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USA, 2009, 76 min Directed by SABRINA LEE World Premiere |
When one thinks "Hip Hop," one doesn't usually think Montana or Humbolt County, CA, but seeds from the hip hop family tree have been blown far and wide in the past decades. Hip Hop is about truth, and truth is everywhere. MCs from itsy-bitsy burgs and forgotten small towns are grabbing the mic to give their urban counterparts serious competition. WHERE YOU FROM offers an eye-popping look at three such rural hopefuls: Franco, a college-educated rapper plotting to grab top honors at Scribble Jam, the notorious freestyle battle where Eminem could only manage 2nd place; Tommy 2 Tone, ex-con sometimes meth head with four kids who uses hip hop in a tenacious fight to stay on the righteous path; and Chris Murphy, who's trying to reconnect with his damaged Vietnam vet dad while co-fronting Eightrack Mind, an ultra-funky eight-piece hip-hop band trapped in Bozeman, Montana. Between redwoods and the Rockies, miles from the glamorous center of a multi-million dollar music industry, director Sabrina Lee (an Ocala native) and co-producer/Director of Photography Matthew Buzzell--whose acclaimed music docs include films about jazz legend Jimmy Scott, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint in post-Katrina New Orleans, and Luna's final tour-- etch an evocative portrait of young dreamers attempting the unlikely in the most unexpected of places. Preceded by
THE SHERIFF
USA, 2007, 14 Min
Directed by
JEFF M. GIORDANO
Florida Premiere
Eugene is an albino African-American who's worked in a mattress factory for 30 years. Despite a life full of death and hardship, he's happy and ready to meet his maker. We should all be so content.
