San Francisco Documentary Festival 2009

Among the Giants is a short documentary film that tells the story of the Adaptive Design Association. This nonprofit organization is located in New York City and builds customized equipment for kids and adults with disabilities, mainly using cardboard. The film portrays the organization's mission through the compelling stories of two fascinating individuals, a woman named Tamara Morgan and a young girl named Raven DeSayles. Tamara Morgan is a twenty-three year old woman who lives in New York City and has brittle bone disease. Being only three-foot two, she gets around in a tiny wheelchair. Tamara struggled with life in the city before finding Adaptive Design. Raven is nine years old and lives on Staten Island. With two unusable legs, Raven uses her powerful arms to move around when she is not confined to her wheelchair. Raven struggled to participate with the other students her age in school, until she found Adaptive Design. Now, both of these individuals use a variety of customized equipment built for them by Adaptive Design. Additionally, the film tells the story of how a woman named Alex Truesdell started the organization at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, MA, and why the company eventually moved to its current home in New York City. Among The Giants causes viewers to question what it means to solve problems, be creative and impact the community all while working with cheap and easily accessible materials.

It's a documentary about a Hostel, named Ansoina Hostel. But the main theme is all about the awkwardness, not about the hostel. I thought awkwardness is one of the precious things that human has, as it's not a fake. I didn't 'made' any fake awkward situations. Because it'll be very fake if I do that. Everything is real. My voice over is weird because it was right after I woke up in the morning. I cough because I ate M&M few minutes before the recording. I tried to tell the stories as honest as I could do. I wanted to be very personal and casual. Didn't cared much about the documentary rules (maybe because there's no such as documentary rules). The only thing that's fake is theme. I pretended that it's all about the hostel, but it's not about the Hostel at all actually. To tell the truth, that's also not a fake because I was really about to tell the things about hostel when I started. And I don't know why, but I just changed the concept during the editing. It starts with my weird voice over, talking about the hostel briefly. And then I introduce Fatih, who is my friend and works there as a staff. I talk about how true friend's behaves. I ask him about the public kitchen in the basement and about the advantage about the hostel. I explain why I couldn't shoot the party at that night.

The Best Short Docs From Around The Bay

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An exploration of the filmmaker's relationship with his mother through a recorded conversation between eighth-grade students and astronauts aboard the international space station. The film explores the distant spaces between memory and history; hope and fear; longing and loss, creating something both personal and universal.

What does it say about American politics when a billionaire donor dresses up like King George III on Capitol Hill, and publishes a major Republican newspaper, and no one seems to care? A journalist goes inside the creepy world of Reverend Moon, the '70s cult leader turned conservative newspaperman...the L. Ron Hubbard of the Far East.

A profile of activist and journalist Josh Wolf. Lone Wolf examines Josh's current job as a Palo Alto Daily Post reporter and his past as a jailed blogger who struggled to get the media establishment to acknowledge that he is a legit journalist.

Australians will bet on anything - but mice!? A fascinating and quite funny journey into the seedy underworld of mouse racing.