video i Season 13
#1311 - Original Airdate: Mon, March 31 at 11pm
Short Film Night
Featuring an eclectic group of short films and a filmmaker interview.
HOW TO BE POPULAR (DIR. JOHN DILLEY)
In 2001, a group of eighth graders were interviewed for a New York Times article about popularity. This hilarious mock-umentary examines with tongue-in-cheek seriousness the adolescent obsession with social success through a complex popularity struggle among middle school girls. To learn more about this film and the filmmaker, go to: kontentfilms.com.
Filmmaker Bio
John Dilley's first short film, Little Failures, premiered at Sundance 2003 where it was an Official Selection. It was also an Official Selection at France's Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, which has been heralded as one of the most important short film festivals in the world. John was born and raised in Oakland, California. He is a graduate of San Francisco State University's Film School, where he received the Distinguished Undergraduate Award, in 2002. John is currently a manager at San Francisco's Film Arts Foundation, one of the country's most venerable organizations for supporting independent filmmakers.
THE ANT AND THE MONKEY (DIR. ALKA RAGHURAM)
Features an interview with the filmmaker
Tired of her nine-year old brother Pranav's macho swagger, little Tamara dares him to climb a rickety old fence, but when he comes crashing down; so does her own world. The Ant and The Monkey is the story of two children, whose lives begin to reflect the bedtime story their mother reads to them. While probing into their fears, anxieties and anger, the film examines sibling relationships, as well as growing up ÒdifferentÓ while straddling two cultures. To learn more, contact the filmmaker.
Filmmaker Bio
Alka Raghuram's short films Tired of Dancing and Panchali have screened at various international festivals. Panchali received the John Gutman award for innovation in cinema and was a regional finalist in the Student Academy Awards (2004). She recently completed an MFA in cinema from San Francisco State University. The Ant and The Monkey is her thesis film. It received the Emerging Arts Fund in Spring 2006 from The Peninsula Community Foundation, and was nominated for the Princess Grace Award in 2005. Currently she is finishing a documentary about coping with grief and loss after the 2004 Tsunami in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, off the southeast coast of India.
HEROES WANTED (DIR. MARQUETTE JONES)
Set on the streets of New York City, Heroes Wanted, is a short black & white film that explores the idea of one's "hero" status being completely in the mind of the perceiver. The film features an original jazz score composed by New Orleans-native, Kenyatta Beasley, in the days immediately following Hurricane Katrina. His feelings of frustration, anger and sadness during this time were well channeled into the composition of this riveting score. For more information about this film, go to: marquettejones.com.
Filmmaker Bio
Marquette Jones owns Hotcomb Pictures, a film production company out of Brooklyn, NY and hails from Youngstown, Ohio. She was previously a M.F.A. candidate at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Graduate Film Program. Her short film credits include Milk, Heroes Wanted, and Tunk. She won the Promotion Pictures/Heineken USA Screenwriting Competition for Streets 2 Suites, which awarded her a $40,000 grant to produce the film, which has gone on to do well on the festival circuit. Prior to film school, Ms. Jones was an active Public Interest Attorney in Oakland, California protecting the rights of HIV-positive clients. Her inspiration as a filmmaker has drawn this experience and the social justice community at large.
COUNTING WATER (DIR. BRIAN SAVELSON)
Comprised of roughly 5,000 still photographs, this unique piece of animation is a fable about what happens when one person is forced to prove their love for another. When Juliet tells George she loves him as much "as all the droplets of water in the ocean," he demands to know just how many that is. And to prove her devotion, Juliet ventures deep into the sea to count. To learn more about this film and the filmmaker, go to: briansavelson.com.
Filmmaker Bio
Brian Savelson's background is in theater where he has worked both on Broadway and Off. He was Associate Producer of A Raisin in the Sun starring Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs, as well as The Public Theater's 50th Anniversary with Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Ben Stiller, Mike Nichols and many others Ð all singing! His first short film, Counting Water, has been screened at over 15 film festivals, as well as at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. This past spring, Brian put together a public video art installation on Manhattan's Westside for David Bowie's High Line Festival. Most recently, he directed a music video for Seattle's Band Of Horses and is developing his first feature film.