New Hampshire Film Festival 2008

A film by the 7th grade at Mountain Shadows, Dulbin, NH, under the direction of Boston-based animator Karen Aqua and composer Ken Field. Made with support from The MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH, as part of their 2007 centennial celebration.

Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849-1921), a great artist and naturalist, gave up painting the society portraits that earned him fame and fortune so that he could live close to nature and devote his time to studying how animals conceal themselves from predators. During World War I, Thayer, who was passionate in all he undertook destroyed his health in frenzied efforts to persuade the Allies to adopt his camouflage theories to safeguard troops and ships. Few listened to him-until long after his death.Rare archival footage and interviews with historians, artists, and descendents of Thayer are woven together with scenes of the bucolic New Hampshire countryside that inspired the artist to settle in Dublin in Thoreausesque communion with nature. Character voices (for Thayer, Teddy Roosevelt-who corresponded with Thayer-Mark Twain, and others) and a vibrant original music score help bring to life this fascinating piece of history, never before told to a viewing audience.Thayer was an individual who lived each day with integrity, purpose and full of wonder at the natural world. He made a difference. With INVISIBLE we hope to honor Thayer's little known legacy and inspire audiences today through the story of his life and achievements.Today, Thayer's contributions to the world are everywhere-the paintings in museums and private collections, the mountain he saved from development, the bird sanctuaries he fought to establish, and the nearly ubiquitous uses of his camouflage designs.

Face blindness is a broken bridge, a disconnected line between sight and mind. Somewhere along the path of recognition, there is an error of interpretation.This unusual love story profiles Justin, an architect who suffers from face blindness. Face blindness, or Prosopagnosia, an impairment to recognize faces, is the result of damage to the right temporal lobe. Similar to people who are colorblind and still see colors but are unable to tell them apart, prosopagnosiacs perceive faces but cannot distinguish them. Justin and Leslie must decide whether their new relationship can overcome the obstacles ahead of them as they try to cope with this bizarre and rare diagnosis. In Vivid Detail addresses the following questions: What are the details we notice about other people and how is this information processed? Can elements, perceived in wholes, be broken down to basic math points? And on a simpler note, how is beauty measured?

Wake up, America! We're on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. Burdened with an ever-expanding government and military, increased international competition, overextended entitlement programs, and debts to foreign countries that are becoming impossible to honor, America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions. Throughout history, the American government has found it nearly impossible to spend only what has been raised through taxes. Wielding candid interviews with both average American taxpayers and government officials, Sundance veteran Patrick Creadon (Wordplay) helps demystify the nation's financial practices and policies. The film follows former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker as he crisscrosses the country explaining America's unsustainable fiscal policies to its citizens. With surgical precision, Creadon interweaves archival footage and economic data to paint a vivid and alarming profile of America's current economic situation. The ultimate power of I.O.U.S.A. is that the film moves beyond doomsday rhetoric to proffer potential financial scenarios and propose solutions about how we can recreate a fiscally sound nation for future generations.

KATRINA'S CHILDREN is a multi-faceted portrait of nineteen children, ages 5 through 13, from different neighborhoods of New Orleans. Told entirely from the children?s point of view, the film captures with vivid poignancy the tragic ramifications of the greatest man made and natural disaster in modern American History. By focusing exclusively on children?s experiences, KATRINA'S CHILDREN humanizes this epic storm and seeks to understand the heartbreaking consequences in a small intimate way. Part oral history, part lyrical meditation on childhood, loss, grief, healing and socio-economic divides, KATRINA'S CHILDREN addresses these grand themes through intimate vignettes that are deceivingly understated.The film shifts between past and present, weaving the children's thoughts on Katrina with 'verite-style' scenes of their everyday life. We enter the children's world through their stories, play and art and we have animated several of their drawings, magically bringing to life their interior universe.The children we are profiling come from all walks of life: from the daughter of the queen of Carnival, to underprivileged kids still stuck in Texas. Their common denominator is Katrina - an event that affected them all, to varying degrees. The similarities and differences between these children are at times surprising and reveal patterns and problems that predate Katrina. Aching with sadness, yet grounded in hope, KATRINA'S CHILDREN is ultimately a celebration of children's extraordinary power of resilience and a tribute to New Orleans' unique and indomitable spirit.

Money talks. Teens in Los Angeles discuss money: getting it, spending it and learning to live without it. An original short film by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Lauren Greenfield, kids + money is a conversation with young people from diverse Los Angeles communities about the role of money in their lives. From rich to poor, Pacific Palisades to East L.A., kids address how they are shaped by a culture of consumerism. A decade ago, photographer Lauren Greenfield's breakthrough monograph, Fast Forward: Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood (Knopf), explored the way Los Angeles youth is affected by an overwhelming materialism that exalts image. One of the photographs from Fast Forward depicted Phoebe, a bored, tutu-clad three-year old, lying on a couch in the Barneys shoe department. Now 16, Phoebe makes a return appearance in kids + money. In kids + money, Greenfield returns to her native Los Angeles to take the cultural temperature of a generation imprinted by commercial values. Born of the extremes of poverty and wealth that define the Los Angeles landscape, kids tell their stories in a series of interview-based 'portraits.'

“Kilowatt Ours” traces the wires from our light switches to environmental catastrophes such as mountain top removal, air pollution, childhood asthma and global warming. The filmmaker takes viewers on a thought-provoking search for solutions that save consumers money, strengthen America’s economy, and improve the quality of our lives and environment.

Night has fallen and Linda, a pretty, young girl, witnesses an execution as she is walking home from work. She tries to flee, but the killer, an austere and strict man, forces her in his car and drives off. A lengthy and peculiar conversation follows between the two. The outcome can only be death. But whose death?

A dramatic thriller about Diana, a suburban wife and mother who begins to question her seemingly perfect life--and perhaps her sanity--on the 15th anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that took the life of her best friend. In flashbacks, Diana is a vibrant high schooler who, with her shy best friend Maureen, plot typical teenage strategies--cutting class, fantasizing about boys--and vow to leave their sleepy suburb at the first opportunity. The older Diana, however, is haunted by the increasingly strained relationship she had with Maureen as day of the school shooting approached. These memories disrupt the idyllic life she's now leading with her professor husband Paul and their young daughter Emma. As older Diana's life begins to unravel and younger Diana gets closer and closer to the fatal day, a deeper mystery slowly unravels.