Anchorage International Film Festival
SHORT DOCUMENTARIES
What’s better than a short documentary? Nothing. It’s a fantastic, fun, and (most importantly, to some) quick way to educate yourself on a new topic. We’ve compiled our favorites to entertain you and broaden your horizons. In this year’s short programs, you will find examples of stunning heroism and love alongside some of the more whimsical means of self-expression. Enjoy!
Kelly Gwynn & Doug Griffin,
Co-Directors of Documentary Programming
Tuesday, December 9 at 5:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
Singapore - 24 min. - Documentary short - In Competition
Date completed 2008
Details an endearing story of friendship between two terminally ill women involving their families and the staff of the hospital.
Look at Me
Canada, 45 min. – Documentary short
Directed by Julianne Hazlewood
Date completed May 2007
An honest and striking glimpse into the realities of being a child with fetal alcohol syndrome.
UK, 14 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Directed by Eva Weber
Date completed August 2007
An unparalleled and unique view of London - through the eyes and words of crane drivers.
Saturday, December 6 at 6:15 PM - Anchorage Museum
Mature Themes
Severing the Soul
USA – 18 min. – Documentary short
Date completed January 2008
Found footage interweaves an account of Rosemary Kennedy’s lobotomy procedure in 1941 with an overview of the psychosurgery movement of the 1930’s-1960’s in the US.
Canada, 49 min. – Documentary short feature - In Competition
Directed by Antonia Thomson
Date completed August 2008
An HIV-infected child was abandoned in an orphanage in Northern Thailand Her medical chart read: Leave Her to Die, but one remarkable woman’s story proves that love itself can and is... saving lives.
Directed by Simon Arazi
USA - 55 min. - Documentary short - Snowdance selection
Date completed 2008
An international crew of seven adventurers
retraces the saga of the 1897 Belgica expedition to Antarctica, discovering along the way how
the past and present connect in surreal ways.
Sunday, December 7 at 7:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
Reefer Madness
Canada – 23 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Directed by Steve Hanson
Date Completed: May 2008
Reefer Madness follows Canadian graffiti artist, Fatso, on a journey across the continent to track down the rarest refrigerator boxcars shedding some light on the most recent and unlikely movement in freight train graffiti.
USA – 22 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Date completed 2008
Documents Boise’s avant-garde noise rock band Monster Dudes.
USA, 21 min. – Documentary short
Directed by Alex Perez
Date completed January 2008
For eight consecutive years, Winnipeg, Manitoba, the coldest city on earth with a population greater than 600,000, has been crowned “Slurpee Capital of the World” by 7-Eleven for consuming more Slurpees than anywhere else on the globe. Welcome to the Frozen City.
Germany/USA – 28 min. – Documentary short - In Competition
Directed by F. Stone Roberts
Date Completed September 2008
Splitting Hairs is a documentary about the American invasion of the World Beard and Moustache Championships.