Press Kit

THE OFFICIAL 2001 WINFEMME FILM FESTIVAL SELECTION

WinFemme Film Festival - She Speaks Cinema
September 6-9
Clarity Theatre 100 Crescent Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210

FEATURES ................................................................................................................

ALEX IN WONDER, Director, Drew Ann Rosenberg, Producers, Robert Hays, John Walcutt, Drew Ann Rosenberg. Cast: Robert Hays, Ellen Greene, Geneviéve Bujold, Anglea Gots. Set in 1979, Alex, a sixteen year-old high school senior and prima ballerina, has her eyes set squarely on attending Julliard. But Alex's friends are losing their virginity, and she is being pressured to join the club. Alex's home is like a living in a commune, with parents who behave more like children. But soon the family starts to unravel and Alex is in jeopardy of losing what she has worked for all of her life.

BABY LUV, Director, Robert Martin Carroll, Writer, Dalene Young, based on her play "What Color is Love", Producer, Peter Shepherd. Cast: Mariam Parris, Christian Leffler, Danny Cistone, Dalene Young, Christopher Darga, Laura Cayouette. In this dark comedy of artists and poetry slams, we discover that as a child, Lee Ann was abandoned and left to die. Now a young adult, Lee Ann carries deep scars and continues to "abandon" babies as she searches for love. A film full of heartache and hidden secrets until all that remains is hope.

FREUD'S 2ND LAW, Director/Writer/Producer/Editor/Soundman/Negative Cutter, Ian Gamazon. Cast: Amy Shelton-White, Tim Duquette, Lee Smith, Shannon Levis, J.D. Karas, Earl Dittebrandt, Angela Arnold. After a young woman is raped and left for dead in the desert, she decides to extract the ultimate revenge on her "attacker". Sigmund says: "Little girls do not resort to denial when they see that boy's genitals are forged differently from their own. They are overcome by envy for the penis, an envy culminating in the wish (which is so important in the consequences), to be boys themselves".

IN THE WAKE, Director/Writer/Producer/Editor, Erica Jordan. Cast: Julia D'Orazio, Timothy Rodriquez, Ted Herzberg, Patricia Jiron, Michael Meyres, John Stevenson, Karen Schub, Francis Asssdi. A talented sculptor, Tommy struggles with love, friendship and her day job, until she is unceremoniously evicted. Faced with the impossible task of finding an affordable San Francisco apartment, Tommy stumbles across an old diary of an anonymous woman who writes about living in the earth-shattering year 1906, and Tommy begins to live vicariously in this stranger's life until she rediscovers that which most sustains her.

ONCE & FUTURE QUEEN, Director, Todd Verow, Writers Todd Verow, Jim Dwyer, and Philly. A film about a volatile, (is she certifiable?), wild, wanna be rock star, Anti Matter (PHILLY) on her one last make or break attempt at superstardom. It is a film about not letting go of your dreams even if not letting go means you must never achieve them. Anti Matter and her band EAGER MEAT will rock you, rob you and screw you over, but good.

OPHELIA LEARNS TO SWIM, Writer/Director/Producer/Lyricist/Credit-Card-Goddess: Jürgen Vsych, Cast: Julia Lee, Lauren Birkell, Hilary Shepard, Camille Langfield, Dian Kobayashi, Jennifer Massey , George Gray, Ben Guillory. A campy trip with a bimbo who debates whether to join a group of bankrupt super-heroines, or their wealthy villainous counterparts who run an advertising agency.

WHAT MATTERS MOST, Director/Writer, Jane L. Cusumano, Executive Producer, James Cusumano, Cast, Chad Allen, Polly Cusumano, Gretchen German , Marshall Teague, Tamara Clatterbuck, Jim Metzler. A bittersweet Romeo & Juliet story set in a one-horse Texas town. We follow two teenagers who have torn feelings of friendship, passionate love and tragic memories. All woven through the guilt and control of their parents, the pain of small-town prejudice, and the dreams of two people reaching for each other from the other side of the tracks.

SHORTS ....................................................................................................................

AUDIT, Director, Brian To, Writer, Spencer Beglarian, Producer, Patty Long, Co-Producer, Sally Kirkland. Cast: Sally Kirkland, Alexis Arquette, Judy Greer, Michael Kelley, Brian To, Akiko Shima. At this oddball IRS branch they demand a lot more than just back taxes! When a Hollywood couple, a feng-shui expert & an upcoming TV star get called in for an audit, they face an examiner who has a private axe to grind. Both the evil IRS agent along with his lecherous lesbian secretary add new meaning to the fear and loathing of BIG BROTHER.

BOUNDARIES, Director/Writer, Greg Durbin, (inspired by "El Hombre del Paraguas", a short story by Fernando Sorrentino). Executive Producer, Susan Bailey. Cast, Navid Negahban, Maria Elena Jorda-Langfeldt. A tenacious, mute trombonist peruses a distraught young woman relentlessly across the Mexican border. But this strange musician has a very unusual way of showing his affection to Anjelica, who lives in a love/hate saga beyond her wildest nightmares.

DYING LIGHT, (Director, Robin Murphy), Dying Light is the moving story of Eva, a strong willed elderly woman who is struggling to come to terms with her inability to look after herself, or make sense of her life as dementia takes over. Unable to remember her own children, she finds refuge in the passionate memories of her youth, of her life as a lover and a young mother. Those memories are becoming more vivid and real to her than the world that currently exists around her.

ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING, Director, Elizabeth Massie, Producers, Cricky Long, Larry Strothe, Noah Kadner; Writers, Cricky Long and Elizabeth Massie. Cast, Christine Estabrook, Cricky Long.,William O'Leary. ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING is the unlikely adventure of an estranged mother (Lily Ann- a Southern Belle from hell) and daughter (Kate- a fresh-out-of-rehab alcoholic). When Lily Ann accidentally takes two hits of ecstasy from Kate's medicine cabinet, she has the night of her life while Kate struggles to keep her mom out of trouble and battle her own demons on the streets of Hollywood.

HEAVENLY HOST, Director/Writer, Bernadette Anderson. "Heavenly Host" is a timeless tale of sibling power struggles and manipulation. Seven-year-old Katie Fitzgerald is fed up with her older sister Colleen's taunts and teases. When Colleen challenges her "goodie two shoes" sister Katie, to do the "unthinkable" and commit a mortal sin, Katie accepts proving to Colleen once and for all that she is no "saint".

JIGSAW VENUS, Director/Writer, Dean Kapsalis, Producer, Tommy Minnix. Cast: Margret RR Echeverria, Adrain Tridel. Love may be a small piece in life's puzzle but to Madeline, the picture is incomplete! Beautifully shot and deftly directed, this wonderfully mischievous film humorously explores the sensuality of one of life's more 'Rubenesque' women.

MARY CAME BACK, Director/Writer/Producer, Christopher Harris, cast: Lorri Holt and Peter Kjenaas. After living out of state for more than ten years, Mary returns to New Jersey. She knew it would be only a matter of time before she ran into 'him'. When Mary finally does see Ed on a New York City street, she follows him onto a commuter train. Heading into the New Jersey suburbs at dusk, Ed and Mary re-connect with each other, discovering that a door to the past is abruptly re-opened.

PATRIOTIC, Director, Judy Dennis, Producers: Judy Dennis and Ellen Dennis, Executive Producer: Mitchell Lichtenstein. Cast: Anne Lange, Ellen McElduff, and James Kennedy. Based on a New Yorker story by Janet Kauffman, PATRIOTIC focuses on a unique trio whose friendship deepens in the course of a day's hay harvest and it celebrates small acts of rejuvenation.

RUNNING OUT OF TIME, Director/Writer, Tania Trepanned
Running Out of Time is about a filmmaker who must get her film to the projectionist on time--against all odds!

SHE NEVER Director/Writer, Jen McGowan, Producers Monica Carranza & Jen McGowan, Cast: Livia Newman, Roberto Raad. This filmmaker's directorial debut, "She Never" invites you to explore the thin line between yes & no. Right & wrong, consent & refusal become matters of opinion when Christine remembers an encounter with Cary.

THE LAST GUNSHOT, Director/Writer, Gabriella Tollman, Producers, Gabriella Tollman, Tyler Hubby. Cast: Nadine Kadey, Robert Daniel, Norman Victor, Casey Kunene, Gabriella Tollman. In a narrative that blends the past and present in a fluid and lyrical style, THE LAST GUNSHOT explores the intertwined lives and memories of Helen, a white teenager, and Sophie, a black servant, brought together by a common memory of the tyranny of apartheid of South Africa. They ultimately reconnect their friendship and attempt to heal the wounds of their past.

THREE STORIES FROM THE END OF EVERYTHING, Writer/Director is Semi Chellas, (from the stories by Judith Wambera), Producer John Buchan, "Century Hotel," "Shrink.", (also a casting director, "Virgin Suicides," Sweet Hereafter."). Cast: Starring Soo Garay, John Robinson and Lucas Denton. The three stories are in fact one story, the story of a woman groping her way through the pain and strangeness of the break-up of her marriage. Of a woman dealing with the minor cruelties, the left over longings, the unexpected humor and the small comforts that come in the wake of lost love.

UNDONE, Director, Kandeyce Jorden, writer/producer David Veloz. Cast, Kandeyce Jorden, Chad Lindberg, Heather Shrake, Billy Rieck. A woman who followed her curiosity has ended up on the trash heap of Los Angeles nightlife. Literally. When three kidnappers, who are mired in their own failure, discover her the engines of fate roar, and the morning only brings more questions.

WEDDING ALBUM, Director/Writer, Carolyn Jacobs, Producer, Livia Perez-Borrero. Cast: Jane Brucker, Keith Bogart, Karen Kondazian, Michelle Joyner, Deborah Guyer Greene, Pearl Anchor. On the eve of her mother's third wedding, Leslie, a cynical, unmarried filmmaker, is creating a home movie about her mother's romantic history. A lonely breath away from a doomed affair with her young editor, Leslie is drawn in a pre-wedding crisis. Through the eye of the camera she finally sees how her mother's life has shaped her own.

WELFARE TO LOVE, Director/Writer, Chris Coronado, Producers, Drew Pinson, Dayna Winston Coronado, Chris Coronado. Cast: Dayna Winston Coronado, Seychelle Gabriel, Chris Coronado, Luke Poole. "Welfare to Love" depicts the sad and intimate tale of the Lopez family and their tenuous struggle to survive on welfare. With funding from Alameda County Social Services, the film was conceived by Women's Employment Resources Corporation (a non-profit entity) based on its experience with
families in economic and emotional crises. It is used as an outreach tool for families affected by welfare reform.

WHAT THE FENG? Director, Courtney Selan, Writers/Producers/Cast: Marla Schultz & Fia Perera. Additional Cast: Steve Bartel, Joel Jones, Peter Vouras, Zeke Rettman, Trudy Perry & Robert Brewer. A comedic look at two down & out girls whose lives are in the toilet until they discover an article "Are You Feng Shui Impaired". The rest is history...

DOCUMENTARIES .....................................................................................................

A DAY IN THE LIFE: 5 WOMEN WHO CLIMB, Director/Writer, Paul Dusatko; Exec. Producer, Christine Stanfield; Climbers, Tiffany Levine Campbell, Beth Rodden, Stephanie Forte, Roxanna Brock, and Brandi Mulligan. This documentary film focuses on uncovering the parallels between overcoming the obstacles of climbing and overcoming the obstacles of real life. It beautifully explores the subject matter by entering the lives of 5 women climbers. This vibrant mixture of femininity and raw determination combine in harmony to create a film that delivers hope, encouragement, and inspiration.

A MOMENT IN TIME: THE UNITED COLORS OF BRONSTEIN, Director, Judy Jackson. A complicated woman form a comfortable middle-class Montreal background, Naomi Bronstein has found children more dead than alive, in boxes and handbags, in places where evil has had its way. Cambodia, Vietnam, Guatemala…Bronstein burns with equal parts love and grief. And she burns with a guilt from the memory of a fateful plane-crash during the evacuation of Saigon, a fiery accident that killed 140 children, many of whom had been in her care. This documentary follows a remarkable life with a reunion of scores of grown children of all races, a quarter-century's worth of victims of war, whom Bronstein gave new life.

EVERY WOMAN, Director/Producer/Editor, Adam Holmes. Despite any level of confidence a man may possess, he is no match for w woman's power to say "yes" or "no". Shot in nightclubs, one area where women usually have complete control, we follow "Peaches", a provocative and bold young single mother as she prepares for a night of club hopping. Where she ends up is anybody's guess.

IF I COULD, Director, Patti Obrow White, Writers, Michael I. Miller & Patti Obrow White, Producer, David G. Dizenfeld. A true story, this films follows the life of Tracy, a young woman facing the ghosts of her troubled past in a fight to keep her son from falling prey to the same demons that almost destroyed her. And in doing so, she must reveal many of her own personal secrets in order to heal her son. The film has a 20-year time-arc juxtaposing archival CBS News footage with present day unfolding drama.

JAILHOUSE ROMANCE, Director, Wendy Rowland, Producer, Annette Clarke. Three very intimate stories about three women who meet and marry men convicted of violent crimes. Shot on location inside the walls of Kingston, Ontario's maximum and medium security prisons, this compelling documentary examines the familiar and obscure side of love relationships. It presents a rare window inside a complex world, looking at the loneliness and longing on both sides of the wire.

JUDY'S TIME is a moving and humorous portrayal of a woman and the athletic community around her. At 38, Judy Flannery-a mother of five-began jogging, worked her way up to marathons and eventually the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon (a 2.4 mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2 run). At age 57, when she was struck and killed by an out-of-control car while training on her bicycle, Flannery was a four-time world champion masters tri-athlete, still peaking-the most decorated athlete in the history of her sport. The producer, director, and writer Erin Flannery, is Judy's oldest daughter.

SHOWBIZ IS MY LIFE, Written, Produced and Directed by: Hillary Harris and Ayr Robinson, Cast: Julie Wilson, Baby Jane Dexter, Natalie Gamsu. SHOWBIZ IS MY LIFE follows three New York City divas in the midst of a impassioned struggle to keep their cabaret world alive. Whether they are singing to sustain an art form or because it is what they know best, these women show us that cabaret still has an important purpose -- although strikingly different from when it began 80 years ago.

SING! HEALING, COMMUNITY, CELEBRATION, Director/ Writer, Bill Weaver, Producers: Shivon Robinsong & Bill Weaver, Cast: Shivon Robinson, Gina Sala, Laurel Murphy, Ann Mortifee & Rhiannon. "Sing!" follows the lives of three women who are co-conspiring to challenge our current artistic and cultural assumptions about singing. Through the lessons they've learned by regaining their own courage to sing, they're now helping people of all ages rediscover the creativity and the power of every voice. Features Seattle's Gina Sala, and Bay-area vocalist Rhiannon.

SOMEBODY'S MOTHER, Director, Michael Rivette, Writers, Michael Rivette & Tracey Curro. At once uplifting and deeply moving, "Somebody¹s Mother" - is an extremely compelling and dramatic story of four women, their families and the medical team in their fight for their lives.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I GOT, Director, Linda Duvoisin, Editor, Barbara Burst. Music: Ani DiFranco. "you don't know what I got" is an exploration of the thoughts, ideas, convictions and passions of five American women who know how to live life! Featuring singer/songwriter, Ani DiFranco, poet/activist Linda Finney, police officer, Julie Burnzell, architect/philosopher, Myrtle Stedman and housekeeper, Jimmie Woodruff.