September - December, 2003
Program schedule:
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September 26 : Games People Play
Two
Tales of Cut-throat Competition
Just
Like Golf (E.S. Woschensky, 2002) 28 minutes
 It takes
a certain, rare kind of person to smash a school bus. But in Little
Valley, New York, we find quite a few characters craving to crash ten
tons of brightly painted steel. The Foster brothers, and a few daring
colleagues, work hard to prepare their busses for the annual demo, a
local celebration in carnage, destruction and glory. Kenny, Herbie,
Ronny and the other drivers take pride in their work, but through the
colorful conversion from school transport to kamikaze battling ram,
they see themselves as no different from anybody else.
Just Like Golf
documents the 2001 Cattaraugus County Fair School Bus Demolition Derby
and the people crazy enough to compete in the arena. Capturing the
absurdity of everyday life, Just
Like Golf weaves images of the county fair, local mechanics'
shops, and interviews with the participants of the event, culminating
in a jaw-dropping view of what a school bus demo is all about.
Scrabylon
(Scott Peterson, 2003) 50 minutes
 Scrabylon is a
documentary on the cut-throat world of tournament Scrabble.
Featuring the most fierce anagrammers, rack balancers, and bingo
experts in competitive Scrabble, Scrabylon delves deep into this
sometimes wacky, sometimes odd, always compelling subculture.
Shot primarily during the 2001 World Scrabble Championships in Las
Vegas, Scrabylon features players from around the globe and gives an
up-close look at why people get so obsessed with that seemingly benign
game played at countless kitchen tables.
Scrabylon spotlights GI (gastro-intestinal) Joel Sherman, the world’s
only professional Scrabble player - so named for his various stomach
ailments; Jim Geary, a quick-witted professional gambler and all-around
gamesman; Matt Graham, a stand-up comic from New York City; Chris Cree,
a funny Texan who once won $256,000 gambling in Las Vegas during a
Scrabble tournament; Joe Edley, the Zen Scrabble master and only 3-time
National Scrabble Champ; Brian Cappelletto, an options trader and the
first Scrabble prodigy; Robin Pollock Daniel, a trained psychologist
and the highest-rated woman on the Scrabble scene plus many other
eccentric characters.
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October 24: Let Loose The Dogs
of War:
Two Tales of U.S. Enemies
Afghan
Stories (Taran Davies, 2002) 60 min.
 The
West's battle against the Taliban is only the latest of a series of
conflicts the Afghans have suffered over the last 24 years. Filmmaker
Taran Davies and Walied Osman, an Afghan-American, set out to gain an
understanding of how a generation of war has affected the Afghan
people. From Queens, New York to the frontline in Afghanistan, Taran
and Walied spend time with several Afghan families. They meet a member
of the royal family who was tortured by the Taliban, a doctor and
journalist stuck in a one room apartment with their four children, a
relief worker trying to rebuild his country one road at a time, a town
elder who dedicated his life to peace and his warrior son who fought
alongside the Soviets. "Afghan Stories" is not only an intimate and
penetrating portrait of the Afghan struggle to survive, but a unique
look at some of the challenges the Afghans face building a permanent
peace.
 Bridge to Baghdad I,
filmed two weeks before the start of what was to become “Operation
Iraqi Freedom,” put the youth of New York City and the youth of Baghdad
in dialogue with one another about the future of the nations which
someday they will govern. In New York, viewers met an array of young
Americans, from ex- Marine Eric, to anti-war activist Alcy. Out of
Baghdad came the voices of Iraqi teenagers: educated, opinioned, and
poised to speak their minds about the impending war.
 Bridge
to Baghdad II allows two groups to resume the conversation that was cut
short by a war, the young Americans and Iraqis hold another satellite
dialogue. They are finally able to ask the questions which have been
burning inside them for weeks: What happened during the war? How do you
feel now that Saddam is gone from power? Were there things you wanted
to say last time but could not because of the regime? The American and
Iraqi youth together tackle the largest question of all: what now?
Bridge to Baghdad II, like its predecessor, compliments the
conversation with dramatic documentary footage that details the daily
life of youth in Iraq. It is a new take on the American-Iraqi conflict.
Free from the restraints of Iraqi dictatorship and American mainstream
media, the hour-long program provides a human connection to the
struggles facing Iraq today. This is not the standard “talking head”
reporters, Bridge to Baghdad II is told by the fresh young faces of
America and Iraq who speak frankly and directly about the hopes and
fears of a new life in a free society.
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November 21: Put Down Your
Latte & March!
Two Tales from the Protest
Lines
Who's Not Irish? (Lyell
Davies, 2002) 27 min.
 A documentary about the exclusion of
Irish lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender people from the St
Patrick’s Day Parade in New York. This parade’s conservative organisers
have resisted queer inclusion, somehow believing that being queer and
Irish is not possible. It also shows the work done by activists to
start their own inclusive parade, which in a true spirit of Irishness
welcomes all “whether Irish by birth, heritage or simply by affection.”
 Reverend Billy,
a.k.a. Bill Talen, is an actor/performance artist and a leading
figure in the anti-globalization movement. His work combines the
forces of social and political change with the means of theater arts to
counteract our media culture. His artistic and political work is
influenced by various concepts of "street theater." His
disruptions or "shopping interventions" in public spaces are in
the tradition of the Living Theater, José Bové,
Lenny Bruce, The Yippies. New York Times theater critic Jonathan
Kalb calls his work "the most hilarious and pointed political
theater in New York, something that has to be done in the risky
environment of the street." The actions/performances inside and
outside of Starbucks coffee shops and Disney stores often end with
the Reverend being arrested. He calls it stepping into
somebody's imagined box. The police call it illegal
trespassing. The Reverend claims that social change always
begins with civil disobedience and includes as his heroes the
civil rights, peace and labor movements.
The
film follows the Reverend's "shopping interventions/actions" into
cultural dead zones within the island of Manhattan such as
Starbucks, Disney and the New York University construction site at
the Edgar Allan Poe House.
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December: No Films
Scheduled. Happy Holidays!
January - May, 2004: Program
to be announced.
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