A Chance at Slamdance (2008) // Current

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1 year ago

Perversion of Justice

In this poignant documentary, we meet Hamedah Hasan and her three daughters, a family caught in the web of our nation's... more

mummertville
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Beit Al Hadad (The Al Hadad House)

These 7 minutes come from a feature length film documenting the rebuilding of a demolished house in The West Bank. This short... more

sybille
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Speed of Life

Face the unconventional challenges of Amy Purdy, a competitive snowboarder.

kimbos414
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Pepe (Secondhand)

What happens to American secondhand clothes? This short film follows donated used clothing from the United States to Haiti, where... more

secondhandpepe
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Rapping at Fear

Whether in the Colombian countryside before the rebels forced his family to leave, or the city slum where his family now lives,... more

austin
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Song of Acceptance

Discrimination appears in many different forms but the end results are always the same: exclusion, anger, hatred, ignorance,... more

toph
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Dancing in a World of Deaf Minds

A look into Sacramento Hardcore. This video portrays the specific story of of a hardcore dancer and gives insight into the... more

cyprus25
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Healing Eye

The Crucible's Fire Arts Festival is an annual summer event held in Oakland CA that features an amazing display of talented... more

Elizabeth_Upton
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Marsha Trattner: Blacksmith

Marsha Trattner is a Blacksmith artist from Brooklyn New York. Using raw iron and a few hundred degrees, she is able to bend and... more

ryanmloya
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99 SEATS (or less)

What's Theater like in the Film Capital of the World? The five young men and women you'll meet in this film are all... more

paulandwill
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Difficult Times - The Art and Protest of Thomas Delaney

Difficult Times is about the unusual response of Thomas Delaney to the burning of his home in the fall of 2005. Living in a... more

tomwc
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Remapping Los Angeles

A common ailment in Los Angeles is that one feels "ungrounded." Without a sense of history to inspire activism,... more

rawbird
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America Speaks

The idea of this project was to make a series of short films about universal problems all young people have. In each episode we... more

blulu2
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Dollies Without Borders

Please submit my pod to Slamdance. Thanks, Bridget Fitzgerald

bridgetfitz
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CHASING THE DREAM: A decade of Rock and Roll

A glimpse into the chaotic, unfortunate and obscure world of '10 year' old rock band 'Skirtbox'. This is... more

fraserbyrne
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Break Point

Travis and I have known each other for over twenty years. Travis's older brother Chris, whose painting and music adorns this... more

jwpickett
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The Most Threatened Man in Colombia

For more than 50 years, Colombia has been torn by internal armed conflict that rages to this day. While the current... more

la79
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Stuck in Traffic

Some are witty. Some are scary. And all of them make us think just a bit. Political bumper stickers feed us snack-sized nuggets of... more

b21gato
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Do you believe in soulmates?

Should I? In Somebodys Company is a short documentary in which I chatted 60 people from all demographics to help me... more

loraxinla
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What is in ALL those STORAGE units anyway?

MINE is the short version of my documentary, STORE that I made after I moved from a rural New England town of 2,000 to Los Angeles, CA with its nearly 4 million people, I expected many things to be different. However, I was amazed to see custom-built buildings to house personal possessions on nearly every corner. Not that we did not have self-storage in New Hampshire. My Dad owns a set of 26 units. Most of units available in New England are outside and not insulated. My Dad calls them tin boxes sitting on a hill, Basically theyre backyard sheds that just happen to be on someone else's land. While his units are an improvement, these structures in Los Angeles are truly complexes. At least one of these huge buildings had over 15,000 units! They have all the comforts of home electricity, piped in-music, A/C with rent that is an1/8 of the average apartment its no wonder people try to live in them.

Even though I am a bi-coastal storer, I kept wondering what is everyone hanging on to? Is this something endemic to city living? Is it just a US thing? Is California a storage Mecca, or it is just Los Angeles? Perhaps its an actor thing? I know from looking at my life that women seem to have a greater connection to their stuff, with a ever increasing divorce rate, perhaps this has something to do with it. Why is the demand growing each year? And is it worth it for the consumer?

I've always been a storyteller. Most of my life, I've been on stage playing a part to help tell a story. When I first moved to LA, I was cast in a play about 9-11 that we performed as a tribute on the 1st anniversary. I have many good friends who live in NYC and some who even work at the Trade Center and escaped the buildings collapse. We were all affected in someway, but I didn't fully grieve until I played the part of Kim. She is an ER nurse whose firefighter husband was killed when Tower 2 came down. It wasn't my loss, it was hers, but somehow her experience became mine and I cried for them both.

I think being an actor and a filmmaker helps me understand the world better. We all judge each other in our lives, but the only way to understand and begin to accept another is to experience what they experience. Sometimes I feel a bit like I was left behind as E.T. was to learn about humanity. Ive always wanted to know why people do what they do, so I decided to make films to see if I could find out.

We traveled to 8 states shooting this film - California, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. East vs. West Coast, rural towns vs. cities, indoor vs. outdoor storage, speaking to over 150 people various ties and experiences with storage including owners, managers, and users. They share their stories and their stuff in the hope, I believe, to learn that they are not alone. That its not frivolous, shameful or crazy to keep their stuff in storage. However there are stories that we capture where people ventured into the extreme, which may not be the most sensible behavior pattern. When is it collecting and when is it hoarding? Are there certain sociological factors that contribute to this affliction?

STORE gives such notable personalities as Jane Withers and Margaret OBrien the chance to share their collections and their cautionary tales, according to Jane, with the public. Janes collection includes furniture from Mary Pickfords house, memorabilia and photographs from her 70-year entertainment career, and the 14,000 dolls in her collection. She most recently stored her belongings in a warehouse as her collection was far too large for her house or a conventional storage unit. Margarets collection has costumes from her 60-year career, a Peruvian mummy, and her Oscar (a terrific story we tell in the film) housed in 6 separate storage units.

MINE is the short version of my documentary, STORE that I made after I moved from a rural New England town of 2,000 to Los... more