2005

16th Annual Notre Dame Student Film Festival

Browning Cinema – New Venue
January 20-26, 2005

Featured Films

Soul Searching At Millark Mill (9:00)
Todd Boruff and John-Michael Kirkconnell

A local troupe of ghostbusters head out with an elaborate array of tools to record the ever elusive evidence of some friendly and not-so-friendly spirits. (2004)

Election Day (6:00)
Jimmy O’Connell and Ryan Rogers

Using layered realities, graphic effects and performative gestures this film explores the media and voter perspectives. Three friends on a hill are interviewed by a television news crew before an upcoming election. (2004)

joHn in 6/8 Time (10:11)
Laura Giannuzzi and Elspeth Johnson

Keeping up with joHn Kennedy, the musical chef of the Irish ensemble Kennedy’s Kitchen, is a tough task. Laura Giannuzzi and Elspeth Johnson take us inside the life of one of South Bend’s hardest working musicians. (2004)

Last Syllable of Recorded Time (7:15)
Eric Houston and Rob Shelley

A very quiet and elegant film about the remarkably parallel teachings of Buddhism and Christianity. Last Syllable of Recorded Time depicts a day in the life of a very serious and methodical graduate student in philosophy. (2004)

Ellen, Sara, Shaun & The Rest Of Us (14:20)
Sarah Cunningham and Ernie Grigg

A Pittsburgh bar takes a cue from PT Barnum to make a few extra bucks. The result begs the question, “Who are actually the normal people here?” (2004)

Tireman (8:25)
Daniel Young and John-Michael Kirkconnell

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster.” A young man is stranded on the highway with nothing but his thoughts. (2004)

Found (9:40)
John Hibey and Mike Zonder

Set in a post-industrial area, Found depicts an individual’s reaction to his particular surroundings. Looking for paint, the character finds an older man left behind by the wash of time. (2004)

Puppy Love (6:00)
Lyndsey Grunewald and Emily Andreas

Stuck inside the daily rut of her well kept suburban home, a desperate housewife discovers sparks outside her living room window. If only she can reach out and touch them. (2004)

Friends (to the End) (9:13)
Dan Bulger and Noble Robinette

I’ve got friends in low places. Dan Bulger and Noble Robinette direct this blacker than black comedy in black-and-white. (2004)

Near The Equator (12:30)
Hatti Lim

Near the Equator explores a relationship between friends and takes the audience with them on their journey which is not quite ready to end. As Katie and Matt find themselves lost in a world of indifference and apathy, we slowly see the beauty in their trivialities. (2004)

Piston Envy (8:25)
Monika Mehlmann and Bailey Ertel

Filmmakers Monika Mehlmann and Bailey Ertel reveal that cruisin’ the Mishawaka Strip these days is less teen hangout and more macho auto show. A clever look under the hood at some male bonding in the Midwest. (2004)

Train Wreck: The Making of a Student Film (11:04)
Justin Rigby and Ryan Steele

Students Justin Rigby and Ryan Steele set out with enthusiasm to document the crazy, stressful moments of their frustrated fellow student filmmakers. One problem. As documentary dissolves into dark comedy, it seems that the only frustrated filmmakers around are Justin and Ryan. (2004)

Class Rage (7:17)
Spider Kwok and Kateri McCarthy

Yuppies beware. Class Rage begins in a bathroom. From behind a closed stall, we hear Marie’s refrain: “I love the bathroom. I’ve been working four hours, so I’ve probably made, maybe $27, with taxes. I love bathroom breaks.” The perfect model of alienated labor, Marie jumps from job to job, spending lots of time in the bathroom…until she can’t take it anymore. (2004)

Dissolve (7:54)
Deacon Bruno

Nick is a man on a mission. He’s driving around the Midwest, dropping in on the houses he lived in as a kid. Dissolve takes Nick to the most important house, the one he lived in for three years. A handsome older woman opens the door. Nick moves from room to room, reminiscing. They drink a coffee together. He’s a fine-looking guy. She asks him to stay for dinner. Long pause… (2004)

Ten Common Uses For Baking Soda (9:32)
Monika Mehlmann

A young girl contemplates the sterility of the unpleasant and unnatural environment
surrounding her.
(2004)

Less Than Nude (8:31)
Kristina Drzaic and Lance Johnson

Olivia can’t, or won’t get out of bed. Needing crutches to walk, she’s feeling very sorry for herself. She ponders the dream life of a mind without a body..until the reality of chocolate cake snaps her out of it. (2004)

Duplicity (5:27)
John Klein and Brittny Heinrich

A slice of Notre Dame film noir. Suspicion grows wild inside the crumbling walls of a newlywed’s mind. (2004)

On Deaf Ears (13:25)
John Hibey and Lucy Rzeszutek

Battling closed minds and locked doors, quirky student filmmaker John Hibey turns social activist with his partner Lucy Rzeszutek, in a two person attempt to stop an odd low level noise problem making people ill from Kokomo to South Bend. (2004)