Feature Films

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SELF MEDICATED | Best Picture l Director: Monty LaPica | • Based on true events. Having recently suffered the death of his father, seventeen-year-old Andrew Eriksen's inability to cope with the lost catapults him down a path of denial, self-loathing and emotoinal entropy. Once a promising scholar, Andrew finds himself on a drug-addled path to self-descturction. [Trailer TBA]

"A searing portrait of an out-of control youth..strong acting from all quarters and an especially blistering performance from Lapica." VARIETY

"There's a real sense of authority and a raw, unmannered intensity in Lapica's performance that sets the requisite tone for the entire production." HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Monty Lapica : Writer / Director
Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Monty moved to Los Angeles immediately after high school to pursue his liefelong goal of becoming a filmmaker. The recipient of two academic scholarships, Monty gradueated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television in three years. It was during this time that Monty frist began outling what would later become "Self Medicated," his first feature film, which he directed and acted in at age 24.

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THE PROGRAM | 2nd Place Feature Film l Director: Irin Evers | • Matt (Matt Samson) is working in rural Mexico, trying to escape his conventional New York family. Just when he thinks he’s achieved his goal, he receives a computer disk from his deceased grandfather labeled “it took me eighty years to learn the meaning of life.” Intrigued, Matt and his new co-worker, the spontaneous and carefree Sally ( Susie Ross), journey to the nearest town with a computer to find out what’s on the disk, and on each other’s minds. AWARDS: Platinum Remi Award (top award) in Independent Video at 2005 WorldFest Houston

Irin Evers : Writer, Director, Lead Actor, Executive Producer

•Watch Trailer •

DISTRACTION |  3rd Place Feature Film l Director: Fiore DeRosa | • Distraction is a story of two friends, Scott and Sal, who distract themselves from heartbreak and boredom in New York City. Scott is a single guy coping with a failed relationship and searching for a connection. Sal, is his free-spirited buddy who thinks he knows just what Scott needs. What unfolds tests thier friendship and thier views on love. *[If you are in New York City May 2nd, there is a special screening taking place during the Tribeca Film Festival. Contact the filmmakers for more details SandBox Films.

Fiore DeRosa : Writer, Producer

Steven Shaw : Writer, Producer

Two guys got together to write a script and out of that was born something much greater, a film called DISTRACTION, and a production company called Sandbox Films. The making of DISTRACTION was the contribution of over 50 creative artists that brought this movie to fruition: an incredible crew who worked tirelessly, a wonderful cast of actors, a brilliant editing and post-production team and a number of emerging talented musical artists.

Sandbox Films is interested in developing unconventional stories which are uniquely personal and visceral. Our goal is to create a team of artists who believe in the collaborative spirit of filmmaking with an eye on excellence and authenticity.

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Eva Hassmann: Director, Screenwriter, Producer
Born in Herford, Germany, four year old Eva moved from Bad Salzuflen to the City of Braunfels. During that time Eva joined a free theater group. She had various parts, among others she played the role of "Nora" in Hendrik Ibsen's play "Puppenheim" (doll's house) and the role of "Prudence" in Christopher Durang's play "Therapie Zwecklos" (therapy futile) at the Staatstheater Oldenburg. After she finished School with the Abitur, Eva went to Berlin and lived there for three years. During this time she was able to get her first television and movie roles (detailed information on Eva's films can be found in the "filmography" section).

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The Thief of Souls l 2nd Place l Director:Tee McKnight l 31:00   • In order to gain closure for the loss of his sister, a southern man moves to Los Angeles with his best friend and befriends a girl who practices witchcraft and has ties to the supernatural.

Tee McKnight: Director, Producer, Executive Producer
Tee McKnight originally hails from Galax, Virginia, and proudly received his Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of Virginia . After graduation, Tee had aspirations of becoming a college basketball coach, but his passion for movies lead him to Los Angeles. Once in LA, he enrolled in the Film and Television program at Loyola Marymount University, where he recently received his Master of Fine Arts. At Loyola Marymount, Tee created three pieces: a documentary, shot on digital video; a narrative, also shot on digital video; and his most recent work, which was shot on 35mm film. Tee now splits his time between Los Angeles and Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Animation

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ZOOM SUIT l Best Animation l  Director: John Taddeo   l  • When 12 year old Myles Mason Mistakes a top secret alien battle suit for a Halloween costume the worlds newest and youngest hero is born! Clothes make the man, or in this case, the boy in this superhero Cinderella story.

John Taddeo : Writer / Director / Executive Producer
John Taddeo, formerly of MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT and Big Entertainment (now called Hollywood.com), is the creator of ASSASSINATION ENTERTAINMENT and currently writes five (5) monthly comics including: the medieval future drama "Trilogy," the highly controversial anti-terror "America:Superpower." “Crime Family,”which characters in John's directing debut “The Inside Job” are based upon the comic book. John’s hilarious college coming of age comedy “CO-ED DORM” can be found quarterly in CO-ED MAGAZINE which has a readership of over 250,000. Taddeo is currently writing and directing an animated short feature based upon the comic book “Zoom Suit”wherein a twelve-year-old boy mistakenly winds up with the United States government’s most secret weapon-an alien suit capable of flight, invulnerability and the ability to get him to school in just under four seconds

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PLIP & POLP l 2nd Place l Directors: Christiane Doeringohl l   • A little girl is brushing her teeth, while the water keeps on running. Suddenly, two water drops jump out of the running water. They take the kid on a journey around the world, to show her the problems of water in the world.

Christiane Doering: Director, Producer, Executive Producer, Production Designer
GERMANY

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ATTACK OF THE BRIDE MONSTER | Best Comedy Short l Director: Vicky Boone   l   • A "Bride Monster" is loose in the gay community; can Betty and Stella’s 25-year relationship survive?  When Betty falls under the Bride Monster’s bedazzling spell, Stella watches in horror as her long-time companion is transformed into the kind of woman that only Rock Hudson (or Godzilla) could love. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the rise and fall of legalized same sex marriage, Attack of the Bride Monster is a darkly comedic look at the nature of commitment. 

Vicky Boone : Director, Producer
Vicky Boone works as a producer, director and casting director in Austin, Texas. Boone has recently cast Gretchen a feature film by Steve Collins and produced the feature Fall to Grace, which premiered in the SXSW Film Festival 2005 and received the Narrative Feature First Prize at Rhode Island International Film Festival 2005. In 2002, Boone wrote and directed a 16mm short, Adventure Story, which premiered in the 2002 Hamptons International Film Festival (Golden Starfish Competition) and screened internationally. Boone is an award-winning theater director and the founder and former Artistic Director of Frontera Production in Austin, Texas, one the nation’s most influential producers of new plays in the 1990’s. She directed numerous plays at Frontera during the theater’s nine seasons including The Race of the Ark Tattoo by Obie-award winning playwright W. David Hancock (world premiere), Enfants Perdus, by Erik Ehn (world premiere) and Polaroid Stories by Naomi Iizuka. Boone is currently working with Iizuka on a screen adaptation of Iizuka’s play The Language of Angels.

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Jim Goodman: Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Executive Producer, Cinematographer, Production Designer, Picture Editor, Original Music/Composer, Sound Editor l Jim Goodman is a screenwriter, professional musician, film editor, multimedia designer, sculptor, programmer, photographer, and filmmaker. He lives and works at the New Jersey shore with his wife, 4 sons, and dog. "The Devil & Manny Schmeckstein" is his first full clay animation short.

Documentary SHORTS

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ANGELS FOR THE DEAD l Best Documentary Short l Director: Wilson Dass lDeath, for some, is sorrow; for some, a loss; for some, a livelihood; for some, a routine of everyday life; for some, just an act of faith. 'Angels for the dead' is the story of people who deal with the dead everyday.

Wilson Dass: Director - Residence: India

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THE ORGANISTA'S l 3rd Place l Director: BERT SHAPIRO l • Master musicians reveal why they are passionate about the "king of instruments." Designers and craftsmen show the skills of "voicing" and molton metal forming along with the rarely seen talent that makes the organ "speak" with a unique sound. The film uses music from Back to the contemporary master Stephen Paulus. THE ORGANISTA'S won the Director's Choice Award at the prestigious at the 2005 Black Maria Film Festival.

BERT SHAPIRO: During a long career as a publisher of educational materials, I became interested in documentary video making. In 1995 I decided on a career change. Finally in 1997 I began to work full-time at acquiring the technical skills necessary for effective camera work and non-linear editing. In this absorbing process during these years I have found the work exciting, sometimes frustrating, never boring. Hand Rolled on 29th Street was the first documentary in the series Eye and Hand. The series is focused on capturing skills that may soon disappear in the hi-tech production factories of the 21st Century. It has been gratifying to have received the following acknowledgments and screenings of Hand Rolled on 29th Street: Zoie International Festival 2000, 3rd prize in documentary section.

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PMS - A PERIOD PIECE l Best Student Film l Director: Angie Piccirillo l  • Don’t get your way? Bitch-fits and temper tantrums...That's how you play the game.

Angie Piccirillo / Director: Angie began her film studies in high school at Lancaster High School in the Antelope Valley. There, she studied computer animation, art advertisement, film adaptation and film production. She graduated in 2000 with an option in Careers and Arts in Multimedia Production. She entered the Film and Electronic Arts program at California State University Long Beach in 2002. After submitting her first musical comedy "White Suits and Disco Boots", Angie was selected for the option in Film and Video Production. In the Summer of 2003, Angie worked at Bunim Murray Productions with the post production team of "The Simple Life", "The Real World: Paris" and "Road Rules: South Pacific". Some of Angie's favorite past works include: "How Jesus Got His Groove Back" (Director, Spring 2004), Girl in the Music Box (Director, Fall 2003) and Shift (Director of Photography, Spring 2004); all shorts produced at CSU Long Beach. Angie considers herself to be well-rounded as she also enjoys sound mixing, Assistant directing, editing, and Producing as well as Directing. In the fall of 2004, Angie co-produced the Wide Screen Film Festival at CSULB with guest Wes Craven. With PMS in post production, her current projects include a short for CBS entitled "Body of Work" and other shorts for CSULB "Amber Rhodes" and "Lotus Path". "PMS: A Period Piece" is Angie's favorite film so far.

Children's Category

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LOST IN THE WOODS l Best Children's Short l Director: Laura Sams & Robert Sams  l     • Lost in the Woods, people learn most fawns found alone in the woods are rarely lost or abandoned. Newborn fawns spend their first weeks without mom because her scent will attract predators to her babe. She instinctively knows to stay only briefly to nurse and care for her fawn. He will travel with her when he is older and stronger.

Laura Sams: Director - Producer
Laura & Robert Sams co-wrote, directed, filmed, edited and composed music for Lost in the Woods: The Movie. She is also the voice of Shirley the turtle, the baby chickadee and the mother doe.

With her brother, Laura owns a business called Sisbro Edventures (short for sister/brother educational adventures), which creates wildlife films and educational assemblies that use nature, art and humor as a springboard for learning. Together they perform for thousands of school children each year. Lost in the Woods is their third movie, having created the award-winning Stranger in the Woods: The Movie about how the animals react to a snowman in the winter woods. They also created a short movie called Bearly Alike, which compares a day in the life of grizzly bears with a day in the life of her brother.

Laura combines a Master's degree in natural resources education with a background in zoology and parks/recreation to find creative ways of helping people explore the natural world. She has studied hyenas in Africa and worked with the education department at an aquarium in Mexico. Her filmmaking adventures have taken her around Michigan and to Alaska, where she filmed grizzly bears. She plays the piano, writes songs that force (yes, force) people to tap their toes, has a real knack for graphic design and makes good caramel popcorn. [more info]

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MADAME MARINA l Director: Katrina Elias l   • MARINA, an aging prostitute, and LUCAS, a young soldier, are held captive while their village is attacked by the insurgency in Colombia S.A. Lucas, fearing his death shares with Marina his last wishes, who fulfills them by magically transforming into his estranged mother, and the young beauty she used to be.

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SELF MEDICATED | Best Picture l Director: Monty LaPica | • Based on true events. Having recently suffered the death of his father, seventeen-year-old Andrew Eriksen's inability to cope with the lost catapults him down a path of denial, self-loathing and emotoinal entropy. Once a promising scholar, Andrew finds himself on a drug-addled path to self-descturction. [Trailer TBA]

"A searing portrait of an out-of control youth..strong acting from all quarters and an especially blistering performance from Lapica." VARIETY

"There's a real sense of authority and a raw, unmannered intensity in Lapica's performance that sets the requisite tone for the entire production." HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Monty Lapica : Writer / Director
Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Monty moved to Los Angeles immediately after high school to pursue his liefelong goal of becoming a filmmaker. The recipient of two academic scholarships, Monty gradueated Magna Cum Laude from Loyola Marymount University's School of Film and Television in three years. It was during this time that Monty frist began outling what would later become "Self Medicated," his first feature film, which he directed and acted in at age 24.

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KNOCKOUT JUVENILE DIABETES l Best PSA  l Directors: David Johnson, Art Aaronson, Bo Weinberg & Deb Markoe l   • A two minute PSA for The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation featuring the BoxinBuddies& BoxinBrutes and the legendary boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard.

David Johnson:& Art Aaronson, Executive Producers; Bo Weinberg & Deb Markoe, Directors/Producers.
[more info]

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TWENTY l Best Music Video- The Robert Cray Band l Director: Sue Turner Cray • 'Twenty' is a story about a soldier serving in the Iraq war. The story follows what seems like his return to America, though as the story unfolds it reveals a very different conclusion.

Robert Cray :
Guitarist and singer Robert Cray started his musical journey in Oregon in 1974 that has led him to the top of the music industry with his breakthrough album STRONG PERSUADER combing a unique mix of blues, rock and soul that sold over 2 million albums. A five time Grammy Award winner, Cray has been graced with multiple nominations, most recently nominated for his album TWENTY. He has collaborated with music greats such as Eric Clapton, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry and other guitar greats. Cray was also celebrated alongside BB King and bonnie Raitt in Martin Scorsese's feature film LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE One Night History of the Blues.

Sue Turner Cray Director: [more info]

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Shining Hour l 3RD place l Directors: Brandon Li & Greg de Deugd l 4:14•The members of Renata Jackson hijack the airwaves, which are controlled by a major media conglomerate, in order to get their song played across the nation. But the giant corporation fights back. Brandon Li: Director, Screenwriter, Cinematographer, Picture Editor, Digital Effects
I was born in Albuquerque, NM but spent most of my life in St. Louis, MO, home of sports and beer. In grade school, I screened my mini-movies for my class and passed out ratings cards. In high school, I filmed two short documentaries on racism in my town, and I made my first short narrativef. I recently graduated from the NCSA (North Carolina School of the Arts) School of Filmmaking. While studying movies, I continued to make music, producing local hip-hop groups. I spent two summers in L.A. interning for Senator International and Comedy Central. I now live in Maryland and am doing marketing/P.R. for the Institute for Scientific Exchange while freelancing for Nomad Audio Visual and Warp Sight and Sound.

Greg de Deugd: Director, Screenwriter, Lead Actor, Cinematographer, Picture Editor
Greg de Deugd is an artist and filmmaker who enjoys speaking about himself in the third person. He is dedicated to the idea that media should be put back into the hands of the people (if it was ever put there in the first place). He is an advocate of media education and public awareness of media legislation. He wants to see a world where people are creating their own media (films, videos, music, websites, etc.) and having a blast doing it.

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ALL SOUL'S DAY l Best Experimental  l  Director: Laura Storm l   • On Alice's 6th Birthday, her mother drives away. But their connection doesn't fade with distance.

Laura Storm: Director, Executive Producer
Laura Storm is a recent graduate of Columbia University’s Film Direction MFA program. She is currently in post-production with her first feature film, The Narrow Gate, shot in New York over the summer of 2005. Her previous short film, The White Room, has been in the official selection of festivals around the country. Laura produced the film Thicker than Water which won a student film award at the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and was highlighted at the Hamptons International Film Festival and the Mill Valley Film Festival. Laura is also a photographer and writer; her photographs have been shown in galleries all over the U.S. and have been anthologized in Serbin Communications’ Best of Photography series. Her poems, short stories and stage plays have been published in many literary journals as well as National Geographic’s online magazine, and she was granted a series of readings at Brasenose College of Oxford University in England. She was the recipient of an Adele Steiner Burleson Poetry Award and was a Normandy Scholar in Residence at the Memorial de Caen museum in France.

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ANNA UND DER SOLDAT [ ANNA AND HER SOLIDER] (Germany) l Best Dramatic Short - Foreign   l  Director: Christian Prettin & Soeren Hueper l   • Italy in 1950. The 18-year old Italian girl Anna is haunted by her past. Six years ago she lost her whole family in a massacre by the German Wehrmacht. Now she is living a hard and lonely life in her small village. Again and again she is drawing her horrific memories. The Italian Civilians had to dig their own graves before they were shot by the Germans... Suddenly one of the soldiers, who can not get along with his crime returns. The moment of revenge has come. With an old pistol of her grandfather Anna forces the stranger to dig his grave. But is she really able to bring it to the deadly end?

Christian Prettin was born on 18 th of March in 1969 in Freiburg / Germany. He was grown up in Oldenburg near the North Sea, where he finished school with the “Abitur”. He studied medical science at the University of Münster. Since 1999 he is living and working as a medical doctor in Hamburg. He started script writing in 1997. Anna and the Soldier is his first project as a director.

Soeren Hueper was born on 11 th of December in 1973 in Oldenburg / Germany. He went to school in his hometown and finished in 1993 with the “Abitur”. From 1994 to 1999 he studied business at the University of Münster. He finished with the diploma. Because he started script writing in 1997, he began a two years postgraduate study of film production at the Filmstudium der Universität Hamburg (Hamburg Media School), where he produced several awarded short films. He won the Short Tiger Award, the Panther Award and his diploma movie was nominated for the German Short Award in 2002. Now he is still living in Hamburg and working as a free producer. Anna and the Soldier is his first film as a director.

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PILLOW GIRL l Best SeXyShort l Director: Ronnie Cramer l • Originally a sound-art work created for the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver by musician/artist Ronnie Cramer, who scanned the covers and inside pages of a number of lurid, vintage paperbacks, then ran the collected image and text data through a variety of synthesizers. The resulting sound files were then processed and remixed into the soundtrack for Pillow Girl film; the visual portion of the film makes use of the 150 covers, with one illustrated figure morphing into the next every two seconds.

: Ronnie Cramer: Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Executive Producer, Cinematographer, Production Designer, Original Music/Composer, Sound Editor Colorado-based Artist/Musician/Filmmaker Ronnie Cramer has been active in the arts community for over twenty-five years. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries and other venues across the country (including two dozen shows in 2003 alone), his music has achieved airplay on over 200 radio stations nationwide and his critically-acclaimed films have been screened at festivals from coast to coast and sold thousands of copies on videocassette and DVD.

Cramer founded the musical group Alarming Trends, he directed a series of music videos for Alarming Trends that were shown regularly on KBDI's 'Teletunes' and were featured on similar programs across the U.S., including 'Ground Zero Video,' 'Music Link' and MTV's '120 Minutes.'

His first feature film, the crime drama Back Street Jane, was screened at the Angelika Film Center in New York City and was favorably compared to Stanley Kubrick's The Killing and John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle by Psychotronic Magazine. The Exploitation Journal praised the film in its pages and singled out the score (written by Cramer and performed by Alarming Trends) as 'excellent.'


Highway Amazon, Ronnie's first documentary film, won two Aurora Awards and was named Best Documentary - Experimental Genre at the New York International Independent Film Festival. It has been screened at festivals across the country and was one of ten films selected for the 2003 Colorado Film Biennial at the StarzCenter in Denver.