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AMERICAN RENAISSANCE, Ryan Scafuro & Jarred Alterman
New Shorts

NEW SHORTS: DOCS: Window on the World

13:00 Sun 18 Jan 2015

Hackney Picturehouse, Screen 3

From Norway to New Zealand, from Bombay to Barcelona, these short docs take us on a journey around the world. Meet father-and-son cobblers in Barcelona, wend your way through the sights and sounds of an American Renaissance Faire and experience the beauty and chill of winter across Siberia.

(81 min)

Followed by Filmmaker Q&As

  • 90: JULIANNA, A PORTRAIT

    Alex Janaszewski 7 mins (, 2014)

    A cinematic portrait of Julianna Janaszewska, celebrating the 90 years which she has walked upon this earth. A meditation upon mortality, independence, the rhythm of the everyday, and the legacy one leaves behind. NB. Marysia is the daughter that Julianna lost to cancer.
  • A PLACE GOOD ENOUGH

    Emilie Norenberg 16 mins (, 2014)

    Far up in the Norwegian mountains lies Skåbu – Northern Europe’s highest lying village, where 600 inhabitants live their everyday lives surrounded by breathtakingly beautiful nature. With only a petrol station and a grocery store in close proximity, what do people do with their time? And why have they chosen to live in a place so remote and isolated from the rest of the civilisation? With short Nordic days and icy temperatures, life is lived thoroughly and properly here; wood chopped for fire, deer hunted for dinner and wool knitted for warmth. Peeking into the lives of the individuals that call these mountains their home, following their adventures into the boreal forests, their communal activities and their isolated everyday lives, this film observes a very different way of life.
  • AMERICAN RENAISSANCE

    Ryan Scafuro & Jarred Alterman 10 mins (, 2014)

    Explore the fantastic world of Elizabethan England… in a small town in upstate New York. American Renaissance is a rollicking journey to one of the largest renaissance faires in the US, and a portrait of the characters that return year after year.
  • HIGH HOPES

    Guy Davidi 14 mins (UK, 2014)

    In 1997-1998, Bedouin refugees under Israeli Occupation were forcibly displaced to a garbage dump. This was during the Oslo Peace Process, with "high hopes" for peace. During recent peace talks, a plan progressed to forcibly displace Bedouin refugees to one site accommodating 12,500 Bedouin, for settlement expansion while 18,000 more are targeted for transfer against their will. A war crime.
  • THE BOMBAY HIGHWAY CODE

    David Baksh 5 mins (, 2014)

    A poem, a postcard, a love letter and a history, The Bombay Highway Code evokes the restless spirit of the city of Mumbai and paints a lyrical portrait of its people.
  • TODAY

    Prisca Bouchet & Nick Mayow 3 mins (, 2014)

    From the first resident rising to the last person going to bed, TODAY follows the slow passing of time for the residents and workers of a South Auckland rest home. Austere and unflinching, TODAY offers a unique insight into a compelling and vital institution - a place of isolation, community and finality, and one that many New Zealanders call home.
  • WINTER

    Cristina Picchi 12 mins (, 2014)

    A portrait of a season - a journey through North Russia and Siberia, through the feelings and thoughts of the people who have to cope with one of the world's harshest climates; a reality where the boundary between life and death is so thin that is sometimes almost nonexistent, where civilization constantly both fights and embraces nature and its timeless rules and rites. In these remote places, people, animals and nature itself become elements of a millennial yet unpredictable script, in which physical and mental endurance play an important role as much as chance does, where life and death constantly embrace each other. A reflection on fate, adaptation and the immutable cycles of existence.
  • ZAPATERO

    Madelon Vroom 14 mins (, 2014)

    An intimate story of father and son reviving a family tradition in Barcelona. Two different generations and their different view on life provides us with some confronting as well as humorous dialogue. Emilio a 90 year old cobbler and his ambitious son Daniel decide to work together but the craftsmanship in Europe is slowly disappearing.