DOCUMENTARIES FOR MARCHE DU FILM 2016

TITLE: IVORY. A CRIME STORY
GENRE : Documentary
PRODUCTION YEAR : 2016
RUNNING TIME : 89 min
COUNTRY : FRANCE, KENYA, RUSSIA
DIRECTOR: Sergey Yastrzhembskiy

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alexandr Antonov, Frédéric Belge, William Chingonbe, Gabriele Clementi, Thierry Derouet, Yury Efremov, Alex Hofford, Elena Ivanova, Erick Kaglan, Elisbar Karavaev, Gleb Kiselev, Jonathan Klein, Yaniv Linton, Sergey Matveev, Vladimir Mernikov, Charlotte Notteghem, Anton Popilin, Diego Ramos, Narcisse Sandjon, Vitaly, Semenov, Nikolay Tarkhanov, Sergey Vasiliev, Alexander Voloshin
Producer/s : Sergey Yastrzhembskiy, Chris Bolzli, Leshan Lebasha
Narrated by : Jeff Koinange

SYNOPSIS :
Ivory. A crime story is arguably one of the most condemning film ever made about the massacre of elephants in Africa. It fires arrows at a complex web of culprits, from China and Buddhist monks, to corrupt African high-officials, toothless NGOs and secretive Chinese businessmen, building fortunes on an never-increasing demand for ivory which has brought one of the world’s most intelligent animals to near the brink of extinction.
This investigative film is produced and written by Sergey Yastrzhembsky, a career diplomat, who was the voice of the Kremlin under President Boris Yeltsin and served current president Vladimir Putin as special envoy to Brussels and spokesman on Chechnya.
Since leaving politics in 2008 and distancing himself from the Kremlin, Sergey Yastrzhembsky has dedicated his life to photography and filmmaking, focusing mainly on Africa. He produced a series of more than 60 documentary films on endangered nations, broadcast on several Russian television channels from 2009 to 2015. His full-length film “Africa. Blood and Beauty” awards the “Golden Eagle Prize” by the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia in nomination “The Best documentary film of 2013”.
Ivory. A crime story, which took three years to shoot in more than 30 countries, seeks to challenge governments and organizations who are proving incapable of stopping the bloody business of ivory.

Title: NIGHT BIRD SONG, THOMAS CHAPIN

(The Incandescent Life of a Jazz Great)

Genre : Documentary
Production Year : 2016
Running Time : 150 min 56 sec
Country : USA
Director : Stephanie J. Castillo
Cast: Thomas Chapin, Ted Chapin, Mario Pavone, Michael Dorf, Terri Castillo Chapin, Larry Blumenfeld, Bob Blumenthal, Frank van Herk, Marcel Kanendonk, Ineke Vandoorn, Jerry Weldon, Saul Rubin, Kenny Barron, Paul H. Jeffreys, Larry Ridley, Arthur Kell, Sam Kaufman, Gene Seymour, Michael Sarin, Steve Johns, Peter McEachern, Rob Kaplan, Mary Khan, Joel Chriss, Danny Melnick, Romain Fitoussi, Stefano Leonardi, Stefano Pastor, Subrhaag Singh, among others

Cinematography: Principal, Hugh Walsh - Richard Dean, Igor Andreevski, Stephanie J. Castillo
Producer/s : Stephanie J. Castillo (writer/editor), Noel M. Izon (writer)

Synopsis :
Destined to be among the great jazz virtuosos, Thomas Chapin was nearing the pinnacle of his meteoric career when leukemia took him at the age of 40 in 1998.
Who was Thomas Chapin, where did he come from, and where was he going? This intimate, 150-minute documentary by EMMY-winning filmmaker Stephanie J. Castillo will unfold his fascinating story, beginning with his rapid ascent as a jazz artist. As the Thomas Chapin Trio enters the wildly inventive, experimental days of music during the 1980s and the 1990s when the “downtown scene” of New York City exploded with artists pushing the music and bending genres, the film unfolds Chapin’s incandescent journey. His life and his music will mesmerize and inspire. The film will show why his place in jazz is indelible.
And just as he had transcended the boundaries of jazz and music, Thomas Chapin would prove that life itself can be made transcendent, even if it has to end too soon.

Title: Free Speech & the Transcendent Journey of Chris Drew, Street Artist
Genre : Documentary | crime | Histoy
Production Year : 2014
Running Time : 99 min sec
Country : USA
Director : Nancy Bechtol
Cast: Chris Drew

Cinematography: Nancy Bechtol
Producer/s : David Bechtol

Synopsis :
Chris Drew, street artist and activist, was selling art for $1 in downtown Chicago to protest the Chicago Peddlers Ordinance since he believed Art is Speech, a First Amendment Right. Those charges were dropped and replaced with a serious Class One Felony Eavesdropping charge, for audio recording his own arrest. Nine police officers with a Homeland Security detail arrested him. With 2 pro bono lawyers, he challenged for over 2.5 years in court, The Illinois Eavesdropping Law,which carried a 4 - 15 years in prison if convicted. His case and cause drew nationwide and even international attention. Both traditional and social media covered the unbelievable case of C Drew. This is a true story.

TITLE: A BRILLIANT GENOCIDE

PRODUCTION: 2015
RUNNING TIME: 77 min
GENRE: Documentary
COUNTRY: AUSTRALIA
DIRECTOR: Ebony Butler
PRODUCER: Jason Byrne, Ebony Butler

SYNOPSIS:
A Brilliant Genocide is an expose of the brutal campaigns by the Yoweri Museveni regime to wipe out a significant part of Uganda’s Acholi people under the guise of crushing a rebellion by The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). It lays bare the atrocities committed by Museveni’s army against the Acholi people of Northern Uganda since 1986 when he seized power. It includes interviews with survivors of the most pre meditated torture and murder. It is unfathotmable what has occurred, civilians who were raped in front of their families by Museveni’s soldiers, people buried alive, tortured and burnt alive, a form of abuse hitherto unheard of in Uganda: the humiliation and deprivation of a particular ethic group that has suffered like no other in Uganda’s history.
The documentary is the untold story of a people who were placed in what amounts to concentration camps where the death rates from planned neglect exceeded 50,000 people per year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) over a period spanning over a decade. A Brilliant Genocide is a counterpoint to Kony 2012, which brought worldwide awareness to the crimes committed by the LRA. It shows how the Museveni regime has used Kony as a straw man, enabling the Ugandan government to garner international sympathy and resources in the supposed “war on terrorism” while in fact diverting attention from its own crimes against humanity in northern Uganda.
It includes interviews with Museveni’s former close associates, involved in conducting some of the most bloodiest campaigns in the north, and many other prominent Ugandan thinkers, opposition figures, activists, exiles and émigrés.
This is the untold story of how an African dictator has been able to commit mass murder and still get a regular audience at The White House and 10 Downing Street. It comes at a critical time in Uganda’s history when Gen. Museveni, in power for 30 years, plans another presidential run in February 2016.

TITLE: : Legacy of a War: Air America and Southeast Asia

PRODUCTION: 2015
RUNNING TIME: 60 min 50 Sec
GENRE: Documentary
COUNTRY: THAILAND
DIRECTOR: Ornvera “Georgi” Assawaterakiat
PRODUCER: Ornvera “Georgi” Assawaterakiat

SYNOPSIS:
Just over 40 years after the end of the Second Indochina War, this documentary investigates the origins and history of that war, particularly in Laos, while focusing on the personal stories of the men on both sides who took part in it. Not only does it screen their personal reminiscences, however, it also gives voice to an assessment of the continuing effects of the war all these years later. Drawing upon archival material, personal interviews, and current film footage shot throughout Laos and Thailand, the film gives a context to the war, then, and how many perceive it, now. Direct on-site observations from today blend into the memories of the subjects of the interviews. The documentary includes perspectives from veterans of Air America, the Royal Thai Army and Air Force, and the Pathet Lao. Sites for the filming include: Bangkok, Thailand, as well as places in Laos, including Vientiane, Xiang Khouang, the Plain of Jars, Phonsavan, and Vang Vieng.

PRODUCTION: 2014 - English
GENRE: Narrative, Based in a True Story

RUNNING TIME: 93 Min.
COUNTRY: ZIMBABWE/USA
DIRECTOR: Sanelle Sibnada
CAST: Ronald Sigeca, Josephat Ndlove, Simon Banda, Nomvelo Khoza
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Ndumiso Ncube
ART DIRECTOR: Edgar Santos

SYNOPSIS:
In this world freedom comes in many forms. Zola, a poor boy in a remote village of Africa is devastated when his father leaves to work in South African mines. The situation gets worse when his mother dies of AIDS. Zola is forced to live with his uncle, a mean, poorest subsistence farmer, a man who lives alone and drinks too much. Zola’s life takes a dramatic turn, one full of obstacles when he auditions for the dance competition. All he needs to change his life is a miracle.

DOCUMENTARIES FOR MARCHE DU FILM 2016

IVORY. A CRIME STORY

NIGHT BIRD SONG, THOMAS CHAPIN

Free Speech

AGAVE IS LIFE

ZOLA