Films at MOCA with the Jacksonville Film Festival
October 23 – December 4
7 Award-Winning Films on Thursdays at 8pm this fall in the MOCA theatre!
$6 for Members; $8 for Non-Members
October 23
The End
Nicola Collins 2008
Run time: 68 min. | UK
The End is a never-beforetold story of a group of men with a common bond. All born into poverty in the east end of London, striving for a better life and all that is found is a life in crime. Unashamed and unapologetic these men live their lives defined by a code of honor. The End reveals a bloody history and the confessions of the cockney gangster.
October 30
Radio Cape Cod
Andrew Silver 2008
Run time: 90 min. | USA
Radio Cape Cod is an energizing award winning love story set on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Among the charming quartet of love stories, is Tamzin Outhwaite, who plays a radio interviewer coming to terms with the loss of her husband and a new love played by Olatunde Fagbenle, a dashing young scientist balancing work and romance. As she explores her awakened sense of self, she copes with her teenage daughter experiencing her first love.
Andrew is a Producer and Director with extensive experience in nurturing performance and creativity. He specializes in working with teams of film and television professionals to create pieces that inspire the audience to think beyond the normal scope of everyday life. His education includes Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from MIT, and a Doctorate from Harvard Business School. Andrew has taught film at Brandeis University and the State University of NY. His film career spans over 30 years and includes various award winning fictional films and documentaries.
November 6
Mojave Phone Booth
John Putch 2006
Run time: 86 min. | USA
In the middle of the Mojave Desert rests an abandoned phone booth, riddled with bullet holes, graffiti, its windows broken, but otherwise functioning. Its identity was born on the Internet, and for years travelers would make the trek down a lonely dirt road and camp next to the booth, in the hopes that it might suddenly ring, and they could connect with a stranger (often from another country) on the other end of the line. This is the story of four working class people from Las Vegas whose lives intersect with this mystical outpost.
John Putch is an accomplished actor and director. Putch began his professional career as an actor at the age of five in a summer theatre run by his father. He has had a respectable television and film career since then and now directs. Some of his feature films are: Valerie Flake (1999) (official selection 1999 Sundance Film Festival), Pursuit of Happiness (2001), the documentary This is My Father (1998/II) as well as the multi award winning Mojave Phone Booth. He has also directed several episodes of the popular television series Scrubs and is currently directing Ugly Betty.
November 13
North Starr
James Greenberg 2007
Run time: 122 min. | USA
After watching the brutal murder of his best friend, Demetrious wants out of the thug life and flees the badlands of Houston, Texas, for greener pastures. His cash takes him only as far as Trublin, a backward town with a past it can’t bury. There, Demetrious meets Darring, an unlikely kindred spirit from a disparate upbringing who takes him under his wing. Together, the two struggle to rouse the demons that haunt the tiny town and bury them once and for all.
November 20
Remarkable Power
Brandon Beckner 2007
Run time: 101 min. | USA
A late-night talk show host is about to be pulled off the air after a fifteen-year-run, and his wife is engaged in a steamy affair with a professional baseball star. Host Jack West (Kevin Nealon) is desperate to keep aflame his fading celebrity and avenge the misdeeds of his adulterous spouse. With the clock ticking, Jack concocts the mother of all media stunts, killing two birds with one unforgettable stone on the road to redemption.
November 27: SPECIAL THANKSGIVING DAY PRESENTATION
Trail of Tears : Cherokee Legacy
Chip Richie 2006
Run time: 97 min. | USA
America’s most shameful episode of ethnic cleansing is the subject of this excellent documentary. The “Five Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole) were expected to acculturate to “white” standards in the late 18th and 19th centuries but then were still forced out, especially after the discovery of gold in Georgia, which not only accelerated the pressure on native peoples but also led to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. In 1838, some 16,000 Cherokee Indians in the Southeastern United States embarked—in exchange for their homelands—on a mandatory march along what came to be known as the “trail of tears,” moving 800 miles west to Indian Territory (later Oklahoma) to join other relocated tribes, a horrific journey that resulted in the deaths of thousands (nearly a quarter of the people). Trail of Tears combines interviews with eminent historians and re-enactments filmed on-location in six different states.
December 4
Cracker – The Last Cowboys of Florida
Victor Milt 2008
Run time: 75 min. | USA
Yes, there are cowboys in Florida. Real live roping and riding cowboys. And they have been on the scene for over 250 years. In fact, Florida vies with Texas as the number one cattle-producing state in the USA. Filmed over a course of three years, we soon realized that the life of the Florida cowboy was changing, disappearing before our very eyes. The explosion of land values has forecast an end to large scale ranching and a major loss of wilderness in Florida. This film captures the beauty of the old ways, many of which have not changed in hundreds of years, with the drama of encroaching civilization. It’s a beautiful and important film documenting America in the throes of change.
Filmography links and data, in part courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.