2011 Official Short Film Selections

Eastern Oregon Film Festival announces the official 2011 short film selection. Each feature film for this year’s festival will be preceded by one of these great short films.

A Face Fixed

DIRECTOR: ANDREW DROZ PALERMO
19 MINUTES
Thursday, Oct. 21 : 7:00pm
Precedes Resurrect Dead

Lost in a deep depression, a young man finds boxes of home videos and photographs of his parents creation, which shed light onto his broken home and give perspective on young love and fatherhood.

Kosmos

DIRECTOR: FANTAVIOUS FRITZ
15 MINUTES
Friday, Oct. 21 : 12:35pm
Followed by  Green

A 16mm surrealist tale of adventure that follows a young man’s search for purpose.

To Say Goodbye

DIRECTOR: JASON HEADLEY
19 MINUTES
Friday, Oct. 21 : 2:50pm
Followed by   Cirkus Columbia

A man works for a company called Care-A-Spondence, writing letters people won’t write for themselves. When he’s assigned to write a woman’s suicide note, he finds making a living isn’t so easy when someone might end up dying.

Veterans

DIRECTOR: VALERIE BISCHOFF
13 MINUTES
Friday, Oct. 21 : 5:30pm
Followed by   The Last Mountain
Everything changes for Diamond, the fallen star of a Nevada brothel,
after a unique encounter with a young Veteran.

The Strange Ones

DIRECTOR: CHRISTOPHER RADCLIFF & LAUREN WOLKSTEIN
14 MINUTES
Friday, Oct. 21 : 8:20pm
Followed by   Dragonslayer

A man and a boy, traveling to an unknown destination, find respite in a motel swimming pool. On the surface all seems normal, but nothing is what it seems to be.

Summer Snapshot

DIRECTOR: IAN MCCLUSKEY
10 MINUTES
Saturday, Oct. 22 : 11:00am
Followed by   Country Story

A group of friends in their 20s drive along winding forest roads, hike a secret trail, and spend a summer afternoon skinny-dipping, strumming guitars, and circling a campfire.

We’re Leaving

DIRECTOR: ZACHARY TREITZ
12 MINUTES
Saturday, Oct. 22 : 11:00am
Followed by   Bad Fever

Rusty has to find a new place to live with his wife and his teenage American alligator, Chopper.

Pioneer

DIRECTOR: DAVID LOWERY
16 MINUTES
Saturday, Oct. 22 : 6:00pm
Followed by   Press Pause Play

A father tells his son the most epic bedtime story ever.

Negativipeg

DIRECTOR: MATTHEW RANKING
15 MINUTES
Saturday, Oct. 22 : 8:05pm
Followed by   Bellflower

Negativipeg tells the story of Rory Lepine, who shot to Herostratic fame in 1985 when he attacked Winnipeg rock legend Burton Cummings with a beer bottle in a North End 7-Eleven. Narrated by Lepine himself, the film meditates on this mysterious act of destruction and suggests that Winnipeg might have an attitude problem.

OPENING NIGHT FEATURE
Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles

Feature Documentary
TRT: 85 min.| U.S.A. | color
A Film By: JON FOY
Awards: 2011 Sundance Director’s Award: Documentary

‘Toynbee Idea in Movie 2001. Resurrect Dead on Planet Jupiter.’

Strangeness is afoot. Most people don’t notice the hundreds of cryptic tiled messages about resurrecting the dead that have been appearing in city streets over the past three decades. But Justin Duerr does. For years, finding an answer to this long-standing urban mystery has been his obsession. He has been collecting clues that the tiler has embedded in the streets of major cities across the U.S. and South America. But as Justin starts piecing together key events of the past he finds a story that is more surreal than he imagined, and one that hits disturbingly close to home.

“The bizarre, yet utterly hypnotic love child of David Lynch and Errol Morris [...] easily one of the most unique and satisfying documentaries of the year.

- Andrew Mack, TWITCH.COM

The Trailer

“You couldn’t write a better mystery story than life did in this documentary”

-Mark Bell, FILM THREAT

SYNOPSIS

Filmmaker Jon Foy and Philadelphia-based artist and musician Justin Duerr began planning a documentary film about the Toynbee Tiles in 2000. Five years later, they began filming their investigation of these strange street plaques embedded in the asphalt of major U.S. and South American urban intersections that had held Duerr’s fascination for over a decade. Having appeared on hundreds of reported examples from the mid-1980s to present, the cryptic four-line message of the Toynbee Tiles read: “Toynbee Idea / In Kubrick’s 2001 / Resurrect Dead / On Planet Jupiter”. While the text on the plaques was clear enough, neither Duerr nor the numerous media outlets that had documented the phenomenon knew what these tiles meant, how or why they were installed, or who was responsible for them.

Duerr’s interest in the tiles began in 1994, when he moved from rural Pennsylvania to Philadelphia and began noticing them while working as a foot courier in the city’s business district. He documented dozens of tiles downtown, and was struck by how little attention the bizarre phenomenon received from other pedestrians. He was shocked when, several years later, he discovered an obscure website on the Internet documenting tile sightings in other cities like New York, Baltimore, St. Louis and Boston, which he would later visit; soon, tile sightings soon appeared as far away as Buenos Aires and Santiago. Despite this prolifacy, Duerr could find no answers as to what the texts meant or who was responsible for them, although marginal clues towards the artist’s identity slowly began to mount. In 2000, his obsession was amplified by a near run-in with the tiler when Duerr found a freshly laid tile in front of a local convenience store late at night. Having missed the tiler by minutes, Duerr vowed to definitively solve the mystery of the Toynbee Tiles.Teaming up with local Toynbee Tile fanatics Steve Weinik and Colin Smith, Duerr began his quest with few clues towards the tiler’s identity. The investigation led the team through a series of strange and unexpected turns from the discovery of a Jupiter colonization organization to the David Mamet play “4 a.m.” and a TV news hijacker with a cryptic message. Along the way, the team met with the eccentric residents in the deepest reaches of South Philadelphia and dedicated shortwave radio buffs for clues and guidance. As the picture of the Toynbee Tiles’ narrative slowly entered into focus, Duerr was shocked by the answers he was uncovering and his unexpected emotional connection to the elusive tiler.

An artfully crafted documentary, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles is both an account of Duerr’s own obsession and a meditation on the broadly defined drive towards cathartic realization in the face of towering obscurity. The information age has seen few mysteries as impenetrable as that of the Toynbee Tiles, and the film champions the underdog accomplishments of these unlikely investigators. The documentary creates an atmosphere of magical realism as the unexpected pieces of this complex puzzle click into place.

Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles is a Land of Missing Parts production. The film is directed, edited, photographed and scored by Jon Foy. It is written and produced by Jon Foy and Colin Smith, and executive produced by Doug Block.

Filmmaker in Attendance: Q&A to follow the film.

Jon Foy

Director, producer, writer, editor, composer

Filmmaker and musical composer Jon Foy started planning his documentary about the mysterious Toynbee tiles with artist Justin Duerr a decade ago, and began filming in 2005 after dropping out of film school in Austin, TX. While working on the film, the Philadelphia native sustained himself by cleaning houses and participating in medical research studies. A seasoned rock musician, Foy taught himself the art of film score composition for Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, and also scored 2008′s The Chinese Room. Resurrect Dead is his directorial debut.

Green

Narrative Feature 
TRT: 72 min.| U.S.A. | color
Written and Directed by Sophia Takal
Awards: SXSW / Chicken & Egg Emergent Woman Director Award

An intimate friendship between two women dissolves as they are drawn into an irrational, destructive spiral of jealousy and paranoid fantasy in this haunting examination of the female psyche.

Cirkus Columbia

Narrative Feature
TRT: 113min | Bosnia | color
A film by Danis Tanovic
*In Bosnian with English Subtitles
Official selection of the Toronto International Film Festival

“With his fourth film, “Cirkus Columbia,” Tanovic wisely returns to his Bosnia and Herzegovina roots, where the small but highly nuanced story, set in prewar 1991, rings with authenticity and weight.”

-The Hollywood Reporter

SYNOPSIS:
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1991. The communists have fallen from power and Divko Buntic returns to the small town where he grew up to reclaim his family home. After a 20-year exile in Germany, Divko arrives in his flashy red Mercedes with sexy young girlfriend Azra, lucky black cat Bonny and a pocketful of Deutschmarks. Divko uses his money and connections to forcefully evict estranged wife Lucija, but he tries to reunite with 20-year-old son Martin. When Divko’s beloved cat Bonny disappears, the whole town joins in a frantic search to get the cash reward. The daily hunt for the missing cat strains Divko’s fragile relationship with Azra and opens up an unexpected but strong attraction between Azra and Martin. Busy fretting over everyday concerns, most of the townsfolk seem to disregard the rumbling political unrest: Croatia has seceded, all Yugoslavs are being forced to take sides, and the Serbs begin bombing Dubrovnik. Although their area is on high alert, many still can’t imagine anyone or anything could divide Bosnia and Herzegovina …

The Trailer

Director Bio

Danis Tanovic

CIRKUS COLUMBIA is Danis Tanović’s most recent film about war and its consequences. While CIRKUS COLUMBIA is set in the period before the conflict reaches his native Bosnia & Herzegovina, Tanović’s TRIAGE dealt with post-war trauma. The English-language feature starred Colin Farrell as the troubled photojournalist returning home from war-torn Iraq. Tanović dealt directly with war in his 2001 debut feature NO MAN’S LAND.

Set in the midst of the Bosnian war in 1993, NO MAN’S LAND won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Script prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards. The widely acclaimed film received over 40 international awards, making it one of the most awarded first feature films in history.

The Last Mountain

Feature Documentary
TRT: 113min | USA | color

Director: Bill Haney

*A panel discussion hosted by Oregon Rural Action will follow the screening.

“One of the most compelling environmental documentaries I’ve ever seen”

- Dave Paiz, The Loft Cinema

Synopsis

In the valleys of Appalachia, a battle is being fought over a mountain. It is a battle with severe consequences that affect every American, regardless of their social status, economic background or where they live. It is a battle that has taken many lives and continues to do so the longer it is waged. It is a battle over
protecting our health and environment from the destructive power of Big Coal. The mining and burning of coal is at the epicenter of America’s struggle to balance its energy needs with environmental concerns. Nowhere is that concern greater than in Coal River Valley, West Virginia, where a small but passionate group of ordinary citizens are trying to stop Big Coal corporations, like Massey Energy, from continuing the devastating practice of Mountain Top Removal.

David, himself, never faced a Goliath like Big Coal.

The citizens argue the practice of dynamiting the mountain’s top off to mine the coal within pollutes the air and water, is responsible for the deaths of their
neighbors and spreads pollution to other states. Yet, regardless of evidence supporting these claims, Big Coal corporations repeat the process daily in the name of profit. Massive profit allows Big Coal to wield incredible financial influence over lobbyists and government officials in both parties, rewrite environmental protection laws, avoid lawsuits and eliminate more than 40,000 mining jobs, all while claiming to be a miner’s best friend. As our energy needs increase, so does Big Coal’s control over our future. This fact and a belief that America was founded on the democratic principal that no individual or corporation owns the air and water and we all share the responsibility of protecting it, drives these patriotic citizens and their supporters from outside of Appalachia, like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to keep fighting.

A passionate and personal tale that honors the extraordinary power of ordinary Americans who fight for what they believe in, THE LAST MOUNTAIN shines a light on America’s energy needs and how those needs are being supplied. It is a fight for our future that affects us all.

The Trailer

“A thoughtful and elegantly made documentary”

- Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail

Director Bio

BILL HANEY

Producer/ Director/ Writer
Bill Haney has written, produced and directed award winning documentary and narrative
features for ten years. He is co-founder of Uncommon Productions.
His most recent feature documentary, The Price of Sugar, which he wrote, produced and
directed, was short-listed for an Academy Award®, nominated for the NAACP’s Image Award
and was the recipient of numerous other honors, including the Gabriel Award and the Audience
Award at South by Southwest.

DRAGONSLAYER

Documentary Feature
TRT 74 minute | United States | HD
Director: Tristan Patterson
Awards: Best Documentary Feature, SXSW 2011, Best Cinematography, SXSW 2011, Best International Feature, Hot Docs 2011

Drag City in association with Killer Films presents the transmissions of a lost kid falling in love in the suburbs of Fullerton, California. Featuring skateboarding, the usual drugs, and stray glimpses of unusual beauty.

“A must-see doc…”Dragonslayer” is a terrific new non-fiction movie with a lot of love for its leading man and a disjointed cinematic spirit that makes it a thrill to watch on a big screen.”

—indieWIRE

Synopsis

Directed by Tristan Patterson and executive produced by indie-maverick Christine Vachon, DRAGONSLAYER is the Grand Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary Feature at SXSW 2011, and is the second feature to be released theatrically by Drag City following Harmony Korineʼs Trash Humpers.

DRAGONSLAYER documents the transgressions of a lost skate punk falling in love in the stagnant suburbs of Fullerton, California in the aftermath of Americaʼs economic collapse. Taking the viewer through a golden SoCal haze of broken homes, abandoned swimming pools and stray glimpses of unusual beauty, DRAGONSLAYER captures the life and times of Josh “Skreech” Sandoval, a local skate legend and new father, as his endless summer finally collides with the future. Set to the alternately roaring and dreamy soundtrack of bands from the indie labels Mexican Summer and Kemado Records— including Best Coast, Bipolar Bear, Children, Dungen, Eddy Current and the
Suppression Ring, Golden Triangle, Jacuzzi Boys, Little Girls, Real Estate, The Soft Pack, Saviours, as well as DEATH and Thee Oh Sees —DRAGONSLAYER is a punkrock manifesto to youth, love and learning to survive after the decline of western civilization.

“Thereʼs a high probability that it will be one of the most talked about documentaries of the year, like last yearʼs Catfish or Exit Through the Gift Shop… Itʼs much like The Wrestler only this is real life… Dragonslayer is practically flawless.”

—The Playlist

Trailer

“A portrait of a generation swooping brilliantly through an empty swimming pool.”

—The Boston Globe

SKYPE Q&A to Follow the film.

Tristan Patterson, Director

Tristan Patterson is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He has written screenplays for Disney, Fox and Warner Brothers, and is currently writing American Cigarette for director Tony Scott and Fox 2000. He is attached to direct his own screenplay Electric Slide starring Ewan McGregor for Killer Films and Myriad Pictures. Dragonslayer is his first feature.

COUNTRY STORY

Narrative Feature
A Film by Ian Clark
TRT 64 Min | USA | Color

Jason is a small-town slacker living with his mom. Content with idle days and easy livin’, his forgetful nature creates tension at home so he sets off with his pals to try his hand at redemption.

At once poetically sublime and playfully comedic, lyrical and sardonic, Country Story is a tender and loving homage to small-towns and quieter landscapes. Defined by both narrative fiction and documentary verité, this film honestly portrays the everyday drama and monotony that can exist anywhere.

Synopsis

Rural America. Summertime. Friendship. Small-town slacker Jason still lives at home with his mom Shelly (played by newcomers Chris Lambert and Mandy Treanor). Content with idle days, Jason spends his time navigating joblessness, sipping on tall boys, and shooting the shit with his two pals, Tyson and Noah (Austin Will and Erik Jensen, Kosmos, Peter, and the upcoming, In Search of the Miraculous). Their casual pursuit of relaxation and passive adventure reach unparalleled heights with each new day. All is not well however, as Jason’s forgetful nature and overwhelming apathy eventually cause him to make a grave mistake, which leads to hurt feelings and creates tension at home. Thus, he sets off with his pals deep into the backwoods, to visit an old friend (Dusty Decker) and try his hand at redemption – all the while Jason maintains with a phlegmatic, possibly fleeting crush with longtime friend Lacy (Audrey Kovár, Summer Snapshot).

At once poetically sublime and playfully comedic, lyrical and sardonic, Country Story is a tender and loving homage to small-towns and quieter landscapes. Defined by both narrative fiction and documentary verité, Country Story honestly portrays the everyday drama and monotony that exists everywhere.

The Teaser

Q&A Following Feature – Filmmaker Present

Ian Clark

Ian Clark is an Oregon-based artist, whose projects span media and range from narrative films and video to photographic works and painting. Clark is currently a 2nd year MFA candidate in New Media at University of Oregon.

Clark’s first narrative film Pool Room premiered at the 2010 Kansas City Film Fest. Other projects include working as the cinematographer for the Pitchfork.tv documentary on Dan Deacon’s Bromst in 2008, and in 2009, he co-founded, curated, and directed the first-annual Eastern Oregon Film Festival.

Clark is finishing post-production on an upcoming short film Searching for Yellow, which follows a troubled young landscape painter.

Selected work can be seen here:

www.countrystoryfilm.com

www.poolroommovie.com

www.incproductions.org

Bad Fever

Narrative Feature – West Coast Premiere
A Film by Dustin Guy Defa
TRT 77 Min | USA | Color

A humorless loner attempts to win the admiration of a drifter with his debut performance at the local comedy club.

“5 out of 5… a challenging, haunting piece of filmmaking.”

– Andrew Johnson, Gordon and the Whale

Synopsis

Alternatingly quiet and delirious, always desperate, Bad Fever is a witness to one man’s broken American Dream and his eternal longing to find someone, anyone, who understands or even pretends to understand.

Eddie (Kentucker Audley) bumbles his way through an agonizing courtship with Irene (Elenore Hendricks), a manipulating drifter who videotapes their fleeting moments together. To express his true feelings for he, he painstakingly orchestrates his debut stand-up performance at the local comedy club.

Here is a portrait of two lonely trains passing each other by on the emotional railroad tracks of a forgotten city.

“Pitch perfect… represents the true spirit of SXSW; a small, micro-budgeted, serious, well-crafted cinematic drama.”

– Michael Tulley, Hammer to Nail

The Trailer

“Reaches a new state of uncomfortable, piercing sadness… [Kentucker Audley] displays a commitment to his character that should be awarded in some fashion during awards season next year.”

– Michael Tully, Hammer To Nail

Skype Q&A with Director to Follow

Dustin Guy Defa

Writer/Director/Producer

Dustin Guy Defa has been making movies since he was eleven. The recipient of the Rooftop Films Filmmakers’ Fund Grant, ge us currently in post production on a short documentary about his family. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Nobody Cares

Narrative Feature – WORLD PREMIERE
A Film by Dustin Travis Swartz
TRT 95 Min | USA | Color

Bob Rockefeller has never been loved, by anyone, ever. He’s a sad sack who shovels shit for a living. Life has been anything but extraordinary but that’s about to change. During a routine prostate exam, Bob learns he has only 8.5 days to live. 8.5 days to find happiness. 8.5 days to find true love. 8.5 days to find a home for his guinea pigs. 8.5 days to make up for 43 years of living a life that totally sucks.

Synopsis

Bob Rockefeller has never been loved, by anyone, ever.  His parents don’t love him, they never wanted children.  His wife never loved him, she just thought he was rich.  He used to think his guinea pigs loved him, but now suspects they may not have the ability to love.
 
Bob shovels shit for a living.  He works fifty to sixty hours a week, shovelin’ and movin’ that shit and he never complains.  He’s been a loyal, diligent employee for more than 22 years, waiting for the day he’ll receive a promised promotion to “manager”.  Unfortunately, he’ll have to continue waiting.  On a particularly hot August morning, Bob, covered in turd, receives news the “manager” position has been given to a 23 year old douche named Doug.  Another in a long line of disappointments for Bob Rockefeller.
 
Bob’s life has been anything but extraordinary, but that’s about to change.  During a routine prostate exam, Bob finds out he has only 8.5 days to live.  8.5 days to find happiness.  8.5 days to find true love.  8.5 days to find a home for his guinea pigs.  8.5 days to make up for 43 years of living a life that totally sucks.
 
To most, this news would be devastating.  For Bob Rockefeller it may be prove to be the best news he’s ever received.  Learning he’ll soon be dead is just what Bob needed to get him on with the business of living. 

The Trailer

Filmmaker Biography

Filmmaker in attendance – Q & A to follow the film

Travis Swartz

Travis has worked in theater and film for 20+ years. His professional career in the arts began with an apprenticeship at The Idaho Shakespeare Festival in 1986. In theater, Travis worked with Actor’s Shakespeare NY, Sacramento Theater Co., Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Idaho Theater For Youth and Boise Contemporary Theater. The past 12 years Travis’s focus has shifted to writing and film. His film writing, producing and directing credits include the films Waking In Bangladesh, Most Funniest, Norman Waiting and now, Nobody Cares. Travis was also a producer and editor on Michael Hoffman’s ESPN documentary Out Of The Blue: A Film About Life And Football. Currently Travis lives in Meridian, Idaho with his wife, two daughters, four cats, and two dogs. Sadly, his guinea pigs are no longer with us. He drinks coffee, writes and fly fishes on a regular basis.

Press Pause Play

Feature Documentary
TRT 80 minute | United States | Color
Directed by: David Dworsky and Victor Köhle

“WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF A NEW DARK AGE. THE CREATIVE WORLD IS DESTROYED. ALL WE HAVE IS CACOPHONY AND SELF OPINION.”

—ANDREW KEEN, AUTHOR, THE CULT OF THE AMATEUR

Synopsis

The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way, unleashing unlimited creative opportunities.

But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity?

This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era. The film was shot globally between August 2009 – January 2011, covering more than 150 hours of interview footage with international creatives and thinkers – representing the state of digitized culture today.

The Trailer

“THE HUMAN SPIRIT, WHEN IT’S ALLOWED TO BECOME MADE MANIFEST THROUGH ART, INVARIABLY IS GOING TO CREATE GREATNESS. IT ALMOST DOESN’T MATTER WHAT THE MEDIUM IS,…WHEN HUMANS MAKE THINGS, THEY TEND TO MAKE INTERESTING THINGS…THE DANGER IS PEOPLE BECOMING COMFORTABLE WITH MEDIOCRITY”

—MOBY, ARTIS

The Filmmakers

Victor Köhler and David Dworsky

Swedish directors and producers Victor Köhler and David Dworsky teamed up as a director duo in 2007. With no formal training, their hands-on approach has lead to a variety of successful film projects. They are also web-producers with their own production company, House of Radon. PressPausePlay is the their first feature documentary.

Bellflower

A film by Evan Glodell
Feature Narrative
TRT: 105 min | United States | Color
Rated R
World Premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2011

SYNOPSIS

Best friends Woodrow and Aiden spend all of their free time building MAD MAX-inspired flamethrowers and muscle cars in preparation for a global apocalypse.  But when Woodrow meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love, he and Aiden quickly integrate into a new group of friends, setting off on a journey of love and hate, betrayal, infidelity, and extreme violence more devastating and fiery than any of their apocalyptic fantasies.

“Here’s a movie that starts in your face and, amazingly, keeps coming at you. That’s a good thing. Writer-director Evan Glodell’s explosive debut feature is a thing of toxic beauty.”

Peter Travers – Rolling Stone 

The Trailer

“(Bellflower) represents the debut of a one-of-a-kind filmmaker, a natural driven by wild energy, like Tarantino.”

– Roger Ebert — Chicago Sun-Times

Skype Q & A with Director Following the Film

Evan Glodell – Writer/Director

Originally from Wisconsin, Glodell moved to California in his early 20s with a group of close friends to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker via their production collective “Coatwolf.”  His credits include directing Cursive’s “Let Me Up” music video, cinematography on horror movie PLACEBO and short film SAVANNA, and conceptualizing and starring in the edgy sitcom BOSS OF THE GLORY for STIM TV.  BELLFLOWER is Glodell’s feature-length directorial debut.