5th Bearded Child Film Festival

Davies Theater - Itasca Community College

Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Screening Schedule:

Friday and Saturday, August. 12th and 13th, 2005 -- $5 for entire festival

SCHEDULE of EVENTS:

Friday, Aug. 12

•7pm- Short Film Competition #1

•9pm- Short Film Competition #2

•11pm- Plucked!

Saturday, Aug. 13

•11am- Breakfast at the Silver Spoon Cafe.

•5pm- For Vanity's Sake: Films by Dan Anderson

•6pm- Local Yokels: Work by Northern Minnesotan filmmakers.

•7:30pm- Short Film Competition #3

•9:30pm- All-time Best of the Bearded Child

Friday, Aug. 12, 2005

7pm- Short Film Competition #1

1. You Are Not From Here (9 minutes)

Experimental Documentary by Diane Bonder, Brooklyn, NY

-A record of a rapidly disappearing vernacular landscape. With an oblique narration about the process of gentrification, the film explores the notions of discovery, belonging, and the meaning we project on our environment.

2. There is Only Light (4 minutes)

Experimental by Matt Hulse, Edinburgh, Scotland

Contact: stewed {at} idlevice {dot} com

-A character in a Luis Bunuel film once said: 'There is no narration, there is only light.' In response, using a faulty super 8 camera, I explore diverse sources of illumination in Warsaw (Poland) during winter. Music by Orkiestra Antyczna matches well-- direct, functional, dark and raw.

3. Life in Transition (4 minutes)

Experimental/Hand-drawn Animation by John Dilworth, New York, NY

Contact: stretchjrd {at} aol {dot} com

-A visual and symbolic journey depicting the continual transformations of life from birth to death to rebirth.

4. Consenting Adults (4 minutes)

Experimental by Neil Ira Needleman Katonah, NY

Contact: NeilNeedleman {at} optonline {dot} net

-Breathing new life into ghost images from my uncle's ancient 8mm home movies.

Experimental by Andre Silva Iowa City, IA

silva_cine {at} hotmail {dot} com

-Each word of a spam letter is matched with one of countless online images that have been linked in some way, to that word.

6. No Money Down (6 minutes)

5. Spam Letter + Google Image Search = Video Entertainment (3 minutes)

Comedy by Jim Haverkamp Durham, NC

Contact: hovercraft {at} earthink {dot} net

-Before he became a corporate shill, Abe Lincoln was punk rock.

7. Mother and Son (15 minutes)

Documentary/Weird by Matthew Silver, New Jersey

-An intense depiction of an 80 year old woman and her 46 year old son. Starring Grandma Ping and Uncle Andy.

8. Wretch (15 minutes)

9. Dos Blokes (5 minutes)

Experimental Narrative by Josh Rachbach, Los Angeles, CA

Contact: peppergod {at} mac {dot} com

"This is the most in love you've ever been." Wretch is a surrealist journey set against a massive sensory barrage, leaving the viewer in a state of sheer glee as creative wonders dive like sugar-licked wonders from the screen. Bees, resurrections, honey ships, and the sting of memory pour from each appetizer of a frame. 

Horror/Informational by, Marlo Nespeca Austin, TX

Contact: MNespeca {at} excite {dot} com

-An unflinching look at a national epidemic.

10. Suffering the Legitimacy of Aesthetics (13 minutes)

Experimental/Abstract by J. M. Magrini, Oakbrook Terrace, IL

Contact: circlereturn {at} aol {dot} com

-Beyond a playful, sensuous subject for the science of aesthetics to interrogate, art is the superlative, "origionary" happening of truth in which knowledge is disclosed and historically appropriated by those who preserve the work.

11. Uso Justo (22 minutes)

Experimental Narrative by Scott Coleman Miller, Minneapolis, MN

Splurn {at} aol {dot} com

-When an experimental filmmaker sort of shows up in the semi-fictional town of Uso Justo, things get strange.

12. At Hand (10 minutes)

Experimental by Andrew Busti, Boulder, CO

Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 -----------

9pm- Competition #2

13. Walk for Walk (10 minutes)

Animation/Weird by Amy Lockhart, Montreal, Canada

Contact: aloco275 {at} yahoo {dot} com

-Crazy cut-out and hand-drawn animation from the director of 2003's “Miss Edmonton Teen Burger 1983 in It’s Party Time!”

14. Radius (5 minutes)

Experimental by Jason Halprin, Chicago, IL

jihalprin {at} yahoo {dot} com

15. Portrait of a Dude (6 minutes)

Comedy by Ned Hylton, Collingswood, NJ

Contact: ned.hylton {at} gmail {dot} com

-A glimpse into one man's banal life after oral surgery.

16. Digits (8 minutes)

Experimental by William Rees and JoEllen Martinson, Minneapolis, MN

Contact: cinema {at} candyeyefactory {dot} com

-A mockumentary/music-video hybrid, Digits tracks the rise and fall of two finger-giving Euro terrorists in the 1970's and their soda-pop sucking foe.

17. The Talking Record For Boys (2 minutes)

Animation/Comedy by Rob Smith, Houston, TX

Contact: therobertsmith {at} gmail {dot} com

-A boy visits with his talking record friend.

18. Overmodulated Marriage (15 minutes)

Narrative/Weird by Matthew Silver, New Jersey

-Silver's most recent film. Marriage is not for everyone…

19. Big Screen Version (3 minutes)

Appropriated Cable Signal by Aaron Valdez Iowa City, IA

valdezfilm {at} yahoo {dot} com

-Split-screen talking heads and flying graphics collide in a musical homage to the self-righteous rhetoric of Fox News.

20. Alex, Vampire Slayer (23 minutes)

Comedy/Horror by Al Kratina Montreal, Canada

Contact: alkratina {at} gmail {dot} com

Alex, Vampire Slayer is the world's sole defender against the forces of darkness. Or he would be, if only these forces actually existed. From the director of 2004's “Crimson.”

21. Vom O Rama (4 minutes)

Comedy by Rachel Wolther Evanston, IL

Contact: r-wolther {at} northwestern {dot} edu

-When a vomit-inducing virus plagues the town, it's up to two middle management slackers and their scientist friend to save the day.

22. Planet Hold (8 minutes)

Experimental by Jordan Essoe, Pittsburg, CA

Contact: jordan {at} essoe {dot} com

-Using collaged footage filmed off of the television, this video examines the confrontation with romantic expectation, and the quest for sexual reality. The film adapts two poems by Anne Waldman (used with permission). **Contains highly graphic material.

23. A Junky's Christmas (16.5 minutes)

Experimental by Bryan Konefsky, Albuquerque, NM

Contact: btyank {at} unm {dot} edu

-Images from Frank Capra's 1946 movie "It's A Wonderful Life" collide with the words of visionary author William S. Burroughs' reading of his story "The Junkie's Christmas." The results are surprising as an American dream becomes an American nightmare.

24. Null X (6 minutes)

Experimental by Jan Frederik Groot, The Netherlands

11pm- Midnight Madness!!! ----------

25. Plucked! (83 minutes)

Comedy/Weird by Michael Green, Sugar Land, TX

Contact: michaelggreen {at} houston.rr {dot} com

-A living-dead chicken struggling to survive among humans discovers his own appetite for destruction in the comedic fable "Plucked!" It's genre-blending recipe entertains and touches the meat puppet in us all. Michael Green in-person.

Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005 ----------

11am- Breakfast at the Silver Spoon Cafe .

-Come down to the Silver Spoon in downtown Grand Rapids for an informal brunch with attending filmmakers. For out-of-towners, this one's on the Bearded Child.

5pm- For Vanity's Sake: Films by Dan Anderson

26. Time for Bed (8 minutes)

Narrative/Weird 2002 by Dan Anderson & Martin Latimer, Grand Rapids, MN

-A young lad is rejected by his only love. Staring Grand Rapids natives Win Latimer and Nate Krousus.

27. Auto Domestication (12 minutes)

Experimental Narrative 2003 by Dan Anderson, Grand Rapids, MN

-A young lad and a gorilla butt heads. Based on Freud's theory of the Id and the Superego. Filmed on super 8 film.

28. Tea Party (10 minutes)

Experimental Narrative 2003 by Dan Anderson, Grand Rapids, MN

-An elderly aristocrat and her unkempt butler encounter a startling reality lurking within their television set. All their grandest desires are met, than brutally taken away. Filmed on 16mm film.

29. Cookies for Satan (12 minutes)

Narrative/Weird 2004 by Dan Anderson, Grand Rapids, MN

-A businessman is suddenly paralyzed by an unconscious self-realization. He it then taken on a terrifying journey in which he lives an unconscious depiction of his own childhood, faces his preoccupation with death and the afterlife, and experiences his own future. Starring Sharon Needles as “Mother.”

30. The Joy of Leisure (6 minutes)

Experimental 2004 by Dan Anderson, Grand Rapids, MN

-A hallucinogenic journey into the heart of America. This film was made in response to the 2004 elections. This is not a "found footage" film-- it was entirely shot in small towns across America in the fall of 2004. 16mm film.

31. On Vacation (6 minutes)

Experimental Documentary 2005 by Dan Anderson, Grand Rapids, MN

-Two wealthy businessmen take a friendly vacation through middle America. Their journey is narrated with the aid of corporate film voice-overs. It is a critique on the American working culture, and our need to achieve the American ideal.

Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005 ----------

6pm- Local Yokels: Work by Northern Minnesotan filmmakers.

32. Fil de Fer (4 minutes)

Flash Animation by Alex Moore, Grand Rapids, MN

happy_cow12 {at} hotmail {dot} com

-The tale of a lonely soul trying to make his way through the drudgery of modern life.

33. Tew Phat Tew Phurious (14 minutes)

Comedy by Lee Istanovich Grand Rapids, MN

Contact: error2k {at} hotmail {dot} com

-A young punk makes his debut into the local street racing underground with a 78 Buick Lesabre.

34. Unless You've Tried It, You Have No Idea What Its Like to Bury A Horse (2 minutes)

Animation/Weird by Luke Holden Bemidji, MN

Contact: fartbutt2001 {at} yahoo {dot} com

-A how-to film on horse graves.

35. Really Bad Day (17-23 minutes)

Comedy by Mike Ryan and Edward Dassmesser Grand Rapids, MN

Contact: durnurd {at} hotmail {dot} com

-It's one of those days where nothing goes right. No, really. Nothing. **Audience will be able to chose the ending!

36. The Light (10 minutes)

Narrative by Andrew Malek, Boulder, CO

-A light bulb engineer gets caught up in a vast conspiracy. Staring Douglas Hawkinson of Grand Rapids.

Saturday, Aug. 13, 2005 ----------

7:30pm- Short Film Competition #3

37. Shadow of Liberty (13 minutes)

  Documentary by Geoff Adams Newton, MA

  Contact: ga {at} geoffadams {dot} com

  -An authentic Colonial Reenactivist crashes the Boston Tea Party.

38. America the Beautiful (7 minutes)

Stop-Motion Animation by John Cannizzaro Tarzana, CA

Contact: smokehousefilms {at} yahoo {dot} com

-A dark satire of the history of America. From the director of “50 Feet That Shook the World.”

39. Happy Birthday, Dear Gemma (6 minutes)

  Narrative by Sara Hegarty Minneapolis, MN

  Contact: salalouiseh {at} yahoo {dot} com

  - It is 1903 and Gemma's 9th birthday. It doesn't turn out to be a good day.

40. Resettlement (3 minutes)

Experimental Animation by Glenn Gear, Montreal, Canada

Contact: glenn {at} volatileworks {dot} org

-This haunting short combines text, documentary footage, and computer assisted stop-motion techniques as it revisits a time of resettlement in Newfoundland's history.

41. 9-20-2004 (6 minutes)

Experimental with narration by Brandon Walley, Detroit, MI

Contact: brand500 {at} sbcglobal {dot} net

-9-20-2004 was a day that culminated emotional and actual events that forever changed reality as well as the future of my family.

42. A Good Strong Roof (6 minutes)

   Experimental Documentary by Tony Gault, Englewood, CO

    Contact: tgault {at} du {dot} edu

     -A lesson in grooming from a formally homeless "Backpack Jack."

43. Monsters 2 (4 minutes)

Animation/Comedy by Paul Rodenburg, Wyoming, MI

Contact: paul {at} beaverjunction {dot} com

-A vampire and a prehistoric flying animal go to the movies. Director of 2004’s “Monsters.”

44. Zombie Business (16 minutes)

   by Mario DeGiglio-Bellemare

   Contact: www.volatileworks.org

45. Radiation Can Give You Brain Tumors (15 minutes)

   Weird by Matthew Silver, New Jersey

   -A happy businessman suddenly believes that everyday radiation can give him brain tumors. Extreme paranoia and mayhem ensues. (Bearded Child note: this may be the craziest film we've ever shown at the festival.

46. Lullaby (3 minutes)

   Experimental by Karl Lind Portland, OR

   Contact: inthecan23 {at} hotmail {dot} com

   -A subatomic meltdown set to the beat of splitting atoms.

47. Donkey Harvest (11 minutes)

Experimental Narrative/Weird by Allan Brown Montreal, Canada

Contact: allan {at} volatileworks {dot} org

-A factory worker loses his job. On his return home to his family, he embarks on a surreal journey where he is confronted with an environment at odds with his social reality.

48. Ad-Vice for a Prophet (10 minutes)

   Experimental with narration by John Rafman,  Montreal, Canada

49. Foo Bar (8 minutes)

   Experimental Documentary by Jesse Holcomb,  Fayetteville, Arkansas

   Contact: holcster {at} yahoo {dot} com

   -I made this movie with footage I took working as a P.A. on a film a friend was producing, and experience which proved two of the worth weeks of my life. The piece is thus cinema as therapy, a dubious exercise at best.

50. It Could Happen To You (9 minutes)

   Experimental/Found Footage by Elizabeth Henry Englewood, CO

   Contact: ehenry {at} du {dot} edu

   -The great divorce: What we're left with. What still haunts us.

**Special Screening**

Two found-footage films by Bruce Conner. Conner is considered one of the grandfathers of experimental film, and is widely thought of as the originator of the music video. We will see two rarely seen shorts, viewed by many critics as his best work.

51. Take the 5:10 to Dreamland (5.5 minutes)

by Bruce Conner, 1977

"... the state produced by a film like 5:10 TO DREAMLAND is very similar to the feeling produced by a poem. The images, their mysterious relationships, the rhythm, and the connections impress themselves upon the unconscious. The film ends, like a poem ends, almost like a puff, like nothing. And you sit there, in silence, letting it all sink deeper, and then you stand up and you know that it was very, very good." - Jonas Mekas, The Soho Weekly News

52. Valse Triste (5 minutes)

by Bruce Conner, 1979

VALSE TRISTE is frankly and gracefully autobiographical of Conner's Kansas boyhood. Here, the period of the 1940s of his source materials parallels his own life experiences.

This event was supported by a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council.