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Show Movfi(PS ComPetitipn celebrates i v uvu v uo American independents 1 j5""s ! ' ,fi""l , , ..t i I . . i . i . . - ' - J i A t I "K . I ' : f L .'-.:-:V' " ): ' . 1 J ' llue loiifi, voung man ol destin , in ;i scene ti .mi his lilm l)ior;i)h . by RICK BROUGH Record staff writer Here is a roundup of the films that have been selected to compete in the Independent Dramatic Film Competition Com-petition and the Independent Narrative Nar-rative Film Competition that are the focus of the United States Film Festival. Dramatic films Belizaire: The Cajun Amand Assante stars as Belizajre, a Cajun healer of Louisiana in the late 1850s, who is drawn toward his childhood sweetheart. But the woman (Gail Youngs) is attached to. a rich cattleman (Will Patton.) ;' "The community is plagued by ; vigilantes, who blame the Cajuns for most of the local crimes,, and. Belizaire tries to save his friend, Leger, from hanging. : ' ,, . " The film directed by Glen Pitre" was developed in conjunction with ' The Sundance Institute and features well-known actors Assante, best known as the man who almost got Goldie Hawn to the altar in "Private Benjamin" ; Gail Youngs, actress and wife of Robert Duvall; and Duvall himself as a preacher. Chain Letters " ' Director Mark Rappaport does not necessarily follow a straight line in his plots. In his latest film, a chain letter goes to nine people, including a paranoid Vietnam war veteran, a soap opera actress and a flaky comic. com-ic. ' The mood of the film has been compared to Charles Dickens out of Borges. Director Mark Rappaport does not necessarily Director Mark Rappaport does not necessarily ; F030P100SL100 The Cosmic Eye - In this animated film, three j travelers in their spaceship, The Cosmic Eye, tune in on Earth, where they see vignettes about creation myth, weather and peace." - " f " ' iri one scene, FatheP TfffirThrS" voice is that of Dizzy Gillespie) notes the birth of oppression: "All them folks in the little boxes are saying to all them folks in the big boxes, 'Hey, man, you takin' my stuff.'" The film was created by animator Faith Hubley. Desert Hearts In Nevada of the late 1950s, New York City literature professor Vi-ian Vi-ian Bell Helen Shaver arrives at a "divorce ranch" to wait out the time until her quickie decree takes effect. She is the type to cultivate the right friends and the right paintings ' and she is torn with guilt and anger as she watches her 12 marriage sink. She is drawn into a friendship with free-spirited Cay Rivers (Patricia Carbonneau ) . They are compelled to acknowledge their feelings for each other, but they brook opposition from Cay's surrogate mother (Audra Lindley) and Cay's boss i Dean Butler), who is trying to romance her. It is directed by Donna Deitch. Dim Sum Dim sum are Chinese one-bite delicacies and the phrase literally means "little bit of heart." Geraldine Tarn (Laureen Chew) is a San Francisco colege student who would like to move away from her mother, like her siblings, but fears leaving the old lady alone. Her mother (Kim Chew, Laureen's mother) is convinced of a fortune teller's prediction of her death and wants her daughter to marry a doctor. doc-tor. Uncle Tarn Victor Wong) tries to mediate as best he can. . Double Negative This is a short film by Sam Irvin 1 about a filmmaker who goes to considerable con-siderable lengths to protect his masterpiece, "Coathanger Massacre," from crooked producers. pro-ducers. Frankenweenie This is a short film with a wacky twist on the Frankenstein story. Barret Oliver plays a boy inspired by hi9 science teacher (Paul Bartel) to bring his dog, Sparky, back to life. The Great Wall is a Great Wall This comic film takes its title from a banal remark made by Richard Nixon during a visit to China. Peter Wang's film examines the comic contrasts when Chinese-American Leo takes his family back to China to visit his sister's family. Visiting a Chinese disco, Leo's wife Grace boogies down to the music while her. partner, brother-in-law Chao, dances with Chinese shadow-boxing yelled excitedly missile, misile at the launch of every spacecraft. The unsuccessful launchings were more exciting for them, as the missile self-destructed self-destructed in the sky. Vasecko traces the history of the space program through Russia's sputnik her space-engineer father grumbled "We're kaputnik!" the Cuban missile crisis and the 1967 launchpad deaths of three astronaut Huey Long Supreme Court Justice Willian Howard Taft called him the smartest lawyer ever to practice ieloi e the court But the mother of llodding Carter recalls there wasn't a night her family didn't think of killing kill-ing him. Was Huey Long a daring Southern populist or a potential American Mussolini Director Ken Burns looks at the life of the Kingfish. In Her Own Time In 1981. anthropologist Barbara Meyerhoff began studying the Fair- ix- neighborhood, a Los Angles - ahui b of rich. Orthodox .lews who had become a '."voluntary ghetto " They ere held together as a coin- ' lntirtf''iythetr religion- Meyerhoff discovered she ' had au er in 1 which lent a new lone In her project and to this film directed by Lynne Littman I as Madres: The Mothers ol the Plaza deMayo In 1977. 1 1 Argentine mothers paraded in the Plaza de Mayo with pictures of their children who had "disappeared" during the military government's campaign against so-called so-called terrorism. Today. :be movement has 2,500 inol hers and they helped to bring down the junta. The film surveys the mothers, who now demand that all I .17(1 torturers be put on trial. We see an officer who was accidentally tor- ired by his colleagues. And the film discusses whether Jews under the military regime were treated worse than non-Jews. The movie was directed by Susana Munoz and Lourdes Portillo. Louie Bluie Howard Armstrong, also known as Louie Bluie. leads one of the only black string bands left in America, The Tennessee Chocolate Drops. The versatile Armstrong also is a painter and has a collection called "The A-B-C's of Pornography," which he keeps locked up. "I have to keep it locked up to keep the Man from locking me up," he explains. Nicaragua Was Our Home Director Lee Shapiro filmed a clandestine record of the Sandinista government, which abused the Miskito Indians and razed their villages. The film documents the escape of two bishops with 2,000 Miskitos, which became an international interna-tional incident. TheOrkly Kid This short, dramatic feature plays as a double feature with "Louie Bluie." Crispin Glover (the dorky, dad in "Back to the Future" ) plays a young man in Idaho whose dream is to sing and dress like Olivia Newton-John. Newton-John. . The film was directed by Trent Harris. Private Conversations This is an intimate record of the making of "Death of a Salesman" as filmed for television by German VolkerSchlondorff. The film exposes the creative discussions, the intensity of star Dustin Hoffman and the "green knot" (Hoffman's phrase) that forms when expectations exceed results. The film was directed by Christian Blackwood. Rate It X This film is a scabrous album of male chauvinism and bigotry. In separate vignettes we see: a funeral director who has different styles of coffins for men and women; the author of a Penthouse magazine mic strip called "Chester the Molester"; a baker who makes female-torso cakes; and a cable TV host, Ugly George, who sr "ializes in persuading women to take their clothes off on camera. The film was directed by Lucy Winer and Paula de Koenigsberg The Return of Ruben Blades Blades is a passionate, popular singer of the Latin American music ailed "salsa " lie also is an aspiring aspir-ing graduate from ot the Harvard Business School and a concerned political observer who wonders if he might run for president of Panama. The film is directed by Robert lugge. Stripper This film may not please the same lulks who like "Rate it X " It is billed bill-ed as a celebration of the strip act .aid the women who are proud of what they do. We meet Janet te Boyd, who has come down from high-priced stripping to a Vegas chorus; Mouse, who dances for bars near the Arctic Circle; and Sara ' 'osta. who leaches children to dance in her spare time. Troupers The San Francisco Mime Troupe didn't stay a mime group for very lung after it- founding in the '60s. More often the actors performed political guerrilla theater and became known as "cheerleaders for the left." Glenn Silber and Claudia Vianello .how the troupe's run ins with the law in the '60s and people like Tom Hayden, Dick Gregory and Bob Dylan who worked with the group. The film also shows the troupe's current cur-rent show, "Steeltown," about out-of-work steehvorkers. The Waiting This short dramatic film shows a Mafia hitman stalking his prey while he is preoccupied with thoughts of the wife and daugher he deserted years ago. It is directed by Scott Williams. The film plays with "In Her Own . Time." Wildcatter: A Story of Texas Oil This is an account of the development develop-ment of three large Texas oil fields from 1901 to 1935. The documentary is intercut with the story of a modern wildcatter drilling a well that has been picked over by his predecessors. The film is directed by Robert Tranchin. You Got to Move Struggles for social change in the south didn't end in the '60s. This film talks to people who were involved in the civil rights fight of 20 years ago. But it also visits with citizens in Harlan County, Kentucky, who are struggling with the floods caused by strip mining and two Tennessee women who are protesting toxic ; waste. They don't have time to watch soap operas anymore and don'l miss it. they sav steps Chinese girl Lili is drawn to her .American cousin Paul, neglec mg her boyinend Liu. Eventually, the two men face off in a Ping-Pong tournament. Hard Traveling A shy romance tries to flower in" :lie hard-scrabble world ol Depression Depres-sion "in 19:19-1940 just bel ire World War. II. A young mother i Ellen Geer) and her two sons develop a friendship with a gentle drifter (J K. Freeman) who tells great stories f flying planes and spying on Hitler. The romance is shattered when the drifter is arrested on charges of killing a prosperous businessman. Director Dan Bessie adapted a story irom a book by Ins father, "Hollywood Ten" writer Alvah Bessie. The tale is based on a true story that happened to Dan Bessie's mother and stepfather. On Valentine's Day Horton Foote, author of the film festival's opening night movie, "The Trip to Bountiful," returns us once again to Texas small-town life, here set in 1917. Horace Robedeaux, a member of a poor, emotionally desolated family, has eloped with Elizabeth Vaughn, daughter of the town's leading citizen. Now it's a year later, as we watch the local citizens a suicide, a spinster and a man who drinks to forget his wife left him because of his drinking. This community is ultimately affected af-fected by the power of love in the Robedeaux marriage. It even touches Elizabeth's unforgiving parents. The film is directed by Ken Harrison. Har-rison. . Parting Glances This film surveys a 24-hour period in the life of three gays in New York City. Michael is about to assume a United Nations post in Africa. His lover of six years, Robert, also is leaving New York Meanwhile. Michael' is a nursemaid lor AIDS victim Nick, a cynical rock musician angry at middle-class gays and at his illness. The film is directed by Bill Sherwood. Sher-wood. Raw Tunes Raw Tunes is the name of a band "whose accumulated I. Q; totals 48," write the directors of this film, Dan Lewk and Gary Levy. t The tilm. made on a $24,000 -hot.-.-. (ring uiet, folio vs I he group mi a very exciting summer tour of Kamada Inns. Restless Natives Micheal Hoffman's film is 'about a o young an ! aimless Scots. Ronnie lives alone with his hamster. Will worked on a road sweeper, but finally final-ly gave up his struggle to keep the reels of Edinburgh clean They turn to a new profes-ioii profes-ioii "stinging" fore.gn tourists who come through the area. But Ihe two are hunted by a Scotland Yard inspector i Robert Urquhart) and a acationing CIA agent i Ned Beat-tyi. Beat-tyi. !even Minutes in Heaven Three teenagers get a taste of freedom. Natalie, a straight arrow w ho aspires to be president, is left in charge of the house by her father. Jeff, fleeing his father, sleeps on her ouch for a few nights, starting rumors at their high school. And Natalie's friend Polly has a shopping-mall affair with baseball star Zoo Knudsen. Natalie's story in particular may ound like the plot ol "Risky Business," but Linda Felerman's film is no ordinary teen flick. Smooth Talk Connie Wyatt (Laura Dern), at 15 ears of age, is poised on the edge of womanhood and receptive to the -man from the wrong side of the tracks (Treat Williams). At one point she reflects, "It's just, .the boys are so nice to you. When we're together. I never knew it was going to be so nice . . . And he held me so sweetly. Oh, don't you know how that feels. Just to be held that way?" The movie is directed by loyce Chopra. Static Keith Gordon the star of ' Christine "plays Ernie Black, who is fired from his job at a religious-artifacts factory. So he concentrates on an invention that will benefit mankind. Amanda Plummer plays his childhood sweetheart, who leaves her traveling rock band and comes back into Ernie's life. Meanwhile, Erhie dreams up the perfect publicity publici-ty gimmick for his invention hijacking hi-jacking a bus. Jhe script for this bizarre tale is by Gordon and director Mark Tom Goes to the Bar ' In i his short lilm directed by Dean Parisot, Tom delivers a weird monologue while life in Pete's Bar and .rill goes on around him. Narrative films Contrary Warrior: , A Story of the Crow Tribe In olden times, a "contrary warrior' war-rior' rode his horse backwards into kittle.' Now here's the modern version. ver-sion. Venerable Robert Yellowtail learned the white man's law while many of his tribe didn't know the Ahite mans language In 1910, he successfully fought a Congressional bill to give away Crow land to homesteaders. Now, at 9". he still fights. But the conf lict has also passed to younger nen The tilm looks at Hank Real bird, who is battling bureaucratic rules to put together enough land for a ranch. The film is directed by Connie Pot en, Pamela Roberts and Beth Ferris, Cowgirls This short film by Nancy Kelly looks at three generations of cowgirls: Norma Hapgood, 60; Melody Hardin, 40, who is newly married, but still cherishes her solitude; and Nondi and Cricket Long, 6 and 9 respectively, who wonder why dresses are just meant for girls. The Day Time Noon Sandy Smolan's nine-minute film is meant to evoke the cycle of Buto, a modern Japanese dance esthetic. Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Face of Opera "Einstein" is a four-hour avant garde opera in which we see mathematical symbols dancing behind Einstein and a character who repeats an inane paragraph 43 times. Critics call it everything from "religiously moving " to "a morbid fake.", This one-hour film by Mark Obenhaus blends excerpts from the opera with interviews with the creators. Growing Up With Rockets When director Nancy Yasecko grew up in ' the '50s at Cape Canaveral she and other '.'hildret |
