Home Up Legend of The Evil Count Spatula BVFF 2009 BVFF 2010 BVFF 2011 - THE 20th BERKELEY VIDEO & FILM FESTIVAL

Marcom Award
2007-2008-2009
2010-2011-2012
2013-2014

Videographer Award
2007-2008-2009
2010-2013-2015

AVA Award Winner
2007-2008-2009
2010-2011-2012
2013-2014-2015
2008-2009-2010
2011-2012-2013
2014
Hermes Creative
Award Winner

Ed
Sharpe / CouryGraph Productions
Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV 2007 EMMY®Award Winner
2007
Rocky Mountain Region Emmy® Award Winner for Breaking News/ Continuing
Coverage
FIRST
IN GLENDALE!
Berkeley Film Festival
Grand Festival
Pioneer In
Television Award
2011

Remi Award Winner
Worldfest Houston
2009 - 2010 -2011

2009 EMPixx Awards
Telly Awards 2006-2007-2008-2009-2010

2008 & 2009
Communicator Awards
Omni Intermedia Awards
2007-2008-2009
Millennum Awards
2006-2007-2008
Marcom Award
2007-2008-2009
2010-2011-2012
2013-2014

W3 Media Awards
2008/2009

2007/2008/2009 Aegis
Finalists and Winners

Accolade Award Winner
2007-2008-20010
Arizona Assn. of Black Journalists Diversity Winner
2008/2009
Arizona Press Club Winner
Ed Sharpe,
The Glendale Daily Planet:
Use of Online Media
"Cesar E. Chavez 2007"
Berekeley Film Festival
2006-2007-2008-
2009-2010-2012

Media Achievement Awards
2008/09 Finalists and Winners - DV Awards
CouryGraph
Productions
CALIFORNIA
HISTORICAL RADIO SOCIETY
IS PLEASED TO HONOR
EDWARD
A. SHARPE
WITH THE
CHARLES D. 'DOC' HERROLD
AWARD FOR
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN
THE PRESERVATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF
EARLY RADIO.
BY
THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 1992:
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Ed Sharpe /
CouryGraph Productions / Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV
Background
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Ed Sharpe 1972
W/ 4x5 Speed Graphic

NCOIC 2037 Com. SQ MARS
Station Luke AFB

Ed Sharpe 1973 USAF TAC Photo
Winner

Ed Sharpe 1978 Trans
Rent-A-Car Shoot

Ed Sharpe in darkroom 1978-79

Ed Sharpe
Large Format Symposium 1981


Ed
Sharpe CEO Computer Exchange Inc
HP-2000F timeshare
system on display At SMECC - originally bought by Maricopa
Community Colleges and then when retired was run as a time share
system in the early days at Computer Exchange Inc.
located in Phoenix Arizona. It was upgraded to a HP 2000
Access towards the end of it's service.

Ed Sharpe
accepting 2007 Rocky Mountain Emmy® Award in Advanced Media
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Meet Ed Sharpe
The Early Years
An Emmy-award-winning
director and photojournalist, Sharpe’s photography, broadcast
and engineering career spans three states and over 3
decades. Sharpe started the Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV team
in 2004.
Sharpe did his first
radio engineering as a youth back in the mid 60's in the Los
angles area. It seemed many kids he attend school with wanted to
be 'disc jockeys' - Sharpe though could furnish a transmitter! His
first use of video dates back to 1968 and directed and
taught other students to use the then newly emerging 1/2
video tape technology at the high school he attended.
During his tour in the US Air
Force where Sharpe was a specialist in radio communications
maintenance and operations, he also participated in
doing photography for the "Jet Journal" the Luke
AFB newspaper as well as "The Westsider" which
covered Goodyear, Avondale and Cashion. During this time period
Sharpe garnered many letters of appreciation both
from the Luke AFB information office and
his squadron's recognition.
After the Air Force
After working as a
photographer both for himself and others, Ed Sharpe relegated it
back to an avocation when he started Computer Exchange Inc at the
end of 1979. Sharpe continued to do photography to document
communications history and received the CHRS Charles D.
"Doc" Herrold Award for preservation and Documentation
of Electronics communion history at the end of the 1980's
Modern Times
After Starting the
Glendale Daily Planet /KKAT-IPTV, Sharpe was able to
share some of his talent with other media efforts also. In 2006 he
assisted Glendale 11 during the shooting of the program they did
on the Jazz Festival. If you see that old tape look at the
portion of the programming with Carvin Jones.... I am running the camera
on the left side of the stage, Deb running the center camera,
Rubin Trujillo on the right side and Bill Meyer switching between
us!
A regular contributor to
other newspapers such as The Glendale Star and Panorama
Hills Monthly, Sharpe enjoys getting his work out where it can be
seen and enjoyed by others.
Also
of note, Ed and the Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV
was
the first Glendale Arizona News Media Outlet to receive an
Emmy®
Award.
In addition, this
was also the first Advanced Media Emmy
Award to be presented for Breaking news/ Continuing Coverage in
the Rocky Mountain Region.
Enjoying all phases of the
enterprise Sharpe also enjoys teaching other people that enter the
field.
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My first Speed Graphic
Camera Purchased from Sgt Compton when he went to Alaska to
work on Radar's there. Photo shot at barracks at Luke AFB Arizona
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NCOIC 2037 Com. SQ MARS
Station Luke AFB
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Ed Sharpe TAC
Photo Contest Winner Proceeded to get Honorable
Mention Air Force World-Wide.
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Photo dated Jun 72 |
Meet Ed Sharpe - Early 70's with Mamiya RB-67
Bought from Dan George at Guild Camera
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73 74? West Valley art league show
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Date???
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I got home from the Transmitter Site
and everyone filled my room and wanted to Jam.
We used to irritate some of the country and western fans with
our Rock n' Roll
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Mid- 1970's
Steve Coppinger and Ed
Sharpe visit to Norman G. Wallace
of early Arizona Highways fame
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Shot By Roger Williams
at Christown who
I worked for 74/75
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In the Darkroom... 1977 or 1978 |
HERMAN CRYLE'S ARIZ-PRO LABS
1977 or 1978 - I WOULD GO TO TAKE WORK IN HANG OUT EAT LUNCH!
AND A FEW SHOTS IN THE SHARPE PHOTOGRAPHIC 6415 W CARON UPSTAIRS OF
THE HOUSE!
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Trans Rent-a-Car Shoot.
Paul DiGruccio landed this for us and we shot it!
It was on a courtesy card, also brochures and even a bill-board!
(click photos for larger view... these were scanned of a contact
sheet so a little fuzzy!)
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Another from my photography
days!
Ed Sharpe
Large Format Symposium 1981
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Ed Sharpe Interviews Sgt. Joe Turitto Glendale Police Department
During a Mock DUI
Presentation at Ironwood High School. Photo by Heather Thompson
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WE
SCREENED!
www.smecc.org/media/yourmove512.wmv
loband
http://www.smecc.org/media/your%20move%20final%203.1%20mbps%20%20credits.wmv
Hiband |
Rose Prescott AKA 'COCO WHITMAN"
displays
the AVA award the CouryGraph Productions
Crew won for Cam Stryker Man From T.R.A.S.H.
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The Legend of the Evil Count Spatula
"Sharpe takes the literal
challenge of making a common kitchen utensil into
an epic maelstrom of comedic proportions" - Mel
Vapour, Director, BVFF.
Laura Graff Hit and Run - Search for the
Driver
"The Emmy Award Winning,
Glendale Arizona news gatherer, Ed Sharpe, is once again on the
scene for this short news spot in the heinous hit and run
accident involving local resident Laura Graff, Sharpe's daily news-webcasts
are legendary and award winning in Arizona and beyond."
- Mel
Vapour, Director, BVFF.
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Glendale
Daily Planet /KKAT-IPTV News Goes Really
"In Depth"
The Site Embraces 3D Video Imaging Technology Giving Users
‘Deep News Viewing Pleasure’!

Glendale,
AZ -- The Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV, an IPTV station owned
by Ed Sharpe of CouryGraph
Productions in Glendale, Arizona, unveiled the latest technology
initiative to be deployed by the station. “3D,” according to
Sharpe, “Has been around for since before the Civil War. The
public first experienced it in the parlors of Victorian era homes as
a form of entertainment and education with cards that had two images
on them. Viewer consisted of either handheld devices or elaborate
table top cabinet style viewers ” Photo By Bette Sharpe

Early 3-D Cameras from the SMECC Museum Collection L to R –
Rochester Optical Company 5x8 View Camera 1895,
Scoville 5x8 with Prosch Triplex Stereo Shutter 1889
Connely 5x7 ‘bicycle style folding stereo plate camera 1995
Photo By Ed Sharpe
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Glendale,
AZ -- The Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV, an IPTV station owned
by Ed Sharpe of CouryGraph
Productions in Glendale, Arizona, unveiled the latest technology
initiative to be deployed by the station. “3D,” according to
Sharpe, “Has been around for since before the Civil War. The
public first experienced it in the parlors of Victorian era homes as
a form of entertainment and education with cards that had two images
on them. Viewer consisted of either handheld devices or elaborate
table top cabinet style viewers ”
Sharpe
continued, " When you would place the card into a special 2
lens viewer you would be able to see a resulting three dimensional
image of the scene. How did this get on the card? Easy! It was done
with a camera with two lenses separated roughly the intraocular
distance of your eyes."
The
KKAT-IPTV 3-D NEWSCAM
made its debut at the Country Inn & Suites at 20221 North 29th
Ave on January 15, 2008 during a Glendale Chamber Of Commerce Mixer.
Regarded with high amounts of curiosity by party goes due to it's
off two lens look, Sharpe was besieged with questions about it.
Sharpe
states" If you are just going to shoot a line up of people or a
city council meeting, the advantage to 3D is not as apparent as if
you are videoing cars coming towards you, fists flying towards the
lens or parts moving towards the camera in a conveyor belt. In other
words… extreme movement is good!”
The
version of this technology deployed by the Glendale Daily Planet /
KKAT-IPTV was developed keeping in mind that it was desirable for
footage shot in this system of 3-D could be re-mastered for any
future 3-D methodology. Sharpe elaborates
”If you have footage
shot with two cameras, it can be used in a 2 color Anaglyph image
3-D system, or later chopped and sequenced into a field
sequential viewing system format, or even run to two separate
projectors that utilize polarizing technologies to produce the 3-D
imagery.”
Anaglyph
images are the most popular
presentation of 3-D and the one most commonly associated with
stereoscopy by the public at large. It is largely popular because of
their ease in producing.
In
an anaglyph, the two images are either superimposed in an additive
light setting through two filters, one red and one cyan, or this
process can be done electronically within the video editor. Glasses
with colored filters in either eye separate the appropriate images
and give you a ‘near real’ color scheme.
The
use of this technology from the viewer’s perspective, according to
Sharpe, couldn't be simpler. “The viewer just puts on the glasses
and looks at the window on the webpage.”
Always
willing to share innovative endeavors he is involved in, Sharpe
enjoys collaboration and educating others on the
technology at hand. Contact
Ed and Glendale Daily Planet at http://www.glendaledailyplanet.com for
information and resource links on 3D Technology
The
future? Sharpe chuckles…” Probably like the 3-D image of
Princess Leila in star wars that R2-D2 projected for Luke to view…
no screens no glasses just… the image… but…
it is still a ways off for living room news viewing!”
To
learn more on the fascinating history of 3-d still and moving
imagery give Google a workout!
You will be entertained for days with the amount of
information out there. In is fun to read about the ‘early’ 3-D
movies that Hollywood turned out…
The
cool KKAT is wearing a new set of shades these days!
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Top 2 photos… Ed Sharpe for Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV
records footage of the
Mock Airline Crash at Mountain Ridge High School in
Glendale Arizona for a 3-D
News special on Glendale Fire Department
Community Training Involvement
Photos by Daniel
Valenzuela Glendale Fire Department
Photo above - Ed Sharpe for Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV records
footage of an interview
with Glendale Fire Department PIO Daniel
T. Valenzuela at the
Mock Airline Crash at Mountain Ridge High School in
Glendale Arizona for a 3-D
News special on Glendale Fire Department
Community Training Involvement
Photo
by Glendale Fire Captain John Walter II.
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About
CouryGraph Productions / Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV in
Glendale, AZ
Glendale
Daily Planet, the parent organization of KKAT-IPTV was started in
2004 as the first community journalism news site in Glendale and
perhaps all of Arizona... Serving The Metro West Side of the Valley
of the Sun, Glendale Daily Planet has witnessed, participated in and
recorded the further rejuvenation of the downtown core, the meteoric
rise of the 'Glendale Sports Empire' and the restoration of historic
sections of the town.
One aspect Sharpe is most proud of is the ability to have a
continuous 24/7 stream of archived footage in the player but yet,
when a special event arises, have the ability to go live
interrupting the pre-programmed content to cover the event. With the
advent of higher speed EVDO radio cards and compact portable
satellite terminals the options are limitless.
Residents can now catch stories of interest on their schedule,
taking advantage of the on-demand character of Internet media. No
more waiting for 5 or 10pm and no need to program the TiVo.
Important stories remain available, a mouse click away, for years in
the online archives..
Sharpe
is a member of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
(NATAS), Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE), Independent Feature
Project (IFP) (IFP/PHX), Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE),
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society of
Professional Journalists (SPJ), National Press Photographers
Association (NPPA), Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications
and Computation (SMECC), Association for Educational Communications
and Technology (AECT) and other associations.
The work of Ed Sharpe from CouryGraph Productions and other
participative community journalists and engineering staff may be
viewed, 24-hours a day, seven days a week at http://www.glendaledailyplanet.com/
.
Interested in having your work seen by the world? Contact the
Glendale Daily Planet / KKAT-IPTV to schedule airing! Use the email
link on the site.

Ed appears as a Wall-E look-alike!
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Ed
and Bette Sharpe - at the Rocky Mountain Emmy®
Awards Ceremony held at the
Renaissance Hotel and Conference Center in Glendale Arizona October
6th, 2007.
(Photo by Julie Sharpe)
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Ed and Bette Sharpe at
ZOE's Sandwich shop after a A3F Film Contest Meeting! 2007
It was novel for awhile to lug the award around!

Bette Sharpe With
HERMES Award she won for photographic work

No... I was not there but these
are cool so I bought them!
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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
A few other that
jumped off the page for us here at the planet were: Curses
and Sermons, Under
My Garden, Behind
The Wheel, Karma
Calling, Words of Advice and The
Devil At Your Feet... But Wait! There Is more! See the
complete list at the BVFF website!
Sharpe
stated : "The mix of documentaries, features,
shorts, works by young producers, experimental films and
more rivals any of the festivals I normally
attend." He continued "It is unbelievable
Vapour and his group can offer this entertainment at a
$13 dollar a day pass rate!"
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
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.
|
2010 Berkeley
Video & Film Festival - This Weekend!
Showing
at - Landmark Shattuck Cinemas . 2230 Shattuck Avenue in Downtown
Berkeley
By
Ed Sharpe Glendale Daily Planet - material gleaned from
EMBC & BVFF and conversations with Mel

A
special Director's Cut of Cam Stryker in the Warehouse
of Doom, a whimsical comedic terror film, screens this weekend
alongside one of the most amazing collection of cinematic treats to be enjoyed
on the west coast or... well heck for anywhere! Try on... BVFF’s
19th edition which screens 68 outstanding independent filmmakers...
It's a sure fit!
Highlights of the three-day event include a spotlight on short films and
animation from the students of the USC School of Cinematic Arts; a tribute
screening of Nisei Soldier by the late Berkeley documentarian Loni Ding;
Bay Area filmmaker Waylon Bacon’s world premiere of Help Wanted, in
addition to a selection of his past work; a special presentation of Tao
Ruspoli’s documentary Being in the World; a premiere of a “hyper
narrative interactive feature film,”
Turbulence, by Nitzan Ben Shaul and Daphne Cohen Ben Shaul from Israel;
the world premiere of Canadian filmmaker Mathew Bennett's new feature,
Kick Me Down; and Frankie Latina’s blaxploitation-meets-arthouse
feature, Modus Operandi, is really what made Milwaukee famous.
30
years you say?
Lets
pause here though and reflect on the East Bay Media Center that sponsors
The
Berkeley Video and Film Festival...
It is
a big birthday for these folks... 30 Years!
- HAPPY BIRTHDAY EBMC!
Mel Vapour states: "The EBMC
blossomed out of my, and Paul Blake’s, persuasion that the 1979
Panasonic VHS camera was going to irreversibly and importantly change the
course of filmmaking."
Indeed! All it took was a
reliable and reasonable priced camera / tape system that was
reliable and easy to use as a creative tool.
East Bay Media Center was established in 1980 as a 501(c)3 Non-profit Corporation. By providing technical and educational media needs to communities in the East Bay, EBMC gained popularity as a Media advocate for community involvement, especially for marginalized youth and minorities.
In the mid -1980’s, EBMC pioneered the camcorder and personal computer video revolution by being the first production/post-production organization to offer integrated video/computer workstations. EBMC created specialized training programs to provide independent producers and organizations with the necessary tools for successfully navigating new technologies.
In August 1986, EBMC Board of Directors, Mel Vapour, Paul Kealoha Blake and Gloria Belsky presented to Berkeley City Council, a proposal to establish and create a Public Access Cable TV Facility to Mayor Gus Newport. EBMC developed their Interim Access Facility on University Avenue.
In the late 1980’s, EBMC developed Disability Video training programs, and with the help of two California Arts Council Grants and two Vanguard Foundation Grants, we provided the basis for a variety of programming including: African Connections, Pacific Wave, Barrier Free TV, Video 99, and Berkeley Muzik TV.
To provide a public venue for the works of unknown video artists and producers, EBMC created Berkeley Video & Film Festival in 1991. The festival boasts a growing audience, national attention, and international entries.
The NEW EAST BAY MEDIA CENTER, located in Downtown Berkeley's Arts District, was founded by Mel Vapour and Paul Kealoha Blake in 1998. With the acquisition-purchase of its new Facilities, a new chapter in the future history of EBMC has been chartered.
Mel Vapour states: "The EBMC
blossomed out of my, and Paul Blake’s, persuasion that the 1979
Panasonic VHS camera was going to irreversibly and importantly change the
course of filmmaking."
We wanted to get a closer look and
document this change. "With the support of George Manupelli (director
of Ann Arbor Film Festival), who had met Vapour at the Ann Arbor film
festival in the late 60’s, BVFF would become a festival of international
acclaim showing unusual, off-beat as well as mainstream documentaries and
short film. More importantly, the BVFF grew quickly in popularity because
of its willingness to promote highly experimental as well as politically
conscious film that would always include the development of highly
advanced technical refinement and skill.

Students Thrive at BVFF
Mel explains "In as much, this
year, the Festival begins by showing astonishing and refreshing films from
young producers between the age of 12 and 17 (Like Eric Slack’s film
“19”). "The
second portion of outstanding films derives from student-filmmakers in
some of the best Institutions of Higher Learning in the world for film:
NYU’s Tisch School, University of Austin Texas, UCLA, and USC
School of Cinematic Arts.
Particularly the latter enables film with sophisticated high technical
production value as well as unusual, insightful and wacky stories to
develop (some of the best on the planet). "

But that's not all!
"This year Ryan W. Chen’s We
the Divided is a must see! The third portion consists of important
features by older and more established filmmakers," Mel tells us.
BVFF’s 19th edition screens 68
outstanding independent filmmakers.
Some more highlights of the three-day event include a tribute
screening of Nisei Soldier by the late Berkeley documentarian Loni Ding;
Bay Area filmmaker Waylon Bacon’s world premiere of Help Wanted, in
addition to a selection of his past work; a special presentation of Tao
Ruspoli’s documentary Being in the World; a premiere of a “hyper
narrative interactive feature film,” Turbulence, by Nitzan Ben Shaul and
Daphne Cohen Ben Shaul from Israel; the world premiere of Canadian
filmmaker Mathew Bennett's new feature, Kick Me Down; and Frankie
Latina’s blaxploitation-meets-arthouse feature, Modus Operandi, is
really what made Milwaukee famous.

"This is our biggest
festival yet. We received nearly 200 submissions and we’re screening
more films than ever before. Sit back, relax, and let this extraordinary
lineup of compelling filmmakers inform, shock, challenge and entertain
you."
— Mel Vapour,
Director BVFF

See all the offerings and the
major awards
An Independent
Cinematic Marathon
To see all of the
selections being screened and the major awards see: http://berkeleyvideofilmfest.org/Official%20Selections%202010.html
Specialty and craft awards will be
announced Friday night
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
3
Day Event Pass: $27.50 available from East Bay Media Center only.
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.
If
you desire accommodations: Hotels for Filmmakers and Festival
attendees:
Hotel Shattuck Plaza - 2086 Allston Way - Downtown Berkeley - 510-845-7300 www.hotelshattuckplaza.com
Downtown Berkeley Inn - 2001 Bancroft Way - Downtown Berkeley - 510- 843-4043 www.downtownberkeleyinn.com
"Cam Stryker in the Warehouse of Doom"
Ed Sharpe penetrates the 19th Edition of the Berkeley
Video and Film Festival 2010, with
his latest "Cam Stryker: In the Warehouse of Doom"
short film.
Sharpe
amps up the ante with shimmering film noire flash light lighting techniques,
reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project. This episodic self clip
approach, reinforces his one man band style of cinema. The story lines are
always incidental, his iconic face and Speed Graphic '50's camera prop,
reveal his yarn spinning tales are always tongue and chic, this
latest version is a mouthful.
(see
photo at left )
- Mel Vapour, Director, Berkeley Video & Film Festivals
"Cam
Stryker in the Warehouse of Doom" Ed Sharpe - CouryGraph
Productions - 3:00
http://berkeleyvideofilmfest.org/
©
2010 - Glendale Daily Planet Staff
www.glendaledailyplanet.com
|
|
|
|
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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
A few other that
jumped off the page for us here at the planet were: Curses
and Sermons, Under
My Garden, Behind
The Wheel, Karma
Calling, Words of Advice and The
Devil At Your Feet... But Wait! There Is more! See the
complete list at the BVFF website!
Sharpe
stated : "The mix of documentaries, features,
shorts, works by young producers, experimental films and
more rivals any of the festivals I normally
attend." He continued "It is unbelievable
Vapour and his group can offer this entertainment at a
$13 dollar a day pass rate!"
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
----------------------------------------------------------------
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
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.
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My Father!
Harry "Al" Sharpe Pre- 1951 The Acting Era.
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I need to find the magazine page... this is an old photo I
found of it....

I do not know about this.... anyone? artist was George Sato
(and says deceased)
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we are looking for this book how and why wonder book of radio
and tv nice art? great telstar pic!
Some thoughts on 48 hour film
festivals
by Ed Sharpe
CouryGraph Productions (from a letter to some folks I sent)
I think it is harder to make a movie in 3 minutes than it is
to make one in 8.
I remember back to my very first timed endeavor.... it was
a 30 second one! It was called UA 30 and was to make a
commercial for urban living. 30 seconds is tough!
I had shot news and did Internet video for a while but had
never used any of the software to any great extent to make
DVD's needless to say... it screened but
was not eligible to win anything due to the fact I did not make
the time limit.
--------------------------
I think timed 'trials' such as this ay not exhibit our best work
though. I spent the morning in the edit bay today reworking
a few things that I think improved the glow of the movie. They were
things I thought of at the last moment but knew I needed to
finish quick and....
1 - Allow plenty of time for rendering (I had an ultra complex
film 8 minutes with tons of layers track moving sliding yada yada
etc.... and I think machine lost it's mind some too.. and the render....
took hours! - needless to say I condemned this entire edit ay to run
Microsoft office applications only for the rest of it's days)
2 - Allow time for a vehicle breakdown and the
recover time of calling a cab to haul you down to the IFP. Yea I have a
good car.. but... the damn things do go astray and what a time
for it to happen... so leave transport time open....
but wait... there's more!
3 - The one that can cancel you!
That takes care of the two end of mission failure points but one other
one is to allow time to have a migraine or to be sick.
Here is an example.... The A3f... subject of the movie to be
heroism.... on my way home come across some of the Glendale police
at a massive accident scene.... I shot... before I even got home I had
it in the bag. I like to watch Sci Fi channel Friday nights....
so I did....
But alas..... Saturday I was totally wiped out with one of the
worse migraines I have ever had on that side of the head.....
If you look at Heroism- First to respond
that went on to win other awards, you will notice the intro and
sign out I did on Sunday you see only one of my eyes... and I
seem disoriented as I am narrating.. well the other eye was droop closed
still ( Sunday was still nasty but at least I could crawl around without
hurling but one eye drooped and not able to speak well.... sort of
like what you would think a small stroke was like)
Well shot the intro the sign out edited like a banshee ( a
sick one) Sunday and had an hour and a half to get to the Jae A3F
turn in point... All I remember is screaming at the
machine as it took it's sweet ass time to render this... it
took... a few hours.... needless to say I missed the turn in
time... what a disappointment.. .the good thing was though it went
on else where be selected for other film festivals, won some
statues and that film although it did not win as the Laura
Graff Hit and run one did it did get nominated for a news Emmy (R)
Award... so not all was lost... but... it sure felt like it when
I saw the wall time expire as I stared a the clock...
4. Here is how I have things running these days... Lets
talk equipment failure..... I have been lucky in this
area.... (except part of the heroism render time might have been
hardware too) but one thing I always do now is save off the
project file and all the source files onto a 500 gig USB
drive..... so I save to main system then save to separate
drive and back and forth.
----------------------------
I am a PC user not a Mac person so edit with Sony Vegas which is a
powerful dependable editor and a hellva lot easer to learn than Avid.
- I have a copy of it on the prime edit suite the
backup edit suite and my laptop. Should the main suite smoke itself or
trash the system or eat the system disk drive then I
pull the 500 meg USB drive off and march it to another system and
I am back online with my film I am editing real quick..
Have never had to do this but am ready should I need to.....
Go out and buy a good USB drive... Cheap
insurance!
I will add one more thing..... I like 48 hr challenges because the
force me to shoot some fictional stories....
normally I shoot news so this is a change.
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