Hard Goodbyes : My Father
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Dir: Penny Panayotopoulou
Time: 108m
Country: Greece
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10-year-old Elias, a boy living in Athens, makes a pact with his father to watch on television man's first landing on the moon. The two regale each other with stories of Jules Verne and flights of the imagination. They are adventurers and explorers. But chocolate bars left by a father gone on too many business trips are counted, while the countdown to the moonlanding has already begun. The year is 1969. A spaceship takes off, and man soon takes leave of planet earth. And so does Elias' father. It is the imagination and their shared love of storytelling that allow Elias to transcend the unimaginable.
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Plagues & Pleasures On The Salton Sea
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Dir: Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer
Time: 113m
Country: USA
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There was time when the Salton Sea, tucked into the southeast corner of California was known as the Riviera of the West-a haven for jetsetters and vacationers. Originally created by accident, it's now
one of the country's worst ecological disasters: a fetid, stagnant, salty lake, coughing up dead fish and
birds by the thousands. Still, a hardy few have hung on there, hoping for help to come along and restore
the lake to its former glory. Hair-raising and hilarious, part history lesson, part cautionary tale and part portrait of one of the strangest communities you've ever seen, this is the American Dream gone as stinky as a dead carp.
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Dead and Breakfast
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Dir: Matthew Leutwyler
Time: 88m
Country: USA
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Six friends on a road trip stop for the night at a Bed and Breakfast in the sleepy town of Lovelock. But appearances are not what they seem as the already bizarre residents of the town become possessed by an evil spirit and wreak terror on the gang, pinning them down inside the B&B. In the vein of Evil Dead II and From Dusk Til Dawn.
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Funny Ha Ha
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Dir: Andrew Bujalski
Time: 90m
Country: USA
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Marnie is a 23-year-old girl living alone in Boston and facing all of the classic existential challenges of love, work, indulgence, etc. Maintaining humor and dignity to the best of her ability, she ping-pongs between several awkward boy situations and tries to find her footing.
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Indian Cowboy
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Dir: Nikhil Kamkolkar
Time: 86m
Country: New Jersey, USA
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A tongue-in-cheek exploration of true love, Indian Cowboy is a stoy about Nick, a young writer who wants to experience love at its most glorious. Sapna, a visitor from India whose beauty is matched by her sarcastic wit, believes that all love stories end in tragedy a la Romeo and Juliet or Laila and Manju. So when Nick and Sapna meet and fall in love, the quest for the perfect ending inevitably begins.
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Flyaway
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Dir: Danny L. Oakley
Time: 10:55m
Country: USA
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A little wooden plane, despite the price it must pay, does the impossible and joins a world it could
only dream of. (Animated Short)
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Peaceable Kingdom
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Dir: Jenny Stein
Time: 70m
Country: USA
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At a time when factory farming is in the headlines for putting the environment and public health at risk, Peaceable Kingdom takes its audience on an eye-opening journey to the heart of this unfolding national drama. Propelled by the testimony of farmers who have themselves come to question the fundamental assumptions behind their communitys way of life, the film delivers a riveting portrait of human and animal lives caught up in an out of control industrial machine.
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Rewind
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Dir: Hak-Soon Kim
Time: 98m
Country: South Korea
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Rewind is the story of a man who opens a video store after his divorce. While he enjoys calm days alone watching videos, he encounters two incidents which disturb his peace; love letters from an unknown woman, and a mistakenly returned home video. Both enticing events make him feel like something is missing in his life, which he has been trying to neglect. These events reawaken the passions he had once known but lost.
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Monster Road
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Dir: Brett Ingram
Time: 80m
Country: USA
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Entirely self-taught, the 57 year old Bruce Bickford works alone in a small basement studio in his house near Seattle. His films, especially the dark and magical clay animations he created for musician Frank Zappa in the 1970s, have achieved cult status worldwide, even though very little of his 40 year body of work has been edited or released to the public. Monster Road explores this vast collection of animation, and also presents glimpses of the real life from which his fantastic imaginary worlds sprang.
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Control Room
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Dir: Jehane Noujaim
Time: 84m
Country: USA
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A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.
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Lord Sterling/ Rib Eye Bros
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Time: 60m
Country: USA
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Local sound purveyors The Rib Eye Brothers and Lord Sterling break out of the bar and into the movies. Projections, popcorn and possibly the best aural pleasure you'll ever receive in Red Bank. Dig?
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Emerging Filmmakers Series
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Dir: Various
Country: New Jersey, USA
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Highlighting the best and brightest of local high school filmmakers. Participating high schools held film festivals in which their students submitted their works. One film from each of the school was selected by a panel of Film Society judges to be screened as part of RBIFF 2004. Scholarships will be awarded to three of these students following presentation of the short films. Sponsored by: New York Film Academy, Red Bank Rotary Club and Fidelity Investments.
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Educating for Justice presents: Behind The Swoosh
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Dir: Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu
Time: 90m
Country: New Jersey, USA
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Behind the Swoosh is a powerfully passionate short film designed to immerse the viewer in the journey of Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu as they attempt to educate themselves and others about the injustice of Nikes sweatshop operations in Indonesia. Through their example and commentary, they strive to empower their audience and push them to take action to end this social injustice. Behind the Swoosh might also be seen as a prequel to SWEAT, the feature EFJ Films is now producing on the topic, planned for release in January 2005. Portions of the proceeds from this segment will be donated to Educating For Justice, an Asbury Park based non-profit organization that develops, produces and distributes justice-oriented programming and content to the educational marketplace. Through research, online resources, digital filmmaking, grassroots educational events, and educational publishing, EFJ seeks to raise awareness about issues of justice and spark efforts for social change.
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Live, Love, Try Not to Die Presented by Signe Baumane
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Dir: Various
Time: 90m
Country: international
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Professional animator Signe Baumane will be presenting a selection of her favorite new animated shorts. A rare opportunity to enjoy the work of independent animators.
Fetch Directed by Nina Paley
A dog eludes his owner who trips on the landscape.
Bikini Directed by Lasse Person
Oh boy!- one particular bikini causes trouble on beach...
Seventeen Directed by Hisko Hulsing
A timid 17 year old construction worker tries to hold his own in the macho world of roofers. Animated in a Dutch painting style called magic realism.
Peanuts Directed by Pes
Peanuts can be characters too...
Mousochist Directed by John Dilworth
A study of mouse anticipation eating a cheese. The cheese is in a mouse trap.
Arcade Directed by David Lobster
Dentist Directed by Signe Baumane
A reluctant patient, an enthusiastic dentist.... the work gets done.
Frog Directed by Chris Conforti
A frog who is in search of water finds himself evading swimmers, a house cat and passes through the human digestive system... salvation is in the lake.
MTV vs CNN Directed by Rohitash Rao
Who wins?
Son of Satan Directed by JJ Villard
Times are not always good when you are a kid. Bullying, cussing, growing up are a part of what life is about.
Bid'em in Directed by Neal Sopata
A young woman's humanity is cruelly rejected as she is placed on the auction block of a small southern town in Civil War America.
Steel Rex - Nazi Smasher Directed by Alexander Woo
Steel Rex finds the Nazi hideout... Nazi smashing follows.
Through my Thick Glasses Directed by Pjotr Sapegin
Grandpa tells his grand daughter a story about when he was a boy during the war.
Subway Salvation Directed by Carolyn London
God appears in the most unexpected place in the most unexpected time in the most unexpected shape.
Guard Dog Directed by Bill Plympton
A paranoid dog tries to protect his owner from all the dangers in the park. Bill Plympton's best short up to the moment.
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Seven Chances
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Dir: Buster Keaton
Time: 56m
Country: USA
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Buster Keaton stars in this 1925 classic as Jimmie Shannon, a romantically jinxed young man who must marry by 7:00 PM to inherit seven million dollars. While fate seems to thwart his efforts to woo the object of his true affection (Ruth Dwyer), public announcement of his strange predicament provides him with a throng of would-be brides who are aggressive in their pursuit of a husband, to say the least. In one of the most rousing, brilliantly choreographed sequences in Keaton's career, Shannon flees the horde of women while dodging the hostile forces of nature that seem to be conspiring against him (in the form of a colossal rockslide) during his manic dash to the altar.
With live musical accompaniment by the Museum of Modern Art's Ben Model.
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Twisted Love
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Dir: Various
Time: 65m
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Love with a corpse, love with a cream puff; modern romance with a twist.
Click here for film descriptions.
Sweet Love (8:30 min)
C'era Una Volta Un Re (10 min)
...To Skin a Cat (22:04 min)
Nummer Twee (3:08 min)
Pretty Dead Girl - A Musical Necromance (22 min)
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Brain Architecture
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Dir: Various
Time: 60m
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A kaleidoscopic array of experimental shorts that will leave you feeling redeemed.
Click here for film descriptions.
Heaven -by Todd McCammon (4 min)
Ash* Cantata -by Ryan Panis (5:45 min)
Kinetic Sandwich -by Eric Dyer (3 min)
Post Industrial Symphony -by Jason Middleton (16:30 min)
Buddy the Carrot -by Eric Dyer (5 min)
Niche -by Kelly K. Oliver (5 min)
Like Sleep Might Steal on Me -by Michael Wechsler (3:50 min)
Hide and Seek: The Snail Prevails -by Jess Mireau, Sarah Kendall & Nicole Gray (3:55 min)
Under the Water -by Au Wah-Hei (1:30 min)
Marsa Abu Galawa -by Gerard Holthuis (10 min)
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End of the Century: The Ramones
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Dir: Michael Gramaglia and Jim Fields
Time: 120m
Country: USA
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In 1974, the New York City music scene was shocked into consciousness by the violently new and raw sound of a band of misfits from Queens called The Ramones. Playing in a seedy Bowery bar to a small group of fellow struggling musicians, the band struck a chord of disharmony that rocked the foundation of the mid-seventies music scene. This quartet of unlikely rock stars traveled across the country and around the world connecting with the disenfranchised everywhere, while sparking a movement that would resonate with two generations of outcasts across the globe. Although the band never reached the top of the Billboard charts, they managed to endure by maintaining a rigorous touring schedule for twenty-two years.
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The Golem
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Dir: Carl Boese and Paul Wegener
Time: 86m
Country: Germany
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RBIFF is proud to present Carl Boese’s and Paul Wegener’s 1920 classic The Golem, with live musical accompaniment by local artists Rotting Moldy Flesh. Widely recognized as the source of the Frankenstein myth, the ancient Hebrew legend of the Golem provided actor/director Paul Wegener with the substance for one of the most adventurous films of the German silent cinema.
Suffering under the tyrannical rule of Rudolf II in 16th-century Prague, a Talmudic rabbi creates a giant warrior to protect the safety of his people. Sculpted of clay and animated by the mysterious secrets of the Kabbalah, the Golem is a seemingly indestructible juggernaut, performing acts of great heroism, yet equally capable of dreadful violence. This film was one of the greatest achievements of the legendary UFA Studios, and a landmark in the evolution of horror film.
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A Dirty Shame
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Dir: John Waters
Time: 89m
Country: USA
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Lust is in the air on Harford Road and Sylvia Stickles (Tracy Ullman), a grumpy, repressed middle-aged Baltimorean, doesn't like it. Though Sylvia's handsome husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) still has marital urges, his wife could not be less interested -- she has more important things to do. Not only does Sylvia run the family's Pinewood Park and Pay convenience store, she's also responsible for watching over her exhibitionist daughter Caprice (Selma Blair). A go-go dancer known to her adoring fans as Ursula Udders, Caprice and her stupendously enlarged breasts are currently under house arrest after several nude and disorderly violations. But Sylvia's world is turned upside down one day after suffering a concussion in a freak traffic accident. Sexy tow-truck driver Ray-Ray Perkins (Johnny Knoxville) rushes to her aid, and the stricken Sylvia realizes he is no ordinary service man; he's a sexual healer who brings Sylvia's hidden cauldron of lust to the boiling point.
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Sharks In The Water
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Dir: Dave Puls
Time: 3:35m
Country: USA
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A humorous and disconcerting look at the corporate corruption and political collaboration that plaques the United States.
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OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
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Dir: Robert Greenwald
Time: 77m
Country: USA
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Outfoxed examines how media empires, led by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, have been running a "race to the bottom" in television news. This film provides an in-depth look at Fox News and the dangers of ever-enlarging corporations taking control of the public's right to know.
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Famous Irish Americans
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Dir: Roger Beebe
Time: 8m
Country: USA
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Who’s your favorite Irish American? Georgia O’Keefe? William McKinley? Sandra Day O’ Connor? How about Shaquille O’Neal? This film is a secret history of some of our most overlooked Irish-American citizens; a hyperflat exploration of race, America and the limits of binary thought.
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Thunder In Guyana
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Dir: Suzanne Wasserman
Time: 50m
Country: USA
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Thunder In Guyana is the remarkable tale of Janet Rosenberg, a young woman from Chicago who married Guyanese activist Cheddi Jagan, and set off for the British colony to start a socialist revolution. For more than fifty years, the couple fought tirelessly to liberate the country from colonial rule and exploitation—despite battering by the international press, imprisonment and the intervention of world figures including Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy. Free and fair elections were instituted in the early 90's, and Janet Rosenberg-Jagan was elected president of Guyana in 1997, the first foreign-born and first woman to serve in the role.
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Underground
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Dir: Various
Time: 83m
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A series of shorts dealing with darker side of reality and the redemption that we all long to find.
Click here for film descriptions.
Maree (Tides) (14 mins)
Whew (8.5 mins)
Do Over (20 mins)
Father (2 mins)
Fault (15 mins)
Off (15 mins)
Underground (11 mins)
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Nicotina
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Dir: Hugo Rodríguez
Time: 93m
Country: Mexico
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Greed transforms into twisted desperation when a simple exchange goes awry, and the lives of amateur thieves, an obsessed hacker and ordinary people explode in a tumultuous night over a fortune in diamonds. When the haze finally clears, computers have been hacked, people have been whacked and lives have gone up in a cloud of smoke.
Diego Luna (Y Tú Mamá Tambien, The Terminal) and Rafael Inclán star in this highly stylized caper about the addictive, intoxicating possibility of an easy life.
Winner of six 2004 Mexican Ariel Awards and five MTV Mexico Movie Awards including "Favorite Movie and Actor - Diego Luna."
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