11’09”01—September 11

Filmmakers from all over the world provide short films – each of which is eleven minutes, nine seconds, and one frame of film in length – that offer differing perspectives on the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Me and My Sister

Louise, who has just written a novel, comes to Paris to meet with a potential publisher. While in the city, she stays with her older sister, Martine, who in many ways is the exact opposite of Louise: she lives in a fashionable neighborhood, is cold to others, and has snobby friends, while Louise lives in a small town and is thoroughly unpretentious. Louise's apparent happiness -- and similarities to their mother -- gradually gets on Martine's nerves.

Rita

The Horses of McBride

When Nicki finds two horses stranded deep in the Rocky Mountain snow, she makes it her mission to find a way to get them to safety. With no other options, she picks up a shovel and starts to dig out the mile-long path, inspiring her father, Matt, and the rest of the community to join together and save the horses in the spirit of Christmas.

All Five Eyes

Set in a small English village in 1967, liberated Marion is exploring the new social freedoms enjoyed by women in the late 1960s while conscientious and self-conscious Cecily runs the local girls school and is Willa’s main carer. Their differences reach a boiling point over their relationship with Willa, which leads to each sister making their own decision on what it means to have a life worth living.

Heaven-Bound Travelers

Heaven-Bound Travelers (circa 1935) was discovered among the rolls of film in the Gist collection at the Library of Congress by S. Torriano Berry during the recent restoration of Hell-Bound Train. Eloyce Gist takes a central role onscreen as a wife and mother who is wrongfully accused of adultery by her husband and is left to fend for herself and their daughter in the world. As she struggles to sustain them, the husband becomes riddled with guilt and struggles with his decision, and the social realism of the drama shifts to an allegorical struggle between the devil, appearing to tempt humanity to sin, and the angels. The film does not exist in complete form but the fragments show a project of ambitious scope. Presented with a score composed and performed by Dr. Samuel Waymon.

Verdict: Not Guilty

Part religious allegory and part church pageant, it presents the heavenly trial of a woman who has died giving childbirth out of wedlock. The jailer wears a mask death's head mask and a nun's habit with a skull and crossbones on the front and God sits on an altar, flanked by angels, while the devil attempts to convict the woman for her sins. Shot with a handheld camera that doesn't always remain steady or keep the scene in frame, it is full of religious imagery and evocative folkloric elements, with flashbacks to the woman's life that provide a realism in sharp contrast to the allegorical pageantry. It shows its amateur origins, the texture, the pageantry, and the allegorical and ritualistic elements also looks forward to the American Underground cinema of Kenneth Anger, Curtis Harrington, and others in the 1950s and 1960s.

American Splendor

An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.

An Angel at My Table

Based on the autobiographical work of New Zealand writer Janet Frame, this production depicts the author at various stage of her life. Afflicted with mental and emotional issues, Frame grows up in an impoverished family and experiences numerous tragedies while still in her youth, including the deaths of two of her siblings. Portrayed as an adult by Kerry Fox, Frame finds acclaim for her writing while still in a mental institution, and her success helps her move on with her life.

Royalteen: Princess Margrethe

In the wake of her prom scandal, Princess Margrethe longs for normalcy as she struggles to maintain her perfect facade while dealing with family drama.

Hellion

When motocross and heavy metal obsessed, 13-year-old Jacob's delinquent behavior forces CPS to place his little brother Wes with his aunt, Jacob and his emotionally absent father must finally take responsibility for their actions and each other in order to bring Wes home.

Infinitely Polar Bear

A manic-depressive mess of a father tries to win back his wife by attempting to take full responsibility of their two young, spirited daughters, who don't make the overwhelming task any easier.

Pietà

Maria's ex-boyfriend Kristian is homeless and moves back in with Maria. Maria works as a nurse at the home of Eeva, a paralyzed writer.

Daimi

Daimi is 12 years. It's Christmas, and she has tragically been left in a dark home with her only friend, a pet pig. Daimi's imagination overshadows reality. A reality she realizes with a scream. Daimi is not as alone as she thinks.

Tales of Meeting and Parting

Tales of Meeting and Parting is a 1985 English language short film directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, starring Jeanne Sakata, Patricia Ayame Thomson and Patti Yasutake. An elderly Japanese man recalls his experiences as a young interpreter during a particularly brutal prisoner-of-war interrogation. The kindness he showed was unexpectedly returned following the war when he was being held captive by the Allies. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.

Silent Grace

In 1976 the British Government put an end to the special category status of prisoners from the Provisional Irish Republican Army, no longer treating them as prisoners of war, but as common criminals. Mairéad Farrell – on whose life much of the film seems to be loosely based – was the first woman Republican to be refused political status in 1976. By 1980, when the film is set, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and doggedly resolute: “There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime. Crime is crime is crime.” Silent Grace seeks to capture the struggle for the restoration of political status that was at the heart of prison protests in Northern Ireland – not just by the more celebrated male prisoners – but by a smaller number of women prisoners, led by Farrell, at the Armagh Women’s Prison.