Winning Films 2008

Best in Competition

POP FOUL Sponsored by Insomniac Video On their way home from a little league baseball game, a young boy and his father are involved in a random act of violence, but instead of reporting this to the proper authorities, his dad makes the child promise not to reveal the truth to his mother — or anyone else. Torn between his parents and conflicted by the code of the streets not to reveal anything he saw that evening, the young baseball player acts out in the only way he knows how — by running out into the night to practice baseball with his faithful companion and only friend, his dog. Director/writer/producer Moon Molson won a cash prize of $1000. Drama. USA. 20 min.

Best Feature Film

AN AMERICAN IN CHINA Sponsored by Hickman, Palermo, Truong & Becker and SLO Graphics Twenty-two year old David Braddock (James Snyder) is floundering - stuck in that lazy period between college and “what am I going to do with the rest of my life?” David’s parents pressure him to either choose a career path or join the family business and challenge him to go to China to deal with their manufacturer. Once in China, he finds that it is much different from what he imagined: full of bustling modern cities as well as charming little villages. He travels to a small town and meets Mei (Fei Fei Sun): a beautiful, ambitious young girl who works two jobs in order to save enough money to follow her dream of going to the prestigious Beijing University. Despite their differences, a romance blossoms during the few short weeks that David is with Mei. He returns home to San Francisco to find that his family’s business is in even more difficulty than when he left. His best friend encourages David to return to China and see things though: both business and romance, and together they head back to the middle kingdom. Directed by Ron Barrett and Produced by Maggie Yuan. Romantic comedy/drama. USA/China. 1 hr 35 m. VIEW TRAILER

Best Feature Documentary (tie)

SPINE TINGLER! THE WILLIAM CASTLE STORY Sponsored by The Peachtree Inn This engaging documentary is a larger than life romp which chronicles the career of perhaps the last great American showman, filmmaker William Castle. A master of ballyhoo, he became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous audience participation gimmicks. In the 1950s and 60s, Castle treated delighted moviegoers to buzzing seats, flying skeletons, luminescent ghosts, doctors for the feint of heart, and life insurance policies. His is a ‘rags to riches’ tale of a larger than life showman who climbed his way up the Hollywood ladder by reinventing himself as a modern P.T. Barnum. Behind all the bravado, however, was a man driven by fear of failure and a longing to be respected among his peers. Director/producer is Jeffrey Schwartz. Documentary. USA. 1 hr. 20 m. VIEW TRAILER

Best Feature Documentary (tie)

HOLLYWOOD SINGING AND DANCING Sponsored by La Perla Del Mar This brand new film is perhaps the most comprehensive documentary about the Hollywood Musical ever produced. Hosted by Academy Award winning stage, screen and television icon, Shirley Jones, it is a celebration of song and dance in the movies. Following the rise and fall of the Hollywood musical’s popularity, the journey begins with the dawn of sound on film, to the patriotic feel-good musicals of World War II, through the development of the ‘integrated’ musical in which songs became an important story-telling ingredient, and arrives at the genre’s recent resurgence and multi-generational embrace. Fresh, new interviews with stars like Liza Minnelli, Shirley MacLaine, Mickey Rooney, Rita Moreno, Debbie Reynolds, Leslie Caron, Joel Grey and directors Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) and Rob Marshall (Chicago) and many others, give an insider’s insight into the world that helped shape these filmed masterpieces. Directed by Mark McLaughlin. Documentary. USA. 1 hr. 58 m.

Best Short Feature

POP FOUL Sponsored by Insomniac Video On their way home from a little league baseball game, a young boy and his father are involved in a random act of violence, but instead of reporting this to the proper authorities, his dad makes the child promise not to reveal the truth to his mother — or anyone else. Torn between his parents and conflicted by the code of the streets not to reveal anything he saw that evening, the young baseball player acts out in the only way he knows how — by running out into the night to practice baseball with his faithful companion and only friend, his dog. Director/writer/producer is Moon Molson. Drama. USA. 20 min.

Best Short Documentary

CHILDREN IN EXILE Sponsored by Molly's Revenge Joseph Stalin infamously once said, “One death is a tragedy, but a million deaths are a statistic.” Children in Exile shows us the very real human face of this tragedy-turned-statistic. Combining intimate, emotional interviews with the surviving victims, archival photographs, archival film footage, and poignant artwork created by the survivors, filmmaker Chris Swider explores how the youngest victims — mere children and teenagers — experienced the trauma of Soviet deportation to Siberia just prior to WWII. Unlike many of the war crimes committed by the Nazis, these lesser-known Soviet crimes against humanity have never been legally confronted. But as one interviewee states, “A crime should be called a crime.” This moving film provides us with a view from the survivors’ perspective — stories of struggles against unspeakable adversity, and ultimately, uplifting messages of hope and love. Documentary. USA/Canada/Poland/Russia. 60 min.

Best Short Film

SIMULACRA Sponsored by CafeFX Imagine a world without organic life, a planet where robots rule the day. In this computer-generated animated film, there is such a world, but one robot is a little different than the others. One morning, this sole robot is monitoring his area when he zeroes in on a flower in the distance with his high-powered binocular vision. A life form! Suddenly, compassion for life is born within him. He must save this life form! Without fear for his safety and against the odds, he ventures off on a journey to save the flower, and by doing so, he saves himself. Or does he? Directed by Tatchapon Lertwirojkul. Animated. USA. 4 min.

Best Student Film

POP FOUL Sponsored by Insomniac Video On their way home from a little league baseball game, a young boy and his father are involved in a random act of violence, but instead of reporting this to the proper authorities, his dad makes the child promise not to reveal the truth to his mother — or anyone else. Torn between his parents and conflicted by the code of the streets not to reveal anything he saw that evening, the young baseball player acts out in the only way he knows how — by running out into the night to practice baseball with his faithful companion and only friend, his dog. Director/writer/producer, Moon Molson, made this film at Columbia University and won a $500 cash prize. Drama. USA. 20 min.

Central Coast Filmmakers Showcase - Best Film 30 min. and under

THE SHAKEN TREE Sponsored by Transitions-Mental Health Association There is a powerful stigma that surrounds victims of mental illness. It’s effect on relationships with friends and relatives can be absolutely crushing. Unlike cancer or any other problem, this disability is often referred to as the ‘No Tuna Casserole’ illness. Many people even friends and family tend to drift away and avoid the victim instead of getting closer in time of need. This is a powerful story, told by a number of families sharing their collective journeys through awareness, pain, acceptance, and finally hope and survival. Directed by San Luis Obispo resident Mary Garcia Lemus and Produced by Jose Lemus. Documentary. USA. 30 min.

Central Coast Filmmakers Showcase - Best Film over 30 min.

AS SEEN THROUGH THESE EYES Sponsored by K-Jewel Radio Maya Angelou narrates this powerful story of a brave group of people who fought Hitler with the only weapons they had: charcoal, pencil stubs, shreds of paper and memories etched in their minds. Through a series of moving interviews with the survivor-artists, each conversation reminds us that every painting or sketch on a torn scrap of paper is its own Holocaust diary. From the powerful drawings and words of Simon Weisenthal, to the images of a concentration camp ‘opera’ in which one of the survivors performed as a young girl, this film thoughtfully reminds us of the importance of art as a record of history as well as a vehicle of hope. Produced by Cayucos resident, Michael Rosendale. Documentary. USA/Austria/Germany/Israel. 1 hr. 12 min.

Audience Award - Best Short Film (under 15 min)

STARS Sponsored by Paul Metchik, Attorney at Law In 1944 during WWII, a lost Nazi medic comes across a lone, wounded American soldier in the woods, and after some nerve-wracking posturing, they decide to lay down their weapons and share a fire and what could be their last meal together. It seems both have gone AWOL, and cautiously, they each do their best to understand the other across the language gap. As the day comes to a close, the soldier’s wound reaches a crisis point, and it’s up to the Nazi medic to try and save him. The only problem: the American suddenly confesses to the Nazi that he’s Jewish. As the explosions of war begin to sound off in the near distance, time is running out for both of them but especially for the American, leaving the Nazi with a major decision to make. Directed and writer by Jason Lewis. War Drama. USA. 13 min.

Audience Award - Best Short Feature/Documentary (15-59 min) - TIE

THE LINE Sponsored by Amtrak and Univision Where should the line be drawn between pride in country and compassion for others? Four men find out the hard way in a Southern Arizona border town where a Mexican father and son illegally cross the border and end up in Danny and Luke Jackson’s backyard. The elder Alvaro Nuñez is a veteran of such crossings, but this is the first time for his teenage son Omar. Teenage Arizona citizen Luke Jackson argues the politics of illegal immigration with his father Danny and anyone who will hear him until one evening when reality kicks in. It is nighttime, and Omar has trespassed on their land, looking for water. What will Luke do? Student Kent Basset directs this passage-of-youth story that rides the line on the subject of Mexican illegals. Director/producer/writer is Kent Bassett. English and Spanish with subtitles. Drama. USA. 24 min. VIEW TRAILER

GUMBY DHARMA Sponsored by Cambria Shores Inn In 1957 and again in the late sixties, Gumby and his pals Pokey, Prickle & Goo changed the face of animation and children’s programming, all with bizarre shapes of colored, bendable clay in stop-motion stories like “Chicken Feed,” “Moon Trip,” and “The Zoops.” The creator/director of this series, Art Clokey, became the grandfather of stop-motion animation, and he continued with the spiritually focused Davy and Goliath series that ran from 1960-1977. Join Director Robina Marchesi as she documents the life and work of Los Osos native Art Clokey, taking us from his childhood in an orphanage through to the inspiration for his animated work: a combination of values from the Episcopalian church, Buddhism, and the Indian guru Sai Baba. Produced by Klara Grunning-Harris, Art and Joe Clokey. Documentary. USA. 54 min. VIEW TRAILER

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

OF WIND AND WAVES: THE LIFE OF WOODY BROWN Sponsored by Avila La Fonda Hotel Maui resident, Woody Brown, has not only lived a life full of extraordinary adventure and accomplishment — including inventing the modern catamaran, setting world gliding records, and surfing Hawaii’s 25-foot surf in the early 1940s — but he has also done so with a kind of selflessness and generosity that have made him an inspiring role model for several generations of Hawaiians, especially surfers and sailors. This documentary captures Woody’s unique blend of enthusiasm, wisdom and spirituality that make him a truly inspirational figure for everyone who has met him. Won Best Surf Film at the Byron Bay Film Festival. Director/writer/producer, David Brown will be in attendance. Documentary. USA. 1 hr. Screens with A Senseless Act. VIEW TRAILER

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