All Films

Joe and Petunia: Coastguard

2006 • 2 min

The message of this coastguard film was to raise awareness that HM Coastguard had become a ‘999’ service enabling the public to raise the alarm as it does for other emergency services. It was made in 1968 and, highly unusually for an animation short, remade and re-released in 2006.

Montrose Avenue

2006 • 5 min • Canada

Montrose Avenue is a 5-and-a-half-minute animated documentary that portrays an average day in the life of an inner-city neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada. Narrated from the perspective of a 6-year-old girl, we travel up and down the street on a typical summer day. We follow the actions of residents, pedestrians and local merchants, as their daily routines take them to the local park, to shops or simply to chat in anticipation of the annual Portuguese Senhor Da Pedra festival and parade.

Voyage in G Major

2006 • 54 min

At ninety-one years of age, Aimé has decided to fulfil his dream journey to Morocco that he's been planning for 40 years. His director/photographer grandson travels with him. A journey both tender and bitter, filled with missed opportunities and fleeting pleasures. Like life itself.

Don't Touch That Dial

2006 • 58 min • United States of America

A history of the early days of Nebraska television. Stories include the competition to get the first station and later the first color programs on the air in Omaha, the colorful early on-air personalities including Johnny Carson and Tom Brokaw, the tough and colorful businessmen who brought TV to rural Nebraska and the important news stories that defined the brand new medium.

Modern Body Comedy

2006 • 3 min

Modern Body Comedy is shot on a bare theatre stage in Super 8mm film and later converted to digital format. The work combines miscellaneous forms of theatre genres such as drama and comedy and also reveals the act of creating artistic situations. Two men act out these questions in a choreographed performance in which a pair of shoes and socks, a false moustache and a broken chair are the props for their games. A latent homo-erotic tension and a subtle power struggle provide the narrative base. Nashat, always interested in the dynamics of the body, builds up an outrageous tension, which is unpredictably dissolved by a physical incident reminding of a very popular slapstick element.

Black Fish

2006 • 4 min • Japan

Darkness and light, as seen by VIFF’s favourite Buddhist erotist. Part of the TOKYO LOOP animation anthology produced by ImageForum Japan.

HP Origins

2006 • 26 min

The story of Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard and the early days of Hewlett-Packard is the beating heart of the Silicon Valley phenomenon. Their legacy of leadership and success continues to inspire and influence the ongoing saga of technology. Origins, a documentary commissioned by HP, takes a look back on the founders and the values behind the viral business model that spread beyond geographical boundaries and seeded generations of Silicon Valley start-ups. Seamlessly merging photographs, oral histories and film footage with more recently filmed interviews of former managers, employees and company watchers, the meticulously researched Origins is an honest, affectionate look at the convictions that helped to create Silicon Valley and the ever-evolving quest for excellence.

The Trouble with Atheism

2006 • 48 min • United Kingdom

More and more people are turning to a position that prides itself as a modern, scientific response to the irrationality of faith. Atheism. Rod Liddle argues in this authored documentary, those that turn to Atheism for a rational, logical and moderate approach to modern problems are in for a shock. 21st century Atheism shares many characteristics with belief systems it opposes.

Tramway №5

2006 • 19 min • Ukraine, Switzerland

An extraordinary journey as passengers on the legendary tram No. 5, which runs from Odesa's entertainment district and Arcadia beach to the end of the line at the tram depot. It is a journey during which the boundary between reality and the world of dreams is magically blurred...

A Mercedes for Ashish

2006 • 30 min

A cinematic document of simultaneous degradations of human space and dignity in Delhi - images of how roads, walls, constructions-in-progress, ganda nalas, billboards - all in some way attack the human body.

Royal Maya Massacre

2006 • 50 min

Sixteen skeletons, the remains of a 9th century Maya royal family, are discovered in a mass grave, revealing a sordid tale of sex, greed, rivalry… and the final clues to one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world: what caused the collapse of the Maya Empire?

Copacabana

2006 • 56 min • Argentina

The Bolivian community settled in Argentina celebrates over two consecutive Sundays in October the festival of their patron saint: Our Lady of Copacabana. Music and dance groups arrive from all over the country and meet in the Charrúa quarter in Buenos Aires. This celebration is the most important event for Bolivian immigrants and goes beyond folklore and religion to become a vibrant meeting place and bring about the cultural cohesion of traditions deeply-rooted in the collective memory of a people.

With Soul, With Blood

2006 • 5 min

This is followed by Mroué’s video With Soul With Blood (2003-2006), in which the artist ruminates about being part of a crowd while struggling to remain an individual during one of the demonstrations following the still-unsolved 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Hariri’s car-bomb killing lead to huge pro- and anti-Syria rallies in Beirut, which triggered the fall of the government and the withdrawal of the Syrian military. Today, the civil war in Syria has spilled over to Lebanon, and there is a massive influx of Syrian refugees in the country, making up nearly one seventh of the population.

Photo Souvenir

2006 • 55 min

At a dusty crossroads in the desert city of Niamey, Niger, a crippled beggar is sitting in his wheelchair. He is Philippe Koudjina, who was once a successful photographer. In 1960s during the euphoria that followed independence, young people danced the twist and rock ‘n’ roll. Koudjina took snapshots and made a good living. Now, his negatives are decaying in a rusty cabinet. These snapshots now have artistic value. In Paris and New York, large sums are paid for photography like this. There is hope for Koudjina as two French connoisseurs are now trying to launch his work on the art circuit.

Hollywood Screams

2006 • 10 min

A young and unaccomplished actor meets a zany old producer. Together they make a movie about a young actor and an old producer in hopes it will bring them attention from all of Hollywood's biggest stars.

On a Roll

2006 • 3 min • United States of America

Two brands of paper towels argue over who gets to clean up a spilled puddle of juice on the floor.

Bindi KidFitness with Steve Irwin and the Crocmen

2006 • 46 min

From her jungle tree house, BINDI IRWIN introduces her BINDI KIDFITNESS program with the help of her famous dad Steve Irwin, mum Terri and wildlife warriors THE CROCMEN. With 9 fantastic new songs, Bindi and The Crocmen demonstrate a series of aerobic style dances, each one designed specifically around various wild animal behaviour, while her dad Steve helps cook up a disaster of healthy snacks. Bindi gets to suggest lots of healthy exercises and teach kids some great facts about her favourite wild animals all packed with a powerful, healthy punch.

Holdout

2006 • 15 min

Filmed in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Holdout is a portrait of a New Orleanian set against the helicopters and gunshots of a vacant Crescent City. Jimmy is a Mid-City resident who refused to evacuate for the storm. Despite being surrounded by floodwaters for two weeks, he insisted on staying home to take care of his eighteen pets. Shot on the one-year anniversary of the passing of his life long boyfriend, Harry, the film offers a glimpse into the ties that keep New Orleanians together. With engaging candor, Jimmy discusses his survival and shares a view of death that has characterized the city for centuries.

Metalosis Maligna

2006 • 8 min • Netherlands

Metalosis Maligna is a documentary about a disease that affects patients with medical implants. Metalosis Maligna occurs when a metal implant interacts badly with human body tissue, causing the metal to grow tendrils, which eventually puncture the skin from within and destroy it. The movie shows the development of the disease from its early stages through to the gory advanced stages, by which point entire sections of flesh have fallen away and all that is left is a skeleton of scrap metal.

Harry Zen Stanton

2006 • 21 min • United States of America

Iconoclastic character actor Harry Dean Stanton talks about his philosophy on both life and acting.

Aud go'hjerta

2006 • 58 min • Norway

Friends and colleagues remember Norwegian actress Aud Schønemann in a documentary celebrating her life. The documentary was broadcast on Norwegian public broadcasting network (NRK) less than three months after Schønemann's death.

True record! Cursed psychic experience 3: 100 shots of vengeful ghosts!!

2006 • 60 min • Japan

The third installment of a realistic horror collection that includes haunted spot introductions, posted photos, and reproduction dramas. Suzuki, who received a chain mail and a "memory card of death", is attacked by an inexplicable phenomenon and goes missing...

L'affaire Agnès S.

2006 • 52 min • France

Portrays the first official royal mistress of France, Agnès Sorel (1422-1450) who wielded considerable influence over King Charles VII’s(1403-1461) and his policies and to the future of the kingdom. Agnes caused a scandal with her extravagant taste in clothing, her political influence and her ability to talk and behave without any restraints in the end of the medieval period. Agnes Sorel's death was premature. She was only about 28 years old. Was she murdered?

A boy with the Knapsack

2006 • 27 min

19-year-old Hyun-iee and Jin-sun got to take refuge from North Korea. Jin-sun is always troubled with her classmates and an owner of her part-time work place cheated her. She’s all alone at home. Her silence is made out of lack of communication with the world, which makes people think she’s deaf. Hyun-iee misses his hometown so much and buys a lot of gifts for his parents and stuff them in his knapsack just like his routine.