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		Films Screening at RIIFF 2002 Documentaries E-L Saturday August 10th URI 11:00AM Everyday More Closely to Heaven US Premiere Director: Maciej Adamek Producer: Ignacy Szczepanski Runtime: 23min Country: Poland Format: BETA SP A documentary portrait of a seventy-year-old woman who as a young and beautiful girl, 54 years ago, decided to put on a hair shirt as an act of penance and has worn it ever since. A world and life unknown and unbelievable to many of us. Polish with English subtitles. Friday August 9th Columbus Cinemateque 5:30PM First Down Directors / Producers: Eli Kabillo, Lorna Thomas Cinematographer: David Sperling Music: Martin Trum Runtime: 60min Country: USA Format: BETA SP There are no cameras, few reporters and only a few hundred fans, but the athletes on this football field and four others around the United States are making history. The Women's Professional Football League is in its first year of operation and competing against more than the usual problems facing a new sports league. With low salaries, no endorsements and little publicity, the WPFL is facing an even bigger hurdle, the stereotype of women not being tough enough to play tackle football. FIRST DOWN follows the New York Sharks as they play in the Women's Professional Football League's inaugural season. The Sharks fight stereotypes, financial struggles and arch rival the New England Storm in their quest to play for the WPFL Championship. Saturday August 10th URI 7:45PM Foreigners Out! US Premiere Director, Writer, Soundtrack-Compiler: Paul Poet Camera: Robert Winkler Graphic FX: Oliver Neumann Starring: Christoph Schlingensief, Elfriede Jelinek, Peter Sloterdijk, Einsturzende Neubauten, Helene Partik-Pable, Burghart Schmidt, Peter Sellars Runtime: 90 Min Country: Austria Format: Beta Sp Austria 2000 — for the first time after WW2 a radically right wing party became European state officials. Infamous German shock director Christoph Schlingensief reacted with putting the nation to a test: Making a racist dream come true, he opened a concentration camp-like container beside Vienna's tradition-heavy opera. In a twist on Reality TV madness, the world could play "Austrian" and vote twelve surveilled and real asylum seekers out of the country. This is the story of how a political prank resulted in a week of reckless, revealing mayhem, proving the edges of Western democratic togetherness. Truly the new "Last days of Mankind". German with English subtitles Sunday August 11th URI 12:00PM Gloucester's Adventure Director: Gordon Massingham Producer: John Ronan Art Director: Michael Cataldo Cinematographer: Jim Simeone Editor: J.B. Lamont Narrator & Scriptwriter: John Ronan Runtime: 58 mins Country: USA. Format: Beta SP The story of the schooner Adventure, one of American's last links to the age or working sailing ships. Built in 1926, Adventure became a high liner, the most successful dory trawler in the history of Gloucester. The film examines the history of the city and the fishery and shows how, during Adventure's lifetime, modernization destroyed the sea's abundance. Following a second life as a Windjammer out of Camden, Maine, Adventure was returned to her homeport, where she serves as an environmental classroom, teaching about the dangers posed by technology out of control. Sunday August 11th Columbus Cinemateque 3:30PM US Premiere On Grace Kelly, Money and Dreams Director: Izzy Abrahami Company - Abrahami-Netz TV Productions Producer: - Erga Netz Runtime: 54 min Country: Netherlands Format: BETA SP When Bert Maas was 13, he fell hopelessly in love with Grace Kelly. Years later, after he became businessman and made millions of dollars in the Eastern Block, he decided to invest some 10 million Dollars, producing an original stage musical about his teenage love and building a special, 1200-seat theatre for this musical in Amsterdam. Till then he had no experience in theatre or in building. His motto in life is always to do things differently than other people. This is one adventure, which is surely different. Dutch /English with subtitles Sunday August 11th Columbus Cinemateque 3:30PM New England Premiere Hook Line and Singer Director: Norm Anderson Runtime: 25min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Hook, Line & Singer is a headlong plunge into the LA music scene. Filmmaker/musician Norm Anderson sets off on a comical and revealing journey through LA, trying to figure out what it takes to 'make it' in the music business. Norm becomes a subject himself, writing and performing songs and turning for advice to rock stars like Andy Summers of "The Police," hot new talent such as 'Woven' (signed to Interscope) and performers who've been struggling for years but are still waiting for their big break. As Norm tries, fails and tries again, getting critiqued, encouraged and occasionally humiliated by his guides, he learns that there are a lot more obstacles - internal and external - than he thought to becoming a musical success. Saturday August 10th URI 11:00AM US Premiere I Will Not Leave You Until I Die Director: Maciej Adamek Producer: Ignacy Szczepanski Runtime: 28 min. Country: Poland Format: BETA SP Franek and Andrzej met in a school for special care children. They are both handicapped. "I am physically disabled and Franek is mentally handicapped. I am his brains and he is my hands" says Andrzej, introducing us to this extraordinary friendship, which has continued ever since they were children. Saturday August 10th Columbus Cinemateque 9:45PM Laurel Casey: the Hurting Truth Director/Producer: Xaque D. Gruber Music: Laurel Casey Featuring: Laurel Casey, Gabe Evens, Chris Vanacore, the Lady Chablis, Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Runtime: 33min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Ms. Laurel Casey, at age 49, fresh from a facelift and a mid-life awakening, is Rhode Island's only true cabaret entertainer. She relentlessly pounds the pavement searching for the next gig. Scraping to make rent payments. Stooping to singing with a transsexual trio and overcoming great odds to deliver darkly comic, show stopping performances to a devoted following. Confrontational, challenging, and unpredictable, in life as on stage, Laurel Casey embodies the endangered spirit of cabaret in America. Saturday August 10th URI 3:10PM New England Premiere The Legacy of Rosina Lhevinne Director: Salome Ramras Arkatov Runtime: 64min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Through intimate conversations and stunning performances, this film pays tribute to the extraordinary life and achievements of pianist and teacher Rosina Lhevinne. After a career playing duets with her famous pianist husband, Josef, she began teaching at age 65 at the Juilliard School in New York and elsewhere. Her students included such celebrated musicians as James Levine, John Williams and Van Cliburn. At 82, she made her solo debut with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. Film Producer/Director Salome Ramras Arkatov, a Juilliard graduate who studied under and lived with Lhevinne, taped interviews with Lhevinne for 30 years as part of an oral history project. Those interviews, conversations with such colleagues as Arthur Rubenstein, and her performances are woven into this moving documentary. Sunday August 11th Columbus Cinemateque 5:40PM LIFE ON JUPITER — The Story of Jens Nygaard, Musician Company: Interaction Media Director: Martin Spinelli Runtime: 58min Country: USA Format: BETA SP This inspiring portrait of legendary New York conductor, Jens Nygaard, takes us from his Arkansas origins as a troubled prodigy to the Carnegie Hall premiere of his Jupiter Symphony orchestra. It begins as the story of a genius that continued to deliver great music despite grave difficulties -- mental illness, multiple myeloma cancer, and the indifference of the power brokers. As it develops, we realize that the most intriguing aspects of the project were the questions raised by Jens Nygaard's tireless pursuit of perfection. Some of Jens' causes may seem quixotic, but he sustains our respect and admiration, even awe. Those feelings are reinforced by the great concerts captured in digital video, combined with heartfelt interviews and performances of accomplished musicians who knew Jens for decades. Description and Mission Statement The Providence Film Festival RIIFF 2002 Team Films Screened at RIIFF