Winter Film Festival

Marblehead’s intrepid bicycle explorer takes the “silver bracelet” bicycle path from Marblehead to Swampscott. Dangers abound as our hero risks life and limb. Does he make it out alive to go on to more adventures? John Bonner is an artist living in Marblehead who makes his living designing and animating educational software.

The filmmaker, a participant in Lynn’s Raw Arts Real to Reel Film School, asks passersby on Boston Common a very unusual question—one that you can ask yourself. See what the question is and what the (surprising and not so surprising) answers are.

Directed by Ties de Blij, an abstract expressionist painter, performance artist, and filmmaker, this film combines visual impressions of Marblehead with Marty Riskin’s memories of his fleeting relationship with his grandfather both in life and death. With audio by Nick Mancini.

Ben Albarelli, an animator, created this music video from a song by Ben Rudnick and Friends, a family-oriented music group, about the joys of making and eating chicken soup. Even the chicken is a willing participant in this feast.

A young woman goes on a (real? imaginary?) journey using the directions left by her recently deceased father. Keith Wasserman is an artist, filmmaker and teacher and has been working in these professions for fifteen years.

A young bicycle rider observes and talks about Lynn, the city she is growing up in. This film is another production by the Raw Arts Real to Reel Film School.

This documentary explores a serious disorder prevalent among today’s youth, and it’s supported by case studies and an opinionating expert with a roomful of books and colorful charts. Steve Stuart is a filmmaker who has provided many films, both comic and serious, to the Film Festival. The Film Festival is grateful for his contribution toward eliminating this dread disease

There’s a good chance that you’ve never seen a film like this. The title is Spanish for “Fair Use”, a legal term which refers to the justified use of copyrighted materials without payment of royalties, and which refers to the film itself, “found footage” of a 1959 Mexican hospital melodrama. The real story is told with the use of subtitles as the characters suddenly realize that their film has been hijacked by an “experimental filmmaker”. Coleman Miller has been making films for twenty years (for MTV and Lollapalooza, among others) and Uso Justo won the “Best of the Fest award at the prestigious Ann Arbor Film Festival. Note: This film contains strong language in parts. Uso Justo is is legacy film that was shown at the Film Festival in 2006.

Jelenny Clark, a participant in the Raw Arts Real to Reel film program, uses this film to thank the special person in her life.

Make It Out is a music video of an original song, and it’s a collaborative project of the entire Raw Arts Real to Reel community. In a few short moments the film uses visuals, words and music to describe what it feels like to be both a teenager and gay, but anyone who has made it through their teenage years will certainly recognize the feelings.

Adlai is a portrait of Adlai Grayson, one of the founders of PROject Nailz, an all-female dance company based in Boston. The film shows Adlai at his day job, at home, and preparing his group for a performance. Michelle Tsiakaros is a senior in Film and Television at Boston University, a dancer, and “a constant observer,” with documentary subject interests in race, gender, and class—and food.

This documentary records the last days and final rest of filmmaker and video artist Sanjiban Sellew and is a testament to one unique man’s life and the people who surrounded him at the end. Ben Pender-Cudlip is a founder of Unrendered Films, with interests in “nonfiction films that explore our common experiences and feelings as human beings.”

You could call Jimmy’s House of Hugs a late night cable TV infomercial from another planet…or you might say “What a great idea! Someone should open up something like this in Marblehead!” You be the judge. Another film from the talented and prolific Julia Radochia. Note: This film contains strong language in parts. This is another legacy film from the 2006 Film Festival.