Anchorage International Film Festival
SNOWDANCE
Alaska/USA - 91 min - Documentary - Snowdance selection
Directed by Paul Hill & Joan Juster
Alaska, Far Away tells the story of the
Matanuska Colonization Project of 1935,
a creative and controversial New Deal
program that relocated 202 families
devastated by the Great Depression,
taking them from the upper Midwest to
the Matanuska Valley in Alaska to start an
experimental farming colony. It generated
a whirlwind of publicity and controversy
at the time, not only as a federally-funded
social experiment, but also as one of the
last pioneer movements in America. The
Matanuska Colony isn't just a fascinating
footnote to the history of Alaska. It encompasses
the despair of the Depression, the
creative energy of the New Deal, the adventure
of pioneering in Alaska, and the
best and wor
st of our government and
ordinary citizens in facing those extraordinary
challenges.
Thursday, December 11 at 5:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
Co-director Joan Juster is scheduled to attend the screening.
Great Projects: The Building of Alaska
Alaska/USA - 90 min. - Documentary - Snowdance selection
Directed by Ken Mandel and Daniel B. Polin
Celebrates Alaska’s engineering achievements
during the 50th anniversary of
statehood. Vast, mountainous and seismically
active, Alaska’s arctic climate, with
permafrost, cold and darkness, make it
a difficult and expensive place to build.
The story of overcoming these obstacles
to create engineering masterpieces is the
stuff of dramatic and visually spectacular
films. Building Alaska was produced by
Great Projects Film Company. Great Projects
produced the four-part Great Projects: The
Building of America which the American Association
of Engineering Societies honored
with its Engineering Journalism Award.
The company won an EMMY® award for
George Marshall and the American Century
and was nominated for an Academy Award ® for An Essay on Matisse.
Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre ($5)
USA - 55 min. - Documentary short - Snowdance selection
Directed by Simon Arazi
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.
Saturday, December 6 at 6:15 PM - Anchorage Museum
Cinematographer Troy Henkles will attend the screening
Netherlands • 88 mins. • English - Snowdance selection
and Iñupiaq with English subtitles • 2008
Directed by Jan Louter
While politicians, scientists and environmentalists debate the effects of global warming, the Iñupiaq Eskimo community of Shishmaref in Northwest Alaska, just under the Arctic Circle, faces the real world consequences of climate change every day. As the ice beneath the small village melts, homes fall into the ocean. The situation is so severe that it has been predicted that the entire village will disappear
within the next 10 years. How can you move an entire way of life? And should these villagers go to
the edges of a city, or retain their rural ways? The transience of the Iñupiaq’s traditional way of life
becomes apparent in the face of climate change, satellite television and mail order shopping. Here,
the icy landscape — its water, smoke, steam and sky — is beautifully photographed, as are the
village’s inhabitants.
Sunday, December 7 at 6:15 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre
Saturday, December 13 at 12:30 PM - Fireweed Theatre
The director is confirmed to be in attendance at these screenings.
USA • 73 mins. • 2008 - Snowdance selection
Directed by Skye Borgman
Two brothers, 77 and 76, board a 29-foot Chinese Junk Boat and head 1,620 miles to Valdez, Alaska. In their two and half month voyage, Ernie and Charlie encounter torrents of rain and raging water, engine trouble and broken masts, bringing them face to face with adventure — their fountain of youth. The two men visit towns like Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, Petersburg and Juneau on their way to Valdez, Alaska.
Saturday, December 6 at 12:30 PM - Anchorage Museum
The director is scheduled to be in attendance at the screening.
Saturday, December 13 at 12:45 PM - Bear Tooth Theatre ($5)
Alaska - 4 min. - Animation
Directed by Peter Dunlap-Shohl
A wannabe film mogul in Alaska discovers a
charismatic, talented alien and grooms him for
stardom only to have his protégé wooed away
by big-time Hollywood muscle. The alien makes
one film before descending into a nightmare
of drugs and dissipation. The one shot wonder
disappears, but our sadder-but-wiser Alaskan
plans a comeback for them both.
Alaska/USA - 3 min. – Super short
Directed by Brad Swenson
Sure to make you laugh, this film about movie watching is a Hoot from fade up to fade out.
Director Brad Swenson is scheduled to attend the screening.
Alaska - 17 min. - Documentary short
Directed by Brandon McElroy
Students from the Alaska Theatre of Youth’s
Summer Theatre Conservatory rioted in the
streets and demanded answers to life’s deepest
and most profound questions.
Alaska / 4 min. - Puppetmation
Directed by Buzz Scwhall
Local artisan Buzz Schwall brings his beautiful
puppet creations to life in what originally was
the first play by the twentieth-century Spanishdramatist
Federico García Lorca.
Susitna Story
Alaska - 4 min. - Animation
Directed by Peter Dunlap-Shohl
Accompanied by narration that is reminiscent of
Robert Service meets The Charlie Daniels Band,
a plucky musher must defend Alaska pride and
her soul when she is challenged to a sled dog
race by Satan.
The Oracle
Alaska - 5 min . -
Directed by Ward Hulbert
An oracle in the Himalayas heals people in the
villages by going into a trance and sucking evil
spirits out of their bellies.
Alaska - 14 min - Live action
Directed by Hannah Kaplan
Producer Kodiak Resource Development and Camera Q Productions
(T&S) is a satire/mockumentary by filmmaker
Hannah Kaplan. Filmed entirely on Kodiak Island
Alaska, this film goes into a funny and smart
account of the drive to become a professional
female skateboarder. Filled with plenty of action,
dialog, and music, T&S really gets into the
heart of these young women, and their hilarious
personalities and persona. The personal
interviews in this film also captivates whereas
the audience gets a grand taste of the young
women of Kodiak and their unusual quirks.
Some of the film participants are scheduled to be in attendance at the screening.
Sikumi (On the Ice)
Alaska • 15 min. - Live action
Directed & Written by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
An Inuit takes his dog team out onto the frozen
Arctic Ocean hunting for seals only to inadvertently
stumble upon a murder.
USA - 22 min. Live action
Directed by Levi Taylor
Way Up North is a whimsical tall tale about
betrayal and revenge set in the last frontier. Local
director Levi A. Taylor brings a community of
ambitious artists together to experiment with a
unique brand of storytelling. Featuring the musical
stylings of Anchorage's own Rebuttals, Way
Up North will have you tapping your feet to
every unspeakable act and leave you grinning
for more.
Friday, December 12 at 10:10 PM (with Love and Pain) - Bear Tooth Theatre
The director is scheduled to be in attendance at the screening.