NEWFILMMAKERS LOS ANGELES 



FEBRUARY / MARCH / APRIL  2003

 
TAKE ME TO NEW YORK
 

 
NEWFILMMAKERS LOS ANGELES PREMIERE: 
FEBRUARY 5th  7:00 PM

Shorts:
MANUAL LABOR
tHE tOWeR oF BaBBLe
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Producers: Matt Stuecken and Beau Bauman
Writers: Beau Bauman & Matt Stuecken (screenplay), Jeff Wadlow (story)
Cast: Elizabeth Anne Allen, Tony Denison, Ricco Ross, Jeffrey Schecter,
Jeff Wadlow, Sarah Wentworth
Running Time: 21 minutes
Year of Production: Feb. '02
"What can a drama, a comedy and a police-thriller have in common? From
its wry introduction (narrated by Kevin Spacey) through its intricately woven
plots, this impressive tour-de-force reveals a very uncommon answer."  
Aspen Shortsfest.
 
Feature: ZERO DAY
Director: Ben Coccio
Cast:  (Andre) Andre Keuck  (Cal) Cal Robertson   (Rachel) Rachel Benichak
Running Time: 92 minutes
Year of Production: 2002
High school friends Andre and Cal declare war on their classmates and plan a
terrifying assault on their school. As they begin their deadly countdown, the two
create a video diary to explain their feelings and chronicle their mission.
 
ZERO DAY is a disturbing and original examination of violence, and in particular,
school shootings. Using footage from Andre and Cal’s own video cameras, footage
from their friends and family, and surveillance footage, independent filmmaker Ben
Coccio has created a unique and troubling portrait of two teenagers who willingly
take a violent and tragic path.
 

 
 
FEBRUARY 12th 
Shorts:
MONACO
Director: Hillary Olsen
Written and Produced by Anne Berlin
Narrated by Rita Gam
Running Time: 12.5 minutes
Year of Production: 1997
Genre: Experimental/Drama
Type: Black and White
Based on a trilogy of love poems, MONACO is a nostalgic and sentimental
remembrance of one couple's coming of age. The couple keeps going back
to Monaco, hoping to find the love they first discovered in each other when
they were young. The story shows the couple at various stages of their
marriage, including: youth, middle age and maturity. Told from the wife's
point of view, she realizes that she could never have understood love
unless she had spent a lifetime with her husband: That in fact love is not
love until you have known someone a lifetime.  MONACO originally
premiered in the presence of His Highness Prince Albert of Monaco,
October 1997.
BOIL
Director: J. Ayscue
5 minutes
2001
 
Feature: WEDDING TRAIN
2001, 53 min., Video 
Director:  Dan Leighton
Producer:  Tina McGilton
Featuring Dis & Rabies
The true life, hardcore, underground documentary of a love-struck couple living
on the dirty, gritty, rusty edge. Squalor, drug use and violence are as much a
part of their lives as the scenery they traverse.  Dis and Rabies risk life
and limb as they ride the rails to Portland, Oregon, and the 24- hour church
of Elvis. 
 

 
 
FEBRUARY 19th
Shorts:
BACK HOME YEARS AGO: THE REAL CASINO
Director: Joseph F. Alexandre
Cast: Several real members of the Chicago 'outfit' (mob.)
Running time: 24 min.
Year of production: 2000
An in-depth exploration of the real people who formed the basis
for the Scorsese's mob epic CASINO.
 
ASHBURIED
Director: Steve Herold
Cast: Stan Parratt
Running time: 8 minutes
Year of production: 2002
A look back at the once-glorious seaside resort town of Asbury
Park, New Jersey.


Feature: ANACARDIUM
Director: Scott Thomas
Cast: Frank John Hughes, Richard Rucculo
Running Time:
Year of Production:
 
 


FEBRUARY 26th
Short:
UP
Director: Chad S. Park
Running Time: 15:05
Year of Production: 2001
In all of us live a dreamer and a realist, locker in perpetual battle…
 
Feature: BLINK OF AN EYE
Director: Van Fischer
 

 
MARCH 5th
Shorts:
Title: 10,082
Director: Daniel Maldonado
Running time: 5:30
Year: 2001
10,082 is an impressionistic documentation of performer David Blaine
and his sensationalistic act of burying himself alive for 1 week without
food or water. Through various techniques, 10,082 becomes a meditation
on movement and claustrophobia.
 
 
MEN IN PATIENCE
Director: Koorosh Yaraghi
Producers: Sean Baker, Koorosh Yaraghi
Year of Production: 2001
Three men isolated in the middle of nowhere uncovering answers without
questions.
 
Feature: MICROCINEMA GREATEST HITS
A feature length presentation of terrific shorts films, curated by Joel
Bachar and the folks at Microcinema. 
 
The Independent Exposure Microcinema-screening program began in 1996 in
Seattle and now is based in San Francisco and Houston. The program, held
every month, has presented the short film, video and digital works of
over 750 artists from all over the world. Beyond the San Francisco and
Houston screenings, Independent Exposure also has been presented hundreds
of times in 36 countries and Antarctica! 
" the best collection of shorts I’ve seen"
Film Threat Magazine, October 2002
 

 
 
MARCH 12th  
Shorts: DOTTIE: THE LITTLE GIRL WITH THE BIG VOICE                          
Director: Dawn Westlake             
Cast: Dawn Westlake, Bruce Rheins, Tamara Bick, David Razowsky,
Conrad Cimarra.
Running time:  11:01                  
Year of Production: 2002                                                                                             
Dottie is an ordinary 5-yr-old with an extraordinary power. She
can change the world...just by speaking up!
 
Feature: STAND UP; A Summer at Comedy Camp
Director: Kyra Thompson
Cast: this is a documentary but features appearances by such c
omedians as Chris Tucker, Rob Schneider, Jamie Foxx, Shawn
Wayans, Paul Rodriguez, and others.
Running time: 86:46
Screening format: Digibeta or Beta
 
STAND UP chronicles one summer at "Comedy Camp" where at-risk
youth are coached in the art of stand-up comedy by A-list
comedians, and in the process learn the healing power of laughter.
 


MARCH 19th
Shorts: MINI DRIVER PROJECT  
Director: Fernando Rocha                              
Cast: Dawn Westlake, Tony Lima, Cristina Braga da Cruz, José Aires.                          
Running time: 11:01
Year of Production: 2000
The story of a girl, a guy, their cars, and unrequited love.
SPA-TEL
Director: Diane Sherry-Case
Running Time: 18:00 min 
Cast: O-Lan Jones (Bea) Shawnee Free Jones (Peach) Steven Flynn (Billie)
Year of Production: November, 2000                                           
A fable about a girl who doesn’t wear panties, her macho boyfriend,
and a mystical desert motel where the unexpected is the norm.
 
 
Feature: LIFE IN BED
Director: Nick Lindsay
 

 
 
MARCH 26th
Shorts:
REAPER MADNESS
Writer/Director: Robert Snyder
Producer/Editor: Philip Snyder
Cast: Ralph Edsell (Rick); Robin Lilley (his Girlfriend); Robert
Snyder (the Grim Reaper)
Year of Production: 1998
Running time: 7.5 minutes
Rick, an over-the-hill punk rocker, and his girlfriend enter a
graveyard in the dead of night with plans to party and instead
encounter the Grim Reaper. One scene from a feature-length script, "
Reel Blood", about low-budget horror-filmmaking.
H.R. PUKENSHETTE
Director: Steve Herold
Cast: Joe McClean, Kevin Kolack, Sabrina Gennarino
Running Time: 10 minutes
Year of Production: 2001
A man's plan to drink himself to death is interrupted by an unlikely
Guardian Angel.

Feature: LETHAL FORCE
Director: Alvin Ecarma.
Cast: Frank Prather, Cash Flagg, Jr. 
Running time: 70:00 minutes.
After his wife is murdered and his son kidnapped, a gangster is
forced to betray his best friend--a deadly killer.
 

 
APRIL 2nd
Short: BAD DOG
Director/Screenplay:  Pete Freedman           
Producer:  Abby Gail Palanker
Cast:  Mark Burnham, Jerry Adler, Jenni Blong, Vincent Duvall,
Birgitte Jensen, Dan Lauria
Running Time: 29:38 min
Year of Production: Summer 2000
What do you do when the dog you're dog sitting dies of a heart
attack?  Get it freeze dried, of course.  Then, drag it around
New York City with you as you search for a replacement.

Feature:
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLIE PUTZ
Writer/Director: Robert Rothbard
Producer: Fred Caruso
Cast: Michael Townsend Wright, Greg Lipari, Mollie Tarranto
Year of Production: 1999
A gentle and humorous tale of a man with the unfortunate Last name
of Putz. Charlie's life hangs by a thread. He gets by on his meager
salary, living his low-rent lifestyle until the thread finally
breaks. Charlie loses his job and becomes homeless. He pulls
himself up by his bootstraps, and with the help of caring friends,
makes a comeback.
 
 

 
 
APRIL 9th
Short: LINCOLN AND 31ST
 Director: Damien Caldwell
Cast: David Michael White, James Martinec, Jeff Ryan     
 Running time: 12 Min.
Year of production: 2001
Two kids that hang out at a local gas station because they’ve
got nothing better to do.
 
Feature: NEBRASKA SUPERSONIC
Year of Production:  2001
Running Time:  75 Min.
Director:  Jeremy Lerman
Principal Cast:      Matt Kelehan, Jesse Joyner, Sonny Robinson
In Omaha, Nebraska, three slackers--all sub-par French majors--
start a business that should not succeed on the vast Great
Plains: a bicycle courier service.  Through comic adventures,
personal challenges, and while charging only two dollars per
120-mile delivery, their business becomes a resounding success.