David Amram, Grammy award winning composer/musician - Opening Night DCIFF 2008

Festival at a Glance - March 16th

Its a WRAP!

Three Seminars for Filmmakers and the Public.
12:15 pm - Music Composition for Film
2:15 pm - Finance and Distribution Workshop
4:15 pm - Legal Clinic

Music Festival
Out side on the patio at T.G.I. Friday's
Be a guest of the Film Festival at the party!
Time: 6 pm Sunday.

FILMS FILMS FILMS
1:30 pm - The Politics of Film
4:00 pm - Racism Realism

Sunday Night Closing Film and Closing Reception at Tonic Restaurant
7:00 pm - Closing Ceremony

The Clash Live: Revolution Rock

Film Festival Events - March 16th

1:30 pm - Politics of Film

The Bridge (12 min.)
Craig (101 min.)
Pivot (15 min.)
Simulacra (6 min.)
We Hear Sirens (3 min.)

4:00 pm- Racism Realism

Code Blue (7 min.)
Community Alert (10 min.)
Escape from the Fire (13 min.)
Gibberish (2 min.)
Like a magnet (14 min.)
Linkwater Project (6 min.)
Stolen Youth (13 min.)
Traces (32 min.)

7:00 pm – Closing Night Film

The Clash Live: Revolution Rock (60 min.)

Music Festival Events - March 16th

6pm - Tom Reyes Trio
@ TGI Friday’s, 21st and Eye St, NW (free)

The Tom Reyes Trio is one of the most popular jazz acts in the area. The trio has performed at top venues in the Northeast, including Baltimore's Artscape on the main stage, Madison Square Garden in NYC, Merriweather Post Pavillion, The Embassy of Ethiopia in DC, The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and many others. The Tom Reyes Trio's performances are entertaining for all age groups.

Saturday and Sunday at a Glance

Saturday and Sunday
Six Seminars for Filmmakers and the Public.

Music Festival
Be a guest of the Film Festival at the party!
Location: Bertucci's Restaurant
Time: 10 pm Saturday.
Your film festival ticket includes admission to the music session.

FILMS FILMS FILMS
Saturday: African Films, Black Experience, Cine Latino, Student Films

Sunday: The Politics of Film, Racism Realism

Sunday Night Closing Film and Closing Reception at Tonic Restaurant

The Clash Live: Revolution Rock

Film Festival Events - March 15th

1:30 pm - Africa Films

The Good Mother of Abangoh
Testing Hope: Grade 12 in the New South Africa
Volcanic Sprint

4:00 pm - The Black Experience

Detroit: Not For Wimps
Diary of a User
His Dream
Keys
Kiari
Labeled
Midway
Pop Foul
The Sculpture

7:00 pm - Cine Latino

Cara De Queso
The Dancing Chickens of Ventura Fabian
Laberinto Infernal
5 Cents a Peek

10:00 pm - Surreal and Absurd

Einstein's Riddle
Firehand
Grandma & The Monster
Pull On Push Off
Pumpkin
Rubberheart
The Seed
String
Torn Asunder
Tukuhnikivatz I - Passage (TUK I)
The Vaudevillian

Music Festival Events - March 15th

10pm - Pup Tent
@ Bertucci’s Restaurant, 21st and Eye St, NW
($10 or free with a film festival ticket)

Pup Tent is Phil Duarte, Ted Watts and Ben Azzara, three survivors of the 80's and 90's DC music scene. We are in love with 60's garage, Glam , doses of rock-a-billy, no wave, the Kinks, psychedelia, Neil Young, Pere Ubu, the Who and amps that go to 11. Songwriting and improvisation are the food we eat so never expect the same set twice. We have been members of Guilt Combo, Delta 72, Girl Train, Donut Safari, the Burnt Ernies, Tony Perkins and the Psychotics, DCIC, the Caution Curves and more.

Upcoming Weekend Events at a Glance

Saturday and Sunday
Six Seminars for Filmmakers and the Public.

Music Festival
Be a guest of the Film Festival at the party!
Location: Bertucci's Restaurant
Time: 10 pm Friday and Saturday.
Your film festival ticket includes admission to the music session.

FILMS FILMS FILMS
Saturday: African Films, Black Experience, Cine Latino, Student Films

Sunday: The Politics of Film, Racism Realism

Sunday Night Closing Film and Closing Reception at Tonic Restaurant

The Clash Live: Revolution Rock

Film Festival Events - March 14th

7 pm - Making a Difference
Unique People and Stories not seen elsewhere.

H.R. Giger's Sanctuary / Switzerland / 2007
'H.R. Giger's Sanctuary' features an interview and a museum tour with the master of the airbrush, the inventor of 'biomechanics', and the creator of the Academy Award winning 'Alien'.The eccentric artist talks openly about his fascination with the morbid, his fame and cult following, his fears and nightmares, and about his visions of the future.The documentary was filmed at the H.R. Giger Museum & Giger Bar in beautiful Gruyeres, Switzerland.

Larry / USA / 2007
A sardonic story/song by Pierre Bennu illustrates what happens when we pay more attention to the messenger than the message.

Sand Dancer / New Zeland / 2007
This is a man living life by his own right steps. The 'Sand Dancer' (Peter Donnelly) lives at the beach in Brighton New Zealand. Hundreds of people are drawn from all over the world to watch him create vast arts works. He does not use any plotting tools or visual aids. Having a rare abilty to 'see perspective' Peter's masterpieces vanish in an instant,as soon as the tide starts to wash them away.

9:30 pm - HORROR

Cast Shadows in Technicolor / USA / 2007
Filmed in the style of a music video. Inside a mansion, an elderly man passionately narrates "Cast Shadows in Technicolor" for his grandchildren. The story takes place in a deserted town where a greaser saves a girl from zombies. Both worlds merge when the characters enter the mansion. BANG! Grandfather closes his book, leaving the ending for later.

Spine Tingler / USA / 2007

'Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story' chronicles the last great American showman, filmmaker William Castle, a master of ballyhoo who became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous audience participation gimmicks. In the 1950s and 60s, Castle treated delighted moviegoers to buzzing seats, flying skeletons, luminescent ghosts and life insurance policies. His is a rags to riches tale of a larger than life showman who climbed his way up the Hollywood ladder by reinventing himself as a modern P.T. Barnum, all the while driven by a fear of failure and a longing to be respected among his peers.

Music Festival Events - Friday March 14th

6 pm - The Charm Offensive
@ TGI Friday’s, 21st and Eye St, NW (free)

Cow-punk popsters The Charm Offensive layer journalist Chris Lehmann's brooding lyrics over the twang and thrum of Geordie Grindle's lead guitar. Grindle was a member of the first Dischord Records band, Teen Idles, and of guitar wall-of-sound band Tone. Drummer and journalist Alex Daniels, a label-mate of Grindle's on Dischord (Severin), also plays in the band Julie Ocean. Meg Guroff, another journalist, played bass in Church & State (Baltimore).

10 pm - Stone Lucy

@ Bertucci’s Restaurant, 21st and Eye St, NW
($10 or free with a film festival ticket)

Propelled by Adam Parker's immensely-likable vocals, Stone Lucy chases a sister muse of Tool and Soundgarden, with a youthful verve and a proggish swagger. Stone Lucy opts for dynamically arranged and challenging song structure with adventurous twists and turns. With no exceptions, Stone Lucy is topically heavy, threads of a tragic tapestry wrenched from some hinted-at personal catastrophe and woven into a sonic assault. Be ready to get emotionally engaged while they rock you off your chair.

Film Festival Events - March 13th

Chuckle
Giggle
Laugh
Laughter
Belly Laughing
Hysterical Tears
I'm Laughing so Hard I could Die!

7 pm - Just for Laughs
Seven Comedies with introductions from SpeakeasyDC!

Music, Stories and Films!
DCIFF has it all in this light and pleasant Raucous Rowdy Romp.

Start at 6 pm with a music session at Pangea Artisan Market & Cafe at the corner of 21st and Penn, NW.

Then head two blocks south to the Jack Morton Theater in the Media and Public Affairs Building at 21st and H St. where at 7 pm the fun continues.

Then cruise next door to Bertucci's for the after party at 10pm.

Film Screenings include:

SpeakeasyDC

Story Telling Introductions by members of DC's Volunteer Wise Guys!

Funniest Fed 2007

Funniest Fed 2007 tells the story of the inaugural Funniest Fed Contest, a stand-up comedy competition featuring the talents of federal employees in the Washington, D.C.-metro area.

Intervention

Sid and his partner in crime formulate a fool-proof plan. Steal $20,000 from a church on a Friday, when ministers and church staff have the day off.

It's Your Birthday, Saul Towner!!!

Today is Saul's 36th birthday. He has no family, no friends, and no woman. But it's his birthday, by God, and he's going to celebrate.

Lutheran, The

Minister Eldrid Elston insists he doesn't care any more. With his profanity-laced, booze-fueled sermons, he attacks his community for choosing adultery, fake tans, and scat porn over the Word of God.

Off The Rocker

If you think the Las Vegas nightlife is best left to the young and hip, then you haven't seen the senior side of The Strip.

Once Upon a Tyme

A monkey acts out what he thinks is a genius story, while his friend, a hippo, tries to capture his buddy's dictation with the aid of his not-so-trusty typewriter.

Swan Song

Ankor is hot, and he knows it. But when he turns down his sweetheart neighbor for a striking lifeguard, he falls from his high horse, and the highest diving board.

Music Festival Events - March 13th

6 pm - Early Session (free)

@ Pangea Artisan Market & Cafe
21st and Penn, NW

6pm - The Carribean

There's a big pay-off in being able to do something large scale ambitious in your life, something that occupies your time, attention, and desire, and then to see how it engages strangers and makes them part of your life. No one in his or her right mind would choose to do this as an outlet from the pressures of the rest of the world, because if you really really care about art and get some sense of self-worth from what you put out there, you can never relax. If we didn't believe The Caribbean compensated for the absence of something in the world, we wouldn't bother.


10 pm - Late Session - two bands
($10 or free with a DCIFF Film Ticket)
@ Bertucci’s Restaurant
21st and Eye St, NW

10pm - The Walkaways

The music of The Walkaways can best be described as candy in a whiskey bottle -- tasteful hooks infused with a mix of alt-country, blues, and roots rock-n-roll. Ready and willing to take on the Washington, DC music scene and coming soon to a bar near you.

11pm - OmegaBand
The word rock had a long history within the English language as being a metaphor meaning 'to shake up, to disturb or to incite'. The word roll was also a popular metaphor which meant having sex as in 'roll in the hay' and so on. Though the variety of influences is infinite, the realm of OmegaBand is within the context of this definition. OmegaBand features Alpha Betts on lyrics and microphones, Kirk Waldroff on bass and Bala Harper on drums, Kristin Arant on percussion and background vocals, and James Reeves on guitar.

Wednesday March 12th - Middle East Films

Eagle / USA / 2007

DIRECTOR: Delara Rasouli

Based upon real events, this poem by Naser Khosro Ghobadiani, 'Eagle' is an animated short depicting the tale of a Bald Eagle shot by a hunter's arrow.

The O.R. / USA / 2007
DIRECTOR: Neel Upadhye

Ahmed, an Iraqi doctor, runs a makeshift clinic with his father, Jasim, out of their own home in bombed out Baghdad. The victims of war pour in and Jasim tends to his countrymen free of charge. When supplies start to run low, however, Ahmed begins to question his father's incurable idealism. Their lives are changed forever when a wounded journalist is dragged into their clinic. The clock is ticking and Ahmed must weigh the lives of his countrymen against this journalist- a foreigner, but willing to pay. Can Ahmed sacrifice one of his own in the hope of saving hundreds more?

Rabia / USA / 2008
DIRECTOR: Muhammad Ali Hasan

Rabia is a woman who must blow herself up in order to exist. From the moment she straps explosives to her bare body, we are exposed to flashbacks of Rabia's past, filled with abuse, rejection, and struggle. By the time she steps onto a popular Israeli beach, awaiting to kill hundreds of innocent civilians in a massive explosion, we find ourselves asking whether Rabia's act is one of evil or one of heroism?

Searching for Peace in the Middle East / USA / 2006
DIRECTOR: Landrum Bolling

A vivid and compassionate portrayal of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Through the voices of the Israelis and Palestinians of diverse backgrounds, it explores the issues that divide them and reveals their hopes and fears. It describes in a compelling way a common yearning for peace, pointing the way toward a resolution of this tragic conflict that would meet the deepest needs of both societies, and it calls for a new American diplomatic leadership.

Kojo Nnambi Interviews Filmmakers of IMPRINT - Screening Tuesday Night March 11th

Kojo Nnambi interviwed DCIFF Festival Director Carol Bidault, Rob Raffety, Director of Funniest Fed 2007 and Carolyn Linn producer of Imprint. Listen to the interview on Media Player at
http://wamu.org/audio/kn/08/03/k1080310-19933.asx

Funniest Fed 2007 / USA / 2007
March 13th at 7:00 pm

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER: Rob Raffety

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Aaron Webb

EDITOR: Ernest Trotman

Funniest Fed 2007 tells the story of the inaugural Funniest Fed Contest, a stand-up comedy competition featuring the talents of federal employees in the Washington, D.C.-metro area. The contest occurred over a six week time frame this past summer and included over 30 contestants from a wide range of federal agencies.

Music Festival Events - Wednesday, March 12th

6pm - Clay Crotts/Dave Smith

@ Pangea Artisan Market & Café (free)

Up and coming Arlington-based singer/songwriters each perform their brand of sensitive folk and acoustic rock songs.

Schedule update Saturday March 8th

Please note that there is an error in the printed program regarding the time when Ms. Peggy Parsons will be moderating the International Woman's Day Q&A session. This session will take place following the 7:00 pm screenings (Finding Love) on Saturday March 8th. This session is sponsored by the Humanities Council of Washington.

Welcome to the 2008 DC Independent Film Festival

The Washington DC Independent Film Festival is committed to providing the Washington, DC area with cutting-edge, provocative independent films that may not be seen elsewhere. DCIFF allows the opportunity for filmmakers, film enthusiasts and industry professionals to make meaningful, lasting connections.