Twin Rivers Media Festival

 

 

Siberia Monamour to screen at Twin Rivers Media Festival19th ANNUAL TWIN RIVERS INTERNATIONAL MEDIA AND
FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2012 FESTIVAL LINEUP

 

The 19th Annual season of The Twin Rivers Media
Festival(TRMF) will celebrate this year with the latest in independent feature,
documentary, short and animated films. 
The festival runs from May 25th – May 27th 2012 in with features films
screening each Friday night until June 22, 2012 at the Phil Mechanics Building
at 109 Roberts St. in the River Arts District of Asheville, NC.

 

Carlos Steward, founder and director of the Twin Rivers
Media Festival, stated, “we are thrilled to once again bring to our Western
North Carolina community an incredibly diverse program with over 40 independent
films from around the world.” With an exciting season programmed, the festival
will kick off with an opening night party at the historic Flood Fine Arts
Center Library and adjoining Courtyard Gallery at 7:30PM with the screening of
“Siberia Monamour” from the Russia Federation. 

 

TRMF has become the festival of choice for filmmakers and
film lovers who are seeking a unique River Arts District experience and a place
to indulge their passion for film. The Festival connects audiences to
compelling documentaries, award-winning international releases with tantalizing
discussions with visiting filmmakers.

 

The selection process was rigorous and exclusive.  Only a small percentage of the

submitted films are chosen to screen in the festival.  The films are placed in

sessions, in both venues allowing audiences to see one genre
of film one day and another the next. . 
Saturday mornings and afternoon films include a potluck lunch and l
Question and Answer period, in which the audience is invited to ask the
filmmakers questions.

 

Photos: “The Boy Who’d Never Seen Rain”, Australia feature
film (boy who’d.jpeg)

“Siberia Monamour” Russian feature film
(siberiamonamour.jpg)

“Caught” short drama by Elizabeth Page, NY (caught.jpg)

“Brotherly Love” short drama, CA, Brothers try to hold their
family together, (brolove.jpg)

“American Veterans, Discarded and Forgotten,”  Doc NYC, (amvets.jpg)

 

The complete three day line up and Friday night feature
films in June follows:

 

Features on Fridays

 

May 25th • 8pm
(Festival Kickoff 7:30 pm)

Siberia, Monamour 
(105 min)

Directed by: Slava Ross  (Moscow, Russian Federation)

Siberian taiga. Late autumn. In a deserted village, there
lives an old man & his seven-year-old grandson Leshia. A pack of feral dogs
devours everything alive in the neighborhood, but one of these dogs becomes
Leshia's best friend. Sometimes Uncle Yuri brings food to them. Once on his way
back from the village Uncle Yuri is attacked by dogs & perishes. Ivan &
Leshia stay on without any food supplies.

 

June 1st • 8pm

The Duck Hunter 
(90 min)

Directed by: Egidio Veronesi  (Modena, Italy)

A film about memory, memories of the past and memories of
the protagonists. Memory gets back, through the images of the film, to those
who were its custodians, following new and unexpected paths.

 

June 8th • 8pm

A.L.F.  (96 min)

Directed by: Lescure Jérôme  (Paris, France)

What happened, that 24th of December? This is what officer
Chartier wants to find out. To understand, he will have to go back 48 hours
earlier: Franck's Christmas eve.

Franck: insignificant drama-teacher, Franck belongs to a
nameless and leaderless commando: the Animal Liberation Front. These characters
are bound by a limitless empathy towards mistreated animals, and will have to
show courage to complete a mission they have been preparing for months.

 

June 15th • 8pm

The Boy Who'd Never Seen Rain  (70 min)

Directed by: Kim Ramsay  (Sydney , Australia)

The poignant portrayal of an outback Australian sheep
farming family struggling to remain together despite looming bankruptcy. Neil
Cobblin tries to defend his pride when it becomes apparent he's losing the
battle against years of drought, and the outreach workers have arrived in town
to offer a helping hand. His wife Rita begins to lose herself in the nostalgia
of teenage dreams of becoming a Beauty Queen whilst their 8 year old son Danny
fights to be seen as a man by his father and the school bully. This film
examines the effects of depression and suicide risk in the Australian rural
sector -- a topic which is too often ignored in the mainstream media.

 

June 22nd • 8pm

Meherjaan 
(119min)

Directed by: Rubaiyat Hossain  (Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Meherjaan is a film about loving the Other. Meherjaan gives
away with the unitary masculine narrative in order to usher in emotional
multiplicity of feminine emotion and sensibility. This film critiques certain
pitfalls of nationalism that create conditions to justify war, killing and
violence. Finally, Meherjaan attempts to offer an aesthetic solution to war and
violence by taking refuge in love and spiritual submission.

 

 

Saturday 5/26

11am

American Veterans: Discarded and Forgotten (2 parts, 1 hour
each)

Directed by: Richard Polonetsky; Directed by: Gary Null,
Brooklyn NY

Gary Null, PhD, explores the truth about Gulf War Syndrome,
a horrific condition affecting thousands of soldiers and their families, and
the disturbing secrets being hidden by the government. Hear the truth from
doctors, scientists, military analysts and the veterans who are still suffering
from the effects of their tours of duty while the government denies any
accountability for this illness. Dr. Null also reveals the epidemic of
homelessness affecting our American veterans today.

 

12 - 1pm

Potluck lunch

Bring a favorite dish and join us for an opportunity to sit
down with filmmakers and film aficionados for an exchange of ideas and edibles!

 

1pm

Daytona Flash Mob 
(10min)-  Filmmaker Present
for discussion

Produced by Lou and Guili Schacht

600 Dancers materialize in a spontaneous dance event at the
Daytona 500.

 

Education Under Fire 
(30min)

Directed by Jeff Kaufman

Produced by Single Arrow Productions and co-sponsored by
Amnesty International. This revealing documentary profiles the growth,
struggle, and inspiring spirit of the Baha´i Institute for Higher Education.
The Baha´i people in Iran have been subjected to systematic persecution,
including arrests, torture, and execution simply for refusing to recant their
beliefs. They are also prohibited from going to college (and blocked from many
professions).

 

Anela en Rouge 
(19min)-  Filmmaker Present
for discussion

Cara Myers, Kansas City, MO

A touching experimental dance documentary in which Nannette
Rogers-Kennedy tells a story of losing her mother, who before death, promises
to come back to visit her children as a Cardinal. Two weeks later, her mother
keeps her promise, not only to her, but to every other member of her family,
proving that our love for one another transcends the boundaries of life or
death.

 

Its a Girl Thing: MKA, Tween Queens and the Commodification
of Girlhood  (60min)-  Filmmaker Present for discussion›

Directed by: Shannon Silva, Wilmington, NC

Since the birth of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen in 1987, the
girls' tween market has evolved from almost non-existent into a $43
billion-dollar-a-year money making machine. Framed by the structure of a faux
interactive website, It's A Girl Thing speaks with consumer critics, tween
brand marketers, girls, moms, and educators to explore the seemingly benign
cultural universe of pastel-colored, hyper-commercialized girl culture (and the
tween queen phenomenon) to reveal the complex and contradictory messages
directed at today's young girls.

 

Saturday 5/26 •
4pm-8pm

Courtyard Gallery
Screen

 

Short Drama

Wrigley and King, 9 min

Cornelius Murphy, Lynnfield, MA

A man attends his brother's funeral and reflects on a
childhood memory when his brother took revenge against a neighbor for killing
the family dog.

 

Impressions, 20min

Robert Schwartz, Los Angeles. CA

Two people who come from very different backgrounds have
inherited the struggles they face in a relationship.

 

Leak, 29min

beni fredman, Jerusalem, Israel

7 yr old Hadar is behaving strangely and shockingly in order
to eliminate an imaginary monster. Her father, a rich and powerful man, covers
up her behavior by silencing people with payoffs and refusing to send Hadar to
psychiatric treatment. Desperate, her mother secretly takes her to a clinic to
undergo a futuristic and risky operation for trauma removal.

 

1000 grams, 15min

Tom Bewilogua, Hamburg, Germany

A film about Flesh. Flesh in all of its meanings! A story of
two tragically colliding Worlds. Poor and Rich! An unadorned view on the
current circumstances of our reality, while the audience is flying through
society like a ghost.

 

Astray, 15min

Evan Stroum, Tigard, OR

A man awakens alone in the forest, all memories lost. As he
retraces his steps, anxiety builds until the discovery of a dead body pushes
his emotions to a boiling point as memories come flooding back.

 

Workers Leaving the Factory (10min)

Anna Linke, Weimar, Germany

Karin works in a metal factory  performing the same monotonous tasks day after day. When a
new worker arrives, it seems to be the end of this drab life.

 

Brotherly Love, 17min

Choice Skinner, Van Nuys, CA

Isaac, flees home to plead with his brother Elijah to help
him hide a terrible secret from Abraham, the eldest brother who is a strict
disciplinarian and very religious.

 

Diana , 15min

Wen-Cheng Yu, Pasadena, AK/Taiwan

Diana is young, attractive, smart, confident and cold. She
has an affair with a married man and a fight with her student in class.
Everyone makes bad decisions. So does Diana. But this time, she does it with
determination.

 

Advanced Payment, 21min

Heath Jones, New Smyrna Beach, FL

After a drunk driver kills her son and escapes prosecution,
a well-to-do woman seeks revenge on her own. She buys an unregistered gun from
a back alley thug, who quickly recognizes her as an easy target and teaches her
a hard lesson about street justice.

 

Caught, 20min

Elizabeth Page, Brooklyn, NY

Hannah has spent her life trying to do the right thing, but
she can not catch a break, or win the sought after affection of her mother, nor
the respect of her brother. Hannah finds solace in baseball from the time she
is young. This family strife culminates on the ballfield during the playoffs.

 

Dog Eat Dog, 7min

Curtis Jensen, Thunder Bay, ON

Tony, a mafia boss, has grown tired of Fluffy, his
neighbour’s dog, pooping on his lawn. Instead of dealing with his grievances
civilly, Tony hires Chester and Louis take the dog out. The two hit men accept
the job, even though Louis feels like the job is an insult to his abilities.

 

Alienated, 5:30min

Piper Kroeze, North Hollywood, CA—Student Entry

John is an extra-terrestrial living on another planet but
decides it's best for him to travel to earth to start a new chapter in his
life, against the will of his father. John is still waiting for his slahfle, a
body part that grows on the forehead of each alien at a certain age, to come
in, in order to regain the respect of his elders as a man.

 

The Light, 14min

Kajsa Ribbing, Stockholm,Sweden

It's all about love - and life - when an old and dying
author writes his last novel about a young couple and the games they play.

 

 

 

Saturday 5/26 •
4pm-7pm

Flood Library Screen

 

Animation

Tony's Big Score, 12min

David Provost, Emeryville, CA

Tony is just your average everyday robot until the day the
entire world starts crashing in on him.

 

The Eater, 3min

Wally Chung, NY,NY

A man has a strange experience that ends up affecting the
people around him.

 

X-Mess Detritus-2min

Aurelio Voltaire, NY, NY

MTV and SciFi Channel veteran, Voltaire, takes a dark look
at gift-giving and the negative effect it has on the Earth in this one-minute
Christmas parable.

 

Dear Sweet Emma, 5:17min

Out of Our Minds Animation Studio, NC

As the search is given up for Emma’s latest husband, Tucker,
a private look reveals that Emma has a secret and uncontrollable dark side.

 

Dinner Table, 3min

Song E Kim, Los Angeles, CA

The dinner table, where we sit everyday to satisfy the basic
of needs, can become the most awkward place to be with one simple conversation
and mounting emotion.

 

Fruitless Efforts - Fruit of the Womb, 5min

Oren Robashkin, Minneapolis, MN

Apple is trying to lead a normal life, but is being held
back by his friends.

 

Lunch, 1min

Irina Golina-Sagatelian, Israel

Vlad sits in his chair, looks eagerly at his plate with a
juicy fish. Suddenly someone rings the bell. Disappointed, he gets up and
wonders when he can get back to his meal.

 

Oh! Natural, 2min

Becky Bush, NY, NY

An acorn becomes all it can be.

 

Experimental

Ode, 18min

Dawn Hollison, Arvada, CO

A story of Collector and Collected, Ode examines the human
cycle of action and effect, and its reflection in the internal experience of
recognition, regret, and remembrance. Three episodes record the phases of a
woman's evolution toward a deeper understanding of her own motivations and her
relation to others.

 

Pin, 15min

Mountains Plain, Asheville, NC

An examination of our mountain heritage.

 

Sixty in 60, 60min.

Ronnie Cramer, Denver CO

Experimental art film featuring sixty one-minute works of
many genres, including abstract, animation, documentary, experimental,
narrative, stop-motion, time-lapse and video art.

 

Commercial

Tales from the Hood, 9min

Manny Marquez, Denver, CO

In 2011, Native Eyewear descended upon Hood River, OR asking
the natives to show them the ropes. The locals welcomed them, giving the crew a
peek into their lives, and acting as tour guides, showed them all over the
stunning little mountain town. This documentary captures the stories of the
locals, or the Tales from the Hood, as Natives like to call them.

 

Little Pearls-30sec

Linda McLean, Asheville, NC

Little Pearls are “tiny films” that open hearts and minds,
inspiring authentic connection and compassionate action on behalf of al living
beings

 

Doritos: Super Cheesy, 1min

Jen McGowan, Venice, CA

A cheesy Senator's secret obsession is exposed.

Saturday 5/26 • 4pm-7pm

Flood Library Screen

 

 

 

Sunday 5/27

Courtyard Gallery
Screen

 

Documentaries

1pm - 5pm

Co Raz Zostalo Zapisane (Written in Ink), Poland (12min)

Martin Rath

A documentary about hope, this compelling story is about a a
man trying to get back in touch with his sister after they haven't had any
contact for 14 years. But can one change what has already been written in ink?

 

Nullification: The Rightful Remedy  (72min)

Jason Rink, Austin, TX

What do we do when the federal government steps outside of
its Constitutional boundaries? Do we ”vote the bums out” and hope that the new
bums limit their own power? Do we ask federal judges in black robes to limit
the federal government's power? This documentary explores the history of state
nullification, and how it is being used today to push back against the
encroachment of federal power.

 

Into The Distance 
(15min)

Philip Arnold, New Albany, OH

Follow Adriane Blewitt on her quest to become the Women's
World Champion in the Scottish Highland Games. A nationally-ranked shot putter
in college, Adriane's dream of making the USA Olympic Team in 2004 was
sidelined due to a serious illness. While remaining competitive following her recovery,
Adriane discovered another field of competition in which she could test her
strength and technique with heavy implements.

 

Meme  (39min)

Paola Oliveras Garcia, Guaynabo, PR

The recently independent Namibia now suffers a different
war. The epidemic of AIDS affects everybody. But in a country where sexual
matters are considered private, and women's survival depends on men, the women
tend to suffer most of the consequences. Yet, for the fist time, the 'Memes'
are standing up to their social and cultural carries by using the most powerful
weapon they have: Their Voice.

 

The First 70 
(30min)

Jarratt Moody, San Francisco, CA

Last May, California announced plans to close one quarter of
their 278 parks, a devastating move that is intended to save the state a mere
$22 million per year. The closure list includes thousands of acres of park
land, recreation areas, wildlife reserves, and 50% of the state's historic
parks. By July 2012 Californians will be bereft of 70 magnificent natural
parks.

 

Not One of Us (different is weird)  (2min)

Cameron MacKenzie, Fargo,ND

”I wanted to do a short film about bullying...a HUGE
problem. I know. I'm a 14-yr-old 8th-grader. I live in a small town that likes
to think of itself as being 'family friendly' and 'different than the big
cities of NY and LA'. But, people are people...and bullying is bullying. What I
learned in doing this film is that there are two main forms of
bullying--aggressive or active (obvious) and passive. I chose to make this film
about passive bullying because not only is passive bullying harder to prove, it
may be even more dangerous than obvious bullying.”

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 5/27 • 1-5pm

Flood Library Screen

Animations-- Same as Saturday

Short Drama

Wrigley and King, 9 min

Cornelius Murphy, Lynnfield, MA

A man attends his brother's funeral and reflects on a
childhood memory when his brother took revenge against a neighbor for killing
the family dog.

 

Impressions, 20min

Robert Schwartz, Los Angeles. CA

Two people who come from very different backgrounds have
inherited the struggles they face in a relationship.

 

Leak, 29min

beni fredman, Jerusalem, Israel

7 yr old Hadar is behaving strangely and shockingly in order
to eliminate an imaginary monster. Her father, a rich and powerful man, covers
up her behavior by silencing people with payoffs and refusing to send Hadar to
psychiatric treatment. Desperate, her mother secretly takes her to a clinic to
undergo a futuristic and risky operation for trauma removal.

 

1000 grams, 15min

Tom Bewilogua, Hamburg, Germany

A film about Flesh. Flesh in all of its meanings! A story of
two tragically colliding Worlds. Poor and Rich! An unadorned view on the
current circumstances of our reality, while the audience is flying through
society like a ghost.

 

Astray, 15min

Evan Stroum, Tigard, OR

A man awakens alone in the forest, all memories lost. As he
retraces his steps, anxiety builds until the discovery of a dead body pushes
his emotions to a boiling point as memories come flooding back.

 

Workers Leaving the Factory (10min)

Anna Linke, Weimar, Germany

Karin works in a metal factory  performing the same monotonous tasks day after day. When a
new worker arrives, it seems to be the end of this drab life.

 

Brotherly Love, 17min

Choice Skinner, Van Nuys, CA

Isaac, flees home to plead with his brother Elijah to help
him hide a terrible secret from Abraham, the eldest brother who is a strict
disciplinarian and very religious.

 

Diana , 15min

Wen-Cheng Yu, Pasadena, AK/Taiwan

Diana is young, attractive, smart, confident and cold. She
has an affair with a married man and a fight with her student in class.
Everyone makes bad decisions. So does Diana. But this time, she does it with
determination.

 

Advanced Payment, 21min

Heath Jones, New Smyrna Beach, FL

After a drunk driver kills her son and escapes prosecution,
a well-to-do woman seeks revenge on her own. She buys an unregistered gun from
a back alley thug, who quickly recognizes her as an easy target and teaches her
a hard lesson about street justice.

 

Caught, 20min

Elizabeth Page, Brooklyn, NY

Hannah has spent her life trying to do the right thing, but
she can not catch a break, or win the sought after affection of her mother, nor
the respect of her brother. Hannah finds solace in baseball from the time she
is young. This family strife culminates on the ballfield during the playoffs.

 

Dog Eat Dog, 7min

Curtis Jensen, Thunder Bay, ON

Tony, a mafia boss, has grown tired of Fluffy, his
neighbour’s dog, pooping on his lawn. Instead of dealing with his grievances
civilly, Tony hires Chester and Louis take the dog out. The two hit men accept
the job, even though Louis feels like the job is an insult to his abilities.

 

Alienated, 5:30min

Piper Kroeze, North Hollywood, CA—Student Entry

John is an extra-terrestrial living on another planet but
decides it's best for him to travel to earth to start a new chapter in his
life, against the will of his father. John is still waiting for his slahfle, a
body part that grows on the forehead of each alien at a certain age, to come
in, in order to regain the respect of his elders as a man.

 

The Light, 14min

Kajsa Ribbing, Stockholm,Sweden

It's all about love - and life - when an old and dying
author writes his last novel about a young couple and the games they play.