Ji.hlava New Visions Forum: U.S. Docs 2023

HAPPY CAMPERS

MATININÓ

PRESERVES

RECORDING MARY

THE MESSENGERS

THE UNTITLED 19TH* NEWS FILM

TIME AMONGST OLIVE TREES

UNTITLED CRUISE TOURISM FILM

WE ARE LIONS

WEEPING ROCKS

HAPPY CAMPERS
Director: Amy Nicholson
Producer: Amy Nicholson
Country: United States
Runtime: 80’
Estimated date of premiere: March 2023

Synopsis: In a run-down campground off the coast of Virginia, tenants live spitting distance apart in rows of rusty RVs. Beneath a few white trash stereotypes lies an improbable utopia named Inlet View, where residents value simple pleasures, and friendships are treated like gold. Sadly, their self-created paradise has been sold to a developer. It was only a matter of time: Inlet View’s assets read like an overwritten sales brochure. But the real magic of the place is the people. The blue-collar campers hold tight to their final days in the sun. The upscale crowd that moves in will never be as wealthy.

Production Company: Myrtle & Olive

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MATININÓ
Director: Gabriela Díaz Arp
Producer: Karla Claudio Betancourt
Countries: Puerto Rico, United States
Runtime: 80’
Estimated date of premiere: January 2023

Synopsis: The story of Matininó begins with the decision of Idaliz Villanueva to flee an abusive marriage. Thirty years later, the effects of this violence continue to reverberate both in their specific family life and more broadly in their home in Puerto Rico, where a state of emergency has recently been declared amid a massive rise in gender-based violence. In search of meaning within their family narrative and an openness to creatively reframe the traumas of their past, the women of the Villanueva-Rodriguez family come together to write and star in a science fiction film where women hold the power.

Production Company: Rabbit Raccoon

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PRESERVES
Director: Norbert Shieh
Producer: Norbert Shieh
Countries: Taiwan, United States
Runtime: 85’
Estimated date of premiere: 2024

Synopsis: Preserves a meditative journey into the rural region of Yunlin County, Taiwan following those who preserve the agricultural traditions associated with Taiwanese ingredient suan cai (a pickled mustard green). This lyrical look into the aging labour force and farming evolves into a more personal exploration, as the filmmaker reflects on his own role as a documentarian while witnessing the effects of globalization on traditions, cultures, and the preservation of identities.

Production Company: Mustard Green Films, LLC

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RECORDING MARY
Director: Mike Crane
Producer: Mike Crane
Countries: United States, Colombia
Runtime: 70’
Estimated date of premiere: 2023

Synopsis: The filmmaker calls upon his father to help him track down a childhood audio recording that he made of the voice of the Virgin Mary. The film blends original home recordings, scripted scenes and other archival materials to recreate their search for the voice of The Holy Mother. As the deadline approaches, the father and son resort to a game of broken telephone in their attempt to locate the long lost artifact, unearthing strange new memories of spiritual fortitude and cosmic instability.

Production Company: CRANE Y CIA. LTDA

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THE MESSENGERS
Directors: Dominic Gill, Nadia Gill
Producer: Nadia Gill
Country: United States
Runtime: 80’
Estimated date of premiere: 2024

Synopsis: A movement of rebels, problem solvers, and rationalists have come together on the right side to move the needle. They are known loosely as the “ECO-RIGHT”. The Messengers will follow these individuals as they work, across generations, ethnicities, and professions, to steer the climate change conversation in their community.

Production Company: Encompass Films

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THE UNTITLED 19TH* NEWS FILM
Directors: Chelsea Hernandez, Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston
Producer: Diane Quon
Country: United States
Runtime: 90’
Estimated date of premiere: January 2023

Synopsis: Emily Ramshaw wanted to do something radical about the white men dominating newsrooms. “70% of policy and politics editors are men, almost all of them are white,” says Emily. “These are the people deciding which stories are told..." So, Emily and a group of fearless women journalists banded together to buck the status quo and launch The 19th* News*, a digital news start-up. Named after the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote, but with an asterisk to acknowledge the Black women who were omitted, the 19th’s work is guided everyday by the asterisk – asking who is being omitted?

Production Company: Four Pillars Films, LLC

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TIME AMONGST OLIVE TREES
Director: Fany de la Chica
Producers: Fany de la Chica, Natalia Imaz
Countries: Spain, United States
Runtime: 70’
Estimated date of premiere: August 2023

Synopsis: The filmmaker narrates her story as an immigrant in the US and recites memories of her roots through images of her homeland from ten years ago. In a story about the hard loss of traditional life in the countryside and the experience of the person who is gone, the documentary intertwines her own emotional state of displacement and loneliness in the United States as an immigrant, with the passage of time in an Andalusian olive-growing village. The film deals with other topics derived from this starting point, such as the depopulation of rural areas, climate change, and loss of traditions.

Production Company: ChicaStories / PARABELLUM FILM

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UNTITLED CRUISE TOURISM FILM
Director: Catharine Axley
Producer: Catharine Axley
Countries: United States, Turkey, Portugal, India, Finland, Canada, Bahamas
Runtime: 90’
Estimated date of premiere: 2024

Synopsis: Untitled Cruise Tourism Film takes viewers on a sweeping cinematic journey around the world to experience the cruise industry through the dreams and fears of everyday individuals whose livelihoods are intimately interwoven with cruising. Shot entirely onshore, the film travels to ports of call as the cruise industry revs back up to return their 30 million passengers to the oceans. From an aspiring cruise ship worker in India to a shipyard recycler in Turkey, the characters collectively highlight the vast panoramic ecosystem of cruise tourism while digging into its central paradoxes.

Production Company: Molt Films LLC

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WE ARE LIONS
Director: Elvis Leon
Producer: Elvis Leon
Countries: Guatemala, United States
Runtime: 120’
Estimated date of premiere: 2023

Synopsis: The documentary follows Elvis Leon, as he tries to reconnect with his father, Orlando, after his release from captivity. Orlando returns with a martyr-like drive to seek justice through legal means, and when that fails, nothing will stop him from getting revenge. Formerly diagnosed with PTSD as a result of his war experience, Elvis notices his father is dealing with the same symptoms that he once struggled with and he must now help him. This story focuses on the relationship between a father and son, the closure of a traumatic event, and the struggle to survive their trip back to Guatemala.

Production Company: Creature Pictures

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WEEPING ROCKS
Directors: Karlis Bergs, Andrew Siedenburg
Producers: Jackii Chun, Giorgio Angelini
Countries: Latvia, United States
Runtime: 90’
Estimated date of premiere: January 2024

Synopsis: Weeping Rocks follows legendary entomologist Arthur Shapiro and his groundbreaking 50-year project, hiking trails across the country, hand-counting butterflies, and building the largest population database in the Northern Hemisphere. Having revealed an alarming collapse of insect populations, in the face of old age and a ticking clock, Arthur fights to preserve this vital project and build awareness of a looming ecological collapse. Alongside Arthur’s arc, a broader theme of the unimaginable importance of insects unfolds through several vignettes about human’s uncanny relationship with bugs.

Production Company: Lost Horizon Film

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