Santa Fe Film Festival 2008

Logline: A girl sits on a park bench to relive a moment in time and all of her fears are taken away through a chance meeting with a stranger. About the Film: “And Then She Was Gone” is a narrative short filmed in Savannah, GA. The story focuses on a young woman who meets a mysterious older woman in a park. She engages the woman in conversation and finds that the woman is both the key to her past and the mystery of her future. Inspired by Italian cinema, the films quality is that of a dream, set to the backdrop of Spanish moss, and a town textured with ghosts and nostalgia. The message of the film is simple: life is sometimes too short and bittersweet.

Animal Instincts is an action packed claymation of epic proportions. A fight breaks out between a cow and a sheep after the sheep steals some flowers. The cow doesn't take too kindly to the devious sheep, but the sheep isn't one to stand down from a fight no matter how far it takes them. The farmyard is transformed into a battleground as the animals use whatever they can get their hooves on as they desperately try to kill one another. They blow up the barn and plough the tractor through a fence, reeking havoc wherever they turn. Just when you think they've sent each other to their demise, plummeting off the edge of an unexpected cliff, they miraculously land safely in a heavenly field full of flowers, proving their epic battle entirely meaningless. Four and a half minutes fly past with the fast paced action keeping you on the edge of your seat. It pays homage to numerous popular films in a refreshingly original way, that is sure to get any audience laughing. The beauty of the film, however, is the way it communicates to everybody without a word of dialog. Its bright colours and music help it to appeal to all ages and transcend cultural barriers. People of any nationality can appreciate the simple, yet clever humour, and be enthralled by the intense action. It has the rare quality that very few films possess, the ability to appeal to everybody. Written by Cameron Edser

The future is about to collide with the past. Eric, a digital loving executive on a mansion hunting expedition finds himself crossing swords with his realtor, Max, an out of work toon rabbit. Like it or not, Max will make Eric see things through the eyes of an 'Animated American.'

An artist disappears under mysterious circumstances after one of his paintings is connected to a series of miracles. A documentary film crew pieces together details of the story through interviews and archival footage.

Filmmaker Marjan Tehrani chronicles her brother's return to Iran as he travels with his American wife to have a traditional Persian wedding and explore his lost heritage. In weaving the couple's personal story with archival news footage, ARUSI considers the history and impact of the relationship between Iran and America. Behind the curtain of political tension, the film offers rare glimpses of both modern and traditional Iran, a vibrant and complex country that is sealed off to much of the West.

In this short comedy, a retired hitman’s attempt to get back in the game is sidetracked.

Could you forgive a person who murdered your family? This is the question faced by the subjects of As We Forgive, a documentary about Rosaria and Chantal—two Rwandan women who come face-to-face with the men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide. The subjects of As We Forgive speak for a nation still wracked by the grief of a genocide that killed one in eight Rwandans in 1994. Overwhelmed by an enormous backlog of court cases, the government has returned more than 50,000 thousand genocide perpetrators back to the very communities they helped to destroy. Without the hope of full justice, Rwanda has turned to a new solution: reconciliation. But can it be done? Can survivors truly forgive the killers who destroyed their families? Can the government expect this from its people? And can the church, which failed at moral leadership during the genocide, fit into the process of reconciliation today? In As We Forgive, director Laura Waters Hinson and narrator Mia Farrow explore these topics through the lives of four neighbors once caught in opposite tides of a genocidal bloodbath, and follow their extraordinary journey from death to life through forgiveness. Laura Waters Hinson is a filmmaker and photographer based in the Washington, D.C., area.

It's about respect, courage, and living in harmony with all our relations. Aydaygooay has power nobody knows. The caribou have been mistreated, and he must try to bring them back. This Sayisi Dene legend was related to director Mary Code by her father, John Clipping, in 1975. With animation and live action, the story of Aydaygooay takes place in the central barrens and tundra forest of northern Canada. This short film celebrates a fragile cultural legacy, songs, and a language thousands of years old. A profound philosophical division between hunter and herder is manifested in Aydaygooay. Mary Code trained as a nurse, raised a family, and turned to filmmaking in 1990. Aydaygooay is her first animated production.