Tickets are sold at the door and seats are limited. BE SURE TO GET THERE EARLY! (Highly suggested for visitors from out of town.) **PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS SUGGESTED FOR ALL SCREENINGS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SATURDAY FROM 2pm-5pm IN THE FRIDA KAHLO SCREENING ROOM.

2008 Film Archive

Thursday June 25 DAY ONE

AUDITORIUM SCREEN
DAY SCREENINGS 2 pm - 5 pm

The Twenty
Director, Chopper Bernet, Topanga, CA 93 min
Carty has a new baby, a tense marriage, and four months of fragile sobriety. When he discovers a twenty-dollar bill with a message written on it, an obsession begins. Will it free him? Or destroy him?

Ride of the Yoga Valkyries
Director, Dan Berman, Toronto, ON, Canada 7 min
Two friends, Eve and Brenda, attend a yoga class. Where Brenda sees the possibility to improve and connect, Eve sees only hostility and impossibly high standards.

Repaired?
Director, Seung-Hoo Ihm, San Francisco, CA 4 min
Two stupid aliens try to fix their UFO after crashing from the Moon to the Earth but they don't know how to fix it. While one tends to follow by the manual to fix it, the other wants to do by instinct. Finally they fixed the UFO but they encounter an unexpected situation.

Jeff and Freddy
Director, Andrew Martinez, New Orleans, LA 3 min
In this animated short by Trinity University Junior Andrew Martinez, two friends have an early morning argument of astronomical circumstances. Freddy is convinced that he saw aliens and Jeff attempts to explain that it was all just a dream.

The Miracle
Director, Jeffrey Jon Smith, Oak Park, IL 29 min
For a chance at redemption, Tekki Lomnicki, a little person, will need all her courage, humor and imagination to face the truth about her life.

Shaken
Director, Sylvia Rincon, San Antonio, TX 15 min
A brother and sister try to overcome a long-term illness, Epilepsy, that has affected their lives and their relationship. He survived the illness, she endured his suffering…can they survive each other?

OPENING RECEPTION  6 pm - 7 pm

OPENING CEREMONY 

FRIDA KAHLO SCREEN
DAYTIME SCREENINGS 2 pm - 5 pm

Teponazcuicatl
Director, David W. Bailey, Selma, Indiana 7 min
This is an artistic interpretation of the Aztec processional song Teponazcuicatl as recreated and performed by SAVAE (San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble). The song is one of many associated with celebrations surrounding the “Miracle of Guadalupe”.

Sam's Rain
Director, Craig Curry, Garland Texas 96 min
A through the eyes of a young man who has just returned home from Iraq. 

Sketch
Director, Emanuel Bermudez, Converse, TX 6 min
A sketch artist attempts to create a masterpiece; complications arise when his passion turns into a violent obsession.


Lalo
Director, Daniel Maldonado, New York, NY 12 min
The hilarious story of a NYC delivery worker, who upon discovering he's jeopardized his employment, learns that he's been given one last delivery to salvage his job.

The Thing Waiting Outside
Director, Valdemar Belmares, San Antonio, TX 8 min
Follow two children into the creepy woods of mystery and watch how they change the world around them through the power of their imagination.

Truth
Director, Herbert Midgley, Nacogdoches, TX 7 min
After losing his wife a year and a half ago, Michael has to face raising his troubled daughter Heather, a mother in-law that blames him for losing her daughter and working at a job he hates, so that he can find the "Truth".


Journey of the Opportunist
Director, Mark Walley and Angela Guerra, San Antonio, TX 8 min
A short film that explores human movement and migration that occurs simultaneously in the lives of a dozen characters.

Watch the World by 2nd Day
Director, Jesse Schroeder, San Antonio, TX 3 min
A woman is happy and has a great guy that loves her for who she is, but she realizes she is not perfect and goes through a period of plastic surgery that ruins her life. The place where she gets the surgery done is a come in and leave type of place and the band is performing in the building as they are in a factory where they make woman beautiful.
                                                   
RECEPTION  6 pm - 7 pm

AUDITORIUM SCREEN
EVENING SCREENINGS 7 pm - 11 pm

Stalk Much
Director, Bill Baykan, Chicago, IL 10 min
Rediscover the Joy of EX.  After a crushing breakup, Michael must work through the five stages of grief. With the help of psychologist Dr. Lieber, he rebounds. Things are great -- until his sister reveals shocking news that hurtles Michael towards a final confrontation -- and a new true love. Kind of. Sort of. Maybe.

Consensus Chalice
Director, Sandy Erickson, San Antonio, TX 3 min
Experimental.

2009 JURY PRIZE BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
La Tangente
Director, Vincent Vesco, Paris, France 13 min
A young man washing his car offers an attractive woman a ride wherever she wants to go. The two set off on a journey with no plans and no direction, but as their relationship grows can they continue living their life of the rock-and-roll aesthetic or will they have to compromise and settle down?

Cumbia Callera
Director, René Villarreal, Mexico DF 94 min
Framed by the high mountain chains that surround the city of Monterrey Mexico, three youngsters experience a love triangle, passions and dilemmas, wandering through the slums and rich neighborhoods, crowned by the irresistible rhythm of the area of Monterrey Mexico known as Colombia.

Director/Actors Q&A  30 min

BAND: BUTTERCUP  11 pm – Midnight

Friday June 26 DAY TWO

Free Workshop 11 am - 1 pm

AUDITORIUM SCREEN
DAY SCREENINGS 2 pm - 5 pm

The Other Side of Immigration
Director, Roy Germano, Austin, TX 57 min
A documentary about Mexican immigration, from the perspective of rural Mexico.


Hector Corp.
Director, Gary Lee, Los Angeles, CA 11 min
A thriller about a company, Hector Corporation, that must take extreme measures to manage their employees with unexpected executioners.


Hungry God
Director, Sukhada Gokhale-Bhonde, Oviedo, FL 8 min
The film reflects on the irony of Idol worship.


Kids of the Majestic
Director, Dylan Verrechia, New York, NY 52 min
A documentary film about a group of orphans surviving in the railway station of Bangalore City, India.

AUDITORIUM SCREEN
EVENING SCREENINGS 6 pm - 11 pm

Trash Day
Director, Sam Lerma, San Antonio, TX 4 min
A dark comedy.


Noor
Director, Razan Ghalayini, New York, NY 25 min
Noor's birthday plans take a turn when she and her mother get caught in an Israeli Defense Forces imposed curfew.


American Faust: From Condi to Neo-Condi
Director, Sebastian Doggart, New York, NY 67 min
A hard-hitting portrait of one of the chief players in the Bush Administration. It overturns the popular misconception of Rice as a yes-woman to President Bush to reveal her as his most enduring confidante - and thus responsible for much of the Bush legacy. Dr. Rice leads her own defense, through a series of candid interviews.


Liminal
Director, Stephen Keep Mills, Topanga, CA 14 min
Think it's a dream? INA and JOY are naked and locked in a battle of elimination. INA must reverse the power to survive. A woman, her body, and the destructive voice that controls her. This intense and raw confrontation is shot in 35mm, entirely in black and white, with both players naked. The nudity is non-erotic and allows the audience to experience the characters’ extreme circumstances of primitive vulnerability and privacy.


2009 BEST SAN ANTONIO FILMMAKER
Death Rattle
Director, A. J. Garces, San Antonio, TX 22 min
A short film based on Amparo Garcia Crow’s award winning story that takes place in the mid 70’s in a small south Texas town. While being raised by his single mother, Victor must come to terms with his mother’s relationship with the local town sheriff, Carmen the love of his life and his unusual summer job, as part-time assistant mortician. Along the way he encounters those who would become instrumental in changing his life.


Flores Para el Soldado
Director, Javier Garza Yáñez, Mexico 80 min   
This tells the story of the search for information about Edmond William Quear Jr., a US soldier who died on June 3, 1946, in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. We see the family tradition begun by Berta Orta de Yanez, who left flowers on Edmond William Quear Jr.’s tomb every time she visited the cemetery. This soldier’s grave is next to the Yanez family crypt, which was purchased in 1956. At that time, Dona Berta began leaving an offering every time she visited her relatives in the Panteon del Roble cementery.

DJ: JJ LOPEZ  11pm – Midnight

FRIDA KAHLO SCREEN
DAYTIME SCREENINGS 2 pm - 5 pm

Barstool Cowboy
Director, Mark Thimijan, Lincoln, NE 90 min
An unemployed Cowboy who can't find love vows to stay on a barstool for three months hoping to find some answers at the bottom of a beer bottle. Shortly thereafter, he meets a young female art student and quickly forgets his misery. The pair begin to transform each other's worlds while spending time drinking, dancing, and examining the mysteries of life. Will the Cowboy finally find love or should he have just stayed on his barstool?


The Dying Western
Director, Michael Kortlander, Los Angeles, CA 33 min
Howard obsessively pursues his dreams to be the next John Wayne, but has only been successful at playing dying extras in western movies. Set in 1960’s Hollywood, Howard’s steadfast commitment to his work gets in the way of his relationships at home as he practices for his roles by faking his death on a near nightly basis. These playful imitations grow competitive when his wife June is diagnosed with cancer and Howard becomes convinced that she is trying to “out-die” him. Dark Comedy.

Sun Up
Director, Jeremiah Flores, Santa Clara, CA 15 min
Set in late 19th century California, Sun Up is a film about a young rancher's struggle to maintain his dignity at a price that may cost him his life.


OK
Director, Brett Mauser, San Antonio, TX 28 min
A western.


Goin’ Nowhere Fast
Director, Shawn Adams, Spring, TX 13 min
Gunner Bleu, a down-and-out South Austin musician, returns home from a spirit quest to find the law on his tail. He plays his gig at the Broken Spoke, but creates his own bad luck.
                               
FRIDA KAHLO SCREEN
EVENING SCREENINGS 6 pm - 11 pm


Curse of the Lechusa
Director, Amza Moglan, North Hollywood, CA 98 min
The crossroads of a depressed detective, with nothing to lose, and two sisters struggling for something new, becomes a tragic battle of good and evil.

Richard Dooling’s Bush Pigs
Director, Christian Champoux & Topler Ahrens, Omaha, NE 17 min
Based on a short story by Richard Dooling (White Man's Gravel, Dolan's Cadillac) Bush Pigs explores a man's journey to the Third World and how it affects his view of his home, The United States of America. Adapted by Topler Ahrens and Christian Champoux, Richard Dooling's Bush Pigs is a short film intended to leave a long lasting impact.


Without Papers
Director, Florencia Krochik, Los Angeles, CA 14 min
A documentary that chronicles the lives of two undocumented students attending college in America.


Passing Fancy
Director, Wei-Hsin Yang, Long Island City, NY 26 min
On the way of a trip, a young couple stumbles into to a man's yard sale. The girl of the couple takes a sudden interest in the man's motivation behind the sale while her boy friend is confused by her whimsical action. The relationship between the three will take a dramatic turn...

No Soliciting
Director, Wes Barlow, San Antonio, TX 17 min
A cheating husband decides to kill his wife for insurance money. His plan, however, keeps being interrupted by people at the door.


The War Boys
Director, Ron Daniels, New York, NY 92 min
The heart knows no borders.

Saturday June 27 DAY THREE

Free Workshop 11 am - 1pm 

AUDITORIUM SCREEN
DAY SCREENINGS 2 pm - 5 pm

Trust Us, This Is All Made Up
Director, Alex Karpovsky, Austin, TX 81 min
A feature-length documentary exploring the legendary long-form improvisation of Tj Jagodowski & David Pasquesi.


2009 BEST HIGH SCHOOL FILMMAKER
La Memoria de Amor
Director, Andie C. Flores, San Antonio, TX 7 min
High School short from NEISD.


Alex Rubio
Director, Sergio Ramos & Emileigh Potter,
San Antonio, TX 6 min
Documentary from SAY SI.


Desierto Adentro
Director, Rodrigo Plá, Mexico DF 110 min
Elias has committed a great sin against God and is convinced that his children will be punished by premature death. Hoping to prevent the dreaded punishment, he dedicates his life to building a church so that God will forgive him. The story is told through the eyes of Aureliano, the youngest and most vulnerable son, who will portray the family saga in religious altarpieces.       

Music: Guillermo Ortiz  5 pm – 6pm                                   


BAND: LOS MESCALEROS 11pm – Midnight

FRIDA KAHLO SCREEN
DAYTIME SCREENINGS 2 pm - 5 pm

Kings of Appletown
Director, Bobby Moresco, North Hollywood, CA 95 min
A modern day adaptation of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", starring Dylan and Cole Sprouse from TV's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" and Victoria Justice from Nickelodeon's "Zoey 101". Masterfully directed by Bobby Moresco (Crash, Million Dollar Baby) and beautifully photographed by Daniel Pearl (Friday the 13th, Alien vs. Predator Requiem), The Kings of Appletown is an adventure thriller for the whole family that promises to have audiences holding their breath from beginning to end.


September 17
Director, Wilson Bondesen, San Antonio, TX 6 min
A high drama interrogation scene quickly turns into a musical comedy as the suspects are questioned.

This is Your Life
Director, Cydney Cox, San Antonio, TX 2 min
A public service announcement following the lives of three young adults. They are faced with a decision, stay on the path they are each already on or try to make the best out of a bad situation.

The Art of the Deal
Director, Emilio Mazur, Flower Mound, TX 10 min
Lonely and feeling left out, a young boy uses his own cunning ways to get the attention he craves from his supposedly corporate-savvy mother.


Perpetual
Director, David Kerr, San Antonio, TX 4 min
An artistic film about a man who has only one fear in life, change, and how he will try everything to prevent his fear from happening.

9:20
Director, Jay Dotson, Adkins, TX 3 min
An action film from East Central High School.


Lucky
Director, Yvonne Hernandez & Robert Castaneda, San Antonio, TX 7 min
A film from Say Si.


The Reality Remote
Director, Maggie Richardson, San Antonio, TX 2 min
A comedic infomercial advertising a product called the Reality Remote, a remote control that can alter reality with the press of a button. It mocks classic commercials with a loud, obnoxious narrator, large, in-your-face titles, cheesy scenarios, and snappy background music.

Tour de Gruene
Director, Dylan Maldonado, San Antonio, TX 4 min
A humongous bike race is about to kickoff in Gruene Texas and one of the best cyclists that ever lived is in the lineup. Does anyone have what it takes to beat him and strive to win the prize?

My Big Family
Director, Donovan Mejia, San Antonio, TX 6 min
A film from Say Si.

Karma
Director, Nicolas Garcia, San Antonio, TX 4 min
A film from Harlendale Film School of SA.

The Hundred
Director, Fidel Ruiz-Healy, San Antonio, TX 5 min
A film about one man trying to get away after being unexpectedly chased by thugs, and another man simply trying to get some change. They do not know each other, but they do help each other without knowing.

The Change Project
Producer, Russ Ansley, San Antonio, TX 5 min
This collaboration of 31 animators investigates the sometimes-bizarre possibilities as things change again and again… “it’s all just a matter of will and nature”.

Eye Remember
Director, Richard Hernandez, Yvonne Lopez, Fayzohn Shelby, Severa Wilson, Pedro Cedano, and David Sutcliffe, New York, NY 5 min
A journey through the eyes, minds, and memories of teenagers growing up in Harlem.

Busy Signals
Director, James Gottfredson, San Antonio, TX 7 min
A self-conscious boy yearns for the attention of his text message crazed girlfriend on National Picnic Day. Music composed and performed by local San Antonio group, The Highlifes.

Accessories to Murder
Director, Carlos Medina & Marissa Vega, San Antonio, TX 17 min
When Hellen, a self-proclaimed "perfect housewife", decides that her imperfect husband is ruining her "perfect" world, she goes on a mission to end his life. With the help of her friend Pamela, the two housewives attempt murder on the unwitting husband.
                                       

AUDITORIUM SCREEN
EVENING SCREENINGS 6 pm - 11 pm

AWARDS CEREMONY

Alison Wonderland
Directors, Toni, Yesenia, & Natalie, Miami Springs, FL 5 min
Pearson Foundation presents films created through the Mobile Learning Institute’s Earth Day Challenge.


The Earth is Warming
Director, Christine & Chernai, Orlando, FL 4 min
Pearson Foundation presents films created through the Mobile Learning Institute’s Earth Day Challenge.


Water Pollution
Director, Nick & Jacob, Belle Chasse, LA 3 min
Pearson Foundation presents films created through the Mobile Learning Institute’s Earth Day Challenge.


2009 AUDIENCE AWARD BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Beyond the Call
Director, Adrian Belic, Vallejo, CA 82 min
In a Mother Teresa meets Indiana Jones adventure three middle-aged men, former soldiers and modern day knights travel the world delivering life saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians in some of the most dangerous yet beautiful places on Earth, the front lines of war.


2009 GRAND PRIZE
2009 JURY PRIZE BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Funeral March for a Marionette
Director, Eric Fonseca, San Antonio, TX 7 min
San Antonio artist Eric Fonseca's stop motion homage to Charles Gounod's classic Funeral March of a Marionette.


2009 JURY PRIZE BEST PERFORMANCE
Cruzando
Director, Michael Escamilla & Mando Alvarado,
San Antonio, TX 95 min
About a week before the birth of his first child, Manuel learns that his long-lost father is about to be executed in Texas. Against his wife's wishes he heads north, abandoning his job cleaning peep-show booths at a strip club while being tracked by the club's brutal bouncer. Manuel's videocam-toting pal Diego tags along, planning a documentary of the trek. Mistaken identities, family traumas, and dehydration complicate Manuel's quest, but he finally learns a familiar lesson: There's no place like home - even if home is not all that great.

Sunday June 28 DAY FOUR

In His Blood
2009 JURY PRIZE BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Director, Vianna Davila, Berkeley, CA 25 min
The story of two generations of overnight news cameramen in San Antonio, Texas, who film breaking news during the hours when most of us sleep.


A Man, His Music and His Legacy
Director, Veronica R. Hernandez & Joe Miraglilo, San Antonio, TX 20 min
A documentary about Cenobio Hernandez, a musician who immigrated in the 1920s, to the United States.

Under Lock and Key
Director, Jenifer Westrup, Nashville, TN 14 min
One woman's recipe for reclaiming her freedom. Alicia is forced to leave her Texas family and friends due to an arranged marriage during the Great Depression. Trapped in her Mexican home by her husband each day, will Alicia unlock the secret recipe to freedom?


Almost Every Day
Director, Gandja Monteiro, New York, NY 18 min
Blurs the lines between documentary and fiction as it depicts a day in the life of a mother-daughter team. On a strange winter day we accompany them on their long journey from home in the faraway neighborhood of Recreio dos Bandeirantes to downtown Rio de Janeiro as young mother Polly struggles against time, traffic, the temptations of big-city life, and her own inadequacies.


The Boys of Ghost Town
Director, Pablo Veliz, San Antonio, TX 100 min
Danny Ortega is imprisoned for a crime of justice at a very young age. After 17 years in prison, he returns to his town of Houston to find that crime and drugs have overturned what he once called home. When he attempts to rebuild his life, the lust for power overtakes him and launches him into the world that he always dreaded.

FRIDA KAHLO SCREEN
DAYTIME SCREENINGS 12 pm - 4 pm

Under the Bridge
Director, Craig Ballin & Scott Rudolf, Austin, TX 72 min
An in depth scope into the underbelly of our society. This raw documentary will grab your attention and open the viewer's eyes to the often overlooked, ignored, or completely shunned. This is our homeless population. Audiences will get this inside look through the eyes of Scott Rudolph, who will leave behind the comforts of his upper middle class life style to go homeless for thirty days.


Bad Timing
Director, Keller Davis, Flower Mound, TX 9 min
Clutching a water bottle and wearing a time-traveling hourglass, a man encounters numerous people who seem to exist only to slow him down.


Sinnerman
Director, Kelly Daniela Norris & Travis Pittman, New York, NY 22 min
Sinnerman's driving purpose is to have us root for Freeman-its bright, troubled protagonist-knowing that he's committed a terrible crime. The act itself is slowly revealed and intentionally obscure. It's a SIN, that's all that matters. What's left is the running. What's left is Freeman up against humanity's most basic, most desperate state-of wrongdoing and naked regret, of the search for acceptance and forgiveness, of the impossible escape from one's own past, from one's own nature.


Vitruvius Toybox
Director, Dennis Iannuzzi, Philadelphia, PA 6 min
Experimental animation that explores the relationship between motion graphic techniques, electronic music, typography and the use of traditional graphic design ideas as a way of visually organizing an animated film.

Man vs. Opera
Director, Matthew Diekman, San Antonio, TX 28 min
A famous television survival expert takes on the most ambitious environment yet:  The Opera.  Enjoy action, adventure, and suspense as he explores the inner workings of a professional opera company in this hilariously educational spoof.


Fifth Form
Director, Adam Orman, Austin, TX 90 min
Set during the 1991 Gulf War, Fifth Form is a dark comedy about a prank war that tears apart a boy's dorm at an elite prep school. Josh Schuster, a new Jewish student caught between the warring factions, must decide if he will be a peacemaker or the catalyst for escalating the conflict.
                                   

AUDITORIUM SCREEN
EVENING SCREENINGS 5 pm - 10 pm


Desdemona
Director, Phillip Guzman, San Antonio, TX 89 min
Gil Garcia is at the end of his life. Wounded and bleeding in a church confessional, he tells an unsuspecting Father Wade his tragic story. At a young age, Gil’s father takes him to America in search of a better life, forcing him to leave the girl he loves in Mexico.


2009 AUDIENCE AWARD BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
Doctor “S” Battles the Sex Crazed Reefer Zombies
Director, Bryan Ortiz, San Antonio, TX 80 min
America has created the perfect weapon; A weapon out of control. Our only hero is a Scientist and cheerleader. Science will never be the same.


I Luv U Mamas
Director, Ian Tyler Ibarra, San Antonio, TX 14 min
After alluding police for over a decade The West side Playboy killer is back!


Tacoland
Director, Laura Escamilla-Fouratt, San Antonio, TX 40 min
Documentary.


Ram
By: Snowbyrd
Director, Ian Tyler Ibarra, San Antonio, TX 7 min
Music Video. Remembering Ram Ayala, Doug Morgan & Manuel Diosdado Castillo.

BAND: SNOWBYRD 10pm – 11pm

FRIDA KAHLO SCREEN
EVENING SCREENINGS 5 pm - 10 pm


One Nothing
Director, Todd Harter, Los Angeles, CA 7 min
Sometimes imagination is enough.


The Optician
Director, Jane McGee, London, United Kingdom 15 min
When love at first sight needs a second chance...magic glasses might help.


Half Kenneth
Director, Ken Ochiai, Los Angeles, CA 21 min
Kenneth Handa is an adolescent Japanese-American, and has been imprisoned in the Manzanar War Relocation Camp three years since the start of the war. After his father passes away in the camp, Ken decides to escape to find his Caucasian mother. Things become complicated, however, when Ken’s little brother Jo follows him into the back of the camp infirmary truck heading into town (Ken’s means of escape). On their journey home, the boys manage to make a surprising discovery—one they did not expect.

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