2009 Films - Grand Rapids Film Festival

Like Dandelion Dust (Feature)
Directed By: Jon Gunn
Produced by: Kevin Downes, Bobby Downes, Kerry David

Winner of 7 International Film Festivals. Michigan Premiere. Scheduled theatrical release 2010. A must see!

Karen Kingsbury's "Like Dandelion Dust", based on the best-selling novel, is a compelling drama that explores the different meanings of being a parent through the grittily realistic lives of the struggling, blue-collar Porter's, and the privileged Campbell family. Their lives intersect, intertwine and collide, all for the love of a little boy. This film is wonderfully acted, bravely exposing the humanity in each character and reminding us that we each have the potential to be the best and worst versions of ourselves at any time.

The Way Home (Feature)
Directed by: Lance Dreesen

An inspirational true story about how a rural community rallied around a distraught family to search for their missing two year-old boy.

Saving God (Feature)
Directed by: Duane Crighton

Convicted felon Armstrong Cane (Rhames) returns to his neighborhood a changed man looking to take over his father's old church. The neighborhood though is tough and full of drug dealers and gangs. Armstrong must also deal with his own past history of violence and crime.

The Ultimate Gift (Feature)
Rick Eldridge

When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life with twelve tasks – or “gifts” – designed to challenge Jason in improbable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness.

Bonhoeffer (Feature)
Eric Till

Dietrich Bonhoefer was a German clergyman who actively opposed Hitler. His convictions landed him in the gallows on April 9, 1945. More than a portrait of his life, this compelling feature film sheds light on the little-known efforts of the German resistance.

House (Feature)
Ralph Winter, Joe Goodman

A suspenseful thriller, based on the best selling book by Ted Dekker, of a young couple who become stranded on a lonely country road. Following directions from a menacing sheriff, they stumble upon a desolate inn run by a sinister woman and her homicidal son. Soon the couple find themselves haunted not only by horrifying glimpses of their past sins, but also a masked psychopath. Only in understanding who they are….can they escape. Ages 16+ intense situations, occultic mayhem, some violence.

Romero (Feature)
Directed by: John Duigan

In El Salvador, the new bishop speaks out against the death squads and the terror campaign the government is using in an attempt to crush the guerilla war that is being waged against them. This is seen as disloyality and the number of priests attacked goes up and even churches are shut down by the government. Based on a true story, Romero was assassinated in March, 1980.

The Path of the Wind (Feature)
Doug Hufnagle

After serving ten years in prison, all Lee Ferguson wanted was to return to the small town where he was raise and live a quiet life. One night while working, Lee witnesses a woman being assaulted, even with the fear of returning to prison, he intervenes to save Katie. Lee's desire to be left alone to lead a quiet life has just been altered. When a mysterious stranger knocks on his door, Lee is suddenly confronted with the choices he made long ago..

Mandie and the Secret Tunnel (Feature)
Joy Chapman
Owen Smith

"MANDIE and the SECRET TUNNEL," is the first feature-length movie based on the MANDIE books written by Lois Leppard. In 1899, Mandie's life changes when her Cherokee friends help her escape to a mansion that holds the hidden secrets of her past and the key to her future!

Bella (Feature)
Directed by: Alejandro Gomez Monteverde

An international soccer star is on his way to sign a multi-million dollar contract when something happens that brings his career to an abrupt end. A waitress, struggling to make it in New York City, discovers something about herself that she's unprepared for. In one irreversible moment, their lives are turned upside down...until an impetuous action brings them together and turns an ordinary day into an unforgettable experience. Once a famous athlete, and now a cook at his brother's Mexican restaurant, José has retreated from the world but he recognizes something in Nina, a young waitress, and reaches out to her. In the course of a single day, he not only confronts his past but shows her how the healing power of a family can help her embrace the future.

My Name is Jerry (Feature)
Rodger Smith

As a salesman, Jerry Arthur (Doug Jones) drifts through days filled by slamming doors and low expectations. He is a middle-aged divorcee with a daughter he has not spoken to in years, a dead-end job, and low self-esteem. But, when he encounters the right mix of punk rock mentality and a few unique friends, he gets a rare chance to wake up from life and finally start living.

White-Eyed Winter (Short Narrative)
Directed by: Brad Porter

An honest farmer, and father of two, is awoken in the middle of the night to find a stranger wounded in his barn. But when he and his two children are compelled by circumstance to nurse the man back to health, tensions begin to rise between the stranger and the farmer as their apposing backgrounds come into conflict.

Checkers (Short Narrative)
Directed by: Brad Porter

Two old men get together to play a game of checkers. As they reflect on their friendship together, they remember the times they shared when they were younger.

Pigment (Short Narrative)
Directed by: Kyle Dufendach

Like every girl, Amanda wants a change. She seeks out an artist who magically transforms her appearance by simply painting over her image on paper. The possibilities of the artist seem limitless, but Amanda wrestles with who she is becoming and how far she must go to be truly happy.

Click Clack Jack (Short Narrative)
Directed By: Ryan Bodie

A family film about an 1870's rail engineer, Click Clack Jack, who uses biblical principles to try and save Potters Gap from the evil Baron Snodgrass who seeks to destroy the town to further his own ambition and look for Gold beneath it.

The Big Table (Short Narrative)
Directed by: Dan Michael Hodges

A young boy growing up during an innocent age in the South learns about life, family, and rite-of-passage over Thanksgiving dinner at his grandmother's house.

Fatal Flaw (Short Narrative)
Directed by: The Olson Brothers

The story of an average man living beyond his means and secretly addicted to gambling. After making the ultimate gamble and losing, he is interrogated by someone who knows the truth, and he now faces his own execution.

Smokescreen (Short Narrative)
Directed by: Kyle Dufendach

One family dealing with life on three different fronts.

Seasons (Short Narrative)
Phillip Carrel

An elderly man loses his wife and must cope with the loss.

The 8th Samurai (Short Narrative)
Justin Ambrosino

'It cannot be eight, it has to be Seven Samurai!'

Signs of the Time (Full Length Documentary)
Directed by: Don Casper

The Myth, The Mystery, The Legend of Baseball's Greatest Innovation. Subtitles appear throughout the film for accessibility of all audiences.

Saving Face (Full Length Documentary)
Directed By: H. James Gilmore

A true story about a teenage boy's journey to manhood and fight for survival inside the Florida Prison System.

Beyond Greenaway: The Legacy (Full Length Documentary)
Directed by: Sue Gilbert

Sue Gilbert returns to explore the wealth and lifestyle issues first portrayed through the eyes of her elderly parents in the film 'Greenaway' (1982). In this film, she compares her parents’ viewpoints to those of their children and adult grandchildren over a range of topics, including seldom discussed issues of deserving, hiding, and envy. We come to care for the film’s subjects as people sharing their struggles, regardless of circumstance.

The Reckoning: Remembering the Dutch Resistance (Full Length Documentary)
Directed by: John Evans

Six survivors of war-torn Netherlands during WW2 share their 'underground' resistance accounts of hiding Jews and/or trying to survive Nazi tyranny. Winner of 6 international Film Festivals.

Somebody's Daughter (Full Length Documentary)
Directed by: John Evans

How do you show addiction? The initial draw, suffocating persistence and devastating effects. When asked by Nashville organization “Music for the Soul” to create a visual reality of the devastating effects of pornography without the program itself looking pornographic, the Documentary “Somebody’s Daughter” was created.

Bicycle Dreams (Full Length Documentary)
Stephen Auerbach

A moving documentary on one of the most grueling races in the sports world. Ride Across America (RAAM) is a 3000+ mile bicycle race from San Diego to Atlantic City in 12 days or less. Driven by personal reasons and passions, as these voyagers push their bodies to the limits, they take great risk of injury...even death itself. Inspiring film.

American Sailors (Full Length Documentary)
Directed by John Grooters

American Sailors covers the 100th running of the Chicago to Mackinac race, the world's oldest and longest fresh water race. Ride the winds and race with some of America's greatest skippers. It's not just about speed and wind. But strategy and risk.

As We Forgive (Full Length Documentary)
Laura Walters Hinson

Could you forgive a person who murdered your family? This is the question faced by the subjects of "As We Forgive," an Academy Award winning documentary about two Rwandan women on a journey to reconcile with the neighbors who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide.

Skim Chicks (Full Length Documentary)
Richard Tibbetts

This short documentary chronicles the sport of female skim boarding and the participants quest to gain recognition through competition. The film pulls examples from other sports that have made similar stands in finally recognizing their female counterparts.

Beyond the Call (Full Length Documentary)
Adrian Belic

In an Indiana Jones meets Mother Teresa adventure, three middle-aged men – former soldiers and modern-day knights – travel the world delivering life-saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors; in some of the most dangerous yet beautiful places on Earth, the front lines of war.

Speak (Student Short Film)
Nathan Kress

A Short Film that ask everyday people one question. If you could say one thing to the world what would you say?

Scarecrow (Student Short Film)
Patrick Knipe

Winner of 11 Film Festivals. Jack Wren, a newly recruited Confederate soldier, has grown up on the tales of heroism of the battlefield. But in the midst of his first battle the bloody realities of war engulf him and he deserts. He runs from the violence and his own cowardice until he encounters two runaway slaves in route to the North and freedom. In them he witnesses a different source of courage and discovers a battle worth fighting.

Dark Heart (Student Short Film)
Robert Butler

Loosely Based on the famous Edgar Allen Poe classic story of madness and murder A Tell Tale Heart, Dark Heart follows Daniel Saxon. An isolated writer who struggles with his industrial environment, writers block, and the unbearable sound of a heart beat.

The Commandant (Student Short Film)
Ross Vande Waa

Two Russian soldiers are trapped in Nazi occupied Poland with their wounded commanding officer during World War II.

Hermie and Friends: The Flo Show Creates a Buzz (Animation)
Directed By: Rick Eldridge

Flo gets her own show, 'The Flo Show', but she doesn't think of anyone's feelings and has to learn humility.

The Veiled Commodity (Animation)
Dickson Chow

“The Veiled Commodity” is a short film that employs various design and animation techniques to tell a concise history of slavery and the problems of its present day counterpart; the trafficking and victimization of people around the world.

Skylight (Animation)
David Bass

An animated mock documentary about the ecological plight of penguins in the Antarctic, possibly foretelling cataclysmic results for the rest of the world.

Appalachian Dreams (Animation)
David Donar

An old clogger takes a nap while his shoes just get started.

Out Here in the Fields: Quail Hill Farm (Short Documentary)
Directed by: Alec Hirschfeld

How does the connection between people and land lead to conservation success?

Beyond Torture (Short Documentary)
Alan Hartwick

When you said, 'I still believe in God,' in five minutes you were full of blood. - Roman Braga Many of us died, many of us became mad, but in some of us the good triumphed. - George Calciu These chilling words from two survivors of a brainwashing prison in Pitesti, Romania are sad reminders of the legacy of Stalinist communism. Beyond Torture: The Gulag of Pitesti, Romania documents the persecution of Romanians under the communist regime. Electrical shock, hallucinogenic drugs, near starvation and fatal beatings were daily rituals in the prison of Pitesti, Romania. But this sadistic story goes beyond torture: this was an attempt to totally destroy a people's culture and faith. In 1949, Stalinist Soviets began a systematic sweep of Romanian college campuses. Their purpose was to imprison and transform young Romanians into a communistic way of thinking. One prisoner describes this re-education as the most vile tortures imaginable. Orthodox priest Father George Calcui says, They tried to destroy our souls. But he and others survived this gulag, lived to tell their stories and even forgave their captors. In this documentary, you'll meet three survivors from the prison of Pitesti and see shocking paintings that capture the essence of the extreme torture. This DVD also includes an in-depth one-hour interview with Father Roman Braga: prison survivor and spiritual leader. Outside of Romania, this DVD is the first major historical documentation of the Pitesti experience.

Better Bones and Gardens (Student Documentary)
Natalie Edler, Lindsey Clark

Better Bones and Gardens is a short documentary about Dan Phillips, a trash architect, and Kipp Nash, an urban farmer. These men are remaking the common house and garden in wildly imaginative ways. Discarded cattle bones, wine corks, DVDs, and bottle caps are used as building materials for homes, while manicured grassy front yards are transformed into nutritious gardens. While these projects may sound a little strange, Kipp Nash and Dan Phillips show that by following their passion for building and gardening, they can help people save money and keep our planet a little cleaner.

Hermanos de la Calle: Luchando por un Cambio (Student Documentary)
Daniel Laninga

The life of a local Nicaraguan gang and their desire to change.

Postcard to Owen Sound (Student Documentary)
Jen Di Cresce

This small town would rather not dwell on incident that some feel brought unflattering attention to their community. They'd rather change the subject, thank you.