Opening: January 6
Venue: IFC Center/New York City
Film: Garbage Dreams
Dir./Prod: Mai Iskander
Distributor: Wynne Films
http://www.garbagedreams.com/
Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world's largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen-Arabic for "garbage people." Far ahead of any modern "Green" initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.
Opening: January 6
Venue: Film Forum/New York City
Film: Sweetgrass
Recordist: Lucien Castaing-Taylor
Producer: Ilisa Barbash
Distributor: The Cinema Guild
http://sweetgrassthemovie.com/
An unsentimental elegy to the American West, Sweetgrass follows the last modern-day cowboys to lead their flocks of sheep up into Montana's breathtaking and often dangerous Absaroka-Beartooth mountains for summer pasture. This astonishingly beautiful yet unsparing film reveals a world in which nature and culture, animals and humans, vulnerability and violence are all intimately meshed.
Opening: January 8
Venue: IFC Center/New York City
Film: In Search of a Memory
Director: Petra Seeger
Distributor: Icarus Films
http://icarusfilms.com/new2009/mem.html
Memory is everything. Without it we are nothing," says neuroscientist Eric Kandel, winner of the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking research on the physiology of the brain's storage of memories. As he explains, memory is the glue that binds our mental life together and provides a sense of continuity in our lives.
In Search of Memory is a compelling blend of autobiography and history that recounts the life of one of the most important neuroscientists of the 20th century and illuminates scientific developments in our understanding of the brain's role in recording and preserving memory. In addition to archival footage and dramatic re-creations of Kandel's childhood experiences in Nazi-occupied Vienna and his formative years as an emigrant in New York, the film features discussions with Kandel, friends and family, as well as his public lectures in Vienna and New York, which explore both his professional and personal life, especially his emotional ties to Judaism.
Both through its personal journey into the memory of this amazingly spry and witty 79-year old, especially his traumatic experiences during the Holocaust, and a visit to his Columbia University laboratory, where Kandel and his colleagues demonstrate their experimental research, In Search of Memory examines how the brain stores memories, the difference between short-term and long-term memory, Alzheimer's and age-related memory loss, and structural modifications to the brain that enhance memory.
In revisiting the people, places and objects of Kandel's lifetime experiences, In Search of Memory reveals how everything we undergo changes the brain, even our genetic make-up, and can determine the focus of a life's work.
Opening: January 8
Venue: Roxie Cinema/San Francisco
Film: MINE
Director: Geralyn Pezanoski
Producer: Erin Essenmacher
Distributors: Film Movement; iTunes
http://www.mine-the-movie.blogspot.com/
Hailed as "absorbing," "a must see," "Oscar material" and "the best movie at SXSW," MINE is a documentary about the essential bond between humans and animals, set against the backdrop of one of the worst natural disasters in modern US history: Hurricane Katrina. This gripping, character-driven story follows New Orleans residents as they attempt the daunting task of trying to reunite with their pets who have been adopted by families all over the country, and chronicles the custody battles that arise when two families love the same pet. Who determines the fate of the animals--and the people--involved? A compelling meditation on race, class and the power of compassion, MINE examines how we treat animals as an extension of how we view and treat each other.
Opening: January 8
Venue: Cinema Village/New York City
Film: Waiting for Armageddon
Directors: Franco Sacchi, Kate Davis, David Heilbroner
Distributor: First Run Features
http://www.waitingforarmageddon.com/
America's 50-million strong Evangelical community is convinced that the world's future is foretold in Biblical prophecy--from the Rapture to the Battle of Armageddon. This astonishing documentary explores their world--in their homes, at conferences and on a wide-ranging tour of Israel. By interweaving Christian, Zionist, Jewish and critical perspectives along with telling archival materials, the filmmakers probe the politically powerful--and potentially explosive--alliance between Evangelical Christians and Israel...an alliance that may set the stage for what one prominent Evangelical leader calls "World War III."
Opening: January 29
Venue: Cinema Village/New York City
Film: The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Directors/Producers: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
Distributor: First Run Features
http://www.mostdangerousman.org/
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a leading Vietnam War strategist, concludes the war is based on decades of lies. He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon's resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.
Opening: January 29
Venue: IFC Center/New York City
Film: Off and Running
Director/Producer: Nicole Opper
Producer: Sharese Bullock
Distributor: First Run Features
http://offandrunningthefilm.com/
With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers--one mixed-race and one Korean--Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she's always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of. But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. Off and Running follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves.