The Films 2007

By film name: [A-E]   [F-H]   [I-M]   [N-T]   [U-Z] or by date.

Film Categories

• C — Competition Films: The George Sidney Independent Film Competition official selections. Awards will be presented to outstanding films in a variety of categories on Saturday, March 10. These films are also eligible for Audience Awards.

• SP — Special Presentation Films: Movies on a variety of topics from past to present with introductions by special guest speakers.
• CL - Classic films: Older films in a different genre almost every evening of the Festival.
• WP — Wendy’s Picks: Sneak previews of brand-new, cutting-edge films, these are also eligible for Audience Awards.
• RC — Red Carpet Event films.

Natalie at Five O’Clock (2006) USA SPONSORED BY BUONA TAVOLA Fourteen-year-old Natalie arrives home from school on a Friday afternoon and rushes through her after-school chores, creating chaos in the process, so that she can transform into the ‘dancing queen’ she feels inside herself. When Mom arrives home, she isn’t too pleased ... or is she? Maybe the apple really didn’t fall far from this tree! Drama/Comedy. C The Palm Theatre Thursday, March 8 7:30pm 5 min.

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. C The Palm Theatre Tuesday, March 6 4:00pm 75 mi

Patton (1970) USA SPONSORED BY MOTHER'S TAVERN AND TJA “No poor, dumb son of a bitch ever won a war by dying for his county”… Thus begins Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Award winning script, and George C. Scott’s Academy Award winning performance. Now you can share the story behind the making of this time-honored epic with the film’s cinematographer, Fred Koenekamp, recipient of the ASC lifetime achievement award and Oscar winner for Towering Inferno. Here is a once in a lifetime opportunity to gain first hand insights into the hardships, the camaraderie and the humor behind of the making of Patton. War/Drama. CL The Palm Theatre Thursday, March 1 7:30pm (this is the correct time) 170 min.

Peur Hoi Nang Rom (For the Oysters) (2006) Thailand SPONSORED BY PAT & DIAN MCKEAGUE AND THE CARLTON HOTEL This is the sweet and heart-breaking story of Wenai, a boy whose impoverished mother has left him in his grandmother’s care in the hope that he will have a better life. As Wenai begins to adjust to his new surroundings in the fishing village of Angsila, he meets and develops a crush on his classmate Ann, who invites him to her birthday dinner. There is a catch, though: he must prepare a dish for her pot-luck feast, and so he decides to impress Ann with a big fish. Drama. Q & A with filmmakers Dawn Arunee Poomee and Jordan Guzzardo. C The Palm Theatre Thursday, March 8 5:00pm (this is the correct time) 33 min.

Pipeline Masters (2006) USA SPONSORED BY STUDIO 411 & PACIFIC COAST KITCHEN AND BATH Director Stacy Peralta (last year’s guest at SLOIFF) now brings us Pipeline Masters, the remarkable story of the groundbreaking surfing competition that has, since its inception in 1971, defined extreme. Held in the fearsome tubes of Hawaii’s Banzai Pipeline, the Masters stands alone as the sport’s most popular, prestigious competitive event with top surfers competing for world’s most coveted title: Pipeline Master. Year after year of outrageous rides, bone-crushing wipeouts, nail-biting competition and the sort of drama that can only come when you pit the very best against the very worst: some of the most deadly, out-of-control waves ever seen. Pipeline Masters captures it all: the history, the action, the legends and lore…the soul…of the greatest surfing event ever. Documentary. Q & A with writer Sam George. WP The Palm Theatre Friday, March 2 5:00pm 83 min.

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. C The Palm Theatre Wednesday, March 7 4:00pm 34 min. View Trailer

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. C The Palm Theatre Thursday, March 8 7:30pm 12 min.

Stalking Santa (2006) USA World Premiere SPONSORED BY JOHN AND KIRSTEN SWIFT Millions of people believe in him. Thousands claim to have seen him. But only one man, Lloyd Darrow (Chris Clark), a self-proclaimed ‘Santologist’, is foolish enough to try proving his existence. Shot as a pseudo-documentary and narrated and produced by William Shatner (Star Trek, Boston Legal), Stalking Santa reveals a character who will stop at nothing to take on government conspiracy and phony mall Santas — all in pursuit of the truth behind world’s oldest yuletide enigma. It’s an obsession that takes Lloyd from the hieroglyphics of Egyptian pyramids to the Town Center Shopping Plaza in Polka City, Ohio — an obsession that just might cost him his family, his sanity, and his self-respect. Mockumentary/Comedy. C The Palm Theatre Sunday, March 4 3:00pm 85 min. View Trailer

Step into Liquid (2003) SPONSORED BY THE CLIFFS RESORT, APPLE FARM, SYCAMORE MINERAL SPRINGS AND THE INN AT MORRO BAY From the next generation of filmmakers in the Brown family, Step into Liquid takes us from the terrifying monstrous waves of Oahu’s North Shore to the Texas waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the shores of Ireland and Rapa Nui. Told through the voices of legends (including Endless Summer’s Bruce Brown), pros, and everyday surfers alike, it is not just a film for surfers, but for anyone with an appreciation for sport and an inkling of what it means to be “stoked.” Documentary directed by Dana Brown. Join all three generations of the Brown family for a Q & A session after the film, plus special guests T.J. Barrack, Robert "Wingnut" Weaver, and Mark Andreini. RC The Fremont Theatre Thursday, March 8 7:00pm 87 min.

Suckerfish SPONSORED BY KCBX & MARTI'S BAR AND GRILL San Luis Obispo architect and filmmaker, José Lemus, has documented life on the streets as he talks to homeless men and women in several California cities, including San Luis Obispo. Some are content with their simple habitat while others are looking for a way to improve their situation. A collection of interviews with these colorful and often brilliant fringe-dwellers, Suckerfish is a humanistic study of a lifestyle many consider unimaginable, and might prefer not to consider at all. Q & A with director, Jose?L Lemus. WP The Palm Theatre Monday, March 5 8:00pm 20 min.

10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (2006) Tibet/China SPONSORED BY HOPEDANCE AND PAUL KARLEN If you could meet one person in the world, who would it be and why? This was a question filmmaker Rick Ray posed to himself many years ago. His answer was ‘The Dalai Lama,’ a man who always seemed to speak the truth, from his heart and with humor and soulfulness, a great leader who has inspired millions and who has influenced the world in so many ways. The filmmaker met with the Dalai Lama in his monastery in Dharamsala, India, and produced a documentary that is part biography, part philosophy, part adventure, and part politics. Documentary. C The Palm Theatre Sunday, March 4 5:00pm 89 min. View Trailer

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. C The Palm Theatre Monday, March 5 4:00pm 53 min. View Trailer

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. C The Palm Theatre Saturday, March 3 3:30pm 13 min. View Trailer

The Last Real Cowboys (2000) USA SPONSORED BY THE MADONNA INN In the late 1800s, somewhere in the West, two cowboys, Tar (Billy Bob Thorton) and Slope (Mickey Jones), sit by a daytime campfire eating beans. Their cattle are somewhere nearby. Slope begins to wonder about things, including a line about “the child inside all of us,” something a Chinese told them just before Tar shot him. Slope talks about skipping, something he hasn’t done since he was a kid. He keeps talking, even through it’s making Tar mighty uncomfortable. Comedy. Mickey Jones will introduce the film. SP The Palm Theatre Friday, March 2 7:00pm 12 min.

The Lonely Boys (2006) USA — World Premiere SPONSORED BY ROYAL OAK BEST WESTERN Life-long companions Marshall and Kenny have found themselves at an unspoken cross roads. Their co-dependent relationship, best described by a wide range of emotions, is forced to come full circle when some unexpected and exciting options present themselves. Shot in San Luis Obispo. Drama. Q & A with director Tomas Witmore and cast/crew members. C The Palm Theatre Monday, March 5 8:00pm 10 min. View Trailer

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. C The Palm Theatre Tuesday, March 6 4:00pm 29 min. View Trailer

The Page Turner SPONSORED BY PEGGY AND BILL KELLEY & Q104.5 Unfortunately, this film is not available - instead there will be a second screening of "It Came From Outer Space" in 3D. WP The Palm Theatre Sunday, March 4 4:00pm 81 min.

The Silent (2006) USA/Mexico SPONSORED BY UNIVISION AND AMTRAK Two men, one a Mexican immigrant, the other an American filmmaker, are brought together by a common struggle: to live the America dream. This poignant story of empathy and courage reveals the struggles, the trust and the willingness of one man, who risks everything to earn a life of dignity for his children, and the other, who learns a major life lesson. Drama. Q & A with Jordan Burt. C The Palm Theatre Saturday, March 3 1:00pm 28 min.

The Six-Day Bicycle Races (2006) USA - World Premiere SPONSORED BY CLEAR CHANNEL RADIO In the history of American professional sports, most people think of baseball and football as the most popular, but the sport of six-day arena bicycle racing was actually the most popular American sport in the first half of the 20th century. While Ty Cobb was earning $5,000 a year, cyclist Alf Goulet was earning $25,000 competing in six-day races around the country. The six-day race provided the American public with thrills and spills and the first sports icons. With archival film footage, photographs, and interviews the riders of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, this film looks back at the rise and fall of this incredible sporting event. Documentary. Q & A with filmmaker Jeffrey Groman. C The Palm Theatre Thursday, March 8 5:00pm (this is the correct time) 76 min. View Trailer

The Walls- “Drowning Pool” (2006) Ireland SPONSORED BY CENTRAL COAST SURFBOARDS Performance music video for top Irish rock band The Walls for their hit single ‘Drowning Pool.’ Filmed on location in Dublin, Ireland in conjunction with NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the highly regarded Hotpress Magazine. Music video. C The Palm Theatre Tuesday, March 6 8:30pm 3 min.

Twenty (2006) USA SPONSORED BY STUART MASON HELMINTOLLER Twenty is a music video from blues artist Robert Cray that follows the return of Army soldier Aidan Delgado from Iraq; however, his return is a peaceful protest to the war and this film is much more than a music video. Director Sue Turner-Cray depicts this conscientious objector, who served in Iraq for a year and a half, with a powerful use of Cray’s Grammy-nominated music. Music/drama. Q & A with filmmakers Sue Turner-Cray and Patrea Patrick. C The Palm Theatre Wednesday, March 7 7:00pm 7 min.

<< PREVIOUS PAGE     NEXT PAGE >>

Phone 805-546-FILM (3456) or send email

© 2007 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
Web Hosting by Clever Concepts. Web Design by Stuart Mason Helmintoller.