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Past Seasons
A Boy's Life
Filmmaker - Dylan Trivette & Matt Zboyovski
An adventure movie for kids, starring kids. "When you're young, the only world you know is the neighborhood in which you live," says Dylan Trivette. This film is the action-packed story of how four friends band together when their neighborhood is threatened by a group of teenagers. Join Dean, Billy, Josh and Erik as they embark on a roller coaster ride against the "kidsters" in an attempt to save their neighborhood.
A Fragmentary History of the 21st Century
Filmmaker - Roger Beebe
This "schizophrenic film," according to Beebe's description, features scenes from the daily life of the new millennium. Like what, you ask? Science fiction without spaceships. Experimental parables. Two pets, three TVs, a sea of cars, a lucky penny. Numerous people receiving electroshocks for no apparent reason. This is a picture in 17 parts of the coming century. Fragmentary History was awarded an Honorable Mention at Thaw 99 and the 1999 Hal Kammer Prize for best film or video by a Duke student.
A/V Geeks Archives
Filmmaker - Joseph Corey III
A compelling profile of Raleigh resident Skip Elsheimer, who has built quite a following with his one-of-a-kind "film festivals" in the Triangle area. What type of acclaimed films does Skip screen, you might ask. Remember when you were back in school and you looked forward to passing an hour in the dark with a projector whirring, watching one of those grainy, old black & white "educational" films. You got it! Skip has quite a collection, one you won't find anywhere else.
Cathedral
Filmmaker - Chip Hackler
Based on the award-winning short story by Raymond Carver, this film depicts the transformation a cynical husband undergoes when his wife brings a blind friend to their home. The trio engages in pleasant conversation which leads to the blind man asking what a cathedral is like. By incorporating poetic imagery into the story, the film becomes a moving spiritual journey.
The Closest Thing to Heaven
Filmmaker - Dorne Pentes
This award-winning, feature-length film was critically acclaimed upon its release in 1996 and has been screened at a number of international films festivals. A series of five interwoven Southern short stories about love, death and barbecue, the film is set in Charlotte, NC, centered around the denizens of a rundown urban boulevard, all of whom face significant troubles. Introducing viewers to the town and its history is Howard, our narrator (Michael Mattison), an Angel of a Southern Gentleman, who plays a significant role in each of the characters' lives.
Day at the Races
Filmmaker - Sallie L. Patrick
Everyone loves the State Fair. Each year people flock to Raleigh, NC, to gaze at the 100-pound squash, whirl in circles at 30 mph, consume large quantities of deep-fried dough and enjoy the fierce competition between racing ducks. Duck racing?! That's right! This imaginative documentary, a product of the Duke University Program in Film & Video, offers a peek at a lesser-known but highly entertaining aspect of the fair.
Exhausted Remedies: Joe Holt's Story
Filmmaker - Deborah Holt
This noteworthy film pays homage to unsung civil rights heroes by recounting the trailblazing effort of one African-American family to integrate the public schools in Raleigh, NC, in the mid 1950s. Featuring personal interviews with plaintiff Joseph Holt, his son, and key community leaders as well as archival footage and photographs, the documentary highlights local political and social conditions that shaped this event and influenced the final decision in the Holt vs. Raleigh City School Board desegregation case.
Go Fast, Turn Left
Filmmaker - Kenny Dalsheimer
This journey to rural Rougemont, NC, tells the story of stock car racing at one of the fastest short tracks in the southeast. Very much a roots of racing documentary, the film captures the heart and soul of racing as drivers, track owners, family members and race officials share insights into the challenges of competing in the minor leagues of the fastest growing sport in the US. Like many independent race tracks scattered across the country, Orange County Speedway serves as a meeting place for people celebrating one of the ultimate sports of speed and power, far removed from the multi-million dollar image-driven world of NASCAR's big leagues.
Gridlock
Filmmaker - Rob Furr
Simple and stunning, this short animated piece is a poem combining music and motion with the source text.
Ilyanovich Rasputin
Filmmaker - Zene Baker
Opening the fifth season of North Carolina Visions is this ingenious film, a modern fairy tale vision about a young boy with a wild, vivid imagination heightened by his shameless dread of tending his ailing grandmother. On one stormy night he must confront his worst fears when "Death" comes to knock at Grandma's door.
Impact
Filmmaker - Craig L. Shores
What happens behind the scenes at a boot camp training session? Find out with this hard-hitting documentary from a UNC-G student. Focusing on an incoming group of "trainees," Impact follows the youths from the moment they step out of their cars until their eventual graduation 90 days later providing an investigation into what it's really like for troubled youths - probing into their lives at a boot camp for juvenile offenders in North Carolina. The film won four Gate City Film Awards including Best Documentary and Program of the Year (1998) and the Judges' Choice Award of the Hometown Video Awards in 1999.
Jornado del Muerto
Filmmaker - Neal Hutcheson
In 1848 George Douglas Brewerton scrabbled along at the heels of Kit Carson through one of the most inhospitable and desolate landscapes on Earth, the place that would become Las Vegas, NV. Brewerton's bleak testimony guides this portrait of the area, which hasn't changed much after all.
Laundry
Filmmaker - Chad Benton
This short but profound film is the brief, episodic adventure of a young man, Wade, and his attraction to a beautiful girl he encounters in a Laundromat.
Mochlos: Exploring the Mysteries of the Minoans
Filmmaker - Christina Clum & Michael Frierson
Around 6000 B.C. the first settlers began to migrate into Crete from the East. Their culture thrived and prospered for years then came to an abrupt end. Why? This absorbing documentary attempts to find the answer. Focusing on excavation of Minoan ruins on the island of Crete, the life work of UNC-G professor Jeffery Soles, the film explores how Soles' work is revising our understanding of why Minoan culture has disappeared and provides a fresh look at how an archaeological team reconstructs an ancient site.
My House is on Fire
Rodrigo Dorfman and Ariel Dorfman
When two immigrant children play with the enemy their worst fears can become reality.
The Mysterious World of Birds
Filmmaker - David Hardin
Two birds loll peacefully on a tree branch. What could happen to disturb this picture? Try the fact that one of the birds turns out to be just plain annoying - which ultimately leads to his demise. This short piece is intended to parallel the similarities between birds and humans.
The Other Road
Filmmaker - Cathy Meriam
Three mothers. Three young daughters. This moving documentary depicts an unconventional family arrangement - one that flows more smoothly than many traditional families. The stories of three single mothers, each raising a daughter alone with little or no financial assistance from the children's fathers, are captured in a series of observations and interviews with the mothers. The women have chosen to take another path, one filled with strength, creativity and growth, to find the support they need.
Physical Pinball
Filmmaker - David Green
A student production at the NCSA School of Filmmaking, Physical Pinball portrays the unconventional relationship between a single African-American father and his almost-adolescent daughter. Penelope is the toughest kid on the block with a luminous smile. She lives on a junkyard school bus with her father. Together they are the perfect tag team until she reaches the age when she can't disguise the fact that she's not her father's little boy anymore, culminating in one hilarious scene in a grocery store when this becomes painfully clear.
Stories We Should Have Told
Filmmaker - Heather Miles
A visually abstract and powerful look at a woman's struggle to accept her body and herself, only to fall prey to society's standards. The visional story depicts the battle to be thin as an infectious disease. It reminds us that women can lead a life of silent obsessiveness. They can either come to accept themselves as for who they are, or be doomed to a lifetime of the battle of the bulge.
Strange Encounters
Filmmaker - Cable Hardin
Filmed in Wilmington, this whimsical fantasy operates on the assumption that space aliens are everywhere. Are you one of them? The film parodies the numerous "investigative" documentaries frequently on cable television. Robert Jenkins, a hard-working handyman, recounts his particular experience with space aliens and learns how he is to participate in their mission. Special effects and two original Latex masks were created especially for the film by the filmmaker.
Summer's Torn
Filmmaker - Tim Orr
One summer day a little boy discovers that his new "toy" can do a lot more than provide fun and excitement. It can change his world -- and thus change him forever.
Untitled Peace
Filmmaker - Edison Midgett
This short video is an experimental animated poem using images that struck Midgett after the recent untimely death of a friend and colleague. In glorious simplicity, it is about life and death and what happens in between.
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