Introducing GLOBAL DOC DAYS
The SXSW 2008 Film Festival will launch its inaugural international documentary event, GLOBAL DOC DAYS, on March 8, 2008 in the Austin Suite in the Austin Convention Center (located on Level 3 South, facing Trinity Street).
GLOBAL DOC DAYS is an initiative to build upon our strong commitment to the documentary genre, and has been organised in conjunction with a variety of international film agencies, institutes, broadcasters and producers.
Over a period of four days (March 8, 9, 10, and 11), we will present special screenings of innovative and prize winning documentaries from eight countries stretching around the globe. The programming selection will range from feature length films to six minute hybrid documentaries that combine an interactive online experience and television broadcast.
This event will only be open to registered film, gold and platinum badge holders. Canada's Late Fragment, an interactive film, will also be open to Interactive badge holders.
The GLOBAL DOC DAYS Lounge is sponsored by:
We are honored to be hosting the following countries:
GLOBAL DOC DAYS Lineup
Saturday, March 8
Mexico 10:30am-1:30pm
China/Singapore 2:30pm-5:30pm
Sunday, March 9
France 10:30am-1:30pm
Australia 2:30pm-5:30pm
Monday, March 10
Ireland 10:30am-1:30pm
Norway 2:30pm-5:30pm
Tuesday, March 11
UK 10:30am-1:30pm
Canada 2:30pm-5:30pm
Saturday, March 8
The Old Thieves: The Legends of Artegio, 97 MIN, 2007
Director: Everardo González
The Legends of Artegio is the story of a generation of thieves who were widely successful in the 1960's in Mexico, and of the codes of conduct and ethics that characterized them. It is also the story of the Mexican criminal underworld: the numerous "categories" of delinquents who inhabited the city, their alliances with the police authorities that allowed them to continue their illegal activities, the betrayals that followed, and finally, the price they eventually had to pay.
Born Without, 86 MIN, 2007
Director: Eva Norvind
Born Without is a tender and controversial love story about actor and musician José Flores, a man born with no arms, and the woman who bore him six children through caesarian births. José is often labeled a "beggar" as he travels around Mexico playing the harmonica in order to support his family. The film includes clips from José's acting career and interviews with the filmmakers and actors who worked with him, as well as stories told by José's sisters and older relatives who witnessed him grow up.
China/Singapore
threesixzero productions
The Moving Visuals Co
China's Grip on Africa, 30 MIN, 2007
Director: Frank Sieren
While G8 countries are still debating concepts for sustainable development for the African continent, China is well placed to out maneuver old colonial powers in Africa by making strategic multi billion dollar investments as well as offering soft loans where others do not dare – or are not allowed - to go.
Beijing Opera on a Persian Rug, 59 MIN, 2007
Director: Frank Sieren
Young Iranian exile Ghaffar Pourazar, one of the few foreigners ever to have trained as a Beijing Opera star, travels together with the leading actors of the Beijing Opera troop to Islamic Teheran.
Brat Camp China, 47 MIN, 2007
Director: Ang Aik Heng
In modern China, the one-child policy has produced a generation of pampered kids, and many went on to become delinquents. Judged by their teachers as goners in mainstream schools, one man believes there is still hope for the problem kids. Xu Xiang-Yang, an ex-army veteran and language teacher, started this atypical school which “moves” throughout mainland China, all year round.
Ancient Chinese Sports, 52 MIN, 2007
Director: Galen Yeo
Ancient Chinese Sports discovers how many of todays Olympic disciplines actually originated in ‘The Middle Kingdom’.
Sunday, March 9
GLOBAL CO-PRODUCTION PANEL: The facts versus the myths
A special conference session hosted by the General Consulate of France in Houston.
Host: Dominique Chastres (Cultural Attaché)
Moderator: Jenn Kuzmyk (C21 Media, Canada & UK)
Yves Klein La Revolution Bleue, 52 MIN, 2006
Director: Francois Levy-Kuentz
YVES KLEIN; La Revolution Bleue is a documented fiction film made up of library footage, artwork and re-enactments. It follows the artist's life in chronological order, showing the progress of his career and unraveling the mysterious correlations running through his work.
What the Future Sounded Like, 28 MIN, 2007
Director: Matt Bate
From Dr Who to the Dark Side of the Moon, the members of the Electronic Music Studios used pioneering technology and ideas to create a radical new soundscape for the 20th century.
A Fighting Chance, 28 MIN, 2007
Director: Mark Andersson
Once a celebrity and Olympic boxing champion in his former homeland of Bosnia, 42-yr old Nermin reckons he has what it takes. He might have the support of Bosnian community behind him, but his family is not so sure. Nermin has been out of the ring for ten years and his aging body may not be up to it.
Donkey in Lahore, 52 MIN, 2007
Director: Faramarz K-Rahber
Brian, an Australian Gothic and a puppeteer, falls in love with a young Muslim woman in Lahore, during a short visit to Pakistan in 2000. Upon his return to Australia, he decides to convert to Islam and return to Pakistan to seek her hand in marriage. Despite Amber's wish to marry Brian, her family is unimpressed by the idea of her marrying an unknown foreigner. What unfolds is a long and difficult process that leads to frustration, disbelief, and despair. However, Brian's love and determination are remarkable, if not bordering on obsession. While he comes close, he does not give up on their love.
My Brother Vinnie, 2006 25 MIN, Director: Steven McGregor
A heart-warming story of brotherly love, written by Aboriginal actor Aaron Pedersen about his relationship with his 34-year-old disabled brother Vincent and how they together escaped a difficult childhood in Outback Australia.
PODLOVE - I Love Like Blood, 6 MIN, 2006
Director: Sarah-Jane Woulahan
The PODLOVE series comprises five hybrid documentaries designed as interactive online experience and TV broadcast programs. Each episode explores how the digital revolution has impacted on the way we conduct our relationships.
Ms Rouge recounts a true tale of romantic intrigue in an animated comedy of errors about poetry, stalking, secret-admirers and love.
PODLOVE - Virtual Freedom, 6 MIN, 2006
Director: Beth Frey
The PODLOVE series comprises five hybrid documentaries designed as interactive online experience and TV broadcast programs. Each episode explores how the digital revolution has impacted on the way we conduct our relationships.
The touching story of an exiled Burmese freedom fighter in Melbourne and a Burmese woman visiting her sister in Japan, who meet and fall in love online. Unless the political situation in Burma dramatically changes, they are destined never to truly meet.
Elvis in the Parkes, 26 MIN, 2006
Director: Anthony Mullins
Despite the threat of bushfires, floods, public ridicule, community indifference, financial loss, incompetence and outright exhaustion a bunch of die-hard devotees in a remote town at the back end of New South Wales decide to create the biggest bloody birthday celebration for Elvis Australia has ever seen.
Monday, March 10
Saviors, 75 MIN, 2007
Directors: Ross Whittaker & Liam Nolan
An intimate, gripping documentary following three young boxers from a Dublin boxing club.
Board Control, 28 MIN, 2006
Director: Emil Trier
From 1978 to 1989 skateboarding was illegal in Norway, as the only country in the world it was not legal to sell, buy or use skateboard in this period. The film follows two generations of skaters – from the underground culture in the late 70s, with skating on secret locations in the forest around Oslo, to the commercial explosion when skating was legalized in 1989. The film says something about the Norwegian government's overprotective policy, but it also shows the paradox of how the prohibition led to a unique and creative environment.
My Daughter the Terrorist, 60 MIN, 2007
Director: Beate Arnestad
What makes anyone want to blow themselves up for a cause? In this intimate and personal portrait we join two young female elite soldiers trained for the ultimate mission. We share their childhood experiences, their dreams and their families’ loss. Left behind are the mothers.
Raw Youth, 80 MIN, 2004
Director: Margreth Olin
The film follows students from the 10th grade at Hauketo Continuation School, East Oslo, the last months before the exams. This is a new Norway. A new Europe. The classroom is the real UN. It is the time of opportunity - when children from all around the world come together, and become each others best friends and sweethearts at an early age. The chance is now – if we wish and can – to take care of the school and the individual.
Tuesday, March 11
Mans New Best Friend: A Dogumentary, 22 MIN, 2006
Director: Jamie J. Johnson
Can you love a machine? This short documentary about people who own robot dogs attempts to answer that question, blending fact and fiction to take a hilarious and heart-felt look at the lives of owners of robot dogs called AIBOs. Retailing at $3,000, the now defunct AIBOs are the first intelligence companions for the domestic market designed to create a strong emotional bonds with their owners. Through these enthusiasts we’re led into a rather bizarre reality.
Here's Johnny, 59 MIN, 2007
Director: Kat Mansoor
Previously renowned for his work in the comics Judge Dredd and 2000AD, Johnny now lives in an increasing state of immobility and frustration. He escapes the confines of his front room by drawing, and through the expression of his brilliant, and sometimes troubled, imagination we learn about the disease that he is forced to co-exist with.
Steal This Film II, 46 MIN, 2006
Director: Jamie King
Intellectual Property professor and anarchist Jamie King has become a figure-head for the pro-piracy movement. Steal This Film II explains how and why the war against file-sharing has been lost and the huge potential of new avenues of grassroots distribution, peer-to-peer networks and piracy that fly in the face of the old established Hollywood models. The team behind the film, or the ‘League of Noble Peers’ as they are known, intended the film to be a rally call to ‘bring new people into the leagues of those now prepared to think creatively about the future of distribution, production and creativity’. In line with the film’s polemical argument, Steal This Film II is available to view via free download, and in the first 48 hours alone, over 150,000 people had downloaded it and over $5000 had been donated to go towards the next feature project.
Lift, 25 MIN, 2001
Director: Marc Isaacs
An early film from now established Director Marc Isaacs, Lift is a simple yet personal study of the residents of a London tower block. Positioned in a lift with a camera for 10 days, Isaacs films as the passengers slowly open up to him to reveal their innermost thoughts. From a nun who has never experienced love to a lonely man on the pull and all the residents in between, Lift is both quietly funny and at times profoundly sad; and Isaacs’ direct approach reveals astonishing results.
Late Fragment, 180 MIN
Directors: Daryl Cloran, Anita Doron & Mateo Guez
Late Fragment is a multi-plot, non-linear and interactive narrative that lets audiences discover the stories of three strangers.
The 8 sessions will be moderated by David Jenkinson and Jenn Kuzmyk from C21 Media (UK & Canada respectively), and Heather Croall from the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, UK.
SXSW 2008 is proudly sponsored by...
