FADING REINDEER BELL
from China Central Television
Produced by Zhao Yukui and Wang Jing
Photography by Xia Zhifang
Directed by Sun Zengtian 60 min.
Fading Reindeer Bell is about a woman artist and her all-female household. They are from the small ethnic minority known as the Ewenkis, one of 50 ethnic groups in China today. The Ewenkis are scattered across the northern part of the country, near the Sino-Russian border. The film invites us to consider the survival of an indigenous people, striving to maintain cultural identity amidst issues of gender and the environment.
NACH SAISON (OFF SEASON)
from ARTE (Strassburg), Quinte Filmproduktion (Freiburg), Blueberry Films (Berlin) and Goethe Institut (Bonn)
Photography by Michael Hammon
Directed by Mirjam Quinte and Pepe Danquart
Distributed by Ventura Film, Berlin 125 min.
It is the summer of 1994, and the Yugoslavian civil war has destroyed the town of Mostar, dividing it into two halves: the Moslems in the east, the Croats in the west. The film follows the efforts of Hans Koschnick, appointed as administrator by the European Union, to reconcile the inhabitants and rebuild the battered town. For two years the efforts continue against the devastating consequences of the war.
PAULINA
from Turbulent Arts International: a CineMamas Production, in co-production with the Banff Center for the Arts Produced by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor and Vicky Funari
Photography by Marie-Christine Camus
Directed by Vicky Funari
88 min.
In the 1950s, when Paulina was a child, her parents traded her away for land rights in the rural village of Veracruz, Mexico. The villagers ostracized her, and the town boss raped her, keeping her as his unwilling mistress throughout much of her adolescence. At 15, she took control of her destiny and escaped to Mexico City to begin a new life. Paulina follows this courageous woman's return to her village and her family.
SNOW GEESE IN PERIL
from Banyan Communications, Inc. and Ducks Unlimited
Executive Producer: Matthew B. Connolly, Jr.
Photography by Ken Willinger
Produced and Directed by Allen Admire
25 min.
The overabundant and increasing populations of Snow Geese in the Arctic has meant the wide-spread destruction of millions of acres of lush tundra, yielding miles of barren desert. Interviews with scientists, who are working diligently to save the shores of the James and Hudson Bays, underscore the need for an organized response from Canadian and U.S. governments to stave off the total annihilation of these precious Arctic lands.
WORKING SISTER
from Smokey Golden Productions, Hong Kong
Executive Producer: Paul Deayton
Produced by Jennifer Stevens and Ellen Chu
Written and Directed by Jennifer Stevens 27 min.
At age 12, Li Li sold vegetables for her father. At age 14, she left home to work for a few dollars a week in a Nanjing hotel. Now at age 17, she earns 45 U.S. dollars per month as an assembly-line worker in Dongguan , southern China. Her income supports her entire family. Li Li's struggles and dreams, her hopes and hard ships, and ultimately her journey home on the eve of the Chinese New Year are the focus of this film.