Ingenuity Film Festival

Ingenuity Film Festival in the Halle Alley

Click on the film titles for their websites

FRIDAY NIGHT
Bitter Memories 14 min — Joshua Marston 
MANchild 17 min — Rawson Marshall Thurber  

Misunderstood 17 min — Clark Johnson  
(these three films are part of Scenarios USA)
The Rapture 95 min —  Johnny K. Wu
Jean Claude: The Gumming Zombie 34 min — Johnny K. Wu
TOTAL………………………177 MIN

SATURDAY NIGHT
Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost 97 min — Todd Kwait
Undefeated 15 min — written/directed by Craig Knowles, produced by Paul Cusato
Wall of Fame 10 min — Bernadette Gillota
Rock-n-Roll Boulevard 9 min — Robert Banks
Walking the River 56 min — Ryan Rodriquez & Johnathan Shick
TOTAL……………………….187 MIN

Collection curated by Bernadette Gillota, artistic director of Independent Pictures (producer of the Ohio Independent Film Festival).

BIOS/SYNOPSES:

The Rapture is the story of two bio-engineered humans, Job and Midael, destined to become living weapons for the military until they are spirited away by the female scientist who created them. Dubbed “Chimaera” by the brilliant but secretive woman they call “Mother,” the two are raised in hiding, each learning to use his own special abilities: Midael with his razor-sharp organic metal wings, and Job with his scorpion-like tail and ability to manipulate energy. But secrets inevitably reveal themselves, and conflict inevitably arises, from within as well as without. For such is human nature. And Chimaera are still human, after all…

Jean Claude the Gumming Zombie: Philosophers have long pondered the question: What would happen if a zombie had no teeth with which to eat brains and other body parts? (Well, if they haven’t been pondering this question, they should have been.) Now, at long last, we know the answer: Plenty! When a toothless Frenchman finds himself the latest victim of a zombie plague, he is befriended by an overly wholesome family that belongs more in a 1950s sitcom than the world of today. (Except that Father’s hobby is black magic rather than golf, and Granny has a thing for guys from “the continent,” even if they’re not quite among the living…) Half pet, half best friend for young Timmy, and all dead, Jean Claude proves that you don’t have to have brains to eat them. Or something.

Rock-n-Roll Boulevard: Robert C. Banks, Jr. (born 1966) is an American experimental filmmaker. Banks attended the Cleveland School of the Arts and has taught film at Cuyahoga Community College, the Cleveland Institute of Art and Cleveland State University. His best-known work is the 1992 film, X: The Baby Cinema, a 4.5 minute, 16 mm short film that chronicled the commercial appropriation of the image of Malcolm X. The movie appeared on the compilation video The Best Of The New York Underground:Year One. The 1994 feature documentary film, You Can’t Get a Piece of Mind explores the world of Cleveland musician and Vietnam veteran, Dan “Supie T” Theman. Banks has had his films shown at the Sundance Film Festival, was named Filmmaker of the Year at the Midwest Filmmakers Conference, and in 2000, he was the honored guest filmmaker in London at the BBC British Short Film Festival. Banks lives in Cleveland, Ohio.

Wall of Fame: A Cleveland teen learns that there’s more to his hometown than the famous people it produced. Directed by Bernadette Gillota, written by Carolyn Jack and  produced by Bill Lucht, this film was produced as part of the Independent Pictures Film Production Internship Program 2008 and was partially filmed at Ingenuity 2008. Bernadette is the artistic & executive director of Independent Pictures, a film arts organization. She has made several films in conjunction with the film training programs that are offered by Independent Pictures.

Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost: Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost is a documentary film on the history of Jug Band Music. It traces the roots of American music beginning with Gus Cannon and Cannon’s Jug Stompers, The Memphis Jug Band and the Dixieland Jug Blowers from the 1920’s, and weaves a tapestry through interviews, live performances, archival footage, and photographs showing their influence on the ever-popular folk and rock movements of the 1960s. The movie is written and directed by independent filmmaker Todd Kwait, and includes interviews and live performances by John Sebastian from the Lovin’ Spoonful, Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur, Bill Keith, Maria Muldaur, and the late Fritz Richmond from the influential Jim Kweskin Jug Band, Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead, Charlie Musselwhite, Paul Rishell and Annie Raines, plus many more artists who were influenced by the great jug band musicians from our past. This movie is a historical retrospective that spans the globe and honors many great talents from yesterday and today. Filming for Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost took the crew to Japan, Sweden, and Kingston, Ontario. Closer to home, filming took place in Northern California; Woodstock, New York; Portland, Oregon; Memphis and western Tennessee; Cambridge, Massachusetts; Louisville, Kentucky; and Cleveland, Ohio. Todd Kwait is a lawyer and businessman with a lifelong passion for film. This project, which he wrote, directed and produced, is his first film. Todd is on the board of Independent Pictures in Cleveland, Ohio and is active in many trade organizations relating to his manufacturing business.

Undefeated: Undefeated is the story of a boxer at the end of his career who sees no reason to stop fighting. He is still winning, but each win comes at an increased physical cost. The short asks the question: “If winning is achieved through acts of violence and brutality, do you not lose some part of yourself in the process?” Starring Douglas Million, Bob Maines and Gabrielle Jones. Craig Knowles is a local writer/director originally from Canada. After moving to Cleveland from Toronto in 1999, Craig took a number film classes at CIA and Tri-C and filmmaking soon became his passion. He has written and directed several shorts, two feature-length documentaries, a commercial for Yahoo! High-Speed Internet and went on to receive his master’s in computer science and film from Queen’s University. Undefeated is Craig’s first film shot on 16mm.

Walking the River: This film is a journey up the Cuyahoga River to explore northeast Ohioans’ relationship to the river. Three local filmmakers walk the river from Lake Erie to the headwaters. The documentary seeks to examine how people live within the Cuyahoga watershed today, and how a river might represent them. Paddle through Cleveland’s industrial valley, explore its explosive past, hike a national park, consider the river’s complex watershed, and investigate developing rural farmlands. Raise your awareness of complex environmental issues that affect the river’s course by seeing through the eyes of the people who live and work along its banks.

Tagged as: Film & Video