Featuring the best of the last year's Minneapolis Underground Film Festival. Also, festival programmer Greg Yolen will be on hand to announce the lineup and show trailers for this year's festival, which is coming December 4–6 2009.

PROGRAM:

“Trailer Trash: A Film Journal” (2007, 53 min.) dir. Don Diego Ramirez
An intimate documentary exploring a family's turmoil in struggling with poverty, substance abuse, and the brutal murder of one family member at the hands of another. http://www.trailertrashafilmjournal.com

“Creep” (2008, 11 min.) dir. Paul von Stoetzel
Originally produced for Bobbi Miller's “Intoxicating” cabaret series at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, “Creep” is an experimental film combining stock footage and testimonial storytelling.

“Marta's Sex Tape” (2006, 46 min.) dir. Anthony R. Stabley
Marta is just a regular girl, who owes a whole lot of money. So in order to pay back her debt, she decides to make a very, um... special kind of movie. This is that film. Director in attendance for Q and A after screening. http://www.martasextape.com

(2003, 101 min.) – directed by David Eberhardt and Jack Cahill (Official Selection Slamdance, Tribeca Film Festivals 2003)

David Eberhardt and Jack Cahill spent seven years riding the rails, asking for spare change and swapping stories around campfires with train hoppers. Their labors are repaid with a mesmerizing documentary full of touching characters and beautiful landscapes.

Dog Man Tony is known for his unwavering honesty and fierce temper. New York Slim speaks in great parables. Joshua Long Gone and Horizontal John are a gray-bearded Huck and Tom. As these real-life characters and many others make their way to nowhere in particular, breathtaking cinematography by Greg Yolen (which earned top honors at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival) captures a perspective of the United States -- spectacular sunsets over rocky peaks, vibrant green plains, desolate cityscapes -- that could only be seen from a rail car and sets it to haunting original songs by Tom Waits. The promise of freedom is as romantic as a Beat Generation travelogue, but real life for the train hoppers is far from ideal. They have run-ins with family members and police; they pick food from trash cans; and way too may are alcoholics and addicts. Yet they know they've been discarded by mainstream society, which makes their bond to one another that much stronger. Many are also former military men, and that experience is born out in the stories, rituals, and honor among them as their paths cross beside the tracks.

"Long Gone" poignantly captures a marginalized homeless group for which misconceptions have far too often prevailed and shows that the yearning for communitydoesn't change much from person to person, even if the definition of community does. -Sean Fowler for the Tribeca Film Festival

Kodak Vision Award winning cinematographer Greg Yolen will be present following the screening for a Q & A.

(2008, 82 min.) – written and directed by John Koch

Runs with "Self-Important Empirical Film #3, with Voice-over" (2005, 5 min.) directed by Dave Andrae – WINNER "Best Experimental Film" at 8th Annual Boston Underground Film Festival

This is a story of the mysterious force that fuels attraction and desire, success and vitality, that elusive 'je ne sais quoi'. Some have it, some don't, and Paul, an unpredictable loner, falls into the latter category. A frustrated creative living a dead end life, Paul is at odds with everything in his environment and with himself. When he reaches out to Anna, a seemingly kindred spirit who lives across the hall, could things be changing for him? With a distinctive sharp wit and visual expression, the film explores the complexities of 21st century relationships and the fine line between acceptance of others and settling for less.

The filmmakers John Koch and Dave Andrae will both be present for a Q and A following the films. This is a new edit of the film since it was last shown, and also the first time that lead actor Dave Andrae will be in town to see the film with a local audience and to respond to questions. Since Dave's performance is such a fundamental aspect of the film, this should be a very interesting discussion.

(2004, 93 min.) – directed by Mark Wojahn

iIn October of 2002, Mark Wojahn set out, traveling alone via Amtrak, to interview the country. Using a straightforward, person-on-the-street interview format, and employing basic consumer electronics, he asked people from all walks of life "What do you think America needs?". Over and over again, in more than 500 interviews, 10 different cities and dozens of different neighborhoods, people of different ages, genders, backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities deliver heartfelt prescriptions for the country's woes.
The filmmaker set out to ask America what America needs and was astonished to discover that all kinds of Americans instinctively understand many of the same essential truths. Truths that if held deeply by enough of us, could provide the basis for workable solutions. This is not to say that the solutions are easy, or that there aren't many disturbing, conflicting and contradictory answers delivered within the film. The film documents plenty of angry and disappointed voices, voices of confusion, disgust, cynicism and despair. But in general, these stand out in stark contrast to the more powerful voices of hope. In the end, the movie builds understanding between diverse viewpoints even as it underscores the importance of further dialogue.

The filmmaker will be present for a Q and A following the film.

(2008, 80 min.) – written and directed by Garrett D. Tiedemann

It begins with the arrival of two travelers on an isolated farm inhabited by a single man. One of the travelers explains car trouble and asks to use a phone. Though seemingly strangers, more history surrounds their relationship than is explained before the car's arrival and the travelers settle in without much hesitation. Time passes and the travelers do not leave. One of them begins appreciating the environment gaining access to the daily routine while the other stays isolated and distant. With each step the farmer offers insight and knowledge furthering an awareness of the future they all must choose that in the end seems to have been forever present.

Part melodrama, part thriller and part slapstick comedy; Trickery Mimicry is a closed system of logic instilling each movement with questions and space. Like watching oil paint move on canvas it is a looking glass to the peripheries; thought patterns believed yet dismissed. It is a world often felt but rarely seen where mystery takes precedent and life progresses towards an indefinite end. Revealing itself in the movements of the characters, the hiss of static and the feel of the surrounding world; Trickery Mimicry travels deep into an abyss searching for relationships and the time that surrounds them.

The filmmaker will be present for a Q and A following the film.