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October 9-12, 2014
2014 Festival Archive
PLEASED TO MEET ME
In Pleased to Meet Me, six musicians who have never met come together for one day to create a band, and maybe fulfill a dream. Starring John Doe (Roadhouse, Boogie Nights), Academy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Aimee Mann and Loudon Wainwright III, the film is based on the “This American Life” story “Everyone Speaks Elton John.” Rocker Pete Jones (Doe) is in trouble. He’s solo in his personal and professional life and he can’t seem to finish his long-awaited album. Threatened with bankruptcy and a lawsuit from his label, Pete turns to his lost love and former producer turned radio reporter Laura Klein (Mann) for help. Together, they take an eclectic group of musicians who have never met and create a band for a day. The 24-hour experiment will be recorded for Laura’s syndicated radio show and provide her an opportunity to establish a life out from under Pete’s shadow. For Pete, it’s a chance to re-mix his personal and creative life, provided he can get his ego out of the way. For the unknown band, it’s a time to see if they have what it takes to realize, or say goodbye to, the dream of making it in the music business.
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HEAVEN ADORES YOU
Heaven Adores You is an intimate, meditative inquiry into the life and music of Elliott Smith (1969-2003). By threading Smith’s music through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in – Portland, New York City and Los Angeles – Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer’s prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.
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BURNOUT
Burnout is a comedy starring Tarah DeSpain as Ada, your average girl-next-door pot dealer. When a vote to legalize marijuana passes, she finds her livelihood suddenly threatened and must go on a journey of self discovery, which may or may not involve “modeling” her feet. What happens when the demand for the girl with the really good drugs becomes obsolete? She may just burn out.
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THESE HOPELESS SAVAGES
When big news comes in for the constant bachelor Shawn, he makes it a mission to visit everyone who has shunned him for years. This includes his old friend Greg – a children’s musician living in the cozy, domestic confines of Brooklyn. After the two hit some hilarious re-acquainting pains, they soon hit the American road for a trip that will show them the gifts and the costs of real friendship. Based on an original screenplay, These Hopeless Savages stars Matt Dellapina (‘Safe’, ‘The Quitter’, ‘Person of Interest’, ‘True Story’) alongside Sean Christopher Lewis (‘God’s Country’), MacKenzie Meehan (‘The Wolf Of Wall Street’, ‘White Collar’, ‘Mildred Pierce’) and newcomer Maria Vorhis in this bromantic comedy/drama co-directed by Sean Christopher Lewis and Kaitlyn Busbee (‘Molly’s Girl’).
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ALIVE INSIDE
2014 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award Winner Alive Inside is a joyous cinematic exploration of music’s capacity to reawaken our souls and uncover the deepest parts of our humanity. Director Michael Rossato-Bennett chronicles the astonishing experiences of individuals around the country who have been revitalized through the simple experience of listening to music. This stirring documentary follows social worker Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit organization Music & Memory, as he fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it. Stories from family members who have witnessed the miraculous effects of personalized music on their loved ones are coupled with illuminating interviews with experts, including renowned neurologist and best-selling author Oliver Sacks and musician Bobby McFerrin.
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BANJO ROMANTIKA
Banjo Romantika leads viewers through Czech Bluegrass’s fascinating history and introduces the musicians who play this unique bluegrass hybrid. Czechs first heard bluegrass during World War II when the Armed Forces Network broadcast American music for soldiers. The music represented freedom to dissatisfied Czechs living in a communist state. Czechs’ love for the music was solidified when Pete Seeger visited and performed in 1964. Inspired by classic American bluegrass sounds, an assortment of musicians from across the formerly communist Czech Republic have melded the past, the political and the present into a lively musical tradition entirely its own.
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DESERT DREAMS
Desert Dreams invites others to experience a world of wonder, as if seen through the eyes of a child. This chronicle of a year in the Sonoran Desert of the American Southwest showcases 182 species of plants and animals in a cycle of five seasons: Dry Summer, Wet Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. HD video and time-lapse imagery captured over four years blend seamlessly with stills from the filmmaker’s archive compiled over three decades. The supporting sound track combines natural sounds with a kaleidoscope of world flute and percussion vignettes performed by musician Gary Stroutsos. Twenty-nine musical instruments with “earth tones” can be heard in this film, including Chinese bamboo Dize & Xiao flutes, the African clay pot udu drum, a Cuban Marimbula thumb piano, a Middle Eastern frame drum, the Brazilian Gourd & String Berimbau, and rim flutes indigenous to the American Southwest, among others.
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THE LAST KAMIKAZIS OF HEAVY METAL
The Last Kamikazis of Heavy Metal tells the story of five young guns from Chicago’s underground music scene who prove that the hardworking musician needs no more than his own bootstraps and band mates to rise to success. Brought together by their passion for rock and roll and by their allegiance to the legacy of heavy metal, the members of HESSLER will pursue their dreams no matter what it takes. After ruthless lineup changes, founder Igz Kincaid finally believes he has found the missing pieces to the puzzle he has always envisioned as his destiny. Embarking on a cross-country journey, playing in some of America’s most infamous venues, the survival of the band will be put to the test. Follow these hungry musicians from coast to coast, as a story of sacrifice, identity and the ultimate immigrant’s journey unravels… accompanied by the sound of heavy metal’s last kamikazis.
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THE PIONEERTOWN PALACE
10 years ago, Robyn Celia and Linda Krantz moved from NYC to the nearly deserted Pioneertown, CA in hopes of reviving Pappy and Harriet’s, one of the last remaining original honkytonks in the country. Today, the venue has become a major destination deep in the Mojave Desert and has attracted artists and musicians from all over the world – ranging from Victoria Williams to Robert Plant to Vampire Weekend.
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CALL IT BLUE
Before Benito departs on his tedious journey of selling crop insurance to farmers, he happens upon an attractive young lady named Ana. Obliging to her simple request of hitching a ride, Ana playfully tries to pull Benito out of his insurance folder and into her world. She teaches him that if you’re always looking at the road ahead, you’ll miss what your passing.
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A Bottle’s Odyssey
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Where We Start From
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“Rollin and Tumblin” by Quarter Royale
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“New Life” by Brianna Lea Pruett
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When You Were Mine
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The OceanMaker
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The Letdown
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Strum Strum
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Runner
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Mi Momento
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Long Way
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C.T.R.L.
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The Sarangi Player
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The Curse and the Symphony
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The Characteristics of C-Minor
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Johnny’s SpeakEasy
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