filmfreak75: SIFF 2012

Riveting look at the politics, big business and the medical industry that has made America the most prescription-addicted society in the world. America is less than 5% of the World's population but consumes 80% of the World's prescription narcotics. We have gone from being the land of the free to the land of the addicted.

In this witty comedy from teen director Emily Hagins, young Kate visits a local comic convention and falls for good-hearted vampire Paul, but her friends are worried when she suddenly starts displaying eerie, undead qualities of her own.

18th century Poland sees a new messiah arriving from Turkey. He promises eternal life on earth to those who join him. 25 years later he's in Vienna. 2 men, each of them on his own and driven by different reasons, try to solve his secret.

Two teenage brothers must face their own prejudices head on if they are to survive the perils of being Egyptians growing up on the streets of gangland London.

The story of two coalitions -- ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) -- whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition.

A documentary on Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop who set a precedent in New Hampshire state politics, and the battle for LGBT people to receive full acceptance in the faith.

Joshua Tree, 1951 is the provocative and mesmerizing experimental portrait of an icon.

A teenage boy's search for love finds him fixated on a boy who lives nearby.

After 15 years, Tomas, a not very successful writer, comes back to the village in Galicia where his family comes from, Arga, apparently to get an award. But he doesn't know the real reason why he is there, to end with an old curse that is been haunting the village for the last hundred years.

The history of fictional female heroes in Western media from Wonder Woman's creation onward.

Elizabeth Hunter controls all in her life - society, her staff, her children; but the once great beauty will now determine her most defiant act as she chooses her time to die.

A documentary centered on a young man in Spain who claims to a grieving Texas family that he is their 16-year-old son who has been missing for 3 years.

A documentary on the workings and beliefs of the self-described "hacktivist" collective, Anonymous.

In Manhattan, film-maker Erik bonds with closeted lawyer Paul after a fling. As their relationship becomes one fueled by highs, lows, and dysfunctional patterns, Erik struggles to negotiate his own boundaries while being true to himself.

Khoi, a naive twenty-year-old, travels to Ho Chi Minh City from the countryside to begin a new life. It's his first time in the big city and he's looking for a place to live. He befriends Dong, a handsome extrovert who offers to share his apartment. When Khoi goes to check the place out, he meets Lam, who also appears to be living there. Khoi decides to stay, but while he showers, Dong and Lam - who turn out to be boyfriends - run off with all his cash and belongings. It's not long before Lam is himself abandoned by Dong, and winds up back on the street as a prostitute. Meanwhile the penniless and disillusioned Khoi takes on menial jobs to survive. Lam and Khoi are eventually reunited, and despite Lam's past actions, the two become closer and closer - even though Khoi becomes more and more troubled by Lam's dangerous source of income. At the same time, Cuoi, a mentally handicapped man abandoned by his family, attempts to befriend a female prostitute. Her pimps do not take kindly to his hanging around and scaring away customers, but she takes pity on him and ultimately becomes his protector.

A family man battles to prove his innocence after being accused of a heinous crime.

A documentary on Ethel Kennedy that provides an insider's view of a political dynasty, including her life with Robert F. Kennedy and the years following his death when she raised their eleven children on her own.

Brazil, 1978, a group of people live their lives under the dictatorship, the euphoria of disco fever and the fantasy of "Dancin' Days", a prime time soap, which fictional drama is set on the homonymous night club in Rio de Janeiro. After a fatal incident, Amanda and Dora (a high-class prostitute addicted to the TV drama, and her "maid") are forced to run away from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro with the fed Brandão in hot pursuit. While the excitement of visiting the disco "Dancin' Days" distracts Amanda from the danger of the situation she is in, Dora gets ready to confront her secret past. In a six degrees of separation manner, their destine will cross with João Paulo, a diplomat who feels like a foreigner in his own country, the revolutionary Vicente and his brother Pedro, and the teenager Caio, who was raised by his grandparents and counts with the support of his friend Mônica as he struggles to be accepted as a gay man. Both youngster are crazy about disco fever and fascinated by the soap "Dancin' Days".

Jenn (straight) and Matt (gay) are best friends from college who are now in their thirties. Single by choice, they decide to fulfill a youthful promise to have a child together--the old-fashioned way.

Borya, the clumsiest pupil at the Bolshoi Ballet School, is convinced he is the son of Mikhail Baryshnikov, and sets out to persuade others.

A virgin finds himself in an awkward love triangle after he gets into the habit of loaning out his van to his friends for their sexual encounters.

A poor boy of unknown origins is rescued from poverty and taken in by the Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy.

DUCK BEACH - A documentary about the annual spring break gathering of over a thousand single Mormons at Duck Beach North Carolina. Called the 'Mormon Jersey Shore' by the Daily Beast, the film follows four unique singles in their 20s and early 30s. Through them - the film explores many striking and distinctive aspects of Mormon single life: partying without alcohol, supposedly chaste late nights, Mormon style hookups, and the all consuming quest to find romance with other Mormons in order to fulfill their very purpose on earth. The film is an unprecedented look into a world most people only assume to know. Spending time with the four characters, their friends and families, we start to understand the complexities, contradictions, struggles and confusions that are a part of this compelling facet of American life - being a single person of faith in modern America.

A disturbed, delusional high-school student with aspirations of a career in medicine goes to extremes to earn the approval of her controlling mother.

In the heat of the summer of 1976, drama teacher Vivienne fights sweltering heat and general teenage apathy to put on an end-of-term version of Shakespeare's The Tempest.