BETWEEN THE WHITE LINES
USA, Documentary, 2004, Digital, 90 min. (Southwest Premiere, DWF 2003)
Dir: Lynn d’Angona • Prods: Lois Ann Porter, Kim Turrisi • Featured: UCLA Women’s Softball Team of 2000

A captivating portrait of tenacity and sacrifice in women’s athletics. This documentary chronicles the UCLA Women’s Softball Team on their journey to the College World Series as defending National Champions. Using intense game footage, interviews and a great soundtrack – the viewer gets a real sense of the game and competition, the fans, coaches, players and their families. Through the journey of this fierce group of competitors, they realize it’s not just about winning or losing, it’s about the pride in wearing the uniform. Experience the family of the team, their thrills and disappointments, and friendships that last far beyond their years playing “Between the White Lines.”

BORN IN BEIRUT
USA, Documentary, 2002, Digital, 15 min. (DWF 2003)
Writer/Prod/Dir: Liliane Matta

A filmmaker’s personal account of growing up during the 1975-1990 War in Beirut - Lebanon. It is a revelation about some unforgettable visual and auditory memories and the constant struggle to survive. This film is both a dedication to her parents, who struggled so hard to help their children survive and a tribute to Beirut, her hometown, which became a city torn by war and destruction.

THE DISTANCE
USA, Documentary, 2005, Digital, 93 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2005)
Writer/Prod/Dir: Ash Adams • Prod: Floyd Mitchell • With: Larry Merchant, Jim Lampley
Featuring: Bobby Chacon, Mando Ramos, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Gabriel Ruelas as well as James Whitmore, Ed O’Neill, Michael Madsen, Andy Dick & Louis Gossett, Jr.

An intimate look into the hearts and minds of the world’s last true warriors. Award winning filmmaker and actor Ash Adams interviews and hangs with world champion boxers and the people that surround them. In the spirit of “The Buena Vista Social Club” and “When We Were Kings” - THE DISTANCE is a long over-due view into the emotional landscape of the boxers of yesterday and today.

FINDING BRYON
USA, Documentary, 2004, Digital, 100 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2005)
Writers/Dirs/Prods: Josh Adell, Steve Hicks

In 1991, an unsolicited audition tape was sent to a casting director in Hollywood by a 17 year old boy named Bryon L. Elkins from Byesville, Ohio. It was Bryon's dream to be on NBC's hit television series, "Saved By The Bell." For the next ten years, Bryon's tape was circulated through-out the entertainment industry as a joke. In the year 2000, Josh and Steve (two failing, Hollywood wanna-be's) saw Bryon's tape and related to his disposition. Fed up with the constant rejection and disillusionment of Tinsletown,
Josh and Steve left L.A. for Ohio to make a documentary about Bryon's life. Upon arriving in Byesville, their experience ballooned into something much deeper than they had expected.

HITTING THE RIGHT CHORD
USA, Documentary, 2003, Digital, 51 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2004)
Dirs/Prods: Wendy Tumminello, Lynda Allen

Edgy and explosive, HITTING THE RIGHT CHORD captures the life and spirit of female artists doing what they love to do - write and play music on their own terms. We learn that there is no such thing as an overnight success. To be a musician is a long, and sometimes demoralizing, sometimes delirious struggle. We experience the daily pressures they face from the recording industry and the media as they are forced to choose between sharing one’s voice and selling one’s voice.

HUMMINGBIRD
BRAZIL/USA, Documentary, 2004, Digital, 48 min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2004)
Dir/Prod: Holly Mosher

Hummingbird goes onto the street to see the harsh reality of street kids in Recife, Brazil. Brazil's House of Passage and Women's Life Collective work with these kids in an attempt to break the cycle of domestic violence and homelessness, giving them a chance for a real future. After reading an article about the child sex trafficking industry, Holly Mosher began to research this little talked about problem. In the city, Recife, a worldwide hub for sex tourism, a few determined women decided that they would do what they could to make a difference in their community. Hummingbird is a film that goes onto the streets and sees the kids in their despair and then goes into the programs and see just how they are helping these at risk children.

I WANNA BE EVERYTHING
USA, Documentary, 2004, Digital, 40min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2004)
Writer/Dir: Helena Lumme • Prods: Mika Manninen, Helena Lumme, Yashar Hedayat, Bonnie Curtis • Editor: Marina Tait • Featured: Kimani Nagurski, Jessie Kahnweiler and Melanie Stewart

When three teenagers arrive at the Girls Film School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, they are young girls from very different backgrounds who are given the same life-changing opportunity — a chance to learn, to grow, and to find their creative selves. I WANNA BE EVERYTHING examines how these young women use this opportunity, and where it leads them. The story poses a universal question: what do we do with the opportunities given to us? Do we recognize them when they land in our laps, and how much does our background determine the outcome in that process?

IN THEIR OWN WORDS...ADVOCACY WORKS!
USA, Documentary, 2003, Digital, 54 min. (Los Angeles Premiere, DWF 2003)
Writer/Dir/Prod: Prof. Joseph A. Daccurso

Countering the stigma 'once and addict, always an addict,' that people who abuse alcohol and drugs are 'less than human,' this pro-advocacy documentary interlaces a series of montages based on personal stories conveyed through unrehearsed interviews with diverse people in alcohol and other drugs abuse treatment/recovery, their families/friends, health-care providers, and agency executives. The L.A. Valley College DV Workshop student-crew explored the fact that 'treatment does work' via tours of treatment centers, monthly advocacy meetings, visits to the State Capital, national Recovery Month conferenc, and the annual AL-Impics (amateur athletic competition for AOD consumers).

IT TAKES TWO
USA, Documentary, 2001, Digital, 6 min. (DWF 2002)
Writer/Dir: Darianna Cardilli, Prod: Grant Mitchell, Jack C. Merrick
Featured: Veronica Alicino, Marcos Questas, Christian Balibrera, Amanda De Jesus, Norward Bible, Mas Vidal

It started as foreplay in the brothels of Buenos Aires. It has spread around the world like wildfire.
For some it has become an obsession. Take an insider’s look into the into the cruel, abusive and predatory games which occur in the search for the ideal partner.

IMAGINE SURFING AS SADHANA
USA, Documentary, 1999, 16mm, 87 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2001)
Writer/Dir./Prod: Marshall K. Hattori
Cast: Christian Enns, Veronica Kay, Stephen Slater, Rob Machado, Garth Dickenson

An adventure documentary about what happens when two aspiring pro surfers and a fashion model put their careers on hold to travel in Chile, Brazil, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Sri Lanka, India and Australia in order to explore surfing as a spiritual practice. What happens to this surfing group is the surprise of the film. Beginning as a conventional surf documentary, the adventure shifts into a biting cultural critique, ending with one man’s solitary quest to higher consciousness through wave riding.

LIVE AND LET GO - AN AMERICAN DEATH
USA, Documentary, 2002, 16mm, 56 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2002)
Dir: Jay Spain, Writer: Jay Niver, Prods: Jay Niver, Gretchen Niver

Sam Niver, 76, had terminal cancer; the end was near. He could die in a hospital, as his wife did recently, or at home - hopefully on his own terms. Sam believed in death with dignity. Could he act on his belief? In LIVE AND LET GO, we meet Sam: proud veteran; civic leader; loving husband, father and friend. We recall his life, and confront his thoughts about impending death. We follow Sam on an intimate, personal journey as he reflects on the past - and decides his short future. We live his final days, learn his ultimate choice - and share the riveting experience.

MAMA LAURA'S BOYS
USA, Documentary, 2002, Digital, 30 min.(West Coast Premiere, DWF 2002)
Dir/Prod: Russell Brown, Writer: Tim Grierson

From her early days on Los Angeles’ famed Central Avenue, where all the greats played, to her many young proteges who now frequent the stage, "Mama" Laura Mae Gross has witnessed some of the world’s best blues music. Her club, Babe’s and Ricky’s Inn, serves as a refuge for generations of musicians who have often found it difficult to play anywhere else. Under the watchful eye of Mama, now 80 years old, these performers learn what it means to play the blues.

PEACEABLE KINGDOM
USA, Documentary, 2004, Digital, 70min. (DWF 2005)
Dir: Jenny Stein • Prod: James LaVeck • Subjects: Harold Brown, Howard Lyman, Lorri Bauston, Gene Bauston, Jim Mason

Imagine awakening one day to realize that the life you always imagined you’d lead and the values taught in your family for generations went against the deepest part of your being. In Peaceable Kingdom, former farmers and farm animal rescuers share the life-changing experiences that led them to question some of our society’s most fundamental assumptions about animals. Winner of the Ojai Film Festival theme award for “enriching the human spirit through film,” Peaceable Kingdom was described by Dr. Jane Goodall as “a masterpiece.”

PRAIRIE TIDES
USA, Documentary, 2002, 35mm, 62 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2002)
Dirs: Constance L. Mortell, Bill Youmans, Writer: Donald Manelli, Prod: Constance L. Mortell

A documentary about a remarkable enterprise - the making of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. Built over 150 years ago, this 96 mile canal powered Chicago’s growth from frontier village to world city, and prompted all of the great themes of American history - from politics to geography; from the immigrant odyssey to the vision of people like Louis Jolliet and Abraham Lincoln.

RATS AND BULLIES
USA, Documentary, 2004, Digital, 101 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2004)
Dirs: Ray Buffer, Roberta McMillan, Writers/Prods: Roberta McMillan, Ray Buffer
Narrated by: Roberta McMillan, Ray Buffer
Featured: Cindy Wesley, DJ Wesley, Paula Settee, Rosalind Wiseman, Judge Jill Rounthwaite, Kyla Mae Dunn, Karen McQuade, MLA Randy Hawes, Kevin Gillies, Lee Hanlon

At the age of 14, Dawn-Marie Wesley hung herself with the family dog’s leash, after being bullied and threatened by three of her “closest” female friends. In her suicide note, Dawn-Marie named the three girls, fueling a police investigation that culminated in a landmark court case. Experience exclusive interviews with the family; Judge Jill Rounthwaite, who handed down the Restorative Justice sentencing; one of the bullies; NY Times best-selling author of “Queen Bees & Wannabes”, Rosalind Wiseman, whose book was the basis for the film “Mean Girls”, and others. The dark side of bullying and female relational aggression is explored in this raw and unflinching feature documentary.

THE SEEKER
USA, Documentary, 2005, Digital, 91 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2005)
Writers/Dirs: Jess Thomas, Evan Somers • Prod: Jess Thomas

It's Easyrider with a quadriplegic at the throttle when 45 y.o. Evan Somers sets out on a self-reflective odyssey by modified motorcycle seeking answers to the questions of his life. Part travelogue, part investigative report, part spiritual odyssey, Evan will slowly but steadily travel from mid-life despair to a renewed faith in life and the simple truth that there is no such thing as false hope.

SKINHEAD
USA, Documentary, 2003, Digital, 46 min. (US Premiere, DWF 2004)
Dir/Prod: Joaquin Montalvan • Featured: George Lusk, Chaplain John Gatlin, Elizabeth Collins, Chris Sintic

A ‘Skinhead’ 2-strike felon tries to reform his life while dealing with the past; jail, racism, spirituality, and the threat of a third strike looming over him.

STANDING ON MY SISTER'S SHOULDERS
USA, Documentary, 2002, Digital, 60 min. (West Coast Premiere, DWF 2003)
Dir: Laura J. Lipson • Writers: Laura J. Lipson, Josef Aukee, Merle Goldberg • Prods: Joan Sadoff, Dr. Robert Sadoff, Laura J. Lipson

A poignant look at the Civil Rights movement from the perspective of its grassroots leaders, Mississippi women, who were its unsung heroes. Witness the stories of a sharecropper who rose to become the state's first black woman Mayor; seven children who integrated a white schoool despite dangerous opposition; a white debutante who dared to go to an all black college, and three courageous women who challenged, on national television, the President of the United States at the 1964 Democratic Convention. From the fields of Mississippi to the floor of the U.S. Congress, these are the compelling firsthand stories of the women who stood up and fought for equal rights and changed the course of American history.

3 FEET UNDER: DIGGING DEEP FOR THE GEODUCK
USA, Documentary, 2002, Digital, 70 min. (Southwest Premiere, DWF 2003)
Dir/Prod: Justin Bookey

3 FEET UNDER explores how the geoduck has garnered a quirky yet devoted following in the Pacific Northwest. We follow Jack, a long-time Seattleite who was raised in a kosher Brooklyn home, as he prepares for his annual geoduck dig. Jack's commentary on his pursuit of the King of Clams propels the action through many layers of geoduck sub-culture: college mascots, songs, sushi recipes, strict regulation, and the notorious Clamscam trials.

THROUGH THE LENS: THE AMERICAN DREAM TOUR
USA, Documentary, 2002, Digital, 43 min. (WORLD Premiere, DWF 2003)
Dir/Prod: Maria-Elena P. Pineda

3 KIDS...22 STATES...22 DAYS...AND ONE DREAM....to develop their best personal self and share themselves with the world. THROUGH THE LENS - THE AMERICAN DREAM TOUR follows the Venice Dream Team during their cross-country trek. For 22 days, a camera crew shadowed the young photojournalists as they encountered learning experiences, discoveries, challenges and made new friends along the way. The documentary paints a video canvas with the variety of people, cultures, and landscapes of the United States while focusing on today's youth and the possibilities of following their dreams. It's an unforgettable journey through their eyes that inspires people of all ages to follow their own dreams.

THE WITNESS
USA, Documentary, 2000, 35mm, 43 min. (DWF 2001)
Dir: Jenny Stein, Prod: James LaVeck, Featuring Eddie Lama

THE WITNESS is one man’s truth that cries out for mass exposure...it tells a deeply soulful story of redemption that is quite remarkable, one whose unlikely center is a 44-year-old former tough guy whose personal odyssey, from disdain of animals to being their champion, merits a TV movie or feature film...(The Witness) may be the most important and persuasive film about animals ever made. --Howard Rosenberg, LA Times