SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 17
YOUNG FILMMAKERS/COMMUNITY (10am-12pm)
Spark Media Project (10 min)
Spark Media Project provides workshops, programs, and projects that teach critical viewing of media and encourage youth to be creatively engaged in Media Arts.
Rompatom Ensemble (15 min)
A vocal, instrumental, and creative ensemble for students in the 3rd-8th grade, Rompatom ensemble includes singing, movement, theatrical elements, and instrumental play + improvisation on xylophones, recorders, and drums, as well as other instruments students may study privately.
BIFF & Beacon Afterschool Program (15 min)
BIFF was honored to participate in the Beacon City After School program in its inaugural season. We worked with students (K-5) from J.V. Forrestal, Sargent, and South Avenue Elementary Schools, to discover and grow media and filmmaking interests.During our short time together, each class created a public service announcement, exploring RESPECT.
Unteachable
(Director & Producer: Anthony Sherin) (11 min)
Imagine you can’t read. Imagine being expelled from three different schools because teachers have no patience for you. Imagine you reach fifth grade, but you can’t spell your name.
Now, imagine a teacher who is kind to you and changes everything.
(Director: Kasha Sequoia Slavner; Producer: Global Sunrise Productions Inc.) (64 min)
The Sunrise Storyteller follows the hero’s journey of teenage filmmaker & social justice advocate, Kasha Sequoia Slavner, as she sets out for six months on her 16th birthday across the world in search of stories of hope and resilience that shine a light on what it means to be a global citizen and how we can all make a difference.
ART IN MOTION (12:45pm-3pm)
Ambi Artist
(Director & Producer: Rob Featherstone) (5 min)
Filmmaker Rob Featherstone profiles BIFF’s ArtsGo 2017 artist in residence, Donna Mikkelsen.
(Director & Producer: A.R. Kara) (15 min)
This short film reveals the iconic seduction hiding in plain sight for over 100 years in Pablo Picasso’s epic painting, “The Demoiselles of Avignon,” and then redefines Cubism in light of its time.
(Director & Producer: Susan Osberg) (32 min)
Remembering Pina is an experimental documentary film that uses dance and story telling to evoke memories of the work of the legendary German choreographer Pina Bausch.
(Directed by Adam Grannick; Producer Adriana Spencer) (13 min)
La Folía is a visual anthology of twenty-four short stories, from the imaginations of over a dozen different people and all inspired by variations on the same ancient melody. The thematic story that links La Folía’s stories begins and ends the film, returning its protagonist full circle, yet changed. The story follows the pain, loss, joy, and redemption of a young ballet student whose body type excludes her from being considered for a role for which she is eminently qualified in skill and passion.
Showtime
(Director & Producer: Olgulcan Kush) (17min)
This short fiction tells the story of a performance artist’s journey of losing his inspiration and finding it again in an unexpected place. It is about his struggles in the city and the journey of how he manages to get back in touch with his inner self.
(Director & Producer: Michael D’Antuono) (28 min)
White artist, Michael D’Antuono explores the depths of institutional racism taking his art to the streets of Baltimore, Chicago, and New York, where he interviews victims of racism including some well known African Americans.
LiveArt
Live Art will be curated by this year’s BIFF resident artist Donna Mikkelsen. Local artists will create a new work from beginning to end with opportunities for public participation during BIFF on Sunday, September 17th.
FAMILY DYNAMICS (3:30pm-6pm)
(Director: William D. Caballero; Producer: Elaine Del Valle) (6 min)
Using hybrid animation, documentary filmmaker, and grandson, “Danny”, explores his grandparents’ separation. Victor and Isolina answer questions about their lifelong, complex and arduous relationship. An adorable, touching, poignant love story in a funny he said/she said account.
At Least You Are Here
(Director & Producer: Kristen Swanbeck) (12 min)
A lonely Ukranian woman living in Brooklyn, experiences the war going on in her home country through her computer. She wanders the streets looking for human connection.
Edith
(Director: Christian Cooke; Producers: April Kelley, Sara Huxley, Fiona Neilson) (15 min)
Sorrowful and haunted by the passing of his wife, Jake has fallen into a life of drinking and isolation. Through beautiful flashbacks, the complicated tale of their relationship, deep love, and raising of a child who is not Jakes’s, is shared. Jake tries to find peace in his mourning, and connection with a new acquaintance.
Assisted Living
(Director: Dan Hunt; Producer: Erin Greenwell) (21 min)
Assisted Living follows Leo, an old man with mild dementia, as he battles his daughter to keep his money and dignity. Fluctuating between reality and fantasy, it tells the story of a man fighting for his life while embracing his childhood fantasy of becoming a dancer.
(Director: Jessie Auritt; Producers: Jessie Auritt, Carmen Delaney, Justin Levy) (80 min)
Naomi seems like a typical pre-teen Orthodox Jewish girl; watching her compete to lift almost three times her body weight tells a different story. Do little girls even lift? Absolutely! Director Jessie Auritt takes us into the world of powerlifting through the eyes of nine-year-old Naomi Kutin—your average everyday Orthodox Jewish pre-teen world record-holding powerlifter.
