Moondance International Film Festival 2008

Disabled artist Nancy Willis is in search of a home for her much loved, but aging car - the Elswick Envoy. This unique vehicle was designed to be driven from a wheelchair and only 200 were ever made. Preparing to take possession of an ultra-modern adapted Renault, Nancy sets out on a mission to ensure her Elswick a place in motoring history. In this personal road movie, Nancy can see her own struggle for mobility mirrored in the increasingly unreliable performance of her old car. This witty and moving film is a tribute and farewell to a trusty comrade.

The unbelievable adventure of an aging Elvis Impersonator and the ambitious woman who never gives up on her dream of turning him into a success. Jimmy is a struggling Elvis Impersonator with no money, no job and 3 failed marriages. Donna is an ambitious women struggling with her marriage, her life and her explosive daughter. But tragedy and comedy are about to collide. And you’re definitely not going to want Elvis to leave the building, until you see how this adventure and heartfelt comedy unfolds.

Two people reach the end of their rope, literally. They push, climb and fall, in their struggle for dominance, in this allegorical tale of human interactions, with breath-taking aerial action choreography and a compelling soundscape.

A baby in a baby carriage drops a baby bottle on the street, the milk spills out and a woman falls into it. She is thrown into confusion, and she starts to swim like flying in space. A whale with wings comes up to her, and the woman is fascinated with the whale’s eyes, which seem to have the whole universe in them, leading her to ponder whether she, herself, is the baby who spilled the milk.

‘Fix’ is a frenetic, Odyssey-like journey through the underbelly of drug culture and addiction. Racing across Los Angeles in one, unwieldy day, documentary filmmakers Bella and Milo race from Beverly Hills to Watts and places in between to get Milo's brother Leo from jail to rehab before 8pm, or Leo goes to prison for three years. A story inspired by true events, the trio documents their trip from a suburban police station in Calabasas through mansions in Beverly Hills, East LA chop-shops, rural wastelands, and housing projects in Watts, as they attempt to raise the $5,000 required to get Leo into the rehab clinic.

When Morse visited the real steps at Odessa, she found her visit profoundly affected by memories of The Odessa Steps sequence from ‘Battleship Potemkin’ (Eisenstein, 1925). When she researched Eisenstein’s film, she found that he used three unique, cinematic design tricks. The steps have architectural elegance, and visual power. Media images have power. They shape our real-life experiences.

What makes a petite 5’ 5” girl choose an artistic path, which is so physically challenging that, internationally, the art form has become a male-dominated arena? With this personal glimpse into the beauties and dangers facing one of the world's foremost female cast-glass artists, we explore this dramatic technique, as it unfolds. The film offers a fascinating insight into famed sculptor Marlene Rose's subjective processes. We catch views of her inspiration and her life that seem to parallel the glass shapes that emerge from the flames. This visually arresting film sweeps you along on a wave of rich musical imagery, ending in a poetic crescendo.

Did Mohandas K. Gandhi really pinch-hit for the New York Yankees in 1933? For decades, historians have searched for evidence of Mohandas K. Gandhi’s top-secret trip to the United States. At President Roosevelt’s request, all contemporary accounts were suppressed and no records have ever been found – until film historians unearthed this never-before-seen “newsreel footage” of Gandhi’s legendary (and totally fictional) visit to Yankee Stadium, over seventy years ago. ‘Gandhi at the Bat’ is a faithful recreation of a 1930’s-style newsreel.