Today's films at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

The Documentary Film Festival opened last night at the Malco Theater in downtown Hot Springs with just one film showing, Disfarmer: A Portrait of America. Today’s films at the festival are listed below.
Saturday, October 16
10 a.m.
GARBAGE DREAMS
Egypt/USA, 79 minutes, Mai Iskander
Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade while growing up in the world’s largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is home to 60,000 Zaballeen, Arabic for garbage people. Far ahead of any modern Green initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80-percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.
10:05 a.m.
OLD PEOPLE DRIVING
USA, 25 minutes., Shaleece Haas
In the raw, tender and surprising documentary, Old People Driving, director Shaleece Haas gets into the passenger seat and asks, "can someone be simply too old to drive?" We get to know Milton, age 97, and Herbert, age 99, as they approach a grim milestone: the end of their driving years. And we learn the heartbreaking truth about the generation that came of age during America’s love affair with the automobile: that they, too, must eventually sputter to a stop.
11:30 a.m.
ESTHER & ME
USA, 33 minutes, Lisa Geduldig
A touching and humorous portrait of San Francisco Jewish nursing home resident, Esther Weintraub, a funny, feisty, politically-minded, former model, stand up comedian, who comes back to life when a spring chicken in her 40’s, lesbian comedian/comedy producer, Lisa Geduldig, befriends her. Film maker in attendance.
11:30 a.m.
FWD: UPDATE ON MY LIFE
USA, 35 minutes, Nicky Tavares
A hybrid live-action and animated documentary, Fwd: Update on My Life follows Dr. Deanie French, a professor and pioneer of internet-based learning and web accessibility, who decides one day to take a holiday from her prescription mood stabilizers and go on the Atkins diet. With newfound energy, she promptly leaves her husband and sets out starting up multiple businesses, making 10 new special friends, and directing a documentary about her life. Film maker in attendance.
11:45 a.m.
KEEP DANCING
USA, 21 minutes, Greg Vander Veer / Douglas Turnbaugh
After celebrated careers, legendary dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler became friends while performing together in the Broadway Show Follies, 2001. When the show closed, they decided to rent a private studio together where they have been choreographing and rehearsing original dances ever since. They are both 90 years old. Keep Dancing seamlessly blends 9 decades of archival film and photographs with present day footage to tell a story through dance of the passing of time and the process of aging. Film maker in attendance.
11:45 a.m.
LET YOUR FEET DO THE TALKIN’
USA, 30 minutes, Stewart Copeland
Tells the story of 70-year-old buck dancing legend Thomas Maupin and examines music’s ability to form and strengthen relationships and lift us above our circumstances. Film maker in attendance.
1:05 p.m.
BU SAHILDE "ON THE COAST"
Turkey, 22 minutes, Merve Kayan / Zeynep Dadak / Jeff Grieshober
It is common in Turkey, like in most Mediterranean climates, to travel to the coasts for the summer, and settle temporarily. Because of the seasonal relocating of people on the coastline, goods, businesses, and even relationships are transplanted from nearby towns and cities for the summer months. This shift creates an interim lifestyle, a transformed reality that shapes the nature of vacation for many people.
1:05 p.m.
LIEMBA
USA, 52 minutes, John Billingsley
The Liemba is many things: a physical relic of European colonialism; a vital lifeline for otherwise isolated communities; the principle means of transport for cargo and people traveling throughout Africa; a meeting place where Africans from all walks of life come together, a floating microcosm of the continent. Compelling passenger narratives, breathtaking footage and upbeat music combine to take the audience on an unforgettable trip down Lake Tanganyika. World premiere, film maker in attendance.
1:10 p.m.
WORLD PEACE AND OTHER 4TH GRADE ACHIEVEMENTS
USA, 57 minutes, Chris Farina
World Peace.and other 4th-grade achievements interweaves the story of John Hunter, a teacher in Charlottesville, Virginia, with his students’ participation in an exercise called the World Peace Game. The game triggers an eight-week transformation of the children from students of a neighborhood public school to citizens of the world. The film reveals how a wise, loving teacher can unleash students’ full potential. Film maker in attendance.
2:30 p.m.
A GOOD DAY TO DIE
USA, 92 minutes, David Mueller / Lynn Salt
The film presents an intimate look at Dennis Banks’ life beginning with his early experience in boarding schools, through his military service in Japan, his transformative experience in Stillwater State Prison and subsequent founding of a movement that, through confrontational actions in Washington DC, Custer South Dakota and Wounded Knee, changed the lives of Native Americans and all indigenous peoples, forever. Film maker in attendance.
2:45 p.m.
LIL POISON
USA, 58 minutes, Beth Earl
World’s youngest professional video gamer competes in tournaments across the country. When his parents divorce amidst tumultuous circumstances, Lil Poison’s game suffers and his sponsorship deals decline. The film explores the psychology of professional parent child relationships, and takes viewers behind the scenes of the big business craze of competitive gaming in America. And most importantly, it shows us the life of a kid who could easily become the poster child for his generation.
4:10 p.m.
QUEEN OF THE SUN
USA, 83 minutes, Taggart Siegel
Without bees, Albert Einstein said, "man would only have four years of life left." From the director of The Real Dirt of Farmer John comes a profound, alternative look at the tragic global bee crisis. Juxtaposing the catastrophic disappearance of bees with the mysterious world of the beehive, the film weaves an unusual and dramatic story of the heart-felt struggles of beekeepers, scientists and philosophers from around the world.
4:30 p.m.
INVISIBLE GIRLFRIEND
USA, 76 minutes, David Redmon
Charles is in love with his invisible girlfriend, Joan of Arc, so he decides to ride his big red bicycle 400 miles from Monroe through rural Louisiana to find her in a New Orleans bar. Along the way, he encounters a farmer, a witch, a tin man, and a man who honors the dead. Working within the tradition of creative non-fiction, it is a Southern tale that transcends literal interpretations of images in order to open up rich, loamy textures of humor and drama. Film maker in attendance.
6 p.m.
ROLL OUT, COWBOY
USA, 75 minutes, Elizabeth Lawrence & Warner Boutin
His tour van is broken, he bought his house for a thousand bucks, and the small farming town in which he lives is disappearing faster with each passing year. Roll Out, Cowboy’s Chris Sand is the face of the dying American West. Except for one thing: He raps. Roll Out, Cowboy follows Sandman the Rappin’ Cowboy as he embarks on a national tour during the 2008 Presidential election. He travels from red state to blue and back again, blending music genres into a style uniquely his own. Film maker in attendance.
6:10 p.m.
GOD WILLING
USA, 72 minutes, Evangeline Griego
The film examines the modern-day phenomenon of religious intentional communities, or as they are often called, cults. It takes as its focus The Church, also known as The Brotherhood, the 35-year-old ministry of shadowy messianic figure Jim Roberts. It also outlines the struggles of families whose children turn away from them to become Brothers and Sisters in the group, renouncing their past lives and the world, often, without ever turning back. World premiere, film maker in attendance.
7:30 p.m.
WASTELAND UTOPIAS
USA, 91 minutes, David Sherman
The unlikely 1954 meeting of Wilhelm Reich and Del Webb in the Arizona desert prompts a contemporary examination of environmental and psychological sustainability. This film incorporates an unusual blend of experimental, and often psychedelic, imagery to tell it’s story in abstract documentary form.
7:40 p.m.
JUST LIKE US
USA, 72 minutes, Ahmed Ahmed / Taylor Feltner
Comedian Ahmed Ahmed hosts a celebration of culture through comedy, by sharing his experience through the Middle East. It features an international lineup of stand-up comedians that reveals an appreciation for stand-up comedy in a modern generation coming of age. Through the current Internet age, stand-up comedy has flourished in the Arab region over the past few years, and continues to show us that laughter is the common language of the world. (viewer discretion is advised) Film maker in attendance.
7:55 p.m.
DANCING ACROSS BORDERS
USA, 88 minutes, Anne H. Bass
A gifted Cambodian dancer, discovered performing in a temple at Angkor Wat by an American patron of the Arts, is invited to study in the United States at its pre-eminent ballet academy, School of American Ballet, and is ultimately asked to join the prestigious Pacific Northwest Ballet. Film maker in attendance.
9:20 p.m.
CERTIFIABLY JONATHAN
USA, 79minutes, Jim Pasternak
A famous comedian and artist wants to display his work at an art museum. Just when he thinks he’s lost his touch, a series of famous comedians drop by to help him rekindle his artistic and comedic spark. Featuring Jonathan Winters, Robin Williams, Howie Mandel and others. Film maker in attendance.
FOREVER’S GONNA START TONIGHT
USA, 54 minutes, Michelle Lawler / Kim Klausner
Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight tells the astounding life story of San Francisco living legend Vicki Marlane, still strutting it on stage at 75. Vicki takes us on the ride of her life from cross-dressed roller skating in her youth to working the carnival sideshows circuit in the 1950s, from the wild years of San Francisco in the 1970s, to survival in the 1980s and her legendary performances at Aunt Charlie’s, where she continues to perform today. Film maker in attendance.