Opening Night - ALL ROADS TO TIBETWorldMusic.NationalGeographic.com presents an opening-night performance by acclaimed Tibetan vocalist Yungchen Lhamo, known to many as the voice of Tibet. Yungchen has spent a decade in exile, translating the pure strains of her native art into a distinctly modern musical language.
Milarepa
Neten Chokling Rinpoche
95 min/Tibet-India/2005
Tibetan with English subtitles
US Premiere
An epic adventure of greed, magic, and murder, this film captures the legendary dark and youthful years of Tibet's greatest mystic, Milarepa. Born in the 11th Century as Thöpaga, his privileged life is transformed quickly when his
father dies and his ruthless uncle seizes the family fortune for his own. After a final destructive act of spite inflicted upon his family, Thöpaga ultimately finds redemption and freedom from the evil karma that haunts him. The story has
become an ultimate lesson of sinner-turned-saint that has inspired followers for 900 years. Directed by Neten Chokling Rinpoche, a current spiritual leader and the fourth reincarnation of a great Tibetan meditation master.
www.milarepamovie.com
NORTHERN LIGHTS Life is harsh in the Arctic North, but the people are warm. Put them together and unexpected lessons are learned about living.
Arctic Son
Andrew Walton
76 min/Canada-USA/2006
LA Premiere
Youthful angst and drunken debauchery is no match for a dog sled in the Arctic wild. So Stanley Jr. is abruptly sobered by nature and the Native Gwich'in roots of his father as his urban lifestyle is confronted by the unforgiving Canadian Yukon. When Stanley Jr. and Stanley Sr. reunite, their respective worlds collide and this father-son journey triggers larger metaphors between modernity and tradition, pop culture and nature, addiction and independence; and ultimately embarks on the quest we all seek: to know who we are and where we belong. www.artsengine.net/arcticson
The Hardest of These is Love
Suvi West
25 min/ Finland/2005
Sami with English subtitles
US Premiere
Director Suvi West feels she can't find Mr. Right. "Is there something wrong with me?" she asks her friends, family, and neighbors in her Sami community. In the chilly north of Finland, she gets frank and colorful answers that radiate charm and warmth as she explores the secrets of lasting relationships and the perks of single life in a world where everyone is searching for lasting love.
9 p.m.
LIVE CONCERT
US Premiere Tour of Emmanuel Jal w/Karsh Kale WorldMusic.NationalGeographic.com presents the US premiere tour of Emmanuel Jal, one of the hottest rappers to explode out of Africa. The former Sudanese child soldier now inspires millions with his music and lyrics. Opening the event will be will be the exotic-electronic sounds of Karsh Kale. Mixing hip-hop with electric guitars and Asian percussion, Kale is an internationally renown purveyor of Indian classical music on the Tabla. Presented with Indie 103.1
WOMEN HOLD UP HALF THE SKY Women filmmakers present an expressive collection of works from a distinct perspective that shows what matters to them.
Sa'ah (Over There)
Sarah Del Seronde
20 min/US/2005
Diné with English subtitles
LA Premiere
The echoes of a Diné (Navajo) medicine man reveal the meaning of Diné philosophy, which ensures the Navajo's path to Sa'ah Naghai Bik'eh Hozhoon (Walking in Beauty into Old Age).
Mare
Ana Santos Mejia & Luna Maran
11 min/Mexico/2006
US Premiere
Contemplative images and symbols express metaphorical meaning for a young woman who goes to the beach. Mare is a stunning creative film from filmmakers of the Mixtec and Zapotec communities in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The Lore of Love
Beck Cole
25 min/Australia/2005
Pintupi, Warlpiri, Luntja with English subtitles
US Premiere
Jessie Bartlett is about to take you on an incredible journey back to her grandmother's homelands, where she will learn about the lore of love in her traditional indigenous way. This documentary explores the relationship between
Jessie, a shy 18-year-old girl, and her outgoing and mischievous grandmothers who impart important lessons about intense emotions and the coming of age. The film offers unique insight into the Pintubi lore systems as deciphered by Jessie as she begins to understand herself. A film about courting, relationships, and culture, set in the extremely isolated and beautiful location of Lake Mackay in Western Australia.
Jaisalmer Ayo! Gateway of the Gypsies
Melitta Tchaicovsky & Pepe Ozan
54 min/India-USA/2004
Hindi and Rajasthani with English subtitles
LA Premiere
Shot in the remote areas of Northwest India, this documentary captures several colorful and vanishing nomadic castes of Rajasthani Gypsies on the open roads of the Thar Desert. Among the castes are snake-charmers (Kalbelia,) storytellers (Bhopa,) musicians (Managaniars,) metalworkers (Garolia Lohar,) salt traders (Bamnjara,) and dancers (Sapera). A remarkable soundtrack of emotional Rajasthani music merges with rare visuals to give the viewer a dramatic glimpse of these ancient customs from the last generations of Gypsies in India. www.artnetwork.com
UNDER THE SAME SUN Captivating stories from people who live two identities, between two countries and in two distinctly different cultural worlds.
The Journey of Vaan Nguyen
Duki Dror
84 min/Israel-Vietnam/2005
Vietnamese and Hebrew with English subtitles
LA Premiere
Vaan Nguyen unfolds the absurdities of her life as an Israeli-born Vietnamese woman caught between two cultures that seem to her equally foreign. Her father was one of the many "boat-people" who fled Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in 1975, and one of the few who found asylum in Israel. Now, as one of four Hebrew-speaking daughters who have never seen their native land, Vaan Nguyen travels to Vietnam for the first time with her father, hoping to reclaim his lost land, and search for her own identity in a place that could also be considered home. Their journey becomes a parable on the loss of identity and the fate of refugees.
www.zygotefilms.com
Sueños Binacionales (Binational Dreams)
Yolanda Cruz
30 min/Mexico/2005
Chatino and Spanish with English subtitles
LA Premiere
A moving and sobering documentary about the binational experience of indigenous citizens of Mexico working and living in the U.S. The film recounts the history of Mixtec villagers who immigrated to California 30 years ago, and a more recent history of Chatino people who have maintained a constant immigration into North Carolina for 10 years. The film also visits the villages they have left behind, and presents ideas about prosperity and community from two sides of the Mexican/American border.
8 p.m.
THE WALLS BETWEEN US
Zero Degrees of Separation
Elle Flanders
89 min/Israel-Canada/2005
English, Arabic, Hebrew with English subtitles
LA Premiere
Ezra is against the occupation, yet he's an Israeli. His partner Selim is a Palestinian whose protests against the occupation landed him in jail at the age of 15. Ezra is a simple plumber whose courage and cheek take on prophet-like proportions as he travels across the country risking his life to protest the walls, the fences, and the military checkpoints that divide these two nations. Edit and Samira, a lesbian couple, try to figure out how to bridge the divide between their cultures as injustices such as work visas and harassment strain their still hopeful and compassionate relationship. These stories are skillfully interwoven with haunting archival footage from Israel in the 1950s, to contrast the ideals at the birth of the "holy land" with the reality of the country today—an Israel mired in the rubble of occupation.
zerodegreesofseparation.com www.nfb.ca
*Make A Wish
Cherien Dabis
12 min/Palestine/2006
Arabic with English subtitles
Mariam, an eleven-year-old Palestinian girl, begs her mother for the extra money she needs to buy a birthday cake at the local bakery. Her mother begrudgingly relents, but when Mariam arrives at the bakery, she learns that she still does not have enough money. Determined to get the cake, she sets out to brave the obstacles and land some cash, but her initial efforts are futile. In an act of desperation, Mariam enlists the help of her younger sister, and together, they come up with a scheme to try to raise enough money to buy the cake in time. In Make A Wish, what begins as a simple trip to the bakery turns into a journey that depicts not only the subtle tensions of a politically charged environment, but also illustrates the grief that can only result from growing up under occupation.
www.cheriendabis.com
The Last Supper-Abu Dis
Issa Freij & Nicholas Wadimoss
26 min/Palestine/2005
Arabic with English Subtitles
LA Premiere
Sumaya is a young woman with a home in Abu Dis which looks out over the city of Jerusalem. She says goodbye to the city view and to her neighbors who will soon be on the other side of the wall that will border the West Bank. Sumaya and her neighbors express their opinions, and explain the changes taking place that are both physical and psychological.
ANIMATION PROGRAM Traditional tales from around the world come alive in animated form.
*How the Elephant Lost his Wings
Tara Douglas
4 min/India/2006
World Premiere
A story from the Muria Gond culture about conflict between the first elephant and man.
*Pot of Gold
Nitin Donde
5 min/India/2006
World Premiere
A tale from the Warli tribe of Maharashtra tells what happens when a husband and wife find a pot of gold.
*Best of the Best
Leslie MacKenzie
5 min /India/2006
World Premiere
A vain mouse gets what she deserves in this story from the Gondi tribe.
First Fire
Nathan Young
10 min/USA/2004
Cherokee with English Subtitles
LA Premiere
Stop-motion claymation depicts the origin of fire from the Cherokee Nation.
Un Poquito De... (A Little Bit Of...)
Dominique Jonard
11 min/Mexico/2003
Spanish with English subtitles
US Premiere
Schoolchildren wrote and illustrated this story showing the fun lives of people living near Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico.
Raven and the First People
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006
In the first of two new episodes from the award-winning series about Pacific North Coast tribes, Raven Tales, Eagle and Raven are at odds over how to take care of the world entrusted to them.
Raven and the Seawolf
Caleb Hystad, Simon James
23 min/Canada/2006
US Premiere
The first man is dismayed to find he has no skill as a fisherman and that his skills as an artisan are unappreciated, so he calls out a mythical sea monster to help him.
Lucky
Avie Luthra
20 min/South Africa-UK/ 2005
Zulu, Tamil with English subtitles
Lucky is an AIDS orphan fated by the death of his mother to leave his rural Zulu village for the bright lights of Durban.
He's full of excitement and hope, but Lucky has to learn about life the hard way. Left without much support from his bachelor uncle who can't afford to send him to school for an education, Lucky instead forms an unlikely bond with an intolerant next-door neighbor.
*Mi Papai (My Grandmother)
Sandra Hoffmann M.
5 min/Chile/2006
Music Video
World Premiere
This music video of the song Mi Papai, sung by Antu Lewen, translates from the mapudungun (Mapuche) language to mean "My Grandmother." The song is a narrative about the relationship with the divine, nature, and life in the everyday, and invites us to experience the beautiful landscapes of the Mapuche world.
Dulce Convivencia (Sweet Gatherings)
Filoteo Gómez Martínez
18 min/Mexico/2004
Mixe with English subtitles
US Premiere
In the heart of the forests of Oaxaca, a community of Mixe Indians follows age-old traditions of grinding sugar cane with a large hand-constructed treadmill that presses and crushes the cane with the help of mules. The grinding is endless, and the film wonderfully captures the joys and toils of community work. The result is a thick block of unrefined sugar called panela that helps sustain the financial needs of the village.
Taina-Kan, The Big Star
Adriana Figueiredo & Vincente Barcellos
15 min/Brazil/2005
Portuguese with English subtitles
LA Premiere
A beautiful animation of a traditional Karaja Indian story teaches a lesson about self-centeredness.
Gesture Down: I Don't Sing
Cedar Sherbert
10 min/US-Mexico/2006
English, Spanish, Tipai with English subtitles
A starkly beautiful and graceful film, from the Kumeyaay Nation along the US/Mexican border, delivers a personal take on the poem, "Gesture Down to Guatemala" by writer James Welch. Themes of rumination on place, longing, and identity are heightened by the sublime tradition of bird singing—a Kumeyaay tradition that has endured through the generations.
Plastic Leis
Tyrone Sanga
17 min/US/2005
LA Premiere
Director Tyrone Sanga presents the strife of a young hula dancer torn between the Native Hawaiian tradition and meaning of the dance, and what the tourists expect.
www.hawaii.edu/acm
*Petroglyphs of Rapanui
Santi Hitorangi & Susan HitoShapiro
8 min/Rapanui/2006
The small island of Rapanui (Easter Island), three thousand miles off the coast of Chile, is best known for its monumental monolithic statues, the Moai. Yet, the island has other secrets such as the beautiful and extremely powerful petroglyph carvings written mostly in the Rongorongo hieroglyphics of the Rapanui people. In this short documentary, artists create rubbings of the petroglyphs to share their relevance as virtual records of time, events, and life of past generations.
De La Patada
Ana Santos Mejia & Luna Maran
2 min/Mexico/2005
US Premiere
This experimental animation is metaphorical and quick, leaving the viewer to decide why a young boy kicks a ball and what is implied by the subsequent aftermath. Filmmakers are from the Mixtec and Zapotec communities in Oaxaca, Mexico.
5:30 p.m.
ANCESTORS, ELDERS & LAND Indigenous elders share what's important to remember for the continuation of their culture.
5 Seasons
Steve McGregor
52 min/Australia/2005
Noongabuyu and English with English subtitles
US Premiere
In these fast times, the Numurindi people are still guided by the seasons and the stories of the Dreamtime. They live in southeast Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. There, western society operates on two seasons, wet and dry, but the Numurindi have five. They have developed a culture where all things past and present, including the weather, are interrelated and extend to previous generations together with the animal and plant kingdom. This observational documentary begins with Moses Numamurdirdi, who guides the viewer through the 12 months of the five seasons, and gives insight into a way of life that is rarely seen by western society.
www.caama.com.au
*My First Contact
Mari Correa & Kumaré Txicão
51 min/Brazil/2005
Ikpeng and Portuguese with English subtitles
US Premiere
Members of the rainforest Ikpeng tribe living in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon recall their first encounter with Western civilization nearly 40 years ago. Through the use of remarkable historic footage, and some impromptu reenactments by those who remember the day the first airplane flew over their sky, this documentary offers both a record of history as well as an emotional account of how life changed for the Ikpeng after that first contact.
www.caama.com.au
Indigenous elders share what's important to remember for the continuation of their culture.
Egyptian Theatre Courtyard
September 28 - October 1
2006 All Roads Photography Program Awardees share images and insight into their cultures:
Saiful Huq, Bangladesh—Stolen Dreams: The Story of the Abandoned Victims of Political Violence
Larry McNeil, USA—Fly by Night Mythology (perspectives on Native-American biculturalism)
Sandra Sebastián Pedro, Guatemala—Inherited Violence
Newsha Tavakolian, Iran
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028
+1 323.466.FILM (+1 323 466 3456)
PARKING American Cinematheque will validate for Hollywood and Highland, $2 for 4 hours. Each additional 20 minutes is $1. Free street parking after 6 p.m. Municipal lot on Cherokee Avenue (north of Holywood Boulevard on east side of street, 1 block east of the theatre). First 2 hours, $1. Pay in advance.
OTHER INFO The Egyptian Theatre is wheelchair accessible. No autograph signing, photography, or outside food permitted in the theatre without authorization. The American Cinematheque is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
For more information: www.americancinematheque.com
AERO THEATRE
1328 Montana Ave (at 14th Street)
Santa Monica, CA 90403
+1 323.466.FILM (+1 323 466 3456)
PARKING
Metered and free street parking is available on Montana Avenue and the cross streets surrounding the Aero. North of Montana parking is generally limited to two hours until 7 PM. After 7 PM you can park for free north of Montana Avenue for the duration of a movie. There is plentiful street parking.
OTHER INFO The Aero Theatre is wheelchair accessible. No autograph signing, photography, or outside food permitted in the theatre without authorization.
TICKET INFORMATION
1328 Montana Ave (at 14th Street)
Santa Monica, CA 90403
+1 323.466.FILM (+1 323 466 3456)
TICKET PRICES National Geographic and American Cinematheque Members
$6.00
General
$9.00
Senior (65 and over)
$7.00
Student with current ID
$7.00
BOX-OFFICE HOURS Opens two hours before the first program of the day/evening. Closes 30 minutes after the beginning of last program.
ONLINE Order online at www.fandango.com. Use zip code 90028 for the Egyptian Theatre listing. Use zip code 90403 for the Aero Theatre listing. Tickets go on sale 30 days in advance.
BY PHONE For American Cinematheque and National Geographic members only, call +1 323 692 3431 and follow prompts. Tickets go on sale 30 days in advance.
IN PERSON The Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA. For animation program only; Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA. No handling charge on advance or same-day tickets in person at the box office.
METHOD OF PAYMENT Cash, Visa, and MasterCard.
MEMBER DISCOUNTS Member discounts are applicable to National Geographic and American Cinematheque members. For National Geographic membership, call 800 647 5463; for American Cinematheque membership, call Andrew at + 1 323 461 2020, ext. 110.
OTHER Tickets will not be held without payment. We reserve the right to refuse service. No refunds or exchanges.
