Bingo Canada
What happens when a lie is told often and loud enough? Inspired by an absurdist play, computer animator Chris Landreth (the end, SF 96) creates a compellingly visual world populated by a cavalcade of bizarros all asking the same question. The results are dazzlingly disorienting.

Cry Radio
Hang dog DJ Bobby Sandoz is about to lose the job he has held for 24 years - spinning disks for an ever-failing radio station. His inspired reaction finds an untapped listenership, saves his job and transforms the format. Jarl Olsen's (Devil Doll) droll tale will tickle the funny bone of any commuter who has risked collision while frustratedly twiddling the dial in a fruitless search for just the right tune.

Everyday
One wintry night in 1959, on the eve of their debut, the Pharaohs of Rhythm shakily hone their three-song repertoire and huge dreams of fame. En route to school the next morning, the three hear news which turns their day - and lives - topsy-turvy. Adapting a story by Garrison Keillor, Tracy Allen Davy captures with heart, charm, and an infectious song the moment when rock 'n roll and the dreams it inspired lost their innocence.

Humdrum England
From acclaimed Aardman Animation (of Wallace and Grommet fame) comes Peter Peake's wry tale of two excruciatingly bored shadow puppets. Desperately seeking a diversion, one inanely prattling puppet badgers his "grumpy pants" companion into a simple game-with hilariously unsuccessful results.

Mutual Love Life
Basking in a heady glow of candlelight, red wine and Nat King Cole, Don and Sarah gaze romantically into each other's eyes. It's only date number three and they're trembling on the verge of commitment. But who's the suit at the next table and what is he doing here? Director Robert Peters gives a humorously contemporary twist to an age old theme.

Silence England
Tana Ross survived the Holocaust and didn't speak about it for 50 years. She vividly remembers being separated from her mother, living in a concentration camp and then moving to where her experiences were best kept a secret. Blending animation and documentary footage to powerful effect, Orly Yadin and Sylvie Bringas create a moving legacy of family, history and breaking silence.

Tulip
Actress Rachel Griffiths (Hilary and Jackie) proves she can create magic from either side of the camera in this gentle tale of transition. William has just lost his wife of 45 years. He tries to adjust to the life alone, but first he must solve the dilemma of how to milk the cow, Tulip. His solution is as unorthodox as it is beguilingly obvious.

The Beach
A man, a woman, a beach, a swim.

Between My Mother's Legs
In Nina Grünfeld's contemporary comedy, typical 13 year-old Erling is eagerly anticipating attending his first rock concert. However his very pregnant, single-parent mother needs him for a very untypical chore.

Cousin
In part two of his trilogy, animator Adam Benjamin Elliot (Uncle, SF 98) once again delves into the fertile ground of childhood memory. This time he remembers a cousin whose special arm, pet rocks and fascination for shopping carts have left a poignantly indelible impression.

The Fishmonger's Daughter
In Caroline Sax's engaging, bittersweet comedy, spunky Ruby is trapped like the catch of the day in a tiny North English fish shop she runs with her kindly, eccentric father. When motorcycle-riding delivery man John comes a-courtin', she exasperatedly resists his handsome but bland charms. But then...

Great Falls
Australia's deep-horizoned, lonely outback backdrops Yves Stening's gripping adaptation of the Richard Ford short story. Louis Westgarth as quiet young Jackie and Anthony Phelan as bluff, outdoorsy Jack give masterful performances as a son and father who, after a day of duck hunting and warm camaraderie, are flung into a sudden, painful turning point in their lives.

Making Change
When a lonely young man arrives in New York City, he's charmed by the first woman he meets. When he discovers she's stolen his wallet, he hardly expects his heart will be next to go. With enormous charm and a great soundtrack, Georgia Irwin's "love in the 90s" meet-cute scenario will leave you with a smile on your face - and an impulse to check your back pocket.

One Night with You
Stylish young Anders tiptoes in stocking feet down the hallway of his high school sweetheart's house, eagerly opening her bedroom door to enter a dream come true - but whose dream is it? Georg Rødsten crafts a very funny commentary on the illusions - and delusions - of young love circa 1960.

Photographer
It's the last day of an old photographer at work in his studio and he's still busy framing and capturing the "good side" of a parade of clients. With exquisite charm, Alexander Kott reminds us of film's most elemental appeal: our fascination with the human face.

Sunset in Venice
In an open air café bordering Piazza San Marco, a dapper gentleman sits at his customary table, indulging in his hobby of condescendingly observing the foibles of passers-by. On this day, a string of annoying intruders punctures his cynical aplomb. With finesse, Spiro Taraviras explores how even the most worldly-wise and wary cannot always parry life's surprises.

The Voyage
An innovative mix of live action and computer animation as richly elegant and intricately detailed as the 16th Century Japanese paintings which inspired it. Christian Boustani's film depicts a Portuguese sailing ship's adventurous voyage as the Japanese artists who witnessed its arrival might have imagined it.

12 Stops on the Road to Nowhere
One high-speed day, Bill - fired from his pizza job, evicted from his dive apartment, chased by pistol-packing bad guys, meets Jenny - drugged, burgled by her boyfriend, and left with only Scooby and some lingerie. Things can only go downhill from here. Jay Lowi pulls out all the inventive stops in this madcap rags-to-riches-to-watermelons tale.

Come Unto Me: The Faces of Tyree Guyton
With Detroit's blighted East Side as canvas, biblical parables as inspiration, his house painter father as mentor, and piles of urban refuse as his palette, artist Tyree Guyton has struggled to transform his inner-city neighborhood into living art and preserve it from bureaucratic bulldozers. Filming Guyton since 1994, Nicole Cattell creates a remarkable portrait of an "outsider" artist, his family, and the community their vision nourishes.

I'm on Fire
Working with producers fXm Shorts (Phil Touches Flo, SF 98), Ryan Lowe begins this ultrashort with an unforgettable image and takes it several steps (and a car ride) further than we'd ever expect!

Millennium Bug
Jump-start your vocabulary for the blisteringly fast-paced K2 culture shocks awaiting us with Lee Lanier's tongue-in-cheek, surrealist peek into the future. It's reassuring to know the parlor game of Dictionary will not be obsolete - even if parlors will.

More
Passion. Inspiration. Unfettered joy. These most elemental yet frequently elusive ingredients in the alchemy of life are explored in animator Mark Osbourne's magically captivating tale of an inventor determined to tap into a cherished private vision and transform the grey reality of his monotony-bound life.

Patterns
In this sensitive drama, Kirsten Sheridan delicately depicts a loving family focused on an autistic child. Tommy inhabits a fragile inner world of patterns easily shattered by the real world's surprises and imperfections. With a child's clarity, younger brother Jimmy shares Tommy's world, understands its limits and knows simple fix-it tricks to restore order when things breaks down. But the bright and lively Jimmy is outgrowing their quiet, orderly world.

William Psychspeare's "The Taming of the Shrink"
Ken Boynton (Much Ado about Puberty, SF 98) returns, this time applying his fertile imagination, rapier wit and anachronistic knack for iambic pentameter to group therapy. Staging a very modern-day situation as the Bard might interpret it, Boynton succeeds in gently spoofing our obsessions and inner sacred cows.

You Make My Body Shake
Oh to be a teenager with all hopes and dreams pinned on the sugary cadences of the current Top Ten. Katrin Vorderwëlbecke delves into the world of female adolescence and its array of fluttery sensations in this sweet girl meets boy band tale of eye glitter, heartache and pink cake.

Bubblepac
Even in an eerily desolate world of urban decay, that most tactile of packing materials continues to fascinate - first a group of children, then some bio sleuths, and so on. Through music and stunning images, Rick Dublin conducts a visually clever autopsy on the dispensable and indispensable, reminding us that we're more alike than we think.

Cedric's World
It's a dog's life from a dog's point of view. C'est la vie!

Cormac's Trash
Like B.J Traven and Thomas Pynchon, writer Cormac McCarthy embraces a lifestyle that repels rather than relishes the limelight. During a year-long stop in El Paso, filmmaker Rafe Greenlee enlisted the aid of his wife, newborn son and an assortment of others (including a trash collector) in a quest to understand McCarthy. Along the way, he had a chance to explore the meaning of privacy.

Dirt
Chel White serves up an amusing, surrealistic rumination on the ultimate sustainable setting. Appearing soon on a menu near you!

The End of the Road
An elderly woman out for a drive in upstate New York picks up a suspicious hitchhiker. Suspense is 9/10s of the creepy fun in Keith Thomson's film where what you see is not always what you get.

Fishbelly White
An awkward young farm boy undergoes a profound and painful rite of passage in Michael Burke's masterful drama of nascent sexuality and friendship. Ridiculed for his love of animals (his best friend is a chicken), the boy's acceptance by his peers requires a stunning choice.

Johnny Bagpipes
Wanted: One band to jam with a bagpipe player. Johnny B. wails out rifts from AC/DC to Metallica. His dream: to have a plaid tour bus or jet and open for the rock gods who've inspired him. Born to rock but caught in limbo, Johnny B. struggles to find his place in the music world. Todd Korgan (Have You Seen Patsy Wayne?, SF 98) turns his lens on yet another character sustained by a rich fantasy.

A Pack of Gifts, Now
Corky Quakenbush (One Hand, Left, SF 98) lampoons another celluloid classic in this stop-motion parody of Apocalypse Now in which Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is sent up glacier to relieve Santa of his bag of toys.

A Spot of Tea
In Jim Hoppin's lively pop riff on the illuminating power of imagination, a young woman enjoying a quiet tea break in her cramped cubicle of an apartment is struck by a colorful redecorating idea whose benefits reach beyond her own four walls.

Three Chords and a Wardrobe
Temperamental Nick is an aspiring pop musician who requires an unusual work environment. The increasingly fed-up Rachel just needs help changing a light fixture. Brendan Young offers a hilariously explosive scenario of love in the 90s.

Bunny
It's late at night and there's a moth batting at the screen. Absorbed in her baking project, Bunny is annoyed. The moth persists and a battle ensues. Chris Wedge whips up a beautiful animated tale of longing, rituals of love and metamorphosis.

Day to Day
Following Orlando from infancy to old age, Flavio Frederico's eloquent tour de force seamlessly interweaves a sampler of days into a compelling tapestry illustrating the fleeting nature of life and history.

Devil Doll
Two little girls find an out-of-the-ordinary talking doll in Jarl Olsen's mini-movie.

Handle with Care
In Susanne Buddenberg and Lorenz Trees' miniature, the solitary inhabitant of an alpine cabin can hardly finish his puzzle, so persistent are the mysterious tremors that disturb his concentration.

Herd
Mike Mitchell's wacky cinematic conundrum mixes genres (action, sci-fi, buddy) as fast and furiously as it blends icons (the American flag, fast food, and the Bible). All in pursuit of that ultimate question: Is there life on other planets and if so, can I quit my day job?

Life in Fog
Shooting in a remote Kurdistan mountain village, Bahman Ghobadi documents four days in the life of Nezhad, a 14 year old boy who, with the help of his mule, smuggles goods on the Iran/Iraq border. Life in Fog is a moving portrait of a child compelled to straddle several worlds and roles.

Magical Words
It's almost Christmas and DJ arrives on his father's doorstep, armed with a letter divulging everything he has always wanted to say but couldn't. In the second part of his father-son tryptych, Jean-Marc Vallée creates a poignant and funny nightmare which plumbs the murky depths of filial love.

Peep Show
All talk and no action takes a seductively amusing turn in Charles Call's clever revision of that ultimate salacious enterprise. Expect to have your funny bone unexpectedly aroused.

Pilbara Pearl
Eddie cannot fathom Pearl's reluctance to leave her sweltering roadside cafe and aquarium for his offer of a better life somewhere far from the hot, red dust and endless roads of her desert home. But then, Eddie has not seen Ningaloo. In this tale of conflicting dreams, Christopher Watson concocts a charming outback romance, sweetened with a splash of Magic Realism.

Atomic Tabasco
It's 2:00 am in NYC as a polyglot assortment of disparate types - and languages - converge on a Lower East Side convenience store. (Mis)com-munication is in earnest and escalating fast in Jim Cox's drolly provocative take on the melting pot, verbal exchange, and a simple request for directions.

Cold Feet
A meticulous thief instinctively feels that he's overlooking a crucial element in his planning for the next job. He soon discovers the seeds of his fate are buried in the past in Jim Allodi's stylish tale of intertwined love and larceny.

Darwin's Evolutionary Stakes
It's a hot, sticky Saturday at the beginning of the world as bets are placed on the biggest race of all. From the slime of prehistory through the perils of ice age, plague and technology, Andrew Horne imagines a neck and neck struggle to see who'll be first across the finish line into the third millenium.

Elimination Dance
Painful and humiliating, the rules of the dance are simple: if the caller announces a circumstance that has occurred in your life, you must leave the floor. Based on a poem by Michael Ondaatje, Bruce McDonald and Don McKellar fashion a wry, slightly surreal version of the dance of life.

Guy's Dog
Guy's dog wants to shoot pool, wear trousers, ride a bike and hang with his mates. He believes he's a man trapped in a dog's body. That only makes him madder. Rory Bresnihan's humorously cautionary claymation ponders the roots of discontent and being careful about what you wish for.

Little Dark Poet
From the bolexbrothers studios (Keep in a Dry Place and Away from Children, SF 98) comes Mike Booth's animated tale of love, lust, and the dark recesses of a writer's head starring a lone claymation poet and the live-action characters he manipulates.

Mothers in Arms
Imagine Hitchcock with a finger on pulse of being a mother in the 90s and you'll begin to get an inkling where Peter Gren Larsen's wickedly humorous and slightly macabre tale leads. The usual chats about breast feeding, nappies and prams are abruptly terminated at Camilla's flat. Last night's dinner's still on the table and Camilla's husband is oh-so-dead. What's a mom to do?

Open the Window
Guy is angst-ridden and lazy. He daydreams about being outside where he might truly be alive. Oh-la-la! If only someone would open the window. A quasi-French existential comedy from Chicagoan Steve Stein.

Roadhead
A road trip from New York to Austin captures the essence of Americana and some of the colorful personalities that inhabit our regional landscapes. Bob Sabiston brings a unique visual sensibility to the documentary form, compelling us to rethink our perceptions of "reality".

Batpig in the Underworld
Simultaneous translation provided. Meet Batpig, savior of the underworld and Glutton, a senseless oversized creature who has a insatiable taste for turnips. Batpig is mighty resourceful and sends Glutton on a journey of a lifetime.

The Bear
Raymond Brigg's (The Snowman) Illustrations are brought to extraordinary life in Hilary Audus' beautiful big screen adaptation. While visiting the zoo, little Tilly accidentally drops her beloved teddy into the polar bear pit. That night a surprise visitor appears at her window, teddy in tow, and so begins a magical friendship of bear-sized proportions from TVC London (Famous Fred, SF 97; The World of Peter Rabbit, SF 96 & SF 97).

Chrysanthemum
Meryl Streep narrates Kevin Henkes' charming pint-size tale of a little mouse who thinks her name is absolutely perfect until she starts school. Life at school does not change until she meets an especially wonderful Music teacher. Virginia Wilkos' film adaptation is a delight.

Humdrum
Two bored shadow puppets play themselves at their own game. Peter Peake's clever animation is sure to make you laugh and renew your fascination for the art of shadow puppetry.

A Little Inside
Kara Harshbarger spins a heartwarming story of the bond between six year old Abby and her widowed father, Ed. Father and daughter are avid baseball fans. When Abby develops an interest in ballet, Ed fears he will lose the closeness that their love of baseball provides.

A Soccer Story
With English subtitles. Simultaneous translation provided. A childhood friend of soccer great, Pelé, remembers the time in his life when soccer meant everything to him and his pals. Paolo Machline's film recreates a wonderful memory and the game that launched a legend.