Salem Film Festival starts FRIDAY!

OCTOBER 14-21, 2011 In a hushed auditorium, a flicker of magic on the screen...  SALEM FILM FILM FESTIVAL    VIP PASSES, TEN FLIX TIX & INDIVIDUAL TICKETS FOR FILMS AND PARTIES ARE ON SALE NOW!    Advance passes and Ten Flix Tix punch cards are now available to purchase at Salem Cinema during regular business hours, online at BoxOfficeTickets.com or by visiting Travel Salem at 181 High Street NE.     If you purchased passes or ten flix tix in advance, your lanyard or punch card is available to pick up at Salem Cinema on Broadway. Please bring your receipt.  Walk-up hours at the Travel Salem Cafe are Monday-Friday 9am - 5pm and Saturday 10am - 4pm. There is a small service fee for all tickets and passes purchased online at Box Office Tickets or through Travel Salem.    Individual advance tickets will only be available to purchase until one day prior to a film's showtime. After that time, you must purchase tickets at the Salem Cinema on Broadway, High Street Cinema or The Grand Theater on the day of the screening or event.  The Grand and High Street will accept cash only.     Our fabulous film selections for the 2011 festival are up on the website or find a festival guide in the latest edition of Salem Weekly! Please continue to check salemfilmfestival.com for updates!     TICKET OPTIONS   While all VIP Pass Holders are entitled to "priority seating" at all films and events, please note that seating is limited in all auditoriums, so you must arrive no later than 15 minutes prior to a show time when we are seating pass holders. After that time, when remaining tickets are released for purchase, you will need to join the line of ticket BUYERS to redeem your pass for a ticket. Admission to events at The Grand Theater and High Street Cinema is by cash or VIP pass only. No Salem Cinema passes, gift certificates, coupons or CineBucks may be used at any festival venue. $125 VIP PASS  includes entrance into our Opening Night Festivities on Friday, October 14th and Saturday, October 15th at Christo's as well as any additional events during the festival. - As many films and film events as your heart desires during the entire eight days of the festival! - Priority seating (up to 15 minutes before show time) for the entirety of the festival.      $70 TEN FLIX TIX   - The Flix Tix works much like a punch card. Priority seating is not an option as with the VIP Pass and is based on seating availability. We recommend that you redeem each punch for an advance ticket to any available film ahead of time to further ensure seating. Ten Flix Tix Holders will join the line of TICKET HOLDERS.    $8 INDIVIDUAL TICKETS - Limited number on sale now! - Individual ticket holders will be seated on a first-come, first-served basis 15 minutes prior to show time once pass holders have been admitted to the theater.    $20 OPENING NIGHT PARTY ~or~ $25 for OPENING NIGHT FILM + PARTY at Christo's Pizzeria - Limited number on sale now! Party + Film option not available online. $15 SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY at Christo's Pizzeria - Limited number on sale now!       FEATURED OPENING NIGHT FILM! 7:00PM A YEAR IN MOORING Salem Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE Filmmaker Chris Eyre & Salem Screenwriter Peter Vanderwall in attendance          Disarming in its subtlety, A Year In Mooring is the quietly contemplative cinematic journey about renewal, redemption and the inevitability of change. Starring Josh Lucas in his first leading dramatic role, A Year In Mooring follows the story of a successful businessman attempting to resurrect his life. Entering an idyllic harbor as a broken and haunted man, he buys and boards a dilapidated sailboat.  Read more...   Friday, October 14th doors open at 3:00PM at Salem Cinema; 5:15PM at High Street Cinema; 6:15PM at The Grand 6:00PM I BECOME GILGAMESH Salem Cinema WEST COAST PREMIERE Filmmakers Juan Francisco de la Guardia & Danny Nguyen in attendance In a dim, cluttered laboratory, Dr. Michael Sieggombe, a single father and professor of biology, lectures his class on cancer and cell aging. The mood has been somber lately since his students learned of their professor's condition - he is being consumed by the very disease he has spent the latter part of his life studying. Read more... 6:00PM FILM SOCIALISME Salem Cinema OREGON PREMIERE Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard returns to the screen with Film Socialisme, a magisterial essay on the decline of European Civilization. As a garish cruise ship travels the Mediterranean (with Patti Smith among its guests), Godard embarks on a state of the EU address in a vibrant collage of philosophical quotes and historical revelations of pure cinematic beauty. A symphony in three movements, this disarmingly comic, avant garde film charms. Read more... 6:00PM MORODER'S METROPOLIS High Street Cinema OREGON PREMIERE Last year we offered up the opportunity to see the gorgeously restored version of this Fritz Lang masterpiece. This year, it's a whole new Metropolis experience!  In 1981, three-time Academy Award-winning composer Giorgio Moroder began a three-year endeavor to restore the science fiction classic, Metropolis. During this process, Moroder made the controversial decision to give the film a new, contemporary score, and added a pop music soundtrack featuring songs from some of the biggest stars of the early MTV era, including Pat Benatar, Billy Squier, Freddie Mercury, Bonnie Tyler and Adam Ant. Read more...   FEATURED OPENING NIGHT FILM! 7:00PM A YEAR IN MOORING Salem Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE Filmmaker Chris Eyre & Salem Screenwriter Peter Vanderwall in attendance          Disarming in its subtlety, A Year In Mooring is the quietly contemplative cinematic journey about renewal, redemption and the inevitability of change. Starring Josh Lucas in his first leading dramatic role, A Year In Mooring follows the story of a successful businessman attempting to resurrect his life. Entering an idyllic harbor as a broken and haunted man, he buys and boards a dilapidated sailboat. Read more...  7:00PM CIRCUS KIDS The Grand Theatre  OREGON PREMIERE Circus Kids is a film about an eclectic youth circus troupe from St. Louis who travel to Israel to join another troupe comprised of Jewish and Arabic children. It is a story of how a group of very different kids find out they are not so different after all. The St. Louis Arches is made up of children from a wide spectrum of social, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. Read more... 8:15PM EVERYDAY SUNSHINE: THE STORY OF FISHBONE High Street Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE From the shifting faultlines of Hollywood fantasies and the economic and racial tensions of Reagan's America, Fishbone rose to become one of the most original bands of the last 25 years. With a blistering combination of punk and funk, they demolished the walls of genre and challenged the racial stereotypes and political order of the music industry and the nation. Read more... 8:30PM KITCHEN HAMLET Salem CInema WEST COAST PREMIERE Filmmakers Daniel Elihu Kramer, Jeff Pence & Brian Kettler in attendance Hamlet, sworn to revenge by the ghost of his murdered father, struggles to cut himself off from those he loves in order to keep his promise. This contemporary telling of Shakespeare's play finds poetry and tragedy in the everyday setting of an isolated country house. Visually evocative, deeply felt and stripped of false pomp, Kitchen Hamlet features a remarkable perfomance by Patrick Shaw as Hamlet. Read more... 8:30PM LOOK, STRANGER Salem CInema WEST COAST PREMIERE Look, Stranger is a psychological portrait of a woman traveling home in a war torn world. Set in the urban wastelands and desolate forests of an unidentified world at war, Look, Stranger tells the story of a woman making a dangerous journey home from a refugee camp. When her guide is killed on the road in an arbitrary act of violence, the woman is forced to rely on an angry and disillusioned carrier, who agrees to travel with her for a price. Read more...       9:00PM OPENING NIGHT PARTY Christo's Pizzeria & Lounge featuring music from Tonya Gilmore and Tent City! only $20 or included with your VIP Pass Salem Film Festival invites you to join us and celebrate with our filmmakers, fabulous food, Gilgamesh Beer and live music!      Saturday, October 15th doors open at 11:30AM at Salem Cinema; 1:15PM at High Street Cinema 12:00PM WRITING BETWEEN THE LINES with A Year In Mooring's Peter Vanderwall Join us at Salem Cinema for this incredibly non-ticketed unique event! It was on a visit to Willamette University that Chris was introduced to Salem screenwriter Peter Vanderwall by Willamette Film Professor Ken Nolley. Their collaboration, creativity and kinship produced our wonderful Opening Night Feature, A Year In Mooring. In addition, on Saturday, October 15th at noon, Peter will present Writing Between The Lines: A Year in Mooring's Journey from Idea to Screen. He will share his experiences in writing a screenplay based on an idea conceived years earlier. He'll discuss the creative choices in further developing the script with director Chris Eyre and then adapting the script to a new location. He'll talk about how the story continued to develop through collaboration with the cast and crew during production and postproduction. And he'll show how several key scenes evolved from words on the page to images on the screen during the writing, filming, and editing phases.      2:00PM  A YEAR IN MOORING Salem Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE Filmmaker Chris Eyre & Salem Screenwriter Peter Vanderwall in attendance       Disarming in its subtlety, A Year In Mooring is the quietly contemplative cinematic journey about renewal, redemption and the inevitability of change. Starring Josh Lucas in his first leading dramatic role, A Year In Mooring follows the story of a successful businessman attempting to resurrect his life. Entering an idyllic harbor as a broken and haunted man, he buys and boards a dilapidated sailboat. Read more...  2:00PM on the making of SEPTEMBER Salem Cinema Filmmakers Bryn Silverman, Dan Chen, Philips Shum & David Ballantyne in attendance   Local filmmaker and recent USC graduate Bryn Silverman presents her latest project September, a short film about two travelers who turn a hostel bedroom into a home. This conversational workshop will go through the unique production of this film step-by-step, taking you through the writing, shooting, and post-production process. Come learn what it's like to make a movie by living it first and contribute your two cents by comparing and contrasting scenes/editing options. This is a great opportunity to come share in the exploration of low-budget filmmaking with the cast and crew of September. This is a non-ticketed event, but we are asking for a $5 suggested donation to benefit September's Kickstarter campaign. Read more here! September stars David Ballantyne and Jamie Slovon. 2:00PM BORN UNDER Z Salem Cinema U.S. PREMIERE    Fifty years after his exile in France, Robert's past, as a mixed-race child from Indochina, has caught up with him. He decides to go back in time to try to understand why he was never allowed to know his French father and to piece together the reason he was separated from his Vietnamese mother when he was ten years old. Read more...     2:00PM DOT with short film Beyond the Spill High Street Cinema NW EMERGING FEATURE Filmmaker Pat Somers & Dot Fisher-Smith in attendance Dot Fisher-Smith is a mystical, masterful artist, a war resister, an environmental activist, a jailbird. As a great-grandmother, she chained her neck to a log truck to protest salvage logging of old growth forest. Is her life as ordinary as she claims it to be? This moving documentary is an intimate portrait of life and death through the eyes of 82 year-old Dot. Read more...   3:45PM IN ALL SERIOUSNESS: a collection of short films Salem Cinema Read more... Bright Directed by Benjamin Busch. United States. (40 mins.) Bright pulls us into the world of Troy (Eric Nenninger), a young man who has built an environment to protect himself from a paralyzing fear.     Grace Face Directed by Luke Kraman. United States. (13 mins.) Filmmaker Luke Kraman in attendance 21 year-old, Grace knows of her mother's affair and reaches her breaking point. Thule Directed by Robert Scott Wildes. United States. (27 mins.)  Filmmaker Kyle Fischer in attendance Separated from their loved ones in a remote Air Force base in Greenland during the height of the Cold War, a group of airmen desperately awaits a mail drop to bring them news from home. 3:45PM KITCHEN HAMLET Salem CInema WEST COAST PREMIERE Filmmakers Daniel Elihu Kramer, Jeff Pence & Brian Kettler in attendance Hamlet, sworn to revenge by the ghost of his murdered father, struggles to cut himself off from those he loves in order to keep his promise. This contemporary telling of Shakespeare's play finds poetry and tragedy in the everyday setting of an isolated country house. Visually evocative, deeply felt and stripped of false pomp, Kitchen Hamlet features a remarkable perfomance by Patrick Shaw as Hamlet. Read more... 4:30PM EAST FIFTH BLISS Salem Cinema Filmmaker John Ramos in attendance Michael C. Hall, best known for his roles in Six Feet Under and Dexter, stars in this charming and off-kilter comic drama about a schlubby 35 year-old New Yorker who can't seem to get his life together until the sexually precocious daughter of a former high-school classmate comes along and opens his mind to new possibilities. Read more... 4:45PM OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW High Street Cinema A mesmerizing portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer by acclaimed docu mentarian Sophie Fiennes, Grass is part tribute, part deconstruction. In 1993 Kiefer left his native Germany and settled in Barjac in France, where he bought a derelict silk factory, transforming it into an extraordinary artistic center, at once the place where his paintings and sculptures are housed and displayed, but as such, a colossal, evolving architectural artwork in and of itself. Read more... 6:00PM THE MAGICAL MARRIAGE OF MUSIC & MOVIES: a collection of short films Salem Cinema Read more...    Bluish Directed by Shannon Schnittker. United States. (6 mins.) Shot, edited and screened within 24 hours, this trance music video explores ideas of space, time and human relations beneath the surface of the water.    Colorscape Directed by Shannon Schnittker. United States. (3 mins.) Colorscape is a celebration of the collaborative spirit. Using vibrant hues and abstract circumstance, this short film illustrates what goes into creating a project together and how that spirit spreads.    Fly As I Wanna: Dapper Dan Directed by Jack Henry Robbins. United States. (4 mins.) Filmmaker Philips Shum in attendance A fun and funky music video.    I'll Try Anything Once Directed by Dan Chen. United States. (3 mins.) Filmmaker Dan Chen in attendance A collection of memories from summer to summer - an impression of time and the people set to music.    Islands Directed by Nelson de Castro. United States. (10 mins.) A visual filmmaker and animator, Nelson normally feels most comfortable in the company of powertools. In this short, he takes a step outside of the soundstage and into natural design.    Painted Directed by Naveen Chaubal. United States. (5 mins.) A social experiment, the film follows a girl wearing a white painter's suit equipped with a brush and paint as she travels the Los Angeles subway system and asks random passengers to paint on her.    Patrons of Wanderer's Way: Massive Moth Directed by the Farris Family. United States. (6 mins.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT Two shadowy figures experiment with recombining innocent creatures in this music video short. Rats, flies and slime abound in a cinematic fusion of music and macabre whimsy.    Pow Directed by Bryn Silverman. United States. (1 minute.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT Filmmaker Bryn Silverman in attendance A short animated/cut-out film of mild explosions.    Rainy Day Directed by Carson Hughes & Jason von Smith. United States. (4 mins.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT Filmmaker Carson Hughes in attendance A beautiful ballet dancer waters her plants and yard on a wonderful sunny day. When she finds herself in a tricky situation, will her neighbor come to her rescue?    This Too Shall Pass Directed by Marc Wiskemann. United States. (2 mins.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT This visually stunning, timelapse project is created from over 15,000 still photos capturing the beauty of the North American landscape.    Too Late featuring Krys Wright Directed by David Odio & Michael Coursey United States. (4 mins.) Sometimes we try to change the past, but sometimes it's just too late.    Voyage Home Directed by Naveen Chaubal. United States. (7 mins.) A man travels through a deserted building witnessing a mix of memories and visions that magically unfold and are personified through a variety of peculiar characters.    Without Wings Directed by Jo Meuris. Canada. (4 mins.) Without Wings is a celebration of the human body in motion. The feats of athleticism performed by dancers and acrobats as they leap, soar, flip and spin through the movements of dance.   6:15PM AS IF I AM NOT THERE Salem Cinema WEST COAST PREMIERE As If I Am Not There is a story of a young woman from Sarajevo whose life is shattered the day a young soldier walks into her apartment and tells her to pack her things. Rounded up with the other women from the village and imprisoned in a warehouse in a remote region of Bosnia, she quickly learns the rules of camp life. Read more... 7:00PM FORT MCCOY Salem Cinema OREGON PREMIERE Filmmakers Kate Connor & Andy Hirsch in attendance First-time screenwriter Kate Connor's film Fort McCoy is as ambitious as it is personal: together with co-director Michael Worth, Connor magnificently retells her grandmother's childhood experiences as the daughter of a barber on a post-World War II military base in Wisconsin which includes a German POW camp. In the summer of 1944, Frank Stirn (Eric Stoltz) moves with his family to become a barber for the American Army at Fort McCoy. Read more...     7:00PM THE WANTEDS High Street Cinema NW EMERGING FEATURE Filmmakers Dave Camp, David Kopilak & Tommy Harrington in attendance Special thanks to Normandy Guitars, Tommy Harrington will play live at Christo's on Saturday at 9PM!  With purple hair and coke bottle glasses, Tommy Harrington is embarking on his first tour of the country as a one man band, at the age of 34. After enduring and overcoming drug addiction and a harrowing childhood, he has never given up on his dream of becoming a rock star - but days before the tour, his girlfriend expresses concerns. Will he choose his fledgling career over a family? Will he stay sober? Will he stay faithful? Read more...  8:00PM THE MULBERRY TREE Salem Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE Filmmakers Russell Gray & Mike DeLiso in attendance The Mulberry Tree tells the story of Mickey Loren who is serving out his last month of parole for his part in a tragic accident by changing bedpans at a hospital. He is stuck living at home with his passive mother and belligerent prison guard father and finds his court ordered community service and creative writing class at the local college to be his only escape from his troubling past. An assigned project to write about someone he doesn't know leads him to Samuel Freeman (Joe Morton), a quietly stoic patient  convicted of murder, dying of AIDS and living out his remaining days on death watch. Read more...    8:45PM FACE TO FACE Salem Cinema From Australia's most acclaimed playwright, David Williamson, Face To Face is that rare, powerful film which grabs hold of you at the beginning and doesn't let go. Nothing is as it seems in this moving and compelling drama about lies, betrayal, sex and bullying in the workplace. A young construction worker rams into the back of his boss' Jaguar in a fit of anger at being sacked. Rather than fronting court, he's given the chance to explain his actions in a community conference. Read more... 9:00PM SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY Christo's Pizzeria featuring music from Tommy Harrington of the SFF Film THE WANTEDS and Axolotl Daydream who contributed music to SALEMIA! only $15 or included with your VIP Pass    Salem Film Festival invites you to join us for another amazing night to celebrate with our filmmakers, fabulous food, Gilgamesh Beer and live music!    9:30PM THE OREGONIAN with short films Snowball and The Stepmother High Street Cinema There is a place. A place where the skies are wide and the forests are thick - and strange. You can lose yourself forever in these woods. You'll meet truckers with problems and old women with strange powers. You may even make a furry friend. Just be sure to stay quiet. Spend some time with a woman from Oregon who is lost on the road and running away from her past. Now she has a chance to experience everything grotesque the Northwest has to offer, whether she likes it or not. Read more..  Sunday, October 16th doors open at 11:15AM at The Grand; 11:45AM at Salem Cinema; 1:15PM at High Street 12:00PM RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK: THE ADAPTATION The Grand Theatre Filmmaker Chris Strompolos in attendance Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb met while attending elementary school in South Mississippi at ages nine and ten. Initially, they were mere acquaintances, but when Chris saw the theatrical debut of Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, he was completely captivated by the movie's adventurous spirit and taken with the character of Indiana Jones. Eric also loved Raiders and in the summer of '82, the two recruited Jayson to team up with them to painstakingly recreate the Spielberg Lucas $26 million blockbuster scene by scene. For the next seven years, they labored, their relationship tested by inevitable changes that come with growing from boys to young men. Their mission complete, it seemed that the journey had come to an end, but fifteen years later, the trio were contacted by filmmaker Eli Roth, setting off a chain of events that led to a reunion, a meeting with Steven Spielberg and ultimately, the purchase of their life rights by Hollywood mega-producer Scott Rudin and an unimaginable major motion picture deal. It's the stuff childhood dreams are made of! Read more...  Present your Raiders ticket stub when purchasing a ticket for our Youth and Amateur Program and receive $2 off the regular $5 admission! You never know, you might be watching the next blockbuster filmmaking team!   12:30PM FORT MCCOY Salem Cinema OREGON PREMIERE Filmmakers Kate Connor & Andy Hirsch in attendance First-time screenwriter Kate Connor's film Fort McCoy is as ambitious as it is personal: together with co-director Michael Worth, Connor magnificently retells her grandmother's childhood experiences as the daughter of a barber on a post-World War II military base in Wisconsin which includes a German POW camp. In the summer of 1944, Frank Stirn (Eric Stoltz) moves with his family to become a barber for the American Army at Fort McCoy. Read more...    12:30PM LOSING CONTROL with short film A Short Film About Ice Fishing Salem Cinema OREGON PREMIERE Steve Roberts, House Lights Media Entertainment Distribution and Marketing in attendance A fresh, funny film that explores the universal idea that, at some point, everyone fears that there is a "right" way to find love, and they might be going about it the wrong way, Losing Control is a smart and original romantic comedy about a female scientist who wants empirical proof that her boyfriend is "the one." Evoking a lighthearted, clever tone, this endearing film follows Samantha, a charmingly neurotic Harvard graduate student whose life doesn't seem to be working out the way she planned. Read more...      12:30PM TAKE SHELTER Salem Cinema Sneak Preview! No advance tickets for this film Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) lives in a small Ohio town with his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and six year-old daughter Hannah, who is deaf. Money is tight, and navigating Hannah's healthcare and special needs education is a constant struggle. Despite that, Curtis and Samantha are very much in love and their family is a happy one. But when Curtis begins having terrifying dreams about an encroaching, apocalyptic storm, he channels his anxiety into the obsessive building of a storm shelter in their backyard. Read more...   2:00PM WITH GREAT POWER: THE STAN LEE STORY with short film Gear School: Plug and Play High Street Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE At 88 years old, Stan Lee's name appears on more than one billion comices and, having co-created legendary pop culture characters including Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Hulk, his is arguably the most recognized name in comics. The Stan Lee Story explores the vivid life and imagination of this icon from the early days of his Great Depression era upbringing through the Marvel age of comics and beyond. Read more...  Salem comic book writer Adam Gallardo in attendance with the short film based on his work Gear School!     3:00PM THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE Salem Cinema Filmmaker Phil Leirness in attendance Dean Haglund is an actor, an improv comic, an artist and an inventor. Best known by millions of fans the world over for playing one of the computer hacking Lone Gunmen on The X-Files and their own spin-off series, Dean has become closely identified with the realm of the paranormal and the world of conspiracy. He has even found himself at the center of a conspiracy surrounding 9/11. Read more...   3:00PM YOUTH & AMATEUR PROGRAM The Grand Theatre $5  The Salem Film Festival Youth & Amateur Competition (SFF-YAC) has been created to showcase the talent of amateur filmmakers of all ages. Come join us in seeing their vision on the big screen!   YOUTH entries are accepted by students in middle or high school. AMATEUR entries are those created by filmmakers who are out of high school, but who still have entry-level filmmaking skills. SUBMISSION ENTRIES into our Youth & Amateur Competition fall into one of the following categories: Abstract/Artistic, Music Video, Short Narrative, Non-Fiction or our riveting 72 Hour Challenge in which filmmakers are given genre, character and dialogue requirements to include in a film that they must complete within 72 hours.        Present your Raiders ticket stub when purchasing a ticket for our Youth and Amateur Program and receive $2 off the regular $5 admission! You never know, you might be watching the next blockbuster filmmaking team!  3:15PM TAKE ME HOME Salem Cinema WEST COAST PREMIERE   Thom Colvin isn't having a good day. After getting turned down by a photogrpahy agency, Thom finds his landlord throwing all of his belongings out into the hall way. With no job prospects and no place to sleep, Thom must turn to his recurring last resort: driving his illegal taxicab around the streets of New York. Fortunately for him, Claire Barrow isn't having a good day either. First she comes home to find her husband flirting with his new secretary, then discovers her estranged father has suffered a heart attack in California. In a frenzy, Claire runs out in the night and hails Thom's cab. Read more...   3:30PM THE AMAZING ART OF ANIMATION: a collection of short films Salem Cinema Read more...   The Adventures of Djembe and Bongo! NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT Directed by Noah & Ellen Dorsey. United States. (4 mins.)   Filmmaker Noah Dorsey in attendance All year long, Djembe and Bongo have been planning their vacation. Unbeknownst to them, they have been vacationing on an island of cannibals and not the vegetarian kind!     Animation: A Palette of Possibilites Directed by Angela Hinton. United States (15 mins.) This short documentary is a whirlwind tour of some of the animators who brought to life beloved classics such as Mary Poppins, Sleeping Beauty and Pete's Dragon.       Bait Directed by Michael Moore. United States (10 mins.) A quirky group of earthworms wake up one morning only to find that they are trapped in a young boy's bait bucket.     Homeless Conductor Directed by Dony Chiang. Tawain. (3 mins.) Once the conductor of a famous orchestra, a man now lives on the streets of a cold and silent city. One night, the homeless conductor picks up an old baton, takes a deep breath and suddenly, a miracle happens... Kidnap Directed by Sijia Luo. United States. (4 mins.) A little chicken is late to school, so she thinks up the perfect excuse to get herself off da hook. Latrinalia Directed by Joselyn McDonald. United States (12 mins.) Exploring the complexities and artistic nature of bathroom graffiti, this project took the all female crew of student filmmakers across America to document some of the most odd and inspiring pieces of art, tracing the evolution from pre-history to the present. Otto Directed by Melissa Bloom. United States (3 mins.) A bittersweet fairytale in which a Russian astronomer attempts to reconnect with the love of his life. Pow Directed by Bryn Silverman. United States. (1 minute.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT Filmmaker Bryn Silverman in attendance A short animated/cut-out film of mild explosions. The Shepherd Boy and The Wolf: A Stop-Motion Adaptation Directed by Timothy Schultz. United States. (11 mins.) Although many people are familiar with the tradional moral tale of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, this adaptation follows Aesop's story with a less-than-traditional approach.     Without Wings Directed by Jo Meuris. Canada. (4 mins.) Without Wings is a celebration of the human body in motion. The feats of athleticism performed by dancers and acrobats as they leap, soar, flip and spin through the movements of dance.       4:30PM THE LONG AND THE SHORTS OF IT: a collection of short films High Street Cinema Read more...  Any Day Now Directed by Matt Jay United States. (35 mins.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT 23 year-old small town beauty, Sam,has just arrived in New York. Pulling her there, is a long-standing relationship with a married politician who may or may not have a place in the next phase of her life. Kids for Kidnapping Directed by Torrance Maurer. United States. (14 mins.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT Filmmaker Justin Zimmerman in attendance When a single mother needs an evening of childcare one discretion leads to the next as her children take matters into their own hands. Shudder House Directed by Joey Dello Russo. United States. (15 mins.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT On a rural estate in 1951, a boy named Robby trudges through a meaningless childhood. Training on classical piano is his only chore dictated by unloving parents. The Trials of Kenneth Directed by Will Brown Hernandez. United States/Canada/China. (23 mins.) NORTHWEST EMERGING SHORT All this life, Kenneth Hsu has wanted to give back to China, his native country. And now he has the chance: translating the negotiations to rebuild Sichuan after a massive earthquake. 5:30PM I BECOME GILGAMESH Salem Cinema WEST COAST PREMIERE Filmmakers Juan Francisco de la Guardia & Danny Nguyen in attendance In a dim, cluttered laboratory, Dr. Michael Sieggombe, a single father and professor of biology, lectures his class on cancer and cell aging. The mood has been somber lately since his students learned of their professor's condition - he is being consumed by the very disease he has spent the latter part of his life studying. Read more... 5:30PM TUESDAY, AFTER CHRISTMAS Salem Cinema OREGON PREMIERE The latest bloom from the flourishing garden that is Romanian cinema, Radu Muntean's Tuesday, After Christmas chronicles the emotional fallout from a classic love triangle, but it unfolds with the agonizing tension of a suspense film. In the days leading up to Christmas, a married man forces himself to choose between his wife and his mistress. It is the emotionally resonant drama of a middle-class couple whose 10-year marriage is rocked by the husband's illicit affair with their daughter's sexy dentist. Read more...  5:45PM HOME: THE STORY OF VALSETZ The Grand Theatre NW EMERGING FEATURE Filmmaker Ronan Feely in attendance    This is the story of a lumber town, set deep in Oregon's coastal range. Like so many other logging towns, it grew from humble roots to hold a special place in the hearts of all who lived there. For the children who lived there, life was idyllic, playing with friends and neighbors in the safety of the forest. For the adults, the old growth trees provided bounteous wood for the town's mill, meaning steady, well paid work. This was a tight community. Read more...    6:30PM EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS Salem Cinema Three-star chef Ferran Adria is widely considered the most innovative and craziest chef in the world. In his kitchen, that which was once familiar disintegrates. Each year, his restaurant El Bulli closes for six months - time for Adria and his culinary team to retire to his Barcelona cooking laboratory to create the new menu for the coming season. From the initial experimentation to the premiere of the finished dish, with many an ingredient examined in a totally new way, we are whisked away on a delightfully savory escape. Read more... 7:00PM THE WOODMANS High Street Cinema Francesca Woodman's haunting black and white images, many of them nude self portraits, now reside in the pantheon of great photography from the late 20th century. The daughter of artists Betty and George Woodman, Francesca was a precocious RISD graduate who came to New York with the intention of setting the art world on fire. But in 1981, as a despondent 22 year-old, she committed suicide.  Read more... 7:45PM BRIEF REUNION Salem Cinema  WEST COAST PREMIERE Be careful who plays in your virtual sandbox - even if they're old friends. Aaron Clark has forged a comfortable life in New England, close to his Ivy League roots. He has it all: financial security, a beautiful wife and a close-knit circle of old friends. But this collegiate bond is shattered by the sudden and unnerving arrival of Teddy, a former classmate and proverbial snake. Teddy insinuates himself back into their lives, hijacking a 40th birthday party surprise and then systematically stalking Aaron. Bitter over Aaron's success, Teddy also pries into his business affairs, hinting at improprieties through a lethal combination of extortion and revenge. Read more... 7:45PM MY JOY Salem Cinema Shot by master cinematographer Oleg Muto (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), My Joy, the first fiction film by acclaimed documentarian Sergei Loznitsa, is a mischievous, ultra-nihilistic parable of post-Communist Russia. When truck driver Georgi takes a wrong turn and finds himself lost in a bleak Russian underworld, he is suddenly caught in a spiral of violence and abuses of power. Sucked into the everyday madness of his country, losing his health and memory in the process, Georgi struggles to survive amidst increasingly vehement reminders of the country's dark past. Read more...  Monday, October 17th doors open at 4:30PM at Salem Cinema; 5:45PM at The Grand; 6:15PM @ High Street 5:15PM AS IF I AM NOT THERE Salem Cinema WEST COAST PREMIERE As If I Am Not There is a story of a young woman from Sarajevo whose life is shattered the day a young soldier walks into her apartment and tells her to pack her things. Rounded up with the other women from the village and imprisoned in a warehouse in a remote region of Bosnia, she quickly learns the rules of camp life. Read more...   5:30PM TAKE ME HOME Salem Cinema WEST COAST PREMIERE   Thom Colvin isn't having a good day. After getting turned down by a photogrpahy agency, Thom finds his landlord throwing all of his belongings out into the hall way. With no job prospects and no place to sleep, Thom must turn to his recurring last resort: driving his illegal taxicab around the streets of New York. Fortunately for him, Claire Barrow isn't having a good day either. First she comes home to find her husband flirting with his new secretary, then discovers her estranged father has suffered a heart attack in California. In a frenzy, Claire runs out in the night and hails Thom's cab. Read more...    6:30PM THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE Salem Cinema Filmmaker Phil Leirness in attendance Dean Haglund is an actor, an improv comic, an artist and an inventor. Best known by millions of fans the world over for playing one of the computer hacking Lone Gunmen on The X-Files and their own spin-off series, Dean has become closely identified with the realm of the paranormal and the world of conspiracy. He has even found himself at the center of a conspiracy surrounding 9/11. Read more...   6:30PM OVER YOUR CITIES GRASS WILL GROW The Grand Theatre A mesmerizing portrait of the artist Anselm Kiefer by acclaimed docu mentarian Sophie Fiennes, Grass is part tribute, part deconstruction. In 1993 Kiefer left his native Germany and settled in Barjac in France, where he bought a derelict silk factory, transforming it into an extraordinary artistic center, at once the place where his paintings and sculptures are housed and displayed, but as such, a colossal, evolving architectural artwork in and of itself. Read more... 7:00PM THE WELCOME High Street Cinema NW EMERGING FEATURE    The Welcome offers a fiercely intimate view of life after war: the fear, anger and isolation of post-traumatic stress that affects vets and family members alike. As we join these vets in a small room for an unusual five day healing retreat, we witness how the ruins of war can be transformed into the beauty of poetry. Here our perceptions are changed, our psyches strained, and our hearts broken. Read more... 7:45PM WITH GREAT POWER: THE STAN LEE STORY with short film Gear School: Plug and Play Salem Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE At 88 years old, Stan Lee's name appears on more than one billion comices and, having co-created legendary pop culture characters including Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Hulk, his is arguably the most recognized name in comics. The Stan Lee Story explores the vivid life and imagination of this icon from the early days of his Great Depression era upbringing through the Marvel age of comics and beyond. Read more...     Salem comic book writer Adam Gallardo in attendance with the short film based on his work Gear School! 7:45PM RAPT Salem Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE    Sprawling and inventive, Rapt is a solid, finely constructed thriller. On the eve of his visit to China as part of the entourage of the French president, the rich and powerful industrialist Stainslas Graff is kidnapped outside of his home by a commando group. What follows is a terrifying sparring match between kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which Graff is the director. Completely cut off from the rest of the world, and only aware of what the kidnappers tell him, Graff cannot understand why his friends and family are taking their time to pay the demanded ransom. Read more...  Tuesday, October 18th doors open at 5:00PM at Salem Cinema; 5:15PM at The Grand Theatre; 6:15PM at High Street 5:45PM BORN UNDER Z Salem Cinema U.S. PREMIERE    Fifty years after his exile in France, Robert's past, as a mixed-race child from Indochina, has caught up with him. He decides to go back in time to try to understand why he was never allowed to know his French father and to piece together the reason he was separated from his Vietnamese mother when he was ten years old. Read more...         6:30PM LOSING CONTROL with short film A Short Film About Ice Fishing Salem Cinema OREGON PREMIERE A fresh, funny film that explores the universal idea that, at some point, everyone fears that there is a "right" way to find love, and they might be going about it the wrong way, Losing Control is a smart and original romantic comedy about a female scientist who wants empirical proof that her boyfriend is "the one." Evoking a lighthearted, clever tone, this endearing film follows Samantha, a charmingly neurotic Harvard graduate student whose life doesn't seem to be working out the way she planned. Read more...   6:30PM TUESDAY, AFTER CHRISTMAS The Grand Theatre  OREGON PREMIERE The latest bloom from the flourishing garden that is Romanian cinema, Radu Muntean's Tuesday, After Christmas chronicles the emotional fallout from a classic love triangle, but it unfolds with the agonizing tension of a suspense film. In the days leading up to Christmas, a married man forces himself to choose between his wife and his mistress. It is the emotionally resonant drama of a middle-class couple whose 10-year marriage is rocked by the husband's illicit affair with their daughter's sexy dentist. Read more... 7:00PM JUDAS KISS with short film Hella Strong Salem Cinema NW EMERGING FEATURE & PACIFIC NW PREMIERE Filmmakers J.T. Tepnapa & Carlos Pedraza in attendance Judas Kiss is an offbeat contemporary drama on a college campus alive with magic realism - a place where you can grab a second chance at your future. Like Sliding Doors, it offers a window into a fresh destiny. Film Festival judge Zachary Wells' handsome one night stand turns out to be a student competing for a scholarship Zach must award. Mysteriously, Danny Reyes' entry has the same title as Zach's film that won the festival years before. Read more... Filmmakers Cathleen Arnerich & Justin Zimmerman in attendance with their short film Hella Strong! 7:00PM THE MULBERRY TREE High Street Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERE The Mulberry Tree tells the story of Mickey Loren who is serving out his last month of parole for his part in a tragic accident by changing bedpans at a hospital. He is stuck living at home with his passive mother and belligerent prison guard father and finds his court ordered community service and creative writing class at the local college to be his only escape from his troubling past. An assigned project to write about someone he doesn't know leads him to Samuel Freeman (Joe Morton), a quietly stoic patient  convicted of murder, dying of AIDS and living out his remaining days on death watch. Read more... 7:45PM THE ROBBER Salem Cinema A quiet, engrossing and dynamic piece of filmmaking, The Robber's main character, Johann Rettenberger, was inspired by the life of Austrian bank-robber and runner Johann Kastenberger, a man who set records in long- distance races while - in the rest of his free time - secretly knocking over bank after bank. Widely referred to as Pump-gun Ronnie,after the Ronald Reagan mask he wore and the shotgun used on the assaults, Rettenberger still holds the record time in the Bergmarathon, a famous race held in the Austrian Alps. Read more...  Wednesday, October 19th doors open at 4:45PM at The Grand; 5:00PM at Salem Cinema; 5:30PM High Street Cinema 5:30PM BRIEF REUNION The Grand Theatre   WEST COAST PREMIERE Be careful who plays in your virtual sandbox - even if they're old friends. Aaron Clark has forged a comfortable life in New England, close to his Ivy League roots. He has it all: financial security, a beautiful wife and a close-knit circle of old friends. But this collegiate bond is shattered by the sudden and unnerving arrival of Teddy, a former classmate and proverbial snake. Teddy insinuates himself back into their lives, hijacking a 40th birthday party surprise and then systematically stalking Aaron. Bitter over Aaron's success, Teddy also pries into his business affairs, hinting at improprieties through a lethal combination of extortion and revenge. Read more...   5:45PM CIRCUS KIDS Salem Cinema   OREGON PREMIERE Circus Kids is a film about an eclectic youth circus troupe from St. Louis who travel to Israel to join another troupe comprised of Jewish and Arabic children. It is a story of how a group of very different kids find out they are not so different after all. The St. Louis Arches is made up of children from a wide spectrum of social, economic, racial and religious backgrounds. Read more... 6:15PM THE ROBBER High Street Cinema A quiet, engrossing and dynamic piece of filmmaking, The Robber's main character, Johann Rettenberger, was inspired by the life of Austrian bank-robber and runner Johann Kastenberger, a man who set records in long- distance races while - in the rest of his free time - secretly knocking over bank after bank. Widely referred to as Pump-gun Ronnie,after the Ronald Reagan mask he wore and the shotgun used on the assaults, Rettenberger still holds the record time in the Bergmarathon, a famous race held in the Austrian Alps. Read more...   6:30PM FILM SOCIALISME Salem Cinema OREGON PREMIERE Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard returns to the screen with Film Socialisme, a magisterial essay on the decline of European Civilization. As a garish cruise ship travels the Mediterranean (with Patti Smith among its guests), Godard embarks on a state of the EU address in a vibrant collage of philosophical quotes and historical revelations of pure cinematic beauty. A symphony in three movements, this disarmingly comic, avant garde film charms. Read more... 7:00PM DID YOU KISS ANYONE? Salem Cinema NW EMERGING FEATURE & U.S. PREMIERE Filmmakers Mike Vogel & Brian Mohr in attendance with Amanda Englund, Audrey Walker, Meredith Adelaide & Drew Hicks In this offbeat, quirky, comedic tale of one married couple's attempt to spice up their marriage, the rules get thrown out the window and chaos reigns supreme. When Jared met Emily, neither knew their initial flirtations would lead to ten years (and counting) of marriage. Somewhere along the way, romance was replaced with comfort. Passion was ditched in favor of familiar routines. But they remain faithful because they always make each other laugh and because no one ever said happily ever after meant happily ever always. Read more...  7:45PM FACE TO FACE Salem Cinema From Australia's most acclaimed playwright, David Williamson, Face To Face is that rare, powerful film which grabs hold of you at the beginning and doesn't let go. Nothing is as it seems in this moving and compelling drama about lies, betrayal, sex and bullying in the workplace. A young construction worker rams into the back of his boss' Jaguar in a fit of anger at being sacked. Rather than fronting court, he's given the chance to explain his actions in a community conference. Read more...     7:45PM SALEMIA The Grand Theatre Filmmakers Mike Perron & Dave Jenkins in attendance Join us for the premiere of Salem's own twisted television take off!    Salemia is a satirical community romp about everyday life in our quirky little city. With an array of truly original characters and storylines only true Salemites can appreciate, creators Mike Perron and Dave Jenkins inspire to bring more than just a few laughs. With a cast entirely made up of local talent, Salemia proves we're mature enough to make fun of ourselves while keeping our thin skin intact. Read more...  CULTURE SHOCK kicks off their 13 Nights of Halloween with a Zombie Walk on Wednesday, October 19th! Meet on the Capitol Steps at 7:00pm and then scrape yourself up and, if they haven't been gnawed off, drag your feet on over to High Street for this gruesomely good horror flick... only $6 admission to all Culture Shock Zombies! 8:30PM THE OREGONIAN with short films Snowball and The Stepmother High Street Cinema There is a place. A place where the skies are wide and the forests are thick - and strange. You can lose yourself forever in these woods. You'll meet truckers with problems and old women with strange powers. You may even make a furry friend. Just be sure to stay quiet. Spend some time with a woman from Oregon who is lost on the road and running away from her past. Now she has a chance to experience everything grotesque the Northwest has to offer, whether she likes it or not. Read more... Thursday, October 20th doors open at 5:00PM at Salem Cinema; 5:45PM at High Street 5:45PM THE WOODMANS Salem Cinema Francesca Woodman's haunting black and white images, many of them nude self portraits, now reside in the pantheon of great photography from the late 20th century. The daughter of artists Betty and George Woodman, Francesca was a precocious RISD graduate who came to New York with the intention of setting the art world on fire. But in 1981, as a despondent 22 year-old, she committed suicide.  Read more...  6:30PM MY JOY Salem Cinema Shot by master cinematographer Oleg Muto (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), My Joy, the first fiction film by acclaimed documentarian Sergei Loznitsa, is a mischievous, ultra-nihilistic parable of post-Communist Russia. When truck driver Georgi takes a wrong turn and finds himself lost in a bleak Russian underworld, he is suddenly caught in a spiral of violence and abuses of power. Sucked into the everyday madness of his country, losing his health and memory in the process, Georgi struggles to survive amidst increasingly vehement reminders of the country's dark past. Read more... 6:30PM RAPT High Street Cinema PACIFIC NW PREMIERESprawling and inventive, Rapt is a solid, finely constructed thriller. On the eve of his visit to China as part of the entourage of the French president, the rich and powerful industrialist Stainslas Graff is kidnapped outside of his home by a commando group. What follows is a terrifying sparring match between kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which Graff is the director. Completely cut off from the rest of the world, and only aware of what the kidnappers tell him, Graff cannot understand why his friends and family are taking their time to pay the demanded ransom. Read more... 7:00PM NW EMERGING ARTIST WINNERS Salem Cinema Filmmakers in attendance Which of our six features and our twelve short films will take home the coveted Northwest Emerging Artist Award this year? Those ranked the highest based on audience and special juror votes will get encore screenings! 7:45PM LOOK, STRANGER Salem CInema WEST COAST PREMIERE Look, Stranger is a psychological portrait of a woman traveling home in a war torn world. Set in the urban wastelands and desolate forests of an unidentified world at war, Look, Stranger tells the story of a woman making a dangerous journey home from a refugee camp. When her guide is killed on the road in an arbitrary act of violence, the woman is forced to rely on an angry and disillusioned carrier, who agrees to travel with her for a price. Read more...    Friday, October 21st doors open at 5:15PM 6:30PM CASE SENSITIVE Salem Cinema  WEST COAST PREMIERE Filmmaker Gil Kofman in attendance Case Sensitive is a psychological thriller about an internet star, MissTulips22, who contrives her own abduction to get more subscribers to her video blog channel. Unfortunately, one of her fans, Lee, takes her plight seriously, and upon trying to rescue her, ends up killing her "captor", who turns out to really be her boyfriend. Rather than reporting the death, a frightened and angry Lee decides to continue entertaining viewers with scenes from an abduction that has taken a sharp turn from fiction to fact. But having recently been exposed as an internet fraud, no one believes MissTulips' online pleas for help. Read more...  immediately followed by BEHIND THE SCENES DOC TALK Filmmakers Tanner Barklow King & Gil Kofman in attendance Stick around for the BEHIND THE SCENES DOC TALK and YOU may end up in Tanner Barklow's film about Gil Kofman's experience making Case Sensitive in China! Read more...
Kind Regards, Loretta Miles Salem Film Festival Coordinator & Lead Programmer web: http://www.salemfilmfestival.com A HUGE THANK YOU TO WVP HEALTH AUTHORITY, DRS. WILLIAM & SELMA PIERCE and our many community sponsors. Salem Film Festival is a project of Salem Film Society in partnership with Salem Cinema and Allied Video Productions and is funded, in part, by City of Salem's Transient Occupancy Tax Fund and made possible, in part, by funding from the Marion County Cultural Corporation.

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