Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

This year’s 16 films were selected from a record 953 submissions.

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER
Director and Screenwriter: Edet Belzberg — An exploration of army recruitment in the United States told through the story of Louisiana Sergeant, First Class Clay Usie, one of the most successful recruiters in the history of the U.S. Army.

AMERICAN TEEN
Director and Screenwriter: Nanette Burstein — This cinema vérité chronicles four seniors at an Indiana high school and yields a surprising snapshot of Midwestern life.

BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER*
Director: Christopher Bell; Screenwriters: Christopher Bell, Alexander Buono, Tamsin Rawady — A filmmaker explores America’s win-at-all-cost culture by examining his two brothers’ steroids use…and his own.

FIELDS OF FUEL
Director and Screenwriter: Josh Tickell — America is addicted to oil and it is time for an intervention. Enter Josh Tickell, a man with a plan and a Veggie Van, who is taking on big oil, big government, and big soy to find solutions in places few people have looked.

FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER
Director: Irena Salina — 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.

GONZO: THE LIFE AND WORK OF DR. HUNTER S. THOMPSON
Director: Alex Gibney —Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true “free lance,” goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs.

THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO
Director and Screenwriter: Lisa F. Jackson — Jackson travels to remote villages in the war zones of the Congo to meet rape survivors, providing a piercing, intimate look into the struggle of their lives.

I.O.U.S.A.
Director: Patrick Creadon — Few are aware that America may be on the brink of a financial meltdown. I.O.U.S.A. explores the country’s shocking current fiscal condition and ways to avoid a national economic disaster.

NERAKHOON (THE BETRAYAL)
Director: Ellen Kuras; Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath; Screenwriters: Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath — The story of a family forced to emigrate from Laos after the chaos of the secret air war waged by the U.S. during the Vietnam War.

THE ORDER OF MYTHS
Director: Margaret Brown — In 2007 Mobile, Alabama, Mardi Gras is celebrated…and complicated. Following a cast of characters, parades, and parties across an enduring color line, we see that beneath the surface of pageantry lies something else altogether.

PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE
Director and Screenwriter: Steven Sebring — An intimate portrait of music icon Patti Smith that mirrors the essence of the artist herself.

ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
Director: Marina Zenovich; Screenwriters: Marina Zenovich, Joe Bini, P.G. Morgan — The film explores the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski’s sudden flight from the United States.

SECRECY
Directors: Peter Galison, Robb Moss — Amidst the American hunger for instantaneous news and up-to-date “facts,” this unflinching film uncovers the vast, invisible world of government secrecy.

SLINGSHOT HIP HOP
Director: Jackie Reem Salloum —The voice of a new generation rocks and rhymes as Palestinian rappers form alternative voices of resistance within the Israeli-Palestinian struggle.

TRACES OF THE TRADE: A STORY FROM THE DEEP NORTH
Director: Katrina Browne; Co-Directors: Alla Kovgan, Jude Ray; Screenwriters: Katrina Browne, Alla Kovgan — History finally gets rewritten as descendants of the largest slave-trading family in early America face their past, and present, as they explore their violent heritage across oceans and continents.

TROUBLE THE WATER
Directors: Tia Lessin, Carl Deal — An aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, armed with a video camera, show what survival is all about when they are trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, and seize a chance for a new beginning.