2003
Short Film Descriptions

Short Films (in alphabetical order):

American Peacemakers, March 16, 2003 (2003 / USA-Concord, NH / Dir. Anthony Tenczar / 24 minutes ) Nearly 7000 peace vigils were held on March 16, 2003 as a last ditch effort to prevent war with Iraq. American Peacemakers is a poetic rendering of the vigil held in Concord, NH and explores the thoughts, feelings of the participants as well as events of that noteworthy date. Manipulated electronic media imagery and an evocative musical soundtrack provide context and a lyrical quality to the film.

February Light, Ravenswood Power Station (2002 / USA/ Jason Harrington / 2minutes 30seconds) February Light is part of a larger work entitled Changing Light. The Changing Light series is a work in progress and will eventually include twelve pieces for each month of the year. These short video pieces are studies of light and place. How we see light changes not only with time, but also with place. Often our "sense of place" is formed by the relationship of material and light, light slowly creeping across a table as the sun sets, the light in the steam billowing from a smoke stack, light briefly catching a particle of dust floating in space.

Great, Great Grandfather and Me (2001 / USA / Jason Harrington / 4 minutes)
Great, Great Grandfather and Me is an experimental film constructed from found footage and drawings done directly on 16mm stock by scratching into the emulsion. These found and manipulated images represent the true story of the artist's patrilineage. The playful, childlike, handmade quality of the film emphasizes the illusion and allows the story to live as a fairytale does, in the imagination.

Delivery ( ) A reclusive female video game developer is drawn out in the open by her package delivery man who has a habit of recording his observations about customers on his route. The two are brought together when chance drops the delivery man's "little black book" into her hands.

Discrepancies (2002 / USA/ Jason Harrington / 2 minutes)
Just as the text deals with social and political "discrepancies," so too the sound/image relationship of this piece form subtle and contradictory juxtapositions.

Back Stage (1919 / USA / 26 minutes) This short film was a collaboration between comic geniuses Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. Working in a vaudeville house, the crew stages a show after the headliner and strongman Keaton goes on strike after the crew chastises him for bullying his assistant. Realizing his folly, the strongman starts shooting from a balcony providing Keaton with an acrobatic and comedic finale. Directed by Arbuckle, it also includes Jack Coogan, Sr. Accompanied by a score especially commissioned by the Alloy Orchestra.

Big Fish, Little Fish (2003 / USA / Dir. XXXXX / x min. / unrated). This short, animated film portrays a day in the life of a budding young filmmaking fish.

iDread (2003/ Dir: Erin Powers/ 13:30). Music, video effects and still photography are all implemented into this film to give us a detailed look at the fun and beauty of dreadlocks. Bio: Erin Powers is a senior in UNHM's Communication Arts Program and is working on an experimental film about dance.

Fists of the Saugatuck (2003 / USA, Connecticut / Dir. Eric Lane / 12 minutes / unrated)
Connecticut resident and ninja wannabe Dave Sher is a man with a mission - to attend the International Ninja Academy in Ojai, California. Whether losing his numchucks, fielding skeptical questions from his bewildered father ("What if this ninja school turns out to be another space camp?"), practicing karate with his Asian pizza delivery man or meditating ("I read about a ninja whose heartbeat is 34 beats per minute. Mine's 84 so I'm halfway there."), Sher maintains his focus throughout this good humored short film.

I've Never Had Sex (2003/ Dir: Michael Avitabile/ 13 min). Truly an exploratory piece, this documentary is often humorous, but at the same time offers a tutorial in the world of sex that everyone, at some point in their life, could use. Bio: Mike Avitabile is a senior in UNHM's Communication Arts Program and is in the completion stages of a short comic narrative starring his two cats.

Jack Milton: Fairytale Detective (2003 / USA / Dir. Todd Norwood / 18 minutes ). In a dark and morally corrupt fairy tale world, Detective Jack Milton and his trusty sidekick, Tom Thumb, strive to solve the murders of the world's most famous storybook characters. A great parody of both fairytales and film noir.

Loop (2002 / USA / Dir. Neil Kendricks / 3 minutes) A man and a woman share a fleeting moment of transcendence amidst the chaos of a modern cityscape.

Looters (2002 / UK / Dir: Arun Kumar / 10 minutes) Purchasing a camera through a for sale ad in the paper brings more life experience to two young college students than they anticipated.

Lost and Found (2002 / USA / Dir. Tonya Atkinson and Stacy Ramsey / 15 minutes). Area residents will enjoy identifying Manchester landmarks in this UNH/Manchester student film. Sarah, a young woman and scornful, daily passerby of a panhandler, drops her wallet, which is retrieved by the panhandler. While going through the wallet, the panhandler makes discoveries that add a new dimension to his understanding of Sarah. His decision to return the wallet leads to a surprise twist.

No Ordinary Drummer (2003/ Dir: Keith Peacock/ 11 min). A young, charismatic rock drummer speaks frankly about his tumultuous personal life and his tourette syndrome. Bio: Keith Peacock is a sophomore in UNHM's Communication Arts Program and is continuing his work in digital video production.

Ophelia (2003/ Dir: Mary Lavoie/ 4 min). Ophelia's identity has been defined by the man in her life. Madness becomes her rebellion against repression of self and female vulnerabilty in this experimental, still-picture animation. Bio: Mary Lavoie recently graduated from the UNHM's Communication Arts major. She lives in Concord and continues her independent filmwork.

Origin (2001 / USA / Dir. Jason Harrington / 5 minutes)
"This beautiful work, shot in 16mm, finds both symmetry and chaos at all scales of life, from the subatomic to the cosmic. Harrington's painterly animations evoke the ongoing cycle from the all-encompassing emptiness of the egg, to the fullness of material life, to dispersion in the infinite.

The Passage Beneath: (2002 / NH/USA: Dir: Michael Eschenbach /29 minutes) Concord's own Michael Eschenbach (co-director of Gu, and director of Butoh, both presented last year) takes us beneath and through Concord's oldest campus, New Hampshire State Hospital. Amazingly, tunnels connect the hospital's labyrinthine buildings. Follow Campus Police Officer Jim Drewes and Plant Maintenance Engineer Doug Burnham as we explore a rarely screened chapter of Concord and New Hampshire history, both past and present.

The Rogue Song (1930 / 4 min fragment). Discovered by Film Professor Larry Benaquist, this Technicolor fragment of a Laurel and Hardy comedy scene was inserted, along with others, into a sluggish operetta in the hopes of "punching it up." Later the fragment was trimmed during a showing in the Boston area and lost until Benaquist discovered it in a used book store. The operetta, presumed lost until a copy was recently discovered in the vaults of the Moscow Film Institute (but without the inserts!), was directed by Lionel Barrymore for the Hal Roach Studios.

Sock It To Me (2002 / USA / Dir. Anna Christopher / 15 minutes) Alex loves making sock monkeys but singing Happy Birthday in a bee suit pays the bills. She receives a blow to her sock monkey-making ego when for the fifth time her entry is rejected by the AMSAC (Annual Midwest Sock Art Convention) and she catches her boy friend cheating on her. Alex is forced to move home where her sarcastic, bull-headed mom (who is also AMSAC's reigning sock monkey champion) is crazed with preparations for the convention. The story takes some strange comic twists as Alex and her mother struggle with their "art" and their relationship. Who said sock monkeys can't talk?

Wild Goose (1975 / USA / Dir. Bruce Cronin / 18 minutes / unrated). This film views the life of a vital, mischievous old man who is confined to living in a nursing home. The scenes are short vignettes of nursing home life, and the pranks the old man pulls on the residents and staff. The final "breakout" scene is a hilarious climax.