Gota Digg

wow!!!

The Mystery of the Green Menace

The Mystery of the Green Menace: "It's been celebrated as a muse and banned as a poison. Now an obsessed microbiologist has cracked the code for absinthe - and distilled his own."!!!

Absinthe is Legal and BevMo's Got It

Absinthe is Legal and BevMo's Got It: "A piece written while inebriating oneself with absinthe. Read on as Elise test-tastes these fabulous absinthes...with interesting results!"

Everything you know about absinthe is wrong

Everything you know about absinthe is wrong or so Salon would have us believe. No joke absinthe is now in the states!!!

The Boys on The Reboot from AGDC

Western Digital network drives crippled

Western Digital network drives crippled -- no serving any multimedia files: "Gary sez, 'This is the most extreme example I've seen yet of tech companies crippling data devices in order to please Hollywood: Western Digital is disabling sharing of any avi, divx, mp3, mpeg, and many other files on its network connected devices; due to unverifiable media license authentication'. Just wondering -- who needs a 1 Terabyte network-connected hard drive that is prohibited from serving most media files? Perhaps somebody with 220 million pages of .txt files they need to share?'"

thx steve!!!

Are You Not Devo? You Are Mutato - Randall Roberts - The Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles

Are You Not Devo? You Are Mutato - Randall Roberts - The Essential Online Resource for Los Angeles: "The Mutato Muzika building in West Hollywood is painted Day-Glo green and looks like a tipped-over hamster wheel, with mirrored windows as rungs that make the building seem like it’s constantly spinning. Beneath the main-floor recording studio is a big, cluttered circular room. To enter you pass a threshold guarded by a Speed Racer rug, and beyond this threshold is a sight that would give the Klaxons or Datarock a conniption: Korgs and Rolands are scattered on the floor. An Optigon, a rare 1970s-era console organ that uses flimsy discs to play odd, ghostly sounds, sits in a corner. Shelves hold computer monitors, cassette decks and DAT machines; tubular bells are ready to be struck; an EMS polysynthesizer and an electrocomp synthesizer await electricity. An Ondioline keyboard that once belonged to Pink Floyd. Boxes are strewn throughout, but look closer and they’re filled with more memorabilia: a hand-written score for the film Drop Dead Gorgeous; busts of Chairman Mao and JFK. "

thx steve!!!

Radiohead + ( Joy Division / New Order ) = Ceremony

thx sanj!!!

Writer Boi WGA

speechless

...

Where is Mark the Seattle Version

Friday, November 9, 2007
Delta Air Lines # 7687
LAX to SEA
Departure 1:57 PM PST
Arrival 4:39 PM PST

Friday, November 9-12, 2007
Best Western Pioneer Square Hotel
77 Yesler Way
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 340-1234

Monday, November 12, 2007
Delta Air Lines # 7687
SEA to LAX
Departure 5:05 PM PST
Arrival 7:40 PM

Tutorial for Flash MP3 Player

Tutorial for Flash MP3 Player

JW MP3 Player

JW MP3 Player

Moz

Dog Snapin in Chitown

On the L!!!

Ficore at SAG

Learn about FiCore!!!

test you tube

Where is Mark @?

9/28/07
United #128
LAX -> Chi Ohare
11:00 pm - 4:48 am

9/29/07 - 10/2/07
Hotel 71
71 E Wacker Drive 60601

10/3/07
United #672
Chi Ohare ->
8:00 am - 11:05 am

10/3/07
Crowne Plaza Time Sq Manhattan
1605 Broadway 10019

10/4/07
United #839
NY La Guardia -> LAX
6:10 pm - 9:36 pm

CONTROL :: OFFICIAL

CONTROL...what ya gonna do when the novelty has gone....

FAC51-Y3: The Hacienda

FAC51-Y3: The Hacienda: "Behold the latest shoe from one of my favorite brands Y-3 in collaboration with Legendary Manchester UK nightclub, The Hacienda. The shoe%u2019s awesome (read: dead sexy) design was a collaboration between Peter Saville (original Factory Records designer), Ben Kelly (architect who did The Hacienda%u2019s interior) and Joy Division/New Order Bass player, Peter Cook (not sure why he had this honor). Regardless, never before have I seen so many cooks in the kitchen deliver such a fantastic sneaker-specimen. The sneakers come in a custom six-sided, maple-bottomed box (naturally it%u2019s the same shape as the dance-floor as at The Hacienda). Then, the shoes inside are wrapped in four sheets of tissue paper, two feature Kevin Cummin%u2019s photography in the 80%u2019s, one will show designer Ben Kelly%u2019s original sketches for the clubs interior, and the final will show the current state of the club space. I kid you not%u2013 this is packaging detail at its best, absolutely gorgeous! Along with the incredible package and shoes, lucky buyers will also get a DVD documenting the whole club history and experience. The shoe is a short run at 250 pairs and will sell exclusively in the Y-3 Manchester store for two weeks before it goes into Selfridges in London and Y-3%u2019s flagship in Tokyo. The FAC51-Y3 will be 345 GBP, or just under $700 US."

Clever Gent

Clever Gent!!!

iPhone rocks!!!

!!!

Anthropomedia: SAG and Internet Video

Anthropomedia: SAG and Internet Video: "In the past, one of the hallmarks of professionally produced material has been the participation of Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) members. So what's SAG doing about made for Internet DV? I posed that question to myself today, and decided to ring SAG in Hollywood.

After negotiating the voice menu system and a pleasant operator, I reached another assistant type, who pleasantly took down my information and promised to relay my request for info to Mark Friedlander, who works in Contracts as a Signatory Rep for Internet/Interactive Productions. I was told Mark is one of two people working in this area at SAG. I guess the union is on the case.

Stay tuned to see what SAG has to say about Internet, or as they call it 'Interactive' video!"

The 463: Inside Tech Policy: Starving Actors to be Fed by YouTube?

The 463: Inside Tech Policy: Starving Actors to be Fed by YouTube? "On the eve of tomorrow morning's 9:30 am ET Congressional hearing on "The Future of Video", we raise a sleeper issue that promises to eventually have significant impact on online video business models.

It's about the talent. Yes, the actors who make those shows that still aren't reality-based possible are going to want a piece of the Internet video revenue pie, too. There has been noise from the Screen Actor Guild that they are well aware of where video is headed and when their next contract round is up, they plan to make their case well known. So much so that the Screen Actors Guild just created a new-media department. From the Hollywood Reporter:

SAG and other guilds have been ramping up operations dedicated to tracking and researching new-media issues. In the next round of film and TV contract talks, the guilds are expected to demand significant improvements in residuals paid for the re-use of member-created entertainment content distributed over the Internet and other new-media platforms.

"This is the dawn of a new era in entertainment," Friedlander (the SAG new media lead) said. "The developments in new-media formats give actors new opportunities, but it's important to make sure they are compensated fairly for their work, no matter what the format..."

Perhaps this will be raised by tomorrow's hearing witness Phil Rosenthal who is the Executive Producer of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and is also representing the Screen Actors Guild."

Friedlander set to guide SAG's new-media unit

Friedlander set to guide SAG's new-media unit "In an appointment underscoring the industry's increased focus on emerging media, SAG on Wednesday promoted contracts veteran Mark Friedlander to head the guild's newly formed new-media department.

As director of new media, Friedlander and his department's staff will work closely with SAG's new technologies, interactive contract and organizing committees. He will report to deputy national executive director Pamm Fair.

"Mark's expertise in new-media and interactive contracts, combined with his knowledge of emerging technologies and his legal background, make him the perfect choice for this new position," Fair said. "Our elected leaders and staff have made new media a top priority, and this new department, along with our research and economics department, will provide essential research, analysis and strategy to guide our long-term decisions and policies."

SAG and other guilds have been ramping up operations dedicated to tracking and researching new-media issues. In the next round of film and TV contract talks, the guilds are expected to demand significant improvements in residuals paid for the re-use of member-created entertainment content distributed over the Internet and other new-media platforms.

"This is the dawn of a new era in entertainment," Friedlander said. "The developments in new-media formats give actors new opportunities, but it's important to make sure they are compensated fairly for their work, no matter what the format. The department will help accomplish that, and I'm excited to lead this critical area for the Screen Actors Guild."

Friedlander joined SAG in 2005 as a business representative in the contracts department, specializing in theatrical, new-media and interactive projects. He previously worked as an entertainment attorney."

Its a bit weird when I threw parties I wanted in URB or Project X. Now I get in the Reporter! COOL!

MoTV: Mobile TV and Video Summit, April 17, Morning Sessions

*MoTV: Mobile TV and Video Summit*

April 17 Morning Sessions

*Welcome and Introduction*
Michael Stroud - iHollywood Forum

Stroud - Sprint and Treo 700p is a very capable mobile video platform.
However purchasing video is not compelling because the same content can
be seen for free on TV.

Stroud - This year the main hurdle for mobile video will be to drive
higher adoption rates. The technology is here and is now becoming a
standard in handsets. The remaining question is how does the industry
get consumers to pay for mobile video content.

*Obsticles and Oportunities*
Scott Wills - Hiwire
Robin Chan - VCast
Joe Zaller - Snell and Wilcox
Jeffery Brown - MediaFLO
Bob Zitter - HBO
Michael Stroud - iHollywood Forum

Chan - Mobile video is still at an early adopter stage. But phone prices
are coming down and as a result the subscriber rates are going up.

Chan - Adding a "TV button" to handsets is leading to more adoption. The
user only needs to push 2 buttons to access content. First they push the
"TV button" which activates the TV functions on the device then the user
selects a channel.

Zaller - 3G is a unicast technology versus MediaFLO which is a broadcast
technology. There will likely need to be a hybrid inorder for mobile
video to succed. Both methods are monitizable but MediaFLO's broadcast
technology is much more economically efficient.

Chan - V CAST is live in 22 markets now.

Zaller - Mobile video is inclusive of all kinds of devices not just
phones. It includes iPods, TVs, phones, etc.

Brown - The unicast delivery networks have already begun to colapse in
some foriegn markets. This problem has driven the broadcast build out.
Curently there are 3 million broadcast capable handsets in Korea and
there are 5 million in Japan. Early adoption is only at issue in the US
and this will soon be overcome.

Zitter - 70% of viewers watch time shifted (VOD, DVR, etc.) programing
instead of live if they have access to that technology. Consumers seem
to perfer on demand methods rather than DVR so they do not have to plan
ahead. This propensity for time shifting seems to cut against the
broadcast model. Consumers want to control their experience. The only
exception to this seems to be live sports.

Wills - Storage on mobile devices will grow enabeling greater DVR
functionality. This coupled with the broadcast model will empower the
consumer while distributing the work load to the end user rather than
the network.

Zitter - The use of these technology skews to younger users.

Zitter - Consumers expect day and date deployment on mobile platforms of
TV product.

Chan - The content owners are slicing rights to maximize revenue.

Wills - The practice of slicing rights by venue is making it too complex
for consumers as well as distributors and will slow adoption.

Zitter - Sometimes visual content needs to be reworked to release across
all platforms. For example if music is included in a program, and if
that music could not be licenced for broadband, the music will need to
be redone before that visual content can be released across all
markets.

Stroud - Consumers don't care how a program is delivered to them. They
just want to watch the content when and where they choose.

Zaller - There will be a continued rapid proliferation of these new
technologies because the average handset lifespan is only 9-18 months.

Pannel - High adoption of these mobile video technologies in the US will
occur within the next 2-5 years.

Wills - Consumers don't neccessarilly want content specifically created
for mobile.

Zitter - There are different concerns for creating content for mobile.
Dark sceens, long shots, and audio with high dynamic ranges do not
translate well. Quick cuts, and medium shots do work well. Also there is
a high cost to creating content now because there is no standardization
in resolutions, metadata, or aspect ratios for devices.

Wills - Consumers are now willing to watch for about 5-10 minutes. If
they like the content they will stay longer and these periods are
increasing.

Stroud - Consumers will watch increasingly long content as devices begin
to provide better experiences (i.e. iPhone).

New Terms -
- MDTV - Mobile Digital TV Alliance. (See http://www.mdtvalliance.org/)

*Keynote: QUALCOMM*
Paul Jacobs - QUALCOMM

Jacobs - The phone is not just a phone anymore. It will be an extention
of the person, containing a wide variety of personal information, and
having access to even more. Making calls is becoming an afterthought.

Jacobs - Mobile phones are more ubiquitous than all other consumer
electronics devices.

Jacobs - The higher-end data services are more popular in lower economic
strata.

Jacobs - 1/3 of the worlds population have cell phones.

Jacobs - A voice call requires about 4k and video requiers about 400k.
Because there is a per bit cost associated with delivery the economics
of video will need to become more efficient.

Jacobs - Viewing is not based on a "prime-time" model, because the
devices are always with the consumer, viewing is more evenly distributed
throughout the day.

Jacobs - MediaFLO can support local content, including local ad
insertion.

Jacobs - MediaFLO is becoming a standard. The FLOForum includes 70+
members in 12 countries. Non-phone devices are already being built (i.e.
PacketVideo).

New Terms -
- Open Mobile Video Coalition - It is an industry alliance including the
9 largest US broadcasters who intend to help accelerate the adoption of
mobile broadcast video.
- Clipcasting - Clipcasting pushes content to the device in the
background that can later be accessed on demand by the user.

*Presentation: Chalenges To Mobile Video Delivery*
Joe Zaller - Snell and Wilcox

Zaller - The 4 main problems for mobile content delivery are: 1) all
screens on mobile devices are progressive but most content is
interlaced, 2) the screen sizes and shapes differ from device to device,
3) the compression needs to get better, and 4) the diversity of
platforms makes the delivery of the content inefficient.

Zaller - As the number of deliverables goes up, the earnings per
deliverable goes down.

Zaller - There are 2 solutions to the above 1) dynamic automatic
reframing and 2) dynamic automatic refocusing.

*Mobile TV: The Battle Is Joined*
Levi Shapiro - Telephia
Michael Ramke - Modeo
Larry Gitlin - Handheld Entertainment
Sam Matheny - New Over Wireless
Jerry Hanley - QUALCOMM
Osama Al-Shaykh - PacketVideo

Shapiro - There are 6.2 million subscribers of mobile video now in the
US. This makes up 2.7% of the US mobile phone market.

Shapiro - Mobile video now is generating more revenue than mobile
games.

Shapiro - 85% of handsets are not video capable in the US. There are 30
million that are video capable.

Shapiro - About 1 in 5 users in the US who can subscribe to video
services do.

Shapiro - The demographics in the US are skewing heavily toward males.
70% of video service subscribers are male and 3/4 of these are under 35.
All other value ad services tend to skew heavilly toward female.

Shapiro - Hispanics in the US are 3 times more likely to subscribe to
video services.

Shapiro - Almost 1/2 of subscribers in the US are in homes with 4 or
more people. The choice for the viewer may be between small screen and
no screen.

Shapiro - 80% of viewers in the US watch more than 5 minutes per session
and the period is getting longer.

Shapiro - 100% of video subscribers in the US use their mobile device to
access the Internet. 2/3s of these users also upload video to the
Internet.

Shapiro - Entertainment is the most highly sought after content form but
it is also the least available.

Al-Shaykh - HSDPA (3G) is working in France and Japan.

*Presentation: User Generated Content*
Larry Gitlin - Handheld Entertainment

Gitlin - Comedy is leading in the space but other areas such as drama
and how-tos are growing.

Gitlin - Handheld Entertainment through its ZVUE network delivers both
user and profesionally generated content side by side.

-- compsed on my hiptop --

NAB April 15 Afternoon Sessions

*Digital Cinema Summit*

April 15

*Making 3D Movies From 2D, Meet The Robinsons *
Robert Neuman - Disney
Nordi Rahhali - Digital Domain
Dan Brimer - Digital Domain
Josh Greer - REAL D
Howard Lukk - Disney
Walt Ordaway - Consultant

Neuman - Depth of field is a problem in 3D because people try to focus
on out of focus objects.

Neuman - Floating windows are created to make sure that objects do not
inadvertantly violate the corners of the screen. But a window violation
can be used as a creative choice to highten emotion in the sceene (i.e.
a wepon comes forward off the screen to create fear in the audience).

Rahhali - Digital Domain can take 2D files, split the layers and
re-render the image at 2 different offsets, one for each eye.

Lukk - The release of Day and Date for 2D and 3D films is happening now.
It will get more frequent as the formats for digital cinema are
standardized.

Lukk - Audiences will watch feature length digitally projected 3D films.
(See: Meet the Robinsons, Nightmare Before Christmass, etc.) However,
they can not watch more than 20-40 minutes of traditional 2 projector
sytstems because audiences members tire trying to resolve the
differences in the Right and Left eye projections (i.e. jitter, etc.).

Greer - 3D allows stories to be told on a percineum stage rather than a
flat screen.

*Shoring Up Digital Pipelines*
Curtis Clark - ASC
David Stump - ASC
Lou Levinson - Post Logic Studios
Glenn Kennel - Laser Pacific

A complete digital pipeline flowchart can be viewed on the ASC website.

*Case Study: Balls Of Fire, Capture To Master*
Leon Silverman - Laser Pacific
Jeff Roth - Focus Features
Tom Ackerman - DP (not present)
Steve Gaub - Associate Producer
Dave Cole - Colorist
Aaron Weintraub - Visual Effects Supervisor
Nolan Murdoch - Panavision

Cole - Using an End to End digital pipeline allows you to see in the
theatre exactly what you intended from post.

Roth - It costs more to shoot digitally now. But this will change as
crews become more familar with the new digital equipment and the cameras
become cheaper.

Roth - Budget line item spends are shifting because new rolls are being
defined (i.e. DITs).

New Terms:
- End to End - This means a film is created and distributed digitally.
- Genesis Camera - It is a digital camera made by Panavision that uses a
35mm CCD and standard Panavision optics. It has similar dynamic range to
film.
- Panalog - Refers to the custom color space and gama curve that is used
on a Genesis Camera. This curve is different than the one usually
created on a CCD and it causes images to visually appear more like
film.
- Luster - It is a color grading (correcton) software for digital video
from Autodesk.
- Lut - Look Up Tables used to keep consistancy in image characteristics
from shot to shot.
- DIT - A Digital Imaging Technition assists the traditional film camera
crew in its use of the digital camera systems like Genesis.

-- compsed on my hiptop --

NAB April 15 Morning Sessions

*Digital Cinema Summit*

April 15

*USCs Entertainment Technology Center*
David Wertheimer - ETC

Wertheimer - ETC is focusing on anytime anywhere content. The work on
digital cinema will suport this.

Wertheimer - The ETC has built an Anytime Anywhere Content Labratory.
The students provide feedback.

*Case Study: 300, Digital Theater to Home*
David Wertheimer - ETC
Philippe Erwin - Executive Producer (Game)
Jeffery Silver - Producer
Chris Watts - Visual Effects Supervisor

The 300 had $63 million budget. It was shot in 60 days. It made $70
million on its opening weekend. It is the 3rd most successful R rated
movie ever. The film as of April 15, 2007 made $200 million domestic and
$200 million foreign. Highest scoring preview the studio ever tested.

Silver - The studio invested $150,000 to do a 2 minute test shot to see
if it was possible to get the look the studio wanted.

Watts - The studio demanded lots of Pre-Vis. It was very useful to
determine camera angles and placement of performers.

Erwin - Good games usually take about 2 years to create. Great games
take 3-4 years.

Erwin - An average time line for game development looks like this:
- Pre-Production - 4 months
- Production - 12 months
- Alpha - 2 months
- Beta - 2 months
- QA - 2 months
- Manufacture and Release - 1 month

Erwin - To make a Day and Date release sometimes the platform is
carefully selected. The PSP was chosen because it required less depth
and complexity for a game to be produced.

Watts - Film was used because it was easier to shoot at high frame
rates. Digital cameras are not as easy to use when shooting at multiple
high speed frame rates.

Erwin - Screenings of the film footage shot during game production
helped the game to match the film.

Erwin - The film shared elements with the game to speed production and
to synch look and feel. However the PSP platform dictated recreating
some assets at lower levels of complexity.

Erwin - There will be an increase in Day and Date releases.

Erwin - The game was developed with porting in mind. Very little work
little work had to be done to get the game to 3 additional platforms.
Really all that needed to be done was up-rezing of some of the assets.
This process only took 4 additional weeks.

Erwin - In 2-3 generations (5-15 years) of game consols, realtime play
will resemble the complexity CGI can create in todays cinema.

Erwin - Today games on Next Gen platforms cost $10-20 million in pure
production budget.

*In-Theater Piracy*
Mike Robinson - MPAA
Steve Weinstein - Motion Picture Laboratories
Annlee Ellingson - BoxOffice Magazine

See "The Piracy Problem" a 3 part series by Annlee Ellingson for
BoxOffice Magazine.

Ellingson - MPAA believes $6 billion were lost to piracy in 2005. 90% of
pirated copies have be cam'd.

Robinson - Cam copies can be of extreemely high quality.

Robinson - Topsites are the first servers to host a pirated file.
Facilitators are the next level of servers who spread the files to
Downloaders.

Robinson - Files can spead globaly in a mater of hours. One recent
example: Friday night a cam copy was made in Guam and Saturday a hard
copy was bought in London.

Robinson - 75% of cam'd copies come from the US (50%) and Canada (25%).

Robinson - A technological solution is required. Hunting for cams is
nearly imposible.

Weinstein - The turnaround time to get professionaly pirated copies out
to the world is about 48 hours. Some of these copies have even been
dubbed and subtitled to regional languages.

Weinstein - The industry is using 3 main methods to stop piracy:
- 1) Forensic watermarking will help the industry to track where the
pirated copies are coming from. Digital cinema helps to create a more
complex watermark system that can include time stamps. This way pirate
opporations can be stoped.
- 2) The second method is to Search out the cams. There are two types of
search. They are optical and electomagnetic. Unfortunately cell phones
interfere with the electromagnetic search and optical can be intrusive.
- 3) The third method is Jamming the cams. The industry is trying to use
optical interference methods because there are health and privacy
concerns with certain electromagnetic technologies.

Weinstein - 3D is not a piracy deterent. One half of the stereoscopic
image can be captured for 2D playback. Or alternatively both halfs could
be copied for a suitable playback device once they become more common
place.

Robinson - Screeners are NOT curently the source of most pirated copies.
Cams are.

Weinstein - Serialized cams or movie recognition technically could be
used to deter piracy. However serial numbers would require industry and
consumer cooperation for registration. Movie recognition would likewise
be problematic requiring all cam manufacturers to have recognition
capabilities built in to their products. That is unlikely due to the
proliferation of cams in all kinds of devices.

Weinstein - Most piracy today is coming through hard-goods, not internet
files.

Note: Several members of the audiance during the break were having
conversations about their various personal piracy methodologies. The
individuals seemed to believe that if they were not selling their copies
or had paid to see the original (rented or purchasd the DVD), then there
was nothing wrong with copying it for personal use.

*Delivery Issues / Inter-Society Digital Cinema Forum*
Bill Kinder - Pixar
Michael Karagosian - MKPE Consulting

ISDCF is another organization investigating standards for delivery
methods, KDMs, naming conventions, scaling methods, and silver screens.
(See www.isdcf.com)

*Digital Cinema Rollout*
J. Wayne Anderson - GBG/R/C Theaters
Bill Campbell - Orpheum Theaters (small exhibitor, 10+ screens)
Jeremy Divine - Rave Motion Pictures (early adopter, medium size
exhibitor, 400+ screens)
Travis Reid - Digital Cinema Implimentation Partners (3 largest
exhibitors, 1500+ screens)

Anderson - There are 4000+ digital cinemas today. 100,000+ traditional
cinemas still to be upgraded.

Anderson - 3D is a novelty but it does help the gross revenue of
theaters.

Campbell - Small exhibitors, like the large chains, are concened with
the cost of digital upgrades.

Campbell - Small exhibitors will be able to play movies sooner under a
digital regime because there is no limit on the amount of prints
available. They will also be able to take advantage of national ad
campaings by releasing simultaneously.

Campell - Small exhibitors will also be able to exhibit in higher
quality by forgoing older prints for digital files.

Campbell - Delivery will also be more reliable to remote theaters
because digital files will be easier to transport (over satalite,
Internet, etc.) than 70lbs of reels.

Campbell - In 2000 the cost to upgrade a single screen to digital would
cost about $120,000-150,000. Today it is slightly less.

Campbell - Film projectors can last as long as 50 years. No one knows
how long digital systems will last before they need to be upgraded.

Campbell - Film projectors are interoperable. Digital projection systems
are not yet.

Divine - Digital has worked very well so far for Rave.

Divine - For Chicken Little, Rave installed 10 digital screens. While
expanding, all new screens installed have been digital. Today 70+% of
the screens owned by the chain are digital.

Divine - All the 3D release the chain has played have done extreemley
well.

Divine - To install they take a screen down on a Sunday by the following
Friday it goes back up.

Reid - Digital Cinema Implimentation Partners plans to roll out digital
screens by 2008.

New Terms -
- Ingestion - This is the process of uploading the DCP to the server at
the theater.
- LMS - ???
- TMS - ???

*DCI Update*
Wade Hannibal - Universal Pictures

Version 1.1 of the DCI specification has been adopted as of today and
version 0.9 of the DCI specification for stereoscopic images has been
released for review as of today. (See www.dcimovies.com)

-- compsed on my hiptop --

NAB April 14 Afternoon Sessions

*A Studio Perspective*
Christopher Cookson - Warner Bros.

Cookson - The greatest value from products comes when the project enters
their library.

Cookson - Japan has a 4K by 2K display built for the home today.

Cookson - The average consumer sits 3 screen hights away from their TV
screen in their living room.

Cookson - The average viewer sits 1.5-2 screen hights away in a stadium
style theater. If the viewer has 20 20 vision, 2K is the maximum
resolution they will be capable of discerning.

Cookson - There is detail in the 4K print that is missing in the 2K. At
some future point thoes details will be important and likely visable to
the viewer with new display technologies.

Cookson - 4K maybe the theoretical limit of what lenses today will allow
capture of on 35mm film.

*Digital Intermediates*
Gavin Schutz - Azear Media Services
Curt Behlmer - Technicolor
Sean - Deluxe
Marvin Hall - Modern Videofile

Behlmer - Key delivery is a slow and manual process today. As digital
cinema expands this will become a major choke. There is no analog
equivalent for key delivery in the world of film.

Behlmer - To move a film from one server to another takes almost real
time (about 2hrs). This makes moving a film from one theater to another
much more difficult than with film.

Behlmer - Key generation also takes time. When a server or projector
fails a new key must be generated for the replacement.

New Terms -
- Digital Intermediates - A digitaly scanned film file.
- DSM - Digital Source Masters are high resolution a/v files created by
a digital camera.
- DCDM - Digital Cinema Distribution Masters are the raw files packaged
in to the DCP.
- DCP - Digital Cinema Package includes the encrypted a/v files and meta
data required for "play out" in the theater. The average DCP is 150-200
GB (equevilant to 4 filled Blu-ray disks) at 2K resolution.
- DCD - Digital Cinema Delivery is the process of sending the DCP to the
theater by various methods, satalite, mailed hard drives, DVDs etc.
- Keystoning - This is the process of distorting an image from a
projector not placed even with the center line of the screen. The
process corrects the image making it rectangular instead of
trapazoidal.

*European Perspecive*
Wendy Aylsworth - Warner Bros.
Effi Bernt - ARRI
Siegfried Foessel - Fraunhoffer
Mike Christmann - Flying Eye
Christoph Fehn - Fraunhoffer
Fabrrizio Frescura - Digilab
Wolfgang Ruppel - T-Systems International
Ernesto Santos - Mog Solutions

JPEG2000 is the compression algorythm used. It allows for either 2K or
4K images to be extracted from the same raw data.

The Worldscreen is an EU project creating a complete Digital Cinema
workflow from backend to screen. It was a response to the US
colaboration the Digital Cinema Initiative. Partners in the Worldscreen
include among others Warner Bros., Deutch Telcom, ARRI, and Fraunhoffer.
(See www.worldscreen.org)

The more formats you can transcode (dvd, mobile, theatrical, etc.), the
more revenue oportunities.

-- compsed on my hiptop --

NAB April 14 Morning Sessions

*Digital Cinema Summit*

April 14

*3D Raise Your Glasses*
Tom Scott - Onstream Media
David Schnuelle - Dolby Lab
Lenny Lipton - NyVision
Boyd MacNaughton - Real D
Martin Sadoff - Digital Jungle
Kenbe Goertzen - QuVis

Scott - Since the last NAB there has been a 7 fold increase in digital
screens.

Scott - 3D is driving digital cinema adoption. Meet the Robinsons opened
in 3D on 700 screens.

Lipton - 3D cinema dates back to the times of Edison. It is not a new
phenomenon.

Lipton - A single digital projector is capable of creating a 3D image.

Lipton - Cinema ticket price increase has come as a result of
inflationary forces and greater technological investment.

Lipton - In the past, multi-projector systems have failed.

Lipton - When new technology is addopted it takes time for creatives to
use it to its full extent.

Lipton - DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) technology from TI is
installed on 2600 digital projectors around the world.

Lipton - "ZScreen" projectors have a high enough refresh rate to show
both left and right eye images with a single projector.

Lipton - CGI movies are leading in 3D.

Lipton - "Silver screens" lighten the load on the projector by
increasing the amount of reflected light.

Lipton - 3D films are doing over 3 times the revenue of their 2D
counterparts.

Lipton - Upcoming movies that may help speed 3D adoption are coming from
Robert Zemeckis and James Cameron.

Sadoff - There are 4 main different types of 3D systems currently.
Active glasses (1080i capable). Dolby. Polarized. Anaglyph (red and
cyan).

Sadoff - Each system requires a different combination of glasses,
digital intermediates, servers, and projectors.

Sadoff - 1080 is what the audiance wants. Not all systems are curently
capable of 1080 projection.

MacNaughton - Different parts of the theatre have a different quality of
experience.

Schnuelle - Jitter makes 3D difficult. This is why more stable systemes
such as IMAX and DLP are paving the way for 3D.

Schnuelle - Depth of field changes at sceen cuts makes 3D a jaring
experience for the viewer.

Schnuelle - Dolby does a 6 color seperation at different wavelengths of
light. Red, Green, and Blue each hit each eye. But the red seen by the
right eye is at a different wavelength from that seen by the left. If
the the glasses are removed the image looks 2D but not blurry.

Schnuelle - 3D requires spliting light between the eyes and thus dims
the image. The image is further dulled if the system use polarization or
another type of filtration.

Schnuelle - Glasses reuse is important becuase of the tremendous waste
product that would follow each release if the glasses were disposable.
Glasses washing is costly.

Goertzen - Accounting for the right and left eye synchronization in a
single file format can help maintain quality even after sensorship or
other unanticipated edits.

New terms -
- Anaglyph - classic two color 3D systems
- Silver Screen - has a high reflective quality required with most
polarized 3D systems
- Stereo polorizers (active v passive, linear v circular) - separates
image for right and left eyes

*Standards: DC-28*
Wendy Aylsworth - Warner Bros.

Aylsworth - The digital standards working groups have sections for
"mastering", "distribution", and "exhibition". They do not include a
creative section.

Aylsworth - Digital projectors have a 99.9% uptime. Traditional
projection has a 99.98% uptime.

Aylsworth - A standard for encryption has been encluded.

SMPTE is creating the DC-28 standard. Membership is open for a fee,
aproximately $200 / yr.

*Workflow in the Digital Theater*
Michael Karagosian - MKPE Consulting
Cliff De Young - Regal Entertainment Group
Jonathan Kramarsky - Deluxe Digital
Les Moore - Eastman Kodak
John Wolski - Strong Digital Systems

Karagosian - Early adoptors have instaled digital systems. However there
is now a break in the growth curve. It is likely a temporary pause
before the majority adopts.

Karagosian - The encryption key delivery chain is too slow and
inefficient today. If there were 10,000 digital screens today the system
would collapse.

Cliff De Young - Alternate content ("pre-show", ads before show, etc.)
will grow with the flexability of digital systems.

Cliff De Young - Electronic content delivery needs to be standardized at
the theater level.

Moore - A Theater Management System could report all film screenings,
pre-show information, and all ticket sales in a digital theater
context.

Kramarsky - KDMs can be delivered by physical means, Internet, or closed
network. Each poses its own unique problems.

New Terms -
- Interlocking - The sending of the same print through multiple
projectors to multiple screens to maximize revenue.
- Ext3 filesystem - Unix file system used for most digital cinema
distributions.
- KDM - Key Delivery Messages are the files that includes decrypting
information, 1) for a specific projector, 2) for a specific geographic
location 3) for a specific window of time only.

-- compsed on my hiptop --

Where is Mark!

Southwest Airlines Flight# 452
From: Burbank Bob Hope Airp 13Apr07 02:20pm Friday
To: Las Vegas NV, USA 13Apr07 03:20pm Friday

Hotel Mirvac Hotels Excalibur Hotel And Casino
Phone:1-702-597-7777
3850 LAS VEGAS BLVD SO, LAS VEGAS NV 89109-1050
Fax:1-702-597-7163

Southwest Airlines Flight# 65 Class:Y
From: Las Vegas NV, USA 19Apr07 05:25pm Thursday
To: Burbank Bob Hope Airp 19Apr07 06:30pm Thursday

Coachella Festival sells out

Coachella Festival sells out: "Tickets disappear at record pace

Tickets to the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival have sold out in record time, more than two months in advance of the Festival dates, it was announced today.

The event, which takes place April 27-29 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California, features headliners including Bjork, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the newly reunited Rage Against The Machine, as previously announced. Arcade Fire, Jesus and Mary Chain, Arctic Monkeys and Interpol are also on the bill.

Festival booker Paul Tollett of Goldenvoice cleared up rumours that the event would be changing its desert location due to real estate development on its current site.

'There are rumours about that whole area being developed for houses and golf courses,' he told Billboard. 'We said we'd make this commitment to them, but please don't make houses here, and it worked.'"

Coachella Countdown!

Sundance Day 1

Opening night! Redford adresses the crowd and points out that maybe the
time has come for the opposition to speak out. Front row balcony, kid
from Nip Tuck, Mr. Hopper, Tom Haden, and malibu's finest Mr. Nolte in
attendence for Chicago 10 - A rockin' look at the railroading of the
Chicgo yippies. Animation and archival footage to a soundtrack of MC5,
the Beasties, and Rage!

Wikkid film. Let's storm the capitol!

-- compsed on my hiptop --

where is mark at?

hi all,

here is my deal for ces:

Jan. 6, 2007
bur -> las
Southwest #1649
11am - 12pm

Paris
(702) 946-7000
3655 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV


Jan. 11, 2007
las -> bur
Southwest #607
5:10pm - 6:10pm

Marks Back

Post game on CES to come soon.

CES Day 1

Broadband Games Expand 1/7 10am - Zeichner, Early /
Microsoft, Norman, Mills / AOL, Parkis / Disney, Reid / Gametap,
Sehgal / Shockwave

• Reid - “Casual gamers” now include all demographics. Lines are blurring between hard core gamers and casual gamers.

• Parkis - But there is a growing generational split. Older players have less time to invest and thus can't play some hardcore games.

• Sehgal - Advertising is a growing revenue stream. Millions of in game ad impressions are being served. Pre-roll ads are growing too. And advertisers understand and like pre-roll ads because of the similarities to traditional media. Micro-transactions are also starting to explode (in particular in the “free to play” space).

• Mills - Exclusivity in the casual game space is growing. But so is cloning. A game at the 1 to 2 meg download hits the sweet spot.

• Sehgal - Super simple 1 minute games are also becoming very popular.

• Reid - If there is a network there will be play. So people will play part on the phone, later more on their pc, then some on the console, etc.

• Sehgal - Flashlight just launched for phones as gaming platform. This may help unify design. (This also has video delivery implications, ala youtube, etc.)

• Norman - Mobile distribution is a requirement in foreign markets because pcs and consoles are premium products where mobile phones are not.

• Parkis - Disney is crossing its games and theme parks to make an “alternate reality game” type experience.

• Reid - Episodic content is a great model and one that will continue to grow. It is a great way to limit risk in development and increase customer loyalty.

Next Generation Power Gamer Platforms 1/7 11:30am - Larson / Gamespot, Burks / Seagate, Ciacchella / Deloitte, Early / Microsoft, Goodman / Yankee Group, Kaiafas / Intel, Verma / TV Head, Yuen / Qualcomm

• TVHead is a casual game channel. It is played on a TV with the use of your remote control. No additional hardware is required. ($16 million raised in first round VC.)

• Verma, Ciacchella - Episodic content is growing. TVHead is trying to develop in this space.

• Early - Business models are diversifying to meet a diversifying audience.

• Goodman - Definition of games is blurring. For example in Second Life Reuters has a reporter.

• Ciacchella, Goodman, Kaiafas - Areas of growth in near future will be emersion, AI, and physics models.

• Yuen - There is lots of opportunity for cross platform creativity. For example games will have elements designed to be played on the phone, others for the console, etc. (See Microsoft Gran Turismo.)

• Verma - Casual MMOGs will explode. Think Sims instead of Warcraft.

• Early - Blockbuster syndrome is infecting game development but casual games are a way to mediate the problem.

• Burks - Digital distribution will grow as standards are made open. Closed standards limit audiences and increase costs.

• Kaiafas - Episodic content also helps to breakdown the cost barrier.

• Ciacchella - Advertising is also helping to defer content cost.

• Sam & Max is an example of a very successful episodic game.

• Ciacchella - Stories are very important.

• Predictions from the panel: game ubiquity, more acceptability of gaming, greater emersion, more growth of social gaming, more blurring of platform types, advertising will be critical.

• Yuen - The user generated game will blossom. Second Life might be the first one in the space.

• Verma – B Sky B is leading games over TV. TVHead has a proprietary system that works over standard VOD infrastructures.

Game Power Optical and Chips 1/7 1pm - Jasko / Digital Economics,
McNaughton / AMD, Taylor / NVIDIA, Lake / Intel, Kerslake / TI, Donahue
/ Microsoft, Dimelow / ARM

• McNaughton – Games will have adaptive AI and processors will have 16 cores within 5 years. They will have 8 cores by the 2nd half of ‘07.

• Lake - New UIs will explode. See Wiimote, Guitar Hero, wireless controllers. He predicts head mounted displays will become comon.

• Kerslake - OMAP allows rich full motion 3d on phones and is shipping its 2.0 product with 3.0 on the way soon.

• Donahue - Live Anywhere will grow.

PC and Mobile Games Expand Market Share - Dolbier / IBM, Early /
Microsoft, Nakayama / Amped, Sepso / Major League Gaming, Vanukuru /
Virgin Mobile, Webb / iPlay

• Cross platform gaming is hindered by, cost of development, bandwidth, handset design, etc.

• Webb - 5% of mobile subscribers have downloaded a game. The number is low because the user experience of getting the game is bad.

• Nakayama - 30-50% of Amped subscribers have downloaded 2-3 games.

• There are 300 million consoles vs 2 billion handsets. Consoles renew every 5 years vs handsets which do so every 1-2 years.

• Dolbier - Business models are ads vs subscription vs purchase (sometimes try and buy) vs free to play (micro-payments), but all are now being hybridized.

• Cross carrier interaction is starting but in limited ways.

• Burger King advergames were the #1 selling console games for the holiday season on the X-Box 360.

• XMA is an SDK for making X-Box games, so anyone can make and distribute games. XMA allows games to run on X-Box, Win, and mobile.

wheres mark been?

i'v been super sick for the last few days sinces getting home from new years. to all who have left msgs, i haven't checked em yet. sorry i have not gotten back to you. but i honestly have just not felt up to talking. i will however try to return to semi regular schedualed programing as of tomorrow.

What exactly does BackupHDDVD do? Oh, and version 1.0 is released.

What exactly does BackupHDDVD do? Oh, and version 1.0 is released. - Engadget: "We know that AACS, the DRM shared by HD DVD and Blu-ray, is touted as being practically unbreakable and impenetrable -- much like its predecessor CSS (and we all know how well that went). Last week we saw the launch of BackupHDDVD the first tool claiming to break down AACS, but a lot of people were left wondering -- us included -- exactly what does it do? Does BackupHDDVD really actually crack AACS? Well, yes and no. With the release of version 1 of the app today, muslix64, the app's author, helped out by shedding a bit of light about exactly how this thing works. (We'll assume you know a bit about public key crypto -- if not, see here, here, and here.) One of the tenets to advanced crypto and this particular DRM system is key revocation, which for AACS means that as soon as a content publisher or industry group gets wind of some funny business, they can revoke crypto keys and push an update down the line that basically invalidates whole groups of pirated movies, hacked hardware, player software, etc.

In simple terms (ok, not that simple), muslix64 does not claim to have cracked the AACS DRM itself, but instead to expose and use each disc's hard-coded private key in order to make the hardware device run through its routine decryption process. By doing so, BackupHDDVD effectively bypasses the key revocation system which might otherwise prevent it (or your HD DVD hardware, like an Xbox 360 HD DVD drive) from being mass-invalidated as soon as the RIAA blinks. The trick here, however, is the private key extraction -- no one really knows how muslix64 exposed and extracted the private keys on the HD DVD discs needed to strip the DRM from the HD DVD discs. S/he claims it can be done with any poorly built software or hardware as the private disc keys are held in memory, but we still don't have specifics. So while we're sure to see master key lists for HD DVDs popping up on file networks in the near future, we're still hazy about how a regular user can extract his or her own keys for their own fair use purposes. We'll be sure to keep you up to date on this, though, as more information becomes available."

The New Yorker: Big Pictures

BIG PICTURES: "Hollywood looks for a future.

The device was as elegant as an old cigarette case and not much larger than a child’s palm. I was holding a video iPod, poised at the frontier of a new digital age, a new platform for movies, a new convenience that will annihilate old paradigms."

Taking Your Children to the Movies

Taking Your Children to the Movies: "And You'll Be a Moviegoer, My Son

“Mothers of America, let your kids go to the movies!” Always good advice, but the exhortation has dated a bit since 1960, when Frank O’Hara made it the first line of his poem “Ave Maria.” “Going to the movies” has a quaint ring in the age of the plasma-screen home entertainment system, the iPod and video-on-demand."

Sundance 2007 lineup

The Sundance 2007 lineup:
"AN AMERICAN CRIME / U.S.A. (Director: Tommy O'Haver; Screenwriters: Tommy O'Haver, Irene Turner)--A fictionalized account of the true story of a suburban housewife who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s. World Premiere.

AWAY FROM HER / Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Sarah Polley)--Married for almost 50 years, Grant and Fiona's serenity is interrupted by Fiona's increasingly frequent memory lapses. When it is no longer possible for either of them to ignore the fact that she is being consumed by Alzheimer's disease, the limits of love and loyalty are wrenchingly redefined. U.S. Premiere.

BLACK SNAKE MOAN / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Craig Brewer)--Desire is a burning sickness for Rae, while making her the white-trash sexual target of every man and boy in her small Tennessee town. When her true love leaves for military service, Rae plunges into wild excess. Beaten, left for dead, she's taken in by a reformed bluesman, a private self-contained black man who nurses deep anger of his own, who is fiercely committed to his task of keeping her alive. World Premiere.

CHAPTER 27 / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jarrett Schaefer)--A terrifying glimpse into the deranged mind of Mark David Chapman during his days in New York City prior to murdering John Lennon. World Premiere.

CHICAGO 10 / U.S.A. (Director Brett Morgen)--CHICAGO 10 presents contemporary history with a forced perspective, mixing bold and original animation with extraordinary archival footage that explores the build-up to and unraveling of the Chicago Conspiracy Trial and the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention. World Premiere.

CLUBLAND / Australia (Director: Cherie Nowlan; Screenwriter: Keith Thompson)--Tim has a new girlfriend. It should be the perfect romance but something is holding him back. He has a secret...his parents are "Entertainers"! There are never just two people in a family love story. World Premiere.

THE GOOD NIGHT / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Jake Paltrow)-- A man finds he has more happiness and love with the woman in his dreams than in his miserable day to day reality. World Premiere.

KING OF CALIFORNIA / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Mike Cahill)-- An unstable dad who after getting out of a mental institution tries to convince his daughter that there's Spanish gold buried somewhere under suburbia. World Premiere.

LIFE SUPPORT / U.S.A. (Director: Nelson George; Screenwriters: Nelson George, Jim McKay, Hannah Weyer)--The true story of a mother who overcame an addiction to crack and became a positive role model and AIDS activist in the black community. World Premiere.

LONGFORD / U.K. (Director: Tom Hooper; Screenwriter: Peter Morgan)--A portrait of Lord Longford, a tireless British campaigner whose controversial beliefs often resulted in furious political debate and personal conflict. World Premiere.

THE NINES / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: John August)--A troubled actor, a television show runner, and an acclaimed videogame designer find their lives intertwining in mysterious and unsettling ways. World Premiere.

RESURRECTING THE CHAMP / U.S.A. (Director: Rod Lurie; Screenwriters: Allison Burnett, Michael Bortman, Chris Gerolmo, Rod Lurie)--A down on his luck sports reporter has his life and career upturned when he lands the story of his career: A former heavyweight boxing superstar, previously thought to be dead, is living his final years on the streets. Finally, he can earn the respect of his wife and editor---but the dark secret he finds may be too much for him to bear. World Premiere.

THE SAVAGES / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Tamara Jenkins)--A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father and in doing so discover certain truths about themselves and each other. World Premiere.

SON OF RAMBOW / U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Garth Jennings)-- Will is the eldest son in a family with a strict moral and religious view and never been allowed to mix with other people, listen to music or watch TV. That is until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. World Premiere.

SUMMER RAIN (EL CAMINO DE LOS INGLESES) / Spain (Director: Antonio Banderas; Screenwriter: Antonio Soler)--The film is adapted from an award-winning novel written by the director's childhood friend, Antonio Soler, and is a deeply personal and poetic recreation of their generation growing up in Malaga in the late 1970s. World Premiere.

TRADE / U.S.A. (Director: Marco Kreuzpaintner; Screenwriter: Jose Rivera; Story: Peter Landesman/Jose Rivera)--Adriana is a 13-year-old girl from Mexico City whose kidnapping by sex traffickers sets in motion a desperate mission by her 17-year-old brother, Jorge, to save her. As Jorge dodges immigration officers and incredible obstacles to track the girls' abductors, he meets Ray, a Texas cop whose own family loss to sex trafficking leads him to become an ally in the boy's quest. World Premiere.

YEAR OF THE DOG / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Mike White)-- Peggy is a happy-go-lucky secretary - a great friend, employee, and sister who lives alone with her beloved dog. But when Pencil unexpectedly dies, Peggy must embark on a journey of personal transformation that is hilarious, poignant and suspenseful. World Premiere.

Spectrum

ANGEL-A / France (Director and Screenwriter: Luc Besson)-- A fairy tale about a man who gets a second chance in life when he saves a statuesque, mysterious beauty from a suicide bid in the Seine River. North American Premiere.

BUGMASTER (MUSHISHI) / Japan (Director: Katsuhiro Otomo; Screenwriter: Sadayuki Murai)-- A traveling mystical doctor, "a Bugmaster," passes through remote regions of Japan curing the ill-effects of supernatural creatures, the "Mushi," who plague the people in this tale of ancient legend based on a celebrated Manga. U.S. Premiere.

DARK MATTER / U.S.A. (Director: Chen Shi-Zheng; Screenwriter: Billy Shebar)--Inspired by real events, DARK MATTER delves into the world of a brilliant Chinese astronomy student whose dreams are challenged when he arrives in America to pursue his Ph.D. World Premiere.

DEDICATION / U.S.A. (Director: Justin Theroux; Screenwriter: David Bromberg)--A socially dysfunctional children's book author is forced to work closely with a female illustrator when he loses his long-time collaborator and only friend. World Premiere.

DELIRIOUS / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Tom DiCillo)--A small time paparazzo befriends and hires a homeless young man who flirts with fame and fortune when he becomes entangled with a famous pop star. North American Premiere.

THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK / U.S.A. (Directors: Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern)--THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK exposes the genocide raging in Darfur, Sudan as seen through the eyes of a former U.S. marine who returns home to make the story public. World Premiere.

EXPIRED / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Cecilia Miniucchi)--When a lonely, gentle meter maid meets a troubled fellow parking officer, their love affair becomes an awkward dance of attraction and antagonism. World Premiere.

FAY GRIM / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Hal Hartley)--A single mother whose husband has been missing for seven years is used as bait by the CIA in this international espionage caper. U.S. Premiere.

FRÄULEIN / Switzerland (Director and Screenwriter: Andrea Staka)--A hardened Zurich restaurant owner from Yugoslavia finds her cool detachment from the past disrupted with the arrival of a younger, free-spirited woman seeking a better life after the Balkan War. North American Premiere.

THE GO-GETTER / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Martin Hynes)--When his mother dies a teenager takes a road-trip in a stolen car to find his long-lost brother. Along the way he discovers a profound connection with the car-owner and with himself as well. World Premiere.

THE GREAT WORLD OF SOUND / U.S.A. (Director: Craig Zobel; Screenwriter: George Smith, Craig Zobel)--When a man answers an ad to train as a record producer, he's excited by the prospect of signing undiscovered artists only to discover his new job isn't all it's cracked up to be.

World Premiere. IF I HAD KNOWN I WAS A GENIUS / U.S.A. (Director: Dominique Wirtschafter; Screenwriter: Markus Redmond)-- A young African-American man recounts his life. When he finds out he has a high IQ he struggles to fit in somewhere while also battling with his dysfunctional family. World Premiere.

INTERVIEW / U.S.A. (Director: Steve Buscemi; Screenwriters: Steve Buscemi, David Schechter)--A fading political journalist has a falling out with his editor and is given an assignment to interview a top television actress, which derails into a battle of wits and deep dark secrets. World Premiere.

LOW AND BEHOLD / U.S.A. (Director: Zack Godshall; Screenwriters: Zack Godshall, Barlow Jacobs)--When an unmotivated young man signs on as an insurance adjuster in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans, he is profoundly changed by the destruction and loss he encounters. World Premiere.

LA MISMA LUNA (THE SAME MOON) / U.S.A. (Director: Patricia Riggen; Screenwriter: Ligiah Villalobos)--When his grandmother dies a young Mexican boy struggles to cross the border to reunite with his beloved mother, who is working hard in Los Angeles to create a better life for the family. World Premiere.

MISS NAVAJO / U.S.A. (Director: Billy Luther)--A documentary that explores the role of women and tradition in Navajo culture by following one young woman as she prepares for and competes in the Miss Navajo Nation Pageant. World Premiere.

RED ROAD / UK (Director and Screenwriter: Andrea Arnold)--When a man she never wanted to see again suddenly appears back in Jackie's ordered, isolated Glasgow life, she has no choice; she is compelled to confront him. U.S. Premiere.

REPRISE / Norway (Director: Joachim Trier; Screenwriters: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt)--Two competitive twenty-something friends, fueled by literary aspirations and youthful exuberance, endure the pangs of love, depression and burgeoning careers. U.S. Premiere.

SAVE ME / U.S.A. (Director: Robert Cary; Screenwriters: Craig Chester, Alan Hines, Robert Desedario)--When a young gay man flees his life of drugs and sex to check into a Christian-run ministry, his attempts to cure himself of his "gay affliction" are tested by powerful forces. World Premiere.

TULI / Philippines (Director: Auraeus Solito; Screenwriter: Jimmy Flores)--When a young girl in a remote Philippine village is forced into an arranged marriage by her abusive father, she rejects traditional mores and creates an alternative life. U.S. Premiere.

THE UNFORESEEN / U.S.A. (Director: Laura Dunn)--This documentary about a west Texas developer, who over two decades has tried to build a major housing development around a creek in pristine hill country, takes a hard look at the American dream and asks "What does it mean to grow?" World Premiere.

WAITRESS / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Adrienne Shelly)--A pregnant, unhappily married waitress in the deep South falls into an unlikely relationship as a last attempt at happiness. World Premiere.

WONDERS ARE MANY / U.S.A. (Director: Jon Else)--A documentary that tracks the creation of Peter Sellars' and John Adams' 2005 opera about Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project, while also exploring the complex birth of nuclear weapons. World Premiere.

YEAR OF THE FISH / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: David Kaplan)--A rotoscope-animated modern-day Cinderella story set in the underbelly of New York's Chinatown. World Premiere.

New Frontier

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: PIERRE HUYGHE / France (Director: Pierre Huyghe)--A presentation of short films that have rarely been screened outside of a museum or art gallery context. Huyghe is one of France's most celebrated young artists. His multimedia installations--which are concerned with collective memory, the construction of narratives, and textures of re-enactment--have been exhibited at museums across the world including the Guggenheim, Tate Modern, and the Whitney Museums.

THE LAST DINING TABLE / South Korea (Director and Screenwriter: Gyeong-Tae Roh)--This minimal and surrealist film about irony and separation poetically explores modern social problems including pollution and environmental concerns and the collapse of family values.

OFFSCREEN / Denmark (Director: Christoffer Boe; Screenwriter: Christoffer Boe, Knud Romer Jørgensen)--Actor Nicolas Bro reigns supreme in the role of Nicolas Bro – a man intent on making a film about himself. After his director friend Christoffer Boe lends him a camera, his self-monitoring is so hair-raisingly private (and creepy!) that it becomes impossible to separate fact from fiction. World Premiere.

PHANTOM LOVE / U.S.A. (Director: Nina Menkes)--A surreal drama about a woman trapped within an enmeshed family, and her slow process of personal liberation. Set in Los Angeles and Rishikesh, India, the film combines fairy-tale elements with brutal black and white photography to create a powerful testament about inner transformation. World Premiere.

SLIPSTREAM / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Anthony Hopkins)--A man discovers that life is random and fortune is sightless as he is thrown into a vortex where time, dreams and reality collide in an increasingly whirling Slipstream. World Premiere.

ZIDANE: A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT / France (Director: Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno)-- During the course of an entire football match, seventeen super-35mm Scope format cameras were set around the playing field focusing solely on football legend Zinedine Zidane, who agreed to become the center of attention for this out-of-the-ordinary, full-length feature film. U.S. Premiere.

Park City at Midnight

FIDO / Canada (Director: Andrew Currie; Screenwriters: Robert Chomiak, Andrew Currie)--Timmy Robinson's best friend in the whole wide world is a six-foot tall rotting zombie named Fido. But when Fido eats the next-door neighbor, Mom and Dad hit the roof, and Timmy has to go to the ends of the earth to keep Fido in the family.

FINISHING THE GAME / U.S.A. (Director: Justin Lin, Screenwriters: Josh Diamond, Justin Lin)--The unexpected death of Bruce Lee comes at the zenith of his popularity. Having already shot scenes for his upcoming movie Game of Death, studio heads decide to complete the film by launching a search for his replacement attracting hopefuls from all around the world. World Premiere.

IT IS FINE! EVERYTHING IS FINE. / U.S.A. (Director: Crispin Hellion Glover, David Brothers; Screenwriters: Crispin Hellion Glover, Steven C. Stewart)-- A man with a severe case of cerebral palsy, Steven C Stuart's naïve, fantastical, psychosexual retelling of his point of view of life involving many women. World Premiere.

THE SIGNAL / U.S.A. (Directors and Screenwriters: David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush)-- Told in three parts from three unique perspectives created by three visionary directors, THE SIGNAL is a horrific journey towards the discovery that the most brutal violent monster might actually be within all of us. World Premiere.

SK8 LIFE / Canada (Director: S. Wyeth Clarkson; Screenwriters: S. Wyeth Clarkson, Elan Mastai)--8 sk8trs brought together to make a 'sk8 tape', crash at the legendary "Crashpad." They soon discover its days are numbered and band together to save it. North American Premiere.

SMILEY FACE / U.S.A. (Director: Gregg Araki; Screenwriter: Dylan Haggerty)--Jane F, an unsuccessful slacker actress, inadvertently eats her roommate's pot cupcakes and proceeds to have a very strange day of hijinks and surreal misadventures. World Premiere.

THE TEN / U.S.A. (Director: David Wain; Screenwriters: Ken Marino, David Wain)--Ten stories, each inspired by one of The Ten Commandments, illustrate the perils of modern life via extreme comedy. World Premiere.

WE ARE THE STRANGE / U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: M dot Strange)--In this animated feature film, two outcasts fight for survival in a sinister fantasy world. Their lives are constantly in jeopardy after they're caught in the middle of a deadly battle between bizarre monsters on their way to the ice cream shop. World Premiere.

From the Sundance collection
THE RIVER'S EDGE / U.S.A. (Director: Tim Hunter; Screenwriter: Neal Jimenez)-- A tight-knit group of high school slackers struggle to reconcile friendship and responsibility when one of them kills his girlfriend in this disturbing portrait of moral ambivalence and alienated youth in small town America.

X: THE UNHEARD MUSIC / U.S.A. 1986 (Director: W.T. Morgan)-- A rarely seen 1987 documentary that explores the music and musicians of the early 1980s LA punk band X, as well as the underground music scene of the time, the foibles of the music industry, and the "unheard music" of American culture in the 1980s.

Special Screenings

THE LAST MIMZY / U.S.A. (Director: Bob Shaye; Screenplay by: Joel Rubin and Toby Emmerich; Screen Story by James V. Hart and Carol Skilken)--Based on the acclaimed sci-fi short story by Lewis Padgett, The Last Mimzy centers on two children who discover a mysterious box containing some strange devices they think are toys. World premiere.

AUTISM EVERY DAY / U.S.A. (Director: Lauren Thierry)--Autism Every Day is a short film that takes you inside the lives of families struggling to raise children with autism. World premiere.

Documentary Competition

BANISHED (Director: Marco Williams)--This story of three U.S. towns which, in the early 20th century, forced their entire African American populations to leave, explores what--if anything--can be done to repair past racial injustice. World Premiere.

CHASING GHOSTS (Director: Lincoln Ruchti)--Twin Galaxies Arcade, Iowa, 1982: the birthplace of mankind's obsession with video games. The fate of this world lies in the hands (literally) of a few unlikely heroes: They are the Original Video Game World Champions and the arcade is their battleground. World Premiere.

CRAZY LOVE (Director: Dan Klores)--An unsettling true story about an obsessive relationship between a married man and a beautiful, single 20-year-old woman, which began in 1957 and continues today. World Premiere.

EVERYTHING'S COOL (Directors: Daniel B. Gold, Judith Helfand)--A group of self-appointed global warming messengers are on a high stakes quest to find the iconic image, proper language, and points of leverage to help the public go from embracing the urgency of the problem to creating the political will necessary to move to an alternative energy economy. World Premiere.

FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO (Director: Daniel Karslake)--Grounded by the stories of five conservative Christian families, the film explores how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to support its agenda of stigmatizing the gay community and eroding the separation between church and state. World Premiere.

GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB (Director: Rory Kennedy)--This inside look at the abuses that occurred at the infamous Iraqi prison in the fall of 2003 uses direct, personal narratives of perpetrators, witnesses, and victims to probe the effects of the abuses on all involved. World Premiere.

GIRL 27 (Director: David Stenn)--When underage dancer Patricia Douglas is raped at a wild MGM stag party in 1937, she makes headlines and legal history, and then disappears. GIRL 27 follows author-screenwriter David Stenn as he investigates one of Hollywood's most notorious scandals. World Premiere.

HEAR AND NOW (Director: Irene Taylor Brodsky)--Filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky tells a deeply personal story about her deaf parents, and their radical decision--after 65 years of silence--to undergo cochlear implant surgery, a complex procedure that could give them the ability to hear. World Premiere.

MANDA BALA (SEND A BULLET) (Director: Jason Kohn)--In Brazil, known as one of the world's most corrupt and violent countries, MANDA BALA follows a politician who uses a frog farm to steal billions of dollars, a wealthy businessman who spends a small fortune bulletproofing his cars, and a plastic surgeon who reconstructs the ears of mutilated kidnapping victims. World Premiere.

MY KID COULD PAINT THAT (Director: Amir Bar-Lev)--A 4-year-old girl whose paintings are compared to Kandinsky, Pollock and even Picasso, has sold $300,000 dollars worth of paintings. Is she a genius of abstract expressionism, a tiny charlatan, or an exploited child whose parents have sold her out for the glare of the media and the lure of the almighty dollar? World Premiere.

NANKING (Director: Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman)--A powerful and haunting depiction of the atrocities suffered by the Chinese at the hands of the invading Japanese army during "The Rape of Nanking", one of the most tragic events of WWII. While more than 200,000 Chinese were murdered and ten of thousands raped, a handful of Westerners performed extraordinary acts of heroism, saving over 250,000 lives in the midst of the horror. World Premiere.

NO END IN SIGHT (Director: Charles Ferguson)--A comprehensive examination of the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq war and occupation. Featuring first-time interviews with key participants, the film creates a startlingly clear reconstruction of key decisions that led to the current state of affairs in this war-torn country. World Premiere.

PROTAGONIST (Director: Jessica Yu)--PROTAGONIST explores the organic relationship between human life and Euripidean dramatic structure by weaving together the stories of four men--a German terrorist, a bank robber, an "ex-gay" evangelist, and a martial arts student. World Premiere.

CHASING GHOSTS (Director: Lincoln Ruchti)--Twin Galaxies Arcade, Iowa, 1982: the birthplace of mankind's obsession with video games. The fate of this world lies in the hands (literally) of a few unlikely heroes: They are the Original Video Game World Champions and the arcade is their battleground. World Premiere.

WAR DANCE (Director: Sean Fine, Andrea Nix Fine)--Devastated by the long civil war in Uganda, children and their school in the Patongo refugee camp find hope as they make a historic journey to compete in their country's national music and dance festival. World Premiere.

WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN: THE DESTRUCTION OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI (Director: Steven Okazaki)--WHITE LIGHT/BLACK RAIN offers a visceral, topical and moving portrait of the human cost of atomic warfare. World Premiere.

ZOO (Director: Robinson Devor)--A humanizing look at the life and bizarre death of a seemingly normal Seattle family man who met his untimely end after an unusual encounter with a horse. World Premiere.

Dramatic Competition

ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN (Director: Alfredo de Villa; Screenwriters: Nat Moss, Alfredo de Villa)--Set in New York City, a grieving eye doctor is forced to take a closer look at her life; an aging artist confronts the loss of his eyesight, and a young photographer battles his innermost demons. World Premiere.

BROKEN ENGLISH (Director and Screenwriter: Zoe Cassavetes)--A young woman in her thirties finds herself surrounded by friends who are married, in relationships or with children. She unexpectedly meets a quirky Frenchman who opens her eyes to a lot more than love. World Premiere.

FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND (Director and Screenwriter: Sterlin Harjo)--Cufe Smallhill finds his father dead. Fulfilling a dying wish, he disposes of the body in the family pond and sets off to begin a new life in the big city of Tulsa. World Premiere.

THE GOOD LIFE (Director and Screenwriter: Steve Berra)--A story about a "mostly normal" young man whose small town existence running a faded movie palace is shaken when he comes in contact with a mysterious young woman. World Premiere.

GRACE IS GONE (Director and Screenwriter: James C. Strouse)--A young father learns that his wife has been killed in Iraq and must find the courage to tell his two young daughters the news. World Premiere.

JOSHUA (Director: George Ratliff; Screenwriters: David Gilbert, George Ratliff)--A successful, young Manhattan family is torn apart by the machinations of Joshua, their eight-year-old prodigy, when his newborn baby sister comes home from the hospital. World Premiere.

NEVER FOREVER (Director and Screenwriter: Gina Kim)--When an American woman and her Asian-American husband discover they are unable to conceive, she begins a clandestine relationship with an attractive stranger in a desperate attempt to save her marriage. World Premiere.

ON THE ROAD WITH JUDAS (Director and Screenwriter: JJ Lask)--Reality, fiction and the notions of storytelling intertwine in this narrative about a young thief and the woman he loves. World Premiere.

PADRE NUESTRO (Director and Screenwriter: Christopher Zalla)--Fleeing a criminal past, Juan hops a truck transporting illegal immigrants from Mexico to New York City, where he meets Pedro, who is seeking his rich father. World Premiere.

THE POOL (Director: Chris Smith; Screenwriters: Chris Smith, Randy Russell)--A boy working in a hotel becomes obsessed with a swimming pool at a home in the opulent hills of Panjim, Goa in India. His life gets turned upside-down when he attempts to meet the mysterious family that arrives at the house. World Premiere.

ROCKET SCIENCE (Director and Screenwriter: Jeffrey Blitz)--A 15-year-old boy from New Jersey with a stuttering problem falls in love with the star of the debate team and finds himself suddenly immersed in the ultra-competitive world of debating. World Premiere.

SNOW ANGELS (Director: David Gordon Green; Screenwriter: Stewart O'Nan)--A drama that interweaves the life of a teenager with his former baby-sitter, her estranged husband, and their daughter. World Premiere.

STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING (Director: Andrew Wagner; Screenwriters: Andrew Wagner, Fred Parnes)--The solitary life of a writer is shaken when a smart, ambitious graduate student convinces him that her thesis will bring him back into the literary spotlight. World Premiere.

TEETH (Director and Screenwriter: Mitchell Lichtenstein)--Still a stranger to her own body, a high school student discovers she has a "physical advantage" when she becomes the object of male violence. World Premiere.

THE UNTITLED DAKOTA FANNING PROJECT (Director and Screenwriter: Deborah Kampmeier)--Set in late 1950s Alabama, a precocious, troubled girl finds her angel in the Blues. World Premiere.

WEAPONS (Director and Screenwriter: Adam Bhala Lough)--WEAPONS presents a series of brutal, seemingly random youth-related killings over the course of a weekend in a typical working class American suburb, and tragically reveals how they are all interrelated. World Premiere.

World Cinema Documentary Competition

ACIDENTE / Brazil (Director: Cao Guimarães and Pablo Lobato)--Experimental in form, this lush cinematic poem weaves together stories and images from twenty different cities in the state of Menas Gerais, Brazil, to reveal the fundamental role the accidental and the unpredictable play in everyday human life. North American Premiere.

BAJO JUAREZ, THE CITY DEVOURING ITS DAUGHTERS / Mexico (Director: Alejandra Sanchez, Jose Antonio Cordero)--In an industrial town in Mexico near the US border, hundreds of women have been sexually abused and murdered. As the body count continues to rise, a web of corruption unfolds that reaches the highest levels of Mexican society. U.S. Premiere.

COCALERO / Bolivia (Director: Alejandro Landes)--Set against the backdrop of the Bolivian government's attempted eradication of the coca crop and oppression of the indigenous groups that cultivate it and the American war on drugs, an Aymara Indian named Evo Morales travels through the Andes and the Amazon in jeans and sneakers, leading a historic campaign to become the first indigenous president of Bolivia. World Premiere.

COMRADES IN DREAMS / Germany (Director: Uli Gaulke)--From the far ends of the globe, four lives that could not be more different are united by a single passion--their unconditional love of cinema and their quest to bring the magic of the silver screen to everyday lives to those who need it most. North American Premiere.

CROSSING THE LINE / UK (Director: Daniel Gordon)--CROSSING THE LINE reveals the clandestine life of Joseph Dresnok who, at the height of the Cold War was one of the few Americans who defected to North Korea, one of the least understood countries in the world. North American Premiere.

ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS (VORES LYKKES FJENDER) / Denmark (Director: Eva Mulvad and Anja Al Erhayem )--Malalai Joya, a 28-year-old Afghani woman, redefines the role of women and elected officials in her county with her historic 2005 victory in Afghanistan's first democratic parliamentary election in over 30 years. North American Premiere.

THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN / Ireland/UK ( Director: Julien Temple)--An invitation from Joe Strummer, the Punk Rock Warlord himself, to journey beyond the myth to the heart and voice of a generation. His life, our times, his music. World Premiere.

HOT HOUSE / Israel (Director: Shimon Dotan)--At once chilling and humanizing, HOT HOUSE provides an unprecedented look at how Israeli prisons have become the breeding ground for the next generation of Palestinian leaders as well as the birth place of future terrorist threats. North American Premiere.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON / UK (Director: David Sington)--One of the defining passages of American history, the Apollo Space Program literally brought the aspirations of a nation to another world. Awe-inspiring footage and candid interviews with the astronauts who visited the moon provide an unparalleled perspective on the precious state of our planet. World Premiere.

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES / Canada (Director: Jennifer Baichwal)--This stunningly visual work provides the unique perspective of photographer Edward Burtynsky, who chronicles the transforming landscape of the world due to industrial work and manufacturing. U.S. Premiere.

THE MONASTERY: MR. VIG AND THE NUN / Denmark ( Director: Pernille Rose Grønkjær)-- Worlds collide, tempers flare and dreams are realized when Mr. Vig, an 82-year-old virgin from Denmark and Sister Ambrosija, a headstrong Russian nun, join forces to transform Mr. Vig's run-down castle into an Orthodox Russian monastery. North American Premiere.

ON A TIGHTROPE / Norway, Canada (Director: Petr Lom)--The daily lives of four children living in an orphanage who are learning the ancient art of tightrope walking becomes a metaphor for the struggle of the Uighur's, China's largest Muslim minority, who are torn between religion and the teachings of communism. North American Premiere.

THREE COMRADES (DRIE KAMERADEN) / Netherlands (Director: Masha Novikova)--In this intimate film we witness the lives of three lifelong friends who's worlds are torn apart by war in Chechnya's bloody struggle for independence. North American Premiere.

A VERY BRITISH GANGSTER / UK (Director: Donal MacIntyre)--Given his many contradictions, Dominic Noonan, head of one of Britain's biggest crime families, is a man who defies stereotypes. This close up look at his life, from gun trials to the murder of his brother on the streets of Manchester, reveals a community struggling with poverty, violence and drugs. World Premiere.

VHS--KAHLOUCHA / Tunisia (Director: Nejib Belkadhi)--In a poor district of Tunisia, self-made auteur, Moncef Kahloucha, a guerilla filmmaker in the purest sense, demonstrates that it takes a village to make fun movies as he brings the power of cinema to the people. North American Premiere.

WELCOME EUROPA / France (Director: Bruno Ulmer)--Kurdish, Moroccan and Romanian young men migrate to Europe for a better life only to face the harsh realities and the laws of survival on the streets of a foreign land. North American Premiere.

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

BLAME IT ON FIDEL (LA FAUTE A FIDEL) / France (Director and Screenwriter: Julie Gavras)--A 9- year-old girl weathers big changes in her household as her parents become radical political activists in 1970-71 Paris. North American Premiere.

DRAINED (O CHEIRO DO RALO) / Brazil (Director: Heitor Dhalia; Screenwriters: Marçal Aquino, Heitor Dhalia)--A pawn shop proprietor buys used goods from desperate locals--as much to play perverse power games as for his own livelihood, but when the perfect rump and a backed-up toilet enter his life, he loses all control. North American Premiere.

DRIVING WITH MY WIFE'S LOVER (ANE-EUI AEIN-EUL MANNADA) / South Korea (Director: Kim Tai-sik; Screenwriters: Kim Jeon-han, Kim Tai-sik)--When a mild-mannered South Korean man decides to track down the cab driver having an affair with his wife, a strange bond develops between the pair during a long-distance drive. North American Premiere.

EAGLE VS. SHARK / New Zealand (Director and Screenwriter: Taika Waititi)--The tale of two socially awkward misfits and the strange ways they try to find love. World Premiere.

EZRA / France (Director: Newton I. Aduaka; Screenwriters: Newton I. Aduaka, Alain-Michel Blanc)--A young ex-child soldier in Sierra Leone attempts to return to a normal life after the civil war which devastated his country. World Premiere.

GHOSTS / UK (Director: Nick Broomfield; Screenwriters: Nick Broomfield, Jez Lewis)--Based on a true story, GHOSTS is the tragic account of an illegal Chinese immigrant woman as she struggles relentlessly for a better life in the U.K. North American Premiere.

HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? (JIN TIAN DE YU ZEN ME YANG?) / UK (Director: Xiaolu Guo; Screenwriter: Rao Hui, Xiaolu Guo)--Blurring boundaries between reality and fiction, HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? traces a Chinese writer's inner journey through his fictional characters. North American Premiere.

HOW SHE MOVE / Canada (Director: Ian Iqbal Rashid; Screenwriter: Annmarie Morais)--Following her sister's death from drug addiction, a high school student is forced to leave her private school to return to her old, crime-filled neighborhood where she re-kindles an unlikely passion for the competitive world of "Step" dancing. World Premiere.

THE ISLAND (OSTROV) / Russia (Director: Pavel Lounguine; Screenwriter: Dmitri Sobolev)--Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future. U.S. Premiere.

KHADAK / Belgium/Germany (Directors and Screenwriters: Peter Brosens and Jessica Woodworth)--Set in the frozen steppes of Mongolia, KHADAK tells the epic story of Bagi, a young nomad confronted with his destiny after animals fall victim to a plague which threatens to eradicate nomadism. U.S. Premiere.

THE LEGACY / Georgia/France (Directors and Screenwriters: Géla Babluani, Temur Babluani)--Three French hipsters and their translator travel through rural Georgia to claim a remote, ruined castle that one of them has inherited. En route, they encounter an old man and his grandchild who are on a journey to carry out a mysterious, morbid ritual designed to end a conflict between warring clans. North American Premiere.

THE NIGHT BUFFALO (EL BUFALO DE LA NOCHE) / Mexico (Director: Jorge Hernandez Aldana; Screenwriters: Jorge Hernandez Aldana, Guillermo Arriaga,)--A 22-year-old schizophrenic commits suicide after his girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend. Before killing himself, he lays out a plan that will drive the lovers into an abyss of madness. World Premiere.

NOISE / Australia (Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Saville)--A young cop, beset with doubt and afflicted with tinnitus (ear-ringing), is pitched into the chaos that follows a mass murder on a suburban train. He struggles to clear the screaming in his head while the surrounding community deals with the after effects of the terrible crime. World Premiere.

ONCE / Ireland (Director and Screenwriter: John Carney)--ONCE is a modern-day musical set on the streets of Dublin. Featuring Glen Hansard and his Irish band "The Frames", ONCE tells the story of a busker and an immigrant during an eventful week as they write, rehearse and record songs that reveal their unique love story. North American Premiere.

REVES DE POUSSIERE / Burkina Faso/Canada/France (Director and Screenwriter: Laurent Salgues)--A Nigerian peasant comes looking for work in Essakane, a dusty gold mine in Northeast Burkina Faso, where he hopes to forget the past that haunts him. North American Premiere.

SWEET MUD (ADAMA MESHUGAAT) / Israel (Director and Screenwriter: Dror Shaul)--On a kibbutz in southern Israel in the 1970's, Dvir Avni realizes that his mother is mentally ill. In this closed community, bound by rigid rules, Dvir must navigate between the kibbutz motto of equality and the stinging reality that his mother has, in effect, been abandoned by the community. U.S. Premiere."