Film Synopsis by Category
Professional
Full-Length Narrative
Professional Short
Narrative
Professional Documentary
Professional Animation
Music Video
Faculty
Student Narrative
Student Documentary
Student Animation
Young
Filmmakers (High School, 9-12)
Young
Filmmakers (Lion Cub, K-Grade 8)
2007 George Lindsey UNA Film Festival Screening List
Absolute Zero
An account of the grim and ironic death by freezing of a man trapped
inside a refrigerated meat wagon, told using a combination of archival and
imagined material to speculate on the man’s final hours. (27m)Producer/Director,
Alan Woodruff
Almost Beautiful
In spring 2005, goth/rock band The Last Dance recorded its latest album,
Once Beautiful. That summer, the band embarked on a two-month U.S. tour
to support the album. A film crew tagged along, documenting the lives of four
musicians living one dream. (111m)Producer, Roy Thomasson; Director,
Rocky Costanzo
The Clinton 12
On August 27, 1956, twelve black teenagers entered Clinton High School
in Clinton, Tennessee, for the first time. What followed shocked the world, and
changed a nation. Winner of Best Southern Film 2006, Asheville Film Festival,
and Best Documentary 2007, Southern Fried Flicks Film Festival. (88m)
Producer/Director, Keith McDaniel
The Closure Myth
A 45-minute documentary about Aba Gayle, a woman whose daughter was
stabbed to death in 1980, yet who now visits the murderer on Death Row and acts
as an advocate on his behalf. The gives voice to an often overlooked
perspective on the death-penalty debate. (45m) Producer/Director,
Erika Street
Hexing a Hurricane
Participants in New Orleans’ 9th Ward Voodoo Ceremony ask spirits
for
protection from dangerous hurricanes. After the ominous storm strikes a few
weeks later, the film follows locals on a roller-coaster ride of despair,
tragedy, and hope. (43m)
Producer/Director, Jeremy Campbell
The Final Run
A truck loaded with Greyhounds speeds away from a racetrack in the
middle of the night to destinations unknown. Is this a final run toward death or
a run toward life? The camera follows as the dogs are transferred from truck to
truck, northbound, along the east coast. (25m) Director, David
Pollitt
Iron City Blues
Seeking inspiration for a song, blues musician Big Mike Griffin rides
through Tennessee’s backwoods into a lawless town called Iron City, where he
creates an anthem celebrating the notorious town and the rebels who live there.
(52m) Producer, Matthew Pessoni; Director, Scott Jackson
King of Oak Street
A portrait of a gritty and giving New Orleans artist during a
cataclysmic time in his life: before and after Hurricane Katrina. (72m)
Producer, George Hamilton; Directors, Andrew Scott and George Hamilton
Of Good Courage
A rural Texas county responds to the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster
with strength and dignity. (62)
Producers/Directors, David Perry and David Wayne Brown
The Other Side of Death Row
In death-penalty cases, much attention is given to the offender. Victims
are often forgotten. This film explores the pain victims in capital cases
experience while the appeals process runs its course. (21m)
Producers, Jane Pittman, Loree Gold, and Sara Kemp
Richard Johnston: Hill Country Troubadour
Johnston's ferocious one-man-band performances astound audiences. He
plays “hill country music,” a trance-inducing mix of voodoo rhythms and
traditional blues he learned at the most notorious juke joint in the north
Mississippi hills. (57m)
Producer/Director, Max Shores; Producer, Elizabeth Brock
Rommel and the Plot to Kill Hitler
A morality tale exploring how Field Marshall Erwin Rommel became
implicated in the July 20, 1944, officers' plot against Adolph Hitler. The film
highlights the excruciating dilemma of the modern soldier forced to choose
between obeying orders and following his conscience. (62m)
Producer/Director, Nicholas Natteau
The Spirit of Sacajawea
Sacajawea was the only woman and the only American Indian with the Lewis and
Clark Expedition. More than two hundred years later, this film revisits her
story with respect to her ancestors and tribal affiliations. The documentary
explores themes of destruction, rebirth and of a deep respect for nature and the
environment. (73m)
Producers, Alyson Young and Beverly Penninger
AIR BAND, or How I Hated Being
Bobby Manelli's Blonde-Headed Friend
Friendship, rivalry, and rock ’n’ roll, all set in the late ’80s. Darren
struggles to get out of the shadow of his very popular friend, Bobby Manelli,
instead of being known only as “his blonde-headed friend.” (29m)
Producers, Darrell C. Hazelrig, Carole Albyn, Larry Marsilli, and Troy Fuqua;
Director, Darrell C. Hazelrig
A.W.O.L.
A twist of fate can be torture.
Vietnam. 1972. A U.S. Army Special Forces
major (David Morse, of The Green Mile, Crazy in
Alabama, and Contact) leads a squad ordered to investigate
unusual reports and secure a remote jungle temple believed to have mystical
powers. (22m)
Producer/Director, Jack Swanstrom; Producer, Jessica Wethington
Big Cowboy
In this cosmic Western fairy tale, a stranger comes to town to stir up
trouble. The local villagers, having small hats and small minds, end up in
really big trouble. (9m) Producer/Director, Steve Richerson
Binta and the Great Idea
Binta’s father has an idea. But he doesn’t know if it is or is not a good idea.
Nominated for a 2007 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film. (30m)
Producer/Director, Manuel Garcia
The Box
If you choose not to conform, it conforms to you. (18m)
Producer/Director, Joel Sadilek
Producers, Korinna Sehringer and Susanne Bohnet
A Cigar at the Beach
A modern tale of the mid-life (married) male. (15m)
Producer, Jason Kennedy; Director, Stephen Keep Mills
Empty Building Short Stories: Benny Confronts His Childhood
Random people, one building, random pasts, one need. (24m)Producer/Director,
Giovanni Sanseviero
The Father, Unblinking
In rural America, a father discovers his young daughter dead of fever
and makes the decision to bury her secretly, without informing his wife. (23m)
Producer, Sergei Krasikau; Director, Ziggy Attias
Flying Naked
Clowns. Ninjas. Nudity. What do you dream about? A Love Story of
Imaginary Proportions. (23m) Producer/Director, Travis Sentell
Home for Good
Amy Trentham dreams of one thing: her young husband returning home from
the war. When that happens, everything will be perfect.(10m)
Producer, Mary Cates; Producer/Director, Todd Tinkham
Just Visiting
A Canadian family visiting the United States finds themselves in a
situation that threatens to ruin them. Attitudes about race, class, and country
are suddenly instrumental in negotiating an agreement with the gravest of
stakes. (8m)
Producers, Andrew Barnsley, Don MacOdrum, Konrad Robinski, and Melanie Donkers
Director, Jeff Stephenson
1 Phone, 2 Phone, 3 Phone, 4 …
One man's purpose in life is questioned by a ringing phone. (12m)Producer/Director,
Darren Leis; Producer, Dusty Bias
100 MPG
At 24, he invented something that would put big oil out of business. At
28, he was murdered. (42m) Director, Mark Medoff
pop machine
An estranged daughter, seeking reconciliation with her dying father,
develops a cathartic relationship with a pop machine. (16m)Producers,
John Fromstein and Pat Pecorella
Directors, Lucia Grillo and Pat Pecorella
The Showdown
A confrontation between a batter and a pitcher in a high-stakes baseball
game, juxtaposed against a deadly duel between two gunslingers in the Old West.
(18m)
Producers, Antony Sestito, Fulvio Sestito, John L. Mazzarella, Pino Sestito, and
Troy Combs; Director, Fulvio Sestito
Spreading the News
A dark comedy that follows an eager college student’s path to landing
her dream job in broadcast journalism. Her only hurdle is an internship at a
sleepy small-town news station in North Carolina. Will she be able to handle the
pressure of the small town, or will she snap like a twig? (11m)
Producers, Kelsey Ann Wedeen and Kimberly Culotta; Director, Bradley Scott
The Story of Bubbleboy
In a stab-happy world, a sad outcast wrestles with his demons. A film
about being trapped by the past and redeemed by the future. (7m)
Producer, Kristy Fransen; Director, Sean Ascroft
Terminal Conversation
In life’s unexpected twists, what choice would you make? (18m)
Producers, Jason Helfstein, Ruth Webber, Scott Kittredge, and Stacy Helfstein;
Director, Scott Kittredge
Twilight of Youth (35m)
Untouched
An affluent attorney becomes haunted by a deep-rooted choice. He is
confronted with buried emotions and old feelings when a criminal case brings his
current world together with his past. (17m)
Producers, Joseph Lane and Mindy Rose; Director, Raphael Vieira
Waiting
Two men wait for a liver donor. It is human nature that hope happens,
and it takes many shapes. But must we face the consequences of getting what we
hope for? (15m)
Producers, Rick Pennington, David Brower, and Yuri Shapochka Director, Yuri
Shapochka
Professional Full-Length Narrative
Angela’s Decision
Angela has been waiting all her life: Waiting for her childhood
sweetheart to come home from the army and marry her, waiting for her
trailer-trash mother to sober up, waiting for her small-town life to
begin. (48m)
Producer, Kate Croser; Producer/Director, Mat King
Approaching Union Square
Based on his monologues for the stage, Marc Meyers offers a collage of
eleven tales capturing thirty-something New Yorkers struggling to find love and
connection in the big city when they cross paths on a bus. (80m)
Producers, Jody Girgenti and Marc Meyers; Director, Marc Meyers
Beautiful
Dreamer
A woman discovers the husband she thought had died a few years earlier
in WWII, is alive and living in another town and thinks he is another person.
(88m) Producer, Jack Robinson; Director, Terri Farley-Teruel
The Garage
A mechanic at his father’s garage, Matt dreams about leaving his
small-town existence and pursuing grander ambitions. But strong feelings about a
new girlfriend and a deep bond with his family prevent his escape. The film
explores the choices we make...and the roads we take. With Martin Donovan and
Bill McKinney. (94m)Producer/Director, Carl Thibault
Love … & Other 4 Letter Words
A T.V. talk-show host fakes her wedding to save her dying grandmother!
(90m) Producer, Tangi Miller; Director, Steven Ayroloomi
Puzzlehead
The dark and eerie world of Puzzlehead is one where betrayal,
deception, and murder lurk just beyond each twist and turn of this meditative
plot. (8m)
Producer/Director, James Bai
Under the City
An ex-con’s dark past and quest for a better life send him spiraling
into the dangerous world of white slavery and police corruption in Chicago.
Based on true events. (108m)
Producers, Tom Perschke, Adam Golomb, and Dean Rabaiov Director, Adam Golomb
Big Dreams
Assistant girl works hard at the big agency. She has big dreams ...
(3m) Producer/Director, Robyn Von Arx
Sensational City
An animation that explores the sounds we hear everyday but have learned
to filter out of our consciousness. (3m)
Director, Tarik Cherkaoui
Coming Home
Lt. Herbert Sennett serves as a MAT team leader in the Vietnam War.
Although critical of the war, it has a positive perspective on life and of the
plight of Vietnam Vets. (15m)
Producer/Director, Herb Sennett
Crunch!
Life is full of challenges, but when 75-year-old Beverly Burns stumbles
upon something she initially finds horrific, she determines she has a choice:
she can dwell on the tragedy or she can find the comedy. (13m)
Producer/Director, Sheila Schroeder
Eric Essix: At Home
Jazz is often traced to the Big Easy, but defining its shape is anything
but easy. So when producer/director Dwight Cammeron set out to chronicle
chart-topping, record-breaking jazz guitarist Eric Essix, he let him loose with
his red Gibson hollow-body. (57m)Producer/Director, Dwight Cammeron
Fire Creek
Spared by a God he didn’t believe in, Jason Malleck comes home carrying
shrapnel wounds in his legs and the memory of his best friend dying in combat,
and the question of why. (95m)
Producers, Charles Cranney, Dennis Packard, and Seth Packard Director, Jed Wells
Hell in a Size Twelve
Ronald and Jessie Cooper are a gifted couple who collaborate on making
folk art objects in the Appalachian Mountain tradition. (6m)Producer/Director,
Jeffrey Hill
Everything You Said
Chick rocker Cori Yarckin belts out her frustrations over life and love
in this hot new music video. (4m)
Producer/Director, Kenny Beaumont
Girlfriend for a Night
A music video exploring the inner-world of a man's struggle with
pornography and his objectification of women. (4m)
Producer, Matt Webb; Director, Matt Barber
Gone
Bill Madden brings the worlds of film and music together with a
metaphorical environmental warning alert. The video raises questions, fusing
art, social commentary, and music to spark debate on what it means to be alive
and grapple with the consequences of environmental change. The film is directed
by Andrew David Watson of Current TV, an interactive cable TV channel
founded by Al Gore. (3m) Producers, Diana Bald and Bill Madden;
Director, Andrew Watson
Happiness in Milligrams
What is with the lady in the blue dress? (5m)
Producer/Director, Kurt Nishimura
Waiting for My Penis to Grow
Come and laugh with us as our adolescent 17-year-old (“Don Juan”)
decides to take matters into his own hands, and add some spice to his love life!
(2m)
Producers/Directors, Helen LaLousis and Lori Zeh
Watch Me Walk Away
A music video shot in the Shoals and featuring the sound of
Nashville-based country vocalist Kimmy Fleck.
Producer, Steve Viall
I’m Not Mexican: An Exploration
of Venezuelan Identity
A film that explores Venezuelan identity through a combination of
research methods, including documentary photography, video, and interviews. Its
comparative structure explores the signifiers of Venezuelan culture and tries to
inform how Venezuelans differentiate themselves from other Latin-American
cultures. (6m)
Producer/Director, Ligia Carvallo
Saying I Do
Decades after Stonewall, the gay community is fighting back again—this
time over the right to marry. Can gays count on winning this one in the future?
(34m) Producer, Carol Stanger; Director, Jennifer Uihlein
She’s a Lady: Memoir of a Downtown Theatre
The story of the Lyric Theatre and, essentially, the story of downtown
Birmingham, Alabama. (20m)
Directors, Alan Franks and Ginny Humber
The Weight of a Nation
The story of a handful of young Sudanese refugees in the United States.
Abraham, Jok, Jacob and Peter – four “Lost Boys” of the Sudan – struggle to
adapt to life in the United States while shouldering the burden of caring for
extended families back in Sudan and helping to heal their war-torn nation.
(29m)
Director, Kevin Kindle
Woody Guthrie: Voice of the Common Man
a short documentary about how the folk singer-songwriter overcame
personal hardship and tragedy to become a spokesman for those Americans affected
by the Great Depression and the dust storms. Although neither a politician nor
an activist, Guthrie brought attention to the plight of Okies, migrant workers
and other disenfranchised people. He gave music a social conscience and
influenced several generations of singer-songwriters, including Bob Dylan, Bruce
Springsteen, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Ani DiFranco and Jeff Tweedy. The film
uses Guthrie’s own voice from Library of Congress recordings, as well as
archival footage from the ‘30 s. Soundtrack by Richard Drueding. (10m)
Producer/Director, Melissa Mergner
Blind Love
The story of a killer and a prostitute who happen to share a studio and
fall in love with each other without ever meeting one another except through
their belongings. (61m)
Producer, Chihun/Jimmy Lee/Leigh; Director, Janghun/Troy Choi
Captain Valedor
In the early 1950s, a young boy reimagines a climactic family moment as
a Flash Gordon-esque, space-battling black-and-white serial. (16m)
Producers, Kent Sanderson and Christopher Golio
Director, Kent Sanderson
Chronicles of a Hitman
Professional hitman Xavier is on the run from mysterious assassins.
However, his greatest challenge erupts from within his tortured soul. As Xavier
desperately searches for sanity, his destiny unexpectedly becomes intertwined
with the fate of an innocent woman. (21m)
Producer/Director, Yuri Alves
The Counter
Sometimes standing up for what’s right means sitting down. (13m)Producers,
Lauren Wagner and Mark Austin
Director, Lauren Wagner
Dancing Ground
Firecrackers fly through the sky ... ghosts dance in the dust ... an old
man wanders the prairie with a gun ... and a small-town sheriff searches for
another chance. (15m)
Producers, Julian Robinson, Mark Walterskirchen, and Mitchell Gutman; Director,
Tobin Addington
Equal Justice
When identical twin brothers are put on trial for murder in a society
prejudiced against twins, a down-on-his-luck defense attorney takes the case to
save his career. (14m)
Producers/Directors, James Dastoli and Robert Dastoli
The Guard
A retired security guard finds purpose in building clay models as gifts
for his old coworkers, but then begins to fear that he may be losing his mind.
(26m) Producers, Nick Spicer and Sebastian Mathews
Director, Tariq Tapa
Gone
Mike’s mother is gone, and he will stop at nothing to find out what
happened and where she went. (15m)
Producer, Tamara Kihs; Director, Ethan Cushing
Her Eyes Opened
Lillian loves Quinn. Xiu loves herself. Quinn loves them both. A tale of
betrayal and individuality, self-destruction, and freedom. Sometimes in war
there are no winners. (19m)
Producer/Director, Thomas Billingsley
I Began As a Boy
A crappy ice cream parlor, an insane armed robber, and the choice of a
lifetime for a 25-year-old boy. (10m)
Producers, Keelan Scott and Nathan Henderson
Director, Nathan Henderson
Jaded
Born and raised in the church, college coed Jay Mitchell has lost his faith not
only in God but also in his father. Jay has a “flawless formula” which consists
of using his knowledge of God to land chicks – meet the Christian player.
Through a series of encounters with a new girl named Brit, a professor, and an
unlikely friend, Jay will soon face the reality that he has become everything he
hates. (20m)
Lemonade Stand
When an old barfly finds his favorite saloon to be closed, he begins to
wet his whistle at a little boy’s lemonade stand. (10m)
Producer/Director, John Moore
Life’s Other Side
A story of shattering grief that nearly destroys a man’s career. (47m)
Producer, Doug Miller; Director, Tommy Brandon
An Open Door
As her world falls apart, Michelle Watson must convince her husband that
the price of keeping their marriage together is worth the cost of keeping a
secret between them. (19m)
Producer, Amy Rising; Director, Sean Jourdan
Orizuru
All that remains of a forbidden love – lost in the atomic ashes of
Hiroshima – is a wish. (15m)
Producers, Junya Sakino, Lendi Slover, and Reiko Kondo
Director, Junya Sakino
Perspective
A young man fights with his conscience in order to put a past
relationship into perspective. (23m)
Producers, Julie Mills, Rodger Smith, Sam Day, and Travis Hatfield; Directors,
Sam Day and Travis Hatfield
Quincy and Althea
While the rest of New Orleans rebuilds, a bickering married couple
searches for a divorce amidst the wreckage spawned by Hurricane Katrina. (10m)
Producer, Andrea Wilbon; Director, Doug Lenox
Rite of Passage
A thirteen-year-old Jewish girl has a crisis of faith on the eve of her
Bat Mitzvah. (19m)
Producers, Sara Gordon and Tamara Kihs; Director, Sara Gordon
Runaway
An emotional journey between father and son and how they reconnect after
the death of the mother. (16m)
Producer/Director, Tamara Kihs
thomas in bloom
A prodigious and introverted 7 year-old boy devises a clever way to talk
to his ailing Grandma only days before her death. (14m)Producers, Holly
Leigh and Jeff Prugh; Director, Jeff Prugh
Torn
The story of one man’s conflicted dreams merging with a harsh reality he
may not want to face. (10m) Producer/Director, Ethan Crowe
Webb Wilder’s Scattergun
Double-barrel-shotgun-wielding Webb Wilder -- full-time roots rocker,
part-time private eye -- descends into a Southern-gothic underworld
flush with casino cash, trailer trash, and raw-boned violence to rescue his
nephew from rural mobsters in this droll hillbilly-noir comedy. (27m)
Producer/Director, Steve Mims
The Culture
The life and culture of skateboarding, art, and hip-hop. (2m)Producer/Director,
Harrison Rego
Mirage
I have been trying to make my life better, but now I am thinking about
what I have been missing. “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”
(9m) Producer/Director, Youngwoong Jang
Grace
The story of three females whose lives share an unwanted thread. (4m)
Producer/Director, Kat Hulka
The Keeper
A lonely lighthouse keeper has a peculiar collection as his only avenue
to the outside. One day, he finds some company in the form of a seagull. (7m)
Producer/Director, Ferris Webby
Linear Progression
Strange creatures! Beautiful animation! Grass! What happens when an
unstoppable force meets an immovable object? Such conundrums and charm abound in
Linear Progression. (5m)
Producer/Director, Kat Kosmala
Sideshow
A story of the tragedy of love. (5m)
Producer/Director, Lisa LaBracio
Young Filmmakers
(High School, Grades 9-12)
Allen Silvy
Allen Silvy, Route 93, Drifter. (17m)
Producers, Isidore Bethel, Jack Mayer, and Joe Kubler
Director, Isidore Bethel
First Day at the Firm
New associates proudly join a prestigious law firm after three years of
grueling law school. But will they survive even their first surprising day in a
law-office “sweatshop” focused on profitability at all costs? Award-winning teen
screenwriter and filmmaker Remington Dewan brings us his latest dramedy short.
(13m)
Producer/Director, Remington Dewan
Harold Bidet
Harold Bidet is an ordinary American boy whose life changes completely
after he escapes the draft and ends up in France. (34m)Producer/Director,
Rafael Canuto
Positively Negative
A simple conversation over coffee that changes a life. (5m)Producer/Director,
Chad Cooper
ROZWELL
A suspense drama based on the story of a schizophrenic psychopath.(9m)
Producers, Hodges Usry and Rob McRae; Director, Hodges Usry
Stalking
A public-service announcement where a student stalks a girl with his
cellphone. (30sec) Producer/Director, Justin Plante
Waiting (4m)
Whale Sharks of Holbox – How a Tiny Island is Helping Save the World’s Biggest
Fish
The islanders of Holbox, Mexico – facing a dwindling supply of fish –
have successfully converted their economy to ecotourism. In doing so, they have
helped protect the world’s largest fish, the Whale Shark. (5m)
Producer/Director, Mike Wham
Young Filmmakers
(Lion Cub, K-Grade 8)
Patrick in Progress
A mockumentary about a clueless teenager whose parents send him to
Cotillion. (15m) Producer/Director, Mitch Collier
Unexpected News
A story of Nancy and Emily, two young friends who are separated when
Emily has to move away. After a neighborhood going-away party, Emily expresses
her deep misery to Nancy. Nancy tries to reassure Emily that they will meet each
other again … in heaven. (16m) Producers, John Collins and Kristi
Collins; Director, Katie Collins
Worst Day Ever
A Lego character is having a very bad day. (7m)
Producer/Director, Keenan Jones
©2005 - 2006 George Lindsey/UNA Film Festival.
All rights reserved.