Eight Doc Shorts Added to Short List

Killing In the Name – Trailer from Carie Lemack – Global Survivors on Vimeo.

Three to five of these will earn a nomination:

“Born Sweet,” Cynthia Wade Productions
“Killing in the Name,” Moxie Firecracker Films
“Living for 32,” Cuomo Cole Productions
“One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey,” Lichen Films
“Poster Girl,” Portrayal Films
“Strangers No More,” Simon & Goodman Picture Company
“Sun Come Up,” Sun Come Up, LLC
“The Warriors of Qiugang,” Thomas Lennon Films, Inc.

More about the plots, etc. after the jump.

“Born Sweet,” Cynthia Wade Productions
Despite being only fifteen years old, Vinh Voeurn has accepted his destiny – to be sick for the rest of life with incurable arsenic poisoning. He longs to fall in love with a girl with long, smooth hair. He fantasizes about becoming a karaoke star, winning the affections of adoring fans. But his body is terribly scarred by illness and there is a good chance the arsenic will soon take his life like the girl who once lived across the road. Vinh spends his days in his remote Cambodian village tending the cows and escaping into song with his family’s car battery powered karaoke machine. He worries he will never marry and live the life he wants for himself. A chance to be in a karaoke video about the dangers of arsenic allows Vinh to wonder if he truly knows his destiny.

“Killing in the Name,” Moxie Firecracker Films
Four years ago, Ashraf Al-Khaled and his bride were celebrating what was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives, when an Al-Qaeda suicide bomber walked into their wedding and blew himself up, killing both of their fathers in front of their eyes. The couple lost 27 members of their family that day.

“Living for 32,” Cuomo Cole Productions
LIVING FOR 32 is the inspirational story of Colin Goddard, a survivor of the tragic gun shooting massacre which occurred on the Virginia Tech campus, April 16th, 2007. The winning combination of Colin’s passion, charisma and optimism has commanded the attention of the American public and media since the devastating incident which left 32 dead and 17 injured. In Living for 32, Colin shares an intimate account of terror he and his classmates endured and the courageous journey of renewal and hope he chose to pursue.

“One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey,” Lichen Films
After his assassination, Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy lay in repose in New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral. When it was time to take him to Arlington, to bury him beside his brother, his coffin, draped in the American flag, was loaded upon a train. Crowds gathered. The 225 miles of track were thronged, by children, students, soldiers, firemen, mothers and daughters and fathers and sons. Some saluted, some cried, some stood with hands on hearts. Aboard, Robert’s press secretary realised something momentous was happening – Frank Mankiewicz could not explain it, but photograph Paul Fusco could capture it. As he states, interviewed now, “I must have taken 1000 pictures”. This is the story of those photographs, and those in it, and that day.

“Poster Girl,” Portrayal Films
Poster Girl is the story of Robynn Murray, an all-American high school cheerleader turned ‘poster girl’ for women in combat, profiled by Army Magazine’s cover shot. Now home from Iraq, her tough-as-nails exterior begins to crack, leaving Robynn struggling with the debilitating effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the challenges of rebuilding her life.

“Strangers No More,” Simon & Goodman Picture Company
In the heart of Tel Aviv, there is an exceptional school where children from forty-eight different countries and diverse backgrounds come together to learn. Many of the students arrive at Bialik-Rogozin School fleeing poverty, political adversity and even genocide. Here, no child is a stranger. The film follows several students’ struggle to acclimate to life in a new land while slowly opening up to share their stories of hardship and tragedy.

“Sun Come Up,” Sun Come Up, LLC
“Sun” revolves around a small group of people living in a remote island near Papua New Guinea. Because of environmental changes, their island is sinking into the ocean, necessitating a migration to another area in the war-torn region. They’ll soon be displaced, but will anyone care enough to lend a helping hand and a swath of land for them to settle on? Will they offer, only to turn on and destroy them? Or will another threat come in and wipe them out?

“The Warriors of Qiugang,” Thomas Lennon Films, Inc.
illagers in central China take on a chemical company that is poisoning their
land and water. For three years they fight to transform their environment and
as they do, they find themselves transformed as well.