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1999 FilmsAll of It -WFF LOCAL SIGHTINGS SERIES* Writer/Director: Jody Podolsky Producer: Darren Gold Cinematographer: Ted Cohen Principle Cast: Lesley Ann Warren, Alanna Ubach, James Rebhorn, Nancy Banks, Michael Silver (85 mins / color) DRAMA *Filmed in Michigan. Producer Darren Gold has a vacation home in Saugatuck, and will be in attendance. Amy Holbeck, a hip young New York editor returns to her Midwestern hometown to visit her steadfast socialite family. Due to some surprises, a chain of events are set in motion that cause Amy to look past her Mothers facade and help the woman who raised her to become who she really is. A universal story of laughter and tears starring Academy Award nominated Lesley Ann Warren and Alanna Ubach.
Chillicothe - MICHIGAN PREMIERE* Director/Writer: Todd Edwards Executive Producer: Rob Yanovitch Producers: Preston Stutzman Cinematographer: Brett Reynolds Principle Cast: Todd Edwards, Brad Knull, Cory Edwards, Peter Bedgood (93 min. / color) COMEDY OFFICIAL SELECTION 1999 Sundance Film Festival *The Director and Producer will be in attendance. A dry, witty comedy that follows
a year in the life of four college friends who find themselves
trapped in a rut after college. It has been four years since
graduation, and Wade Hinkle, the groups most cynical bachelor,
is still stewing over the loss of his social life. After a series
of weddings breaks the group apart, the death of a college rival
changes Wades perspective on life and how to live it. The
films strength lies in ensemble performances that convey
the feeling that these actors truly are these characters. That
feeling of reality enables the film to provide scrupulous insight
into the current state of twenty-something angst and emotion
in Middle America.- Trevor Groth Writer/Director: Adam Lamas Producer: Alex Lamas Principle Cast: Justin Lane, Adam Jones, John Howard (61 mins. / black & white) (WORLD WAR II DRAMA) OFFICIAL SELECTION Slamdance Film Festival. In the bleakness of a cold Italian winter during the second world war, a battle fatigued sniper finds himself on the edge of madness. His "prey", a German soldier, is posted near the roadside where the sniper watches and waits. Instead of acting on his first impulse to kill the German soldier, he instead observes him through the scope of his rifle and comes to realize that the soldier is mildly retarded. The sniper continues to observe the German soldier from afar. He begins to recognize a humanity within the enemy that had since been absent. The black and white delusion of the war that the sniper had been conditioned to believe, begins to break up into the gray shades of reality. This realization initiates a test of the sniper's courage and then delivers him into the heart of a most deadly situation. Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood - MICHIGAN PREMIERE* Producer, Writer and Director: Michael Epstein Executive Producer: Susan Lacy Edited by Bob Eisenhardt Narrated by Gene Hackman Produced for WNET/American Masters International Sales Films Transit International 402 East Notre Dame Montreal Canada H2Y 1C8 Phone (514) 844 3358 Fax (514) 844 7298 Email filmtran@odyssee.net (85 min. / color/black & white) DOCUMENTARY OFFICIAL SELECTION Sundance Film Festival Alfred Hitchcock and David O.
Selznick were two men who strongly shaped early Hollywood. They
were both driven by a zealous desire to be masters of their domain.
Hitchcock emerged from a working class background. At the age
of thirty, after a career that made him the most distinct and
recognizable director in England, he was ready to take on Hollywood.
Selznick came from a wealthy background, but that didn't stop
him from working even harder, to obtain his own achievements.
At age thirty-six, he started his own studio, and became known
for his aggressiveness to control every aspect of the film making
process. When the two started their first collaboration REBECCA,
sparks flew, and a struggle began. Superbly written and edited
and infused with rare clips of these masters at work, the film
is a delight with its juxtaposed, in-depth look at two Hollywood
mavericks. Writer / Director: George Spyros Producers: Jonathan Shoemaker and George Spyros Cinematographer: Matthew Mindlin Principle Cast: Dahlia Mindlin, Leslie Lyles, Neil Pepe (93 min. / color) DRAMA OFFICIAL SELECTION AFI LA International Film Festival (Best Actress), South by Southwest Film Festival A story of an emotionally unstable
24-year old womans (May) fight to get out from under her
controlling mother and take a chance on her first-ever boyfriend.
Her mother doesn't want to let go of the one thing she still
has in her life. We witness the two women drifting apart. Fast
cuts, a roving camera, and tight shots navigate the viewer from
Mays disjointed perspective. A highly charged, emotional
mother-daughter story. Writer/Director: J. Max Burnett Executive Producers: M. Burns, P. Locke, D. Kushner Producer: Leanna Creel Principle Cast: Mac Davis, Gregory Coolidge, Andrew Prine, Barry Switzer (97 min. / color) DRAMA, FAMILY FILM OFFICIAL SELECTION Sundance Film Festival *The Director will be in attendance. Will Collier (Mac Davis) loves
his job as radio announcer for the local high school football
team, the Nowata Possums. He loves it so much that he continues
announcing even after the town decides to cancel the football
program. But when his imaginary team starts to contend for the
state championship, he not only has to deal with the real state
champs, but he must reckon with the hopes and dreams of the people
of Nowata as well. A sports film in the spirit of "Hoosiers"
and "Rudy". Director: Timothy B. Johnson Executive Producer: Hiroshi Sand, Aki Komine Producer: Roger Nygard Cinematographer: David Doyle, Adam Olson (82 min. / color) DOCUMENTARY *Director as well as other members of the production team will be in attendance. From the filmmakers who brought
you Trekkies (to be released May 21, 1999 by Paramount), comes
their second hilarious look at Americana. This film takes us
to the New Mexico town famous for UFO sightings, extra-terrestrial
encounters, and government cover-ups. Spend six days in a rented
Coachman with two dogs, a film crew, UFO experts, and an overdose
of alien abductees. Director: Paul Fenech Writers: Paul Fenech, Brendan Fletcher Producers: David Webster, Paul Fenech, Brendan Fletcher DP: Mike Kliem Editor: Areito Miles Music: Nic Morrey & Lothiorian Principle Cast: Rowan Whitt, Barry Jenkins, Austen Tayshus, Ernie Dingo, Guy Leech, Leah Purcell International Sales: IFM Film Associates Inc., 1541 North Gardner St., LA, CA 90046, USA Ph: 323-874-4249 Fax: 323-874-2654 email: ifmfilm@aol.com (96 min. / color) AUSTRALIAN FEATURE OFFICIAL SELECTION Slamdance Film Festival A bold and inspirational tale
of three strangers entombed under the rubble of a collapsed department
store: A young boy, an old man, and a loud-mouthed thirty something.
Injured and aware of their desperation, the old man summons the
courage to talk the young boy through the ordeal, with a series
of fantastic stories. All the while he is tormented and berated
by the third pessimistic victim. Each story is visually translated
for the audience through the young boys imagination. The
result is a moving and stunningly surreal depiction of the transfer
of wisdom from one generation to another.-Slamdance Film Festival Writer/Director: Steven Widi Ho Producer: Alton Walpole DP/Editor: David E. Aubrey Music: Matt Sorum & Lanny Cordola/Michael Stearns Principle Cast: Wayne Pere, Eliane Chappuis, William Forsythe, Wes Studi, Nich Stalh Audie England, Danny Trejo, John Koyama, Liane Curtis (105 min. / color) COMEDY OFFICIAL SELECTION Slamdance Film Festival *Director as well as other members of the cast and crew will be in attendance Igby Waters is a sound recordist
with an increasingly tentative grasp on reality. His physical
proximity to those with "real" power (directors, producers,
studio execs, etc.) creates a painful awareness of his own relative
powerlessness. His complex emotional commitment to a young French
violinist with Tinseltown dreams drives Igby into a spiral of
insane confrontations with industry big wigs. A dark comedy about
a movie sound recordest who is unable to maintain his grasp on
reality. Spilt Milk - WORLD PREMIERE* Writer/Director: Chris McDonnell Executive Producer: Micha Producer: Mike McDonnell Cinematographer: Christos Kostianis Principle Cast: Chris McDonnell, Kevin Allison (MTVs "The State"), Jen Shoop, Michelle Diamond, Christine Gallo (75 min. / color) COMEDY *Director as well as other members of the cast and crew will be in attendance. A hilarious and original comedy
which glimpses into the lives of two cousins in their twenties
who live together. They are struggling to hit their stride personally
and professionally. They approach work with disdain and take
on relationships in a way that makes one glad there are mental
health professionals out there. We watch them try to make things
click. When they fail, and fail ugly, they return home to lick
their wounds and vent at each other-inappropriately. Spin the Bottle - MIDWEST PREMIERE* Director: Jamie Yerkes Executive Producers: Gill Holland, Kevin Chinoy Producers: Kristen Homsher, Jamie Yerkes Principle Cast: Mitchell Riggs, Kim Winter, Jusica Fuller, Heather Coldennerach, Holter Graham (82 min. / color) COMEDY *Director will be in attendance. A fantastic and moving comedy about five friends who gather for a weekend reunion at a lakeside cabin. No one's seen each other for a while and some have grown up more than others, and sexual trickery is the name of the game for at last one of the five childhood friends. Now the familiar crew is on hand for a wedding several days hence, and what transpires in the meantime bears the stigmata of old grudges. The cast includes Holter Graham from "Hairspray" and "Fly Away Home".
Director: Roger Nygard Executive Producers: Joel Soisson, Michael Leahy, Michael Peyser Producer: W.K. Border Writter: Roger Nygard, Joe Yannetty Principle Cast: Daniel Benzali, Louis Mandylor, Lori Loughlin (88 min. / color) OFFICIAL SELECTION US Comedy Arts Festival *Director as well as other members of the cast and crew will be in attendance. Do you feel like you've ever been screwed by a car salesman? Even if you don't, you have... Suckers is the story of what REALLY goes on behind the scenes at a new car dealership. To pay off his mounting debts, Bobby DeLuca reluctantly applies for a job selling cars. Reggie, the general manager with the killer instinct, teaches Bobby the secrets on how to "bury" his customers. Caught in the midst of fast-paced car sales mayhem, Bobby discovers, to his dismay, that he has a talent for screwing people. Starring Murder Ones Daniel Benzali.
Feature Writer/Director: Hopwood DePree Producer: Michael Hagerty Cinematography: Simms & Simms Principle Cast: Christine Elise, Hopwood DePree, Victoria Haas, Richard Speight, Jr. (90 min. / color) ROMANTIC COMEDY ****FILMED IN HOLLAND, MICHIGAN *Director as well as other members of the cast and crew will be in attendance. Remember traveling in the family station wagon and coming upon "Santas Village" in the desert or "Prehistoric Country" with gigantic fake dinosaurs? Michigans version is "Windmill Island," a landfill island with a large authentic windmill, wooden shoe carvers and candle makers. To some this is kitsch but to others it is something to aspire to. Leed yearns to leave the family "windmill" business. He meets a "summer cottage" girl who chooses him as her next experiment. She wants to mold him into a "cool guy" and remove the kitsch. The two worlds collide with hilarious and touching results. -ELFF The Waiting Game - MIDWEST PREMIERE* Writer/Director: Ken Liotti Producers: Mirjam Goldberg and Ken Liotti Cinematography: Rich Eliano Principle Cast: Dwight Ewell, Terumi Matthews (88 min. / color) COMEDY WINNER New York Comedy Film Festival - Audience Award (2nd place) *The Director and Producer will be in attendance. What does a tortured artist, feme fatale, ego-maniac, gay dancer, wanna-be supermodel, and an impotent bus-boy have in common ? Well...they work together for starters. This ensemble comedy love story chronicles the adventures and misadventures of a group of aspiring performers who wait tables at a New York City eatery called "Peter's Backyard". While the restaurant is a place of business, it's also a forum for everyone to work out the issues of life as they know it, or think they know it. Pitted against the New York culture jungle, the characters, serve up a prix fixe of artistic trauma, comedic insanity and thespian lust. We follow these characters as they struggle to keep their delicately balanced lives from coming unglued, in the urban warfare of the survival of the artist.
30, Still Single: Contemplating Suicide - WFF LOCAL SIGHTINGS SERIES* Writer/Director: Greg Lanesey Executive Producer: Paul Wyckoff Producers: Matt Radecki, Greg Lanesey Cinematographer: David Russell Principle Cast: Christopher May, Rachel Reenstra (Saugatuck native); Jill Zimmerman, Jill Kaeeland, Wendy Braun, Terry Gaters, Stephani Victor (88 min. / color) COMEDY - Mature Content *Director's family lives in Holland. Lead actress is a Saugatuck native. Director as well as other members of the cast and crew will be in attendance. "30, Still Single: Contemplating
suicide" is a comedy about a young man from the Midwest,
Mitchell Munson, who is looking for his "perfect woman"
in Los Angeles. Mitchell struggles to hold on to his wavering,
and often hypocritical, Catholic faith as he rides the emotional
roller coaster of being 30 and still single. Although not actually
contemplating suicide, Mitchell is exasperated and ready to throw
in the towel. Ready to leave L.A before his insanity beats him,
he flashes back to share his 7 years of dating hell. Candid female
commentary presents "the other side of the story" in
male/female relationships. The contrasts and comparisons are
frank and often juxtaposed in a comic way. Director: Patrick Sheane Duncan Patrick Sheane Duncan is originally from the area. He has had much successes as a writer and director whose screenplays include Oscar nominated "Mr. Hollands Opus" and "Courage Under Fire". Shot in 1988, "84 Charlie Mopic", a blue collar film, was his first film. It takes an insightful look at the tragedies and triumphs during war times. The films use of sustained takes contributes to its realistic nature and its dubbing as the most accurate Vietnam film ever made. *Patrick will be on hand to answer
questions about this film as well as his other successes. SHORT FILMS Billy's Balloon Director: Don Hertzfeldt Cinematographer: Rebecca Moline (5 min. / color) ANIMATED OFFICAL SELECTION Cannes Film Festival, WINNER Slamdance Film Festival (Best of, Grand Jury Award - Best Short Film), Spike and Mikes Festival of Animation A twisted look at a little boy
and his balloon. Director: Clayton Rye Principle Cast: Reggie Brown (14 min., black & white) VIETNAM WAR DRAMA shot in 1975 WINNER Academy of TV Arts & Sciences Student Film Awards. *The Director is a Michigan resident and will be in attendance. In a flashback, a new soldier
is baptized by fire in a Vietnam tragedy. Director: Jason Rietman A bank robbing expedition ending in disaster
Director: Nathaniel Geary Producer: Wendy Hyman (20 min. / color) OFFICIAL ENTRY Vancouver International Film Festival (Best Short Film), Slamdance Film Festival. *The Producer will be in attendance. Witness the day-to-day conflicts and soul searching of one mans desperate attempt to break a cycle of violence. Based on a poem by Bud Osborn.
Writers/Directors: Tony Gruba and Marci Nettles Producer: Sue Corcoran Cinematographer: Jeff Gatesman Principle Cast: Rada Velligan, Andy Velligan, Gil Gaitan (10 min. / color) OFFICIAL ENTRY New York International Independent Film & Video Festival *The Director will be in attendance. A documentary style comedy concerning
childrens perspectives of organized religion. Writer/Director: Stuart Matz Producer: Amanda Booker Cinematographer: Yann Blumeres Principle Cast: Sean Gullette, Jaime Andrews, PJ Landers, Don Paccin (5 min. / color) OFFICIAL ENTRY Palm Beach International Film Festival A tongue in cheek look at what
could happen in the modern film industry. Writer/Director: Miles Swarthout Based on a story by the late: Glendon Swarthout Producers: Lisa Greene & Peter Barnett Cinematography: David West Principle Cast: Tippi Hedren, Marcia Rodd (22 min / color) WINNER Best Comedy Short, Houston Worldfest *The Director is originally from Michigan and he will be in attendance. Tippi Hedren (Alfred Hitchcocks
"The Birds"), takes the lead in this comedy about two
widows fulfilling the last wish of one of their husbands. Director: Tim Ryan (5 min. / color) *The Director will be in attendance What one man is willing to trade
to "make it" in Hollywood. Director: Jon Foulk (6 min. / black & white) ANIMATED OFFICIAL SELECTION Chicago International Film Festival, South by Southwest An organ grinder rules over his
organ - forcing its inhabitants, schlomos, to dance to extinction. Director: Philip Holahan Producer: Heidi Swedberg Principle Cast: Philip Holahan, Heidi Swedberg (4 min. / color) OFFICIAL SELECTION Sundance Film Festival *Director will be in attendance Mr. Footface risks his life for
nookie. Director: Leanna Creel Producers: Leanna Creel, Michael Burns Principle Cast: Kristine Kirsten Reid, Elaine Williams, Adam Reid (46 min. / color) *Director will be in attendance. The documentary chronicles Kristines
struggle with cancer, it also chronicles the story of her best
friend, Elaine who has won a lottery ticket to go on "The
Big Spin." While Kristine fights for her life, Elaine contemplates
how her life would change if she won the $2 million jackpot lottery.
It is an emotional, tragic, and yet joyful journey. Director: Tracey Needham Producers: Tracey Needham, Gina DOrazio Cinematographer: Hugo Cortina Principle Cast: Tracey Needham, Tommy Hinkley, Kamala Dawson, Nadia Dajani, Amanda Wyss (30 min. / color) A serio-comic look at five women
facing their insecurities about aging and relationships. Writer/Director: Michele Remsen Cinematographer: David Armstrong Principle Cast: Selma Blair, Peter Frechette (16 min/color) *The Director will be in attendance. Two lonely people meet at two
in the morning and fumble through inadvertent revelations and
unexpected affinities. Director: Adam Cohen Producer: Ali MacLean Cinematographer: George Mitas Principle Cast: Chris Hardwick, Lindsy Sloane, Paul F. Thompkins (9 min. / color) OFFICIAL ENTRY US Comedy Arts Fest / Aspen Everett Vance is a teen idol
whose last film bombed at the box office. Needing the publicity,
he agrees to have dinner with Dalia, the winner of a call in
radio contest. His career on the rocks, Everett begrudgingly
dines with the young, bubbly fan only to discover himself liking
her more and more and more. Writer/Director/Producer: Marc Meyers Cinematographer: Tom Agnello Principle Cast: Mark Doskow, Andrew Obradovic, Nina Sheveleva, Michael Waelter (25 min. / black & white) OFFICIAL ENTRY Nantucket Film/Video Shorts *The Director will be in attendance. Takes a look at a day in the
life of a marginal New York City restaurant. While they wait
for customers, a Russian hostess and her Croatian and American
waiters wrestle with the inability to change their separate lives. |