Santa Cruz Film Festival
www.santacruzfilmfestival.com

Friday, May 6
www.santacruzfilmfestival.com/html/program.html

Del Mar Theater

3:00 PM (Del Mar Theater)

AMERICAN BELLYDANCER - Jon Brandeis 88 min
American Bellydancer is the first feature documentary on the art and practice of bellydance in the USA. The historical perspectives are touched upon, but the focus is bellydance today. The male-female divide, the East-West dichotomy since Sept. 11, and the controversy surrounding the birth of the world’s first professional belly dance troupe, the Bellydance Superstars and Desert Roses, are woven together amid interviews and performances featuring America’s icons of bellydance. Though it may come as a surprise to many, there are more bellydancers in the USA than in the rest of the world put together. This fact, plus the current wave of suppression in the Middle East, has made American bellydance the center of the art today. Morocco, Tamalyn Dallal, Philidas, Tiffany Hanan, Rachel Galob Ortego, and the outspoken Suhaila are featured, the latter taking on producer Miles Copeland and giving him an earful.
The Bellydance Superstars and Desert Roses’ formation, along with performances in Bali and on the US Lollapalooza festival tour, provide a backdrop and storyline.
Anyone interested in bellydance or the workings of the entertainment business will find this film fascinating, informative, thought-provoking, and most of all, entertaining.

5:15 PM (Del Mar Theater)

DANCES OF ECSTASY - Michelle Maher + Nicole Ma 58 min Australia
Sponsored by Zamzam Sufi Books zamzambooks.com
Dances of Ecstasy is a sensory journey into the mesmerizing world of trance and ecstasy that binds dancers from Manhattan to Morocco. Filmmakers Michelle Maher & Nicole Ma traveled to traditional and modern day rituals to discover what is the altered state experience that people seek through dance. In these rituals, Whirling Dervishes from Turkey, Orisha priestesses from Nigeria and Brazil, shaman healers from the Kalahari and Korea, and dancers in the Gabrielle Roth workshop in NY pulse to the same beat as thousands of young people as an all night techno dance party in an Australian forest.

7:00 PM - OUT IN THIS WORLD (Del Mar Theater)
Sponsored by Bugaboo Mountain Sports, Pacific Edge
Jo Lynne and Fred Jones

HIGH AMBITIONS - Curt Dowdy 57 min
In the rarified air and extreme climate of the world’s highest mountains, often the most important decision a climber may make is turning back. Sacrificing a hard-fought objective is emotionally painful, but making that decision saved John Taske’s life on Mount Everest in 1996 (Jon Kakauer’s spine-tingling book “Into Thin Air�).
Curt Dowdy’s High Ambitions follows John’s return to the unforgiving Himalayan environment with new teammates. Their expedition attempts another mountain in the Everest region named Cho Oyo (27,000 ft.) This documentary shares each climber’s unfolding experience and reflections upon oxygen deprivation, extreme cold, and brushes with tragedy. The climbers, sometimes impassioned and sometimes humbled, discover new personal insights as they quest for one of the world’s highest summits.


MILES ABOVE - Mike Welt 25:46
On February 1, 2003, the shuttle Columbia crashed from the sky. Thousands watched as debris scattered from California to western Louisiana. Hundreds caught the event on tape.
Miles Above tells the story of the final 25 minutes of the Colombia reentry, using firsthand video from the ground, the NASA control room, and the shuttle itself. The film combines personal stories of witnesses with live video of events as they unfolded. Not to be missed.

After the screening party at Vet’s Hall 846 Front St.
Irina Mikhailova’s haunting vocals are featured in Curt Dowdy’s film High Ambitions.

9:00 PM - GRAVES END/ FLESH EATING GHOULS FROM OUTER SPACE (Del Mar Theater)

GRAVES END - James Marlowe 89 min
Some dark secrets won’t stay buried forever. Shot in the mountains of Santa Cruz, where a more than a few weird things have actually happened! “Graves End� is the kind of film that could have been very dark, humorless, sterile, and deeply disturbing. Instead this pulpish, edgy, fun, moody, convoluted, complex, campy, and shocking film is a romp in the thriller/horror genre. As James Marlow states: “…with tongue planted firmly in cheek, I used humor to break tension and segue us from one scene to another. The film needed a balance and humor is an excellent equalizer.� “Graves End� is the only film to screen twice during fest-DON’T MISS IT!!!

FLESH EATING GHOULS FROM OUTER SPACE - Erik Weiland 18 min
Brock Buttman reports to you live as the Flesh Eating Ghouls From Outer Space assault the earth. Mankind is doomed to be consumed and our only saviour may be the military, Twinkies, and a little girl who is so adorable she will have you singing in the park at midnight. Will the Ghouls conquer earth? Is it just a cheap hoax, or perhaps a government cover-up to raise gas prices? More news at 11; now back to our regularly scheduled programming….

Director’s dinner sponsored by Clouds
110 Church St.
429. 2000

9:30 PM - 1:00 AM
SCFF International Cine presents LUMIN (Vet's Hall)
Vet’s Hall 846 Front St.
$15.00 general public; free to pass holders
Sponsored by Zamzam Sufi Bookshop zamzambooks.com

LUMIN
Irina Mikhailova’s hauntingly beautiful vocals are featured in Curt Dowdy’s film High Ambitions

LUMIN formed in 1998 by Stellamara co-founder and producer Jeffery Stott, Irina Mikhailova (hailing from the Ukraine), and Michael Emanu. Lumin expands and defines the elements of world electronic music. Featuring the gorgeous vocals of Irina Mikhailova, Lumin brilliantly fuses the ancient and the modern. A stunning live combination of traditional instrumentation of the Middle East, drum and bass, Balkan Choir, and down-tempo grooves that will satisfy the urban club set as well as the world music aficionado.

Santa Cruz’s own and DJs Little John and Brother scheduled to close the night’s festivities.