2012 Big MINI Media Festival: Using Media to Make Change
Friday, November 16, 2012
6:00 p.m
STORYWOODS
(Short Documentary)
Dir. Mary Horan (USA)
8 min.
Rebecca Dudley is the creator of a miniature world known as Storywoods. For the past 9 years, Rebecca has created elaborate wooded scenery from scratch, mirroring the world of her childhood in Durham, New Hampshire.
STORYWOODS
(Short Documentary)
Dir. Mary Horan (USA)
8 min.
Rebecca Dudley is the creator of a miniature world known as Storywoods. For the past 9 years, Rebecca has created elaborate wooded scenery from scratch, mirroring the world of her childhood in Durham, New Hampshire.
6:15 p.m
LIBERTY IN THE DARK
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Experimental)
Dir. Francesca Hope (Australia)
3 min.
'Liberty In The Dark' explores our exchange of liberty for sweet things. In its reference to fable (such as Hansel and Gretel) and to the work of David Lynch this film explores the eternal presence of evil motivations, exploitative villainy and willing or naive submission in the human experience.
LIBERTY IN THE DARK
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Experimental)
Dir. Francesca Hope (Australia)
3 min.
'Liberty In The Dark' explores our exchange of liberty for sweet things. In its reference to fable (such as Hansel and Gretel) and to the work of David Lynch this film explores the eternal presence of evil motivations, exploitative villainy and willing or naive submission in the human experience.
6:15 p.m.
THE EASTER WONDERLAND
(Experimental)
Dir. Mirror Shen (New Zealand)
5 min.
Have you ever been seeking for your wonderland with peace of mind? We lead you to the adventure during the Easter Season.
THE EASTER WONDERLAND
(Experimental)
Dir. Mirror Shen (New Zealand)
5 min.
Have you ever been seeking for your wonderland with peace of mind? We lead you to the adventure during the Easter Season.
6:30 pm - 2012 Award Ceremony
6:40 pm - 7:40 pm - Panel Discussion: Using Media to Make Change
Panel Moderator - Claire Goodman
CLAIRE GOODMAN is the Co-Chair of the Media Arts department at LIU Brooklyn Campus. Additionally, she is an Associate Professor at LIU Brooklyn and teaches various media arts courses specializing in documentary film, media aesthetics/theory, and screenwriting.
Panelists
Buck Moorhead is a co-founder and Vice-President of NYH2O, the first NYC citizen’s group formed solely to ban hydro-fracking and protect water resources throughout New York State. Buck is the principal of Buck Moorhead Architect, a Manhattan-based architectural firm, founded in 1984, focused on sustainable design. He is a licensed architect in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. He is an internationally Certified Passive House Designer (CPHD), working with the Passive House Institute in Germany, and is also North American Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC), working on projects that use 80%-90% less energy for heating and cooling.
Dennis Broe's current book, Globalizing America's Dark Art: Class, Crime and International Film Noir is forthcoming from Palgrave-Macmillan as is Maverick, a title in the “Classic Television Series from Wayne State University Press. Cold War Expressionism: Perverting the Politics of Perception/Bombast, Blacklists and Blockades in the Postwar Art World will be published in 2012. His previous book, Film Noir, American Workers and Postwar Hollywood, was a Choice Outstanding Academic Book for 2009. His most recent article is “Cognitive Capital, the Cognitariat, and The Seedy Streets of the Dream Factory: Patrolling the Citizenry of LAnoire” for Jump cut. His work as a film critic and commentator has appeared in Newsday, The Boston Phoenix and his “Broe on the World Film Beat” appears regularly on “Arts Express Radio” on the Pacifica Radio Network.
Ecological artist Aviva Rahmani’s models “Trigger Point Theory,” which originated from her environmental restoration practice and her artwork which ranges from on the ground landscape restorations in Maine, to the application of performance art and mapping and analysis aided by GISc to explore potential solutions for urban and rural water degradation in large landscapes around the world. Trigger Point Theory addresses how to leverage modest interventions to effect significant change. She uses the internet to perform residencies and work collaboratively with a range of scientists, without international travel. Virtual Cities and Oceans of If and the ongoing Gulf to Gulf webcast project address global warming and geo political conflicts by demonstrating, analyzing, and interpreting solutions to the local impact of global warming and extractive industries in sites such as the Gulf of Mexico.
7:50 p.m
AUDITION
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Animation)
Dir. Junran Mo (USA)
5 min.
It's a story about a normal girl went to an audition. You will never know what she ends up with when under pressure.
AUDITION
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Animation)
Dir. Junran Mo (USA)
5 min.
It's a story about a normal girl went to an audition. You will never know what she ends up with when under pressure.
7:55 p.m
GOOSE FAMILY
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Seung Yeob Lee (USA)
30 min.
The film 'Goose Family' is a blend of fake-documentary and drama. It's about a Korean family living separately in Seoul, Korea and New York, USA; just for the sake of the children's education. The father, JINSOO, works in Korea to support the family while the mother, SHINAE, takes care of two sons living in the States. They both struggle for financial, emotional and cultural reasons and they gradually fall apart.
GOOSE FAMILY
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Seung Yeob Lee (USA)
30 min.
The film 'Goose Family' is a blend of fake-documentary and drama. It's about a Korean family living separately in Seoul, Korea and New York, USA; just for the sake of the children's education. The father, JINSOO, works in Korea to support the family while the mother, SHINAE, takes care of two sons living in the States. They both struggle for financial, emotional and cultural reasons and they gradually fall apart.
8:25 p.m
THAT'S WHAT FRIEND(ING)S ARE FOR
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Frank Zagottis (USA)
13 min.
What happens if an entire generation learns their social skills not through interpersonal interactivity but through the guidelines and security features of Social Media like Facebook? That's the question explored in a world where the environment of the social utility is made tangible in the guise of a high school.
THAT'S WHAT FRIEND(ING)S ARE FOR
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Frank Zagottis (USA)
13 min.
What happens if an entire generation learns their social skills not through interpersonal interactivity but through the guidelines and security features of Social Media like Facebook? That's the question explored in a world where the environment of the social utility is made tangible in the guise of a high school.
8:40 p.m
Feature Screening – Gasland
Dir. Josh Fox (USA)
103 min.
"The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown."
Feature Screening – Gasland
Dir. Josh Fox (USA)
103 min.
"The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of "fracking" or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a "Saudia Arabia of natural gas" just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called GASLAND. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown."
Saturday, November 17, 2012
2:00 p.m
GARBAGE GLITTER PT. 2
(Animation)
Dir. Robert Dohrman (USA)
5 min.
Selected garbage clips, such as counters, leaders, scratches, burns, dust spots and random visuals accidentally created over time, have been gathered from discarded Americana educational and industrial films and re-assembled into four minutes of colorful, glittering abstraction. Littered with textual and voice-over inserts, this non-narrative mishmash has been constructed to create a purely sensory experience personal to the viewer.
GARBAGE GLITTER PT. 2
(Animation)
Dir. Robert Dohrman (USA)
5 min.
Selected garbage clips, such as counters, leaders, scratches, burns, dust spots and random visuals accidentally created over time, have been gathered from discarded Americana educational and industrial films and re-assembled into four minutes of colorful, glittering abstraction. Littered with textual and voice-over inserts, this non-narrative mishmash has been constructed to create a purely sensory experience personal to the viewer.
2:05 p.m
FLUID: ESCAPE
(Experimental)
Dir. Tad Baker (USA)
10 min.
Fluid: Escape is the first of 3 short films in the Fluid series, from the Northern California Collective Consciousness. In Fluid: Escape, shot on 8 mil and set to a music-concrete soundtrack, the images flow liquid-like, approximating the rhythm of the Choregos in Classical Greek theatre and held together by the underlying theme of... escape!
FLUID: ESCAPE
(Experimental)
Dir. Tad Baker (USA)
10 min.
Fluid: Escape is the first of 3 short films in the Fluid series, from the Northern California Collective Consciousness. In Fluid: Escape, shot on 8 mil and set to a music-concrete soundtrack, the images flow liquid-like, approximating the rhythm of the Choregos in Classical Greek theatre and held together by the underlying theme of... escape!
2:15 p.m
THE ROBBERY
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Filson Ali (USA)
3 min. Watch on YouTube
Through 3D animation, an angel gummy bear and a devil gummy bear convince a junkie to ‘go and save us’ from the convenience store. In an armed robbery the junkie liberates the gummy bears, to suddenly get hungry.
THE ROBBERY
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Filson Ali (USA)
3 min. Watch on YouTube
Through 3D animation, an angel gummy bear and a devil gummy bear convince a junkie to ‘go and save us’ from the convenience store. In an armed robbery the junkie liberates the gummy bears, to suddenly get hungry.
2:20 p.m
JULY 1ST, AN UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Miao Li (Hong Kong)
25 min.
Handover Law met his girlfriend, Rayna, at the last July 1st march in 2010. This year, they will march again to celebrate their meeting, his birthday and protest the government. This joyful day takes a turn when Rayna runs into her 'mainland Chinese' schoolmate.
JULY 1ST, AN UNHAPPY BIRTHDAY
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Miao Li (Hong Kong)
25 min.
Handover Law met his girlfriend, Rayna, at the last July 1st march in 2010. This year, they will march again to celebrate their meeting, his birthday and protest the government. This joyful day takes a turn when Rayna runs into her 'mainland Chinese' schoolmate.
2:45 p.m
POLLY, JENNIFER AND MELISSA
(Experimental)
Dir. Diego Ramirez (Australia)
5 min.
An androgyne by the name of Polly recalls an episode of post coital anxiety while Jennifer confesses to a priest and Melissa poses flirtatiously for the viewer. Part sci-fi, queer and horror- Polly, Jennifer and Melissa is video set in the future querying contemporary notions of gender and identity politics.
POLLY, JENNIFER AND MELISSA
(Experimental)
Dir. Diego Ramirez (Australia)
5 min.
An androgyne by the name of Polly recalls an episode of post coital anxiety while Jennifer confesses to a priest and Melissa poses flirtatiously for the viewer. Part sci-fi, queer and horror- Polly, Jennifer and Melissa is video set in the future querying contemporary notions of gender and identity politics.
Industry Workshop: Tools for Producing in the Digital Age
Presented in association with Scenios
Elizabeth Bridenstine is Marketing Manager for Scenios, the cloud platform for film and video production. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in Communication Media and Film Studies and has worked in public television, independent radio, online video departments, and the software industry. Elizabeth is also a freelance editor, specializing in documentaries.
Scenios offers a secure cloud-based platform that helps manage film and television productions more effectively and more profitably. The company's "virtual production office" is an online center for all production information including scripts, budgets and schedules, as well as video including rough cuts and even final productions. Scenios is headquartered at the Tribeca Film Center in New York. More information can be found on at www.scenios.com
Elizabeth Bridenstine is Marketing Manager for Scenios, the cloud platform for film and video production. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in Communication Media and Film Studies and has worked in public television, independent radio, online video departments, and the software industry. Elizabeth is also a freelance editor, specializing in documentaries.
Scenios offers a secure cloud-based platform that helps manage film and television productions more effectively and more profitably. The company's "virtual production office" is an online center for all production information including scripts, budgets and schedules, as well as video including rough cuts and even final productions. Scenios is headquartered at the Tribeca Film Center in New York. More information can be found on at www.scenios.com
4:30 p.m
STERLING HALLARD BRIGHT DRAKE
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Short Documentary)
Dir. Robert Sickels (USA)
15 min.
Through the process of challenging the old maxim 'Dead Men Tell No Tales,' Sterling Hallard Bright Drake parses the line between truth and memory in solving the mysteries surrounding one of the world's most notorious and talked about tombstones. The result is a surprisingly funny and unexpectedly profound meditation on the seemingly inexhaustible optimism and promise of youth, the subsequent inescapable mortal realities of aging, and the bittersweet double-edged sword that comes part and parcel with true love.
STERLING HALLARD BRIGHT DRAKE
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Short Documentary)
Dir. Robert Sickels (USA)
15 min.
Through the process of challenging the old maxim 'Dead Men Tell No Tales,' Sterling Hallard Bright Drake parses the line between truth and memory in solving the mysteries surrounding one of the world's most notorious and talked about tombstones. The result is a surprisingly funny and unexpectedly profound meditation on the seemingly inexhaustible optimism and promise of youth, the subsequent inescapable mortal realities of aging, and the bittersweet double-edged sword that comes part and parcel with true love.
4:45 p.m
THE FEATHERS OF UNCLE AYOPOO
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Marie Meerson (France)
11 min.
Three cousins are called by a solicitor. They learn they have inherited 3 million euros from an unknown uncle, but to get the money, there is one condition: to make his body up as an Amazonian Indian. With three personalities – three are three different reactions.
THE FEATHERS OF UNCLE AYOPOO
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Marie Meerson (France)
11 min.
Three cousins are called by a solicitor. They learn they have inherited 3 million euros from an unknown uncle, but to get the money, there is one condition: to make his body up as an Amazonian Indian. With three personalities – three are three different reactions.
5:00 p.m
DARK SURFACE
(Experimental)
Dir. Jym Davis (USA)
5 min.
Dark Surface is an abstract meditation on the creation and or re-animation of life on a desolate landscape. The film offers very little to guide the viewer's interpretation of meaning, instead focusing on a sensory experience: textures, sounds, rhythms, and movement.
DARK SURFACE
(Experimental)
Dir. Jym Davis (USA)
5 min.
Dark Surface is an abstract meditation on the creation and or re-animation of life on a desolate landscape. The film offers very little to guide the viewer's interpretation of meaning, instead focusing on a sensory experience: textures, sounds, rhythms, and movement.
5:05 p.m
DOING MY THANG
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Marcus Robinson (USA)
5 min.
Two friends at two different stages in their lives, discussing the paths they have both taken.
DOING MY THANG
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Marcus Robinson (USA)
5 min.
Two friends at two different stages in their lives, discussing the paths they have both taken.
5:10 p.m
NATURE OF THINGS
(Animation)
Dir. Aradhana Modi (USA)
2 min.
We often wish to be different in order to accomplish our goals, so does a creature living in the woods. Hungry for food the creature tries hard to reach the fruits growing on top of a tree. After many failed attempts he wishes to be different.
NATURE OF THINGS
(Animation)
Dir. Aradhana Modi (USA)
2 min.
We often wish to be different in order to accomplish our goals, so does a creature living in the woods. Hungry for food the creature tries hard to reach the fruits growing on top of a tree. After many failed attempts he wishes to be different.
5:15 p.m
MIRROR
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Marcus Henderson (USA)
6 min.
Mirror is a social conscious project about sexual violation in the African American community. It touches on incest, shame, lust and survival.
MIRROR
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Marcus Henderson (USA)
6 min.
Mirror is a social conscious project about sexual violation in the African American community. It touches on incest, shame, lust and survival.
5:25 p.m
GRAFFITI BOX
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Andreas Goldfuss (Canada)
2 min.
A public service advertisement against graffiti.
GRAFFITI BOX
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Andreas Goldfuss (Canada)
2 min.
A public service advertisement against graffiti.
5:30 p.m
TU & EU
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Edward Shieh (USA)
15 min.
Does love conquer all? Through one brief phone conversation, Tu & Eu follows several star-crossed lovers around the world whose differences have put their long time love affair at a critical impasse.
TU & EU
(Short Narrative)
Dir. Edward Shieh (USA)
15 min.
Does love conquer all? Through one brief phone conversation, Tu & Eu follows several star-crossed lovers around the world whose differences have put their long time love affair at a critical impasse.
5:45 p.m
TAI CHI
(Animation)
Dir. Ed Stone French (USA)
3 min. Watch on YouTube
In a tai chi exhibition, the martial artist demonstrates the form on a virtual background, with animated chi balls and chakras swirling around her, giving concrete visual reference to the internal action being performed.
TAI CHI
(Animation)
Dir. Ed Stone French (USA)
3 min. Watch on YouTube
In a tai chi exhibition, the martial artist demonstrates the form on a virtual background, with animated chi balls and chakras swirling around her, giving concrete visual reference to the internal action being performed.
5:50 p.m
THE MIRACLES ON HONEY BEE HILL
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Short Narrative)
Dir. Bob Pondillo (USA)
23 min.
A young female pines for true love, but when she finds her 'special someone' she also finds a heap of trouble.
THE MIRACLES ON HONEY BEE HILL
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Short Narrative)
Dir. Bob Pondillo (USA)
23 min.
A young female pines for true love, but when she finds her 'special someone' she also finds a heap of trouble.
2012 Best Short and Feature Screenplay Winners
A SACRED HEART
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Short Screenplay)
Written by Frank Zagottis
When the 7th grade student athlete of Sacred Heart Grammar School is required to be tutored by the more studious classmate he's made fun of for years, unexpected and undefinable emotions give way to communication, friendship, and a trusting of their own hearts in ways they cannot yet comprehend.
IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING TWO
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Feature Screenplay)
Written by Rebecca Felland-Syring
A rogue CIA agent blackmails scientists into developing embryos with accelerated growth, she then forces a grieving scientist into growing the enhanced embryos in a surrogates womb, after birth, the scientist is forced to train them in martial arts, foreign language and guerrilla warfare techniques. After training they are sent off to tag terrorists children, so that the 'CIA agent' can hunt their parents.
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Short Screenplay)
Written by Frank Zagottis
When the 7th grade student athlete of Sacred Heart Grammar School is required to be tutored by the more studious classmate he's made fun of for years, unexpected and undefinable emotions give way to communication, friendship, and a trusting of their own hearts in ways they cannot yet comprehend.
IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING TWO
(2012 Big Mini Media Festival - Best Feature Screenplay)
Written by Rebecca Felland-Syring
A rogue CIA agent blackmails scientists into developing embryos with accelerated growth, she then forces a grieving scientist into growing the enhanced embryos in a surrogates womb, after birth, the scientist is forced to train them in martial arts, foreign language and guerrilla warfare techniques. After training they are sent off to tag terrorists children, so that the 'CIA agent' can hunt their parents.