Blank Point

Rated: R
Director: Xiao- Yen Wang     Producer: Xiao- Yen Wang
Length: 74 min
Documentary
USA

filmmaker on siteThursday: 12:00pm – Hendricks Art Center 1  Buy Tickets

we're on facebook


Website: The Beijing-San Francisco Film Group

The Blank Point – what is transsexualism?

The Blank Point is a personal view of the fragilities of transsexualism, that of a woman from China where transsexualism is unknown and unimaginable. To Xiao-Yen Wang, the filmmaker, the concept of gender change is the miracle of Western medicine, an advance that blurs our most fundamental precept that men are men and women are women.

The Blank Point focuses on two male-to-female transsexuals and one female-to-male transsexual who talk about their psychological and physical changes during their transition. They talk about adjusting to a new identity, about family and societal rejection, about their sexuality, hopes and feelings.

In The Blank Point, Xiao-Yen Wang retraces her footsteps in trying to understand transsexualism, starting with her initial bewilderment. The film is framed within her thoughts, pulling the audience from one very small view into a broader reality.

Transsexualism’s delicate complexities evaporate when they’re not approached openly, with a strong curiosity; it’s a world of private choices and difficult emotions not discernible on the surface. When stereotypes are realized as misconceptions, when a people’s reality is recognized as it actually is, it broadens our understanding of human nature. The Blank Point seeks to make a hidden reality understandable to a general audience, to bring out the inner experience of transsexuals.

Viewer Ratings:

Earthwork

Rated: G
Director: Chris Ordal         Producer: Chris Ordal
Length: 93 min
Drama
USA

Friday: 5:00 pm – Bushel & Peck’s  Buy Tickets
Saturday: 7:30 pm – The Metropolitan  Buy Tickets
Sunday: 2:30 pm – Hendricks Art Center 1  Buy Tickets

we're on facebook

Website: Earthwork

In 1994, real-life crop artist Stan Herd traveled from Kansas to Manhattan’s Upper West Side to create a massive environmental artwork on land owned by Donald Trump. The multi-acre artwork was made from soil, rock, plants and vegetation near an underground railway tunnel. Stan recruited a number of homeless individuals living in the tunnel to become his crew. Over the months it took to complete the earthwork, Stan dealt with a myriad of difficulties in bringing his unique, rural art form to an urban canvas and the many costs his art exacted upon his life. In the process, he unexpectedly encountered the true meaning of his art and it’s ultimate, lasting rewards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rFT6cpMaeY

Viewer Ratings:

The Rescuers

Rated: PG-13
Director: Michael King       Producer: Michael King
Length: 94 min
Documentary
Germany, France, UK, USA

filmmaker on site Thursday: 7:30pm – Hendricks Art Center 1  Buy Tickets
filmmaker on site Saturday: 5:00pm – Bushel and Peck’s Buy Tickets
filmmaker on site Sunday: 2:30pm – Domenico’s  Buy Tickets


Website: The Rescuers

While Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List illuminated the previously little-known story of a German businessman who saved hundreds of Jews from the concentration camps during WWII, there were many such heroes who defied the Nazis to save countless Jews from a similar fate–-chief among them the 13 diplomats whose efforts are documented in this riveting documentary from Emmy-winning filmmaker Michael King and Executive Producer, Joyce D.Mandell.

The film traces the journey of Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist who teams up with Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned Holocaust historian, to travel across 15 countries and three continents interviewing survivors and descendants of the diplomats who rescued thousands of Jews from the unspeakable horrors of the Nazi death camps. While Nyombayire embarks upon this quest in an effort to uncover potential solutions for the ongoing genocide in Darfur and elsewhere, what emerges from their journey is more a testament to the ways in which the inherent good in the human spirit can trump institutional evil no matter what the circumstance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx0i4bYlLNo

Viewer Ratings:

Mary & Bill

Rated: G
Director: Andrew Napier        Producer:Andrew Napier & Jesse Musky-Fuller
Length: 50 min
Documentary | Biography | Comedy
USA

filmmaker on siteThursday: 5:00pm Domenico’s  Buy Tickets
filmmaker on siteFriday: 2:30pm – Angel Museum  Buy Tickets
filmmaker on siteSaturday: 10:00pmBeloit Library  Buy Tickets

we're on facebook

Website: Mary and Bill


Many people grow up idolizing the young college and professional athletes. The television figures that make slam dunks, hit home runs, and win the Tour de France 7 times. They are incredible individuals, but filmmaker Andrew Napier presents to you a documentary that will truly inspire people of all ages.

Mary and Bill is a feature length film focusing on Mary Stroebe and Bill Wambach. Mary is a 90-year-old triathlete and Bill an 83-year-old high jumper who holds the National record in his age bracket. Bill was also named “Male Athlete of the Year” by the National Congress of State Games. Mary has appeared on the Regis and Kelly Show and later returned to receive the Relly award. The film follows Mary and Bill immediately after health related obstacles. Mary had just broken her leg while down hill skiing and Bill, who recently quite smoking, is recovering from a heart attack. Despite these physical ailments, both decide to train and compete in their respective events. Mary, hoping to complete the Lifetime Fitness triathlon, and Bill shooting to win the National Senior Olympics. Through their amazing commitment, both Mary and Bill prove that age is just a number.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1-1erWdy68

Viewer Ratings: