Doxita: Life Is a Progress

Monday, July 19, 2010

“Life is a progress, and not a station,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Life ebbs and flows with change. There are hurdles that must be scaled and personal character is built through adversity. People adapt their behavior to get through everything from war to displacement to growing up. These four films capture stories of people’s survival and their ways to cope with self-preservation.

Doxita is a traveling festival of documentary films that are under 40 minutes in length. The program, comprised of approximately 90 minutes of film, represents a wide variety of documentary – domestic and foreign, short and longer format, serious and funny. It is designed to profile the great content and artistic vision that non-fiction short films provide, but that people don’t often get a chance to see.

Steel Homes (UK, Eva Weber, 10 min.) Storage lockers provide a holding ground for memories of long-gone loved ones and dreams that still live. Striking cinematography and sound evoke the minds and personal spaces of average people.

Slaves (Sweden, Hannah Heilborn and David Aronowitsch, 15 min.) Colorful animation brings alive the tale of two Sudanese youth who were captured for slavery. The animation and documentary interview technique mask the children’s identity while also creating an engrossing story of survival.

The First Kid to Learn English From Mexico (USA, Peter Jordan, 20 min.) 9-year-old Pedro Lopez wishes he never left Mexico. Lush camera and music create this almost-surreal, yet honest and charming portrait of this struggling boy.

12 Notes Down (Denmark, Andreas Koefed, 30 min.) Jorgis is the star of his boys choir, until the onset of puberty affects what he loves most: his ability to sing. This beautifully tender portrait

In addition, six Doxita mini-documentaries are also screening as part of our “Short Attention Span Cinema” series, with shorts playing before our regular features through late August:

Loop Loop (Canada, Patrick Bergeron, 5 min) The view from a train, transformed. Winner, Innovation Award, Sheffield Doc/Fest; official selection: SXSW, True/False Film Festivals.

Close to Home (USA, Theo Rigby, 6 min) A father’s quest to find his son’s killers. National finalist, Student Academy Awards.

The Herd (Ireland, Ken Wardrop, 4 min) A brief portrait of a deer who thinks it’s a cow, from the director of His & Hers. Documentary Grand Jury Prize, Seattle Film Festival.

Trash-Out (USA, Maria Fortiz-Morse, 5 min) Cleaning out a foreclosed home. Official selection: Silverdocs, True/False.

Sell It to the Hedge Funds (USA, Haven Pell, 4 min) The hustle of cold calling. Official selection, Florida Film Festival.

Home (USA, Matt Faust, 6 min) An evocative memorial to the filmmaker’s Katrina-flooded home. Winner, Best Short documentary Tribeca.

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.