Observation Deck April 27, 2006

These diverse documentary shorts recall the past and illuminate the present. Animated recollections of virginity lost open the program in Never Like the First Time! Meet the men behind the Man of Steel in In a Single Bound. The line between reality and fantasy is blurred in Playing the News. A woman's trip to war-torn Burma captures the people's suffering in Long Struggle. Hip-hop isn't just for boys in She Rhymes Like a Girl. And Rosanne Cash reflects on life and family history in Mariners and Musicians.

Program Contains:
Never Like the First Time!
Directed By: Jonas Odell
Sweden, 2006, 15 min
Jonas Odell has structured his animated film as a series of episodes in which four people, in their own words, get to tell the story of the first time they had sex. The stories derive from interviews conducted by Odell, who says he made the film as a response to what he saw as the claustrophobic fantasy world that too often is the world of animation.

In a Single Bound
Directed By: Ross Marroso
2006, 24 min
Behind every great action herothere are real life heroes. Superman's acts of bravery are well-documented, but few have heard of the historians, actors, animated artists, and "SuperFans" that turned this flying man of steel into one of the world's greatest comic book heroes. In a Single Bound takes us from the inception of Superman by his creators Siegel and Shuster to his explosion into comic books, film, and even the courtroom. This explosive documentary is sure to fascinate anyone who has ever wondered what heroes are made of.

Playing the News
Directed By: Jeff Plunkett,
Jigar Mehta
2005, 20 min
Can video games do journalism? This is the question posed by Playing the News, which examines the role played by video game company Kuma War in connecting young people to current events, particularly the war in Iraq. After designing a video game based on the November 2004 siege of Fallujah, Kuma War began to think of itself as a news organization. But war reporting has certainly never looked like this before.

A Long Struggle
Directed By: Lea Rekow
U.S.A., 2006, 18 min
The setting is war-torn Burma, where ethnic minorities struggle to survive in an uncharted jungle while fleeing from the tyrannical Burmese army. Director Lea Rekow undertook a dangerous and secretive journey just so she could film these refugees, and A Long Struggle is the resulting record of their stories.

She Rhymes Like a Girl
Directed By: JT Takagi
U.S.A., 2005, 7 min
In this documentary about the growing movement of female MCs, Toni Blackman and the Freestyle Union challenge the male dominated world of hip-hop, and in the process empower women to speak their minds during a series of freestyle workshops.

Mariners and Musicians
Directed By: Steven Lippman
2006, 23 min
An experimental non-linear cinematic tone poem based on conversation, writings, and music by acclaimed singer/ songwriter/ author Rosanne Cash. This dreamlike mosaic portrait, with stunning Super 8mm and 16mm visuals and Holga animation, features songs from Cash's celebrated album Black Cadillac. Shot on location in New York City, Hendersonville, Tenn., and Ventura, Calif.

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of globetrotterny.