UAM To host film festival

Film series coming to campus

Courtesy of
Media Relations

   The University of Arkansas-Monticello, in conjunction with the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, will host its 4th annual Documentary Film Festival Nov. 11-12 in the Fine Arts Center Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public.

    The 2004 Feature Film, showing Thursday evening at 7 p.m., is "Off to War” (90 minutes), which follows the deployment of the Arkansas National Guard as they say goodbye to civilian lives to cope with conflicts in Iraq and at home. Refreshments will be served following the showing of this film.

    Also showing Thursday evening is “East Lab” (2 minutes), a film made by Drew Central and Monticello High School students, shows an interview with Monticello artist Alice Guffey Miller, winner of the 2004 Governor’s Art Award. “Living Arts” (45 minutes) is another film featuring local people, including poet Red Hawk.

    The festival will also include films on a wide range of topics: a lone explorer’s coast-to-coast walk across Australia, a wedding in a nursing home, the secret lives of birds in the stunning wildlands of Poland, a musical journey investigating the lives of street musicians, and the story of Billy Joe Shaver, a country music legend who is "maybe the best songwriter alive today," according to Willie Nelson.

    The films will run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, plus the evening program on Thursday.

    The UAM Documentary Film Festival is part of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute's outreach program to make fine films available to a wider viewing audience around the state. The UAM program is hosted by the School of Arts & Humanities.

   A complete schedule of films and their starting times follows. For more information, call the UAM Arts & Humanities office between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.at (870)460-1078.

Thursday, Nov. 11

8 a.m. — "Playing for Change" (70 min.) Celebrates freedom and peace of street musicians across the United States.

9:40 a.m. — "Maletilla" (63min.) Reasons why a man would go into bullfighting; filmmaker's father was a bullfighter.

11a.m. — "With Beak & Claw" (53 min.) Extraordinary movie on birds' secret lives: unbelievably beautiful

11:55 a.m. — "Tulia, Texas: Scenes from the Drug War" (26) Drug bust in small town imprisons 10 percent of Black community.

1:40 p.m. — "City of Visitors" (80 min.) Story of Hot Springs, Ark., and the people who founded it.

3 p.m. — "No. 17" (76 min.) Seventeen people died in a suicide bomb attack on bus in Tel Aviv. One victim unidentified, No. 17-compelling look at horror of suicide attacks on ordinary lives.

2003 Feature Film: UAM Fine Arts Center

7 p.m. — "Off To War" (90 min.) Documents Arkansas National Guard as they are deployed to Iraq. Follows them as they say goodbye to civilian lives to cope with conflicts in Iraq & at home.

8:30 p.m. — East Lab, Drew Central and Monticello High School student documentary (2 min.) Interview with Monticello artist Alice Guffey Miller, winner 2004 Governor's Art Award. (filmmakers will speak)

8:40 p.m. — "A Randocrates Film" (6 min.) Local filmmaker and former UAM student Randy Kelley's current documentary film project, with filmmaker present to speak.

Friday, Nov. 12

8:10 a.m. — "A Question of Freedom" (42 min.) A young desperate orphaned elephant makes an unexpected decision.

8:55 a.m. — "World Tour: Fruits of Hegemony" (5 min.) The extent U.S. culture and politics have influenced societies around the globe.

9:10 a.m. — "Something's Brewin' in Shiner" (26 min.) Humor about how Shiner's newest beer was submitted for the approval of the entire town of Shiner, Texas.

9:40 a.m. — "Foxhole" (12 min) Story of two men who met in army in Viet Nam.

9:52 a.m. — "A Life of Death" (8 min) War waged for peace? This film questions the price of lasting peace.

10:10 a.m. — "Mutzie's Wedding" (25 min.) Grandmother's second trip down the aisle. New life, new marriage in a retirement community.

10:40 a.m. — "We Are Phamaly" (20 min) Physically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors' League (PHAMALy) put on kitsch classic musical, from auditions to opening night.

11 a.m. — "Alone Across Australia" (52 min.) In 2001, for 128 days, John Muir and his dog survived entirely off the land, hunting and gathering along the way.

1:10 p.m. — "Living Arts" (45 min.) Fast-paced exploration of Performance Art, features UAM poet Red Hawk reading one of his poems. Pushes boundaries of "What is Art?"

2:10 p.m. — "Chavez Ravine: A Los Angeles Story" (27 min.) In 1952, the city of Los Angeles, Calif., razed the Mexican-American community to make way for Dodger Stadium. This is story of betrayal of that community.

2:40 p.m. — "My First War" (17 min.) San Francisco anti-Iraq-war protesters vs. police; shows how quickly current events and hot passions fade into history.

3:10 p.m. — "Portrait of Billy Joe" (52 min) According to Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver is, "Maybe the best songwriter alive today." 63 year-old singer and songwriter uses music to document a difficult life.

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