JUNE 1–6 2016 1 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 1 Inform. Welcome The Santa Cruz Film Festival has been bringing creative, independent films to our community since 2002. We’ve exhibited more than 1,500 independent films by national and international filmmakers as well as films and videos produced Entertain. in the greater Santa Cruz County and Monterey Bay area. Many of the films we screen are independent filmmakers’ only chance to show their work to the public.
This year the festival kicks off with an opening event at the Del Mar Theater on June 1 and continues with four days of Inspire. screenings at the new Colligan Theater and two other venues within the Tannery Arts Center from June 2-5. The Colligan Theater construction was completed in the fall of 2015, and Jewel Theater Company opened their first theatrical performances in November. We have been looking forward to the opportunity to join the other artists and arts organizations present at the Tannery, and now that the Colligan Theater is completed, we have found a new, vibrant home for the Santa Cruz Film Festival.
This year’s exciting lineup includes several EarthVision themed documentaries about the environment, as well as creativity and arts-based themes to honor our new home in the Tannery Arts Center, as well as LGBT issues to partner with the Santa Cruz Pride events occurring the same weekend as this year’s film festival. Our offering includes many other relevant, incisive topics as well as narrative films to thrill and delight you—some 45 films in all. For four days, we will be screening a dozen or so films daily at our three venues: The Colligan Theater, the Tannery World Dance Center, and the Radius Art Gallery, all located within the Tannery Arts Center. The festival will occur during our monthly First Friday Art Walk when artists open their studios to the public, and during Thursday Art Market where musicians and artisans exhibit on the Tannery courtyard.
This year’s Santa Cruz Film Festival is going to be a true artistic experience. It’s all happening within a diverse arts community in a city where interesting and unusual are the norm.
Catherine Segurson Director Santa Cruz Film Festival, 2016
GoodTimes.SC SantaCruz.com
delighted sponsor of 2 SANTASanta CRUZ FILM Cruz FESTIVAL Film2016 Festival SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 3 The Colligan Theater Thursday Art Market 4-7pm Located at 1010 River street, The Colligan Theater has 182 seats Thursday Art Market features live with two aisles and more distance music, artist demonstrations, and between rows for better leg room. guest chefs with rotating menus in With a higher rise from one row to the central courtyard at the Tan- the next there is a better view of nery Arts Center action on the stage. Inside you’ll enjoy the spacious lobby with FREE & family friendly! concessions bar, and outside you’ll find a beautifully landscaped patio and garden, relics of the old Tannery, and also dozens of free adjacent parking spaces exclusively for theater patrons. First Friday Art Walk
Artist studios at the Tannery open from 5-9pm. Tour the 85 different artist studios Tannery World Dance Center in between film screening. Musicians will perform on the Tannery courtyard. Tannery World Dance & Cultural Center is a studio, performance, and cultural space housed inside the Tannery Arts Center. Our Saturday Music unique hub is surrounded by loft artists, galleries, sculptures, and an Santa Cruz, CA based alternative “saltwater rock” Stormy ArtBar & Cafe. The Black Box the- Strong formed in 2006 and will offer a tsunami of salty melodic ater is home to professional dance anthems. Stormy is the son of a California commercial fisher- artists from all over the world. We man and the inspiration of his own near death experiences at have code-accessed, clean, public sea provide for honest lyrics soaked in raw emotion that splice restrooms and ample, free parking! seamlessly with award winning song-writing. His songs will leave you cast a drift, melodies swimming around inside of your head long after the show is over. Radius Art Gallery
Radius Gallery is a professional art The Art Bar and Café venue and gallery at the Tannery Arts Center showcasing the work Located on the center courtyard of local, regional and internati- of the Tannery Arts Center, the art onal artists. Curated exhibitions bar and café offers a variety of cre- are year-round and present all atively inspired appetizers, salads, art disciplines. Radius Gallery is soups, sandwiches, and deserts. also available to rent for events, The bar menu includes a variety receptions, workshops, and other of creative cocktails named after creative projects. artists, as well as wine, champagne, and craft beers. The ArtBar is open daily from 10:30-11:00pm.
4 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 5 120 Days: Director: Joel Tait Potrykus resides in Grand Rapids, MI USA, where he continues to work with his filmmaking band, Sob Undocumented in America Noisse. Buzzard (2014) (SXSW) is the final installment in his DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Animal Trilogy, following the feature film Ape (2012) (winner of Tannery World Dance Best Emerging Director, Locarno Film Festival) and the super 8 Saturday, June 4 short Coyote (2010). 4:45 pm One hour, 20 minutes
An Acquired Taste DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Radius Gallery Saturday, June 4 4:45pm, One hour, ten minutes
Synopsis: In exchange for Miguel Cortes agreeing to leave the country voluntarily and paying a $5,000 bond, a North Carolina immigration judge offers him 120 days to get his affairs in order be- fore leaving his wife and two daughters in the United States. Cortes has 120 days to weigh his options about returning to Mexico alone or risk changing his name and disappearing back into another U.S. city illegally to keep his family together.
Director: Ted Roach is a director, producer and editor who Synoposis: Why kill your own food? Defying factory farms, a has worked in the film and digital media industries for almost young, mindful generation learns to hunt as a way of connec- twenty years. His productions have screened in over 40 film ting with the source of its sustenance. An Acquired Taste delves festivals, won many awards, and have been broadcast interna- into the inner conflicts of a new urban breed: locavore hunters. tionally. Director: Trained as a conservationist, Vanessa LeMaire made her screen debut as a host for the French TV environmental show Ushuaia Nature in 1998. An Acquired Taste marks her debut as a feature-film producer/director, for which she was The Alchemist Cookbook awarded a fellowship by The Moving Picture Institute. NARRATIVE FEATURE Tannery World Dance Thursday, June 2 9:15pm
Synoposis: Young outcast Sean has isolated himself in a trailer in the woods, setting out on alchemic pursuits, with his cat Kaspar as his sole companion. Filled with disdain for autho- rity, he’s fled the daily grind and holed up in the wilderness, escaping a society that has no place for him. But when he turns from chemistry to black magic to crack nature’s secret, things go awry and he awakens something far more sinister and dangerous.
6 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 7 The Anthropologist Directors: Michael Coleman’s behind-the-scenes work has been featured in such films as Director Brett Morgen’s The DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane and Metallica: Through the Del Mar Theater, Wednesday June 1st, Opening night Never. In November of 2009, Michael launched the SoundWo- 7:30 pm rks Collection videos series. The SoundWorks Collection takes Colligan Theater you behind the scenes and straight to the dub stage for a look Thursday, June 2 into audio post-production for feature films, video games, and Noon original soundtrack composition.
Emmanuel Moran is a documentary filmmaker whose film and television credits include Director Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Mansome, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, A Day In the Life, Inside Man, Director Ellen Goosenberg’s Wartorn and No Dog Left Behind. With a back- ground and focus in music production he also continues to produce music for film.
Boone Synoposis: The Anthropologist presents the parallel stories DOCUMENTARY FEATURE of two women: Margaret Mead and Susie Crate, two major Colligan Theater anthropologists studying how we negotiate disruptions of Saturday, June 4 traditional ways of life. Told through the perspective of the two 2:30 pm, One hour 15 mins women’s daughters, the film explores means for coping with change, whether through encounters with the outside world or unprecedented environmental changes, such as melting permafrost, receding glaciers, and rising tides.
Director: Daniel A. Miller and Jeremy Newberger. Ironbound Films is a documentary film production company run by Seth Kramer, Daniel A. Miller, and Jeremy Newberger. Ironbound’s films have aired on PBS and CNN, and won multiple awards, including Sundance and New York Times Critics’ Pick, and NY1 best documentary awards. Two earlier films have been nomi- nated for Emmy awards.
Synopsis: Boone tells the story of three young goat farmers as The Art of Listening they come to terms with the physical and emotional grit requi- red to live in deep relationship with the land. This experiential DOCUMENTARY FEATURE film is a visceral meditation on the sacrifice and struggle of a Colligan Theater lifestyle born of self reliance; a sensual homage to the heart Thursday, June 2 and soul of a farmer. 2:30 pm Director: Christopher LaMarca was named one of the 25 New Faces of Film for 2014 by Filmmaker Magazine. His still photography has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography and included in such publications as Aperture and American Photography.
Synoposis: The Art of Listening is about the journey music takes to reach a listener’s ear, from the intent of an instrument maker and composer, to the producers and engineers who capture and preserve an artist’s voice. Narrated by various artists including the composer Hans Zimmer, and Mike Milosh of the Rhye.
8 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 9 Children of the Arctic Driving While Black DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FEATURE COMEDY Tannery World Dance 110 Building Thursday, June 2 Friday, June 3 2:30 pm 7:00 PM, 94 min
Synopsis: Driving While Black is a dark comedy, rooted deeply in reality... but not a reality that everybody is familiar with. Di- Synopsis: Children of the Arctic is a portrait of Native Alaskan mitri delivers pizzas for a living - but as a young black man he is teenagers coming of age at America’s northernmost edge. As faced with “extra” challenges while navigating the city. The film their climate and culture undergo profound changes, they explores the reasons why so many black men have concerns strive to be both modern American kids and the inheritors of of unfair treatment, especially while driving. We get to see an ancient whaling culture. the psychology behind Dimitri’s attitude towards the police, through piercing flashbacks to his prior experiences with the Director: Nick Brandestini is an independent filmmaker cops - from childhood to present day, the cops have always based in Zurich, Switzerland. Most recently, he directed the had their eyes on him. award-winning documentary Darwin, which screened theat- rically in New York and Los Angeles in DocuWeeks 2011. His Director: Paul Sapiano prior films includeH.R. Giger’s Sanctuary, and Return to Florence.
Daddy Don’t Go The Fits DOCUMENTARY FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Radius Gallery Tannery World Dance Sunday, June 5 Saturday, June 4 4:45 pm, one hour, 28 min 7:00pm 1 hr, 12 min
Synopsis: The Fits is a psychological portrait of 11-year-old Toni-a tomboy assimilating to a tight-knit dance team in Synopsis: Daddy Don’t Go explores the crisis of fatherlessness Cincinnati’s West End. Enamored by the power and confidence in America by capturing two years in the lives of four disad- of this strong community of girls, Toni eagerly absorbs routines, vantaged fathers in New York City as they fight to defy the masters drills, and even pierces her own ears to fit in. When a odds against them. The film illuminates the hardships that mysterious outbreak of fainting spells plagues the team, Toni’s impoverished fathers face and provides compelling portraits of desire for acceptance is twisted. men who are unwavering in their commitment to parenthood despite those challenges. Director: Babak Anvari is a director and writer, known for Two & Two (2011), Under the Shadow (2016) and Solitary (2007) Director: Emily Abt has produced and directed documentaries for PBS, OWN, MTV, Showtime, and the Sundance Channel. She earned her MFA from Columbia University and received a Fulbright fellowship for her thesis film.Variety Magazine named her among the “Top 10 Directors to Watch.”
10 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 11 Leonard In the Works: BY JAMESON HARGEAR Friday Night 13:18
Comedy Shorts An intimate portrait of Leonard, a lonely man whose comfor- SHORTS PROGRAMME table but unfulfilling routine is interrupted by an unexpected discovery at the grocery store. Radius Gallery Friday, June 3 9:15 PM, Totale Runtime: 75 minutes Silver Dogs BY ERIN DRAKE-PRIOR 18:00
A recently divorced stand-up comedian, homeless and living in his car, struggles after his ex-wife forces him to take their two senior Weimaraners.
About: Friday Night Comedy returns to SCFF! These hilarious shorts feature quirky characters who are making it work, one Young Voices way or another. Stay up and laugh out loud at the festival. for the Planet: Ten Short Coffee Virgin BY HART PEREZ Success Stories EARTHVISION FEATURE 1:15 Radius Gallery A psychedelic short film about a boy who tries coffee for the Saturday, June 4 first time. 12 pm, Total runtime: 58 min
A Pointless Pencil BY BEECHER REUNING 10:22
When a blue-collar worker is called to an executive seminar to be ridiculed by a former colleague, the tables are turned as the worker shows there’s more to him than anyone could have ima- gined.
Team Work BY MICHAEL TOUBASSI About: The mission of the Young Voices for the Planet film 14:30 series is to limit the magnitude of climate change and its im- When an eager team building consultant meets a sadistic pacts by empowering children and youth, through uplifting and manager and his dysfunctional band of employees, a comedic inspiring success stories, to take an essential role in informing battle of wills ensues. their communities—and society at large, challenging decisi- on-makers, and catalyzing change.
Doris BY OSCAR RODRIGUEZ GORRIZ 16:58
An undocumented Mexican housemaid working for a spoiled family tries hard to satisfy their every whim in exchange for help with her green card application. When the family leaves for the holidays, Doris is put in charge of the embittered and bigoted Grandpa. After finding common ground, they take over the house and break all the rules, having the time of their lives.
12 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 13 Caste a Wave EarthVision Shorts: BY FANCY FECHSER The Power of People 22:26
Radius Gallery The word “surf” originated in India in 1599, yet surfing has only Sunday, June 5 existed there for the past ten years. In this groundbreaking Noon, 77 min short film we take audiences to the small fishing village of Mahabalipuram on the Indian east coast, where we meet local and visiting surfers, relatives of surfers and locals. We see first- hand how surf culture is impacting the community and how a new wave of connectivity between Indians and their once-fe- ared ocean has given birth to a model for global environmental transformation.
Town, USA BY DOROTHY FADIMAN 27:03
In Butterfly Town, USA, we meet a community determined to protect the Pacific Grove, CA Monarch butterfly sanctuary. Synopsis: These short films focused on social justice and When the City heavily prunes the trees in the grove, activists environmental activism highlight the powerful work done by work together to fill the gaps created in the canopy. Their effort people in ecosystems near and far. reveals differences with the city in how to best protect the Butterflies.
Producing Hope BY MORGAN SHIRK 3:18 Bedtime Stories:
Despite the injustices brought upon them, California farm Experimental and workers remain hopeful. Animated Bedtime Shorts SHORTS PROGRAM Stewards of the Ocean Tannery World Dance BY CHLOE CAROTHERS-LISKE Friday, June 3 4:28 9:15 pm, Total runtime: 50 min
This is a short documentary about the filmmaker’s experience working on the Youth Crew at the Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands. It is intended to motivate other youth to get involved in local conservation and wildlife efforts of all kinds because our own fate is inextricably tied to the health of the planet.
Freedom Sleepers BY ISRAEL DAWSON 20:00
Focusing on homelessness in Santa Cruz, the Freedom Slee- Bring a sense of wonder and your pajamas to these visually pers activists struggle to organize, generate support, and inter- stimulating tales for mature kids and adults. vene in the face of continual harassment, ticketing, and arrests. Freedom Sleepers documents the pressure and tactics used by the police and city government to discourage protesters Hansel + Gretel fighting for the civil rights of its poorest residents. Arguing that BY SOYEON KIM criminalizing people for being homeless is unconstitutional and 3:30 min inhumane, the Freedom Sleepers believe the solution is there – if only the people in power would listen. An abstract visualization of Brothers Grimm’s Hansel & Gretel
14 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 15 Rosso Papavero choreographer and filmmaker who has pushed the bounda- BY MARTIN SMATANA ries of America’s avant-garde for five decades. During a time when the art world largely ignored women, she revolutionized 5:15 min modern dance, was a performance art innovator, and radically A small boy witnesses dreamlike circus performances changed experimental filmmaking. Director: Jack Walsh is the former executive director of the Simon New York-based Collective For Living Cinema and former BY THIBAUT ESTELLON president of the board of directors of the Film Arts Foundation. SCFF screened his film The Lost Generation in 2005. 11.58 min Awards: Honorable Mention, Best Feature Documentary, San A man prepares for his final entry onto the grand stage, only to Francisco Dance Film Festival, 2015 be confronted by his inner self.
Cybergenesis BY ANDRE SILVA Hanky Code: The Movie 13 min SHORTS PROGRAM Radius Gallery A fantastical, animated journey (parts of which are crowd Thursday, June 2 sourced) that imagines a future creation myth crafted by cyber 7 pm consciousness from humanity’s online legacy
Prunus Persica BY EVAN ADLER 15 min
Prunus Persica is the story of an unlikely vessel that transcends the power of human connection and reveals how closely bound we are to one another on Earth.
Revoltoso BY ARTURO “VONNO” AMBRIZ About: Before Internet dating and hookup apps, the “hanky 29 min code” was largely used by gay men in the 1970s to distinguish sexual preferences and fetishes in gay clubs and on the streets Revoltoso is a stop-motion short film that tells the story of of places like San Francisco and New York. Colors of hankies a little one-eyed boar who lives in Don Gonzalo’s hacienda indicated specific fetishes; placement (left or right rear po- during the Mexican Revolution in 1913. ckets) indicated active or passive roles. In Hanky Code: The Mo- vie, Periwinkle Cinema, San Francisco’s queer experimental film collective, brings queer and trans filmmakers across a spectrum of genres, styles, genders, and locations to dissect the code in Feelings Are Facts: this anthology feature comprising 25 short films. The Life of Yvonne Rainer Flagging Black by Ivy Dykes, Grey Is For Bondage by Lorin DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Murphy, Light Blue, White Stripes by Lex Non Scripta, Blue Silver Colligan Theater by Marie Walz, Light Blue by Ricky Lee, Teal Blue by Kolmel W Saturday, June 4 Love and Alex Albers, Red by Caitlin Rose Sweet and André 4:45 pm 1 hour 22 min Azevedo, HEMA by Ashley Monique George, Rose by Ilona Berger, Magenta by Gentry McShane, Purple by Anatomically Incorrect Doll and Char Vortryss, L is For Lavender by Mar- garita Femmeinista, Pee Colored by Katie Bush, Spit by Malic Amalya and Nathan Hill, 2 looking for 1 by Jamie Evelyn Manzi, Anything Goes by Stéphane Gérard, Apricot 4 Apricot by Court- ney Trouble, grrrl with the most cake by Jacqueline Mary and Violette Dentata, White Fur by Neve Be and Nikki Silver, Fur by M. O‘Herlihy, Grey Flannel by Austin Boe, Flagging 4 Fashion by Moon Ray Ra, Kleenex by Kico Le Strange, and Mouth Wide Open by Siobhan Aluvalot, Indigenous Luvvv by Demian DinéYazhi. Credit sequence by Lisa Ganser. Theme Song by nomy lamm Synopsis: Feelings Are Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer tells the story of postmodern dance maverick Yvonne Rainer, a
16 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 17 House on Rodeo Gulch If You Find Me: NARRATIVE FEATURE Tannery World Dance Narrative Shorts Saturday, June 4 SHORTS PROGRAM 9:15 PM, 1 hour, 38 Radius Gallery Saturday, June 4 2:30, Total Runtime: 1 hour 22 min About: These diverse narrative shorts dramatize unexpected and long-awaited discoveries. You’ll be on the edge of your seat to find out what happens next.
The Voice in the Head BY CYRUS TRAFFORD 11:49 A young woman embarks on a journey to answer the question, “If sanity and insanity exist, how shall we know them?” Synopsis: A stepmother and her daughter move from Texas into their new home among the redwoods of Santa Cruz. Com- plications arise when strange happenings occur at their home. Month to Month Their only neighbor, a church reverend, and his assistant may BY JAMES ERSTED have something to do with their problems. 12:42 William Scherer is a graduate of the Virginia Mili- Director: A traveling musician (Paul Bergmann) decides to try his luck in tary Institute, an Army Airborne Ranger, and a fine art aerial Los Angeles, but when supernatural things begin to happen at photographer. House on Rodeo Gulch is his first full-length his new apartment, his life is forever altered. feature film.
Jada BY DOUG ROLAND How To Tell You’re a Douchebag 15:58 NARRATIVE FEATURE Jada is 7 years old. By following her through a day in her life, Radius Gallery the story of who she is, why she is there, and the identity of the Sunday, June 5 man who has come looking for her unfolds. 7 pm, 1 hr, 20 min Shown with: Twisted, Stuart Bowen, 6 minutes Tom in America BY FLAVIO ALVES 16:26 For 50 years, Michael and Betty have been united by one guiding principle: no secrets. But when a provocative Tom of Finland doll triggers Michael’s long-buried desires, Betty disco- vers that secrets have been part of their life all along.
Burned BY JAIME VALDUEZA 17:00 A dark comedy about a misogynist who falls in Synopsis: Jason (Beau Knapp; ‘The Signal’, ‘Southpaw’) hides in a motel love, and how the womanizing blogger who is trying to attract room afraid of coming out. The only person he trusts is his girl- attention from women with his blog Occasionally Dating Black friend Lila (Maika Monroe; ‘The Guest’, ‘It Follows’), who takes Women, gets put in his place by his readership. him to meet a friend in a remote house in the desert. Director: How To Tell You’re a Douchebag is director Tahir Jet- ter’s first feature. The Fetch BY CHERYL ISAACSON 7:59 In a community ruled by water scarcity, one mother enacts a dangerous plan.
18 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 19 WEDNESDAY June 1st DEL MAR THEATRE, 1124 PACIFIC AVE, SANTA CRUZ, CA 7:30 The Anthropologist
THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY June 2nd June 3rd June 4th June 5th
COLLIGAN THEATER 12:00 The Anthropologist Pussywillow Dirtbags In Pursuit of Silence Reel Fresh
2:30 The Art of Listening Boone UCSC Student Janey Makes a Play Showcase
4:45 120 Days Ocean Driven Feelings Are Out of Sight Facts: The Life of Yvonne Rainer
7:00 Of the Sea: Mele Murals West of Her Pride Denied Fisherman, Seafood & Sustainability
9:15 The Open Dependent’s Day I'm Trying to Impress You
TANNERY WORLD DANCE 12:00 Wildcard Weekday OLD?!
2:30 Children of the Arctic Searchdog Voyagers Unslut: without Trace A Documentary Film
4:45 New Generation Normal Is Over The Women and LEGS: A Big Issue Queens: a Zanzibar the Movie the Waves 2 in a Small Town soccer story
7:00 Love Bite + A Life Driving The Fits The Rainbow Kid of Engagement While Black
9:15 The Alchemist Bedtime Stories for House on Cookbook Adults: Animated and Rodeo Gulch Experimental Shorts
RADIUS GALLERY 12:00 Young Voices for Earth Vision Shorts: the Planet: 10 Short The Power of People Success Stories
2:30 If You Find Me: Shorts Daddy Don’t Go
4:45 Hanky Code Party Wildcard Weekday An Acquired Taste Two Soft Things, for Passholders Two Hard Things
7:00 Hanky Code: Fishbowl MAJOR! How to Tell You're The Movie a Douchebag
9:15 The Lost Arcade In the Works: Friday Echo Lake Closing Party Night Comedy Shorts for passholders
20 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 21 I’m Trying To Impress You John Cage’s 4’33” which would go onto inspire a generation of artists, humankind has had a long fascination with silence. NARRATIVE FEATURE Colligan Theater Director: Patrick Shen’s work, which includes the award-win- Saturday, June 4 ning films Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality, The 9:15 pm, 1 hr, 40 min Philosopher Kings, and La Source, has screened at over 100 film festivals across the globe, broadcast in over 25 territories, received 18 awards and 6 nominations, and has been featu- red on CNN, Huffington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, and the Washington Post. He was the recipient of the 2009 Emerging Cinematic Vision Award from Camden International Film Fes- tival and has presented his work at USC School of Cinematic Arts, IFC Center, Angelika Film Center, the Smithsonian, The Hammer Museum, NYC Museum of Natural History, Prince- ton, Cornell, Duke, and Harvard University.
Synopsis: Over the course of a long, booze-filled Halloween Janey Makes a Play in Los Angeles, four romantic relationships unexpectedly DOCUMENTARY FEATURE affect the fate of the others. A dark romantic comedy, shot in Colligan Theater black and white on a budget of just under $2,000, I’m Trying To Sunday, June 5 Impress You takes a raw, cool, and sometimes fantastical look at 2:30 pm 1 hr, 20 min young romance in the twenty-first century.
Director: I’m Trying To Impress You is Taylor Phillips’ debut feature film as writer and director. A 2012 UCSC film and digital media program graduate, Phillips’ thesis film was part of the SCFF student showcase at the Del Mar that year.
In Pursuit of Silence DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Colligan Theater Saturday, June 4 Noon, 1 hr, 21 min Synopsis: Follow 90-year-old Janey as she writes and directs Shown with: Noir, Soyeon Kim, 3 minutes her latest original, socially relevant community theatre produc- tion for her small town. Watch the creative process unfold with a cast of colorful townspeople, as they engage with the arts amidst a local economy devastated by the recent recession.
Director : Jared Callahan is a hard-working, friendly, compas- sionate idea-generator. He loves Jesus, his family, and friends deeply. Jared loves watching movies, attending baseball games, random rainstorms, dances parties, old books, gleaning wisdom from people, and hot chocolate.
Synposis: Beginning with an ode to John Cage’s seminal silent composition 4’33”, the sights and sounds of this film, the expe- rience of which the Austin Chronicle describes as “reminiscent of seeing 1982’s Koyaanisqatsi for the first time,” delicately in- terweave with silence to create a contemplative and cinematic experience that works its way through frantic minds and into the quiet spaces of hearts. As much a work of devotion as it is a documentary, In Pursuit of Silence is a meditative exploration of our relationship with silence and the impact of noise on our lives. From the Desert Fathers and mothers of the third century AD who became a model for early Christian monasticism to
22 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 23 Legs: A Big Issue in a Small Town unlikely community faced its strongest challenge, inspiring its biggest devotees to next-level greatness. DIRECTED BY BEATRICE ALDA & JENNIFER BROOKE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Director: Kurt Vincent is a Brooklyn based filmmaker. His Tannery World Dance film projects include, Out Of Place, a documentary about the Sunday, June 5 unlikely surfing community in Cleveland, Ohio. He shot and 4:45 pm 1 hr, 16 min produced The Bachelorette Party, a short experimental film directed by Irene Chin, which premiered at Anthology Film Archives in 2014. Kurt is director, producer, and editor for his first documentary feature, The Lost Arcade.
Love Bite + Life of Engagement SHORTS PROGRAM Tannery World Dance Thursday, June 2 Synoposis: When a large and controversial piece of art gets 7:00 pm publicly displayed in a small town, opinions start flying and feis- ty people take legal action. Experienced through the eyes and voices of one small town’s colorful residents, both newcomers Love Bite and established folk reveal struggles to fit in, to have a voice, to 34 min be respected, to be heard. In the process, they let slip their own prejudices as they categorize and discriminate against their neighbors on the basis of race, sexual orientation, nationality, and socioeconomics.
Director: Beatrice Alda is a graduate of Wesleyan University and NYU Film School. A Bryn Mawr graduate, director Jennifer Brooke has been a writer and director for more than twenty ye- ars. Together Alda and Brooke co-founded Forever Films Inc. in 2003 and co-directed the award-winning documentary feature, Out Late, which was released by First Run Features in 2009.
Synopsis: Sundance award-winning editor James Scott’s docu- The Lost Arcade mentary directorial debut Love Bite chronicles L.A.-based ar- tist Laurie Lipton’s life and prolific body of black & white work DOCUMENTARY FEATURE spanning over fifty years. No one on the planet has drawn more Thursday, June 2nd than Laurie Lipton. With millions of tiny strokes of her humble 9:15pm 1 hr, 21 min pencil, Laurie’s haunted images seek answers to some of the most uncomfortable themes in our culture. But what compels her to live a life of isolation drawing is neither black nor white.
Director: James Scott is an award-winning editor based in Brighton, England, originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. His feature-length cinema documentary credits include, Toby Amies’ critically acclaimed ‘The Man Whose Mind Exploded’ Jeanie Finlay’s ‘The Great Hip Hoax’, winner of the Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming at DOXA 2013, about two Scottish rappers who faked their way into the music industry.
A Life of Engagement Synopsis: Chinatown Fair opened as a penny arcade on Mott Street in 1944. Over the decades, the dimly lit gathering place, 33 min known for its tic-tac-toe playing chicken, became an institu- Synopsis: Eduardo Carrillo: A Life of Engagement, a film that tion, surviving turf wars between rival gangs, changing tastes conveys the powerful story of the vividly-lived life and cultural and the explosive growth of home gaming systems like Xbox context of Eduardo Leonardo Carrillo, (1937-1997), a painter, and Playstation that shuttered most other arcades in the city. muralist, visionary mentor, beloved professor, first generation But as the neighborhood gentrified, this haven for a diverse,
24 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 25 Mexican-American who came of age in East Los Angeles just Mele Murals as the Chicano movement found its voice and expressed that FEATURE DOCUMENTARY voice through the arts. Winner of the Gold Remi at the 48th Houston Film Festival Colligan Theater Friday, June 3 7 pm, 67 minutes Shown with: Boardwalk Músico, by Marc Serpa Francoeur, 4 minutes
Director: Pedro Pablo Celedón has extensive experience with a broad range of film and television projects. He has written, produced, and directed more than 30 documentaries, televisi- on specials, and pilot programs, and is founder and President of Hollywood-based Barefoot Productions, Inc. Synopsis: This documentary explores the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians. The documentary follows two street artists - Estria Miyashiro (aka Estria) and John Hina MAJOR! (aka Prime) and a group of Native Hawaiian youth living in the town of Waimea. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Radius Gallery Director: Tadashi Nakamura was named one of CNN’s Young Saturday, June 4 People Who Rock for being the youngest filmmaker at the 7:00 pm 2008 Sundance Film Festival. His last film Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings (NEA funded) was broadcasted nationally on PBS in 2013 and went on to win the 2013 Gotham Indepen- dent Film Audience Award. Nakamura’s trilogy of films on the Japanese American experience, Yellow Brotherhood (2003), Pilgrimage (2007) and A Song for Ourselves (2009) have garnered over 20 awards at film festivals.
New Generation Queens: a Zanzibar Soccer Story DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Synopsis: MAJOR! is a documentary film exploring the life and Tannery World Dance campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a formerly incarcera- Thursday, June 2 ted Black transgender elder and activist who has been fighting 4:45 pm, 55 minutes for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years. At the Shown with: Adi | At The Confluence, by Uddip Joor heart of MAJOR! is a social justice framework that puts the Baruah, 20 minutes subjects at the center of their story. Miss Major is a veteran of the Stonewall Rebellion and a survivor of Attica State Prison, a former sex worker, an elder, and a community leader and human rights activist.
Director: Annalise Ophelian (producer/director) is a white, queer-identified cis woman, psychologist, consultant, and documentary filmmaker whose work includes Diagnosing Difference (2009).
Synopsis: This feature documentary is the story of Zanzibar’s women’s soccer team, the New Generation Queens. The mo-
26 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 27 vie examines the history and culture around women’s soccer in Ocean Driven Zanzibar. It also follows the team to mainland Tanzania, where EARTH VISION DOCUMENTARY the Queens participate in a tournament for the first time and several hope to be recruited to the Tanzanian national team. Colligan Theater Friday, June 3 Director: Megan Shutzer is an independent filmmaker based 4:45 pm, 55 minutes in San Francisco, California. She has been making documen- taries since she was in high school, when her film Conscience and Consciousness won the 2006 Institute for Civic Leaders- hip Youth UN Summit Award. Shutzer’s projects are subject driven, based on her experiences working in East and Southern Africa. New Generation Queens: a Zanzibar Soccer Story is her first feature length documentary.
Normal Is Over: The Movie EARTH VISION FEATURE Tannery World Dance Friday June 3 4:45 pm, 90 minutes Synopsis: The true story of the obstacles faced by South Afri- can big wave surfer Chris Bertish as he pursues his dreams. The film culminates with his 2010 win at the Mavericks Invitational, after nearly being drowned in a wave. The story is told through archived material as well as through the voices of Chris’s family, peers, mentors, sports specialists, and Chris himself.
Directors: Nadia Tarlow is a director and painter who has exhi- bited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and been featured on NPR and in the San Francisco Examiner.
Adrian Charles has a journalism degree in TV and film and has worked as a camera operator and writer on television and feature films, including: Red Bull Big Wave Africa (1999-2010), Synopsis: This documentary investigates economic and Mzanzi Ridez, Birdmen Racing, and Desert Rebels, among production systems that connect climate change, species others. extinction, depletion of critical natural resources, and industrial control of food production. It also seeks solutions that range Sean Dewil is a photographer, writer and director who has from practical everyday fixes to rethinking the overarching my- worked with multiple South Africa Production companies ths of our time. While this film is intended to challenge viewers including: Moonlighting, Krishna Smiles, Monkey Film Produc- on many levels, it most of all offers hope. tion, Moon, and the Shooting Gallery.
Director: Renée Scheltema is an award-winning independent Director and co-producer, Chris Bertish is an ocean pioneer documentary filmmaker/producer and has worked for Dutch and accomplished big wave athlete who pushes the limit in Television as a Director, Producer, and Camera-person. Her surfing and SUPing and talks about his adventures in venues films have been screened at festivals throughout Europe and such as TEDx, FEAT. the U.S. She has a Master’s Degree in TV Journalism and Pho- tojournalism from the University of California, Berkeley.
28 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 29 Of the Sea: Fishermen, The Open Seafood & Sustainability NARRATIVE FEATURE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Colligan Theater Colligan Theater Wednesday, June 1 Thursday, June 2 9:15 pm, 1 hour, 43 min 7 pm, 85 min
Synopsis: This documentary tells the story of the decline of Synopsis: In a post-apocalyptic world, imaginary tennis beco- California’s fishing communities and explores the future of mes a raison d’être. Once professionally ranked tennis players sustainable seafood. Struggling to revive a fading way of life, are recruited into an Open Tournament at the foot of a grassy fishermen and entrepreneurs are creating new models for how knoll, and through their pretend competition help others find to support sustainably produced seafood. Of the Sea brings the will to exist. fishermen in front of the camera so that they may share their perspectives with the community and the world. Director: Marc Lahore worked as a voluntary projectionist, and then as a TV editor. He has directed a number of short films, Director: Hedges is award-winning documentary filmmaker. the most recent of which is Do. The Open is his first feature His last feature-length documentary was Sustainable Table: film. Marc recently received a grant from the Centre National what’s on your plate?, a documentary about food and farming. du Cinéma, and is today putting the finishing touches to Joe He holds an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican Louis’ Left Hand, a drama set Pyrenees in the South of France. University’s Green MBA program, and is Founder and Chief Storyteller at TrimTab Media, a communications agency that works with sustainable brands to market their products. Pride Denied EARTH VISION FEATURE OLD?! Colligan Theater DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Sunday, June 5 7 pm, 1 hour Tannery World Dance Saturday, June 4 12 pm, 55 min
Synopsis: Old?! showcases more than seventy people up to the Synopsis: Many North American LGBTQ pride events emer- age of 101 with poignant stories and plain-speak wisdom about ged out of sites of revolt and resistance—such as the anti-po- the life journey of aging. Their funny, touching, and inspiring lice riots at the Stonewall Inn in NYC in 1969 and the protests stories invite us to embrace our own aging process. that began after police bathhouse raids in Toronto in 1981. Today, however, PRIDE™ is big business. Non-profits formed DirectorKatherine Roselli is a retired pediatric physical thera- for the purpose of hosting pride events sport multinational cor- pist who studied film at the College of the Siskiyous in Weed, porations as sponsors alongside multi-million-dollar budgets. California. Old?! is her first feature-length documentary. In Pride Denied, Toronto activists and artists call for a return to prioritizing the political activism and community support that Awards: Reel to Reel International Film Festival, Best of Fest, characterized the emergence of the contemporary LGBT rights 2015; Jefferson State Flixx Fest, Creative Storytelling Award, 2015 movement more than 40 years ago.
30 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 31 Director: Kami Chisholm holds a PhD in History of Consci- to create high-quality, thought-provoking entertainment no ousness and Feminist Studies from the UCSC and an MFA in matter the scope of a project or the size of the budget. Film Production from York University. She has made more than a dozen films that have screened at festivals, universities, and Awards: Hamilton Film Festival, Hamilton, Ontario, 2015 — events worldwide, She is an artist-in-residence at Osgoode Best Feature Film Law School at York University for the 2015-16 academic year.
Reel Fresh Pussywillow Dirtbags SHORTS PROGRAM DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Colligan Theater Radius Gallery Sunday, June 5 Friday, June 3 Noon, 90 min 9:15 PM About: Reel Fresh is a selection of films from students enrolled in video production classes in the Santa Cruz County Regio- nal Occupational Program (ROP). ROP Video Production is a year-long course comprised of scripting, pre-production, on-camera acting, post-production editing, and presentation to outside audiences. Our program features short narratives, music videos, animations and documentaries from Aptos, Harbor, San Lorenzo Valley, and Santa Cruz High Schools, and the Watsonville High Video Academy. The student projects are colorful, imaginative and explore the fresh creativity that these young filmmakers bring to the screen. Youth filmmakers are eligible to win the Evan Kuhn Memorial Audience Award Synopsis: Follow the weekly pick-up baseballs game in Santa Cruz, and the lives of two players over the course of three years. It tells the funny, honest and sometimes tragic stories of the “have not’s” of baseball and the dreams that still exist in all Searchdog of us. Each Pussywillow Dirtbags character is a textured story, DOCUMENTARY but woven together they have become a rich tapestry of hope, heartache, and existential beauty held together by a Tuesday Tannery World Dance afternoon baseball diamond. Friday, June 3 2:30 pm, 88 minutes Director: Pussywillow Dirtbags is a debut feature length docu- mentary from Santa Cruz filmmaker Pedro Delbrey, and is the culmination of 4 years work.
The Rainbow Kid NARRATIVE FEATURE Tannery World Dance Sunday, June 5 7 pm, 1 hour, 32 minutes
Synopsis: Searchdog is the story of Matthew Zarrella, a Rhode Island State Police Sergeant who rehabilitates “unadoptab- le” pound dogs and transforms them into Search & Rescue/ Recovery Dogs. We come to know Matthew and his dogs and witness extraordinary moments over four and a half years of real-time searches as he trains troopers and their new canine partners to find missing persons.
Director: Mary Healy Jamiel is a documentary filmmaker Synopsis: Eugene, a young man with Down syndrome, sets out and an Associate Professor of Film/Media & Communication on a life-altering journey to find the end of the rainbow. Studies at the Harrington School of Communication & Media at the University of Rhode Island. Mary’s award-winning TV Director: Kire Paputts is a Ryerson University Film Program documentary, Holy Water-Gate (56 min) was the first film to graduate who works in both the creative and corporate side of lay bare 25 years of institutionalized cover-up of child sexual the industry. He started his company, Made By Other People, abuse by priests and details the methods and mechanisms that in 2014 as a boutique film production company that strives concealed these crimes for decades.
32 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 33 Two Soft Things, Two Hard Things the manifestations and often devastating results of sexual sha- ming in North America and offers immediate and long-term DOCUMENTARY FEATURE goals for personal, local, and institutional solutions. It featu- EarthVision Environmental and Social Justice Film res conversations with those who have experienced sexual Radius Gallery shaming, including the family and friends of Rehtaeh Parsons, a Sunday, June 5 Canadian teenager whose story made headlines when she took 2:30 pm, 1 hour, 11 minutes her own life after being gang-raped and subsequently labeled a ‘slut’ by her classmates, and Samantha Gailey Geimer, who was publicly shamed by the media after being sexually assaulted by director Roman Polanski at the age of thirteen in 1977.
Director: Emily Lindin is the founder of The UnSlut Project, an online community where survivors of sexual bullying and “slut shaming” can share their stories, and where girls who are currently suffering can find support and solidarity. She is the author of Unslut: A Diary and a Memoir, based on her personal experience with sexual bullying.
Synopsis: As a small group in Nunavut, Canada, prepare for a seminal LGBTQ Pride celebration in the Arctic, the film ex- Voyagers Without Trace plores how colonization and religion have shamed and erased DOCUMENTARY FEATURE traditional Inuit beliefs about sexuality and family structure Tannery World Dance and how, 60 years later, a new generation of Inuit are actively Saturday, June 4 “unshaming” their past. 2:30 pm, 1 hour, 20 minutes
Directors: Mark Kenneth Woods is a writer, producer, director, actor and tv host whose films and videos have been broadcast on television in over a dozen countries and have been screened in over 300 festivals and galleries around the world from Tokyo to Sao Paolo to Paris’ famous Centre Pompidou. Michael Yerxa is known for his outspokenness as an original cast member on Logo TV and MTV Canada’s 1 Girl 5 Gays. Woods and Yerxa recently collaborated on the television documentary Take Up The Torch, a look at past and present LGBT sport trailblazers in Canada who are actively making the sports landscape more LGBT-inclusive.
Synopsis: In 1938, three young Parisians arrived in the Ame- rican West with kayaks, cameras, beer—and a bold, even UnSlut foolhardy plan: be the first to take kayaks down the wild Green DOCUMENTARY FEATURE and Colorado rivers. What led an explorer, his new bride, and his best friend halfway around the world on the eve of World Tannery World Dance War II? Director Ian McCluskey traces the trio back to Europe, Sunday, June 5 uncovering unexpected connections to the French Resistan- 2:30 pm, 38 minutes ce, the advent of the French Riviera, and the possibilities that Shown with: Hit By Lightning, by Gadget Box Studio and free-spirited risk-taking offers to all. Amy Pine, 4 minutes Director: Ian McCluskey is an award-winning film director and the founder of NW Documentary, a nonprofit organiza- tion that practices, teaches, and shares the art of nonfiction storytelling.
Awards: Ladek Mountain Film Festival, Ladek, Poland, Best Adventure Film, 2015
Synopsis: Through interviews with sexuality experts, advoca- tes, and media figures,UnSlut: A Documentary Film explores
34 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 35 UCSC Student Showcase Wildcard Weekday Colligan Theater Saturday, June 4 Tannery World Dance, Friday June 3, noon 2:30, 90 min Radius Gallery, Friday June 3, 4:45
Join us for our annual screening of University of California Join us for a surprise presentation of a popular film from the at Santa Cruz student films, presented by the UCSC Film & previous day. Ticket price is discounted to half price. Digital Media Department, in association with the Santa Cruz Film Festival. The Women and the Waves 2 DOCUMENTARY FEATURE West of Her Colligan Theater NARRATIVE FEATURE Thursday, June 2 Colligan Theater 4:45 pm, 43 minutes Saturday, June 4 Shown with: Kanada Girl, Rebecca Campbell, 10 minutes 7 pm, 1 hour, 27 minutes
Synopsis: Two young strangers travel the country participating in a mysterious street art project, but when their contentious Synopsis: This documentary celebrates women and their relationship deepens into romance, they must choose between unique approach to surfing and life. The film looks at the state their commitment to their work and the possibility of a future of surfing today from a feminine perspective and features posi- together. Filmed across ten states in iconic American locations, tive role models who give back to people and the planet. West of Her is a film for anyone who’s ever longed for adven- ture, romance, and a meaningful life. Director: Heather Hudson is a film producer living in Santa Barbara, California. In 2007, she started her film production Director: Ethan Warren is a graduate of Bates College and company, Graciegirl LLC, and produced the 2009 documentary received his MFA in creative writing from the University of film, The Women And The Waves, with friend and mentor, North Carolina in Wilmington. He studied film production at Peck Euwer of Swell Pictures Inc. (now of, Stoveworks Inc.) For the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport. West of Her is his more than 18 years, Hudson has supported and volunteered for first feature. “Heal the Ocean,” a Santa Barbara-based non-profit citizen’s action group committed to ending ocean pollution. In 2012, she was named to the Heal the Ocean Board of Directors where she manages fundraising and events. The one constant in He- ather’s life is her absolute love for surfing and the ocean — she begins most of her days with a surf session.
36 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 37 The Santa Cruz Film Festival thanks our Patrons, Board Members, Staff, and Volunteers for their generous contributions
PATRONS Bud Colligan Rebecca Campbell Rick Kuhn George Newell Beth Regardz Karen Shoemaker
BOARD MEMBERS Joyce Anderson Francis Battaglia Jennifer Cornell Mary Ann Hobbs Beth Gummere Catherine Segurson Fred Schuller
STAFF Catherine Segurson, Director Logan Walker, Program Director Malinda O’Brien, Assistant Programmer Ethan Black, Assistant Director Arun Nevader, Event Photography Lynn Dunton, Volunteer Coordinator Jill Hoffman, Hospitality Coordinator Jake Gomez, Assistant Hospitality Coordinator Chelsea Schumer, Print Traffic Correll Barca-Hall, Print Traffic Ben Hung, Website Marilyn Chanthala, Social Media
VOLUNTEERS AND PRE-SCREENERS Leslie Adams Denise Leonberger-Celli Cory Barton Morgan Lester Correll Barca-Hall Marv Lewis Amber Bewley Joanna Lindbald Lisa Bird Anne Manor Meghann Bird Kelly Mercer Teri Brager Meilin Obinata Keith Carney Mariamor Pazos Marilyn Chanthala Ron Powell Arca Coruh Mel Preston Lynn Dunton Cameron Reid Carol Evans Trudi Romeo Keven Hernandez Chelsea Schumer Brooke Knisley Clarissa Thompson Brandon Lee Andrew Weiler
38 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016 COLLIGAN THEATER GALLERY RADIUS RADIUS TANNERY WORLD WORLD DANCE D I G T D o w 1 0 5 n t o GALLERY w RADIUS RADIUS A L M E D I N C R n S C PASS AND AND PASS FESTIVAL FESTIVAL TICKET TICKET SALES HUB: R I V E S T 1 0 6 T I V E A R 0 TANNERY CENTER WORLD WORLD DANCE DANCE T S C E N T R F e l t o n ( H W Y 9 )
40 SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL 2016