CouryGraph Productions  Reels in a Grand Festival 
Award at the 2009 Berkeley Video & Film Festival !

BERKELEY VIDEO & FILM FESTIVAL 2009
An Independent Cinematic Marathon 

Screening September 25, and 26
Continuous Screenings Start at  -  7:30pm Friday . 12:00am Saturday . 1:00pm  
Friday, September 25, 2009 and Saturday, September 26, 2009
Landmark Shattuck Cinemas . 2230 Shattuck Avenue in Downtown Berkeley

© 2008 - Glendale Daily Planet Staff
www.glendaledailyplanet.com

 

 

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Ed Sharpe Director at  CouryGraph productions, has received a BERKELEY VIDEO & FILM FESTIVAL 2009 Grand Festival Award  for the entry "IN THE GRIP OF THE COLD" .

 

The East Bay Media Center proudly presents the 18th Edition of the Berkeley Video & Film Festival, screening in Downtown Berkeley at Landmark’s Shattuck Cinemas - 2113 Kitteredge at Shattuck in Downtown Berkeley California September 25 and 26.

 

The exact time of Sharpe's film screening will be: Saturday night at 11:52pm
  -But there is so much to see...To see all the Berkeley Video & Film Festival 
Official Selections and the Program Schedule go to: http://berkeleyvideofilmfest.org/

 

One production that caught Sharpe's eye  is a documentary  “YOU DON’T KNOW JACK: THE JACK SOO STORY” By  JEFF ADACHI

Jeff Adachi, director of the documentary The Slanted Screen, which examined the history of Asian-Americans in Hollywood, takes on the life story of singer and comedic actor Jack Soo. From his childhood in Oakland to his young adulthood in Japanese internment camps during World War II-era, and finally to his breakthrough roles in Flower Drum Song, Valentine’s Day and Barney Miller, the erstwhile Goro Suzuki’s brave refusal to comply with America’s “oriental” stereotypes almost single-handedly broke the mold, recasting Asian Americans in a new light in our popular entertainment. 69 minutes. Screens Saturday at 1:15pm Grand Festival Award

 

Being able to interact with producers, directors and cinematographers is what makes attending a live screening like this a great event.

 

"We're amazed by the quality of the  creative work shown at the festival" said  Sharpe. "We're honored that our production were chosen to be screened and also to receive a prestigious award."

 

CouryGraph Productions competed against filmmakers from the Bay area and also those that participated internationally.

 

Festival Director Mel Vapour stated: "Over 150 submissions were received and juried this year and the quality of this year's submissions was extremely high and competitive for the final screenings. The screening / jury committee feels it has selected works that reflect the highest artistic integrity of all the submissions. " (see the link to the  list on BVFF site to see all of the  productions that will screen)

 

Vapour continued "Since our previous BVFF, we have witnessed a regime change in Washington, and a global economic collapse, however, the spirit of indie cinema prevails, as witnessed by this years remarkable filmmakers and their substantive creative endeavors."

Sharpe regularly participates in Film Festivals internationally as well as his home base of Arizona. When he is not out directing creative dramatic works, he is going though the same process with fact filled news reporting for the metro Westside  -  'Valley of the Sun' in Arizona.

 

Sharpe stated: "With all the new growth in the west valley it presents an ever evolving canvas for my camera to record." He continued: "The new world-class Stadium and other sports facilities, new shopping districts, fascinating constructions projects... it is a newsman's heaven!"

 

Sharpe enjoys  works of whimsy such as the  Cam Stryker series.  Sharpe states, " Cam Stryker  allows me to let my imagination fly while at the same time incorporating  some of  my  thoughts and ideas..."  Sharpe adds,: "Works of fiction allow  my wife Bette and I to collaborate starting from the  rudiments of a  story idea and though all the processes leading up to the final screening,"

 

"Ed Sharpe's "In The Grip Of the Cold" is a 'snotty' glimpse of a fallen media warrior from the flu 'bugs'. No trophy is safe, from the green phlegm spewing from his proboscis. This is all in good fun, and his acting talents improve with each short he makes. After all, he's a TV media veteran that's out in the field daily, 'cept when  the bugs attack."  - Mel Vapour, Director BVFF

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Ed Sharpe and CouryGraph Productions  dramatic and video news reporting can be seen at www.glendaledailyplanet.com In addition there are email links at the site to contact Sharpe and his group.

  To see all the Berkeley Video & Film Festival Official Selections and the Program Schedule go to: http://berkeleyvideofilmfest.org/

 

TICKETS
Tickets. $13. General Admission. $10. Students . Elders.
All tickets are valid for the entire day and evening.
Tickets available at the Landmark Shattuck Cinemas Box Office
2230 Shattuck Avenue . Downtown Berkeley . Box Office . 510.464.5980
Festival Info . 510.843.3699 www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org
BVFF Ticket holders and attendees: Please plan to arrive at least ten minutes prior to any listed film(s) during our marathon continuous screening schedule, to insure seating and to allow for programming offsets.

BERKELEY VIDEO & FILM FESTIVAL 2009
An Independent Cinematic Marathon BVFF’s two day event this year, features outstanding and challenging independent new cinema from Italy, Cuba, Germany, Venezuela, Great Britain, and the USA, as well as, 15 local San Francisco Bay Area Filmmakers being represented.

 

 

The BVFF 2009, encompasses some of the best of the Independent Film communities
Features, Short Features, Student Filmmakers, Documentaries and more;
 some of the Highlights of this years’ BVFF include:

 

 

ANIMATION - MACHINIMA

“THE SUNFISHER” - CECIL HIRVI aka GEORGE AGUILAR
Aguilar continues his series of virtual films, unleashing his avatar alter ego Cecil Hirvi in Second Life for another installment of “Machinima Poetry.” This episode finds Hirvi finding himself as he gazes into the media mirror, watching old Hollywood footage of young soldier’s uncertain return from the battlefield to the open fields of Wyoming. 15 minutes. Screens Friday at 8:10pm
Grand Festival Award

“DIVISION DENIM” - BARRY LEVY
A poor downtrodden kid in a third world country making the low priced clothes we can’t live without, in our buy more, care less society crashes the location for a commercial and it’s payback time - ninja style. 3 minutes. Screens Friday at 7:40pm Grand Festival Award

ARTS

‘CRACKED GODDESS” – COLIN STILL and OPTIC NERVE - Great Britain
A sunny trip through the studio and sited pieces of sculptor, Amy Evans McClure, with poem by Michael McClure and music by Terry Riley. 7 minutes. Screens Saturday at 8:00pm *West Coast Premiere
Grand Festival Award

“HOMELAND SECURITY” - LaDONNA WITMER and MICHELLE M. BROWN
A carnivalesque cinematic poem employs the imagery of Santa Cruz and its boardwalk amusement park as a backdrop for a rumination on communication, honesty and vulnerability. 4 minutes.
Screens Friday at 8:05pm Grand Festival Award

CELL PHONE - WEBCAM VIDS

“ALT_VIEW” - KENT SPARLING
A portrait of San Francisco made exclusively with mobile devices, juxtaposing unusual visual and acoustic perspectives of S.F.’s iconic locations. 7 minutes. Screens Saturday at 11:44pm
Grand Festival Award

COMEDY

“IN THE GRIP OF THE COLD” - ED SHARPE
Cam Stryker falls prey to a pandemic; no doubt the “Evil Doctor Vibe” is romping all over the downtown citizenry. 3 minutes. Screens Saturday at 11:52pm Grand Festival Award

DOCUMENTARIES

“BEHIND THE WHEEL” - TAO RUSPOLI and LAFCO
Director Tao Ruspoli and his band of Los Angeles filmmaker cohorts outfitted an old school bus as a fully equipped portable production studio and set off across the United States in search of art and artists. The journey takes across the country’s southern states in a quixotic examination of the intersection of the personal and the political. 84 minutes. Screens Saturday at 9:25pm
Grand Festival Award

“WORDS OF ADVICE - WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS ON THE ROAD”
LARS MOVIN and STEEN M. RASMUSSEN - DENMARK
Influential experimental artist and writer William Burroughs as few have seen him. Burroughs toured often in his final decades, reading from his work in theaters and clubs, bringing his unique diction and wily humor to bear on his wildly original prose. The prickly aloofness of his image is belied by his bashful charm as he meets and greets his fans, but when the lights dim and the microphone swings into place, the fierce, fiery satirist, sage and starry-eyed dreamer is unleashed, revealing a performer of great wit, drama and strength. 74 minutes. Screens Saturday at 8:10pm *US Premiere.
Grand Festival Award

“YOU DON’T KNOW JACK: THE JACK SOO STORY” - JEFF ADACHI
Jeff Adachi, director of the documentary The Slanted Screen, which examined the history of Asian-Americans in Hollywood, takes on the life story of singer and comedic actor Jack Soo. From his childhood in Oakland to his young adulthood in Japanese internment camps during World War II-era, and finally to his breakthrough roles in Flower Drum Song, Valentine’s Day and Barney Miller, the erstwhile Goro Suzuki’s brave refusal to comply with America’s “oriental” stereotypes almost single-handedly broke the mold, recasting Asian Americans in a new light in our popular entertainment. 69 minutes. Screens Saturday at 1:15pm Grand Festival Award

“OH MY GOD! IT’S HARROD BLANK” - DAVID SILBERBERG
Harrod Blank’s life is every bit as much a peripatetic work of art as the eccentric, eclectic art cars to which he has devoted his life. Silverberg’s film tracks the farm boy-turned-artist as he passes through UC Santa Cruz and Berkeley in his single-minded—some would say obsessive—pursuit of self-expression, enlisting a series of girlfriends as sidekicks on a rambling journey that is at times maddening but never less than fascinating and endearing. 75 minutes. Screens Saturday at 5:18pm
Grand Festival Award

“THE DEVIL AT YOUR FEET” - BRIAN DARWAS and JENNIFER CARCHIETTA
Ride along with Hot Rod Builder and Award Winning Filmmaker ( The Road to Bonneville ), Brain Darwas, as he travels over three-thousand miles from East to West. Visit Car Clubs, and hot rod builders, with a passion for traditional hot rods, nailheads, flatheads, and the open road. A Hot Rodding movie so intense, it will leave you with grease stains and the smell of exhaust . 61 minutes.
Screens Saturday at 6:45pm *West Coast Premiere Grand Festival Award

“KAZIAH, THE GOAT WOMAN” - AMY JANES and KATHLEEN DOLAN
Kaziah Hancock, armed with oils and brushes, celebrates the lives of U.S. Soldiers, killed in Iraq, by painting gift portraits for their families; honoring over 600 American Soldiers. On her remote ranch in Utah, she also raises goats. Born into a polygamist sect, she knows the meaning of freedom, as she’s had to fight for hers. Liberation and discovery of self, is joyfully celebrated in her art and this cinematic document . 25 minutes. Screens Saturday at 4:25pm *Premiere Grand Festival Award

“CIUDAD del FUTURO” - DAMIAN CARNERO and KARIN LOSERT - CUBA *Premiere
The critical history of a former socialist model town in the outskirts of Havana, told by the adult children of its first inhabitants. 20 minutes. Screens Saturday at 3:02pm Grand Festival Award

“RAINBOW WARRIORS” ( GUERREROS DEL ARCOIRIS )
GABRIELA GONZALEZ FUENTES and LA TAGUARA FILMICA - VENEZUELA
A close-up look into Bolivia’s radical changes, led by indigenous populations and the resistance against them by minority groups holding economic power. 30 minutes. Screens Saturday at 3:23pm
*US Premiere Grand Festival Award

“BASKETBAL GURU” - DOUG HARRIS
An affectionate biography of the legendary basketball coach who started at the University of San Francisco and went on to coach for Cal and the U.S. Olympic team. 13 minutes.
Screens Saturday at 2:25pm *Premiere Grand Festival Award

“WHITE MOVEMENT” - EMIO TOMEONI
As Berkeley attempts to lead toward Climate Change, a cast of characters emerges with issues of their own. 11 minutes. Screens Saturday at 2:50pm Grand Festival Award

EDUCATIONAL

“DISCOVER YOUR HEALTHY WEIGHT” - CONNIE SOBCZAK
A different view of weight and health, with professionals and ‘real’ women sharing their problems with dieting and methods of living healthier and happier lives. 26 minutes. Screens Saturday at 12:45pm
Grand Festival Award

ETHNOGRAPHIC

“POLKA FACE” - ANDREA YOUNG
The filmmaker returns to her hometown and gives an affectionate capsule of quilting, concertina clubs, church festivals, and the seasonal cycle of country chores, all with rural Minnesota charm.
6 minutes. Screens Saturday at 4:50pm *Premiere Grand Festival Award

“ZAPOOK OF THE NORTH “ - HOLLAND WILDE
A soci-cultural memory mash up, reviving the tenets of ethnographic surrealism. Please don’t eat the yellow snow! 14 minutes. Screens Saturday at 11:18pm Grand Festival Award

EXPERIMENTAL

“FOSSIL LIGHT” - TONY GAULT
A little story about the ‘preservation’ of an endangered species. 11 minutes.
Screens Saturday at 11:33pm *West Coast Premiere Grand Festival Award

“I KNOW WHO REALLY SENT THE ANTHRAX LETTERS” - NEIL IRA NEEDLEMAN
What family secrets are hidden in the grainy ghost images of ancient 8mm celluloid? Something to think about the next time you open your mail. 7 minutes. Screens Friday at 7:58pm
*West Coast Premiere Grand Festival Award

“SACRIFICIO” - PETER TURNER
An erotic journey of awakening and surrender; told through layers of shifting realities, images, masks, sound, color, archetypal beings and natural elements. 9 minutes. Screens Friday at 11:05pm
*Premiere Grand Festival Award

“WALL TAPS” - CAROL JACOBSEN
Carol Jacobsen’s short documentary roams the perimeter of a women’s prison in what amounts to a sustained traveling shot of fences, gates and barbed wire. Superimposed periodically are the faces of former inmates as they relate their experiences of fear, humiliation, degradation and shame as intermittent glimpses flicker by of life inside the prison gates. 10 minutes. Screens Saturday at 2:39pm
*West Coast Premiere Grand Festival Award

FEATURES

“KARMA CALLING” - SARBA DAS
“A fable about hope and love for a family of Hindus from Hoboken,” as the narrator describes, Das’s feature takes place at the intersection of two strands of western-influenced easterners. An Indian family living in New Jersey finds itself stretched thin under the cultural and financial strains of American life. Meanwhile, in India, a young man employed as a call-center info peddler for an American corporation also hears the call to go west in the form of an unexpected long-distance romance. 90 minutes. Screens Friday at 9:35pm Grand Festival Award

SHORT FEATURES

“UNDER MY GARDEN” ( SOTTO IL MIO GIARDINO ) - ANDREA LODOVICHETTI - ITALY
In Lodovichetti’s evocative and ominous short film, a boy’s interest in the behavior of ants, paired with the disappearance of a neighbor’s wife and his new affair with a young, nearly naked companion, leads the boy to suspect that a body is buried in the yard in a sort of miniature Rear Window told from a child’s perspective. Golden Globe Award Winner, The Spike Lee Award and over 30 Major International Film Festival Awards. 19 minutes. Screens Friday at 9:15pm Grand Festival Award

“CURSES and SERMONS” - NIC SAUNDERS and 14167 FILMS - GREAT BRITAIN
Nic Saunders’ short film is a mystic reimagining of a Michael McClure poem, “Rainbows Reflected on Sheer Black,” that is both expressionistic and eclectic, ranging from rugged Western to Technicolor dream/nightmare. 15 minutes. Screens Friday at 8:40pm *West Coast Premiere
Grand Festival Award

“SCISSU” - TOM BOWILOGUA and ALEX BEIER - GERMANY
A bevy of buzzing lights, visceral electronic noise, pulsing heartbeats and a sort of breathy claustrophobia suffuse this unsettling film of sex, guns, violence and depravity. It is a story told in reverse, constantly stepping backward to fill in the gaps, gradually piecing together a plot consisting of desperate people resorting to desperate means in pursuit of cheap thrills, fleeting pleasures and sensual violence. In German with English subtitles. 27 minutes. Screens Saturday at 10:50pm *US Premiere
Grand Festival Award

“AT NIGHT” - MAX LANDES and PHILIP ACETO
A couple watches an erotic mystery on a giant TV. Soon their world and that of the glowing box merge. Who is in remote control? 11 minutes. Screens Friday at 8:25pm Grand Festival Award

“BIRTH CONTROL” - JONATHAN DANE
An extremely quick take on love, marriage, pregnancy and malaise. 3 minutes. Screens Friday at 7:54pm
Grand Festival Award

“DIAMOND” - GERALD GUTSCHMIDT and PAMELA WEI ENDIRA
An eleven year old, grows more desperate when his grandmother puts herself in the way between him and his jailed father. 12 minutes. Screens Saturday at 5:05pm Grand Festival Award

STUDENT FILMMAKERS

“THE EDGE OF THE SEA” - MARIA JOSE CALDERON
Puerto Rican fisherman trying to stop coastline development, privatization and beach erosion.
27 minutes. Screens Saturday at 3:54pm Grand Festival Award

“THE GIRL IN THE WINDOW” - KELLEN MOORE
An innocent young girl, fearful of the outside world, has never ventured outside the comforts of her own home. 9 minutes. Screens Friday at 7:44pm Grand Festival Award

“THE DISGRUNTLED WORKER” - GRETCHEN OLIVERO
A young man starts a new job in an isolated factory with restrictions and odd occurrences, which lead to his termination. 4 minutes. Screens Saturday at 4:58pm Grand Festival Award

MUSIC VIDS

“ESCAPE FROM OAKLAND” - DAN K HARVEST
Dan K Harvest’s guerilla-style music video follows a local rapper’s attempt to escape—by car, by bike, by any means necessary—his evil record company’s plan to cast him in a reality show. The clip takes us on a madcap journey through Berkeley and Oakland as the beleaguered hip-hopper tries to buck the corporate hacks and keep it real in the East Bay’s urban jungle. 7 minutes. Screens Saturday at 6:35pm
Kustom Kar Kommando Award

“FRIDA IN THE MIRROR” - ADRIAN ARIAS
An experimental music vid-poem with twenty women dressed like Frida to honor the power, force and sensuality of women. 5 minutes. Screens Friday at 7:35pm Grand Festival Award

“OBAMA WON!” - DON ARBOR
Inspired by a dream, an uplifting song, matched with positive images from the campaign. 4 minutes. Screens Friday at 7:30pm Grand Festival Award

YOUNG PRODUCERS

“MORE THAN JUST A PRETTY FACE”
CASSIE FOX-MOUNT and EAST BAY MEDIA CENTER’S SUMMER TEEN MEDIA CAMP 2009
A behind-the-scenes look at the fashion industry from the perspectives of various fashion professionals. Exploring themes of body image, personal style, the creative process and social responsibility; delivering stunning visuals, consistent humor and compelling ideas. 28 minutes.
Screens Saturday at 12:15pm *Premiere Grand Festival Award

“BEAUTY AMONG DECAY” DIEGO BRAVO, OREN BECKER, KIERAN NAGEOTTE AND JOSH KARON - UNCONVENTIONAL METHODS and EAST BAY MEDIA CENTER’S SUMMER TEEN MEDIA CAMP 2009
The ‘campers’ focus on urban decay and elegance, “beauty is in the eye of the camera”. 10 minutes.
Screens Saturday at 12:00pm *Premiere Grand Festival Award

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Friday, September 25, 2009 and Saturday, September 26, 2009
Landmark Shattuck Cinemas . 2230 Shattuck Avenue in Downtown Berkeley
TICKETS
Tickets. $13. General Admission. $10. Students . Elders.
All tickets are valid for the entire day and evening.
Tickets available at the Landmark Shattuck Cinemas Box Office
2230 Shattuck Avenue . Downtown Berkeley . Box Office . 510.464.5980
Festival Info . 510.843.3699 www.berkeleyvideofilmfest.org
BVFF Ticket holders and attendees: Please plan to arrive at least ten minutes prior to any listed film(s) during our marathon continuous screening schedule, to insure seating and to allow for programming offsets.