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		Films Screening at RIIFF 2002 Documentaries M-W Saturday August 10th URI 11:00AM The Mosquito Strategy Company: Video Femmes Director: Lisa Sfriso Runtime: 53min Country: Canada Format: BETA SP Mosquito Strategy is the story of thirteen illiterate people in a collective creation process. They are excluded, disturbing mosquitos, always relegated, they will go on stage to say what they have to say: a thought that they will have taken months, even years to build. Mosquito Strategy draws up a respectful portrait of the literate process through the performing arts. This documentary wants to be the witness of complicity to an enriching and deeply human experience about the mutual aid and the need to give voice to those which do not dare to take it because they can not write. Sunday August 11th Columbus Cinemateque 11:00AM World Premiere Mozambique - where film goes Directors: Nello Ferrieri and Raffaele Rago Company: Union Comunicazione Executive Producer: Cesar Penalva Screenplay: Elisabetta Antognoni Director of photography: Raffaele Rago Editor: Carlotta Cristiani Sound: Nicola Zonca Music: Chico Antonio Runtime: 80 min Country: Italy Format: BETA SP Cinemovel is a project of traveling cinema that has been conceived for those countries impoverished by colonialism, wars, health diseases, illiteracy. The film Mozambique where film goes tells the experience of this traveling cinema that, throughout his journey, meets with the different sides of a country, with the issues of social and cultural development, of literacy and fight against AIDS. Mozambique where film goes does all this through pictures, which can be understood by everybody, no matter how literate, adults and children are all given the same chance to communicate. "It is an extremely important initiative." says Gra'a Machel, in her interview at the end of the film - as the ability to communicate is one of the biggest problems our country has. In some parts of our national territory we have the radio, a little television and a few newspapers. But these means of communications are unable to reach the less privileged communities, so Cinemovel has two great advantages: the first is the fact that it actually goes to these places, and the second is that the cinema is able to communicate directly, with great feeling, because it is an image, not a speech and you don't have to be able to read to understand either, as it is the image which speaks. Portuguese, Mozambique languages and Italian/English subtitles Friday August 9th Columbus Cinemateque 5:30PM Myth of Father Company: Astrobaby Productions Director/ Producer: Paul Hill Runtime: 60min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Myth of Father is a video documentary about acceptance. The director's father, Jodie, is a transsexual woman. She came out a few years ago, and the director has since begun a journey to discover who his father really is. Upon learning of his father's gender dysphoria, the director has had to rewind, review, then reposition the puzzle pieces of the past to try and figure out who his father is, not only for himself but the rest of his family as well. It's an exploration of the struggle of family members reuniting while going through a change in their relationships. Sunday August 11th Columbus Cinemateque 11:00AM Occupation Company: En Masse Films Directors: Maple Razsa, Pacho Velez Producer: Amy Offner Runtime: 44min Country: USA Format: BETA SP A dynamic story of how students and low-wage service workers took on-and defeated-one of the most powerful corporations in the world, Occupation documents the historic three-week sit-in by the Harvard Living Wage Campaign. The Campaign won unprecedented gains for low-wage workers at the world's richest university, and catapulted the living wage movement to the center of public attention. In demonstrating one local response to corporate power in an age of globalization, Occupation powerfully depicts how people from dramatically different backgrounds were able to raise their hands together in victory. It is directed by Maple Razsa and Pacho Velez, and narrated by Ben Affleck. Thursday August 8th URI 2:15PM World Premiere Poor Made by God Director: Yu Qian Producer: Robert Nuss Runtime: 48min Country: Canada Format: BETA SP A documentary that takes the view on a journey through the Roman Catholic villages of Shan Bei in Northwestern China. Friday August 9th Columbus Cinemateque 3:10PM New England Premiere Prisoners of Freedom Company: Point of Contact Director: Owen Shapiro Producers: Owen Shapiro, Lester Friedman Writers: Tom and Lester Friendman Runtime: 89min Country: USA Format: BETA SP This very unusual dramatized documentary explores the little known episode in American history when 982 European refugees were brought to the USA and interned in a camp, behind barbed whire feces in Oswego, New York during World War II. Blending narration, actual interviews with surviving refugees and recreated dramatic events, the film brings to life the complex, often contradictory feelings of these refugees who found themselves in a hazy gray realm between freedom and imprisonment. Sunday August 11th URI 12:00PM World Premiere Quest for the Grail Company: Four Seasons Productions Director/Producer: D.J. Kadagian Runtime: 65min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Join a dynamic trio of a poet, a storyteller and a theologian as they unearth the essence of the Western spiritual journey as expressed in Wolfram Von Eschenbach's Parzifal — one of the most told and retold stories in western culture and part of the fabled Grail legends. Quest of the Grail not only attempts to reconnect the view to the journey of the spirit, but to reintroduce the powerful tool utilized throughout human history for that very purpose — the story. Sunday August 11th Columbus Cinemateque 5:40PM Rated X -One Family's Business World Premiere Director: John Lavall Runtime: 34 mins. Country: USA Format: BETA SP Meet the Berberian family, owners of the Columbus Theatre, a historic and important part of the regional arts scene. Jon was a tenor at the New York City Opera. Betty Jane a soprano. Both are well known and respected in the classical music circuit. Their story is a fascinating one and details what they had to do to save a building they loved. Thursday August 8th Columbus Cinemateque 3:10PM Shalom Y'All Company: Shalom Y'All Films LLC Director: Brian Bain Producer: Susan Levitas Runtime: 60min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Shalom Y'all is a documentary film about Jews in the American South as seen through the eyes of a native son and the cultural cousins he encounters on a 4200-mile journey from Texas to Tennessee. Traveling the same roads his 100-year-old grandfather drove as a hat salesman, the filmmaker discovers a vibrant culture blending the Old World with the New South, a place where Jews fought in the Civil War and marched for Civil Rights. Along the way he meets all sorts of southern Jews ž cowboy, police chief, boxer, Congressman, kosher butcher, hoop-skirted tour guide, Mardi Gras krewe and much more. Monday August 12th Columbus Cinemateque 5:00PM Stonewalk Company: Progressive Pictures Director: Barry Schneler Runtime: 42min Country: USA Format: BETA SP With the help of people in 100 communities, Lewis Randa pulled the two-thousand pound "Unknown Civilians Killed in War" monument from Sherborn, Mass. to Arlington Cemetary to raise awareness of the astounding rate of civilian deaths during war. Stonewalk explores the motivations that spur grassroots performance and captures the emotions of translating beliefs into actions. Thursday August 8th Columbus Cinemateque 3:10PM Strange Fruit Company: Oniera Films Director / Producer: Joel Katz Runtime: 57min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Unique in the annuls of American music, Strange Fruit is one of the most important protest songs ever written. It gives the harrowing description of a lynching and is best known thanks to a 1939 Billie Holiday rendition. Yet relatively few people know who really wrote it. Strange Fruit, a one hour documentary, explores the song's history and legacy, as well as its many contemporary resonance and reverberations. Friday August 9th URI 4:30PM A Union In Wait (Director's Cut) Company: Digital Social Productions, Inc. Director / Producer: Ryan Butler Original Music: Jason Schuler Cinematography: Richard Clabaugh, Brian Nisbett Film Editor: Thomas Berndt Cast: Susan Parker, Wendy Scott, Lisa Howes Yewdall Runtime: 47 min Country: USA Format: Beta SP In May of 1981 Wendy Scott would meet a new co-worker named Susan Parker. Their new friendship would quickly transform into something more special. A Union In Wait takes a very personal look at Susan Parker and Wendy Scott's relationship and the controversy that would make their private life anything but private. Susan Parker and Wendy Scott are members of Wake Forest Baptist Church. In 1997 the couple decided they wanted to have a union ceremony in Wake Forest University's Wait Chapel, but the university told them no. Susan Parker, Wendy Scott, their church, and many others joined together to fight the school's decision in what would become a controversy that divided a community in North Carolina and made national headlines. Friday August 9th Columbus Cinemateque 9:45PM When Boys Fly Directors: Stewart Halpern and Lenid Rolov Runtime: 62min Country: USA Format: VIDEO Palm Springs' White Party is the backdrop for this documentary on the fast-paced world of gay circuit parties. Halpern and Rolov follow three young men: 23-year old straight-laced circuit virgin, Brandon; 21-year old party boy with a drug problem, Tone; and sensitive but strong-willed 19-year old, Jon. Accompanying them is Jon's "soul mate," Todd, a 35-year old businessman recklessly reliving his adolescence, plus other "circuit friends" the boys make along the way. When Boys Fly pulls no punches in exposing this world -- men are shown overdosing and engaging in risky behavior -- but at the same time, it also shows the sense of community and vitality the parties bring to the men who attend. Balanced, truthful, and provocative, When Boys Fly is a piercing look into the lives of a new generation of gay men. Description and Mission Statement The Providence Film Festival RIIFF 2002 Team Films Screened at RIIFF