2007 Official Sidewalk Selections

When a man answers an advertisement to train as a record producer, he's excited by the prospect of signing undiscovered musicians, only to discover his new job isn't all it's cracked up to be.

A documentary that exposes the genocide raging in Darfur, Sudan as seen through the eyes of a former U.S. marine who returns home to make the story public.

Ryan is getting married. His friends take him across the US-Mexican border for a bachelor party the night before his wedding. A night that begins with tequila and strippers turns fatal when the boys cross paths with a local drug lord. Based on a true events.

Once thriving, a dead mall in upstate New York is now home to a ragtag flea market, living proof that the American Dream is in perpetual decay. Blending vérité with a stylized wit, this heartbreaking portrait raises questions about our disposable culture through the unfiltered lives of its eccentric community.

The Paper takes an in-depth look at the pressures and problems of modern journalism as faced by the staff of a university newspaper embroiled in controversy. Following a year in the life of Pennsylvania State University's, The Daily Collegian, the film features first-time journalists struggling with the greatest challenges to the field: plummeting circulation, barriers to investigative reporting, and criticism of coverage. The Paper is by turns inspiring and astonishing in its exploration of tomorrow's journalists wrestling with today's national media questions.

Hannah is a recent college graduate interning at a Chicago production company. She is crushing on two writers at work, Matt and Paul, who share an office and keep her entertained. Will a relationship with one of them disrupt the delicate balance of their friendship?

TURNER STULL(Barlow Jacobs), an uninspired young man, trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, arrives in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to work as an insurance claims adjuster. Greeted by his UNCLE STULLY(Robert Longstreet) a seasoned claim adjuster, and an ambitious group of adjusters, he is quickly immersed into the routine: move fast, don't get emotionally involved, and make a lot of money. But Turner, not prepared to deal with people who have lost everything, is totally overwhelmed. Turner's lack of experience and uncertainty only makes things worse. In a moment of crisis, Turner agrees to help NIXON(Eddie Rouse), a local man, find his lost dog. In exchange for Turner helping look for the lost dog, Nixon lends a hand with Turner's insurance claim's. Turner and Nixon begin to navigate their way through the storm-ravaged city, a journey that will change Turner's life.

Larry Pierce is a family man and factory worker who lives in Middletown, Indiana with his wife Sandy. Outside of his regular nine-to-five job, Pierce has also been writing and recording raunchy country albums since 1994. After being forced to retire from his job after thirty-one years, the 53-year-old Pierce hooks up with the rock group -itis and performs his first concert in front of a live audience.

In their third season, the Harlem Hellfighters try to prove that they deserve to become Harlem's high school football team. But it's a struggle every yard of the way for Duke Fergerson, a conflicted former pro who strains against New York's government bureaucracies and his own volatile temperament.

A random invitation to a Halloween party leads a man into the hands of a rogue collective intent on murdering him for the sake of their art, sparking a bloodbath of mishap, mayhem and hilarity.

In the near future, gas prices are at an astronomical high. One man is determined to find an alternate fuel source. That alternate fuel source turns out to be blood...HUMAN BLOOD.

A documentary spotlighting movie extras - the indispensable background actors in films.

The story of America's first all-female Mariachi band.

The party to celebrate Tunde Ibirinde's graduation is the backdrop for a far more momentous occasion: the return of estranged father Dipo, after over a decade of absence. Each family member must face their feelings before they face Dipo.

Award winning filmmaker, Ondi Timoner, follows four families as they leave an abusive church in South Carolina and realize they have been in a cult. The film documents them as they enter Wellspring, the only accredited, live-in cult treatment facility in the world, where they learn the true extent of the brainwashing they have all experienced. Eventually they return home to bring the Pastor and his wife to justice and try to begin to rebuild their damaged lives.

The documentary film "Mr. Dial Has Something to Say" investigates the problem of classism and racism in the elite American art world. By following the dramatic, disturbing story of Thornton Dial, a 79-year-old American-African artist from Alabama's Black Belt.

Darius Weems, who has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, travels across the country with eleven friends on a mission to get his wheelchair customized by MTV's "Pimp My Ride."

Henderson's decisions on affirmative action, environmental protection and prison reform --and the furors that surrounded them --serve as a prism on these changes and what they mean for American society.

A look at post-9/11 hate crimes against Sikhs in America.

Fifteen year-old soccer prodigy Sara Davis has a chance to join the U.S. national team, but she must juggle high school, romance, sports, and parental pressure while deciding her own priorities.

Six high school seniors from diverse backgrounds are thrown together on the first day of summer vacation. It would be a day that would change their lives forever. From this experience they learn about their own prejudices, they learn about the consequences of bad choices and one student learns the devastating effects of a joke gone too far.

At nearly 400 pounds, Tracy Orbison is a wide target. When he sets out to pursue his dream of acting, the grocery clerk finds an assortment of people waiting to dash his dreams: his acting coach, who has designs on his sister Peggy; his juvenile-delinquent friends, who suck him into their petty crimes; and his God-fearing, self-loathing mother. Through it all, Tracy remains irrepressibly upbeat, convinced he's destined for something big.

Two men set out to win a trans-Atlantic rowboat race.

A pair of slackers get in way over their heads when they try to dump the body of a dead girlfriend in the basement of a drive-in movie theater where a satanic cult performs ritual sacrifices.

LOST and FOUND in MEXICO explores the question: What lies on the other side of the American dream? This quirky documentary explores the lives of Americans who chose to leave their hard-working, successful, and fast-paced lives to live in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where leisurely conversations take place in the main square, burros walk the streets, and people find their hearts engaged in living once again.