Winning Films 2007

Best in Competition

Beyond the Call (2006) USA/Afghanistan/Middle East SPONSORED BY CENTRAL COAST WINE CLASSIC Ed Artis, James Laws and Walt Ratterman are three middle-aged men whose idea of adventure is taking desperately needed food and medicine into the world’s most forbidding yet beautiful places on Earth: the front lines of war. In 1995, they formed Knightsbridge International, a unique humanitarian aid organization, whose motto is “High Adventure and Service to Humanity.” Artis, Laws and Ratterman as a team are a fusion of Mother Teresa and Indiana Jones, and the film Beyond the Call inspires as much as it entertains. Documentary. Q & A with Ed Artis and Knightsbridge International guests. 80 min. View Trailer.

Best Feature Film

Hollywood Dreams (2006) USA SPONSORED BY SAN LUIS OBISPO LITTLE THEATRE & INSOMNIAC VIDEO The newest film from independent film director/writer/producer Henry Jaglom (Eating, Can She Bake a Cherry Pie), Hollywood Dreams is a satiric look at stardom in the movie industry. Young actress Margie Chizek (Tanna Frederick) has arrived in Los Angeles obsessed with her life-long dream of becoming a movie star. After a series of comical struggles, she literally bumps into a self-styled "major producer/manager" (Zack Norman), who along with his partner (David Proval, Sopranos) takes her under his wing and into his Hollywood Hills home. When she falls in love with her new roommate, a promising young actor played by Justin Kirk (Angels in America), their relationship threatens her goal of becoming famous. Filmmaker Henry Jaglom and Tanna Frederick will be in attendance for a Q & A after the screening. Comedy. WARNING: Contains coarse language and sexual references. 100 min. View Trailer

Best Feature Documentary (tie)

Our Land, Our Life (2006) USA - World Premiere SPONSORED BY THE JOURNAL/PLUS MAGAZINE In 1974 the U.S. sued elderly Western Shoshone sisters, Carrie and Mary Dann for trespassing on U.S. Public Land, which set off a dispute between the Danns and the United States that has raged to this day. In fact, the U.S. government has confiscated over a thousand of their livestock in five terrifying round-ups in north central Nevada. The underlying question is WHY? Why would the United States government spend millions of dollars to prosecute and persecute two old women grazing a few hundred horses and cows in a desolate desert? Q & A with filmmakers Beth and George Gage. Documentary. 75 min.

Best Feature Documentary (tie)

Iraq in Fragments (2006) Iraq SPONSORED BY BILL GAINES AUDIO AND MATRIX MOBILE TV An opus in three parts, Iraq In Fragments offers a series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. American director James Longley spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this stunningly photographed documentary of the war-torn country as seen through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. Winner of Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Editing awards in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival documentary competition, the film was also nominated for an Academy Award this year. Documentary. 94 min. View Trailer

Best Short Feature

Rose (2006) USA SPONSORED BY ULTRA STEREO LABS One evening at sunset, eleven-year-old Travis escapes his dysfunctional household and runs off into the nearby woods, where he meets seventeen-year-old Rose running away from her own violent home. As the sun goes down, the two make fast friends, but then something terrible happens to Rose right before his eyes. Exactly one year later, Travis returns to the woods to cope with that tragedy, and there, to his surprise, is Rose, once again running away, once again playing out the actions of that first tragic night. Year after year, he returns to this site to see Rose again, until one year when Travis decides he has been selfish long enough. Fantasy/Drama. Q & A with writer/director Hoku Uchiyama. 34 min. View Trailer

Best Short Documentary

The Damnedest, Finest Ruins (2006) USA SPONSORED BY CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO AND MONA & GORDON JENNINGS The great earthquake and fire of San Francisco in 1906 is one of the most dramatic and tragic events in American history. At the time, San Francisco was dubbed “The Paris of the Pacific” for its astonishing wealth, its libertine spirit, its collection of art, and such artist-citizens as Mark Twain, Jack London, Isadora Duncan, and Ambrose Bierce. In three terrible days after the earthquake, though, the jewel of the American West would be gone. Martial law governed the city, and the military, National Guard, and “special police” were authorized to shoot suspected looters on site and used dynamite in an attempt to blast fire breaks on wood frame buildings, spreading a disastrous fire and destroying the city. This insightful documentary depicts it all with the use of archival film, photographs, and illuminating interviews from historians. Documentary. Q & A with director, James Dalessandro. 53 min. View Trailer

Best Short Film (tie)

Mute (2006) USA When we meet Eileen, we see her sabotaging her older sister’s wedding. Later, we find out that she blames her older sister, Claire, for a car accident that has left her deaf and mute. We also see a series of flashbacks that reveal some other secrets about their lives, including Eileen’s affair with the groom, leaving the audience to guess if Eileen’s story is the truth — or not. Drama. Q & A with director, Melissa Joan Hart. 14 min.

Best Short Film (tie)

Sadiq (2006) USA SPONSORED BY KCBX AND BOO BOO RECORDS Tensions escalate when two American soldiers tasked with escorting an enemy prisoner of war to a detainee camp in Iraq become lost and are eventually forced to decide his fate. Drama. Q & A with filmmakers Sean and Annamaria Mullin. 12 min.

Best Student Film (tie)

Gordo (2006) USA/Mexico - World Premiere SPONSORED BY UNVISION AND AMTRAK Gordo is the story of a Mexican immigrant who leaves his family and widely popular taco stand for Watsonville, CA, to carve out a slice of the American Dream. Jorge ‘Gordo’ Fuentes Gordo lands a job at the local franchise of Cinco de Taco, and appalled at how the fast-food restaurant makes tacos, Gordo begins to sneak in his own ingredients and prepare tacos the way he did in Mexico. Within a few weeks, business triples at his restaurant, setting off a chain of comedic events. Comedy. Q & A with director Vince Navarro. 26 min. View Trailer

Best Student Film (tie)

Sadiq (2006) USA SPONSORED BY KCBX AND BOO BOO RECORDS Tensions escalate when two American soldiers tasked with escorting an enemy prisoner of war to a detainee camp in Iraq become lost and are eventually forced to decide his fate. Drama. Q & A with filmmakers Sean and Annamaria Mullin. 12 min.

Special Jury Award for Best Animation

The Naked Hitchhiker (2006) USA - World Premiere SPONSORED BY TOON BOOM A whimsical animation film layered with intelligence and wit, The Naked Hitchhiker delves into the rich emotional mindscape of a woman coming to grips with the destructive patterns of her life. Reeling from a crushing marital breakup, this woman is emotionally raw and literally naked when she is picked up by an empathetic truck driver. As they drive through a blizzard, she shares her problems with the understanding man behind the wheel, opening up her darkest secrets and psychology as a woman. A captivating, creative, visual treat. Animated. 29 min. View Trailer

Special Jury Award for Best Foreign Film

Brod Ludaka (Ship of Fools) (2006) Belgium/Bosnia/Herzegovina World Premiere SPONSORED BY FIRST BANK OF SAN LUIS OBISPO Sarajevo 1992: Vedran, a once-famous cellist, tries to shelter his family from the madness of war by hiding them in his house and going out of his way to give them a normal day-to-day life. But when his daughter gets pregnant, he insists on giving her a proper wedding in the old town hall, and he does whatever he can to make that happen, even in the middle of war-torn Bosnia. Drama. 17 min.

Audience Award - Best Short Film (under 15 min)

The Frank Anderson (2006) USA World Premiere SPONSORED BY RAND PRODUCTIONS Frank Anderson (Richard Riehle) has man-boobs and demands that insurance agent John Simon (Stephen Root) approve a procedure to remove them. At the doctor’s exam, Dr. Emily Brice (Jane Lynch, Best of Show) tries to explain to John the importance of approving this procedure, all the while admiring Frank’s magnificent breasts. John, uncomfortable with the love fest between Dr Brice & Frank’s man-boobs, approves the operation. A goofy laughfest! Comedy. Q & A with writer/producers Orit Schwartz and Diana Hunter and actress, Jane Lynch. 13 min. View Trailer

Audience Award - Best Short Feature/Documentary (16-60 min)

The Damnedest, Finest Ruins (2006) USA SPONSORED BY CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO AND MONA & GORDON JENNINGS The great earthquake and fire of San Francisco in 1906 is one of the most dramatic and tragic events in American history. At the time, San Francisco was dubbed “The Paris of the Pacific” for its astonishing wealth, its libertine spirit, its collection of art, and such artist-citizens as Mark Twain, Jack London, Isadora Duncan, and Ambrose Bierce. In three terrible days after the earthquake, though, the jewel of the American West would be gone. Martial law governed the city, and the military, National Guard, and “special police” were authorized to shoot suspected looters on site and used dynamite in an attempt to blast fire breaks on wood frame buildings, spreading a disastrous fire and destroying the city. This insightful documentary depicts it all with the use of archival film, photographs, and illuminating interviews from historians. Documentary. Q & A with director, James Dalessandro. 53 min. View Trailer

Audience Award - Best Feature-Length Film (over 60 min)

Beyond the Call (2006) USA/Afghanistan/Middle East SPONSORED BY CENTRAL COAST WINE CLASSIC Ed Artis, James Laws and Walt Ratterman are three middle-aged men whose idea of adventure is taking desperately needed food and medicine into the world’s most forbidding yet beautiful places on Earth: the front lines of war. In 1995, they formed Knightsbridge International, a unique humanitarian aid organization, whose motto is “High Adventure and Service to Humanity.” Artis, Laws and Ratterman as a team are a fusion of Mother Teresa and Indiana Jones, and the film Beyond the Call inspires as much as it entertains. Documentary. Q & A with Ed Artis and Knightsbridge International guests. 80 min. View Trailer.

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