An American yearbook of 2020.

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RADIX, conceived and directed by Cristiano Leone, is an audio-visual project that promotes a dialogue between contemporary creation and historical heritage.

RADIX 2 stars the Basque choreographer and dancer Iratxe Ansa and the Italian dancer Igor Bacovich.

Through this artistic video, Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich pay homage to the cultural heritage of two anti-fascist intellectuals, the Spanish poet of Italian origins Rafael Alberti and his wife, the writer Maria Teresa León.

Having fled Franco’s Spain, the Alberti’s arrived in Rome following a long period in exile. During their time in Rome, Rafael Alberti wrote the poetic anthology Roma, peligro para caminantes, while Maria Teresa León wrote her vibrant autobiography, Memoria de la Melancolía.

In the short movie, the dancers (couple in life and art, just like Alberti and León) recite some verses extracted from these two works, evoking both the severe pain of a life in exile and the hope for a new beginning in the city that had just welcomed them: Rome in the 1960s. Both città Eterna (Eternal city) and città Sparita (Vanished city), Rome in the 1960s is the fierce city depicted by Fellini, in which the excessive baroque architecture coexists with ruins covered with inscriptions of love and politics.

The soundtrack is conceived for the occasion by the Spanish composer Marc Álvarez, who pays tribute to the orchestral compositions of Ennio Morricone and Nino Rota, restoring a lifeline that connects ancient Rome to the tempo of the 1960s.

In RADIX 2, the Baths of Caracalla are not only a magnificent setting: they become protagonists of the video as the dancers, whose bodies blend with the spaces of the ancient Palestre, the Caldarium and the Frigidarium, spreading like shadows over the roman mosaics and reinhabiting the openings that once hosted majestic statues.

The words of Rafael Alberti and Maria Teresa León, evoked by the dancers within this setting, acquire a powerful symbolism. The Baths were built by the emperor Antonino Caracalla who in 212 AD issued the Constitutio Antoniana, an edict that granted Roman citizenship to all the inhabitants of the empire.

In a time of political crisis, marked in recent weeks by the tragedy of the Afghan exiles, RADIX 2 is a tribute to all the people who are forced to leave their country and to those who live a form of exile for having chosen to defend their ideals.

Fake news is not new – but now it’s digital. From click-bait headlines to cyber disinformation, we are easily manipulated. What do we gain and what do we lose by our unquestioned beliefs that control our actions?

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David Maddox produced the indie hit “A Ghost Story” starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara for the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. He is the owner of Ideaman Studios in Dallas, TX.

Director Statement

Comedy has the unique ability to force us to confront the flaws of society in a palatable way, and hopefully, allow us to change.

A well meaning math teacher finds herself trumped by a post-fact America.

Since graduating from Pomona College in ’91 with a Film Studies degree, then attending UC Irvine in ’98 where he received an MFA in drama, Kelly has been a mainstay on television. He is recognized everywhere he goes from his starring roles on The Drew Carey Show, One On One, Seinfeld, Between Brothers, and Knight Squad. Kelly understands the actor’s process, knows how to pull a performance out of even the most shy actor, and loves being around creative and talented people more than he loves bacon.
Kelly often teams up with fellow Pomona grad Bry Sanders and the directing duo known as “The Sanderine Brothers” have created some of the most unique fare being produced today. Their film “Downward Hiro” won numerous Best Short Film awards and the feature script for the project has garnered glowing Black List reviews and is currently being shopped around. But for “Thee Who Hesitates…”, Kelly solos the helm and navigates a personal narrative on why he believes that getting vaccinated at this point in America’s history is especially critical for communities of color.

Director Statement

We find ourselves at an inflection point in our world’s history. The world is trying to find a way out of a once in a 100-year pandemic. Covid-19 has shut the planet down for a year, plus. And as we try to find a way to the other side, misinformation and disinformation are leading the United States to the brink of a self-perpetuating calamity. In the United States, where vaccines are available to everyone, many people in every community are choosing not to get their shots. Why? And as with all negative forces, the African-American community and communities of color are the hardest hit.

I hope you’ll watch “Thee Who Hesitates…” and it starts a discussion about getting vaccinated. A discussion, unfortunately, I know will be going on for some time to come.

On April 24th, 2021, I got my 2nd vaccination shot. It came with a tinge of hope as I’d been locked down like the rest of the world for over a year. Now mere months later, with the Delta variant running rampant, the vaccination rates of African-Americans have slowed and we’re on the brink of another shutdown and outbreak. Why? In “Thee Who Hesitates…”, I explore my own journey to getting vaccinated and pondered the question of why African-Americans and people of color are still hesitant to get theirs. Even as the disease continues to spread.

I am Hamid Reza Mahmoodi, 43 years old, who started my artistic activity in high school with the encouragement of a teacher. During high school, I was one of the theater group members and began writing different stories. After the end of high school, I began and completed filmmaking classes with the attendance of well-known masters of the artist, called Masoud Kimiai and Hamid Samandrian. After that, I started to film making….

Director Statement

I suffer from several rare diseases, but I hardly make films in Iran. I love making real films to show the pain of the Iranian people.

After a couple of years of effective efforts, Reza became a writer of the artist. He had to leave his country due to a lot of restrictions, which were an obstacle to achieve his dreams and his goals. Therefore, he made a pivotal decision which led to unexpected events and a lot of problems for him.

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Political Satire

Directed by Joseph Messer

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