Connecticut Film Festival 2008

A follow up to “The Promise”. Created by Tim Salem and Brian Simalchik, Child of Hope focuses on the plight of the children of Darfur encapsulating the genocide in Darfur through the eyes of one brave child. All of this suffering leads us to wonder: are we morally obligated to help? In the video actress and activist Mia Farrow speaks about our obligation. Photos from the camps by Mia and drawings by refugee children from Dr. Jerry Ehrlich illustrate the desperate situation

Dismas was a thief and a highwayman. He was also our first saint, the only saint to be canonized by Christ himself, and the only saint canonized while he was still alive. Nearly two-thousand years later, the first free-standing church built inside a prison in the United States is constructed by inmates at the maximum security ultra-rugged Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, N.Y. and dedicated to St. Dismas. Though it was built in 1939, this is the first documentary about the Church of the Good Thief and the many intriguing secrets it holds.

The COMMON SENSE FARM brings us into the world of the Twelve Tribes, a communal Judeo-Christian religious group often referred to as a cult. As we follow a nineteen year-old woman through her wedding, the community’s religious goals—and the role of women and children in achieving them—are revealed. This insulated way of life has led to a fragile relationship with the outside world, sparking controversies, conflicts and misunderstandings on both sides of the fence.

When a murdered war journalist encounters a strange but peaceful woman, he recounts the events that may have led him to her. CRICKETS beautifully explores the possibility of life after death, regardless of how and when you arrived at such a place.

How can we fulfill a growing demand for energy AND combat the catastrophic impacts of global warming? If the coal industry had it its way, liquid coal would be in every car, plane and truck in this country, but is liquid coal really the answer to America's energy woes?

As a bodyguard for a high profile politician, Ruben is reduced to a mere shadow of a man: every action in his life is regulated by a series of mundane routines, and everywhere his boss goes he must follow, watching but never speaking. Resigned to his invisibility, his life is a series of days without meaning, punctuated only by visits to a prostitute, in this compelling chronicle by first time director Rodrigo Moreno of a man without any true identity or connection to the world in which he lives.This film is a selection from Global Lens 2008 Film Series . www.globalfilm.org

In Oaxaca, Mexico, folk art is a family affair, as the family of Venutra Fabian all help create his fantastic, hand-carved creations. A combination of documentary footage, interviews and animated musical segments featuring Fabian’s colorful creations make this short doc a true delight.

In the shadows of vast corporate sugar cane farms in central Florida, poor local citizens take to the fields during harvesting to hunt rabbits fleeing the burning cane. The film explores the cycle of harvesting and hunting, and the unusual, yet organic, relationship formed as the townspeople turn the lemons of corporate farming into lemonade and is an ode to the ancient truth of man as hunter.