THURSDAY, APRIL 3 (Opening Night)
Miranda
United States, 2003
Drama
Indie goddess Christina Ricci headlines a cast of scene stealers (including John Hurt and Kyle MacLachlan) in this romantic thriller about a schlubby librarian (John Simm) who falls for Miranda (Ricci), a slippery con woman. (Edwards Big Newport, 7:30 p.m.)
FRIDAY, APRIL 4
Two Summers
Canada, 2002
Drama
The story of Lewis Poppy, an imaginative preteen who discovers a mannequin in his grandfather's empty apartment . . . a mannequin that bears a strange resemblance to his own late mother. With the rest of his family in turmoil, Lewis uses his faith and imagination to try to bring back his mother. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
A Pocket Full of Dreams
India/United States, 2002
West Coast Premiere
Drama
A family of Indian immigrants attempts to adjust to life in these United States when the daughter is accepted to an American university. (Lido Theater, 11 a.m.)
Get Shortsy!
Okay, that title just hurts. The short films program includes Dietrich Johnston's Blood Shot, about a vampire hit man who works for the CIA and teams up with a loner cop to rid LA of a dangerous terrorist cell. I knew America was resorting to some desperate measures to sniff out terrorists, but recruiting from the ranks of the undead? Truly, these are dark days indeed. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
Boxed
Northern Ireland, 2002
World Premiere
Drama/Thriller
Father Brendan, a young, naive priest, is taken for his world-weary mentor and led to a remote house where an IRA group is preparing to execute an alleged informer. Brendan is told to give the informer his last confession and refuses to participate, forcing the terrorists to make the choice between letting him go and endangering themselves . . . or killing a priest. (Lido Theater, 1 p.m.)
Time for Shorts
A collection of short films including Martha Pinson's Don't Nobody Love the Game More Than Me, featuring four aging guys contemplating dedication and pride on a New York basketball court. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 1 p.m.)
The Cheese Nun: Sister Noella's Voyage of Discovery
France/United States, 2002
West Coast Premiere
Documentary
The title simply screams dorky comedy, but this documentary is in fact serious stuff, introducing us to Sister Noella Marcellino, the cheese maker of her Connecticut abbey who became a world expert in micro-biology and whose research has put her at the center of a raging debate about the need to preserve bio-diversity. So, no Monty Python “blessed are the cheese makers” jokes, if you please. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 1:30 p.m.)
Yoru O Kakete(Through the Night)
Japan/South Korea, 2002
World Premiere
Drama
In '50s Japan, a group of postwar Korean immigrants make a precarious living by selling the scrap metal from a bombed-out munitions factory. Amid these desperate surroundings, a desperate love blooms between Yoshio, a young man from the slums who seems to be on the run, and Hatsuko, a beautiful girl who sells her body for food. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 3 p.m.)
100 Mile Rule
United States, 2002
Comedy/Drama
A group of quietly desperate Detroit salesmen journey to Long Beach for a tedious sales conference in the shadow of the Queen Mary. One of them would do anything to cheat on his wife but finds no takers; even the hookers won't have him. The other wants only to be faithful to his own wife, but finds his will buckling when a seductive blonde waitress improbably begins throwing herself at him. We're drawn into the plight of both men and we're just as surprised as they are when the picture takes a sharp turn into dark farce. (Lido Theater, 3 p.m.)
Crazy About Our Shorts
Just another one of many shorts programs on the bill with a painfully wacky name, this batch features Robert Crossman's twisted crime short Cockroach Blue and Neal Sopata's romance Autumn. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 3:30 p.m.)
Dressing for the Oscars
United Kingdom, 2000
Documentary
An hour-long portrait of Randolph Duke, one of those people who designs the gowns the celebrities wear to the Oscars. While it's tempting to hate him for all of the endless hype and hoopla attached to this nonsense, we must bear in mind that even if he was struck down, five more would just rise up to take his place. (Lido Theater, 5 p.m.)
Julie Walking Home
Germany/Canada/Poland, 2001
U.S. Premiere
Drama
An unhappy mother named Julia up and walks out on her son's daddy and takes to following Alexis–a mystic-healer type with throngs of devotees–around the globe. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 5:30 p.m.)
Cua Roi(Lost and Found)
[
Vietnam, 2002
U.S. Premiere
Drama
Thang, a young math professor, argues with his dean over the theory of singular mathematics and finds himself expelled for his trouble. Things look grim enough already when his research is used to benefit an unwholesome waste-management project, forcing Thang to try and regain control of his work. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 6 p.m.)
Heart of the Sea
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Documentary
Hawaiian legend Rell “Kapolioka'ehukai” Sunn died in January 1998 of breast cancer at the age of 47, following a lifetime of women's professional surfing; this documentary looks at her brief existence and its continuing impact on Hawaii. Note: preceded by the Surfing documentary Swell. (Lido Theater, 6:30 p.m.)
Get Into Our Shorts!
The Newport fest organizers get crazy with the double-entendres yet again, bunch of rascals that they are. This shorts program includes Javier Reyna's Legwork, about the tenacious tactics of some bill collectors. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8 p.m.)
Un Secreto de Esperanza(A Beautiful Secret)
Mexico, 2002
Drama
It's 1984, and Jorge, a rebellious 12-year-old, journeys within an old house his neighbors think to be haunted. Inside, he discovers something more precious than ghosts: a friend whose influence will affect Jorge for the rest of his life. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8:30 p.m.)
The Outsiders
United States, 1983
Drama
It's a gala 20th anniversary tribute to the Francis Ford Coppola gangland youth drama that starred absolutely everybody who went on to fame in the '80s: Matt Dillon, Tom Cruise, Hulk Hogan, Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Boy George, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Alf, C. Thomas Howell, Wil Wheaton, Menudo and Emilio Estevez. Okay, so some of those people aren't actually in the picture . . . but the cast is so bustling, you'd never know if they were or not. (Lido Theater, 8:30 p.m.)
SATURDAY, APRIL 5
The Princess and the Pea
United States/Hungary/Spain, 2002
World Premiere
Animation, Children
Animators from around the globe collaborated on this adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale about a fussy girl who learns the error of her ways. (Adventures at Sea Theaters, 9 a.m.)
Touching Wild Horses
Canada/Germany/United Kingdom/France, 2002
Drama
Former Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman star Jane Seymour resurfaces as the headliner of this low-key drama. After his parents are killed in a car accident, an 11-year-old boy is sent to stay with his reclusive aunt on an island teeming with wild horses, where he finds the structure his life has been lacking while also learning the importance of associations between humans and animals. (Adventures at Sea Theaters, 9:30 a.m.)
I Love Johann
Sweden, 2002
U.S. Premiere
Drama
An oddball, 45-minute featurette, ostensibly shot without a director, that tells the story of a teen named Johan and his summertime encounters with Tove, Eva, Jakob and Carolina. If Hollywood wasn't freaked-out enough about the idea that CGI could be replacing real actors soon ( la Final Fantasy), now there are movies without directors! If this actorless, directorless trend does away with Vin Diesel and Joel Schumacher, well, sign me up! (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
Rosarigasinos(Gangs From Rosario)
Argentina, 2001
Drama
A heist drama about two aged hoods who are released from prison after a 30-year stay and try to reassemble their gang only to find that while they were counting the days behind bars, time has sped by in the world outside. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
Children's Shorts
No, it's not a sale at Sears; it's a program of short films for the shorties, including Silvia Uchida's Bluegaroo, about a 4-year-old girl who meets an imaginary six-foot tall, blue, flying kangaroo. Just typing that sentence made me feel like I was on acid. (Adventures at Sea Theaters, 11 a.m.)
USC Shorts
A collection of shorts from USC's film program, including Chad S. Park's Up, a look at a prisoner's dreams of escape from his cell. (Lido Theater, 11 a.m.)
Women Without Wings
Canada, 2002
Drama
Judging by the synopsis, this one has to be plenty unique: Marjie lives with her dying mother in Canada and frets over choosing between two lovers. She journeys to a family funeral in Albania and finds herself in a world of furious blood feuds and ancient customs. She finds her new life enchanting and decides to become a “vowed virgin,” a woman who lives life as a man. Apparently, the most average thing about this girl is that she doesn't have wings. (Edwards Island Cinemas, noon)
The Sweatbox
[
United Kingdom, 2002
Documentary
A Lost in La Mancha-style documentary look behind-the-scenes of the debacle that was The Emperor's New Groove. The project began in 1997, when former Police-man Sting was commissioned by the Walt Disney Co. to write the music for a new animation epic to be titled Kingdom of the Sun. What began as a relatively serious picture morphed into goofy comedy featuring David Spade as the voice of a bratty emperor transformed by Eartha Kitt's magic into a bratty llama. Along the way, egos were bruised, suits were filed, heads rolled. And then the film came out and bombed so big Disney is still hurting for a hit. Along the way, cameras were recording every step of the project's implosion, resulting in a documentary we won't be seeing on the Disney Channel any time soon. (Orange County Museum of Art, 12:30 p.m.)
Lavirint (Labyrinth)
Yugoslavia, 2002
Drama
A compulsive gambler called Pop returns to Belgrade after 20 years and attends a sance where he receives a message that Zoran, a childhood friend thought to have committed suicide long ago, did not in fact kill himself–he was murdered. (Lido Theater, 1:30 p.m.)
Saint Monica
Canada, 2002
West Coast Premiere
Drama
There are those who will celebrate this film for its unsensationalized portrayal of a poor Latin family, and that's all well and good, but it's more universally valuable as an unsentimentalized look at childhood and its discontents. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 2 p.m.)
B-17 Flying Legend
United States, 2002
Documentary
A look at the legacy of the bomber that turned the tide in America's favor during the dark days of World War II. (Orange County Museum of Art, 2 p.m.)
Standard Time
United States, 2001
Romantic Comedy
Billie Golden is a cabaret crooner whose big dreams stand in stark contrast to the dives where she performs. A successful corporate lawyer drops into her life, offering nearly everything she could ever want. She's sorely tempted, but then she meets a cranky bohemian guy and finds she must choose between a life of ease and a life of music. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 3:30 p.m.)
Spellbound
United States, 2002
Documentary
An award-winning documentary about the intrigue surrounding the National Spelling Bee. We follow eight idiosyncratic young spellers as they train for the competition, journeying from the plains of Texas to the suburbs of Connecticut to the blighted urban landscape of the Washington, D.C., projects. (Lido Theater, 3:30 p.m.)
Journey Through Shorts
Oh, dear; this sounds far more like the title of a bad porno movie than a collection of short films. Well, that should at least bring out an interesting crowd for such shorts as East Side, a documentary look at a skateboard journey to Asia and beyond. (Orange County Museum of Art, 3:30 p.m.)
Hamyeondoenda (Just Do It)
South Korea, 2000
West Coast Premiere
Comedy
A satirical look at the South Korean economic boom and the ways the Korean middle class has learned to employ such Western business practices as insurance scams. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 4 p.m.)
The Kress Lounge
United States, 2002
Documentary
An affectionate portrait of a historic Detroit bar that once played host to Veronica Lake; Milton Berle; and even Roy Rodgers' trusty horse, Trigger. Irene Kress, an 86-year-old Polish immigrant, opened the bar in 1937 at the age of 23. The film chronicles the 65-year history of the beloved watering hole, as well as its eventual demolition. (Orange County Museum of Art, 5 p.m.)
Friends and Family
United States, 2002
Comedy
Stephen Torcelli and Danny Russo are a gay couple living together happily in Manhattan, but all hell breaks loose when Stephen's parents announce a surprise visit, and the pair must scramble to cover up all traces of their secret, shameful lifestyle . . . as ruthless mob enforcers. To uphold the pretense of their catering business, the entire local mafia is brought in to throw a birthday bash for Stephen's mom. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 6 p.m.)
Gangs of New Shorts
The title of this shorts program is a play on Gangs of New York. Don't feel too stupid; I didn't get it right away, either. This relatively dark collection of shorts includes Ryan Parrott's Ride, about a young man who finds himself stuck in the back seat of a police car with a maniac behind the wheel. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 6 p.m.)
Oscar Nominated Shorts
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A collection of shorts nominated for the Oscar, including Roger Weisberg and Murray Nossel's Why Can't We Be a Family Again, a cinema verite portrait of two troubled brothers. (Lido Theater, 6 p.m.)
Los Ultimos Zapatistas, Heroes Olvidados(The Last Zapatistas, Forgotten Heroes)
Mexico, 2001
Documentary
Organized by Emiliano Zapata in 1910, the people of Morelos challenged 400 years of Spanish-style Mexican rule. Survivors of the Mexican revolution tell us the story, offering their personal memories to retrace the contested saga of their people. (Orange County Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m.)
Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen
Hong Kong, 2002
World Premiere
If their trousers weren't red to start with, they would be after the beating these guys take when shooting a film. Mortal Kombat star Robin Shou hosts this documentary look at the art of stunts in Chinese cinema. The film also features the short Lost Time, a futuristic martial-arts thriller in the noirish, nightmarish style of Alex Proya's Dark City. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8 p.m.)
Mending Shorts
A cutesy title for a collection of shorts about people recovering from profoundly tragic events such as Sept. 11. Might have been a good time to skip the puns, guys. (Orange County Museum of Art, 8 p.m.)
Edi(Eddie)
Poland, 2002
Drama
Two brutal gangster brothers force Eddie, a homely, bookish lad, to tutor their 17-year-old sister, Princess. They believe Eddie's lack of grace of beauty will ensure the slatternly Princess won't sleep with him. Three months later, Princess is pregnant, and Princess, wanting to protect the local bootlegger she loves, puts the blame on Eddie. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8:30 p.m.)
Castle In the Sky
Japan, 1986
Animation
A young boy and a girl with a magic crystal battle against pirates and sinister foreign agents in the quest for a legendary floating castle in yet another odd, bewitching animated film from Oscar-nominated director Hayao Miyazaki, creator of Japan's all-time box office hit, Spirited Away. Even if you dislike anime, even if Pokmon and Sailor Moon make you itch, Miyazaki could just make you a believer. (Lido Theater, 8:30 p.m.)
SUNDAY, APRIL 6
La Boite Magique(The Magic Box)
France/Tunisia, 2002
Drama
A Tunisian take on Cinema Paradiso, as an unhappy, 40-year-old filmmaker leaves behind his family to make a film looking back on cinema's influence on the course of his life. (Lido Theater, 11 a.m.)
Tribal Journey: Celebrating Our Ancestors
United States, 2002
World Premiere
Documentary
We follow 20 ocean-going dugout canoes, representing 25 Indian nations from the United States and Canada, as they make the long journey from Vancouver Island, Puget Sound and Washington's Olympic Coast. This film depicts the commemoration of ancestors through the canoe trip and through tribal art, dance and songs. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
The Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Documentary
A century ago, powerful railroad tycoon Edward H. Harriman decided to launch one of the most ambitious scientific expeditions the world had ever known. He brought along the leading authorities in the nation–geologists, botanists, foresters, ornithologists, paleontologists, zoologists, painters, photographers, writers–on a 9,000-mile exploration of the Alaskan coast. A century later, a modern expedition retraces their journey and witnesses firsthand just how much the work of man has changed the landscape over the intervening decades. (Orange County Museum of Art, 11 a.m.)
Phylanthropi
Romania, 2001
Comedy
Ovidiu is a 35-year-old literature teacher who is unmarried and lives with his parents–until he meets the mysterious Don Pepe, who sets Ovidiu up in a strange double life that leaves our harried hero shuttling back and forth between Romania's fanciest nightclubs and its most blighted slums. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11:30 a.m.)
The Burial Society
Canada, 2002
Drama/Thriller
Sheldon Kasner, a Hebrew bank employee, is in serious trouble with some Jewish mobsters: they've been employing his branch as a money-laundering front, some funds have vanished, and they've pinned their suspicions on Sheldon. Desperate, Sheldon hatches a scheme: he'll attach himself to the Chevra Kadisha, the “burial society” that prepares the deceased for their final journey. Then he'll steal a corpse, fake his own demise, and get away with $2 million of the mob's money. But unfortunately for Sheldon, the members of the burial society may not be as gullible as they appear. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 12:30 p.m.)
Gotham Fish Tales
[
United States, 2002
Documentary
A look at the exotic wildlife teeming in the seas off New York's coast, as well as the exotic, human wildlife who fish for them. (Orange County Museum of Art, 12:30 p.m.)
OT: Our Town
United States, 2002
Documentary
When funding for both the arts and education were slashed during the Reagan era, Dominguez High School in Compton stopped putting on plays. In 2000, with no stage, no funding, no props or costumes, a teacher at the school named Catherine Borek mounted a production of Thornton Wilder's classic stage drama Our Town. This documentary profiles Borek and the 24 students who made something special out of literally nothing. (Lido Theater, 1 p.m.)
A Dream in Hanoi
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Documentary
Twenty five years after the end of the Vietnam War, Americans and Vietnamese come together in a unique partnership as two theater companies stage the first performance in Vietnam of Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. A Dream in Hanoi follows the cast and crew from both nations as they struggle to overcome obstacles of language, culture, ideology and the legacy of the war on their way to opening night. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 2 p.m.)
What Wonderful Shorts
Collection of short films including Mike Grundmann's The Perfect Flaw and Robert A. Nakamura's Infinite Shades of Gray. (Orange County Museum of Art, 2 p.m.)
Outpatient
United States, 2002
Drama/Thriller
This psychological thriller–which features peculiar romantic tension between a doctor and her mental patient–is, to its credit, far heavier on the psychological than the thriller. We end up so caught up in the plight of the poor patient that even as we grow to fear he could be a killer, it's mostly for his sake that we hope he doesn't cut anybody's throat. (Lido Theater, 2:30 p.m.)
Hawaiian Shorts
Hey, how about a nice collection of Hawaiian shorts? Included is Irene Yamashita's Kamehameha: The Great Revolutionary, a portrait of the first ruler to unite and conquer the Hawaiian Islands. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 2:30 p.m.)
Lolita: Slave to Entertainment
United States, 2002
Documentary
Don't let the title fool you; this one's not porn. It is, instead, a very sober look at animal cruelty at the nation's water parks. Just about as far from porn as you could get, really. (Orange County Museum of Art, 3:30 p.m.)
Im Juli(In July)
Germany, 2000
Comedy
A mild-mannered teacher from Hamburg falls for a Turkish beauty and decides to trail her to Istanbul. With his travel buddy Juli (Christiane Paul), he becomes embroiled in comic adventures as they pass through Bavaria, Bulgaria, Rumania and Turkey by virtually every means of travel except camel, all in the search for the woman who has stirred something in the soul of a man who had perhaps begun to imagine he was beyond stirring. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 4 p.m.)
Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
United States, 2002
Documentary
Ten years in the making, filmed during a dozen trips through Tibet, India and Nepal, this documentary investigates the history and emotions surrounding the Tibetan conflict. (Lido Theater, 4:30 p.m.)
The Book of Stars
United States, 2000
Drama
Director's cut of a marvelous story where Penny (Mary Stuart Masterson), a former poet who has slid into prostitution to support her ailing teenage sister (Jena Malone), who has a remarkably sunny disposition for a girl whose cystic fibrosis will in all likelihood kill her before she reaches 16. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 5 p.m.)
Ironclad Shorts
Another collection of serious shorts under a goofy title, in this case including Local 40, a look at the brave souls who cleaned up the wreckage of the World Trade Center. (Orange County Museum of Art, 5 p.m.)
There's Pride In Our Shorts
Another shorts program title that sounds suspiciously like porn. It's not, though; rather, it is a collection of short films for our gay, lesbian and transgendered brethren, sistren and whateveren. But honestly, no porn. The lineup includes No Prom for Cindy, “a bizarre and hilarious short that answers the burning question: 'Can a shy young girl who's really an older gay man find love amid the emotional battleground that is high school?'” (Edwards Island Cinemas, 6 p.m.)
A Home on the Range: The Jewish Chicken Ranchers of Petaluma
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Documentary
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The true story of Jews who fled the adversity of Eastern Europe and journeyed to California to become chicken ranchers. Jack London, California vigilantes, McCarthyism, the Cold War and agribusiness all work their way into this inspiring and quintessentially American tale. Note: preceded by the short film Song of a Jewish Cowboy. (Lido Theater, 6:30 p.m.)
Pipe Dreams
United States/Canada/Chile, 2002
West Coast Premiere
Extreme Sports
Didn't get enough of the 2002 Winter Olympics? Here's your chance to find out all you'd care to know about the U.S. snowboard team. (Orange County Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m.)
Namehay Bad(Letters in the Wind)
Iran, 2001
U.S. Premiere
Drama
A group of soldiers from the far-flung corners of Iran have set up camp near Tehran, where they struggle to survive and get along amid unforgiving conditions. Through unidentified recordings of strangers on a tape recorder, one of the men brings a little hope to their harsh existence. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 7:30 p.m.)
Tribute to MacGillivray Freeman Films: 40 Years in the Making
Film highlights/event
Gala tribute to the company that has brought us some logy as hell but inexplicably popular IMAX movies (The Living Sea, etc.) and a few non-IMAX movies you've almost certainly never heard of. Greg MacGillivray will be in attendance, but Jim Freeman died in 1976 and was thus otherwise engaged this evening. (Lido Theater, 8 p.m.)
The Wonder of Phil
United States, 2002
Documentary
Have a look and a listen at local boy Phil Shane, an Orange County lounge singer who has performed his One Man Legends show up to six days per week at local venues for more than 30 years, building up a devoted following along the way. (Orange County Museum of Art, 8 p.m.)
Short-Animation-O-Rama
A cavalcade of cartoon craziness, including The Visit, an animated look at love abloom between dentist and patient. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8:30 p.m.)
Sueurs(Sweat)
France, 2002
Thriller
A truck driver teams up with a crooked air-traffic controller and other shady types to haul 10 tons of smuggled goods across a bleak stretch of the Moroccan desert, but as they make their way across the land, the brutal weather brings their already-tense situation to the boiling point. A hard-hitting French action picture (who says the French are wimps?) shot entirely on location, in sequence, using only natural light and a very sweaty cast. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 9 p.m.)
Solitude
United States, 2002
Drama
The suggestion of incest, and imminent violence too, hangs over this film like a roiling storm cloud; Louis and his hapless sister Hilary adore and detest each other beyond all reason, and as they snipe at each other we can never be certain if they are about to tear each other's throats out like wild dogs or screw each other like jackrabbits in heat. (Lido Theater, 9:30 p.m.)
MONDAY, APRIL 7
Gangs of New Shorts
See listing for Sunday, April 6. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
Miranda
See listing for Thursday, April 4. (Lido Theater, 11:30 a.m.)
Anne B. Real
United States, 2002
World Premiere
Drama
Cynthia is inspired by the writings of Anne Frank to begin keeping her own diary, but she is mortified when a local, up-and-coming rap artist steals words from her diary and becomes a success with them. With the support of her best pals Kitty and Darius, Cynthia takes on the name Anne B. Real and confronts the thieving hip-hopper in a rap battle at a local club. Word. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11:30 a.m.)
Joyful Partaking
United States, 2001
Comedy/Drama
Over the course of a day, the people in a pleasant suburban neighborhood grow to understand themselves and one another in new ways. A suicidal former weatherman at last confronts the loss of his son. An elderly woman must adjust to living with her son and his wife, as they try to adjust to her. A woman finally confronts her racist, boozing lout of a husband. Another woman who gives all of her love to her dog may at last find love with another human. And so it goes. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 1:30 p.m.)
Eternal Shorts
A grab bag of shorts generally focused on death, the supernatural or other creepy subjects, featuring Repossessed, a thriller about a haunted house starring The Big Chill's JoBeth Williams and Juliet Landau, who hasn't turned up as the seductive vampire Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer for way too long. (Lido Theatre, 1:30 p.m.)
Flyfishing
[
United Kingdom, 2002
U.S. Premiere
Comedy
Two men become escorts, which does wonders for their bank accounts but wreaks havoc on their lives in all other respects. An unsentimental but romantic sex comedy that promises “a cinematic first in the closing frame.” (Edwards Island Cinemas, 2 p.m.)
Strange Fruit
United States, 2002
Documentary
In 1937, Bronx-born high school teacher Abel Meeropol wrote a poem titled “Strange Fruit” about the lynching of a black man. The poem begins, “Southern trees bear a strange fruit/Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,” which eventually became the lyrics for a tune performed by jazz legend Billie Holiday. Director Joel Katz explores jazz history, biography, concert footage and the history of lynching for this provocative documentary. (Orange County Museum of Art, 2 p.m.)
The Flats
United States, 2002
Drama
Harper is a party boy who takes the party too far one night; sentenced to six months on a work farm, he decides to spend the eight days he has left before he ships out living it up with his ragtag crew of friends. His best friend, Luke, sees that Harper is on a fast track to oblivion and tries to intervene, and Harper responds to his friend's loyalty by seducing Luke's girlfriend. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 3:30 p.m.)
The Shaman's Apprentice
United States, 2001
Documentary
Susan Sarandon narrates this documentary look at ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin and his attempts to preserve the ancient knowledge of the Amazonian shamans. (Orange County Museum of Art, 3:30 p.m.)
The Month of August
United States, 2002
Romance
Nick has suffered through a string of failed relationships when his friend Sam sets him up with a quirky waitress who represents everything Nick doesn't want–and everything he can't resist. (Lido Theater, 4 p.m.)
Something Foreign in the Shorts
A collection of shorts with a title that verges on the nauseating, featuring shorts from nearly every genre from around the globe, including Daniel Hsia's comedy, How to Do the Asian Squat. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 4 p.m.)
L'Chayim Comrade Stalin
United States, 2002
Documentary
Ron Perlman (the former star of TV's Beauty and the Beast, but don't hold that against him) narrates this documentary about the Jewish settlement Stalin set up in Siberia in 1928. By establishing the Jewish Autonomous Region, Stalin intended, as one person in the film puts it, to “strangle Jewish culture at its roots,” but instead he inadvertently produced a thriving and populous Jewish land decades before the creation of the state of Israel. (Orange County Museum of Art, 5 p.m.)
The Anarchist Cookbook
United States, 2001
Comedy/Drama
Puck is the ringleader of a band of pranksterish, hardcore, nonviolent lefties who live in an abandoned East Dallas house. But things turn grim following the arrival of Johnny Black, a nihilistic sort who goads the group into violence, cruel scams and drug addiction. As if Puck's life wasn't already heading downhill fast, he also finds himself falling for a kinky Republican girl with a fetish for leather and George W. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 6 p.m.)
Short Stack
A fistful of shorts with no consistent theme I can work out, including Resurrection Mary, a supernatural thriller about a string of disappearances that have been taking place in a small town for more than a century. (Lido Theater, 6 p.m.)
Satisfying Your Shorts
A collection of shorts with a title that just doesn't make sense any way you slice it. Shorts themselves, whether of the filmic or short pants variety, are inanimate and thus are incapable of being satisfied. I think the phrase the festival organizers were grasping for was “Satisfying Shorts,” but the poor dears were probably so exhausted from coming up with all those double-entendres for their shorts program titles they could no longer think straight. (Orange County Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m.)
Final Draft
United States, 2002
U.S. Premiere
Romance
Harry and Marty, two Jewish, aspiring-director buddies, seem to finally get a break when they get the chance to pitch a script to Misney Studios; but the pressure gets to them, and the differences in their personalities begin to drive them apart. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 7 p.m.)
Drive
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Documentary
Mike Vallely is a gentleman who takes skateboarding very, very seriously. In this film, he crosses the country using naught but his board powered by his own foot endlessly slapping the pavement, musing as he goes about the nature of modern America and skateboarding's place within it. A completely annoying and perplexing cinematic experience to some, but no doubt a godsend to the select few on Vallely's particular wavelength. (Orange County Museum of Art, 8 p.m.)
Merci Pour Le Chocolat
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France/Switzerland/Spain, 2001
Thriller
A Hitchcockian thriller about young Jeanne, who believes she may have been switched at birth with another newborn (the son of a famous piano player) and decides to investigate, uncovering in the process lies, murder and the general hypocrisy of the middle class. But at least by way of compensation there's chocolate. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8:30 p.m.)
The Gatekeeper
United States, 2002
Drama
A monstrous U.S. border-patrol agent is vigilant about keeping immigrants out of the U.S. until an undercover operation goes awry, and he is forced to live and work alongside the people he has hated in this thumpingly unsubtle crime drama. Clumsy, ugly and just really un-fun in all particulars. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8:30 p.m.)
The Trip
United States, 2002
Gay Romance
Beginning in the LA of 1973 and wrapping up in the Mexico of 1984, The Trip tells the story of Alan and Tommy, whose lives mirror the political and social developments of the era. When they meet, Alan is a schizy Republican journalist, and Tommy is the head of a gay civil-rights group; they begin a journey through life together, across the decades and national borders. (Lido Theater, 8:30 p.m.)
TUESDAY, APRIL 8
Whether You Like It or Not: The Story of Hedwig
United States, 2001
Documentary
For those lucky few who saw and truly responded to John Cameron Mitchell's electrifying film version of his glam-rock stage musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, this (genital) warts-and-all documentary is purest gold. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
New Guy
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Comedy/Drama
Gregg endures a nightmarish first day on the job, and as day turns to night, it seems he can't ever seem to leave the building. And then there's the matter of those ominous Post-It messages left behind by his predecessor, Frank. Sure, it's a depressed job market, and those who are actually employed are happy to be working at all . . . but is a steady paycheck worth all of this? (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
Her Name Is Zelda
United States, 2002
Documentary
The film takes us behind the public persona of Zelda, an 85-year-old, wildly made-up, loudly attired woman who has inspired artists, bikers, club kids and nearly everybody else she has ever come in contact with. We're shown varying sides of her personality, as well as her legions of followers. (Lido Theater, 11:30 a.m.)
Did Someone Say Shorts?
A collection of shorts (featuring the tax-time satire Audit) with no clearly unifying theme and a very puzzling, presumably rhetorical question for a title. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 12:30 p.m.)
Liberty, Maine
United States, 2001
Romance
A man journeys back to his boyhood home and is forced to confront his father, an emotionally abusive freako who runs a house for wayward boys and has been known to stomp around the house in medieval garb. The son's on-again, off-again fiance tries to stand by her man and help him sort out his shit, as the women-folk so often do. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 1 p.m.)
Une Hisondelle a Fait le Printemps(The Girl From Paris)
France, 2001
Drama
Sandrine buys a farm in southern France, but part of the deal is that the crusty, original owner, Adrien, will stay on the property for a year and a half until he retires. Sandrine is young and has yet to find a soul mate, while Adrien's wife has passed on, leaving him alone and embittered. Across the chasm of the decades, their mutual loneliness draws these two together. (Lido Theater, 1 p.m.)
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election
United States, 2002
Documentary
While it's tempting to track down every Ralph Nader voter and pop them a good one in the eye for putting Bush Jr. in office (“no appreciable difference between the two parties,” my black ass!), the fact is that Gore would have strolled off with the election if not for some shady dealings so insidiously Republican in nature that they probably would have given Nixon pause. This documentary spells out the whole sorry mess in horrifying detail. See it, then go home and take enough pills to hopefully put yourself in a coma until November 2004. (Orange County Museum of Art, 2 p.m.)
West Bank Brooklyn
[
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Drama
Ali Sahid is torn between his yearning to be a typical, “all-American” New York guy and his desire to please his father, a starchly traditional Muslim who disowned Ali's brother for rejecting an arranged marriage. Meanwhile, Ali's best friend, Saddam (ouch), is an Arab who denies his background and calls himself “Tito the Puerto Rican” in hopes of not getting the snot beaten out of his head every 10 minutes. Based on a true story, West Bank Brooklyn is a rare look at young, New York Arab-Americans struggling with the concepts on both sides of that hyphen. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 3 p.m.)
The Seventh Man
United States, 2002
Docudrama
The Seventh Man chronicles two years in a small central Texas community where football is taken very, very seriously, to the point that fans will travel hundreds of miles to keep up with the doings of the town's six-man team. Inspirational or deeply, profoundly depressing? You decide. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 3 p.m.) 9 Dead Gay Guys
United Kingdom, 2000
Comedy
A none-too-P.C. comic take on the gay underworld, in which two straight guys journey to London and earn their living via some dubious doings at the local gay bar; when their clients unexpectedly begin turning up dead, the boys turn from hustling to gumshoe-ing in hopes of tracking down some cash one of the victims allegedly left behind. (Lido Theater, 3:30 p.m.)
Arisman: Facing the Audience
United States, 2002
Documentary
Portrait of painter Marshall Arisman, whom travel author Paul Theroux has hailed as “a shaman, an enchanter.” (Orange County Museum of Art, 3:30 p.m.)
No Sleep 'til Madison
United States, 2002
Comedy/Drama
This year, Owen Fenby faces a variety of obstacles on his annual pilgrimage to the Wisconsin High School Hockey Tournament: the objections of his girlfriend, discord and gout among his fellow teammates, troubles at work . . . and a mysterious black pickup that follows behind on his journey. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 4:30 p.m.)
Janela da Alma(Window of the Soul)
Brazil, 2002
Documentary
A look at looking, featuring commentary on the nature of sight by Nobel Prize winner Jos Saramago, director Wim Wenders, blind French-Slovak photographer Evgen Bavcar, neurologist Oliver Sacks and blind councilor Arnaldo Godoy. The film explores the physiological properties of the eye; glasses and their effect on identity; and the meaning of blindness and sight in our modern, image-saturated society. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 5 p.m.)
Faith in Shorts
A selection of short films about people who have endured tragedy and grown from it. Includes Jennifer Campbell's Nine, about a group of breast-cancer survivors preparing for a two-day rowing event. (Orange County Museum of Art, 5 p.m.)
Six Degrees of Shorts
A sampling of shorts including The Honor System, about a group of awkward kids enduring the hellish ordeal that is a game of dodge ball. (Lido Theater, 5:30 p.m.)
P.S. Your Cat Is Dead
United States, 2002
Comedy
Former A-lister Steve Gutenberg returns from Hollywood limbo to direct and star in this dark comedy about a hapless actor who catches a burglar in his apartment on New Year's Eve and decides to hold him hostage. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 6:30 p.m.)
Town Diary
United States, 2002
World Premiere
Drama
A TV documentary producer comes back to the town where he grew up, intending to produce a folksy reality-TV show called Town Diary. But his plans are knocked off course when a local conspiracy buff convinces him that a cheerleader who died some years back was in fact murdered. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 6:30 p.m.)
No Distance Too Far
United States, 2002
Documentary
A look at the 2001 California AIDS Ride, an event in which a group of more than 2,000 cyclists left San Francisco for Los Angeles to promote awareness of HIV/AIDS and raise money for groups that serve those with the disease. (Orange County Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m.)
My Kingdom
United Kingdom, 2002
Drama
The late, great Richard Harris is featured in one of his last roles in this modern-day retelling of King Lear. An aged crime lord decides to turn his empire over to his three daughters, only to learn that his favorite daughter wants no part of it. His other daughters scheme to seize power, while the family patriarch descends into madness. (Lido Theater, 8 p.m.)
Hip Hop Hope
[
United States, 2002
West Coast Premiere
Documentary
Artists in New York's underground hip-hop community are profiled in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center disaster. (Orange County Museum of Art, 8 p.m.)
La Collezione Invisible (The Invisible Collection)
Italy, 2002
Drama
Three women plot to acquire a quarrelsome 70-year-old landlord's priceless collection of 16th century architectural renderings. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8:30 p.m.)
. . . And Your Little Shorts Too!
An assortment of shorts featuring Rusty Nelson's VIRUS, about a guy getting revenge on a hacker who sent him a computer virus that destroyed his life. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 8:30 p.m.)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9
The Road to Reconciliation
United States, 2002
Documentary
A look at Northern Ireland's fragile peace following decades of bloody strife, how the country got where it is, and where it might go from here. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
Crazy About Our Shorts!
See listing for Friday, April 4. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 11 a.m.)
Melvin Goes to Dinner
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Drama
Melvin is a sad soul who gave up his medical career to work for his sister and sleep in his office. But his joyless existence takes an unexpected turn when he accidentally speed-dials an old pal and winds up with a dinner invitation that will leave him a changed man. (Lido Theater, 11:30 a.m.)
Children of the Crocodile
Australia/East Timor, 2001
Documentary
The story of two Timorese-Australian women, Cidalia Pires and Elizabeth Exposto, who came to Australia when they were babies but have devoted their lives to the Timorese struggle–Cidalia as a theatrical performer and Elizabeth as a human rights worker. Their dreams are at last fulfilled when East Timor achieves independence, but this raises some awkward questions about their futures, where they will settle and what they will do from here. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 12:30 p.m.)
Butterfly Man
United Kingdom/Thailand, 2002
U.S. Premiere
Drama
With lots of beauty shots of Thailand's nightlife and frequent narration from an endearingly dorky English lead with an accent that's as thick as mud, this soon turns into something far stranger and more interesting as our hero's journey abroad goes spectacularly wrong in nearly every way possible. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 1:30 p.m.)
Pursuit of Happiness
United States, 2002
Romance
Ad executive Alan Oliver is knocked off the fast track when his boss takes him off his main account at the request of celebrity spokesman/baseball star Chad Harmon. Then Alan's live-in girlfriend deserts him, fleeing into the arms of Chad. Abandoned and bereft, Alan looks around him and suddenly begins to see his childhood pal Marissa in a whole new light. (Lido Theater, 1:30 p.m.)
In Smog and Thunder
United States, 2002
Comedy/Mockumentary
The long-simmering tensions between Los Angeles and those smug hippie bastards up in 'Frisco finally boils over into civil war in this mockumentary account set in a vaguely defined, recent past. They think they're so great, with their Golden Gate and their fancy lattes and their solar-powered cars made of hemp. We'll give 'em what for! (Orange County Museum of Art, 2 p.m.)
Dreamin' of Shorts
A big bunch of shorts dealing with surreal, dreamy subjects, including Santa's Little Helper, about a young woman who goes on a date with one of Santa's elves. Will our heroine find love with a folkloric creature? Will he bring her his sack of goodies? Will he come down her chimney? Will he take her for a sleigh ride? Will she taste his candy cane? Okay, I'll stop now. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 2 p.m.)
Don't Tempt Me
Spain, 2001
Drama
It's a smackdown between the agents of heaven and hell, as both sides send out comely operatives to win the soul of a boxer and thereby shift the balance of power. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 3:30 p.m.)
The Nazi Officer's Wife
United States, 2002
Docudrama
The bizarrely eventful life of Holocaust survivor Edith Hahn Beer gets the docudrama treatment. We follow Beer as she goes from being a starry-eyed, young, Jewish law student to a prisoner of war and slave laborer to an undercover German housewife married to a Nazi officer to a judge in postwar Germany. When the war finally ended, Edith was able to reclaim her life as a lawyer and a judge, but she was also forced to deal with the compromises she'd made in order to survive. (Orange County Museum of Art, 3:30 p.m.)
Want
[
United States, 2002
Southern California Premiere
Drama
It's the waning years of the 20th century, and the Internet is a-booming when Trey Segal decides to set up his own business on the teeming banks of the information superhighway. His company is a success . . . but it comes at the cost of his family ties–and possibly even his very life. (Lido Theater, 4 p.m.)
Life Is Shorts
A selection of shorts ranging from the comedy of Swat! (a man's war with a fly) to When the Kids Are Away (a musical extravaganza about what housewives get up to when nobody else is around). (Edwards Island Cinemas, 4:30 p.m.)
Quest for the Grail
United States, 2002
West Coast Premiere
Documentary
“Join our dynamic trio of poet, storyteller and theologian as they unearth the essence of the Western spiritual journey as expressed in Wolfram Van Eschebach's Parzifal, one of the most told and retold stories in western culture and part of the fabled Grail legends.” Well, it's not exactly Excalibur or even Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but for grail buffs, it oughta be a kick. And there's something irresistible about the notion of a “dynamic trio” of a poet, a storyteller and a theologian. They sound like they should join forces to fight crime. (Orange County Museum of Art, 5 p.m.)
Truth and Dare
United States, 2003
Comedy/Drama
In one last, doomed effort to be cool, a group of friends throw a party on their graduation night; their beer is stolen and some of them end up locked in the trunk of a car, but one of them makes time with a cute girl who previously ignored him. And no, the cute girl is not played by Molly Ringwald or Jennifer Love Hewitt. (Edwards Island Cinemas, 5:30 p.m.)
Daughter From Danang
United States, 2002
Documentary
A look at the extraordinary reunion between Heidi, an apparently “all-American girl” from Pulaski, Tennessee . . . and the Vietnamese mother who was forced to give up Heidi (born Mai Thi Hiep) at the war's end. (Lido Theater, 6 p.m.)
Cold War Love
Canada, 2002
Drama
Yvette is a young black woman living in East Germany who dreams of winning Olympic Gold for her motherland; but this dream is jeopardized when she falls for Mark, a Canadian athlete, and runs afoul of the East German secret police on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (Orange County Museum of Art, 6:30 p.m.)
Life After War
United States, 2003
World Premiere
Documentary
Former NPR correspondent Sarah Chayes abandons her career and travels to Afghanistan as a humanitarian; here, she attempts to rebuild the nation after 23 years of Soviet invasion and the brutal regime of the Taliban. It is a process she compares to “cleaning up a nuclear disaster with a toothbrush.” (Edwards Island Cinemas, 7 p.m.)
Water Boys
Japan, 2001
Comedy
Japan's Tadano High School swim team is in dire straits when a winsome new coach shows up with the bold
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