An Evening with Tim Bieber
Too often today, the term "documentary" conjures up images of
multi-part PBS marathons like Ken Burns' films on jazz, the Civil War
and baseball. Filmmaker Tim Bieber, however, specializes in the
opposite: the documentary short. How can a filmmaker profile a person
or phenomena in 4 minutes or less? Find out as we screen Tim's award
winning films (some of which are included in NYC's Museum of Modern
Art's permanent collection). Then meet the filmmaker as he discusses
how he finds his subjects and makes his hilarious and poignant films.

Capturing the Friedmans

WINNER! Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize

(2003, Dir. Andrew Jarecki, PG-13, 107 min.)
A seemingly typical, upper-middleclass family’s world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are accused of shocking and horrible crimes. The ordeal the family faces is captured through hours of home videos made by the family members themselves.

Winged Migration

2003 Oscar Nominee, Best Documentary

(2002, Dir. Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats, Jacques Perrin, G, 98 min.)
A beautifully shot documentary on the migratory patterns of birds shot over the course of three years on all seven continents. Featuring extraordinary cinematography as many species of birds were trained to fly in formation with camera-equipped ultralight planes. You have never seen anything like this!

Spellbound

2003 Oscar Nominee, Best Documentary

(2002, Dir. Jeffrey Blitz, PG-13, 97 min.)
Eight teenagers, from all different walks of life, compete to win the 1999 National Spelling Bee. The competitors displaying nerves of steel, cope with intense pressure, and tolerate the over-zealous parents who live vicariously through the children. Inspiring, mezmerizing, hilarious, and heartbreaking. A must see for the whole family!

The Kid Stays In The Picture

Chicago and Boston Film Critics Awards, Best Documentary

(2003, Dir. Nanette Burstein & Brett Morgen, R, 91 min.)
The unbelievably strange and true story of Robert Evans, the small-time actor who eventually rose to become one of the first power-player producers in Hollywood and was the head of Paramount Pictures. Archival footage is digitally “re-worked” by Evans to create an unique cinematic “autobiography.” Don’t miss Dustin Hoffman’s hysterical imitation during the end credits!

Naqoyqatsi

(2002, Dir. Godfrey Reggio, PG, 89 min.)
Completing the 20-year-in-the-making 'qatsi' trilogy
(Koyaanisqatsi-the Hopi Indian term for "life out of balance" -
premiered in 1983), this cinematic concert's mesmerizing images are
plucked from everyday reality, then visually altered with
state-of-the-art digital techniques. The result is a chronicle of the
shift from a world organized by the principles of nature to one
dominated by technology, the synthetic and the virtual. Extremes of
intimacy and spectacle, tragedy and hope fuse in a tidal wave of
visuals and music, giving rise to a unique, artistic experience that
reflects the vision of a brave new globalized world, Music composed
by Philip Glass."

"Will leave you pondering human fate and asking unanswerable questions." -- Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES

"Filmmaking at its purest and most visceral." -- Michael O'Sullivan, WASHINGTON POST

Step Into Liquid

(2003, Dir. Dana Brown, unrated, 87 min.)

Updating surf movies from the 1960s, this documentary profiles
surfers and surfing locations worldwide, from the monstrous waves of
Oahu's North Shore to Da Nang in Vietnam plus the tropics of Rapa
Nui. Beyond the diverse and spectacular locations, however, are the
wide range of surfers profiled, challenging the stereotypes about the
surfing counterculture.

"The best surfing documentary ever" -- Rolling Stone Magazine

Forgotten Silver

(1995, Dir. Costa Botes & Peter Jackson, unrated, 53 minutes)

On November 17, 1995 director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings,
Heavenly Creatures) pulled off one of the largest hoaxes perpetrated
since Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast. That evening, New
Zealand television nationally broadcast Jackson's new documentary
which shockingly revealed the true inventor of cinema: New Zealand
resident Colin McKenzie. The film so convincingly recreated archival
footage, historical events, and expert witnesses that the entire
nation bought the hoax hook, line and sinker! See this extraordinary
and hilarious send-up of the documentary along with Behind the Bull:
the "real" making-of the "fake" movie.
35mm print courtesy of Peter Jackson and The New Zealand Film Commission .

"Jackson is a gleefully, deliciously deranged filmmaker." -- Marc Savlov, AUSTIN CHRONICLE

The Weather Underground

(2002, Dir. Sam Green & Bill Siegel, unrated, 92 minutes)

This intensely captivating documentary focuses on the radical
political activist group The Weathermen, who protested the Vietnam
War. With roots in the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the
Weathermen represented a small faction of political-minded protesters
who believed-in order to avoid marginalization-they needed to take
violent action. The films looks at the group's wildly daring tactics
and philosophies for change but also comments on the group's failures
and irresponsible methods. Some of the film's most revelatory moments
come from other political activist groups, such as the Black
Panthers, who reflect on The Weathermen's actions.

Nominated for the Grandy Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival

Pandemic: Facing AIDS

(2002, dir. Rory Kennedy, not rated)
Pandemic focuses on the AIDS crisis in five countries (Uganda, India,
Brazil, Thailand and Russia) and puts a human face on this global
epidemic by following the lives of people living with AIDS. The film
connects the audience with the heartache and triumph of living under
the extreme conditions of this disease.

The Devil's Playground

(2002, Dir. Lucy Walker, unrated, 77 minutes)

This engrossing Sundance Film Festival sensation explores the Amish
coming-of-age tradition known as "Rumspringa." With unprecedented
access to the Amish community, filmmaker Lucy Walker follows several
children after their 16th birthday, when they are allowed to
experience the "English" world (the "devil's playground") and all of
the commodities, pleasures, and temptations that world holds. The
children must decide between embracing the church or living
permanently in the English world.

Nominated for Independent Spirit Awards Best Documentary