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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Best of the Kansas City Urban Film Festival
Thursday, August. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Screenland Crown Center
2450 Grand Blvd. Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-545-8034 or online at www.screenland.com

The festival’s line-up of five short films by maverick metropolitan moviemakers was set by festival organizer and Fox 4 News (WDAF-TV) film critic Shawn Edwards, who will host a Q&A with the filmmakers immediately following the screening. "This is a good opportunity to see a nice mix of urban films, some of which are produced by people right here in Kansas City" Edwards said of the showcase sponsored by CinemaKC, a not-for-profit organization connecting groups devoted to film in Missouri and Kansas.

The program:

Hell Week (21 minutes, 2011)
Kansas City filmmaker and University of Kansas grad Patrick Rea reveals a frightful collision between fraternity hazing and sorority revenge.   

Always with You (10 minutes, 2010)
Los Angeles director Troy Warwell goes beyond apology and disgrace in examining a neglectful father whose wife blames him for the accidental death of the couple’s 4-year-old son.    

Bad Dream (36 minutes, 2010)
Kansas City director Jason Piggie shows the struggle of a low-level criminal trying to avoid getting bumped off while getting right with his family.

The Movies We Love: The 10 Most Romantic Black Movies (Ever) (21 minutes, 2010)
Written and co-produced by Edwards, helmed by Kansas City director Matthew Hensley, and featuring commentary from such Hollywood stars as Jamie Fox and Queen Latifah, this documentary is a re-edited version of The Movies We Love: The 25 Most Romantic Black Movies (Ever).  

May This Be Love (5 minutes, 2009):
Kansas City director Diallo Javonne French gives no dialogue to his two lead characters as they coalesce to poetic narration and a cool jazz soundtrack in this inventive black-and-white film.

Kansas International Film Festival
Friday, September 30–Thursday, October 6
Glenwood Arts Theatre
9575 Metcalf Ave, Overland Park, KS
For festival passes or single tickets call 913-642-4404 or online www.kansasfilm.com

Each year, the KIFF has selected an eclectic line-up of films, from quirky comedies to political documentaries; this year is no exception. Many of the films in the festival have received international recognition and awards, further cementing the KIFF’s reputation as a heavy hitter within the festival circuit.

The highlights of this year's festival include:

A Wake
Director: Penelope Buitenhuis
After the mysterious death of their infamous director, members of a formerly renowned theater company reunite for his wake. Their last, ill-fated production was Hamlet. The widow welcomes the thespians to her country house, but the proceedings go awry when old rivalries and jealousies erupt, exposing a myriad of secrets and lies. 

Alloy Orchestra: Silent Shorts
Alloy Orchestra is a three-man musical ensemble, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources. 

Another Planet
Director: Masik Bolygo
This creative documentary-feature, shot on four continents, presents the hidden face of our planet and the general and moral crisis of our world.

Beatboxing: The Fifth Element Of Hip Hop
Director: Klaus Schneyder
It was in the late ’70s that a youth culture evolved in the poorer parts of New York which combined several disciplines under the name of Hip Hop. Apart from the four classic elements of graffiti-writing, DJ-ing, breakdancing, and rapping, the musical side of this culture was enhanced by a fifth element called “beatboxing.”

Dirty Girl
Director: Abe Sylvia
It's 1987 and Danielle, the high school “Dirty Girl,” is running away. With her is chubby, gay Clarke, a bag of flour called Joan, and a Walkman full of glorious ’80s tunes.

Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians
Director: Bryan Storkel
This film follows the rise of arguably the largest and most well-funded blackjack team in America—made up entirely of churchgoing Christians. While they succeed in taking millions from casinos, how will they manage to find a place for faith and God in the arena of high stakes gambling?

Lesson Plan
Directors: Philip Neel, David H. Jeffery
At a California high school in 1967, teacher Ron Jones began an experiment in his history class to demonstrate how the Nazis manipulated the German citizens during World War II. Branding themselves the Third Wave, the class distributed membership cards and salutes were introduced. Insidiously, students became self-appointed bodyguards and informers, becoming outwardly aggressive to non-members. The class grew to 200 within one week, causing this landmark experiment to spiral out of control. Lesson Plan is a powerful touchstone for understanding how easily group dynamics can be transformed into group control. Director Neel was an original member of the Third Wave.

Natural Selection
Director: Robbie Pickering
Linda White, a barren Christian housewife, leads a sheltered existence in suburban Texas. Her world is turned upside-down when she discovers that her dying husband, Abe, has a 23-year-old, illegitimate son named Raymond living in Florida.

Silver Tongues
Director: Simon Arthur
Two lovers (Lee Tergesen and Enid Graham) travel from town to town, taking on different identities in each new place. Driven by an insatiable appetite for change and with no regard for consequences, they manipulate, toy with, and forever alter the lives of the strangers they meet. However, with each performance, their deceitful game spirals ever more out of control.

Take Shelter
Director: Jeff Nichols
Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself.

The Vintner's Luck
Director: Niki Caro (director of Whale Rider)
A rare and unusual story, set in 19^th-century France, which tells of a peasant winemaker, Sobran Jodeau, and his life-long relationship with an angel.

Virgin Alexander
Director: Charlotte Barrett and Sean Fallon (Sean Fallon attending screening)
Alexander is a 26-year-old scrap-hauler who is about to be evicted. In a last ditch effort to save his house from the bank, he turns it into a brothel—even though he has never had sex before.

By Calli Parker

Film, Theatre Contributor

Calli Parker studied film production and English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. After working on various projects in Kansas City, she relocated to Los Angeles where she served as a production manager and assistant director on short and feature films. Currently residing in Kansas City, Calli continues to collaborate with the talented filmmakers and artists of the emerging arts community.