Documentary Movies 2003 List

With Isaac Hayes • William Bell • Jerry Butler • The Chi-Lites • Sam Moore • Ann Peebles • Wilson Pickett • Sir Mack Rice • Carla Thomas • Rufus Thomas • Mary Wilson

This documentary examines the careers of the 1950s-1970s Stax Records and Motown soul and R&B singers who "kept on keeping on" right through (and after) the disco scene into today, through the use of interviews with and performance footage by such Motown luminaries as Isaac Hayes, the Chi-Lites, Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave), Mary Wilson (of the Supremes) and others. The focus of the film is how these performers managed to keep thriving through the 30 years of change in the music industry since the heydays of classic R&B.

With Dana Brown • Darrick Doerner • Mike Waltze • Dave Kalama • Peter Mel • Layne Beachley • Ken Collins • Brad Gerlach • Mike Parsons • Rochelle Ballard • Laird Hamilton • Keala Kennelly • Shawn Barron • Jesse Brad Billauer • Taj Burrow • Alex Knost • Jim Knost • Rob Machado • Chris Malloy • Dan Malloy • Keith Malloy

"Step Into Liquid" is a personal glimpse into the world of surfing from the original family of surf films. It's a film for surfers as well as non-surfers alike because it is a film about people with a passion for life. "Step Into Liquid" is a collection of stories about people who live for surfing. The cross-section of characters featured in this film come from many walks of life, but share one thing in common, the need to surf. For many of them, surfing is merely a hobby. For others, surfing is an identity and maybe even a lifestyle. For a fortunate and talented few, it is a profession. And, for one, it is a salvation.

With Ebony Starr Norwood-Brown • Catherine Borek • Karen Greene • Armia Robinson • Archie Posada • Scott Hamilton Kennedy

At Dominquez High School in Compton, California, basketball is valued above all else. The end of the year is marked by a traditional cycle of proms, riots and graduation. And there hasn't been a play at the school in over twenty years. In an effort to make a change, English teacher Catherine Borek attempts to mount a theatrical production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town,"the classic American play about the classic American town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. In the process she takes her fledgling students on a journey of self discovery. With no budget and no stage, Ms. Borek chooses "Our Town" for its universal and timeless themes of community, family, love and loss, life and death, with the hope that her students might see themselves reflected in the roles they play.

With Stacy Peralta • Jason Jessee • Mark Rogowski • Tony Hawk • Steve Caballero • Helen Stickler

This documentary, filmed over six years (1996-2002), is about Mark "Gator" Rogowski, a pro skateboarding star in the '80s currently serving a life sentence for the rape and murder of a woman he barely knew. The film mixes old footage of Gator skating and carousing with recent interviews with such skateboarding icons as Tony Hawk and Stacey Peralta. It examines what drove a charming, rich, and famous bad-boy skater to kill.

With A. Hans Scheirl • Diane Torr • Dred Gerestant • Del La Grace Volcano • Queen Bee Luscious • Mistress Formika • Philly Abe • Dee Finley • Mo Fischer • Judith Halberstam • Simo Maronati • Shelly Mars • Marcel Mejier • Martina Meijer Torr • Svar Simpson • Storme Webber • Gabrielle Baur

This documentary explores the lives and worlds of women who explore their masculine sides as "drag kings," using a legendary Drag King Night in New York as a starting point to follow some of the women into their lives, whether their drag persona be an identity they assume part or full-time. Drag kings in London and Zurich are also interviewed, including some who are experimenting with hormones to accelerate their masculinity.