manhattan Community College.

PETER HOBBS has written over twenty feature screenplays and written and directed numerous shorts, including An Open Letter to William Wegman. He has been a quarterfinalist in the Nicholls Fellowship in Screenwriting Competition (sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) three times, and a semifinalist in the America's Best Screenplay contest (sponsored by The Writers Foundation.) He teaches at the New York Film Academy and the International Film Institute.

Elyria Pictures, (Director/Writer/Producers Peter Hobbs and Elizabeth Foley ), are in production on their upcoming feature, Bridge of Names, a fairy tale about a disaffected punk rocker named Steve who's taken up by a visionary preacher Brother Wilf, and his beautiful and underage disciple Agnes.


LITTLE PUMPKIN
TIFFANY BARTOK, Director
narrative, 7 mins
http://www.littlepumpkin.vinylfoote.com/

Synopsis
In the midst of his parents' divorce, a 5 year old boy seeks out friendship with a gift his father left behind for him. The fact that the newfound friend is a large pumpkin seems harmless at first, but Stephanie finds herself facing her own emotions as her son grows more and more attached to the pumpkin in the absence of his father. Will the friendly vegetable drive the family apart or somehow bring them together?



Filmmaker Bio
TIFFANY BARTOK received her BFA in Theater at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia appearing in many productions including Nine. She moved to NYC, and continued to pursue acting, a highlight being a role opposite Hayley Mills in the short film Stricken. Surprisingly she found herself in the role of makeup artist on a few productions, and realized she enjoyed being behind the camera as well. Inspired to make a film, she soon embarked on her first directing venture Altered By Elvis, an acclaimed documentary about lives that have been permanently affected by Elvis Presley. She has co-founded a production company called Vinyl Foote Productions based in Brooklyn, NY to continue producing feature films, documentaries, and shorts.

STILL(e)
SUSAN SCHWARZWALD, Writer/Director
narrative, 26 mins
http://www.firstgazefilms.com

Synopsis
Through the lens of memory, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor re-visits the pain of remembering, tinged with the fear of forgetting, that silently haunts her father, herself, and now, her young daughter as well. Still(e) is an award-winning narrative short about the legacy of trauma left to future generations through silence. It is 1992 in America. Julia's 11th birthday party happens to fall on the anniversary of the day in 1938 Vienna, that marked the end of life, as her grandfather Sam once knew it. A photo album. An aria. A solitary boat ride and the lighting of memorial candles. All converge to catalyze memories that have shaped this family's emotional landscape ever since the Nazi terror first shattered Sam's youth, as perfectly as the broken glass shards of Kristallnacht. While Sam retreats into the familiar silence these memories provoke, Julia's mother Lily has an epiphany: She was Julia's age when she first began to understand her family's silence to be a loud, ineffable language that was not about quiet, and might never be.

Filmmaker Bio
Still(e) is SUSAN SCHWARZWALD'S directorial debut. Her introduction to filmmaking was in the mid-1970s as a crewmember on commercial and experimental films of the late Robert Rivlin. Concurrently she developed a career as an accomplished ceramic artist. Upon becoming a mother, she gave up her studio work to pursue writing and to raise her daughter. Together with Werner Bargsten, she is co-owner of ICBA, Inc. (specializing in design services for the advertising, television, and film industries) and of First Gaze Films. Susan received her BA in Philosophy from Alfred University and holds a Masters Degree in International and Comparative Education from Columbia University. Still(e) is a story inspired by her experiences, both as the daughter of a survivor, and as a parent. Her resolve to shape a cinematic vision was born in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001 in New York City.

MAKE A WISH
CHERIEN DABIS, Director/Writer/Producer
narrative, 12 mins
http://www.makeawishmovie.com/



Synopsis
Eleven year-old Mariam begs her mother for the extra money she needs to buy a cake at the local bakery. Her mother begrudgingly relents, but when Mariam arrives at the bakery, she realizes that she still doesn't have enough. Determined to get the cake, she sets out to brave the obstacles and land some cash. What begins as a simple trip to the bakery turns into a journey that depicts not only the subtle tensions of a politically charged environment, but also illustrates the grief that can result from growing up under occupation.

Filmmaker Bio
CHERIEN DABIS
Born to Palestinian immigrant parents, award-winning independent filmmaker and television writer Cherien Dabis has been recognized by the industry's top organizations and trade publications, including the Sundance Institute, IFP and Filmmaker Magazine. A 2004 graduate of Columbia University's Masters of Fine Arts Film program, Dabis� short films have screened at some of the world's top film festivals. Her latest, Make A Wish, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival as well as Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival where it won the Prix de la Presse and Mention Speciale du Jury. The film went on to win top awards in Dubai, Rotterdam, Cairo and Aspen. Dabis received several generous grants in support of the film, including the National Geographic's All Roads Film Project Seed Grant, the Jerome Foundation's New York City Media Arts Grant as well as the New York State Council on the Art's Electronic Media and Film Distribution Grant. Currently in development on Amreeka, her feature film writing and directing debut slated to begin production in the fall of 2007, Dabis was invited to participate in the Sundance Institute's 2005 Middle East Screenwriter's Lab, 2006 Cannes Film Festival's Mediterranean Films Crossing Borders program and 2007 Berlinale Co-Production Market. An alumni of Film Independent's 2005 Director's Lab, Project: Involve Mentorship Program and Los Angeles Film Festival's Fast Track Program, Dabis also received a 2006 Artist Fellowship in Screenwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts in support of the screenplay. She was most recently honored with the L'Oreal Paris Women of Worth Vision Award at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Screen International listed Amreeka as one of their Ten Arab Films to Watch� in 2007.

Dabis is an accomplished Staff Writer and Co-Producer on Showtime Network's original hit series The L Word and has been with the show for three seasons. As a feature film screenwriter, she has been awarded several distinguished awards in support of her screenplays including the Zaki Gordon Award for Excellence in Screenwriting, the Institute for Humane Studies Film and Fiction Scholarship and the New York Women in Film and Television Scholarship.

In 2003, Dabis was awarded a Screenwriting Grant from the Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up (Power Up) for her short screenplay Little Black Boot (acquired by The Sundance Channel). Premiering at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, the film went on to win several Best Short Film awards and was a Grand Prize Winner of the 2004 PlanetOut.com Short Movie Awards. Dabis is also a recipient of the Power Up Filmmaker's Fund for her short Memoirs of an Evil Stepmother (acquired by MTV/Logo). Her short film-writing debut, Nadah, premiered at the 2003 Rotterdam International Film Festival and was nominated for the VC Film Festival�s Golden Reel Award. Her production credits include Jane Campion's psychological thriller In the Cut and NBC's critically acclaimed television series The West Wing.

This screening was programmed by CineWomen NY

CINEWOMEN NY
CineWomen NY is a volunteer-run nonprofit organization dedicated to the support and advancement of women in the film and television industry. Our screening team committee is made up of volunteers who solicit, screen, and select films made by female filmmakers from all over the world for exhibition in our monthly series at the Two Boots Pioneer Theater in Manhattan. Whenever possible, the filmmakers are present for discussion and socializing after the films. Our commitment is to provide a slate of films, by emerging female artists at all levels, celebrating the work of women in film, video, and digital media. Aside from general quality, to be included in the series films must be directed or co-directed, written, edited or shot by women. CWNY-NYWIFT Screening Series is held the fourth Tuesday of every month except for December and August.

CWNY Screens Committee
Programming Director: Maria Pusateri
Curators/Programming: Maria Pusateri ◙ Vicki Vasilopoulos ◙ Myra Sito Velasquez
Guest Curators: Jessica Burstein ◙ Kelly Shindler ◙ Louise Fleming ◙ Alison McMahan
Newsletter: Ylana Kellar
Intern: Julie Praetzel
screenings@cinewomenny.orgwww.cinewomenny.org


NYWIFT 
New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) is a nonprofit membership organization for professional women in film, television and new media. A champion of women's rights, achievements and points of view in the film and television industry, NYWIFT is an educational forum for media professionals, and a network for the exchange of information and resources. NYWIFT brings together more than 1,500 professionals including EMMY and Academy Award winners, who work in all areas of the entertainment
 industry - above and below the line. It is part of a network of 40 international women in film chapters, representing more than 10,000 members worldwide. For more information please visit www.nywift.org.

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