The Second International

By Independent Film Makers

For Independent Film Makers

DeREEL Independent Film Festival

dIff 2OO8

17th April to 27th April 2008

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Films

Screening Times

Thursday 17th April			Beth Weizmann Centre 306 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield South
8pm
Israeli Intelligence	45	Israel	Rami Haruvi, a daring Mossad Agent, is sent to rescue the abducted US ambassador. If Rami fails, the annual Mossad agent vacation to the Olga Resort will be cancelled. The Mossad Head brings a new agent to join Rami, the daughter of a mythological Mossad agent named Shuki. Rami and the new agent climb a professional and emotional rollercoaster that culminates in a surprising finale. Are the Americans good? Are the terrorists bad? Everything becomes dwarfed in comparison with the real question: will the Mossad Head take his annual dream-vacation at the Olga Resort?	Alon Gur Arye
(S)election	59	Israel	Filmmaker Ronen Amar (''My Family's Pizza'') documents two protagonists whose only common denominator is the sleepy southern town they come from. Amar follows his cousin Eyal, a successful architect-contractor who decides to run for mayor and kick up dust. He also follows his friend Koko, a stoner on an eternal soul search. With municipal elections raging in the background, Amar's protagonists stand at critical junctures in their lives. How will their s[elections] shape the director's future as well?	Ronen Amar

10pm
Operation Mural	55	Israel	Forty-five years after their clandestine mission, three Mossad agents return to Casablanca to retrace their steps in a humanitarian mission whereby 530 Jewish children reached Israel in 1961, under the guise of holidays in Switzerland. A special collective passport system was initiated, and then used with royal consent for the aliyah of 100,000 Jews in “Operation Yakhin” (1962-64). This film vividly documents how “Operation Mural” (16 March - 24 July 1961) succeeded beyond all expectations.	Yehuda Kaveh

Saturday 19 April			Beaufort Community Centre 27 Pratt St, Beaufort
9.30am
Now You See Me, Now You Don't	29	Hungary	It seemed like an ordinary day. Dad is experimenting in the lab, Mom is at home boiling water, while their six-year-old son, Alex, is playing around her. But this day is different. This day Dad brings something home from the lab. And the next morning... Alex becomes invisible.	Attila Szasz
My Home - Your War	52	Australia	Shot in Baghdad over three years, before, during and after the Coalition attack on Iraq, MY HOME-YOUR WAR takes us inside the home of an Iraqi family as they deal with the disruptions and terror of war as it affects their daily lives. Meet Layla, her shy teenager son who she suspects is working with the anti-US resistance, her workaholic husband and her once radical sister .This film is not only a historical document of the Middle East, it is a personal account of how these changing times are playing out in Arab women's lives, and how Iraqi women have become the first casualties of denied democracy.	Kylie Grey

11am
Hard Rain	77	Australia	Traversing five countries - China, France, UK, Japan and Australia, A Hard Rain exposes the hidden agendas behind the latest push for Australia to go nuclear and presents a compelling--and frightening--argument against allowing this to happen.	David Bradbury

12.30pm
Team Everest: A Himalayan Journey	111	Nepal,U S A	'Team Everest: A Himalayan Journey' chronicles a remarkable group of trekkers as they set out on an unprecedented expedition to reach the world's greatest mountain. If they succeed, they'll be the largest group of people with disabilities ever to reach Mount Everest Base Camp.	Andrew Cockrum

2.30pm
PK-Granny	2	U S A	A little old lady is mugged by a man on a bicycle. Is there no one around who can help her?	Jo Meuris
The Job	4	U S A	The immigration debate just got a little funnier!	Jonathan Browning
The Note	4	Czech Republic	'I love you' the piece of paper informed him.	Jon Greenhalgh
Simulacra	5	U S A	In the Vast universe, there's one robot planet which overthing in that planet is machine and robot .One day, one robot found that there's one organic life exist in his world. Then, He decide to get that piece.	Tatchapon Lertwirojkul
Zoologic	5	U S A	A fussy zookeeper contends with an uncooperative little penguin.	Nicole Mitchell
Distant Memory	10	Germany	During the Nazi period in Germany, young Marie meets the Jewish clown Jakob who gives away balloons for the price of a smile. But Marie cannot satisfy Jakob's wish. Through a tragic misunderstanding the situation escalates and for a while it seems as if Marie will have to owe him her smile forever. But decades later, fate brings the two of them back together again.	Michael Shafer
Partially True Tales of High Adventure!	12	U S A	Charlie is just a guy from Indiana trying to make it in Hollywood. To keep his dream alive, he'll have to rely the gifts of every mid-western kid: a love of booze and the ability to tell outrageously wild tall-tales.	Murphy Gilson
The Hitchhiker	13	Canada	A beleaguered hitchhiker discovers that getting a ride from the woman who just pulled over may require more than he'd bargained for.	Jason Goode

3.30pm
Next Exit, Main Street	75	U S A	Four young filmmakers journey from coast to coast across the U.S. to explore American Identity.	Jeff Baldo, Jeremy von Stilb

4.50pm
The Old Stores	53	Israel	This is the story of a number of old stores in modern-day Tel Aviv-Jaffa, all small businesses, 40 years old or older, who have somehow survived despite the hardships of time. The film passes between the stores and unfolds an old and aging world of tradition and family businesses, a whole fabric of life and places very different from the fast, dynamic life that surrounds us. Among the participating shops: A barber shop about to close, Mikolinsy shoes which was one of the city's most elegant shops and an Arab-owned pharmacy in Jaffa run by a father and his son.	Yoav Gerfinkel

6pm
Five	75	New Zealand	Every circle of friends has their secrets. Five friends discover theirs on their last adventure together.	Amit Tripuraneni

7.30pm
Gatos	52	Israel	The film follows 4 young Brazilians from a village that was just recently discovered by tourists. It shows the immense influence that the tourists have over the lives of the locals, and the difference between the way the tourists conceive the locals and the reality that is filmed. The arrival of foreigners to the village has created a new variety of options for self fulfillment, that doesn't go hand in hand with the economical and social possibilities of the locals.	Gali Meiri

8.30pm
Twin Rivers	108	Australia	In 1939 Australia, two brothers are travelling 500 miles on foot to follow a dream, but their loyalty to each other is challenged as the trip unfolds.	Matthew Holmes


Sunday 20th April			Beaufort Community Centre 27 Pratt St, Beaufort
9.20am
From the heart of Odessa	60	Netherlands	Alec Kopyt, a musician from Amsterdam returns to Moldavanka - the former Jewish neighbourhood of Odessa - his place of birth and the cradle of old-time Russian Mafia songs (Blatnyak). He is looking for musicians to play together these songs in the restaurant of an old friend. While strolling along the picturesque yards of the ruinous slums, we meet colourful Odesits who resemble the ancient heroes of the street songs we hear. A touching portrait of a neighbourhood, its music and performers.	Andre Schreuders

10.30am
Sozdar, she who lives her promise	70	Netherlands	'Sozdar, she who lives her promise' is a documentary about Nuriye Kesbir, a stubborn Kurdish woman and one of the leaders of the PKK, who ended up on a road of no return because of her personal choices.	Annegriet Wietsma

11.45am
Children of Islam	75	Sweden	Six young people. Some follow Sharia. Others fight Islamic roles. One is a hip hopper. The other thinks music is a sin. One thinks that the women must obey her husband. One fights for womens liberation. Some are closely followed by the Security Police. And it all started 9/11 2001.	Bo Harringer & Renzo Aneröd

1.15pm
Pilgrimage	22	U S A	With a hip music track and never-before-seen footage, PILGRIMAGE tells the inspiring story of how an abandoned WWII concentration camp for Japanese Americans has been transformed into a symbol of retrospection and solidarity for people of all ages, races and nationalities in our post- 9/11 world.	Tadashi Nakamura
Thunder and Reins	46	U S A	From zero to 35 mph in a matter of seconds! Experience the strength, stamina and courage it takes to become a Kentucky Derby Winning Jockey! This is the story of some of the least celebrated of all athletes.	Bruce Skinner

2.30pm
The Bridge - Most	12	Austria	The Bridge...based on a true events... Bosnia & Herzegovina 1992. Most of the people who took part in the film experienced this terrible happening in 1992 personally.The aim of this film is to produce a memorial for those people and other victims.	Haris Bilajbegovic
Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey	54	Canada	Cops Say Legalize Drugs: Ask Me Why	Connie Littlefield

3.45pm
Marcelino and Bartolomeo: 'Bye-Bye!'	2	Canada	Marcelino and Bartolomeo are playing an old computer video game at their office when they are supposed to be working. Unfortunately, their boss shows up!	Mario Pochat
Flutterby	4	Australia	Flutterby is Australia's answer to the Silly Symphonies	Jack Parry
Fault	4	USA	He's out of his element, driving his little red ego, strait into hell. What would be fun to watch, and fun to make? The story of a guy we all love to hate.	Stewart Shaw
Tripe and onions	6	Hungary	A small piece of the vanishing time meets two men. They understand each other without words.	Marton Szirmai
OCCUPIED	9	Austria	Traveling gives you plenty to talk about. - But you better don't!S he's at the airport, waiting. But not only for her plane to leave. Something essential is missing in order for the action, planned long ago, to take place. The hand-over is successful. The pressure is on. The plane takes off. She has smuggled everything she needs aboard. Nobody saw or noticed anything. So go! All moves have been carefully studied. The goal clearly within reach. Let the mission begin?	Christian Filek
Lucky dip	12	United Kingdom	Joe, a work-shy dreamer fantasises about winning the lottery. Under pressure from friends and his girlfriend he seeks work, but fails to notice when his girlfriend wins a competition he entered on her behalf. Angry with his lack of interest she leaves and he is left to continue his lottery fantasies.	Chaz Lyon
You and me	13	U S A	Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish reality from fiction when you make a film to remind you of your dead wife.	Pablo Fernández
Soft	14	United Kingdom	A father rediscovers his fear of confrontation, at the worst possible time.	Simon Ellis

5pm
Hold On	21	U S A	'Hold On,' starring Jackie Julio, Doug Olear ('The Wire,' 'Something the Lord Made') and Dominic West ('300,' 'Chicago'), featuring music by Bruce Springsteen, is a quirky comedy about Rose, a spirited, quadriplegic, physicist who goes to extreme measures in her quest for romance. This engaging, short film is sprinkled with absurdity and symbolism, adding a little spice for the consummate film lover.	Doug Olear, Jackie Julio
Tumbling After	43	Canada	Things unravel for wanna-be burlesque dance stars when troupe manager falls for the new girl.	Bryan Skinner

6.15pm
Passenger	4	India	Identity. Destiny. Sympathy. Question everything.	Dipankar Mukherjee
The Golden Thread	20	Spain	Sometimes, mystifying bonds are set up between people. Bonds which overcome distance, oblivion and unawareness. And when those bonds are created, they can become what we need to survive.	Diego Sanchidrián
Big Business, Big Union, Small Town	46	Canada	The small, quiet city of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, is caught in the middle of a global battle between one of the largest unions and the world's largest corporation - Wal-Mart.	Leif Kaldor

7.30pm
Run for Life	26	Switzerland	40 year-old Clara Klaar tells the story of her fight against leukemia. A year of unspeakable pain illustrated by the images of the Marathon des Sables, one of the most difficult foot races in the world.	Eric Grant
Jonas	45	U S A	An exploration of my brother and his struggle with schizophrenia.	Eli Daughdrill

8.45pm
Rewind	8	India	A bunch of three gambler thieves , one of whom is blind, have managed to crack a safe. The Safe has diamonds worth a million, but then greed takes over as they decide to play the barrel roulette. The guy who survives would keep the diamonds. The film moves in reverse towards the beginning as the opening of the film evolves as the climax. Atul Taishete	Atul Taishete
My way	105	Spain	'My way' is an intimist drama, with doses of a thriller, that tells the story of Marco (Ariel Casas), a small-time drug dealer who wants to quit the 'profession' and lead a normal life with his wife (Silvia Marsó), his daughter (Susana Fawaz) and his brother (Jaume García Arija). But, after the death of his mother (Asunción Balaguer), he discovers that his father (Joan Dalmau), who he hasn't seen in years, has Alzheimer's, and he decides to take him home. This new family environment, which is becoming more and more complicated and tense, as well as the shadow of his drug dealings, make things happen in a hasty and unpredictable way.	J. A. Salgot


Thursday 24th April			Beth Weizmann Centre 306 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield South
8pm
Rosh Geranium	85	Israel	Raffi Lavie, the Israeli painter, the art and classical music critic, is arguably the most influential cultural figure of his generation, an embodiment of the image of the "Sabra". The film follows Raffi Lavie, who had to give up the lease on his mythological apartment in Tel-Aviv, where he lived for 33 years with his wife Ilana and their children - when he is forced to reorganize his life, in order to relocate and begin yet another new phase in his life. Amit Goren's film makes Lavie's personality and art accessible, while remaining both entertaining and thought provoking.	Amit Goren

9.45pm
Over my dad's body	70	Israel	A documentary thriller. Filmmaker Taliya Finkel goes on a fascinating journey in order to unfold the mystery around her departed father's claims that her uncle is an undercover agent sent to Israel by the old soviet regime. Guided by a private investigator she travels from Israel to the Ukraine and back in a desperate quest to find proofs for her father's story. During the voyage, Taliya investigates the thin line that separates imagination and reality, sanity and madness.	Taliya Finkel


Saturday 26th April			Glitch Bar and Cinema 318 St Georges Rd, Nth Fitzroy
6.30pm
Tea and Physics	7	Australia	A story of black holes and renovations.Mark has a new kitchen. Mark has a swirling pan-dimensional vortex in his new kitchen.This was not in the brochure.	Michael Wannenmacher
The Urge	18	Australia	What compels a man to kill? Where does 'the urge' come from?	Michael Graves
Another Day	26	Israel	Take 3 friends. Two boys and a girl. Place them in Tel Aviv 2006, a second before high-school graduation. Let them be in love with themselves, and for all they care nobody else exists. Do you think something could break such a wild bunch?	Amit Turkenitz

7.30pm
Eshbal	56	Israel	At Eshbal boarding school - on a hill in Galilee - young socially committed kibbutz inhabitants meet young people from Ethiopia whom no other institution wants to take on. Israel’s Ethiopian community, which is still very young, is considered a ‘high-risk’ group which shows all the symptoms of impoverishment and marginalisation that lead to alcohol and drugs abuse. However, as boarding-school life shows, these young people - like the kibbutz dwellers, too - are trying to find a place in Israeli society: each in their own way.	Ziv Even Tsur

8.30pm
South Coast	85	United Kingdom	It's not East Coast. It's not West Coast. This is.... SOUTH COAST! A warm and character-driven feature documentary exploring the growth of a unique and quintessentially British form of hip hop that has flourished in the seaside towns of southern England 30 years after hip hop hit these shores.	Will Jewell

Sunday 27th April			Glitch Bar and Cinema 318 St Georges Rd, Nth Fitzroy
6.30pm
The Changing Man	3	Australia	It's just your average, everyday break up between a girl and her boyfriend, the walking signal from the pedestrian light.	Rami Fischler
Sudden Movement	7	Australia	Sudden Movement is about a hung-over University student's struggle to complete an essay on time. A trip to a cafe and multiple cups of coffee help him complete the task at hand, but soon, a more urgent and primal need surfaces. Our Hero must turn his attention to a quest for relief and in the process overcome every imaginable obstacle hampering his efforts.	Gavin Dixon
Lucky 8	7	Australia	A boy and girl born on the same supposedly lucky day of the 8th of the 8th 2008 are unlucky in everything but will they be lucky in love?	Chris Lee
The Lord Is My Shotgun	7	Australia	'The Lord Is My Shotgun' is a morally reprehensible, ethically bankrupt, violent vigilante action/noir film about a hard-bitten, take no shit detective who's reached the end of his chain.	Gabriel Dowrick
The Womb	10	Australia	Inside The Womb parents plot, plan and purchase the baby ot their dreams.	Ruth Bell
Ascension	14	Australia	Searching for the cause of a blackout late one night, exhausted trainspotter Tim mistakenly enters a neighbour's apartment, blundering into a group of cultists desperate to escape earth and ascend to the Thribelian solar system... unfortunately for Tim, they need a sacrifice!	Stephen Irwin

7.30pm
Zorki	54	Israel	Two years ago, Zohar Wagner, then 34, decided to tear away the cloak of silence that enveloped her bourgeois family. Her mother had a five year affair with a man ten years her junior, and Zohar, at the age of twelve, was an accomplice to the secret. Twenty years after the difficult episode that had torn the family apart, as the Filmmaker's Mother is selling her childhood home, the family gathers and Pandora's Box is opened. The film is called "Zorki," the family nickname for Zohar.	Zohar Wagner

8.30pm
On Death's Door	3	Australia	A group of trick or treaters get more than they bargain for when they knock on Death's door.	Q R Masters
Les Paul - Chasing Sound!	86	U S A	A verité performance-documentary depicting the eventful life and important cultural contributions of 90-year-old jazz guitarist Les Paul, 1950s pop hit-maker, inventor of overdubbing and multi-track recording, father of the solid-body electric guitar, architect of rock 'n' roll.	John Paulson

Proud Partners of the DeREEL Film Festival include:

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