Rural Film Festival @ oPeRaTiNg tHeAtRe
oPeRaTiNg tHeAtRe - 27.02.2005 02:28
Tuesday 1 March : 20:00 @ Pakhuis Afrika
SELECTIONS FROM THE RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL
A country collection of fiction, documentary, and experimental independent
films + music videos from the USA.
Featuring videos from Omaha’s renowned Saddle Creek Records, low-budget
barnyard racing from upstate New York, a tale of two boys in the
Argentinian desert, the story of a small town Iowa woman’s controversial
front lawn art installation, and other shorts from the back roads of
Indiana, Montana, Missouri, Illinois, and West Virginia, USA.
Rural Route Director Alan Webber and "Westless American" filmmaker Erik
Nelson (who also plays professional basketball in Holland) will be present
for Q&A.
"After our 2nd successful festival in New York City (check
 http://www.ruralroutefilms.com for details), we are proud to take
"Selections from the Rural Route Film Festival 2004" on the road again."
Selections from the Rural Route Filmfestival - The Program
The following films will be shown on Tuesday, the 1st of March. Donations
for the moviemakers are appreciated!
//Westless American
WINNER BEST EXPERIMENTAL (TIE) RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL 2004
Erik Nelson, 2003, 5.5 min., exp.
Western United States
Website: www.bottomunion.com
Westless American takes you on a sprint through six U.S. states, eight
national parks, eight national monuments, and seven state parks, covering
9,000 miles in six minutes. It's an abbreviated Forest Gump without Tom
Hanks, or the box of chocolates. Erik Nelson is a filmmaker and
professional basketball player living in the Netherlands.
//Sobre La Tierra (Upon the Earth)
WINNER BEST FICTION RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL 2004
Maria Florencia Alvarez, 2003, 8 min., narr.
Argentina
Sobre La Tierra traces the path of two boys crossing the Puna Jujena - a
Desert in northwest Argentina. Each carrying a bag, the boys enter an
abandoned house from two different roads and collapse from exhaustion. The
next morning they meet, and to their surprise the two bags have become
one. The gritty nature of their argument is reflected in the texture of
the super 8 cinematography. Winner of Best Short at Buenos Aires
International Independent Film Festival and First Mention at the Milan
Film Festival.
//Elegy: The Life and Work of D'J Pancake
Jason Freeman, 2003, 10 min., doc.
Milton, West Virginia
This aptly titled documentary remembers West Virginia short story author
Breece D'J Pancake, who committed suicide in 1979. Though he cut his life
short at the age of 26, Pancake is credited with reviving an interest in
contemporary regional literature and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
in 1983. His work has been compared to William Faulkner, James Joyce and
Flannery O'Connor for the strong sense of place found in his characters.
It is this relationship, between place and identity, that director Jason
Freeman explores in this elegy.
//This is Our Slaughterhouse
Matthew Boerman, 2003, 23 min., doc.
Fredericktown, Ohio
For the ten workers of Broerman Poultry Processing, every weekend of the
past 12 years has been spent slaughtering chickens. This short documentary
reveals the surprisingly close relationships among these workers, despite
the gruesome nature of their job. Shot with a single digital camera over
the course of eight weeks, the colorful interviews and graphic supporting
footage give new perspectives on family values, hard work, and what
happens inside a slaughterhouse.
//Jim From Divernon
Chad Schneider, 1998, 4 min., narr.
Illinois
This unusual narrative takes a ride with a strange man and his "friend" as
they pass through rural Illinois. Drifting along, the film becomes
uncomfortably funny as we realize Jim may not be all there, and neither is
his friend. The concept for the film came to director Chad Schneider
during a melancholy moment at an Italian fast food place in St. Louis,
where he composed the rough draft on a paper napkin. A native of St. Paul,
Chad is currently an MFA student at Columbia.
//In These Hills
Chris Bennet, 2002, 9 min., exp.
Bloomington, IN
Website: www.wanderlustfilm.com
In These Hills was created in conjunction with a photography project while
Portland filmmaker Chris Bennett was living in Bloomington. The
black-and-white super 8 documents the limestone quarries and surrounding
farmland which now lay dormant throughout southern Indiana, serving as a
ghostly reminder of the once thriving industry. Music by Indiana band,
Early Day Miners.
//A Season on the Move
WINNER BEST EXPERIMENTAL (TIE) RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL 2004
Cindy Stillwell, 2003, 13 min., exp./doc.
Bozeman, Montana
A meditation on two agricultural traditions and the seasons in which they
occur, A Season on the Move gives us an up close look at wheat cutting and
sheep shearing in the North Central United States. Juxtaposing beautiful
color and rich black and white photography, and alternating the sounds of
combines, weather forecasts, shearing combs, and sheep voices, the film
creates a portrait of these distinct agricultural lifestyles. The cycle of
seasons takes us from the wheat harvest of late summer to the shearing
season in early spring. Filmmaker Cindy Stillwell teaches at Montana State
in Bozeman, where she has also been producing and shooting local TV ads.
Sound designer Jeff Arnsten is a Bozeman musician who has done work for
NPR, films, and commercials.
//Azure Ray's We are Mice
Nik Fackler, 2004, Saddle Creek Records, 4 min., music video
Omaha, Nebraska
Website: www.nikfackler.com
Director, Nik Fackler, has created a period piece for the second Azure Ray
video being shown in this year's festival. His idea for using shadow
puppets came from seeing 4th graders making them for a fun day project.
Fackler wrote, directed, and edited two short films before graduating from
Millard West High School in Omaha, NE in 2002. Since then he has continued
making shorts, begun directing music videos, and has a feature-length
screenplay in development.
//Life is Lifey
Emily Evans Sloan, 2004, 4.5 min., exp.
Springfield, Missouri
Emily Evans Sloan sends a postcard to her late sister in this experimental
film. The viewer observes old home movies of children at play, while
listening to M. Ward's "Undertaker". Less morbid than it sounds, the films
is Sloan's attempt to recall life with her sister. Using found footage,
she assembled the film in a changing bag.
//4-Cylinder 400
Garret Savage, John Finn and Harlo Bray, 2004, 24 min., doc.
Bovina Center, New York
Website: www.4cylinder400.com
In our modern-day litigious society, who would have thought to hack a hole
through their family barn and race cars through it? Well, the LaFever
family did. Now the Annual Barnyard Car Race has become a town tradition,
drawing an audience of hundreds on one Saturday every August. The rules of
the race are simple: no car can cost more than $300, each car must have a
4-cylinder engine, and hitting another car's driver's-side door is
strictly prohibited. But the townspeople have come to see more than just
an offbeat race - they're eager to witness the moment when one of the 25
competitors finally dethrones Jonathan LaFever, the race's four-time
undefeated champion. This year, the wait may well be over, as the
competition is more fierce than ever.
................
http://www.squat.net/operatingtheatre
vegaN soup from 20:00 : films start around 21:00 : food and films free/
by donation : @ pakhuis afrika : Oostelijke handelskade 19 (5 mins bike
ride east of central station, along the waterside)
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the oPeRaTiNg tHeAtRe is a micro-cinema that occupies squatted spaces to
project free films and bring different people together around the
mini-moviescreen for collective reflection and discussion.
the oPeRaTiNg tHeAtRe throws all kinds of stuff towards the retina of
your mind's eye - from documentaries about life and struggle to
re-spliced experimental trash.
if you want to suggest some films to screen, create some possibilities
for discussion, distribute programs around the place, help find & cook
free dinners or collect and set up equipment email:  operate@squat.net
................
het oPeRaTiNg tHeAtRe is een bioscoop die gekraakte ruimten gebruikt om
gratis films te vertonen en verschillende mensen tot elkaar te brengen
rond het mini filmscherm voor collectieve reflectie en discussie.
het oPeRaTiNg tHeAtRe gooit van alles voor het netvlies van je
geestesoog – van documentaires over leven en strijd tot hergemonteerde
experimentele zooi.
Als je filmsuggesties hebt, mogelijkheden voor discussie wilt creeeren,
programma’s wilt verspreiden, wilt helpen met het vinden en koken van
gratis avondeten of apparatuur wilt ophalen en opzetten, email dan:
operate@squat.net
 Website: http://www.squat.net/operatingtheatre
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