FEATURE FILMS

AMERICAN JIHADIST
What social, economic and political environments create the mindset of a Jihadist, especially an American one? American Jihadist is a look at militant Islam through the eyes of an American who fought for it. Isa Abdullah Ali, aka Clevin Raphael Holt, is intriguing because he grew up in the ghettos of America’s capitol and was surrounded by physical and psychological violence from the very beginning. American Jihadist looks at what role violence and a lack of hope for the future play in the development of radicalism. The film reaches beyond easy labels to grasp the nuances behind one man’s decision to fight for his religion.

BEST WORST MOVIE

In 1989, a group of unknown Utah actors starred in what would be crowned the worst movie of all time: TROLL 2. After two decades of running from this cinematic disaster, the cast can no longer hide from the legion of followers that celebrate them for their ineptitude.

BEST WORST MOVIE, directed by TROLL 2’s once-disgraced child star, Michael Paul Stephenson, unravels the stories of these unforgettable real-life characters and the colorful army of devotees who continue to revel in the film’s perfectly flawed brilliance.

BRUTAL BEAUTY

Roller derby is an American contact sport that has seen a nationwide revival in recent years. Brutal Beauty: Tales Of The Rose City Rollers tells the story of Portland, Oregon’s league, the Rose City Rollers. For more than a year and a half, an embedded film crew documented the thrills and spills of derby life.

Through unlimited access to team bouts, practices and the private lives of the players, Brutal Beauty puts the viewer on the inside track to this high-contact, and sometimes dangerous, sport. In their own words, the Rose City Rollers tell how roller derby saved their souls.

CANAL STREET MADAM

An FBI raid on Jeanette Maier’s infamous family-run brothel in New Orleans destroyed her livelihood. Stigmatized by felony, fearing recrimination from powerful clients and determined to protect her children, Jeanette sets out to re-invent herself.

CITIZEN ARCHITECT: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio

Hale County, Alabama is home to some of the most impoverished communities in the United States of America. It is also home to Auburn University’s Rural Studio, one of the most prolific and inspirational design-build outreach programs ever established. Citizen Architect is a documentary film chronicling the late Samuel Mockbee, artist, architect, educator and founder of the Rural Studio.

PELADA

Away from professional stadiums, bright lights, and manicured fields, there’s another side of soccer. Tucked away on alleys, side streets, and concrete courts, people play in improvised games. Every country has a different word for it. In the United States, we call it “pick-up soccer.” In Trinidad, it’s “taking a sweat.” In England, it’s “having a kick-about.” In Brazil, the word is “pelada,” which literally means “naked”—the game stripped down to its core. It’s the version of the game played by anyone, anywhere—and it’s a window into lives all around the world.

Pelada is a documentary following Luke and Gwendolyn, two former college soccer stars who didn’t quite make it to the pros. Not ready for it to be over, they take off, chasing the game. From prisoners in Bolivia to moonshine brewers in Kenya, from freestylers in China to women who play in hijab in Iran, Pelada is the story of the people who play.

ROCK-AFIRE EXPLOSION

In the early eighties, kids all over the US flocked to Showbiz Pizza for the rides, games, and animatronic rock band, The Rock-afire Explosion. Created by 23-year-old prodigy Aaron Fechter, The Rock-afire Explosion amazed children and adults alike before being mysteriously pulled from showrooms and replaced by the now popular Chuck-E-Cheese in the early nineties.

Nearly twenty years later, still profoundly affected by his experience at Showbiz Pizza, small-town disc-jockey Chris Thrash sought out Fechter and purchased a Rock-afire band of his own. Some clever programming on Chris’ part, and the band was once again performing for millions, this time on YouTube.

The Rock-afire Explosion reveals how Chris came to revive this fallen 80′s gem, explores his and a number of other fan’s obsessions with the animatronic band, and chronicles the rise and fall of Showbiz Pizza and what was once a 20 million dollar per-year venture for inventor Aaron Fechter. More than this, the film is a look at the importance of nostalgia, ever-changing media culture, and the eternal quest to stay young.

UTOPIAN FAIRHOPE

Fairhope, AL was built upon a belief in the Arts that still continues to grow. This little town has historically been a haven for free thinkers such as artists, authors, sculptors, musicians, photographers, and the like. The film focuses on outstanding artists within the community. Set to a beautiful backdrop, these scenes are accompanied by music from multiple award-winning film score producer Brian Keane as well as artwork from local talent some of which is recognized around the world. These many beautiful scenes of the area range from sunsets on Fairhopes pier on Mobile Bay to the Eastern Shore landscape of cotton fields and pecan orchards.

The film is shown through the eyes of a newcomer to Fairhope, Gary Scovil, who became inspired by the unique community. The inspiration leads him to collaborate with life long Fairhope resident Andrea Holloway to make a documentary film encompassing many of the things that make Fairhope a wonderful place.

A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES

In a New Orleans neighborhood called Versailles, a tight-knit group of Vietnamese Americans overcame obstacles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill; the empowering story of how the Versailles people, who have already suffered so much in their lifetime, turn a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future.

WOODPECKER

It’s hard to say who is the stranger creature in this existential tragicomedy the unusually large and brilliantly feathered Ivory-Billed Woodpecker or Johnny Neander, the amateur poet who has made it his mission to track down the long-thought-extinct bird in the swamps of Eastern Arkansas. Unlike the countless fanatics that descended upon the area after the Ivory-Billed was allegedly spotted, Johnnys search seems to be much more personal and perverse, despite the fact that he really has no idea how to go about it.

WORLD’S LARGEST

Desperate for tourism, hundreds of small towns across the U.S.A. claim the “world’s largest” something from 15-foot fiberglass strawberries to 40-foot concrete pheasants. Odd, funny and sometimes beautiful, the statues stand as testaments to the uniqueness and importance – the largeness – that all people feel, and need to feel, about their communities and their own existence. World’s Largest, a feature documentary, visits 58 such sites and profiles Soap Lake, Washington’s four-year struggle to build the World’s Largest Lava Lamp. By documenting these roadside attractions, World’s Largest captures the changing landscape of small-town America.

ZOMBIE GIRL

Emily Hagins is making a zombie movie. It’s feature-length, it’s bloody, and the zombies don’t run. Just like it should be. But there’s one difference between her film and every other zombie movie you’ve ever seen: Emily is twelve.

ZOMBIE GIRL: THE MOVIE is the documentary from Bob B. Bob Productions, Vacdoomed Productions, and Part Olson Pictures that chronicles the making of Emily’s zombie film, Pathogen.

SHORTS BLOCKS

Eat: Documentary Shorts Block

Come and get it!

The dinner-bell has rung as we explore the delectable South with these documentary shorts from the Southern Foodways Alliance and the University of Mississippi’s Center for Documentary Projects.

CUT/CHOP/COOK (14min)
CUT/CHOP/COOK profiles Rodney Scott of Scott’s Bar-B-Q in Hemingway, South Carolina. Says Scott, “We only cook with wood and I’m so sure that we only cook with wood because we go out and chop it ourselves.” Monday through Wednesday, you’ll find Scott doing just that, cutting down trees and chopping wood, and Thursday through Saturday he burns that wood down into coals that he uses to cook a half-dozen whole hogs every night.

SMOKES & EARS (20min)
See the story of the Big Apple Inn in Jackson, Mississippi. Known as “Big John’s” by its faithful customers, the Big Apple Inn’s defining duo of pig ear sandwiches and hot smoked sausage sandwiches (known as “smokes”) has kept folks coming back again and again for over 70 years, and counting.

2010 BLESSING OF THE FLEET – BAYOU LA BATRE (5min)
A video documentary of the 2010 Blessing of the Fleet in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Residents of “The Seafood Capital of Alabama” gather to hear Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi offer a blessing over the community’s fleet and fisherman whose livelihood is imperiled by the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

(UNTITLED FILM ON VIETNAMESE SHRIMPERS) (?)
Be the first to see the latest work coming from the Foodways + UM Doc Project! Still in post-production and ready to be served hot at the festival!

VIP passholders will be treated to a lunch of Southern cuisine in the beautiful environs of 5 Rivers immediately following the screening.

Pray: Narrative Shorts Block

Come and get some religion, albeit of a twisted bent…

These three fictional shorts are haunted by the religion of the South in a few of its forms: from comical to meaningful to downright disturbing.

DELMER BUILDS A MACHINE (6min)
Delmer’s cobbling together a machine in his front yard, but if he’s not careful he just might meet his maker…

3:31 (13min)
An intense interrogation pushes the limits of a dying man’s memory and one detective’s waning morality.

MURDERABILIA (30min)
A grim, atmospheric film that plunges into the seedy underbelly of a profoundly macabre market – the buying and selling of murder-related collectibles.

Local Shorts Block

Four shorts by local filmmakers:

PAPA SLURP AND THE ALIEN SPACE BABES (20min)
Fred Marchman creates a stream-of-consciousness narrative using groupings of his friend John Chamblin’s paintings to create a crude and clunky journey through space, as well as an interpretation of this unknown Mobile artist’s “outsider art.”

MARY’S LUCKY DAY (6min)
It started out as an ordinary day, but that was before the gunfire. Now it’s a game of cat and mouse as Paul and Mary attempt to survive the last six minutes of an office shooting crisis.

NOT-SO SUPER FRIENDS (10min)
Captain Condor and Miss America are two of Mega City’s most famous crime fighters. But no one said these superheroes were super friends.

CONFEDERATE FLAGRANT (34min)
Backed by scholarly opinion and a look back into the past, this short documentary aims to pinpoint the reasons why the Battle Flag of the Confederacy’s meaning still remains largely ambiguous, especially depending on which side of the intense debate you ask.