Brazil 2005 80 min.
directed by Jeff Zimbalist & Matt Mochary
produced by Jeff Zimbalist & Matt Mochary
starring Anderson Sa

Favela Rising documents a man and a movement, a city divided and a favela (Brazilian squatter settlement) united. Haunted by the murders of his family, and many of his friends, Anderson Sa is a former drug-trafficker who turns revolutionary in Rio de Janeiro’s most feared slum. He rallies the community, through his AfroRaggae music movement, to rise-up against the violent oppression enforced by teenage drug armies and a corrupt police force. In English and Portuguese with English subtitles.

http://favelarising.com

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Jeff Zimbalist has co-directed and edited the documentaries Vibrant Body and Llama Lake. He is a current faculty member at both the New York Film Academy (where he formerly directed the post-production department) and at the Maine Photographic Workshops.

Zimbalist’s production company, Our Lunacies Harmonize Productions, has produced educational and promotional films for a number of diverse clients.

Matt Mochary is the founder and Chairman of Totality Corporation, the Chairman of AEKus Properties, and the founder of The Mochary Foundation, a charitable organization that promotes public education.

Financial support generously provided by Alex Armar Archbold

U.S 2005 105 min.
directed by Randall Miller
produced by Eileen Craft, Randall Miller, Morris Ruskin & Jody Savin
written by Randall Miller & Jody Savin
starring Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, Saen Astin, Donnie Wahlberg

There is a purity of spirit and heart in Marilyn Hotchkiss Ballroom Dancing & Charm School that hearkens back to a simpler, more straightforward place, a place that draws from emotional memories of growing up, with its scars and lost dreams. That’s a place where film doesn’t often venture during these cynical times, but that’s a shame because it is a locale where we sometimes experience our deepest feelings when a film evokes it well. Without question, Marilyn Hotchkiss reaches out and touches you deeply. Geoffrey Gilmore, Sundance Film Festival

Visit web site here

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Randall Miller attended the University of Southern California Film School. He has directed numerous feature films like Houseguest and Class Act as well as television programs like Northern Exposure. Marilyn Hotchkiss began as a short film in 1990 before Randall expanded the concept into a feature fifteen years later. Randall’s next feature, Nobel Son starring Alan Rickman, is in post production.

Financial support generously provided by Mary and Mike Schuh

U.S. 2005 108 min
directed by Joshua Michael Stern
produced by Sidney Kimmel & Greg Shap
written by Joshua Michael Stern
starring Aaron Eckhart, Sir Ian McKellen, Brittany Murphy, Nick Nolte, William Hurt, Jessica Lange, Michael Moriarty, Alan Cumming

Neverwas is both a riveting literary mystery and a compelling psychological drama that concerns the authorship of a fictionalized classic children’s novel. In this, his prodigious debut feature, Joshua Michael Stern boldly explores the tension between childlike wonder and clinical madness, finding art and inspiration in between. It is undoubtedly this fertile psychosocial framework that attracted an astonishing dream cast.

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Joshua Michael Stern started making Super 8 films at age eleven and went on to study acting at the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. His first screenplay was for David DeCoteau’s Skeletons which was followed by scripts for Amityville: Dollhouse and the television movie Survivor. This is Joshua Michael Stern’s debut feature film.

Financial support generously provided by Gary and Marcia Nelson