Daytona Beach Film Festival 2008

Ivan is an insanely optimistic preacher who takes in convicts to help around the remote, rural church he ministers to. His current charges are a psychotic Saudi immigrant addicted to robbing gas stations and an alcoholic tennis pro convicted of sexual assault. His newest "helper" is Adam, a vicious neo-Nazi anxiously biding his time before he can return to hell-raising.  Asked to set a goal for his stay, Adam sarcastically answers that he'd like to bake a cake. Ivan cheerfully takes that statement at face value and puts him in charge of the parish's pride and joy: the only apple tree in the vicinity.  Grasping the extent of Ivan's crazed, preternatural determination to look on the bright side of everything - Adam immediately decides to shake him out of his rose-colored stupor. Review by Jeff Farance: Sometimes it’s perversely funny. But to laugh at this Danish film is to question one’s own sense of humor. And what’s wrong with a movie that causes viewers to question themselves? Adam, a neo-Nazi is sent for community service to a church whose pastor, Ivan, is a humorless but endlessly devout servant of the Lord. Despite a number of beatings by Adam, Ivan persists in turning the other cheek, desperately hoping something will change the younger man, whose stated goal for his rehabilitation is to bake an apple pie. But with any Adam and apple tree, temptation to stray hovers. The film begins as brutal, then morphs into an allegory when it touchingly turns from visiting its central characters with crises of faith to seeing them surmount their obstacles. The ending is nothing short of a gasp of relief, if not some sort of affirmation of faith for all. And it’s more than a little comic, too.

Professional surfers, kelly slater, cj hobgood, damien hobgood, shea lopez, cory lopez, and more, travel around the world in search of the best waves. Filmed on location in Mexico, Jamaica, New Zealand, California, France and 15 other countries; the best surfers, sick waves, set to a gnarly soundtrack

Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. A young Orthodox woman, ROCHEL MESHENBERG, is about to begin her first year as a special education teacher at the local public school. She is also about to embark on what her father and mother call the "most exciting time of her life" – the process of finding a husband via the time-tested method of using a "shadchen," or matchmaker. As the school year gets underway, Rochel meets NASIRA KHALDI, a Muslim woman of Syrian descent. Nasira is also a first-year teacher. The two young women – Rochel in long skirt and conservative blouse, Nasira in headscarf – stand out in this public school context. As the school year progresses, Rochel and Nasira realize they share much in common, not least of which is that they are both going through what the outside world would call "arranged marriages." Winner Best Film Brooklyn Int'l Film Festival Review by Jeff Farance: 4 ½ (of 5 stars) Cultures clash. Two women from contrasting ethnic backgrounds bond out of shared experience in "Arranged." Some real-life experience inspired the film about Rochel, an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira, a Muslim. Both are teachers at a Bronx grade school. Both are single. Both have parents who were born in their homelands and cling to the traditions of arranged marriages. And neither woman is especially excited about the process or prospects. So they have more in common with each other than they do with their colleagues or few friends. The film critically examines the roles of love and expectations in marriage, along with the difficulty of children following their own paths in contradiction to parental plans and beliefs. For so serious a subject, "Arranged" finds plenty worthy of smiling. And even more is worthy of careful consideration.

James was a good guy, until he took a position as an international cleaner with the British Crime Syndicate. For five years, he’s been a jet-setting assassin who receives $10,000 a hit. But tonight, he’ll meet his match. His next target, Layla is his soul mate. Beautiful, sultry and sophisticated. Will he kill her? Or will he sweep her off her feet?

Orange sea pens bring color to the cold stark landscape of the subtidal sand flats of the Puget Sound. Although these sand flats appear desolate, hiding in wait is a creature with an acquired taste for sea pens. As the sun sets off the coast, this predator emerges to attack. It is from the sea pens that the striped nudibranch not only derives sustenance, but also gathers its defenses in a cycle of reliance. These defenses its uses to ward of potential predators such as large predatory sea stars like the morning sun star.

Long ago in Japan, Joji, a young artistically talented Japanese boy, is sent by his parents to a temple to become a priest. However, all Joji wants to do is draw cats. Knowing he is not cut out for priesthood, the priest sends Joji away. Joji wanders the barren Japanese landscape until he meets an old woman who points him toward an ancient temple. Hwever, she fails to mention that the temple is abandoned because an evil monster, known in Japan as the Nezumi Mamono, had battled with and slain all of the priests who lived within the temple. During the night, Joji finds his way into the temple and finds a lonely lantern, not realizing that he will discover his destiny in the morning.

New York City. 1974. On a winter morning a father and his teenage son are walking to work. The son was suspended from school for possession of drugs and is irritated that his punishment – working for his dad – is so uncool. These scenes are inter-cut with the father’s employees preparing for their work day – a junky secretly shooting up; a fiancée freaking about marriage; a glam rocker reverting to stock boy and a Burt Reynolds wannabe hitting on the company secretary. Busted Walk is based on the writer/director’s experience growing up with ankylosing spondalitis, a severe form of arthritis.

An excerpt from Plato's Republic, the 'Allegory of the Cave' is a classic commentary on the human condition. We have adapted and brought it to life by shooting over 4,000 still photographs of John Grigsby's wonderful claymation. The look was achieved by use of candlelight in a real fire that burned at the back of the set.