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		Films Screening at RIIFF 2002 Feature Films H-N Sunday August 11th Columbus Theatre 2:45PM The Jimmy Show Director: Frank Whaley Writers: Jonathan Marc Sherman, Frank Whaley Cast: Frank Whaley, Carla Gugino, Ethan Hawke Runtime: 96min Country: USA Format: 35MM Jimmy is a working class man with too much weight on his shoulders, big dreams and nowhere to take them in the Jersey suburbs. His role as sole caretaker of his ailing grandmother, his miserable job in receiving at Tops Grocery, and a shotgun wedding to his high school sweetheart all serve as material for his would-be career as a comedian. Jimmy's painful stand-up comedy to sparse crowds at "The Laughing Stock," plays more like he's lying on a therapist's couch. As Jimmy becomes increasingly consumed by his far-flung dreams, his life and already strained relationships disintegrate. Based on Jonathan Marc Sherman's Veins and Thumbtacks, this is a compassionate and honest look at one man's failures, relationships and dreams. Saturday August 10th Columbus Theatre 9:30PM World Premiere Kiss the Bride Director/Writer/Producer: Vanessa Parise Cast: Sean Patrick Flanery, Alyssa Milano, Johnathon Schaech, Burt Young, Talia Shire Runtime: 90min Country: USA Format: 35MM KISS THE BRIDE is an insightful and humorous look into the lives of a passionate but disparate Italian-American family and their individual struggles for validation. Three of the four daughters have left home and seldom return out of spite for their controlling father. Their educations and opportunities have propelled them into lives, which seemingly stretch beyond the family and their ethnic background. However, as they return to Rhode Island to attend the wedding of their sister, we sense their alienation. Ultimately, they are surprised to learn that the one who has neither left home nor broken with family tradition has found the answer to self-fulfillment and holds the key to happiness. Cast and crew will be in attendance. Saturday August 10th Columbus Cinemateque 3:10PM World Premiere Learning to Surf Company: Rocinante Films, LLC Director: RJ Thomas Runtime: 112min Country: USA Format: BETA SP Bill Woods moves to L.A. to chase his dreams. He moves in with a wannabe pro surfer and gets a jot on a commercial. He's seduced by an older woman and falls in love with a girl who thinks she's older. His relationships and his career grow confusing, and suddenly his dreams are in danger of being lost. He realizes he must give it all up if he wants to gain anything. Thursday August 8th URI 6:45PM Living in Missouri Company: As They Go Productions Director: Shaun Peterson Producer: Shaun Peterson, Connor Ratliff Screenwriter: Connor Ratliff Runtime: 88min Country: USA Format: BETA SP A comedy of manners that tells the story of Todd, Amy and Ryan, whose humdrum Midwestern lives are starting to come apart at the seams. Personal betrayals abound when childhood friendships, broken-down marriages and long-repressed desires come into conflict over the course of one tumultuous Missouri autumn day. Thursday August 8th URI 12:00PM Lolo's Child Company: Liquid Artists Director: Romeo Candido Producer: Mary Anne Ledesma Runtime: 82min Country: Canada Format: BETA SP Inspired by his father's death, Junior embarks on composing the soundtrack to his life. After a two-year exile, Junior comes home to bury his father, to bury his childhood and bury the memories that drove him away. Upon his return he discovers that his absence has left his old world unaffected. His childhood nemesis, his longtime love, and his history of abuse and anguish all remain as he left it: unresolved. It is through the painful process of self-discovery that he finds the one way to overcome it all. Saturday August 10th URI 1:05PM Making Arrangements Company: 9-10 Productions, LLC Director: Melissa Scaramucci Producers: Melissa Scaramucci, Peter Austin Hermes Runtime: 87 min Country: USA Format: Beta SP Making Arrangements focuses on the frenetic, unexplored world of a high-end flower shop. Set over four days, this adrenalized comedy documents six florists and their customers as they struggle together to create perfect events. With two weddings, a convention, and an unexpected funeral, this film spotlights what happens when ordinary people Go Floral. Monday August 12th Columbus Cinemateque 7:00PM Mary / Mary Company: Solid Films, Inc. Director: Joseph H. Biancaniello Producer: Joseph H. Biancaniello, Eric Naughton Runtime: 93min Country: USA It's the morning after a one nightstand as the film opens to show Manny, a hypochondriac deathly afraid of contracting an STD, scrambling to get his way home. As he arrives home, Q and A, two 50's style gangsters, greet him and immediately begin to grill him on the previous night's events. These quirky characters are nothing more than figments of Manny's imagination constantly analyzing him, appearing whenever his mind begins to question itself. Manny's best friend and confident, Mary, a promiscuous yet endearing girl, triggers his temporary psychosis. Manny sleeps with her on and off in moments of weakness, and in the aftermath is left to deal with Q and A questioning his actions. Thursday August 8th Castle Cinema 7:00PM Month of August Company: Angelic Entertainment Director: Rex Piano Producer: Mark Maine Runtime: 93min Country: USA Format: 35MM This lighthearted romantic comedy follows Nick through a chain of humiliating dates and failed romances. At the point of giving up, Nick meets August. Finally, he has hope for a relationship he can trust and believe in. Or can he? This film proves that true love can be found in the strangest of places: and in the strangest of girls. Producer Mark Maine will be in attendance. Thursday August 8th Columbus Theatre 5:00PM Mother Ghost Company: It's an Us Thing Director: Rich Thorne Producer: Rodney Montague Writer: Mark Thompson Cinematographer: Tony Cutrano Music: Gino Vannelli, Marc Bonilla Cast: Mark Thompson, Joe Mantegna, Dana Delaney, Kevin Pollack, James Franco Runtime: 83min Country: USA Format: 35MM Keith Bennets' overly protective mother passed away a year ago, and up until this morning he was perfectly fine with that. Keith has been distant of late and his wife begs him to get some help, which he dismisses as nagging. One night, his deceased mothers jewelry has mysteriously appeared on his bathroom sink, the same jewelry that she was wearing when she was buried. That's the last straw, his wife has had it. She's convinced it's all in Keith's head. Keith winds up on the phone with a popular radio psychiatrist. who digs deep into Keith's life and problems. Keith is forced to deal with the things that he has shoved to the side and in doing so, he finds a new attitude and a new man. The entire film takes place over a twenty-four hour period. Is his mothers jewelry all in Keith's head or has she truly come back to help her son this one last time as MOTHER GHOST? Writer/actor Mark Thompson will be in attendance. Sunday August 11th Columbus Theatre 12:30PM Motl Der Operator Director: Joseph Seiden Music: Sholem Secunda Runtime: 88min Country: USA Format: 35mm Based on a play by Chaim Tauber Cast: Chaim Tauber, Malvina Rappel, Yetta Zwerling, Jacob Zanger, Joseph Schoengold, Gertrude Krause, Seymour Rechtzeit, Cantor Leibele Waldman and Joel Feig's famous choir. This classic melodrama captures the sentimental, emotional characters and the convoluted plots and fantastic coincidences, which dominated the Second Avenue Yiddish theaters. Focusing on a labor dispute in the garment district of New York City, the film survives as an important historical document highlighting the hardships of the Jewish immigrant experience in America. Motl, a poor laborer, loving husband and new father, leads cloak makers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strikebreakers, his wife, Esther, and infant son are left destitute. Desperate to save her starving child, Esther gives him up for adoption to a wealthy couple, and then commits suicide. Yiddish with New English Subtitles Friday August 9th Columbus Theatre 7:15PM Notorious C.H.O. Director: Lorene Machado Cast: Margaret Cho Runtime: 95min Country: USA Format: 35MM Filmed live in Seattle and directed by Lorene Machado, the movie captures Cho's boisterously entertaining one-woman show, which just completed a wildly successful tour to thirty-seven cities throughout North America. A brilliant, taboo-busting comedian in the spirit of Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and George Carlin, Margaret Cho is known as much for her raunchy humor as she is for her enormous contributions as a social equalizer and healing force. Notorious C.H.O. was inspired by the ladies of rap music, like Li'l Kim or Eve, particularly their wonderfully lustful and bawdy expressions of strength and sexuality through their images. Like those women, Margaret Cho has a dash of that "Queen Bee" and "Pit Bull in a Skirt" vibe. Her raw material has a decidedly female spin on machismo, tough as the perfectly manicured nails of her counterparts. Margaret's previous show, the 1999 off-Broadway hit, "I'm The One That I Want," dealt with her former bouts with drug and alcohol addiction. It also faced her external pressures to conform to body standards in television (most poignantly during her short-lived ABC sitcom "All-American Girl" in 1995). "I'm The One That I Want" was later released as a phenomenally successful movie, and it is now out on video and DVD through Wellspring, and the best-selling book version is out in paperback from Ballantine Books. Thursday August 8th Columbus Theatre 2:45PM Oil Children Director: Ebrahim Forouzesh Runtime: 90min Country: Iran Format: 35MM Conditions in Iran for the people that live on the fringes of the oil pipelines is dramatically documented in this poignant story of a family that barely manages to make a living. . Description and Mission Statement The Providence Film Festival RIIFF 2002 Team Films Screened at RIIFF