DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
The San Joaquin Film Society presents an exclusive opportunity to experience captivating and riveting short films from celebrated and rising writer-directors. In "Haber" a brilliant German chemist becomes the Father of Chemical Warfare. With "Immersion" a young immigrant from Mexico faces the struggles of education. The celebrated Russian claymation "KuyGorozh" is an entertaining rags-to-riches story.
FILMS
Haber
Writer-Director Daniel Ragussis (USA, 2008)
With all-star German cast featuring Christian Berkel, Wolf Kahler and Juliane Köhler. Best of Festival Winner of the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, Winner of the Motion Pictures Award of the National Board of Review, and Official Selection of the 2009 San Joaquin International Film Festival
"In 1914, Fritz Haber is Germany's greatest chemist. His Nobel prize-winning synthetic fertilizers have saved the world from mass starvation. But as World War I breaks out across Europe, slaughtering millions of young soldiers, the desperate German military asks Haber to invent an entirely new kind of weapon. Already having sacrificed his Jewish identity and his wife's career to achieve success, Haber's decision not only unleashes weapons of mass destruction for the first time in human history, but also threatens to destroy his family as well."
English, 34 minutes
• VIEW FILM'S WEBSITE
Immersion
Writer-Director Richard Levien (USA, 2009)
Official selections of the 2009 San Francisco International Film Festival, the 2009 Seattle International Film Festival and the 2010 San Joaquin International Film Festival.
"Ten-year-old Moises has just immigrated to California from Mexico. He doesn't speak English, but he's good at math, so he hopes to do well on his first math test in the USA. Using untrained child actors from public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area, “Immersion” plunges its audience into the visceral experience of a child who cannot understand his teacher."
English, Spanish, English subtitles, 14 minutes
• VIEW FILM'S WEBSITE
KuyGorozh
Writers Sergei Merinov, N. Berezovaya, Director Sergei Merinov (Russian, 2007)
Official Selections at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival, 2008 Annecy International Animation Festival, the 2009 Göteborg International Film Festival, Sweden, and the 2009 San Joaquin International Film Festival
An enormously colorful, entertaining, and captivating clay-mation mini masterpiece! "When evil Kuygorozh places an egg in their nest, the old man and the old woman have begun a new life but the pleasure of greedy idlers was short..."
Russian with English subtitles, 14 minutes
• VIEW FILM'S WEBSITE
THE FILMMAKERS
Richard Levien - "Immersion"
About the Filmmaker: Richard Levien has a PhD in theoretical physics from Princeton University, but has found his real passion in film. He is a professional freelance film and video editor, specializing in independent narrative and documentary films. Two such films, "Working Title", a feature length documentary directed by John Givens, and "Darryl Henriques Is In Show Business", a short documentary directed by William Farley, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2006. Recently he edited the cult internet hit "Store Wars", which was seen by 5.5 million people in the first 6 weeks of its release. Levien was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1968. He enjoys a good cup of tea and follows the (mostly ill) fate of the New Zealand cricket team. He is one of the few New Zealanders who played no part whatsoever in the making of the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, despite being a long time admirer of director Peter Jackson.
Sergey Merinov - "KuyGorozh"
About the Filmmaker: Born in Moscow in 1966, he first trained as an animator at Pilot Animation Studio in Moscow until 1992, after which he trained as a director. Since 2002 he has been the studio’s artistic director for animation, besides which he has also created video promos, commercials and computer games.
Daniel Ragussis - "Haber"
About the Filmmaker: Daniel Ragussis grew up in Washington DC, where he received his BA from Georgetown University, graduating fourth in his class, and was a Rhodes Scholarship finalist. He recently completed his MFA at Columbia University, where he was a Film Division Fellow. His most recent film, “Haber,” has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, Chemical & Engineering News, the German magazine Biografie, and Chemical Heritage, among others. He has been invited to speak on panels at the New York Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Premiere of Einstein’s Gift, the Rhode Island International Film Festival, and was the key guest speaker at the National Research Council’s Committee on Chemical Demilitarization. He has three feature scripts in development: the first, a full-length film about Haber; the second, about the young Sigmund Freud (which competed against 1,700 other scripts to win the 2009 Screenwriting Expo Grand Prize); and the third, a disaster movie about the stock market crash of 1929. Ragussis is managed by Alan Gasmer, formerly the head of the Motion Picture Lit Department at the William Morris Agency, who founded his own management company in 2009.
PRESS KITS for official use only
Click to Access
• "Haber" official website with press clips, images and information
• "Immersion" press kit, production stills, bios, etc.
• "KuyGorozh" still image
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SHOWTIME
SAT. 05/01 at 1:00PM
Stockton Empire Theatre
$9.50 General
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$7.50 Member
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