SELECTIONS FROM THE 2006 RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL

Thursday 24th May 2007Doors 7:30pm £7/£5 members & concessions The Rural Route Film Festival was created to highlight works that deal with rural people and places. The festival, which showcases rural themes in an urban environment, features award-winning narrative, documentary, and experimental films as well as music videos. Based in New York City, the most urban of environments, the festival brings an alternative to the box office action flick so often set in New York or Los Angeles. We give city folks a chance to see what's going on in the rest of the world, and bring a sense of home to country folk that have relocated to the city. We are also programming more and more international work, including films in this year's festival from England, Siberia, Canada, Portugal, India, and Germany. Most of the organizers of Rural Route live in New York City, but are from places like Iowa, Kentucky, and Wyoming. While our main event takes place in New York every July, it is our pleasure to bring "Highlights" from the festival to venues in small towns and cities all over. The 2006 Selections program includes people skiing behind horses in Montana, a touching tale of Texas' most embarrassing dad at the rodeo, Utah auctioneers/small farm family legends, bears that eat and play at a Canadian dump, a farm in the middle of South Central Los Angeles, a Canadian horror movie, and loud singing peasant women in Siberia. The 2006 Selections program clocks in at 118 minutes, a true feature length program, a plethora of pure quality independent work from a wide variety of geography and subject matter. http://www.ruralroutefilms.com

Polikarp and His Women Alexander Khantaev (director) & Vlad Ketkovich (producer), 2006, 6 min., doc. Siberia, Russia A short glimpse into the life of Siberian folk artist, Polikarp Sudomoikin, who worked for a collective farm for most of his life, and the many 'vocal' peasant women of the village. Situated 300 miles from Baikal Lake, the village, Bichura, is dwelt by traditional old believers, who where forced to Siberia during Katharine the Great and still preserve their traditions. South Central Farmers Ross Guidici, 2005, 7 min., doc. South Central L.A. Since 1992, the 14 acres of property located at 41st and Alameda Streets in famed 'urban' South Central Los Angeles have been used as a community garden or farm. 350 low-income families farm the land, feed their families and stay off of welfare. The farm also serves as a safe community for their children to grow up in this dangerous section of the city. High Plains Winter - WINNER BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM for RRFF 2006 Cindy Stillwell, 2006, 10 min., exp. Ringling, MT, Red Lodge, MT, Hailey, ID High Plains Winter (the final installment of an experimental outdoors trilogy) is a film about the winter landscape and how it affects the human spirit on the high plains of Montana. The American/Scandinavian sport ski joring, which involves a horse & rider pulling a skier, is the centerpiece of this visual study of winter on the high plains. Alongside the sport imagery are majestic, winter landscapes and signs of domestic life: horses, dogs and people. www.hybridmediafilms.com Junior - WINNER BEST NARRATIVE FILM for RRFF 2006 Allison Cook, 2006, 17 min., narr. Brownwood, Texas Toby, a sullen teenager, must descend into the depths of small-town Texas to spend the summer with his dad, Darrell. Pulled from the comfort of his middle-class existence, Toby has to cope with his father, an overbearing carouser who makes his living as a ranch hand, and try to get through this visit with no disasters. When Darrell goes overboard, trying to impress his son at the local rodeo and the visit turns sour, Toby is forced to see his dad clearly, and choose whether to forgive him or not. www.juniorfilm.com Farmer Brown Charlie Cline, 2005, 4 min., narr. Braxton County, West Virginia Enjoy this document of life on the farm - a timeless scene that could be occurring yesterday, 100 years ago, or 100 years from now. Follow this pillar of the American work ethic as he feeds the chickens, chops the wood, digs up the garden, and deals with incursions from other realms into his idyllic world. Heart and Mole Katharina Frank, 2004, 4 min., narr. animation Los Angeles, CA/Hamburg, Germany The industrious mole leads a dreary boring life. But one day, he meets Miss Hedgehog, and digs thousands of mole hills in the shape of a giant heart on his meadow. Aliens discover the heart from above instead, and decide to pay a visit... Bear Su Rynard, 2004, 9 min., exp. doc. Kimmount, Ontario, Canada Black Bears forage for food in their current natural habitat - the township dump, while an intermittent parade of people, SUVs and minivans toss out garbage. While sometimes humorous, a fragile and disturbing biological relationship is portrayed. Land of the Pines Dan Sokolowski, 2006, 5 min., exp. Kemptville, Ontario, Canada Through photographic evidence, we take a journey through real and imagined images of that quintessential Canadian tree......the Pine. Dan Sokolowski's unique combinations of painting, photography, and film originally appeared in RRFF 2004 with Lightyear. www.sokcinema.ca Go Barefoot Matt Meindl, 2005, 8 min., narr. Toledo, Ohio & Swanton, Ohio Now grown up and contemplating the exponential possibilities of ants, Myra recalls her childhood fight to save all the six-legged crawlers in her big backyard. The cruelty of life and more importantly, nature's ability to cope and regenerate are the lessons learned in her crusade to guard the lawn against big brothers with big boots. Doomed Lowell Dean, 2006, 15 min., narr. Craven, Saskatchewan, Canada A young couple in love, friends spending time together on a quiet afternoon, small-town kids looking for a good time. And zombies. Lots of flesh-eating zombies (done up with a superb low budget fx job by self-taught make-up artist Emersen Ziffle). Small town Saskatchewan is doomed when a zombie outbreak threatens the prairies. Lowell Dean's primary interest is in fantasy films. He also has an 'unhealthy obsession' with zombies. www.lolofilm.com Ringo Dave Monahan, 2005, 6 min., exp. The Old West An experimental musical western starring John Wayne and Roy Rogers. Lawman saves outlaw; lawman loses outlaw; lawman becomes outlaw. Found footage gleaned from over 20 public domain films was edited, composited, and set to Don Robertson's classic 1964 story-song to spawn this rapid-fire saga of male bonding with a vengeance. Monahan teaches film production at the Univ. of North Carolina, Wilmington. The Silver Jews' "I'm Getting Back into Getting Back into You" Alan Webber & Anthony Matt, 2006, 3 min., music video Lynbrook, NY & New York, NY A toy cowboy writes postcards to his lost love in the suburbs. Can he win her back, or is he just being played with? Clever, witty rock band, The Silver Jews, poke fun at and celebrate country music in postmodern fashion through wordplay about honky tonks and rhinestone suits, alongside familiar jangley C&W riffs. Lead singer, David Berman, is also a critically acclaimed poet/writer, who lives in Nashville, TN. www.dragcity.com Mimes of the Prairie John Hansen, 2005, 5 min., narr. Des Moines, IA A Ken Burns style mockumentary telling the struggle of a proud people overcoming adversity. Winner for "Best City - Des Moines and Best Film" in the 2005 48-hour Film Project. Fast Talkers Ariana Reguzzoni, 2005, 19 min., doc. Meridian, Idaho and Bakersfield, California Farm auctioneers sell off the last pieces of old farms with a rolling, hypnotic cadence. Their melody is replacing the sounds of tractors and cows in the American west, but it's also paving the way for a new generation of farmers. Meet one family in Idaho and the auctioneers who help them close a door on their past.