Wednesday, May 14
ROCKLAND STUDENT FILM FESTIVAL, 6PM
ROCKLAND SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, 8:30PM
Celebrate an evening of films made where we live. You’ve seen excellent local art and theater, and heard great local musicians. Let us introduce you to our local filmmakers. Featuring a “first-time in Rockland” video equipment exhibit, with Panasonic, Bogen Imaging and Pro Sound, from 5:15 to 9:00. A filmmaker reception follows the student films, at approximately 7:30. Suggested donation: $9, or $7. Or be our guest.

5:15 doors open, equipment exhibited in lobby
6:00 Rockland Student Film Festival
7:30 Filmmaker Reception
8:30 Rockland Short Film Festival

The 2008 Rockland Short Film/Student Film Festival is made possible with funds from the Community Arts
Grants Program of the Arts Council of Rockland, the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council
on the Arts, a grant from Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee, and a grant from the Provident Bank Charitable
Foundation.

Reception Sponsor: Reality Bites Cafe
Exhibit Sonsors: Bogen Imaging, Panasonic, Professional Sound Services.
Promotion Partner: Videomaker

Special Event!
Monday, May 19, 7:30PM

Presented by the Taktser Foundation, at Riverspace:
TIBET: CRY OF THE SNOW LION
An evening hosted by Jonathan Demme

Directed Tom Peosay
Narrated by: Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Tim
Robbins, Ed Harris
104 min. Unrated Documentary

An epic and definitive exploration of Chinese occupied Tibet , told with personal stories and undercover and
archival images. Followed by a discussion on the current situation in Tibet, and global communications.

Information: 845-268-2339

Tickets: $10.
Sponsored by Rivertown Film. Member discounts will not apply

Special Event!
Monday, May 19, 7:00PM

Real Life Real Talk
presents
ANYONE AND EVERYONE

Directed by Susan Polis Schutz
USA, 2007, 57 minutes, documentary

Screening will be held at the Nyack Center, Broadway at Depew

Connected by having a son or daughter who is gay, parents from a variety of backgrounds and religions
discuss how their children revealed their sexual orientation and how they responded.

Tickets: Free
Sponsored by PFLAG and Rivertown Film

Wednesday, May 21st
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS and 2 DAYS
Directed by Cristian Mungiu
With Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasilu
Romania,  2007,113 Minutes, in Romanian with English subtitles,  unrated

An unsentimental look at a university student, Otilia, who, without judgment, helps her friend Gabita secure an illegal abortion in 1987 Communist Romania.  Their harrowing journey takes them through a labyrinth of bleak hotels and darkness of both streets and human behavior that will test the limits of their friendship. A tale of human will and the
struggle for freedom in the face of state oppression.

2007 Cannes Film Festival, Palm d’Or
Chicago, Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver and National Academy of Film Critics awards

“In 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, a ferocious, unsentimental, often brilliantly directed film about a young woman who helps a friend secure an abortion, the camera doesn’t follow the action, it expresses consciousness itself… 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is nothing if not a triumph of aesthetic choices, of fluidly moving camerawork, rigorous framing and sustained long shots that allow you to explore the image rather than try to catch hold of it.” - Manohla Dargis, The New York Time

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Wednesday, May 28
TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE
Directed by Alex Gibney
USA, 2007, 106 minutes, documentary, rated R for disturbing images

In this frank documentary by Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), the story of a young taxi driver in Afghanistan provides the framework for an examination of unprecedented US government policies that include a rejection of the Geneva Conventions. Interviews include former Justice Department official John Yoo and clips of Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales responding to their critics. 

Winner, 2008 Academy Award, “Best Documentary”

“If recent American history is ever going to be discussed with the necessary clarity and ethical rigor, this film will be essential.” – A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Wednesday, June 4th
THE BAND’S VISIT
Directed by Eran Kolirin
With Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai
Israel/France/USA, 2007, 87 minutes, in English, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles, rated PG-13 for brief strong language

An eight member Egyptian band, scheduled to perform in an Israeli town, is stranded in the desert.  A bus takes them to the wrong town, and they meet a handful of bored Israelis who grudgingly offer them shelter, food and booze. The members of these disparate cultures circle one another warily, and if love doesn’t quite bloom, a sense of unarticulated longing does.

2007 Cannes Film Festival, Un Certain Regard, Jury Prize 

“The Band’s Visit has not provided any of the narrative payoffs we might have expected, but has provided something more valuable: An interlude involving two ‘enemies,’ Arabs and Israelis, that shows them both as only ordinary people with ordinary hopes, lives and disappointments. It has also shown us two souls with rare beauty.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

SPECIAL EVENT
Satuarday, June 7 and Sunday, June 8
RIVERTOWN FILM AT THE GARNERVILLE ARTS FESTIVAL

Rivertown Film presents selections from the Rockland Student Film Festival and the Rockland Short Film Festival, as well as seminars on computer video editing and more, at the 2008 Garnerville Arts Festival. 55 West Railroad Ave., Garnerville, NY

Wednesday, June 11th
THE SAVAGES
Directed by Tamara Jenkins
With Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco
U.S.A., 2007, 113 minutes, rated PG-13 for sexuality and language

The hands that rock the cradle sometimes tip it over. This is particularly   true for Jon and Wendy Savage, siblings who are quite reluctantly brought together by the aging, abusive father to whom they haven’t spoken in twenty years. As they attempt to come to terms with his dementia and new, painful responsibilities, they struggle to deal with their respective demons.

“A true-to-life tale told by a director and actors who’ve sunk so deep into their movie together you wonder how they ever surfaced” – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

Thursday, June 12th
Artwalk, Rivertown and Riverspace Arts present, at Riverspace:
MY KID COULD PAINT THAT

Reception at 7:30, film at 8:00

Directed by Amir Bar-Lev
U.S.A., 2007, 82 minutes, documentary, rated PG-13 for
language

A study of grown-up fascination with a child’s art spun out of control, the film follows young Marla
Olmstead, whose father, an amateur painter himself, exhibited some of her paintings locally, on a whim.
Shockingly, galleries, sales and TV interviews follow, as Marla’s paintings fetched five-figure prices.

Benefit for Artwalk: Tickets $20. Rivertown Member discounts will not apply.