I'll be out there to present the awards on Saturday night, so come on out and join me! All movies will either be screened at:

The House Cafe
263 E. Lincoln Hwy.
DeKalb, IL 60115
815.787.9547
www.thehousecafe.net
(By the way, the House is an incredible place to catch some jazz music. I highly recommend it.)

or

The NIU Art Building
Room 100
Directions can be found here.

Here are the details on all of the movies.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 / The House Café, 9 – 11 p.m.

1. F--- Art! (3:22) - Sarah Kim, Northern Illinois University
o A short documentary about a pretentious artist who fails at having his work connect with others which leaves him frustrated and alone.

2. Turbo’d (7:00) – Sebastien Austin, Virginia Wesleyan College
o This documentary depicts the hobby of racing. The video interviews 20-year old Ryan and his love for cars, racing, and motorcycles. With interviews and footage of the life of a race track, this documentary shows the fast lifestyle of automobiles.

3. Eight Wheel Drive (10:10) – Bryan Perry, University of Georgia
o Athens, Georgia is home to the classic city Rollergirls made up of characters like Interceptor, Shanimal, and Carmen SlamDiego. Eight Wheel Drive examines this young roller derby league to discover the commitment, the passion, and the excitement these women have over this female-dominant sport.

4. The Patch (19:50) – Nate George, University of Iowa
o A true story of injustice, greed, and corruption in America’s heartland. The film tells the unheard story of the local and national fight against the ‘Pharmchek Drugs of Abuse Patch,’ a faulty drug testing method used by the federal court system.

5. Shelter or: Ode to a Materialistic World (22:00) – Andrew McCormick, Fernando Rivera, Northern Illinois University
o Shelter is a brief glimpse into three individuals and a family, all of whom are living at a homeless shelter in DeKalb, IL (Hope Haven). It juxtaposes the reality of poverty with the fantasyland of advertising, illustrating just how disconnected those two worlds are.

6. Stars of Ohio (32:00) – Lindsay Byrne, California Institute of the Arts
o My film follows a production of a play called “House for Sale” in my home town of Tiffin, Ohio. It also explores the hardships my town faces, and my personal relationship with the town and its people.

Friday, April 4, 2008 / NIU Art Building, Room 100, 7 – 9 p.m.

1. A People Thing (10:00) – Molly Smith, Florida State University
o As the first African American football player in the south, Ray Bellamy endured a lot of hardship during a crucial time in America’s history. In doing so, he helped desegregate college football as an athlete at the University of Miami in the late 1960s.

2. With Liberty the WM3 (13:00) – Jennifer Rayphole, Jennifer Likeum, Northern Illinois University
o On May 5th, 1993, three 8-year old boys were murdered in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas. Soon after, three teens, Damien, Jason, and Jesse were convicted. With a lack of physical evidence, their conviction was based only on their clothing, music, and religion. Featuring Mara Leveritt “The Boys on the Tracks,” “The Devil’s Knot,” and case specialist, Kathy Giles.

3. Bone Diggers (20:00) – Adam Ford, Northern Illinois University
o Joe Peterson (a Geology professor at NIU and paleontologist) took a group of students out to Montana for a dig. This is their story.

4. Beneath the Surface (25:00) – Phil Ridgway, Chris Kelly, Susan Carlson, Northern Illinois University
o An in-depth look at a youth’s struggles to overcome family life and his own homelessness.

5. Rink of Fire (25:34) – Paul Foster, Rowan University
o Rink of Fire is the inspiring story of a group of women who participate in roller derby in the Philadelphia area. For one of the teams, the sisterhood helps them through all aspects of life.

Saturday, April 5, 2008 / NIU Art Building, Room 100, 7 – 9 p.m.

1. Derby Girls (7:00) – Joanna Durham, Old Dominion University
o This is a short documentary about our local roller derby team, The Dominion Derby Girls. Unlike other documentaries, we focus less on the technical aspects of the sport and more on the good it does for the women involved, and their community.

2. Loose Change in Nicholls, Georgia (11:00) – Michael Barile, Florida State University
o A true crime documentary about a bank robbery that occurred in a small town of South Georgia in the summer of 1981. Growing up I always heard the story of how it was so well planned, and thought that it could make an interesting documentary.

3. Speed Limit 120: The First Skydive (13:50) – David Hill, University of Georgia
o Four people are interviewed about their expected reactions before they go skydiving for the first time. Cameras follow them though the entire process – including the jump – and film every part of their ride along the way to see if their reactions differ from their earlier thoughts.

4. When I was 19 (18:49) – Mike Copeland, Sarah Cruz, Laura Clements, Jessica Veseskis, Florida State University
o Our film focuses on the hardships that young veterans of the war in Iraq face as they return from deployment in a unique and dangerous environment and attempt to adapt to a college setting. They are forever changed by the experiences they have had and deal with the repercussions of war in different ways.

5. Blowing Smoke (23:40) – Will Kaufman, Rowan University
o Blowing Smoke uncovers the harmful truths about smoking marijuana by showing the wrecked lives of young people who have suffered the pain and tragedy of marijuana addiction.

6. Eyes of the Storm (25:00) – Danny Bourque, University of New Orleans
o Eyes of the Storm tells the story of The Times-Picayune newspaper photographers who stayed behind and covered the devastation of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, recalled in their own words two years later.