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The Berkeley Video & Film Festival 2000

The BERKELEY VIDEO & FILM FESTIVAL 2000 includes compelling works of traditional filmmaking but also has its eyes on the formal and the aesthetic innovations of “progressive media”: video, digital video and the Internet.  The motivation of independent media art comprise the stories the artists are sharing with their audiences.

A highlight of the Festival is "DREAMER", by Raymond E. Spiess Jr., winner of the Sundance 2000 Festival for short feature, and nominee of the 2000 Academy Awards.

Anne Makepeaces’ Sundance entry,"COMING TO LIGHT: Edward S. Curtis and the American Indians", is a masterful view of the photographic legacy of Curtis and an outstanding ethnographic document of the North American Indian.

The diversity in this years' documentaries range from the fringes of the acceptable as witnessed by Cass Paley’s insightful profile of the late adult cinema star, John C. Holmes, “WADD, The Life & Times of John C. Holmes,” to “BORN IN THE USA," an insiders view of the role childbirth plays in our lives, to the death defying action packed documentary, “A KAYAK ADVENTURE IN BORNEO,” by Joseph P.Yaggi.

Complimenting the traditional approaches to videomaking and filmaking is the wacky and whimsical "Best of Festival" animation award winner, Nancye Ferguson, Mark Mothersbaugh and Arlene Klasky’s “WHATS IN HEIDI’S HEAD,” a multi-dimensional computer-and-live-action short that transcends the preconceptions of this genre. 

In recognition of the outstanding work of young Bay Area Mediamakers, BV&FF will showcase their works on Sunday evening. These works include Chris Hokuala Uchiyama’s feature,“BLISS” and Evan La Magna’s, “PEOPLE and THEIR POWER,” each giving insight into contemporary teenage lives.

The rapid growth of the BERKELEY VIDEO & FILM FESTIVAL in the past decade reflects the increased interest in independent electronic cinematography, locally and globally. The BERKELEY VIDEO AND FILM FESTIVAL continues to provide a context for everyone interested in independent media making today.

Screening this weekend will be 35 Documentaries, Features, Short Features, Animation, Comedy, Commercials, Educational and Art video and film works. Ticket prices each day are $8.00. Screenings start at 2 p.m. each day.

The following is a partial listing of video/films that will be screened at the festival:

 “A Kayak Adventure in Borneo”– Joseph P. Yaggi (adventure documentary)

“Never Land” – Kia Simon (short feature)

“I Want to Blow Up Silicon Valley”-Jason Ward(feature)

“WADD- The Life and Times of John C. Holmes”-Cass Paley (documentary)

“Dreamer”– Raymond E. Spies Jr. (short feature)

“Whats in Heidi’s Head”– Nancy Ferguson, Mark Mothersbaugh, Arlene Klasky (animation)

“Buon Gusto”– Anita Merzel/Mark Todd (comedy)

“ Coming  to Light – Edward Curtis and the Northern American Indians”– Anne Makepeace (documentary)

“My Getty Center”– Judy Fiskin (experimental)

“People and Their Power”– Nayvin Gordon/Rebellion Productions (documentary)

“The Many Faces of Papua New Guinea”– Fred Heiman (documentary)

“Life is a Sweet” – James Duff (short feature)

“Aspire”- John C. Atkinson (animation)

“You Never Know”– Lukas P. Handschin (short feature)

“Audience Listening”,”Mama’s Boy”– Ken Saba (commercials)

                                                                    

The 7th Annual Berkeley Video & Film Festival Awards

FEATURE

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD

“I WANT TO BLOW UP SILICON VALLEY” – Jason Ward  – 87:00

The green hills overlooking the ever expanding concrete jungle of Silicon Valley were once the stomping grounds of hippies and Hell’s Angels on Harleys’. Now they are overrun by latte-drinking, keyboard tapping yuppies on their ten-speeds. A local man tries to disrupt the “progress” of Silicon Valley.

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – FEATURE/YOUNG PRODUCER

“BLISS” - Chris Hokuala Uchiyama – 105min.

Recent school shootings have spawned a frenzied search for the troubled teens. A quiet trench coat wearing boy is scapegoated while the real killer escapes without suspicion.

SHORT FEATURE

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD

“Dreamer” – Raymond E. Spiess Jr. – 11:00

In 1629, in the desert territory that would eventually become the Western United States, a Native American Indian (Saginaw Grant) has a prophetic dream of the alarming future of Mother Earth. Sundance Festival and Academy Award nominee.

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – PROMOTIONAL SHORT FEATURE

“The Australian Experience” – Billy Franks – 8:00

The magnificence of the unique Australian territory is brought to the big screen to honor our U.S. Olympic team.

BEST OF FESTIVAL – SHORT FEATURE/WORKS IN FILM

“A Drama Queen’s Nightmare” - Sarah Chase – 15:00

This short film explores the notion that “we are the stories we tell” in it’s depiction

of a young woman confronted with distorted images of herself.

BEST OF FESTIVAL AWARD - SHORT FEATURE/COMEDY

“ Life Is A Sweet” – James Duff – 18:00

A young, ambitious Julie Taylor must overcome her obsession with chocolate in order to earn a promotion and find love where she least expects it.

BEST OF FESTIVAL - SHORT FEATURE

“ Never Land” – Kia Simon – 14:00

A modern retelling of "Peter Pan" from the perspective of Tinkerbell, “Never Land” centers around Charlie, an outcast girl who scores the part of Tinkerbell in the high school play.

AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

 “You Never Know” – Lukas P. Handschin – 10:00

Tom and Jerry, returning from a party late at night, are talking about extraterrestrial life. That’s when they pass a very strange phone booth…

“Unbroken Glass” – Aiden Fraser – 15:00

As the café he’s sitting in dissolves into pure carnival, Jacob must decide whether to accept reality or not.

DOCUMENTARY                                                   

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARY

“COMING TO LIGHT: Edward Curtis and the North American Indians” – MakePeace Productions/ Anne Makepeace – 85:00

This documentary presents the complex, flawed life of visionary Photographer Edward S. Curtis and his quest to understand and document the lives of the Native American people as they faced assimilation by the white man.

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – DOCUMENTARY

“WADD, The Life and Times of John C. Holmes” – Cass Paley – 1:50:00

In the history of adult cinema no name is better known than that of John C. Holmes. WADD is a documentary that explores the many facets of the life of this pop-culture Icon told through the recollections of those people Holmes left his mark on.

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – ACTION DOCUMENTARY

“ A Kayak Adventure in Borneo”  - Joseph P. Yaggi

This action packed documentary, from the multi-award winning producer Joe Yaggi,

gives the viewer a firsthand view of the death defying Trans-Borneo Kayak Expedition of 1998.

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTARY

“Great Wall Across The Yangtze” – Ellen Perry – 55:00

In the heart of China, the worlds’ largest and most controversial dam is being constructed across the legendary Yangtze River. Shooting without government authorization, “GREAT WALL ACROSS THE YANGTZE” supplements formal interviews with emotional first person accounts. 

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTARY

“Born In The USA” – Marcia Jarmel / Ken Schneider – 56:00

This documentary, an hour long critical look at normal childbirth in the U.S. through the eyes of obstetricians, mothers, and midwives, raises questions about technology, safety, quality of care, and the role childbirth plays in our lives.

BEST OF FESTIVAL – “THE SLIM HARPO AWARD”

“Rock n’ Roll Animal” – Paul Lovelace – 29:00

A documentary on the influential music journalist, Robert Christgau, the self-proclaimed

“Dean of American Rock Critics”. 

BEST OF FESTIVAL – “CHE AWARD”

“Yugo To Rwanda” – Nayvin Gordon/Rebellion Productions – 30:00

A hard-hitting documentary utilizing original news footage from the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 and the NATO war against Yugoslavia in 1999, exposing the duplicity and hidden agenda of the U.S. government and the arms/war industry – those who talk “peace” and make “war”.

BEST OF FESTIVAL – DOCUMENTARY/YOUNG PRODUCERS

“People + Their Power” – Evan La Magna – 13:00

A documentary about the summer KPFA radio’s people were locked out of the free radio station, and how the community joined together to protest.

BEST OF FESTIVAL – SOCIAL AWARENESS

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot: African American Spirituals and the Crisis of Aids” – Larry Cross – 13:00

Expresses the strength and wisdom of America's spirituals and their healing power available today during our current crisis of AIDS. Kerrigan Black’s message presents many of the contributions to America by African American spirituals.

BEST OF FESTIVAL

“The Mystery Of Rath Pohl” – Katrina ( Van Schaick) Friedman – 26:40

This documentary takes a close personal look at foreign adoption, and is structured as a letter to the filmmaker’s baby brother.

“Najeeb: A Persian Girl in America”– Tanaz Eshaghian – 28:00

The Iranian revolution took place in 1979, after which 80,000 Persian Jews fled the country. Since then thousands of young women have grown up in the United States where they negotiate between the world of their parents and the American culture outside their front doors. "Najeeb..." is a humorous personal narrative documentary of one young woman’s struggle with the obsession her traditional family has to get her married now that she’s hit the ripe old age of twenty-five.

“TAGUMPAY”- Ralph Briones- 30:00

TAGUMPAY captures the struggle and success stories of Filipino American Artists in the Bay Area.

ARTS                                                                                         

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD - ENVIRONMENTAL ARTS                           

“Trillium Forest : A Walk Within” – Holiday Phelan – 16:00

This film takes the viewer on a spiritual journey into an old growth forest. It combines dance, nature, photography and an original soundtrack with interviews from leading forest activists.

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – "ARTS IN ACTION"

“Retrieval” – Lawrence White & Mike Codispoiti – 10:00

Artists of SOHO respond to the theft of an icon left by the famous artist Basquiat.

BEST OF FESTIVAL – THE "MARCEL DUCHAMP" AWARD

“The Saga Of Dumbeast” – Bruce Bortin – 1:00

Dumbeast started as a dream, became a drawing, then a poem, then three sculptures, then a video.

EXPERIMENTAL

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD

“Nick@Nite”– Jay Wright – 4:00

A psycho, horror, experimental spy film, but it’s funny.

BEST OF FESTIVAL

“My Getty Center” – Judy Fiskin – 16:20

This video chronicles the winter of 1997, when the El Nino and the Getty Center came to LA at the same time, generating some rain, a billion dollars in new buildings, and an avalanche of hype.

 COMMERCIALS/PSA

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD

“Mama’s Boy” – Ken Saba – 1:00

A student-produced commercial about the trials of an egotistical ice hockey coach and his attempt to give his team the ultimate pep talk.

“Audience Listening” – Ken Saba – 0:45                                                

A student-produced commercial about a great action sequence for a motion picture. Too bad the assistant cameraperson left the lens cap on!

COMEDY                                                                   

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD

“Buon Gusto!” – Anita Merzell / Mark Todd – 21:00

As they bicker and brawl over the Italian cooking they love, divorced husband and wife TV chefs come to realize that through the stomach lies the way to the heart.

BEST OF FESTIVAL

“Mental Junket” – B. Scott Birmingham & Ron Walker – 30:00

A humorous look into the office work place and the toll it can take for those who work in it.

“Roommates” – Christabel Savalas – 11:00

To cut down on the high rent for her San Francisco apartment, a single middle-aged woman decides to get a roommate. As she searches, she has one bad roommate experience after another.

“Letish”– Kevin Abrams – 28:00

A newly married woman hosts a crazy family dinner in a world where everyone has their own full-time, live-in psychologist.

ANIMATION

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD – MULTI-MEDIA

“What’s In Heidi’s Head” – Nancye Ferguson, Mark Mothersbaugh & Arlene Klansky – 4:00

This wacky and whimsical Grand Festival Award winner is a multi-dimensional computer and live-action short serial designed with the “kid in everyone” theory. A lot of eye candy here. 

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD - COMPUTER ANIMATION

“Aspire” – John Atkinson – 6:00

This animated short features a lonely robot traveling across a barren desert. He has a television set for a head, so he is constantly searching for high ground.

ETHNOGRAPHIC

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD

“Re-uniting 150 Million Africans In The Americas” – Lowell Rojon/Willie Thompson/OAA – 25:00

The Organization of Africans in the Americas that hosted the second reunion of the Afro-Latin Family in Venezuela masterfully documented by award-winning videographer and producer Lowell Rojon.

BEST OF FESTIVAL

“Indigenous Woman: Passing” – Shola Ogunlana – 15:00

A colorful ethnographic film exploring through music and dance, the traditional and non-traditional roles and influence of Native American women.

EDUCATIONAL

GRAND FESTIVAL AWARD

“The Many Faces Of Papua New Guinea” – Fred Heiman – 21:00

Papua New Guinea is a Photographer’s paradise, from the tribes that populate the highlands to the reefs off New Britain Island. An animated bubble guides the viewer through this visual tour. 

 

The following Video and Filmworks received Awards, however, will not be screened due to time restraints:

Best of Festival: Documentary

"This Land is Your Land" – Doug Hawes-Davis & The Sierra Club – 19:00

"Killing Coyote" – Doug Hawes-Davis & The Ecology Center, Inc. – 16:00

Best of Festival: Totally Short Feature

"Living Goddess/Patan Kumari" – Eric Toth – 2:00

Best of Festival: Educational

"Tails Of The South Pacific" – Fred Heiman – 21:00

Best of Festival: Comedy/Young Producer

"Dating" – Waylon Bacon – 1:40:00

Award of Excellence: Feature

"Videoholic" – Ankara Filmworks – 37:00

Award of Excellence: Ethnographic

"Endangering the Species" – Ken Moshesh – 29:00

Honourable Mention: Feature

"Unknown The Great: The Life and Times of Buddy Schmcghee" – Paul Dowler – 77:00

"Chimera House" – Brandy Brawner- 82:00

Honourable Mention: Documentary

"Dancing Through Life" – Jane Velez-Mitchell – 31:00

"Moonshine" – Kelly L. Riley – 22:00

Honourable Mention: Comedy

"So Much For So Little" – Brian Pace – 27:00

"Rock Opera" – Bob Ray – 90:00

"Scary Larry" – Ronald M. Beck – 12:00

 

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