ROVING EYE DOCUMENTARY FILM

FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE

First annual event to take place over a one-month period at locations throughout the State of Rhode Island; Free to the General Public

APRIL 6TH • OPENING NIGHT
COLUMBUS THEATER, 268 BROADWAY, PROVIDENCE
6:30 pm Meet the Filmmakers, see the historic Columbus Theatre

7:00 pm “A Life Among Whales” (57 mins)
Directed by Bill Haney; Produced by Tim Disney, USA
Weaving together natural history and biography, this film is a fascinating exploration into one man's lifelong quest to save the whales; it forces us to question our stewardship of the Earth and our co-existence with some of its most intriguing creatures.

8:00 pm Q&A with filmmaker, Bill Haney

8:30 pm “Dirt” (71 mins)
Directed by Jeff Bowden, USA
Make it a dirt track date. Come spend a season inside the soul of American racing: the World Class Street Stocks at the legendary Devil's Bowl Speedway, in Mesquite, Texas. A colorful cast of characters--from Gayla Jones, a rookie and the only woman driver at the bowl, to Travis Pace, a former champ who sat out the previous season after blowing up his house while welding on his racecar-- careen on and off the track toward the season championship. In the words of narrator Thomas Weeks, "We may never get to Daytona. But the Devil's Bowl is our Daytona 500. Every weekend."

APRIL 8TH PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY
150 EMPIRE STREET, PROVIDENCE
11:00 am “One Day Sale” (20 mins.)
Directed by Keith Brown, USA
Sleeping in front of stores, storming the lines, and buying items that aren't really needed are all staples of what Americans call "Black Friday", the busiest shopping day of the year. Come along to the local Best Buy where shoppers are waiting for the clock to stike 6 a.m. so they can rush the store and "go and grab" their bargains.

12:00 Noon “A Diamond in the Golden Land” (54 mins.)
Directed by Dr. Glenn Short, PhD.
'The Great Po Sein' is legendary in Myanmar (Burma). Until his death in the middle of the 20th Century, he was at the core of the cultural history of the nation. A gifted dancer, singer and actor, he created a legacy of classical dance that forms the basis of traditional performances in Myanmar today and was at the heart of the anti-colonial movement of his time.

1:00 pm “The Distance” (96 mins.)
Directed by Ash Adams
Boxing is one of the last of the blood sports. Yet, looking behind the brutal contest of man versus man, is an intimate portrait into the hearts and minds of the world's last true warriors. "The Distance" is a view into the emotional landscape of the boxers of yesterday and today. Featuring interviews with: Louis Gossett Jr., Michael Madsen, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini, Bobby Chacon, Mando Ramos, and many other boxing greats.

3:00 pm “Bode Miller: Flying Downhill” (83 mins.)
Directed by Williams Rogers
Bode Miller has become a legend in ski racing. The lore is the lure – wild, untamed, growing up without electricity in the hills of New Hampshire. But the true story of Bode's crashes and victories is more complex and richer as we see what makes him go so fast and see if he can bring his great speed to the bottom of the course, through ALL the gates, in one piece.

See a clip from “Bode Miller: Flying Downhill”— here

(courtesy Bill Rogers, Flying Downhill Productions)

APRIL 8TH • NEWPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY
300 SPRING STREET, NEWPORT
3:00 pm “Brats: Our Journey Home” (98 mins.)
Directed by Donna Musil, USA
Air Force brat Kris Kristofferson leads us on a heartfelt journey into the strange but interesting life of an American military "brat". Based on poignant and provocative interviews with adult brats of all ethnicities, including General H. Norman Schwarzkpof and author Mary Edwards Wertsch. This is the first non-fiction film to explore the peculiar subculture of brats from the child's point-of-view.

Panel Discussion: “Growing Up Military”
o Donna Musil, Filmmaker
o Stephanie Donaldson-Pressman, Author/Psychotherapist
o Morten Ender, West Point Sociologist
o Mary Edwards Wertsch, Author

APRIL 8TH • URI FEINSTEIN CAMPUS – SHEPARD’S BUILDING
80 WASHINGTON STREET, PROVIDENCE
4:00 pm “Buffalo Soldiers” (52 mins.)
Directed by Peter Scheehle, USA
A lyrical story of a community of Jamaican migrant farmers working the tobacco harvest in rural Massachusetts; subtle and touching, the film rises above the political to focus on the often-overlooked human face of migrant work.

5:00 pm “Havana Ride” (20 mins)
Directed by Al Padilla, USA/CUBA
Journey through the streets of Havana meeting the customers of a local cab: a woman with HIV, a nightclub singer, and an old man. Each fare has his or her own story to tell about the experience of living in Cuba. This documentary provides a rare, unfiltered glimpse at the folk who call themselves Cuban. In Spanish with subtitles.

5:30 PM BEHIND THE VEIL: IRANIAN FILMS (75 MINS)
“The Lovers, The Victims”
Directed by Mohammad Ehsani, IRAN
Filmed in Iran, this documentary gives us a view of Iranian AIDS victims. Due to opium addiction the HIV virus has spread in Iran through shared needles. Even though the country is ruled by Muslim law, the people are still not protected or educated about HIV.

“Phase”
Directed by Mohammad Ehsani, IRAN
A socio-economic expose on the increasing popularity and use of the drug Ecstasy among young Iranians.

7:00 pm “Horror Business” (82 mins)
Directed by Christopher P. Garetano, USA
A visually unique documentary that journeys into the works and lives of struggling independent horror filmmakers and the bizarre culture that drives them. The film focuses on low-budget directors with varying degrees of talent and philosophies on filmmaking who all share an unflinching passion to make movies. Often hilarious, “Horror Business” is an honest and entertaining documentary that is appreciated by horrorphiles and horrorphobes alike. With special appearances by genre icons Herschell Gordon Lewis, Sid Haig, Lloyd Kaufman and Joe Bob Briggs.

APRIL 9TH URI – SHEPARD’S BUILDING
80 WASHINGTON STREET, PROVIDENCE
1:00 pm “Liberia: America’s Stepchild”
Directed By Nancee Oku Bright, LIBERIA
Tracing the history of Liberia from its hopeful beginnings in 1821 to poverty and despair, Liberian filmmaker Nancee Oku Bright offers a searing look at a shattered land through interviews, archival materials, and footage shot on location. Founded in West Africa by free American blacks, Liberia's indigenous peoples and colonizers endured decades of tension that erupted into tribal war.

3:00 UNITED NATIONS FILM SERIES (60 MINS)
“What’s Going On? Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone”
Produced in part by UN Works/UN Department of Public Information. UN Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas travels with Abu, a 12-year-old former child soldier trying to find his family, in a harrowing documentary about children forced to fight and kill in Sierra Leone's savage civil war.

“Better Future”
Produced by the UN Office for Drug and Crime Control. The focus of this spot is the trafficking in men, women, and children for forced labor, such as in factories or fields, or as domestic servants. It aims to warn potential victims about the dangers and to raise public consciousness of this growing problem.

“Our Bodies, Their Battleground: Gender Based Violence During War”
Produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs/IRIN. Highlights the crisis facing women, girls, and infants throughout the world during conflict, and in its aftermath. With a focus on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, this film gives voice to the victims of rape, and other forms of gender based violence, while challenging the culture of impunity that allows these acts to continue. The film also highlights some of the brave work women are doing to heal the wounds and rebuild the shattered lives of the tens of thousands of females affected by these unpunished violent crimes.

APRIL 14TH BLACK BOX THEATER @ THE ARTISTS’ EXCHANGE
50 ROLFE ST., CRANSTON
*SPECIAL FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR THE ARTISTS’ EXCHANGE*
7:00 pm “A Lively Experiment” (25 mins, Local)
Directed by Toni-Ann Baker, USA
Physician, scholar, and founder of the First Baptist Church in Newport, John Clarke’s work, with help from his friend Roger Williams, secured the most liberal charter ever issued to the American settlers during the colonial era.

Panel Discussion: “Historical Costumes”
o Toni Ann Baker, Filmmaker
o TBA

8:00 pm “Without Apology” (73 mins)
Directed by Susan Hamovitch, USA
The filmmaker's brother Alan was born with a disability so severe he would never learn to speak. Institutionalized in 1958, he became a taboo family topic for more than thirty years. He is only now- after the expose of his state-run facility and the radical overhaul of medical thought on retardation and autism- emerging as a member of his family and of the world.

APRIL 15TH PROVIDENCE PUBLIC LIBRARY
150 EMPIRE STREET, PROVIDENCE (401) 455-8000
11:00 am FINDING A VOICE FILM SERIES (80 MINS)
“Black Men Can Fly”
Directed by Napolean X, USA
George S. Lima's story spans 86 years and goes from New England to Harlem, to the Deep South and back. It is the story of a child of Cape Verdean immigrants, a Harlem brown, student at North Carolina A&T, Tuskegee airman, military photographic officer, Brown University graduate, founder of the local chapter of one of the most powerful and prestigious fraternities (Omega Psi Phi), civil rights activist, union organizer, president of the Providence chapter of the N.A.A.C.P, state representative, and elder statesman who continues to fight for people's rights in his community.

“Life to Live”
Directed by Maciej Adamek, POLAND
A heartwarming look at a Polish school for blind children; join them as they discover the world around them through touch, sound, taste, and smell.

“My Brother Anton”
Directed by Dantia MacDonald, USA
This personal documentary captures the pain of watching someone you love descend into a debilitating mental illness. Mixing powerful images with a heartfelt narrative, it chronicles the relationship of a sister as she watches her brother succumb to schizophrenia.

“Kiddish with Cachaca”
Directed by Jeremy Siefer, BRAZIL
This documentary film from Northeastern Brazil explores the controversial emergence of self-professed Marranos. “Marrano” was an Inquisition-era slur for Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism. Today in Brazil a growing movement of avowed Marrano descendants seeks to “return” from the church to the synagogue. The film explores their difficult path, offering a stirring account of the complex nexus of faith and identity.

1:00 pm “Rommel and the Plot to Kill Hitler” (60 mins)
Directed by Nicholas Natteau, USA/FRANCE/GERMANY
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was Hitler's favorite general and one of the most brilliant commanders in World War II. But the Nazi atrocities against the Jews and Hitler's insane conduct of the war would shatter his faith in the Fuhrer. Was he one of the conspirators in the July 1944 officer's plot to assasinate Hitler and overthrow the Nazi's? Judge for yourself in this compelling documentary about an extraordinary individual.

2:30 pm “Journey to Justice” (105 mins)
Directed by Steve Palackdharry, USA/FRANCE/GERMANY
This is the fascinating story of Howard Triest, a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany in 1939 when he was 16 years old, returned as an American soldier and then served as an interpreter during the Nuremberg Trial, where came face-to-face with imprisoned Nazi leaders.

APRIL 18TH COURTHOUSE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
RTE. 138, WEST KINGSTON
7:30 pm “Other People’s Pictures” (53 mins)
Directed by Lorca Shepperd , USA
The uninitiated ask: why would anyone buy someone else’s family photographs? At NYC’s Chelsea Flea Market, nine collectors share an unlikely addiction: snapshots that have been abandoned or lost by their original owners. Whether they are photos at the beach, mutilated snapshots, or wartime photos, the collectors have their own unique criteria to fulfill in their quest through the world of vintage snapshot collecting.

APRIL 21ST ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, RM. 124
2:30 PM STUDENT FILMMAKERS Q&A (90 MINS)
“One Day Sale”
DIRECTED BY KEITH BROWN, USA
Sleeping in front of stores, storming the lines, and buying items that aren't really needed are all staples of what Americans call "Black Friday", the busiest shopping day of the year. Come along to the local Best Buy where shoppers are waiting for the clock to stike 6 a.m. so they can rush the store and "go and grab" their bargains.

“Buffet”
Directed by Natasha Schull, USA
Thanksgiving weekend, Las Vegas: a camera journeys through Sin City’s all-you-can-eat buffets and finds a kaleidoscope of characters behind the food — from tireless chefs preparing gargantuan bowls of ambrosia, to servers who bus endless plates, to hungry diners in search of a culinary jackpot and a portion of the American dream.

Panel Discussion: “Student Documentary Filmmakers Q&A”
o George T. Marshall, RIIFF Executive Director/Documentary Film Professor RWU
o Keith Brown, Filmmaker/Program Director, KidsEye Student Filmmaking Camp/ Adjunct Film Professor, Tufts University
o Susan Bedusa, Director of Development, 4th Row Films

7:00 PM UNITED NATIONS FILM SERIES (60 MINS)

FEINSTEIN COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES, RM. 157
“What’s Going On? Child Soldiers in Sierra Leone”
Produced in part by UN Works/UN Department of Public Information. UN Messenger of Peace Michael Douglas travels with Abu, a 12-year-old former child soldier trying to find his family, in a harrowing documentary about children forced to fight and kill in Sierra Leone's savage civil war.

“Better Future”
Produced by the UN Office for Drug and Crime Control. The focus of this spot is the trafficking in men, women, and children for forced labor, such as in factories or fields, or as domestic servants. It aims to warn potential victims about the dangers and to raise public consciousness of this growing problem.

“Our Bodies, Their Battleground: Gender Based Violence During War”
Produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs/IRIN. Highlights the crisis facing women, girls, and infants throughout the world during conflict, and in its aftermath. With a focus on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia, this film gives voice to the victims of rape, and other forms of gender based violence, while challenging the culture of impunity that allows these acts to continue. The film also highlights some of the brave work women are doing to heal the wounds and rebuild the shattered lives of the tens of thousands of females affected by these unpunished violent crimes.

8:00 PM BEHIND THE VEIL (75 MINS)
“The Lovers, The Victims”
Directed by Mohammad Ehsani, IRAN
Filmed in Iran, this documentary gives us a view of Iranian AIDS victims. Due to opium addiction the HIV virus has spread in Iran through shared needles. Even though the country is ruled by Muslim law, the people are still not protected or educated about HIV.

“Phase”
Directed by Mohammad Ehsani, IRAN
A socio-economic expose on the increasing popularity and use of the drug Ecstasy among young Iranians.

APRIL 22ND ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY
FEINSTEIN COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES, RM. 157
4:00 pm “Lemonade Stories” (60 mins)
Directed by Mary Mazzio, USA
What is it that drives a man to success? Is it love of money, competition, or power? Or is it the love of his mother? In an intriguing twist on the entreupreneurial success story, "Lemonade Stories" chronicles the impact mothers have had on igniting the entrepreneurial spirit. The film features interviews with Richard Branson (Virgin), Arthur Blank (Home Depot), Russell Simmons (Def Jam), Kay Koplovitz (USA Network), and Tom Scott (Nantucket Nectars) among others.

Panel Discussion: “Entrepreneur Q&A”
o Mary Mazzio, Filmmaker/Motivational Speaker

6:00 pm “Bombhunters” (85 mins)
Directed by Skye Fitzgerald, USA/CAMBODIA
Between 1968 and 1973, over 20 million bombs, cluster munitions, and landmines were dropped on Cambodia. Over thirty years later, the countryside is still littered with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). To clear their land for farming, and to feed their families, villagers increasingly turn to the harvesting of scrap metal for profit. This is the story of these remarkable individuals, as they search for and dismantle war munitions in order to survive.

MAY 18TH BARRINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
281 COUNTY ROAD, BARRINGTON, RI 02806 401.247-1920

7:00 pm "KAREN BLIXEN - Out of This World" ( mins)

Directed by Marcus Mandal and Anna von Lowzow, DENMARK/KENYA/ U S A

This is the story of the incredible life of Danish author Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) - a story just as dramatic as her own fantastic tales. During the documentary the viewers are taken on a journey through the life of Karen Blixen, told by people close to her. Blixen herself contributes through old footage. Among those taking part are also Meryl Streep. The directors have been given unique access to photos and letters from private archives, many of which have never been made public before. To complement the rich imagery of this film, additional footage and historical reenactments have been shot on location in Denmark and Kenya. The music consists exclusively of the original lacquer discs Karen Blixen collected throughout her life.

For more information about films, dates, and venues for the Roving Eye Documentary Film Festival™, please call 401-861-4445, email adams@film-festival.org