Santa Fe Film Festival 2008

During the civil war in Kurdistan in the 1990s, political parties were established in the Qandil Mountain area, near the border of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. In the interim, more political parties have been established and number 15 today. Each party has its dreams and ways to achieve happiness for the people, but those parties have not learned how to negotiate and find common ground. Faqi Ibrahim was young when the first political party was founded in the mountains. Today, he is the only one that listens to all of them. Faqi Ibrahim has worked for the political parties in a variety of roles. He made tea for the party leaders and worked in several offices. During the civil war, he was responsible for the exchange of corpses from both sides. He became the hunter of the "white mountains." Taha Kerimi is from Banah in eastern Kurdistan. White Mountain is his fourth short film.

A little ditty about the hair...`down there.'

'Wiener Takes All'(A Dogumentary) Take a journey into the unexplored world of wiener dog racing, home to capacity crowds, healthy dachshunds and rabid owners. 'Wiener' unleashes the truth as it tracks America's fastest weenies on a tour of the professional dachshund racing circuit. Opening with the infamous 2003 Noodles-Pretzel incident, and ending with the 2005 Wiener Nationals, we crisscross the continent to get the inside scoop on what makes these champion dogs and their colorful owners tick.Our travels take us to dachshund races, field trials, hilarious 'earthdog' competitions, and the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, where we snag a rare interview with Iris Love, Guggenheim heiress and patron saint of the dachshund world. Surprisingly candid interviews with some of the world's top showdog personalities, including famed Westminster judge Anne Rogers Clark, give us a crash course in wiener dog politics, and some background on the longstanding and divisive controversies that have dogged the dachshund community.Shocking allegations of animal exploitation, cheating, doping, and race rigging are also investigated. WIENER TAKES ALL, but in the end, it gives back so much more.

This provocative first person documentary chronicles Celia's quest to get to know her father, famed verite documentarian David Maysles (GREY GARDENS, GIMME SHELTER w/ the Rolling Stones, SALESMAN) who died when she was seven. She comes up against an unexpected roadblock when the other half of the Maysles Brothers, her Uncle Albert, refuses her access to the Maysles Films archive. A thoughtful family drama that examines a legacy of filmmaking and loss, passed down generation to generation.

Collection of 12 provocative new shorts by emerging filmmakers, the majority of them women. The selections include: AND THEN SHE WAS GONE (7 minutes) Two women share a mystical experience on a park bench after three years of seeing each other at the same park but never speaking. Directors: Jacqueline Pennewill and Pete Konzcal CHAD VADER (5 minutes) Life is hard for Chad Vader, the younger, less charismatic brother of Darth Vader, who is the day shift manager of a grocery store. Directors: Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda DIRTY GIRL (5 minutes) An animated, darkly humorous chronicle of breast cancer surgery from a patient’s perspective. Director: Jennifer Clary DOWN A DARK ROAD (6 minutes) One man seeks revenge, the other justice – but the lines between them start to blur. Director: Greg Thompson THE DRUMMER (19 minutes) A jobless drummer finally gets a gig subbing at a snooty wedding; when the rest of the band doesn’t show, his salvation is up to him. Director: Bill Block GEORGE AND KARL (4 minutes) Two homeless men who resort to sharing everything out of desperation share a last supper, of sorts. Director: David Grainger HAVDALAH (13 minutes) An observant Jewish woman, stifled by her critical husband, finds an unexpected way to carve out a small slice of happiness and personal freedom. Director: Alyson Silverman IN VIVID DETAIL (18 minutes) A couple tries to decide whether they can stay together in spite of a grave neurological disorder. Director: Dara Bratt ISABEL (4 minutes) A father scolds his little girl for making noise when he’s trying to work. She disturbs him again, late that night – but does she even exist? Director: Shawna Baca MISSING PIECES (16 minutes) Young David Ostermann has himself castrated to end his obsessive worries about testicular cancer – only to discover that his quest has just begun. Director: Samah Tokmachi SEXY CLOWN BITCH (7 minutes) An unhappy clown fails to cheer up patients in a hospital children’s ward, but a chance meeting on an elevator renews and redeems her career. Director: Laura Newman SPANISH BOOTS (7 minutes) A bar-room flirtation, with the bartender as jealous witness, leads a woman to rethink her life-defining habits. Director: Domenica Cameron-Scorsese

This short, ethnographic film briefly explores the lives of writers/poets/rappers Andrew Va'i, Iakopo Sao, and Brian Ieremia—three youths raised in the San Francisco Bay area. The film is narrated by the stars themselves and shows the audience how three young men from an urban city redefine what it is to be Samoan in America. Born in Auckland, New Zealand and raised in Apia, Samoa, Dionne Fonoti moved to Hawai‘i with her family where she completed high school. This is her first film.