check out some of the trailers here:
A.L.F.
Animal Liberation Front
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hlLMZ_dMhkU#!
Meherjaan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GgLvH0xhjo
Education Under Fire http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsc-mglel-w
American Veterans: Discarded and Forgotten
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVw49cAbc_w
Animation
Dear Sweet Emma http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTinpL066Gw
Fruitless Efforts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsUbvqcyLKE
The 19th Annual season of The Twin Rivers Media Festival(TRMF) will celebrate this year with the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and animated films. The festival runs from May 25th – May 27th 2012 in with features films screening each Friday night until June 22, 2012 at the Phil Mechanics Building at 109 Roberts St. in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC.
Carlos Steward, founder and director of the Twin Rivers Media Festival, stated, “we are thrilled to once again bring to our Western North Carolina community an incredibly diverse program with over 40 independent films from around the world.” With an exciting season programmed, the festival will kick off with an opening night party at the historic Flood Fine Arts Center Library and adjoining Courtyard Gallery at 7:30PM with the screening of “Siberia Monamour” from the Russia Federation.
TRMF has become the festival of choice for filmmakers and film lovers who are seeking a unique River Arts District experience and a place to indulge their passion for film. The Festival connects audiences to compelling documentaries, award-winning international releases with tantalizing discussions with visiting filmmakers.
The selection process was rigorous and exclusive. Only a small percentage of the
submitted films are chosen to screen in the festival. The films are placed in
sessions, in both venues allowing audiences to see one genre of film one day and another the next. . Saturday mornings and afternoon films include a potluck lunch and l Question and Answer period, in which the audience is invited to ask the filmmakers questions.
Photos: “The Boy Who’d Never Seen Rain”, Australia feature film (boy who’d.jpeg)
“Siberia Monamour” Russian feature film (siberiamonamour.jpg)
“Caught” short drama by Elizabeth Page, NY (caught.jpg)
“Brotherly Love” short drama, CA, Brothers try to hold their family together, (brolove.jpg)
“American Veterans, Discarded and Forgotten,” Doc NYC, (amvets.jpg)
The complete three day line up and Friday night feature films in June follows:
Features on Fridays
May 25th • 8pm (Festival Kickoff 7:30 pm)
Siberia, Monamour (105 min)
Directed by: Slava Ross (Moscow, Russian Federation)
Siberian taiga. Late autumn. In a deserted village, there lives an old man & his seven-year-old grandson Leshia. A pack of feral dogs devours everything alive in the neighborhood, but one of these dogs becomes Leshia's best friend. Sometimes Uncle Yuri brings food to them. Once on his way back from the village Uncle Yuri is attacked by dogs & perishes. Ivan & Leshia stay on without any food supplies.
June 1st • 8pm
The Duck Hunter (90 min)
Directed by: Egidio Veronesi (Modena, Italy)
A film about memory, memories of the past and memories of the protagonists. Memory gets back, through the images of the film, to those who were its custodians, following new and unexpected paths.
June 8th • 8pm
A.L.F. (96 min)
Directed by: Lescure Jérôme (Paris, France)
What happened, that 24th of December? This is what officer Chartier wants to find out. To understand, he will have to go back 48 hours earlier: Franck's Christmas eve.
Franck: insignificant drama-teacher, Franck belongs to a nameless and leaderless commando: the Animal Liberation Front. These characters are bound by a limitless empathy towards mistreated animals, and will have to show courage to complete a mission they have been preparing for months.
June 15th • 8pm
The Boy Who'd Never Seen Rain (70 min)
Directed by: Kim Ramsay (Sydney , Australia)
The poignant portrayal of an outback Australian sheep farming family struggling to remain together despite looming bankruptcy. Neil Cobblin tries to defend his pride when it becomes apparent he's losing the battle against years of drought, and the outreach workers have arrived in town to offer a helping hand. His wife Rita begins to lose herself in the nostalgia of teenage dreams of becoming a Beauty Queen whilst their 8 year old son Danny fights to be seen as a man by his father and the school bully. This film examines the effects of depression and suicide risk in the Australian rural sector -- a topic which is too often ignored in the mainstream media.
June 22nd • 8pm
Meherjaan (119min)
Directed by: Rubaiyat Hossain (Dhaka, Bangladesh)
Meherjaan is a film about loving the Other. Meherjaan gives away with the unitary masculine narrative in order to usher in emotional multiplicity of feminine emotion and sensibility. This film critiques certain pitfalls of nationalism that create conditions to justify war, killing and violence. Finally, Meherjaan attempts to offer an aesthetic solution to war and violence by taking refuge in love and spiritual submission.
Saturday 5/26
11am
American Veterans: Discarded and Forgotten (2 parts, 1 hour each)
Directed by: Richard Polonetsky; Directed by: Gary Null, Brooklyn NY
Gary Null, PhD, explores the truth about Gulf War Syndrome, a horrific condition affecting thousands of soldiers and their families, and the disturbing secrets being hidden by the government. Hear the truth from doctors, scientists, military analysts and the veterans who are still suffering from the effects of their tours of duty while the government denies any accountability for this illness. Dr. Null also reveals the epidemic of homelessness affecting our American veterans today.
12 - 1pm
Potluck lunch
Bring a favorite dish and join us for an opportunity to sit down with filmmakers and film aficionados for an exchange of ideas and edibles!
1pm
Daytona Flash Mob (10min)- Filmmaker Present for discussion
Produced by Lou and Guili Schacht
600 Dancers materialize in a spontaneous dance event at the Daytona 500.
Education Under Fire (30min)
Directed by Jeff Kaufman
Produced by Single Arrow Productions and co-sponsored by Amnesty International. This revealing documentary profiles the growth, struggle, and inspiring spirit of the Baha´i Institute for Higher Education. The Baha´i people in Iran have been subjected to systematic persecution, including arrests, torture, and execution simply for refusing to recant their beliefs. They are also prohibited from going to college (and blocked from many professions).
Anela en Rouge (19min)- Filmmaker Present for discussion
Cara Myers, Kansas City, MO
A touching experimental dance documentary in which Nannette Rogers-Kennedy tells a story of losing her mother, who before death, promises to come back to visit her children as a Cardinal. Two weeks later, her mother keeps her promise, not only to her, but to every other member of her family, proving that our love for one another transcends the boundaries of life or death.
Its a Girl Thing: MKA, Tween Queens and the Commodification of Girlhood (60min)- Filmmaker Present for discussion›
Directed by: Shannon Silva, Wilmington, NC
Since the birth of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in 1987, the girls' tween market has evolved from almost non-existent into a $43 billion-dollar-a-year money making machine. Framed by the structure of a faux interactive website, It's A Girl Thing speaks with consumer critics, tween brand marketers, girls, moms, and educators to explore the seemingly benign cultural universe of pastel-colored, hyper-commercialized girl culture (and the tween queen phenomenon) to reveal the complex and contradictory messages directed at today's young girls.
Saturday 5/26 • 4pm-8pm
Courtyard Gallery Screen
Short Drama
Wrigley and King, 9 min
Cornelius Murphy, Lynnfield, MA
A man attends his brother's funeral and reflects on a childhood memory when his brother took revenge against a neighbor for killing the family dog.
Impressions, 20min
Robert Schwartz, Los Angeles. CA
Two people who come from very different backgrounds have inherited the struggles they face in a relationship.
Leak, 29min
beni fredman, Jerusalem, Israel
7 yr old Hadar is behaving strangely and shockingly in order to eliminate an imaginary monster. Her father, a rich and powerful man, covers up her behavior by silencing people with payoffs and refusing to send Hadar to psychiatric treatment. Desperate, her mother secretly takes her to a clinic to undergo a futuristic and risky operation for trauma removal.
1000 grams, 15min
Tom Bewilogua, Hamburg, Germany
A film about Flesh. Flesh in all of its meanings! A story of two tragically colliding Worlds. Poor and Rich! An unadorned view on the current circumstances of our reality, while the audience is flying through society like a ghost.
Astray, 15min
Evan Stroum, Tigard, OR
A man awakens alone in the forest, all memories lost. As he retraces his steps, anxiety builds until the discovery of a dead body pushes his emotions to a boiling point as memories come flooding back.
Workers Leaving the Factory (10min)
Anna Linke, Weimar, Germany
Karin works in a metal factory performing the same monotonous tasks day after day. When a new worker arrives, it seems to be the end of this drab life.
Brotherly Love, 17min
Choice Skinner, Van Nuys, CA
Isaac, flees home to plead with his brother Elijah to help him hide a terrible secret from Abraham, the eldest brother who is a strict disciplinarian and very religious.
Diana , 15min
Wen-Cheng Yu, Pasadena, AK/Taiwan
Diana is young, attractive, smart, confident and cold. She has an affair with a married man and a fight with her student in class. Everyone makes bad decisions. So does Diana. But this time, she does it with determination.
Advanced Payment, 21min
Heath Jones, New Smyrna Beach, FL
After a drunk driver kills her son and escapes prosecution, a well-to-do woman seeks revenge on her own. She buys an unregistered gun from a back alley thug, who quickly recognizes her as an easy target and teaches her a hard lesson about street justice.
Caught, 20min
Elizabeth Page, Brooklyn, NY
Hannah has spent her life trying to do the right thing, but she can not catch a break, or win the sought after affection of her mother, nor the respect of her brother. Hannah finds solace in baseball from the time she is young. This family strife culminates on the ballfield during the playoffs.
Dog Eat Dog, 7min
Curtis Jensen, Thunder Bay, ON
Tony, a mafia boss, has grown tired of Fluffy, his neighbour’s dog, pooping on his lawn. Instead of dealing with his grievances civilly, Tony hires Chester and Louis take the dog out. The two hit men accept the job, even though Louis feels like the job is an insult to his abilities.
Alienated, 5:30min
Piper Kroeze, North Hollywood, CA—Student Entry
John is an extra-terrestrial living on another planet but decides it's best for him to travel to earth to start a new chapter in his life, against the will of his father. John is still waiting for his slahfle, a body part that grows on the forehead of each alien at a certain age, to come in, in order to regain the respect of his elders as a man.
The Light, 14min
Kajsa Ribbing, Stockholm,Sweden
It's all about love - and life - when an old and dying author writes his last novel about a young couple and the games they play.
Saturday 5/26 • 4pm-7pm
Flood Library Screen
Animation
Tony's Big Score, 12min
David Provost, Emeryville, CA
Tony is just your average everyday robot until the day the entire world starts crashing in on him.
The Eater, 3min
Wally Chung, NY,NY
A man has a strange experience that ends up affecting the people around him.
X-Mess Detritus-2min
Aurelio Voltaire, NY, NY
MTV and SciFi Channel veteran, Voltaire, takes a dark look at gift-giving and the negative effect it has on the Earth in this one-minute Christmas parable.
Dear Sweet Emma, 5:17min
Out of Our Minds Animation Studio, NC
As the search is given up for Emma’s latest husband, Tucker, a private look reveals that Emma has a secret and uncontrollable dark side.
Dinner Table, 3min
Song E Kim, Los Angeles, CA
The dinner table, where we sit everyday to satisfy the basic of needs, can become the most awkward place to be with one simple conversation and mounting emotion.
Fruitless Efforts - Fruit of the Womb, 5min
Oren Robashkin, Minneapolis, MN
Apple is trying to lead a normal life, but is being held back by his friends.
Lunch, 1min
Irina Golina-Sagatelian, Israel
Vlad sits in his chair, looks eagerly at his plate with a juicy fish. Suddenly someone rings the bell. Disappointed, he gets up and wonders when he can get back to his meal.
Oh! Natural, 2min
Becky Bush, NY, NY
An acorn becomes all it can be.
Experimental
Ode, 18min
Dawn Hollison, Arvada, CO
A story of Collector and Collected, Ode examines the human cycle of action and effect, and its reflection in the internal experience of recognition, regret, and remembrance. Three episodes record the phases of a woman's evolution toward a deeper understanding of her own motivations and her relation to others.
Pin, 15min
Mountains Plain, Asheville, NC
An examination of our mountain heritage.
Sixty in 60, 60min.
Ronnie Cramer, Denver CO
Experimental art film featuring sixty one-minute works of many genres, including abstract, animation, documentary, experimental, narrative, stop-motion, time-lapse and video art.
Commercial
Tales from the Hood, 9min
Manny Marquez, Denver, CO
In 2011, Native Eyewear descended upon Hood River, OR asking the natives to show them the ropes. The locals welcomed them, giving the crew a peek into their lives, and acting as tour guides, showed them all over the stunning little mountain town. This documentary captures the stories of the locals, or the Tales from the Hood, as Natives like to call them.
Little Pearls-30sec
Linda McLean, Asheville, NC
Little Pearls are “tiny films” that open hearts and minds, inspiring authentic connection and compassionate action on behalf of al living beings
Doritos: Super Cheesy, 1min
Jen McGowan, Venice, CA
A cheesy Senator's secret obsession is exposed.
Saturday 5/26 • 4pm-7pm
Flood Library Screen
Sunday 5/27
Courtyard Gallery Screen
Documentaries
1pm - 5pm
Co Raz Zostalo Zapisane (Written in Ink), Poland (12min)
Martin Rath
A documentary about hope, this compelling story is about a a man trying to get back in touch with his sister after they haven't had any contact for 14 years. But can one change what has already been written in ink?
Nullification: The Rightful Remedy (72min)
Jason Rink, Austin, TX
What do we do when the federal government steps outside of its Constitutional boundaries? Do we ”vote the bums out” and hope that the new bums limit their own power? Do we ask federal judges in black robes to limit the federal government's power? This documentary explores the history of state nullification, and how it is being used today to push back against the encroachment of federal power.
Into The Distance (15min)
Philip Arnold, New Albany, OH
Follow Adriane Blewitt on her quest to become the Women's World Champion in the Scottish Highland Games. A nationally-ranked shot putter in college, Adriane's dream of making the USA Olympic Team in 2004 was sidelined due to a serious illness. While remaining competitive following her recovery, Adriane discovered another field of competition in which she could test her strength and technique with heavy implements.
Meme (39min)
Paola Oliveras Garcia, Guaynabo, PR
The recently independent Namibia now suffers a different war. The epidemic of AIDS affects everybody. But in a country where sexual matters are considered private, and women's survival depends on men, the women tend to suffer most of the consequences. Yet, for the fist time, the 'Memes' are standing up to their social and cultural carries by using the most powerful weapon they have: Their Voice.
The First 70 (30min)
Jarratt Moody, San Francisco, CA
Last May, California announced plans to close one quarter of their 278 parks, a devastating move that is intended to save the state a mere $22 million per year. The closure list includes thousands of acres of park land, recreation areas, wildlife reserves, and 50% of the state's historic parks. By July 2012 Californians will be bereft of 70 magnificent natural parks.
Not One of Us (different is weird) (2min)
Cameron MacKenzie, Fargo,ND
”I wanted to do a short film about bullying...a HUGE problem. I know. I'm a 14-yr-old 8th-grader. I live in a small town that likes to think of itself as being 'family friendly' and 'different than the big cities of NY and LA'. But, people are people...and bullying is bullying. What I learned in doing this film is that there are two main forms of bullying--aggressive or active (obvious) and passive. I chose to make this film about passive bullying because not only is passive bullying harder to prove, it may be even more dangerous than obvious bullying.”
Sunday 5/27 • 1-5pm
Flood Library Screen
Animations-- Same as Saturday
Short Drama
Wrigley and King, 9 min
Cornelius Murphy, Lynnfield, MA
A man attends his brother's funeral and reflects on a childhood memory when his brother took revenge against a neighbor for killing the family dog.
Impressions, 20min
Robert Schwartz, Los Angeles. CA
Two people who come from very different backgrounds have inherited the struggles they face in a relationship.
Leak, 29min
beni fredman, Jerusalem, Israel
7 yr old Hadar is behaving strangely and shockingly in order to eliminate an imaginary monster. Her father, a rich and powerful man, covers up her behavior by silencing people with payoffs and refusing to send Hadar to psychiatric treatment. Desperate, her mother secretly takes her to a clinic to undergo a futuristic and risky operation for trauma removal.
1000 grams, 15min
Tom Bewilogua, Hamburg, Germany
A film about Flesh. Flesh in all of its meanings! A story of two tragically colliding Worlds. Poor and Rich! An unadorned view on the current circumstances of our reality, while the audience is flying through society like a ghost.
Astray, 15min
Evan Stroum, Tigard, OR
A man awakens alone in the forest, all memories lost. As he retraces his steps, anxiety builds until the discovery of a dead body pushes his emotions to a boiling point as memories come flooding back.
Workers Leaving the Factory (10min)
Anna Linke, Weimar, Germany
Karin works in a metal factory performing the same monotonous tasks day after day. When a new worker arrives, it seems to be the end of this drab life.
Brotherly Love, 17min
Choice Skinner, Van Nuys, CA
Isaac, flees home to plead with his brother Elijah to help him hide a terrible secret from Abraham, the eldest brother who is a strict disciplinarian and very religious.
Diana , 15min
Wen-Cheng Yu, Pasadena, AK/Taiwan
Diana is young, attractive, smart, confident and cold. She has an affair with a married man and a fight with her student in class. Everyone makes bad decisions. So does Diana. But this time, she does it with determination.
Advanced Payment, 21min
Heath Jones, New Smyrna Beach, FL
After a drunk driver kills her son and escapes prosecution, a well-to-do woman seeks revenge on her own. She buys an unregistered gun from a back alley thug, who quickly recognizes her as an easy target and teaches her a hard lesson about street justice.
Caught, 20min
Elizabeth Page, Brooklyn, NY
Hannah has spent her life trying to do the right thing, but she can not catch a break, or win the sought after affection of her mother, nor the respect of her brother. Hannah finds solace in baseball from the time she is young. This family strife culminates on the ballfield during the playoffs.
Dog Eat Dog, 7min
Curtis Jensen, Thunder Bay, ON
Tony, a mafia boss, has grown tired of Fluffy, his neighbour’s dog, pooping on his lawn. Instead of dealing with his grievances civilly, Tony hires Chester and Louis take the dog out. The two hit men accept the job, even though Louis feels like the job is an insult to his abilities.
Alienated, 5:30min
Piper Kroeze, North Hollywood, CA—Student Entry
John is an extra-terrestrial living on another planet but decides it's best for him to travel to earth to start a new chapter in his life, against the will of his father. John is still waiting for his slahfle, a body part that grows on the forehead of each alien at a certain age, to come in, in order to regain the respect of his elders as a man.
The Light, 14min
Kajsa Ribbing, Stockholm,Sweden
It's all about love - and life - when an old and dying author writes his last novel about a young couple and the games they play.
