A boy lives on a plot of forgotten land with his hermit father in rural Georgia. Hoping to reconcile his father's pain about the past, the young boy leaves for town to buy him a gift.
2013
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
46 minutes
39 seconds
Director:
Kyle Nickolite
REIFF 2013
The documentary film of Donnie Vincent's bowhunting journey in to the Badlands of North Dakota, chasing a whitetail deer known as 'Steve'.
Documentary Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
10 minutes
Director:
Hope Hartman
REIFF 2013
Through work, war, love, loss, birth and death, a group of women have shared life's journey bonded by a little book club formed more than 60 years ago.
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
17 minutes
Director:
Dan Carr
REIFF 2013
Daniel meets Mary at Bible Camp. Daniel develops a crush on her, and after the camps dance he is coerced by Mary into having sex.As camp draws to a close, Daniel attempts to reconcile the event that has hurt his faith and his relationship with Mary, who has become increasingly distant.
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
1 minutes
Director:
Maynard Seider
REIFF 2013
What can residents of communities that have been devastated by deindustrialization do to improve their condition during a time of austerity, war and anti-labor attacks? The film focuses on the introduction of a massive museum of contemporary art in the same buildings that housed Sprague Electric Company in a typical New England mill town. Billed as an engine of economic development, the museum hasn't produced the jobs it promised and the city's downtown is semi-deserted. The film argues that national policy must change and that vibrant unions and social movements are needed to bring about a new 'New Deal' to deal with the social and economic crisis facing U.S. cities today.
2014
Best of the Fest, Special Jury Award for Acting
Narrative Feature
Bulgaria
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
29 minutes
Director:
Thom Southerland
REIFF 2014
Krasimira Stanimirova wins second place in a Bulgarian play writing contest. Her award is a trip to the United States, Kentucky to be exact, to see the world premiere of her communist-era, autobiographical play, 'Black Coat'. Expecting to meet with a warm welcome and southern hospitality, Krasi instead finds herself isolated and lonely in a hotel off an interstate.
Exploring America on foot, Krasi must confront the reality that her play might not be such a big deal in the States. Along the way she slowly finds comfort amongst strangers in this alien world, including a young mother and her son and a fellow tourist.
Best Narrative Feature
Narrative Feature
United States
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
38 minutes
Director:
Frank Hall Green
REIFF 2014
Mackenzie, a troubled but daring teenage girl, is sent by her struggling mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska. Although Uncle seems like a supportive caretaker and friend, the relationship turns and Mackenzie is forced to run. Trying to make her way back to Seattle alone to find her absent mother, Mackenzie only winds up deeper in the Alaskan interior. Lost and with no one else to turn to, she shadows a loner backpacker, Bartlett, an unlikely father figure with scars of his own. Together, they cross the wilderness and discover sanctuary in the last frontier.
Best Narrative Short
Narrative Short
United States
Runtime:
27 minutes
4 seconds
Director:
Tim Guinee
REIFF 2014
CW Rowe has it all. He owns the cotton gin, making him the wealthiest man in Harrison, Texas, and his ascendancy has solidified an unshakable belief in the system that enriched him. Few things ever interrupt the purity of his vision, with the exception of the weekly visit of a young man, Ned, who lost an arm in the gin's machinery. Ned is a little touched and believes CW can give him his arm back.
On a normal day, he goes away when CW offers him five dollars. But today is anything but a normal day.
Best Documentary Feature
Documentary Feature
Canada
Runtime:
1 hour(s)
33 minutes
Director:
Mitchell Kezin
REIFF 2014
From The Flaming Lips to The Free Design, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! is a trippy, cinematic sleigh-ride through the subculture of alternative Christmas music.
Featuring hardcore collectors, legendary DJs & musicologists, record producers and Xmas obsessives like cult film auteur John Waters, director Mitchell Kezin's intimate & quixotic search for the SOUL of Christmas music, tells the stories behind twelve of the most profound Christmas songs ever recorded...Many of whom you've likely never heard, until now!
We'll hear irreverent insights from Irwin Chusid, Wayne Coyne, Joseph (Rev Run) Simmons, bebop legend Bob Dorough, Clarence Carter, Doctor Demento and many more.
Equal parts social history, pop culture pilgrimage and revealing character study, JINGLE BELL ROCKS! confronts the Christmas music mainstream, re-inventing the seasonal soundtrack for the 21st century.
Best Documentary Short
Documentary Short
United States
Runtime:
39 minutes
55 seconds
Director:
Edgar Barens
REIFF 2014
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall is a moving cinema verite documentary that breaks through the walls of one of Americas oldest maximum security prisons to tell the story of the final months in the life of a terminally ill prisoner and the hospice volunteers, they themselves prisoners, who care for him.
The film draws from footage shot over a six-month period behind the walls of the Iowa State Penitentiary and provides a fascinating and often poignant account of how the hospice experience can profoundly touch even the forsaken lives of the incarcerated.