Santa Cruz Film Festival
www.santacruzfilmfestival.com

Wednesday, May 11
www.santacruzfilmfestival.com/html/program.html

Riverfront Theater

3:00 PM THE HEARING WORLD (Riverfront Theater)

WHAT’S BUGGING SETH Eli Steele 95 min
WBS tells the story of a man who is hearing impaired, looking for success in business and in life. When Seth Singer, a young deaf man, is asked his name one hears 'Death Dinger.' A minor flaw in a man who is determined to let nothing, not even his handicap, stop him from forming a successful bug extermination business. As the rejections pile up, he finds comfort and romance with Alma, a double amputee, who knows how unfair the world can be. However, as Seth finds himself on the verge of love and success, the return of his old flame throws everything into question.
Eli writes, “however far from the stereotypical story of a handicapped person triumphing over great odds, WBS tells the story of a deeply flawed human struggling to find his way in the world. Orally deaf myself, I can understand Seth’s desire to do everything on his own. It is a noble and worthy pursuit. But Seth makes one crucial mistake he denies his deafness�.

PILAR Leda Maliga 51 min
Pilar lost most of her hearing when she was a week old and in her 20’s the loss went from severe to profound. At age 28 she participated in a FDA study on the Cochlear Implant. It was the beginning of a transformational journey, The film follows Pilar over a seven year period, covering the months of anticipation leading up to the operation, the moment the device is activated and the long process of learning to recognize sounds and finally the joy of hearing her son’s first cry. Pilar, a native of Santa Cruz, inspires us to face our challenges with humor, passion and grace.

5:45 PM (Riverfront Theater)

APARTMENT 202 Kelleth Chinn 86 min
John is a struggling San Francisco musician who can’t find a girlfriend. Zack his roommate and best friend is a wannabe comedian who likes to play the field. When the two fall for a pair of beautiful and strong-willed foreigners (Veronique Henry, Rina Fernandez), John convinces Zack that they have to do whatever it takes to help the girls stay in the country -- even if it means getting married and living together. A comedic clash of cultures transforms the apartment, and John and Zack find out that they have a lot to learn about love and life.

…COULD BE SOMETHING THERE Joshua Weiner 13 min
Two stand-up comedians go on a blind date. Funny…very funny

7:45 PM ARTISTS AT LARGE (Riverfront Theater)
sponsored by Made In Santa Cruz

POPAGANDA: THE ART AND CRIMES OF RON ENGLISH Pedro Carvahal 78 min
THE ART & CRIMES OF RON ENGLISH is an 82-minute documentary about the culture jamming and billboard liberation antics of Ron English: billboard bandit, post-pop pundit, post-punk prankster, counter-cultural cartoonist, culture-jammer. A modern Robin Hood of Madison Avenue, Ron paints, perverts, infiltrates, reinvents and satirizes modern culture and its popular visual iconography on canvas, in songs, and directly on hundreds of pirated billboards. Shot entirely guerilla, this film gives the viewer an intimate look into the life of an artist who has been at the forefront of movements in photography, painting, activist art, and underground music. This irreverent and provocative documentary offers up an alternative universe where nothing is sacred, everything is subverted, and there's always room for a little good-natured fun.
Ron’s art was featured in Super Size Me. He is the ultimate culture Jam God.

PREACHER OF AN UNKNOWN GOD Rob VanAlkemade 16 min
Compelled to somehow cover the 2004 political season, but finding himself profoundly alienated with politics, protests, and even much of the filmmaking process, filmmaker Rob VanAlkemade was eventually seduced, hesitantly, into living on a 50 year old bus with Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping for a ten day "Stop Big Boxes" tour of California.
The crew miraculously clocked over 1,000 miles and consumed over 100 gallons of diesel, ("We burned fuel to get here today, children", says Billy, "we're all sinners, it's complicated...") with no vehicular mishaps.
The Church conducted cash register exorcisms, (resulting in LA County jail time for the Reverend,) parking lot revivals, and hypnotizing sermons, where the Reverend occasionally lost consciousness by absorbing the evil living inside congregant's credit cards.
The documentary concludes in New York City shortly after the Republican National Convention, when Billy is arrested in Times Square on Stop Shopping Day after pleading with the public to "be creative" and "slow down the shopping however you can."
A Santa Cruz exorcism may be in the final cut.

9:30 PM (Riverfront Theater)

THIS REVOLUTION Stephen Marshall
In 1969, Academy Award winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler exploded the boundaries of American verite cinema with his quasi-fictional masterpiece, Medium Cool. Set against the chaotic and hyper-politicized backdrop of the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Wexler’s narrative effectively blurred the lines between reality and fiction, forcing viewers to question the responsibility media has to its audience and the society as a whole.
Thirty years later, as anti-Bush activists and the New York police force prepared for their encounter on the streets outside the 2004 Republican National Convention, director Stephen Marshall took his cast and crew, including stars Rosario Dawson and Nathan Crooker, into the chaos. With Entertainment Tonight and New York Daily News in tow, the shoot was interrupted when six NYPD officers pulled up in a van and arrested Dawson and Marshall mistaking them for Black Bloc anarchists.
Conceived as a low-budget, hi-impact verite thriller for the political set, This Revolution, was developed, written, cast, shot (on 24P DV) and edited in 100 days. The story follows Jake Cassevetes (Nathan Crooker), a network war shooter just back from Iraq who is assigned to cover the run-up to the RNC. When he meets and falls in love with Tina Santiago (Rosario Dawson), a young mother widowed after her husband was killed in Iraq, Jake is forced to question his worldview. But it is not until he discovers his network has given his videotape of an anarchist Black Bloc group to Homeland Security that Jake decides to take action.

MANNEQUIN IMMIGRANTS D. Nickoll 5min.
Through Ellis Island they all came in waves. Mannequin Immigrants traces mannequin history and cultural influence. Thank you Lady Liberty!

7:00 PM (VET'S HALL 846 Front St.)

The Expendables: XXX Rated Abi McKee 60 min.
‘The Expendables: XXX-Rated’ is a film about local musical sensation, The Expendables. The film spans two West Coast tours that include everything from seedy bars to wild backyard parties and major venues. The full-length rockumentary shows the band at practice, includes hilarious on-the-road footage of ‘Jack Ass’ style pranks and wild fans run amok. The film also presents a rare look at the group recording their latest album ‘Getting Filthy’ at Psy Klopps studios up in San Francisco. Santa Cruz surfers showcase new Expendables songs while interviews with each band member and others close to the band reveal how the group got started, how they write new songs, why they have held together so well and what it means to dedicate one’s life completely to a love of music and making it in a band.

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