April 11-15, 2019 - ashlandfilm.org - Ashland Independent Film Festival
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April 11-15, 2019
ashlandfilm.org
Photo: Darren Campbell
PO Box 218, Ashland, OR 97520
CONTENTS
Box Office & Membership 3
541.488.3823
info@ashlandfilm.org Venues, Concessions & Merchandise 5
Sponsors & Grantors 7
Parties 10
Connect with #AIFF2019
Follow us on Facebook, Indie Innovators 13
Twitter, Instagram @ashlandfilm Indie Institutions 17
Apocalypses—Expanded Cinema Tribute 18
Visit ashlandfilm.org for AIFF Learn 23
in-depth information on films,
Filmmaker TalkBack Panels 25
events, and ticket availability.
Family Programs 26
Short Film Programs 28
SAVE THE DATES! Awards & Jurors 38
Varsity World Film Week: AIFF Features 41
October 4-11, 2019 Documentary Features 42
18th Annual AIFF: Narrative Features 73
April 16-20, 2020 The AIFF Team 84
Volunteers 86
Donors & Members 88
2019 Festival art by Matthew Picton
Schedule 91
Graphic design by CarterWorks Film Index 96
Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 1
Box Office
New for AIFF2019!
Purchase tickets and view the full
schedule at ashlandfilm.org.
In addition to online ordering, you
WORTH EVERY MINUTE
can now download your tickets
to your mobile device or print
them at home!
Connecting our Communities.
Photo: Mary WilkinsKelly
TICKET PRICES
Connecting our Worlds. MARCH 25-30 Tickets go on sale to Members
Films
Regular: $14
MARCH 31 Tickets go on sale to the
Connecting our Spirits. General Public
Seniors (62+): $13
Students (w/valid ID): $6
Oregon Trail Card Holders: $5
Since 1969 Jefferson Public Radio has provided a Members: $1 off for an applicable membership
TICKET PRE-SALE & BADGE PICK-UP
connection to the people, events and ideas that shape Parties
Located at the Information Kiosk on the Plaza
Ashland, our region and our world. We’ve covered the in downtown Ashland Opening Night Bash: $35
Awards Celebration: $85
Members Pre-sale Dates:
news with a belief that informed people make better Online ordering begins at 10am PST. Box Office
& Will Call will be open every day from 4-6 pm,
FREE Events
citizens. We’ve approached music as a vital connection March 25-April 10. Ticket required: Locals Only, TalkBack Panels
Producer & above Monday, March 25 No ticket required: Family Day at
to the human spirit. Like the Ashland Independent
Director Tuesday, March 26 ScienceWorks (show member badge).
Film Festival, JPR is proud to be one of the things that Fan Wednesday, March 27
Accessibility Services: Please contact us at
Cine Thursday, March 28 access@ashlandfilm.org to request assistance and
contribute to the quality of life in Ashland and the Indie Friday, March 29 accommodations or call our office at (541) 488-3823.
Rogue Valley. It’s worth every minute you listen … Friend Saturday, March 30 For more details: ashlandfilm.org/access.
and every dollar you give. Learn more at www.ijpr.org. General Public Sunday, March 31
Online ordering begins at 10am PST. Box Office
& Will Call will be open every day from 4-6 pm at the
Kiosk March 25-April 10.
Membership
TICKETS DURING FESTIVAL Membership enhances the creative
Online at ashlandfilm.org or at the Varsity Theatre, experience: AIFF Members receive advance ticket
166 E. Main St., Ashland
ordering, first entry into films, discounts on year-round
April 11-15, 9am-10pm
special screenings, and more. Memberships are
available at ashlandfilm.org/membership.
THE FINE PRINT: TICKET POLICY & FESTIVAL RULES
No refunds or exchanges. Tickets are non-transferable.
No ticket? Join the Rush Line! All pass holders must select tickets in advance to guaran-
tee seating, and all ticket holders must be at the theater
Rush tickets will be sold at the door shortly before show-
time, as soon as all ticket holders are seated. Rush tickets 15 min. before the show to guarantee seating. Members
Classics & News 88.3 FM u Rhythm & News 89.1 FM are available on a first come, first served basis for cash or are granted entrance to theaters about 30-40 min. before
In Ashland News & Information 1230 AM & 102.3 FM paper film voucher only (no credit cards accepted). showtime. General public ticket holders are granted en-
trance about 20-25 min. before showtime.
PAGE 2 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 3
VENUES
CONCESSIONS &
Be Our Guest! MERCHANDISE
Photo: Al Case
Information Kiosk ScienceWorks
Downtown Ashland Plaza
Pre-Sale Box Office
Hands-On Museum
1500 E. Main St.
Concessions
Family Day Varsity Theatre &
Varsity Theatre Ashland Street Cinema
166 E. Main St. Ashland Community • Movie Theater Favorites
Films & Festival Box Office Center
Historic Ashland Armory 59 Winburn Way Historic Ashland Armory
208 Oak St. Live Performance • Water Street Café:
Films & Awards Celebration wraps & more
Hearsay Restaurant, • Rogue Valley Roasting
Ashland Street Cinema Lounge & Garden
ASHLAND SPRINGS HOTEL
Company: sweet treats
1644 Ashland St. 40 S. 1st St. • Noble Coffee
Films AfterLounge Roasting: coffee
Ashland Springs Hotel • Rogue Creamery
Jefferson Spirits popcorn
212 E. Main St. 145 E Main St.
Opening Night Bash & AfterLounge
TalkBack Panels Water will be available at
the Armory courtesy of
Schneider Museum of Art Liquid Assets Wine Bar Mt. Shasta Spring Water.
1250 Siskiyou Blvd. 96 N. Main St.
ASHLAND HILLS HOTEL & SUITES
Media Art Exhibition AfterLounge
Please help us decrease our
environmental impact: bring your
Hanson Howard Gallery Brickroom water bottle to fill at our venues, and
89 Oak St. 35 N. Main St. recycle whenever possible.
Media Art Exhibition AfterLounge
P-UP S
PO H
2019 AIFF
F
OP
AIF
AT
LITHIA SPRINGS RESORT
Merchandise
Sold at Travel Essentials, 252 E. Main St.
On sale now until April 20
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10am-5:30pm
& Sunday, 11am-5pm
Short Sleeve T-shirt
INN AT THE COMMONS
(men’s and women’s): $20
FOUR BOUTIQUE HOTELS Long Sleeve T-shirt
(men’s and women’s): $25
THREE FARM-TO-TABLE RESTAURANTS | TWO ORGANIC SPAS Field Bag: $25
Baseball Cap: $20
BOOK YOUR NEXT STAY: NEUMANHOTELGROUP.COM Poster: $5
100% of sales benefit AIFF
PAGE 4 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 5
SPONSORS & GRANTORS
We own it. We run it. Presenting Sponsors
We love it!
Ashland’s only resident-owned 55+ community
supports AIFF!
Ashland Springs Hotel
A 55 + Community
857 Mountain Meadows Dr., Ashland, OR 97520
(800) 337-1301, www.mtmeadows.com
Voted America’s Best by National Council on Senior’s Housing.
PAGE 6 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 7
Sustaining Sponsors Contributing Sponsors Grantors
CarterWorks
graphic design
1994-2019
Community Sponsors
Blue Toba Jefferson Farm Kitchen Rogue Ales
Branson’s Chocolates Jefferson Spirits Rogue Credit Union
Buttercloud Bakery Kriselle Cellars Rogue Valley
and Cafe Liquid Assets Wine Bar Roasting Company
Supporting Sponsors
Cliff Creek Cellars Long Walk Vineyard RoxyAnn Winery
Dagoba Organic Mt. Shasta Spring Water Shop ‘n Kart
Chocolate Omar’s Fresh Seafood TonTon’s Artisan
Dancin Vineyards and Steaks Affections
ASHLAND FAMILY DENTISTRY, LLC
Davis, Hearn, Anderson Penny and Lulu Trium Wines
Brandt Cullen, DDS
Erik Hill, DDS & Turner, P.C. Studio Florist Upper Five Vineyard
574 Washington Street
Ashland OR 97520
Emz Blendz Soap Plaisance Ranch Water Street Cafe
APPLEGATE, OREGON Company Pronto Print Wooldridge Creek
Grizzly Peak Winery Rock Island Design Vineyard & Winery
Housing Sponsors Carrico Family
Foundation
Gardner Grout
Foundation
LGBTQ Juvenile
Justice Fund of the
Equity Foundation
Where guests
are treated
Raymond Family
matthewpicton.com
like family... Foundation
Ashland Commons The Peerless Hotel & Restaurant
www.OakStreetStation.com
Second Spring Properties Thank you to all our Sponsors
Casita Sirena
whose support was confirmed
A special thank you to the Rogue Valley residents who provided housing after our publication deadline.
for filmmakers and festival guests.
PAGE 8 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 9
FESTIVAL EVENTS Awards
Celebration
Sunday, April 14, 7:30–11pm
Historic Ashland Armory
Tickets: $85
(includes small plates, dessert, & drinks)
Put on your party clothes and toast the Juried
and Audience Award winners while dining on
delicious food and drink from the Rogue Valley’s
finest restaurants, breweries, and wineries.
PARTIES
AIFF welcomes back Warren
Etheredge as our host for the
Awards Celebration. Warren is a
teacher, producer, author, play-
wright, interviewer, public speaker,
veteran festival programmer and
Emmy®-nominated television host.
Opening Night Bash
Savor the Rogue® presented by founding sponsor Rogue Creamery
Thursday, April 11, 7-10pm | Ashland Springs Hotel | Tickets: $35
Meet and mingle with the filmmakers and festival guests of AIFF2019 and enjoy a
selection of award-winning cheeses paired with appetizers, artisan chocolate, beer,
and wine from around the Rogue Valley.
Tasting Tables – Beverage Tasting Tables – Food No Host Bar Campbell
Mary WilkinsKelly, Darren
Apple Outlaw Cider Rogue Creamery Dancin Vineyards Photos: Steve Addington,
Cliff Creek Cellars Buttercloud Bakery and Café Grizzly Peak Winery
Eliana Wines Flip Irvine & Roberts Vineyards
Hearsay Restaurant, Ledger David Cellars Appetizers Dessert & Coffee Quady North Winery
Ledger David Cellars
Lounge & Garden Platt Anderson Cellars Rogue Creamery Lillie Belle Farms RoxyAnn Winery
Long Walk Vineyard
Lillie Belle Farms Artisan Quady North Winery Artisan Chocolates Trium Wines
NW RAW Chocolates RoxyAnn Winery Small Plates Mix Bakeshop Walkabout Brewing
Plaisance Ranch NW RAW South Stage Cellars
Trium Wines
Jefferson Farm Kitchen Noble Coffee Roasting Company
Quady North Winery Omar’s Fresh Seafood
Upper Five Vineyard Ostras! Tapas and Weisinger Family Winer
Rogue Ales and Steaks No Host Bar*
Walkabout Brewing Company Bottle Shop Wooldridge Creek
RoxyAnn Winery Truffle Pig Craft Kitchen
Wooldridge Creek Standing Stone Apple Outlaw Cider Vineyard & Winery
Weisinger Family Winery Vineyard & Winery Denny DeBey, Ashland’s blacksmith for Dancin Vineyards
Brewing Company
Photos: Steve Addington, Mary WilkinsKelly over 40 years, designed and hand-
crafted the forged steel film reel given Taqueria Picaro Grizzly Peak Winery *Your first drink is on
to our award-winning filmmakers. Taj Indian Cuisine Ledger David Cellars the house!
AfterLounge Nightly 8pm-1am
Keep the conversation going at the no-host, no-cover
AfterLounge. Enjoy some food and a fine selection of
beverages and join the festival community each night AIFF Festival Wine
for the best after party in town! Weisinger Family Winery, 3150 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland
Thursday, April 11 Ashland Wine Cellar, 38 Lithia Way, Ashland
Liquid Assets Wine Bar Swing out to Weisinger Family Winery or drop by Ashland Wine Cellar to
purchase the new AIFF Festival Wine—a 2016 Grenache featuring grapes
Friday, April 12
grown by South Stage Cellars and wine made by Weisinger Family Winery.
Hearsay Restaurant, Lounge This Grenache opens with elegant rose petal, spice, white pepper, and ripe
& Garden raspberries on the nose. Bright acidity and lighter body leads the palate to
Saturday, April 13 dark berries, smooth tannins, and a dry, lingering finish.
Brickroom Karaoke starts at 9pm 100% of wine sales support AIFF!
Sunday, April 14
PAGE 10
PAGE 10 Jefferson
Purchase Spirits
tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 11
INDIE INNOVATORS
ROGUE AWARD
Alex Rivera &
Cristina Ibarra
A lex Rivera is a filmmaker who, for the past twenty
years, has been telling new, urgent, and visually
adventurous Latino stories. His work illuminates two
massive and parallel realities: the globalization of
information through the internet, and the globalization
of families and communities through mass migration. Rivera’s first feature “ I come from a family of border
film, Sleep Dealer, a science-fiction feature set on the U.S./Mexico border, won crossers, we have been crossing
awards at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, the border for generations. I grew
and had a commercial release in the U.S., France, Japan, and other countries.
up in El Paso, Texas, but my family,
His latest film, The Infiltrators, co-directed with Cristina Ibarra, won both the
divided by luck and history, is
NEXT Jury and Audience awards at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.
Cristina Ibarra has been making award-winning films for PBS that explore
split across the U.S./Mexico border.
the U.S.-Mexico border for the past sixteen years. Her most recent documentary,
I use visual media as a way to
Las Marthas, premiered on Independent Lens in 2014. The New York Times come home to the landscape of
called it “a striking alternative portrait of border life”. Her PBS documentary my memories, and to bridge the
collaboration, The Last Conquistador, had a national broadcast on POV and distance between my homeland
Dirty Laundry: A Homemade Telenovela, her first short fiction, won multiple and the larger American social
awards and was broadcast on PBS. With Alex Rivera, she directed the and political discourse.”
Energy for life. Sundance Film Festival sensation, The Infiltrators.
Events with Alex Rivera
– Cristina Ibarra
“The idea of ‘the illegal immi-
grant’ is one of the most potent
& Cristina Ibarra stories of our era. As a filmmaker
We work hard to ensure the safe and reliable who has grown up connected
delivery of natural gas. Because it helps keep The Infiltrators to immigrant lives, I’ve been
modern life possible. Friday, April 12, 6:00pm |
interested in disrupting those
Historic Ashland Armory
stories. For example, the stories
Sleep Dealer around immigration that we
Saturday, April 13, 10:10am | Varsity 3 most often encounter are that
Monday, April 15, 12:10pm | Varsity 4 immigrants are criminals,
invaders, etc., but on the other
Las Marthas side, in more liberal circles,
Saturday, April 13, 3:30pm | Varsity 5 there is a fascination about immi-
grants as victims, dying in the
TalkBack: Art Against the
borderlands and so on. I’ve been
myavista.com Wall: Illuminating the Border
interested in a third space—not
Friday, April 12, 10:00-11:30am |
Ashland Springs Hotel
victims, not criminal, but rather
something more like... people.”
– Alex Rivera
PAGE 12 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 13
INDIE INNOVATORS INDIE INNOVATORS
PRIDE AWARD Queer Intersectionality
B. Ruby Rich A Program of Four Films Curated and
Presented by B. Ruby Rich
The original New Queer Cinema movement of the late 80s and early 90s came
B. Ruby Rich is a Professor of Film and Digital Media at University of
California, Santa Cruz and Editor in Chief of Film Quarterly (UC
Press), the oldest film journal in the U.S. A renowned film critic and scholar,
blasting into public consciousness at a time of immense peril: the AIDS epidemic,
the Reagan/Bush years, and the jeopardizing of tenuous gay and lesbian rights.
Today, with genderqueer and pansexual identities on the rise, a #MeToo move-
ment in full swing, and with more serious threats to people of color, women,
she writes widely in both the scholarly and academic press. Credited with
queers and their allies than at any time since WW2, queer cinema is reclaiming
coining the term “New Queer Cinema,” she is the author of New Queer
its legacy of intersectionality—putting queerness in juxtaposition and dialogue
Cinema: The Director’s Cut (Duke, 2013) and Chick Flicks: Theories and with kindred communities and crossover issues of society, aesthetics, and culture.
Memories of the Feminist Film Movement (Duke, 1998). Her career includes We are all mongrels today, and only the pure bloods and the blue bloods need fear
stints as Director of the Electronic Media and Film Program at the New contamination. With the Ashland Independent Film Festival, I am delighted to be
York State Council on the Arts and Associate Director of the Film Center reclaiming an important legacy for our political and artistic future. – B. Ruby Rich
of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Rich received the 2006
Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Society for Cinema From Baghdad to the Bay with guest director Erin Palmquist
and Media Studies, the 2007 James Grubner Award for outstanding LGBT Friday, April 12, 6:40pm | Varsity 3
scholarship from Yale University, and, in June 2017, she was honored in
B. Ruby Rich is the recipient of the 2019 AIFF Pride
London with an exhibition, “Being Ruby Rich” presented by the Barbican Award, supported by the LGBTQ Juvenile Justice Stories of Our Lives
Center and Birkbeck College. Fund of the Equity Foundation Friday, April 12, 9:10pm | Varsity 4
Strong Island with guest director Yance Ford (via Skype)
Saturday, April 13, 6:40pm | Varsity 3
Young Soul Rebels with guest director Isaac Julien
Sunday, April 14, 12:40pm | Varsity 3
Lose yourself Filmmaker and installation artist, Isaac Julien CBE RA, was born
in great stories.
in 1960 in London, where he currently lives and works. His multi-
screen film installations and photographs incorporate different
artistic disciplines to create a poetic and unique visual language.
His 1989 documentary-drama exploring author Langston Hughes
and the Harlem Renaissance titled Looking for Langston garnered
Julien a cult following, while his 1991 debut feature Young Soul
Rebels won the Semaine de la Critique prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Erin Palmquist is an award winning documentary filmmaker who
has worked for independent filmmakers as well as Lucasfilm,
National Geographic Explorer, and PBS. Her first feature-length
documentary F rom Baghdad to The Bay won the J ury Award for
Best DocumentaryatCinequest and Best Film–Programmer's
Award for Excellence a
t OUTshine Miami. Her first short documentary BDSM: It’s Not
What You Think!premiered at the Frameline32 Film Festival in 2008.
Yance Ford is a Sundance Institute Fellow, a Creative Capital
Grantee, and winner of the International Documentary Association
Emerging Filmmaker Award of 2017. A graduate of the Production
Workshop at Third World Newsreel, he is a former series producer
of the PBS anthology series POV. The Root 100 recently named
Ford among the most influential African Americans of 2017.
www.soptv.org 541.779.0808
PAGE 14 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 15
INDIE INSTITUTIONS
ELECTRIFY YOUR RIDE FESTIVAL
TRIBUTE TOGUESTS
WITH THE ALL-ELECTRIC Kino Lorber, Inc.
CHEVROLET BOLT EV AND VOLT HYBRID
K ino Lorber, Inc. was founded in 2009 by industry veterans
Donald Krim and Richard Lorber. Combining the staffs,
libraries and resources of Kino International, Lorber Films and
Alive Mind Cinema, Kino Lorber quickly became a leader in
distributing the finest art-house, classic and international films.
With a library of more than 1,000 titles, Kino Lorber, Inc. releases
over 25 films per year theatrically, including five Academy Award®
nominated films in the last seven years. Recent theatrical releases
from Kino Lorber have included Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image
Book and Academy Award nominee Of Fathers and Sons.
Our tribute to Kino Lorber includes a sampling of their diverse
range of new releases, neglecting only their foreign films, which we
feature annually in Varsity World Film Week (including What Will
People Say, in 2018 and Pop Aye in 2017). Chef Flynn is an engaging
new vérité documentary about the teen culinary wunderkind, Flynn
McGarry. What is Democracy?, a Zeitgeist Film in association with
Kino Lorber, is a powerful, timely essay film exploring the evolu-
tion of democracy by Astra Taylor. Kino Lorber has restored and
2019 VOLT
rereleased one of Repo Man director Alex Cox’s finest films, which
2019 BOLT EV
he filmed in Mexico in 1991, Highway Patrolman.
ASHLAND ELECTRIC UTILITY CUSTOMERS: Chef Flynn Highway
BUY A VOLT OR BOLT TO QUALIFY FOR Thursday, April 11, 6:40pm | Patrolman
200- $300 CASH BACK!
Ashland Street Cinema with guest director
$ Alex Cox
What is Democracy? Sunday, April 14,
Sunday, April 14, 12:00pm | 6:40pm |
SEE US ABOUT ASHLAND’S Historic Ashland Armory Ashland Street
CLIMATE AND ENERGY ACTION PLAN. Cinema
Coming Attractions Theatres & the Ashland Independent Film Festival present the
Your Southern Oregon Chevy Dealer
TC Chevy –
2045 Hwy 99 N • Exit 19 • Ashland, OR
YOUR EV HEADQUARTERS! October 4-11, 2019
541-482-2411 • TCCHEVY.COM Join us this fall for a week-long celebration of films from around the world!
PAGE 16 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 17Aguirre, The Wrath of God
APOCALYPSES
Screening and Q&A with artist Matthew Picton
and actor Andrew Perez
Sunday, April 14, 3:40pm | Ashland Street Cinema
Discussing his conception of Apocalypse Now in
1979, director Francis Ford Coppola acknowl-
edged: “Aguirre, with its incredible imagery, was
A 40th Anniversary Expanded Cinema Tribute to a very strong influence.” The commonalities go
deeper—a white colonial explorer (Klaus Kinski
Apocalypse Now, and its Inspirations & Legacies as Aguirre, Marlon Brando as Colonel Kurtz)
traveling deep in the jungle, bent on conquest,
armored with western cultural trappings and seeking godlike status among the natives,
“Expanded Cinema” is cinema that reaches beyond the traditional moviegoing experience, and our tribute to is ultimately driven mad. Has the apocalypse arrived, or has colonialism simply run
its course? “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,”
Apocalypse Now expands from movies to media art, sculpture, photography, live music, and theater. noted Fredric Jameson. Artist Matthew Picton, whose sculptures in the Apocalypse
exhibition reference both Apocalypse Now and Aguirre, will introduce the screening,
Screenings & Special Guests which will be followed by the hilarious short film, My Dinner with Werner, which
co-stars guest actor Andrew Perez in the role of Klaus Kinski.
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Odyssey Also: Four feature films and a TalkBack on our Endangered Environment
Screening and Q&A with Special Guest Eleanor Coppola
Saturday, April 13, 3:40pm | Ashland Street Cinema
One Man Dies a Million Times (p. 77), Secret Screening (p. 67), Metamorphosis (p. 61), Grit (p. 49)
TalkBack: Filming and Protecting Our Endangered Environment (p. 25)
An intimate look at the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 classic Apocalypse Now,
Hearts of Darkness combines documentary interviews with outtakes from the film and For more information on these films and the TalkBack, see their pages in this catalogue.
rare documentary footage, some shot on the set by Eleanor Coppola. The film provides
a remarkably immediate look at the filmmaking process and the personalities involved.
Live Theater Performance
“The making of a film has never been documented with more penetration and truth than
in Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.” –Roger Ebert The Second Coming Of Klaus Kinski
Friday, April 14, 1:00pm & 4:00pm | Ashland Community Center
Andrew Perez comes to Ashland for a special performance of his Encore Award-winning
Special Guest: Eleanor Coppola one-man show. Klaus Kinski is one of the most celebrated yet controversial actors in
Director, Writer, Producer the history of world cinema. The reckless abandon with which he approached both life
and art left him tortured, demonized and worshipped. Before his famed collaborations
Born as Eleanor Neil in Long Beach, California in 1936, she graduated from the with director Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Nosferatu; Fitzcarraldo), Klaus
University of California, Los Angeles in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts in applied design, Kinski was a tortured B-movie character actor who had become a touring sensation
and work as a freelance designer followed. She created fabric collages and stitchery for his live wire theatrical performances. It was during this time that Kinski starred as
murals for architectural installations, and began teaching design classes at UCLA. Jesus Christ in a one-man show that had taken him a decade to write. Audiences were
Eleanor met her future husband, Francis Coppola, in 1962, while working on outraged at Kinski’s audacious portrayal of Jesus and heckled him mercilessly. After
only two performances Kinski canceled the tour. It’s now 2019 and actor-writer Andrew
Dementia 13, the first feature film he wrote and directed. Their son, Gian-Carlo, was
Perez does battle with Kinski’s demons in an effort to resurrect him and finish the job
born the following year. Another son, Roman Francois, came along in 1965. The
in one last command performance.
family re-located to San Francisco in 1969. Daughter Sofia was born two years later.
The artist became a documentary filmmaker by happenstance. While living in
the Philippines during the making of Apocalypse Now (1976-77), she began shooting “I am proud to present The Second Coming of Klaus Kinski—
off-camera activity. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, which she shot a play which contains all the layers of exploring Kinski
and was co-directed by Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper, was released in 1991 to throughout half my lifetime: the hilarity of his intensity, the
great acclaim, winning an Emmy among other honors. She has since made behind- beauty and depth of his artistic sensibilities and talent, and the darkness he created in his own life.
the-scenes documentaries on seven films directed by her family. She has written two We are all large; we all contain multitudes. Kinski had us all in him—and, deep down, we all have a
well-received books, Notes on the Making of Apocalypse Now (1979) and Notes on a bit of Kinski in us. Let us now look openly at this human and explore the questions that provokes...
Life (2008) and directed a narrative feature, Paris Can Wait (2017). hang on tightly!” –Andrew Perez
PAGE 18 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 19APOCALYPSES
A 40th Anniversary
Expanded Cinema Tribute
to Apocalypse Now, and Its
Inspirations & Legacies
Musical Performance
Alone|Together
With Caballito Negro and Bruce Bayard and Todd Barton performing live music in response to the Apocalypse exhibition!
Museum Exhibition Friday, April 12, 7:00pm | Schneider Museum of Art
Caballito Negro will present selections from their acclaimed program, Alone | Together,
an intimate tribute to futurist speculations, with science as play. Caballito Negro flutist
Tessa Brinckman and percussionist Terry Longshore perform intercultural work, in a fear-
less, ecstatic blend of modern and traditional aesthetics. Inspired by Federico García Lorca’s
poem, “Canción de Jinete” (1860), the duo collaborates with many prominent, innovative
artists, creating contemporary music that pushes the flute and percussion repertoire to new
heights, and always in the spirit of duende.
Todd Barton and Bruce Bayard create improvised
soundscapes with electronic music instruments to
accompany Bayard’s video projections. The projection,
Apocalypse Triptychs, uses the tools (code) commonly associated
April 10–May 25, 2019 | Schneider Museum of Art with web pages to create complex, ever changing, never
Opening Reception: April 10, 5-7pm for general public repeating collages of images, animations, and video.
ABOUT THE AIFF2019 ART
April 1–30, 2019 | Hanson Howard Gallery Art for this year’s festival, including the cover image for this Brinckman, Longshore, Barton, and Bayard will create a new work together as part of this adventurous concert.
Reception: April 11, 5:30-7pm, artist talk by Deborah Oropallo, 6pm catalogue, was created by Ashland-based artist Matthew
Picton, whose sculptures weave classic movie images into
striking three-dimensional assemblages. Appreciate the
On the 40th anniversary of Apocalypse Now, Richard Herskowitz original work yourself at the Schneider Museum of Art’s exhi-
and Scott Malbaurn have co-curated a multimedia art exhibition of bition, Apocalypse. You might discover imagery from Francis
works addressing themes of colonialism and apocalypse raised in Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now—is that Marlon Brando’s
head?—or references to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic masterwork.
Artists in the exhibition
Matthew Picton creates fine art sculp- eschewed paint and mixed media in favor of producing his
tures from a variety of media, informed work digitally. He currently produces video collage and Enthusiastic sponsor of the
by his studies in Politics and History at improvisational electronic music performances.
the London School of Economics. Now ashland independent film festival
Deborah Oropallo incorpo-
based in Ashland, Oregon, his work can
rates mixed media including
be found in galleries and locations world-
photomontage, computer editing,
wide, including the Portland Art Museum,
print technique, and paint. Her
the De Young Museum, The Stadt Museum, and more.
composite works utilize layered
Stephanie Syjuco creates large-scale specta- visual sources to produce a dense
cles of collected cultural objects, cumulative interplay between time, place, form, and content. Oropallo’s
archives, and temporary vending installations, work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the de Young Studio A.B
often with an active public component that in- Musuem, the Boise Art Museum, Montalvo Gallery, and
vites viewers to directly participate as produc- the San Jose Museum of Art. Ann DiSalvo
ers or distributors. Recent exhibitions include Bruce Bayard
Morehshin Allahyari is an artist,
“Being: New Photography” at the Museum of
activist, educator, and occasional cura- 621 A Street Ashland 541-482-2253
Modern Art, New York and “Public Knowl-
tor. Her work deals with the political,
edge,” at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
social, and cultural contradictions we anndisalvo.com brucebayard.com
Bruce Bayard started a pro- face every day. Morehshin is the co-
fessional art career in 1988 with author of The 3D Additivist Cookbook.
his move to southern Oregon. Her modeled, 3D-printed sculptural reconstructions of A R T M A D E H E R E
In his early career his mixed ancient artifacts destroyed by ISIS, titled Material Specu-
media paintings were exhibited lation: ISIS, have received widespread curatorial and press
in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. In 2000 he attention and have been exhibited worldwide.
PAGE 20 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 21Photo: Allison Eatman
AIFFLearn
AIFF is committed to broadening the media literacy of
Photo: Sophia Miller
audiences, young and old with AIFF Learn’s dynamic educa- AIFF Learn is made possible by the support
tional programs. In addition to TalkBack panels and AIFF of our generous supporters:
Family Day at ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum, we offer
the following: Rotary Club of Lithia Springs
The Carpenter Foundation
Teen Press trains teams of middle and high school
Carrico Family Foundation
students in video journalism and brings them to the
Festival to interview guest artists. CIty of Ashland
Festival in the Schools is a program that brings guest
filmmakers and speakers into local schools in the area to
speak with students about their careers.
School Group Screenings provide deeply discounted
screenings of independent films to groups of students from
regional schools. There are six School Group Screenings at
AIFF2019.
LAUNCH Student Film Competition invites students
from kindergarten to college to create inventive short films
and win prizes in their grade category.
OLLI Goes to AIFF is an educational program that invites
older audiences to explore the issues underlying AIFF films.
TalkBacks are three panel discussions on Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday mornings of the Festival that address issues raised
by films in the Festival program and offer insight into how
independent movies are made and distributed.
Family Day at ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum
Your only Southern Oregon Certified Organic grocer is a full day of hands-on filmmaking activities and presentations
geared towards families and kids six and older during our
annual film festival.
Within walking distance of the Varsity & Armory
LOCATED AT
237 N 1ST ST. ASHLAND HOURS OPEN DAILY • 7AM TO 9PM PHONE 541•482•2237
WEBSITE
WWW.ASHLANDFOOD.COOP
Photo: Richard A. Jacquot
PAGE 22 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 23Photo from the AIFF2018
TalkBack conversation with FESTIVAL EVENTS
Warren Etheridge and
Chris Cooper
Rolling up our sleeves
& getting down to business …
Serving the Rogue Valley as Certified Public
Accountants and Business Advisors Since 1987.
Filmmaker TalkBack Panels
Photo: Darren Campbell
We Help Our Clients Succeed. Ashland Springs Hotel Art Against the Wall: Illuminating the Border
FREE (ticket required) Friday, April 12, 10:00-11:30am
As the Mexican-American border is portrayed by our president as a space of alien invasion, major
artists who have explored the border as both a diverse living space and a charged symbolic zone
will discuss how their work illuminates the region and confronts hate. Rogue Award winners Alex
Rivera and Cristina Ibarra (including The Infiltrators, Sleep Dealer, and Las Marthas, screening at
AIFF2019) have, for two decades, illuminated the Mexican-American border as a space of both
communication and conflict. Author of more than twenty plays, Octavio Solis is considered one of
the most prominent Latino playwrights in America. His latest book is Retablos: Stories from a Life
Lived Along the Border, a memoir of his youth in El Paso, Texas.
Moderator: Peter Bratt directed the AIFF2017 opening night film, Dolores, on the Mexican-American
activist Dolores Huerta, as well as Follow Me Home (1996), starring Alfre Woodward and Salma
Hayek, and La Mission (2009) with Benjamin Bratt.
Filming and Protecting our Endangered Environment
Saturday, April 13, 10:00-11:30am
Several films in AIFF 2019 expose environmental dangers—the impending extinction of wild
salmon (Secret Screening) and giraffes (The Woman Who Loves Giraffes), the devastation of East
Java by a toxic mudflow caused by oil drilling (Grit), and the threat posed by war to a vital seed
bank (One Man Dies a Million Times). Others explore environmental innovations offering cre-
ative, systemic solutions, from solar panels in underserved neighborhoods (Metamorphosis) to
a hydroponic greenhouse staffed by developmentally disabled employees (Hearts of Glass). Join
AIFF2019’s environmental filmmakers for a discussion of their diverse approaches to depicting
and protecting our endangered environment.
Moderators: Nova Ami creates socially relevant, thought-provoking films that inspire, educate, and
empower. Her work has screened at international festivals including Hot Docs and IDFA, and has
been broadcast on BBC, CBC, CTV, Super Channel, Vision TV, and SBS Australia. Velcrow Ripper
creates powerful, cinematic feature documentaries that deal with the central issues of our times. His
epic “Fierce Light Trilogy” began with Scared Sacred, winner of the 2005 Genie Award for best fea-
ture documentary, continued with 2008’s award-winning Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action, and
concluded with Occupy Love (2013).
From Southern Oregon to the World: The Making and
Releasing of Phoenix, Oregon
Sunday, April 14, 10:00-11:30am
T: 541.488.1551 F: 541.488.1552 Gary and Anne Lundgren’s Joma Films has produced three feature films in Southern Oregon that
went on to wider festival and theatrical release—Calvin Marshall in 2007, Redwood Highway, which
290 N. Main, Suite 8, Ashland, OR 97520 premiered at AIFF2013, and Black Road in 2014. On April 13, they premiered their latest, Phoenix,
Oregon, at AIFF2019. Join the Lundgrens, along with members of their crew (likely to include the
info@ NagelPadilla.com cinematographer, composer, production designer and actors), for an in depth look into the logistics
of scouting and shooting the movie in Southern Oregon and preparing for a national theatrical tour.
Filming and Protecting
our Endangered Moderator: Warren Etheredge is one of the founding faculty of TheFilmSchool, helping filmmakers
Environment TalkBack translate their stories for screens big and small, and The Red Badge Project, helping combat veter-
sponsored by ans work through PTSD and other issues by teaching them the art of storytelling. He has conducted
over 3,000 interviews; on the page, on stage, and on screen.
PAGE 24 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 25AIFF FamILy Day AT
Saturday, April 13, 10:00am–5:00pm
ScienceWorks, 1500 E. Main St., Ashland • FREE admission for AIFF members with badges
Join us for a day of hands-on filmmaking activities and presentations geared towards families and kids six and older.
Family Screening in the ScienceWorks Theater
Kid Flicks Two:
Special Virtual Reality Exhibition
Spheres will be on view at ScienceWorks April 11-14, 10am-5pm
Programs
Best of the 2018
Spheres is an interactive vir-
New York Children’s International Film Festival tual reality series exploring the
75 min | Runs continuously all day | Recommended Age: 8+ music of the cosmos. Instead
With a compelling range of styles of looking at the Universe, for
and themes, Kid Flicks Two offers the first time we listen to its
clever, thought-provoking films songs. We enter an immersive
sure to inspire young audiences world that transports us to the deepest corners of the Universe.
to expand their horizons. In the Episode One: Chorus of The Cosmos
Grand Prize award-winner Game Narrated by Millie Bobby Brown
Kid Flicks One: (USA), AJ has the drive to excel but
must push through obstacles to get
We discover the Universe through sound. Space is full of fre-
quencies that we can listen to. Uncovering these waves, we cre-
Best of the 2018 New York Children’s there. Meanwhile, teamwork takes ate music. Our solar system becomes an instrument. We play
its song, crafting a unique musical journey. This is the chorus
International Film Festival on different stripes when an odd
couple of bears are forced to work of the cosmos.
52 min | Sunday 10:10am | Ashland Street Cinema together in the hilarious stop-mo-
Episode Two: Songs of Spacetime
Recommended for ages 3+ tion short Poles Apart (UK).
Plus, the CG-animated wonder Narrated by Jessica Chastain
Kid Flicks One gives a warm welcome to all budding cinephiles Dive into the heart of a black hole and uncover the hidden songs
Gokurōsama (France) bridges cultures and generations by show- of the cosmos. In this interactive VR experience, the break-
with this lively international lineup of fun. Kick off the festivi-
ing us that even in an automated age, a little human touch can through discovery of gravitational waves transforms how we see
ties with good hygiene and great dubstep in Party Mouth (USA),
still work wonders. The program also includes award-winning the Universe. Fall into the darkness, and you will find the light.
then let your hair—or, fur—down and hang loose in I Want to
short films from Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, and Japan.
CineSpace 2018
Live in the Zoo (Russia). Even if you get into a tangle, there will
The 75-minute program will run continuously all day! Episode Three: Pale Blue Dot
be someone to catch and cheer you on with the charming If You
Fall (Canada). Note: Kid Flicks One, recommended for ages 3+, plays Sunday at Narrated by Patti Smith
77 min | Saturday 12:40pm | Ashland Street Cinema In this cosmic journey from the edges of the universe to our
Ashland Street Cinema (see facing page)
CineSpace 2018 marks the fourth year of the collaborative film “pale blue dot,” we uncover echoes of the Big Bang; gaze back
competition between Houston Cinema Arts Society and NASA. in time; trace the history of sound across the cosmos, traverse
the Universe and ultimately find the strangest song of all—the
Finalists, spanning eight countries, will be screened alongside the FAMILY FRIENDLY FEATURE human voice.
top three winners selected by Academy Award nominated direc-
tor Richard Linklater. Each film incorporates NASA-captured
Inventing
Created by: Eliza McNitt • Design by: Phi Center • Key Collabo-
imagery collected throughout the agency’s 50-year history and rators: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel, Jess Engel, Arnaud Colinart,
were judged on creativity, innovation, and attention to detail. The Dylan Golden • In Collaboration with: Oculus Studios, Protozoa
chosen films, all under ten minutes in length, are a wide variety of
narrative, documentary, and experimental film genres.
Tomorrow (p. 55) Pictures, Intel, Kaleidoscope • Release date: 2018 • Duration:
3 episodes, each 15 minutes.
Thursday, April 11, 9:00pm
Sleep | Orest Smylanets | Russia | 3 min
Friday, April 12, 6:30pm
Juanita, Beyond the Borders | Elena Franco | Mexico | 10 min
Hall of the Space Kings | Elizabeth McKeon | USA | 5 min Meet passionate teenage innova- Exhibition On View at ScienceWorks
Blackout Day | Graham Uhelski | USA | 7 min tors from around the globe who
Aphelion | Sarah Hickey | USA | 7 min Wild Music: Sounds and
are creating cutting-edge solutions Songs of Life invites visitors
Lift Off | Kevin Hughes | Ireland | 7 min
to confront the world’s environ- of all ages to expand their un-
Back Home | Stela Subashi | Albania | 2 min
Rocketman | Charles Baldwin | USA | 4 min mental threats—found right in derstanding of what makes music. Through whimsical, hands-on
Particles | Neta Ben Ezra | Israel | 3 min their own backyards—while nav- activities, they’ll not only hear the music that surrounds them ev-
Arc | Kamil Dymek | Poland | 7 min igating the doubts and insecurities ery day, but they’ll see and even feel it too. They’ll discover that na-
The Visitors | Horacio Rodriguez & Sun Spano | USA | 8 min that mark adolescence. Take a journey with these inspiring ture is filled with “musicians” that create distinct musical master-
Tape Machine | Aidan Brezonick | USA | 3 min teens as they prepare their projects for the largest convening pieces to communicate with and relate to one another, and they’ll
Space Craft | Jan Turek & Prokop Jelinek | Czech Republic | 5 min of high school scientists in the world, the Intel International explore how human music is inspired by the music of other living
Oxidation | Neta Ben Ezra | Israel | 2 min Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). creatures—from tiny insects to giant whales.
Spaceling–Everything is Possible | Karsten Prühl | Germany | 4 min
PAGE 26 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 27FREE Family Shorts At Ashland Street Cinema. Admission
is FREE, but a ticket is required. Short Film Programs
Locals Only 1: Launch Student Films (8 & older)
48 minutes | Friday, April 12, 3:40pm & Saturday, April 13, 10:10am* | Films listed in order of play
Short films everyone can enjoy by student filmmakers from around the Siskiyou region. Featuring the finalists and winning films from
the LAUNCH Regional Student Competition including AIFF’s PridePrize. Animated Worlds: Familial
Magic Lotus Bonds with Mark Shapiro
Elijah Jacobson | 3 min | Phoenix Mikaela Jee | 1 min | Ashland The Launch Regional
86 min | Friday, April 12, 9:20pm, Saturday, April 13, 9:40pm
Grades K-5 Finalist College Finalist Student Film Competition
The Wizarding world of editing. A short animation expressing the emotional
growth of a young girl displayed through sym-
invites students from kindergarten to college & Sunday, April 14, 10:10am Raiding the Archives
to create inventive short films and win prizes Animation is a profound artform and its tactile na-
The Woods bolical elements such as rain and plants. in their grade category. Students may also 75 min | Sunday, April 15, 12:20pm | Varsity 2
Juniper Nohr | 1 min | Ashland ture, whether drawn, shaped on computer, or moved
submit films for the PridePrize, a special cash Rick Prelinger is an archivist,
Grades K-5 Winner He Brought Us to the Mountains prize for outstanding student-made films that by hand frame-by-frame requires a unique patience,
Stop animation featuring two girls on a picnic. Samantha Jestadt | 3 min | Ashland dedication and whimsy. This unparalleled bond be- professor, writer and filmmaker,
speak to the LGBTQ+ experience.
College Finalist tween artist and subject is an intimate exploration. and founder of the Prelinger
Best Friends Archives, a collection of 60,000
Tashi | 3 min | Ashland
Sometimes in grief you find a legacy. For this program, Mark Shapiro has pulled togeth-
er a series of films that explored universal, evolving advertising, educational, indus-
Grades 6-8 Finalist Don’t Read This, Watch the Road
A tale of two friends. themes in parenting, loss and uncommon friendship. Bring a hanky. trial, and amateur films. Its goal
Moriah Doepken, Joevahnta remains to collect, preserve, and
Recommended for age 15+.
The Chilly Flamingo Usugan-Weddington | 5 min | Ashland facilitate access to films of his-
Isla Montfort | 2 min | Medford College Winner toric significance that haven’t
Grades 6-8 Finalist Cleaning up the highway for over 28 years, Sam One Small Step | Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas | 8 min
been collected elsewhere. For
Billy the narwhal gets washed to Florida and meets Daniel is an outstanding member of society who Late Afternoon | Louise Bagnall | 10 min
a flamingo named Sunni.They go to the north pole. embodies environmental stewardship. several decades, the Archive has
Conception: Catie + Jen | Moth Studio | 4 min been a gold mine for experimental filmmakers who have cre-
Making Friends Let.Go.Before.Trying Father and Daughter | Michaël Dudok de Wit | 8 min
THE JURORS atively remixed footage to create works of cinematic art. Two of
Naomi Thuren | 2 min | Medford Anna Mendes | 3 min | Ashland Weekends | Trevor Jimenez | 16 min the filmmakers who have mined the Archives most successfully,
Grades 6-8 Finalist Pride Award Finalist Diane DeMerritt is a retired Ashland elemen-
tary public school teacher. Her diverse teach- Sister | Siqi Song | 8 min Portland’s Vanessa Renwick and London’s Vicki Bennett (AKA
When a boy gets his phone taken away by his Two friends get together for a spontaneous People Like Us) will each screen three works, which will then be
mom, he finally plays outside and makes a friend. road trip in Oregon. When feelings are sudden- ing career included eight years in a unique The Death, Dad & Son | Vincent Paronnaud, (as Winshluss),
ly shared, will the friendship last? 1st through 5th grade continuous community Denis Walgenwitz | 14 min discussed by Rick and Vanessa.
Timlüpz classroom setting, which emphasized fine arts My Dad | Marcus Armitage | 6 min Vicki Bennett’s works will include We Edit Life, Remote Controller,
Atticus Ryan | 2 min | Phoenix Impossible and the performing arts. Diane has also been a
Tweet Tweet | Zhanna Bekmambetova | 12 min and Ultimate Care II Excerpt Five.
Grades 6-8 Finalist Megan Deck | 5 min | Ashland devoted AIFF volunteer for many years, work-
A silent film — with sounds. Pride Award Winner ing throughout the Ashland community to find Vanessa Renwick will present Britton, South Dakota, Red Stallions
housing for our visiting filmmakers.
Magic vs. Melee When you’re young and in love, some decisions Revenge, and her latest work, Cold Holy Water.
just seem impossible. Dan Ruby joined ScienceWorks in July 2018
Aden Maloney | 3 min | Medford
Grades 6-8 Winner after a long stint leading a planetarium in Reno,
Due to mature content, there will be a brief NV. He has a background in fine art digital
A wizard with an amazing wand, and a ninja intermission before the final two films.
with expert sword skills go head to head in the media & communications as well as K-12 sci-
battle of the year! ence education. He has researched caves on
Jack and I Mars and accompanied missions on NASA’s
Lawyer Austin Rowley | 5 min | Ashland large flying infrared telescope, SOFIA. He lives
Daniel Faust | 2 min | Eagle Point College Finalist in Ashland with his partner, two children, and
Grades 9-12 Finalist Emotional hijacking. Subtitles a Scottie dog.
A spoof on lawyer commercials. I am currently Russell Zook is the Associate Director of
dating the bill of rights for fun. Country Man Education, Engagement at the Oregon Shake-
Joshua Hewitt, Luke Fernandes | 5 min | speare Festival. Before joining OSF, he worked
The Beauty of Sound Medford at Penumbra Theatre Company, the nation’s
Kaileia Marthoski | 3 min | Medford Grades 9-12 Winner leading African American Theatre where he
Grades 9-12 Finalist Where horror and country music meet. managed partnerships with The John F. Ken-
Beautiful sounds surround us.
nedy Center for the Performing Arts, Guthrie
Theatre, Arizona Theatre Company, Hartford
*The Saturday, April 13, 10:10am screening is followed by an Awards Ceremony. Prizes made possible Stage, and the August Wilson Center for Afri-
by the Rotary Club of Ashland Lithia Springs. The PridePrize is made possible by a generous gift from the can American Culture among others.
LGBTQ Juvenile Justice Fund of the Equity Foundation.
PAGE 28 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 29Dust Devil My Paintbrush Bites
Short Docs 1 TIMES
Oregon Premiere | 8 minutes | 2019 | USA, Australia | In Competition 17 minutes | 2018 | USA | In Competition
Thursday 12:20pm • Saturday 9:50am • Sunday 9:20pm
81 minutes | Varsity 2 Films listed in order of play
I
n the deserted town of Death Valley
Junction, Broadway dancer Marta
Becket cocoons herself in an enchant-
A man battling reclusion and a race-
horse on the brink of death save
each other in unexpected ways.
Tungrus Fast Horse ing yesteryear, creating an ornate opera
house where she performs nightly—
Oregon Premiere | 13 minutes | 2018 | India Oregon Premiere | 14 minutes | 2018 | Canada with or without an audience. This
dreamlike portrait, dancing between life and death, is a hauntingly
T ungrus is a short documentary
that observes a week in the pecu-
liar lives of a middle-class suburban
F ast Horse follows the return of the
Blackfoot bareback horse racing
tradition in a new form: Indian Relay.
romantic evocation of imagination, devotion and mortality.
Director’s Statement: Poppy Walker
Directors’ Statement:
Joel Pincosy, Joe Egender
An exploration of art and animals, the com-
Mumbai household, which is turned Siksika horseman Allison Red Crow When I first visited Marta’s remarkable opera house in plexities of the meanings of those things, and
topsy-turvy when they adopt a pet struggles to build a team with second- Death Valley, I was simultaneously enchanted, haunted how human relationships with both create an
chicken. The film follows the thoughts hand races and a new jockey, Cody and inspired. I wanted to explore what it meant for her, as emotional dynamic. How can a man want to paint abstracts but only find
of each person to their inevitable conclusion—the rooster has to go. BigTobacco, to take on the best riders in the Blackfoot Confederacy at the a dancer, to let go of life as she neared her death. fulfillment in that pursuit through his animal?
The family debates the question: should he be given the gift of life, or Calgary Stampede. Subtitles
served for dinner? Subtitles
Director’s Statement: Rishi Chandna
Director’s Statement: Alexandra Lazarowich
I made this film for my nieces and nephews, because Short Stories & Docs: TIMES
I decided to document the story of this family, because
of their unflinching pragmatism towards their own
choices. Tungrus is essentially a human story, because
when I was growing up I never saw people who looked
like me on the big screen, and I wanted Cody and Northwest Grown Friday 10:10am • Saturday 6:30pm
Sunday 6:30pm • Monday 6:10pm
these Blackfoot men to be honored and looked up to
we use animals as reflections of human consciousness, by the rising wave of proud indigenous youth around
92 minutes | Varsity Films listed in order of play
and each character in the film must probe the nature of the world. I am always trying to confront the stereotypes about what
affection, loyalty, and the ethics of eating another creature. The film is
meant to give the viewer food for thought.
Indigenous films can look like and sound like, in an effort to decolonize
the lens that has been pointed at us, and in turn ask the audience to Forest on Fire Ride
rethink how they view and hear Indigenous stories. Oregon Premiere | 30 minutes | 2018 | USA | In Competition 39 minutes | 2018 | USA | In Competition
Its Going To Be Beautiful
Oregon Premiere | 9 minutes | 2018 | Mexico, USA | In Competition Carlotta’s Face T he Eagle Creek Fire ravaged the
Columbia River Gorge, causing
communities to evacuate and strand-
D o you remember your first carou-
sel ride? Wendy Kirbey does and
when her hometown of Albany, Oregon
Oregon Premiere | 5 minutes | 2018 | Germany
E ight prototypes for a border wall ing 150 day-hikers. The fire was set by needed an economic boost she had an
A
stand on the US-Mexico border. To s a child, Carlotta didn’t expect the a 15-year-old boy who threw a lit fire- idea—build a carousel from scratch us-
choose a winning design, Border Patrol people around her to have faces. work into a dry ravine on the Eagle ing old world craftsmanship. See how
officers and the military will attempt to She doesn’t even recognize her own Creek Trail. This film includes accounts from an eyewitness who saw the this idea transforms the community as a group of dedicated volunteers
climb, dig under, and breach the struc- face. Years later, she learns about a rare, boy start the fire, the stranded hikers, and people from the communities comes together to carve, paint and assemble what many believe is one of
tures using techniques employed by untreatable deficit of her brain. It was that persevered and took care of each other. the most beautiful carousels ever created.
immigrants and drug dealers. Subtitles art, after all, that offered her a way to
finally recognize herself. Subtitles Director’s Statement: Reed Harkness Director’s Statement: Peter Daulton
Directors: Luis Gutiérrez Arias, Filmmakers Reed Harkness and Heather Hawksford All the credit for this film goes to the volunteers, spon-
John Henry Theisen Directors’ Statement: Valentin Riedl, live in Portland, OR, near the beautiful Columbia River sors, donors and their families who made the Albany
Frédéric Schuld Gorge National Scenic Area. The fire was heartbreak- carousel possible. They created something truly mag-
ing for all of them. The making of this film taught them ical. I was fortunate enough to find out about the car-
In my scientific work, I aim to uncover the mysteries ousel in time to capture some of that magic and I was
of the human brain’s functionality. Carlotta has broad- about the local communities that were directly affected
by the fire, and the generosity and resilience of those communities as well happy to have the opportunity to tell their story.
ened my knowledge by highlighting the importance
as the resilience of the forest itself.
Burton Before and After of personal, non-objectifiable perception. The visual
style of the film imitates the lithographic process Carlotta uses for pro-
Working Lunch
15 minutes | 2017 | USA | In Competition ducing her self-portraits. We observe Carlotta exploring a landscape
that turns out to be her face.
Middle of Nowhere 8 minutes | 2018 | USA | In Competition
F ifteen years after Burton’s gender-af- World Premiere | 15 minutes | 2018 | USA | In Competition
firming transition, his longtime
friend Courtney uncovers a cache of
E
x-Marine-turned-goatherd Brian and
Vietnam-combat-vet Alex both live
A regular work day for an Indian-
American, a queer professional,
and a Trump voter is changed when
home video from that time period and
off-grid in the woods of Siskiyou Coun- they find someone has scrawled graffi-
invites him to go on camera to revis- OSTRASASHLAND.COM ty. Alan, whose military career lasted ti on their lunch restaurant. They come
it the old footage together. Concerned
over two decades, struggles with severe together to remove the message of hate
about outing himself to co-workers unaware of his gender reassignment,
PTSD and looks for peace in training themselves with a unique solution.
Burton initially declines, until he has a change of heart—deciding that
mules. Marge, who served as a nurse in Vietnam, finds a home in a large
truth is more important than fear.
and supportive community of veterans. They all tell their stories, explor- Director’s Statement: Shilpa Sunthankar
Directors’ Statement: Courtney Hermann, ing what brought them to the same wild and often-treacherous county in Working Lunch arose out of an urgency within me to
Northern California. get Americans to speak again. It is about the divide
Kerribeth Elliott between conservative and liberal voters. It’s about
Burton Before and After is about my best friend’s gen- Director’s Statement: Jesse Fox bringing communities together again, inclusive of the
der affirming transition. The filmmaking strives to While working on a documentary in Siskiyou County, rich diversity in our country, and taking care of each other, honoring
model an alternative way of producing queer content. I kept encountering veterans, and became fascinated by our differences.
It’s collaborative, renders the subject as an evolving what attracted them to a county that felt a world away from
person, and pulls back the curtain on process via a self-reflexive point the Bay Area and Southern California. I also met Alex who,
of view. The inspirational story is meant to hearten non-queer audienc- RESERVATIONS 5 4 1 7 0 8 0 5 2 8
after returning from Vietnam, built an off-grid log cabin where he would
es, which have dominated the trans documentary landscape. raise his family. Having led a singular life, Alex had fascinating stories to tell.
PAGE 30 Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org Purchase tickets at ashlandfilm.org PAGE 31You can also read
