Revelation Film Festival 2008

A Danish girl sees her brother's body be taken over by the soul of an 1800s man. A boy and the local, clairvoyant inventor agree to help her. They're up against dark forces and time when they head off to the Island of Lost Souls.

Set in Arkansas, this poetic and powerful film directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) tracks a blood feud that erupts when two sets of half-brothers come to blows at their father's funeral.

The devastating reconstruction of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old Iraqi girl by American soldiers in Samarra in 2006.

Notorious Bay Area kino-renegade Craig Baldwin tops his earlier found-footage operas SPECTRES OF THE SPECTRUM and SONIC OUTLAWS with the rapid-fire pulp serial-cum-political-tract piss-take on California's major industrial complexes: military, entertainment and religious. Hitting upon everything from Satanism to Scientology, the Beats to the jets (propulsion, that is), Baldwin revs-up his characteristic stock footage reappropriations with some live-action scenes of his own, adding an over-the-top pulp flair to the proceedings. The film focuses on three seemingly disparate characters to fuel this secret history of California: Jack Parsons, inventor of solid rocket fuel, founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Aleister Crowley acolyte; Marjorie Cameron, artist, beatnik and occultist; and L. Ron Hubbard, the science fiction writer turned Scientology founder. Rather than offering straightforward profiles, Baldwin mashes up their histories with archival footage drawn from his vast collection of educational and governmental films, subverting their original narratives (and intent) to his own purposes. His live-action scenes and audio montages blend with these "seized histories," creating a bizarre new form of cinema, a collage narrative where the documentary images of yesteryear lend not truth but poetry, paranoia and fantasy. Arising with demonic force from the twentieth century's accumulated detritus of symbols, the film surveys "the repurposing of the popular imagination in postwar California," according to Baldwin, tracing the "simultaneous rise and convergence of New Age religious cults, the military/aerospace industrial complex and modern-day myths from Disney to certain sci-fi overlords." - Jason Sanders

The true-life story of Darby Crash, who became an L.A. punk icon after getting kicked out of high school and forming The Germs with a collection of friends who have little experience with their instruments or playing music.

Seattle professor returns home, reunites with childhood friend, uncovers disturbing details about father's cult, events escalate dangerously toward apocalyptic situation.

In France in the darkest days of the Great War Camille receives an alarming letter from her soldier boyfriend. Disguising herself as a man she sets off to try and find him. As she lives near the Western Fromt she hooks up with a passing group of French soldiers without too much trouble. But there's something a bit odd about these stragglers, and it's not just their habit of bursting into song at every opportunity.

THE ROAD TO NOD is a narcotic and brooding tale of wrong decisions and their inevitable and desultory consequences. The film is at its roots an Old Testament tragedy. Shot in stark high contrast black and white the film bears resemblance to classic film noirs and the genre of the Road Movie. The otherworldly Irish landscape, long tracking shots and the hallucinogenic blues soundtrack lend the film a peculiar rhythm and atmosphere.

Recently dumped by his girlfriend for another man, working in a job he hates, things could be better for Peter. One night, while he is alone in his apartment, there is a knock at the door. His life will never be the same again.

A man hunts down buried treasure in the Australian outback from World War II with the help of an unlikely accomplice.

This is a story of survival and self-undoing. Against an unforgiving backdrop of homelessness and madness, Begging Naked shows the endurance of the human spirit at its most extreme.

Hell On Wheels tells the story of a group of Texas women who band together to resurrect roller derby for the 21st century.

How LA Learned to Love Modern Art. A lesson in how a few renegade artists built an art scene from scratch.

Prepare for an eclectic journey through The Old, Weird America. Rani Singh's new documentary film tracks the history of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music from its initial compilation of 78 records from rural Americana to its release on Folkways Records in 1952. Instrumental in helping inspire the urban folk revival of the 1960s, the Anthology continues to influence modern music. An incredible set of interviewees reveal the lasting impact of the Anthology and the remarkable personality of Harry Smith. After the box set's re-release on CD in 1997, Hal Willner's Harry Smith Project concerts celebrated Smith's idiosyncratic vision, from Nick Cave's cathartic take on spirituals to Lou Reed's mesmerizing evocation of Blind Lemon Jefferson. The film includes rare archival footage, performances, and interviews with Elvis Costello, Beck, Sonic Youth, Beth Orton, Philip Glass, David Johansen, John Cohen, Greil Marcus, and more. Join us for a wild ride through a remarkable musical landscape.

A documentary about one of Britain's most dangerous crime families and introduces us to its magnetic, larger-than-life leader, Dominic Noonan (aka Lattlay Fottfoy).

A 2007 documentary film by Ron Lamothe about Christopher McCandless notable for coming to a different conclusion on McCandless's death than Sean Penn's film, Into the Wild, and Jon Krakauer's book, Into the Wild.

A portrait of the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

A documentary on avant-garde saxophonist Albert Ayler.

A look backwards, using contemporary interviews and archival footage, at "Hair" the musical, a theatrical and cultural phenomenon in the 1960s and 1970s. The documentary is arranged, loosely, around themes: the context of its creation, friendships among its creators, rehearsals, media coverage, race, sex, politics, backlash, several deaths, drug use leading to dissolution, and an assessment of the play's importance. The commentary comes from a dozen people looking back: creators, producers, actors, and directors of the play and film.

UK director Richard Butchins takes the road trip of his life when he joins a group of disabled performers who decide to live their lives on their terms. On tour in a 20 year old school bus, travelling 2500 miles across America, the 'freaks' worked their way through the wild west. Laughing, crying and drinking - a carnival of the damned -searching for a home...

Chronicles the last great American showman, filmmaker William Castle, a master of ballyhoo who became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous audience participation gimmicks.

Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. 'Flow' confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause.