Friday, April 4, 4:00 PM - 6:05 PM at Regal Purchase Now

SALIM BABA
USA, 2007, 14.5 MIN
DIRECTED BY TIM STERNBERG
In Bengali with English subtitles
Florida Premiere
Salim Muhammad wants his children to inherit the cinematic legacy of the push-cart hand-cranked projector that his father passed down to him. 2008 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short.

Followed by:

OPERATION FILMMAKER
USA, 2007, 92 MIN
DIRECTED BY NINA DAVENPORT
Southeast Premiere
It must have felt like the right thing for actor/filmmaker Liev Schreiber to help Baghdad film student Muthana Mohmed after his film school was bombed by the U.S. during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Schreiber, who at the time was preparing to direct Everything is Illuminated in Prague with Elijah Wood, felt he could provide the young film student an invaluable "on set" learning experience. However the menial tasks that Mohmed is assigned on the production soon bore and aggravate him, which sets up Nina Davenport's unforgettable documentary. What follows is a totally engaging, often comical story of how Mohmed and Davenport's relationship deteriorates as the young Iraqi struggles to avoid returning to his war-torn country. This film examines filmmaking, cultural differences, war, survival, and the relationship between the filmmaker and film subject. Rarely does a documentary so honestly show a filmmaker crossing the objective/journalistic line and becoming a part of the story.