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		Films Screening at RIIFF 2002 Documentaries A-D Sunday August 11th URI 4:20PM Aftershocks US Premiere Director/ Writer : Rakesh Sharma Camera : Tanmay Agarwal Sound: Rakesh Sharma/Tanmay Agarwal/Sreekumar S. Editor : Rakesh Sharma/ Sunita Dighe Runtime: 68min Country: India Format: BETA SP On January 26, 2001, Kutch (Gujarat, India) was devastated by a massive earthquake. Over 20,000 people died and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. Bhuj, Anjar, Rapar and Bhachau, the most severely affected areas, received attention from many international relief agencies, national and international media, even personal visits from Prime Minister Vajpayee and Citizen Clinton. Eight weeks after the quake, on March 26, 2001, our camera accidentally bumps into the GMDC acquisition survey team in Umarasar. Over the next few months, the film moves in and out of Julrai, Umarsar and the GMDC's existing lignite mines and probes the processes of displacement and resettlement. Kutchi, Gujarati, Hindi with English subtitles Sunday August 11th URI 2:10PM Amuse Bouche (A Chef's Tale) Company: MG Productions Director: Maryanne Galvin Country: USA Format: BETA SP The intimate documentary explores the many layers of Chef Barbara Lynch, nationally recognized chef / owner of No. 9 PARK, Boston, who rose from the rough and tumble projects of South Boston to culinary success, and who continues to give back to the community that supported her all the way. Saturday August 10th URI 5:30PM New England Premiere Blue Vinyl Company: Toxic Comedy Pictures Directors: Judith Helfand & Dan B. Gold Producers: Daniel B. Gold, Judith Helfand & Julia D.Parker Editor: Sari Gilman Director of Photography: Daniel B. Gold Music: Marty Ehrlich, Sam Broussard, Stephen Thomas Cavit, Terry Dame, Four Piece Suit Runtime: 96 min Country: USA, Italy Format: Beta Sp Blue Vinyl literally picks up where Judith Helfand's 1997 Peabody award-winning film A Healthy Baby Girl left off: in front of her parent's modest suburban house. Newly re-sided with blue vinyl, PVC is America's most popular and second fastest selling plastic. The odyssey to find an alternative building material that doesn't harm anyone at any step of its life cycle is the narrative line that connects the dots between the consumer, the PVC worker, and the residents who live across the street from the vinyl factory. This circuitous and ever-surprising journey always leads Helfand back home to her parents who, perhaps reluctantly, concede to join her in reinventing their role as consumers and citizens. Over the course of the film -- which took four years to make -- the Helfand family is challenged to learn from Judith's own experience with cancer and hysterectomy at age 25 caused by DES, the "popular" anti-miscarriage drug her mother was prescribed when she was pregnant with Judith. Together the Helfand family found meaning from the irreparable damage and far-reaching implications of toxic chemical exposure. Ultimately they agree to let Judith take the vinyl off the house -- to do something radical, fun and useful with it! English / Italian with English subtitles Thursday August 8th URI 4:30PM New England Premiere BUFFALO COMMON Director: Bill Brown Producer: Ron Tibbett Runtime: 23min Format: 16mm Country: USA A droll visit of discovery to desolate North Dakota and its active, inactive, and being decommissioned (blown-up) missile silos. With a mordant commentary about the military industrial complexes, missile defense, nuclear deterrence, a missile museum, peace activists, churches, Scandinavians, and buffaloes. Sunday August 11th Columbus Cinemateque 1:10PM US Premiere Conflict Company: Wink Films Director: Elad Winkler Runtime: 36min Country: Israel / USA Format: BETA SP The film follows 22-year-old director Elad Winkler as he returns to his homeland of Israel. Beginning and ending with a recording of the director which was shot during the first Intifada, the film portrays the problems of the times through a child's point of view over ten years ago. Through interviews with Jewish survivors, Palestinian and Israeli government officials, settlers and artists, and startlingly beautiful cinematography, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is examined in a very modern way. Saturday August 11th URI 1:05PM Cowgirls New England Premiere Company: Cowgirl Productions Inc Director / Producer: Sally Clark Runtime: 29min Country: Canada / USA Format: BETA SP Move over, cowboy. Here the women in rodeo steal the show. With their sequined silhouettes, daredevil stunts and executive skills, the gender outlaws of "Cowgirls" push the frontiers of femininity, freedom and equality. Yet tell these ™frightfully independentš Annie Oakleys they're North America's first feminists and watch them buck. Set in the province of Alberta, Canada's Texas, "Cowgirls" showcases the modern day gladiators and the revered rodeo queens of the corral. In this high stakes arena of glamour, sweat and danger, the Wild West meets the beauty pageant and womanhood finds its most inspiring role model in the unsung stars who possess the gumption and guts of a cowboy and the sass of a Calamity Jane. Thursday August 8th Columbus Cinemateque 9:45PM World Premiere A Day in the Hype of America Company: Global Griot Productions Directors / Producers: TJ Martin / Brian Quist Runtime: 85min Country: USA Format: BETA SP "A Day in the Hype of America" is a feature length documentary film about four unique Americans and how they experienced the last 24 hours of 1999. Filmed simultaneously in New York, New Orleans, South Dakota and Arizona this humorous and at times disturbing documentary brings us back to America on the brink of the new millennium, terrorism, and one big anticlimax. Through the diverse stories of four very different individuals "A Day in the Hype of America" re-captures the fears and festivities of one of the most anticipated days in history and shows the many ways Americans reacted to the millennial hype. Sunday August 12th URI 2:10PM Divining Mom Company: 62 KNOTS Productions Director / Producer: George Kachadorian Runtime: 70min Country: USA Format: BETA SP What do you do if your mother's a witch-- a water witch? Lea Kachadorian is a dowser, a.k.a. diviner, who claims to be able to find underground water supplies-- or most anything else-- using her dowsing rods: a forked stick, a pendulum, and her "extended" senses. Her husband, Jim, is a civil engineer who, after more than 20 years of heated debate, has yet to embrace his wife' s involvement with dowsing -- to put it mildly. Determined to get to the bottom of the family debate once and for all, their son, George Kachadorian, brings us on an eye-opening journey into the grey area between what is believed and what is real. "Divining Mom" is a film about love, magic, and a water well in Vermont. Saturday August 10th Columbus Theatre 5:00PM Drive in Movie Memories Company: Outdoor Productions Director: Kurt Kuenne Producer: Don and Susan Sanders Runtime: 57min Country: USA Format: 35MM Drive-In Movie Memories is a film celebration of America's greatest icon of youth, freedom and the automobile. What started as an auto part owner's business venture to make some easy money accidentally became a magical place where romance, fun and a sense of community flourished. This film documents the drive-in movie theatre's birth, development, phenomenal popularity, unfortunate decline and optimistic future in a uniquely entertaining way. Thursday August 8th URI 4:30PM Dust to Dust Director/Producer: Michael Brown Runtime: 93min Country: USA Format: BETA SP In a small town in N.W. Montana, hundreds of people face a grave and uncertain future. In recent years, more than 200 people have already died from the effects of exposure to asbestos-laden dust from a former mine outside of town. The company denies they knew they were placing citizens at risk. Those dying of lung disease say there's no question the company knew. Description and Mission Statement The Providence Film Festival RIIFF 2002 Team Films Screened at RIIFF