The 24th Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival
November 3 - 11

The 24th Annual Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival screens an abundance of mostly documentary films [some 90 titles] from around the globe. The event's program explores four major themes: a retrospective of the documentary films of Mira Nair, the Indian-born director best known for her feature films: Mississippi Masala (1991) and Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1997). The program also includes a screening of her acclaimed feature film Salaam Bombay! (1988) and the U.S. premiere of her latest documentary The Laughing Club of India. She will attend screenings and discuss her work.

Science is Fiction: A showcase of films by the French naturalist filmmaker Jean Painlevé (1902-1989) who advocated that "science is fiction." Painlevé broke new ground with short avant-garde nature films and created the Les Documents Cinématographiques foundation in Paris to promote the works of both avant-garde and scientific filmmakers. Brigitte Berg, director of Les Documents Cinématographiques will attend post-screening discussions.

Reframing Disability: A perspective on people with disabilities. The highlight is Liebe Perla (US premiere) -- a daughter searches for concentration camp films of her family produced by the nazi Dr. Mengele.

New World Border: An exploration of the different kinds of borders that separate people around the world. The highlights are Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Gustavo Vasquez's mock documentary The Great Mojado Invasion, a fictitious account of the Mexican conquest of the U.S.; and Alexis Kouros' Waiting for Godot at Degaulle about a middle east immigrant stuck at the French airport for ten years due to it's bureaucracy.

Other highlights are the world premiere of Alix Lambert's Mark of Cain, a dark journey into modern-day Russian prisons; and On and Off the Res' w/ Charlie Hill (New York premiere), a portrait of the Native American comedian.

Luben Omaiski