2006 Phoenix Film Festival
Feature Film Competition Selections

Andrew Jenks, Room 335
Directed by Andrew Jenks
www.hemiproductions.com
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Documentary

Screenings:
Friday 9:30am
Saturday 3:15pm
Sunday 5:45pm

Synopsis: Just like the other residents at the assisted living facility Harbor Place, I played bingo, hung out in the courtyards contemplating “the golden years,” and even helped fellow neighbors change their oxygen tanks. However, unlike Tammy (age 95) or even Bill (age 80), I am only 19-years-old.

My name is Andrew Jenks and this past summer I moved into a senior residence in Florida. I moved into room 335. For one summer I did all of the things that old people do. By the end of the summer, I had formed unimaginable bonds with some of the greatest, and oldest, people that life has to offer. I came to realize that it is in such friendships and the spirit in which you live that meaning is to be found.

Between
Directed by David Ocanas
www.betweenthemovie.com
Starring: Poppy Montgomery, Adam Kaufman, Jose Yenque, and Danny Pino
Running Time: 79 Minutes
Drama

Screenings:
Friday 9:10am
Saturday 4:45pm
Sunday 12:10pm

Synopsis: Nadine, a beautiful lawyer from Chicago travels alone to Tijuana, Mexico when she learns her sister is missing. As she descends into the intrigue of Tijuana, her investigation takes increasingly suspenseful and mind-bending turns as she unravels the compelling truth. Unsettling encounters provoke Nadine to question the power of her mind and the persuasive nature of love.

Coined the Latin Hitchcock, David OCanas delivers “a tightly conceived tour de force” in this riveting psychological thriller.

Dark Heart
Directed by Kevin Lewis
www.darkheartthemovie.com
Starring: R.D. Hall, Darcy Halsey, Greg Joelson, Huntley Ritter, and Magenia Tovah
Running Time: 101 minutes
Drama

Screenings:
Friday 2:30pm
Saturday 8:20pm
Sunday 9:20am

Synopsis: When Special Forces Major Taylor returns to his hometown, a hero of the Iraq war, he’s seen things no man should see. He still has arms and legs, but the invisible scars are as deep as his need for home and a chance to heal. But the town is not as he remembers. The people he knew have forgotten him and feel forgotten themselves. Beneath the serene surface lies a brutality that is forced upon Taylor. In a night filled with violence, Taylor must reach into the darkest corners of his heart and fight to survive in the homeland he fought to defend.

Hard Scrambled
Directed by David Scott Hay
www.n-v-f.com/ourfirstfilm.html
Starring: Richard Edson, Eyal Podell, Beth Grant, Alanna Ubach, and Kurtwood Smith
Running Time: 82 minutes
Drama

 

Screenings:
Friday 2:50pm
Saturday 7:45pm
Sunday 11:50am

Synopsis: As Alice’s Diner celebrates its 25th anniversary, the denizens of the well-worn coffee shop seem a happy and close knit group. But just under the surface, the needs and resentments of this band of misfits are bubbling over like the hot oil in the fry cooker. When Alice meets with disaster on the night of the party, it doesn’t take long for these friends to turn against each other as they each try to gain the upper hand to hold on to their hard scrambled lives.

Her Minor Thing
Directed by Charles Matthau
www.herminorthing.com
Starring: Estella Warren, Christian Kane, Michael Weatherly, Rachel Dratch and Kathy Griffin
Running Time: 96 minutes
Comedy

Screenings:
Friday 8:20pm
Saturday 11:40am
Sunday 5:20pm

Synopsis: A contemporary drama about the uses and abuses of sex. The story follows the intersecting lives and loves of eight people. We move from liaison to liaison, eavesdropping on our characters’ most intimate moments and discovering the truth about our sexual lives.

Podcast with Jim Meyers

http://www.azcentral.com/blogs/index.php?blog=112&blogtype=Entertainment

Last of the Spanish Mustangs
Directed by Len Johnson
www.lenjproductions.com
Running Time: 83 minutes
Documentary

 

Screenings:
Friday 12:00pm
Saturday 1:45pm
Sunday 6:00pm

Synopsis: A new law railroaded through Congress by a Montana senator allows wild horse slaughter for the first time in three decades. The government claims horses are overpopulating and have no natural predators. The government lies. Blatantly. Revealing a country in which white Europeans still dominate black Americans with law breaking horse slaughter houses in poor neighborhoods. Filmmaker, Len Johnson also connects with the Cerbat Spanish mustangs, Arizona’s last remaining herd of wild Spanish horses. Last of the Spanish Mustangs is a year and a half in the making and a work from the heart; with a tinge of underlying humor.

Life After Tomorrow
Directed Gil Cates Jr. and Julie Stevens
www.lifeaftertomorrow.com
Featuring: Martin Charnin, Charles Strouse, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martha Byrne, Danielle Brisebois, Dara Brown, and Allison Smith
Running Time: 73 minutes
Documentary

Screenings:
Friday 6:00pm
Saturday 9:15am
Sunday 12:20pm

Synopsis: “Life After Tomorrow” reunites more than 40 women who played orphans in “Annie” and takes a candid look at pluses and perils of being a childhood star. The film reveals many of the seldom-discussed aspects of professional children, including the impact on their families, friendships, schooling and the search for a “normal” childhood when the acting career stalls. The film particularly focuses on the personal journey of filmmaker Julie Stevens; an original “Annie” cast member and longtime advocate of child performer rights.

Pirates of the Great Salt Lake
Directed by E.R. Nelson
www.piratesofthegreatsaltlake.com
Starring: Kirby Heyborne, Larry Bagby, Trenton James, and Emily Tyndall
Running Time: 87 minutes
Comedy

Screenings:
Friday 5:30pm
Saturday 9:15am
Sunday 3:10pm

Synopsis: Kirk Redgrave and Flint Weaver met only three weeks ago. But that hasn’t stopped them from becoming the greatest pirates the Great Salt Lake have ever known. Still, pirate life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For Kirk, it’s a life of failure. For Flint, it’s one without reward. That is, until, they stumble across a long lost treasure map that has the power to not only fulfill their wildest pirate dreams, but curse them as well.
 

Rough Cut
Directed by Todd Klick
www.roughcutmovie.com
Running Time: 96 minutes
Documentary

Screenings:
Friday 7:30pm
Saturday 11:55am
Sunday 2:45pm

Synopsis: In January, 2003, a woman was murdered in her Pennsylvania home. Eight months earlier an independent film was shot on the nearby Appalachian Trail. How did these two events tie together? “Rough Cut” explores the twisted tale of two young filmmakers who had dreams of making a horror movie and the bizarre events that followed.

Self Medicated
Directed by Monty Lapica
www.selfmedicated.com
Running Time: 108 minutes
Starring: Monty Lapica, Diane Venora, Greg Germann, Michael Bowen, and Kristina Anapau
Drama

Screenings:
Friday 2:20pm
Saturday 7:00pm
Sunday 9:00am

Synopsis: Having recently suffered the death of his father, 17n-year-old Andrew Eriksen’s inability to cope with the loss catapults him down a path of denial, self-loathing, and emotional entropy. Once a promising young scholar, Andrew finds himself on a drug-addled path to self-destruction. Resentful of his mother for her own drug addiction, Andrew withdraws only further at a time when they need each other most. His mother’s last resort is to hire a company that kidnaps troubled teens and places them in a locked-down, corrupt psychiatric hospital. After being subjected to the secret physical and emotional abuses of the program, Andrew learns the only thing that will help him come to terms with the loss of his father is Andrew himself.

Ten ‘Til Noon
Directed by Scott Storm
www.tentilnoon.com
Running Time: 88 minutes
Starring: Alfonso Freeman, Jenya Lano, and Dylan Kussman
Drama

Screenings:
Friday 11:55am
Saturday 5:30pm
Sunday 2:45pm

Synopsis: A jet-lagged corporate businessman awakens to find two strangers in his bedroom. Over the next 10 minutes, he will experience the most terrifying and possibly final moments of his life. But who these strangers are and what they want can only be determined by events occurring elsewhere simultaneously. Those same 10n minutes are seen through the eyes of those connected to what is not a simple home invasion, and with each person’s involvement, we are propelled closer to the truth.

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