Indianapolis International Film Festival 2009

The future is about to collide with the past. Eric, a digital loving executive on a mansion hunting expedition finds himself crossing swords with his realtor, Max, an out of work toon rabbit. Like it or not, Max will make Eric see things through the eyes of an "Animated American."

Ashok's very traditional Indian parents are pressuring him into an arranged marriage - with a girl he's never seen or met before. Shortly before he's supposed to meet his bride-to-be, he runs into Maya, a fun, free-spirited, and head-strong girl. They spend the day together and really hit it off - but Ashok fails to get her number at the end of the night. And so Ashok embarks on an obsessive search to find Maya, his last shot at escaping the dreaded arranged marriage. Will Ashok find Maya before it's too late? Or will he have no choice but to succumb to his parents' designs?

AUTISTIC-LIKE: GRAHAM'S STORY is a startling report from the edge of the epidemic. When their son was 17 months old, Erik and Jennie Linthorst suspected something was not quite right. Experts and therapists told them their son was autistic. Sort of. Maybe. Some called him autistic-like. Others said he was not autistic at all. With his parents still seeking a clear diagnosis, Graham was launched into a program of behavioral therapy. Speech therapy. Occupational therapy. Soon after the therapy began, Erik and Jennie noticed something else: the treatment he was getting didn't seem to be on target. Erik took on the conundrum confronting many parents of kids who are "mildly disordered." Handed a fuzzy diagnosis, what should the treatment be? AUTISTIC-LIKE: GRAHAM'S STORY is an intimate family portrait showing one dad's determined quest to find the right therapies, the right doctors, and even the right words to describe his son. As he searched, Erik began wondering how other families in the same situation fare. What did it really mean, 'autistic-like'? And how should or could these parents help their kids? What he discovered was that dozens of families, in just his area, were struggling with the same issue. Erik began to suspect that many of the children being diagnosed with autism might like Graham -- not really autistic. But then if it's not autism, what is it that ails these kids? Erik finds a possible answer. It's an answer that throws into question the current autism statistics. AUTISTIC LIKE: GRAHAM'S STORY illuminates the medical, social and public health issues faced by families whose autistic-like children have no clear diagnosis, and are offered no specific treatment. The CDC says one in every 150 children born has autism. Maybe not.

Jerry is a Marine reservist who was a young patriot and idealist when he served in the first Gulf War. When he is called up for deployment to Afghanistan and Iraq, Jerry is a father of three; older and embittered by a life besieged by broken promises, and unfulfilled desires. He returns a changed man, transformed by horrors committed that go beyond comprehension and sanity, pain inflicted that cannot be forgiven. He lives a life verging on the edge of poverty, his children afraid of his unexplained outbursts of rage, his wife, Nora, unsympathetic to the nosebleeds and night terrors he suffers. She hides money her sons earn from their paper route in case they need to leave. The crowded trailer he shares with his family becomes a prison; his failure as a man, his actions as a soldier, his punishment. He realizes that the respect and dignity he has spent his life achieving will always elude him. When he realizes Nora has betrayed him he is driven by anger and despair to commit an act so heinous and irreversible that nothing he has experienced in combat could have prepared him for.Badland is a gut-wrenching, poignant look at the aftermath of war on a returning Iraq war veteran and his family. It is the story of a man who loses his soul and how a daughter's love and faith brings redemption to his unspeakable crimes.

Short film inspired by a true story. Tells the story of a true act of sportsmanship and heroism between opposing teams during a Girls Softball Conference Championship Game. The film leaves you with a satisfied heart warming feeling. In the bottom of the ninth inning a player gets injured after hitting a Home Run to win the game, after the umpire denies a pinch runner to be put in her place, players from the opposing team are faced with a decision to help her and loose the game yet win in the name of sportsmanship.

In the abandoned mines of Sardinia we discover Freak and Jajà, a quixotic pair who inhabit a no-man's-land outside of time, when mankind no longer inhabits the planet. When the two arrive at a bus stop for a bus that never stops, they start on a journey where they meet a host of bizarre characters, including a mariachi storyteller, two actors reciting the story of Adam and Eve in the middle of a salty lake, a child who appears to be the “magic” voice of Godot, an oracle who lives on the extractor well of an abandoned mine, and finally a solitary girl who lives on a beach, who may or may not be the only person who can help the travelers find their destination. Shot in evocative black and white and loosely based on Samuel Beckett's masterpiece “Waiting for Godot,” Beket is a surreal journey where apocalyptic images, absurd, repetitive dialogues, and techno beats narrate an unpredictably inventive story of the search for the meaning of existence.

After truck driver, Roy Tidrow, cuts off a random car on the freeway (Joe O'Neil's,) a complaint is phoned in and Roy is immediately fired, sending him into a violent tailspin. Roy threatens his wife (Valerie,) who works reception at the trucking company, forcing her to supply him with the name of the complainer. Days later...Valerie realizes she's made a horrible mistake. Not only has Roy murdered the man who Valerie identified (Andrew Williams,) but she mistakenly supplied the wrong information and a completely "innocent" person was killed. When Valerie confronts Roy, he attacks her and gets the correct identity of the complainer (Joe O'Neil.) However, this time Valerie calls to warn the stranger - Joe O'Neill, a straight-laced, nine-to-fiver, is filled with paranoia and fear. He buys a gun to protect himself and is forced into using it when Roy Tidrow attacks him in his home. In a strange twist of fate, it is Roy who is shot and killed. In the end, Valerie, as the sole beneficiary of her husband Roy's life insurance policy, collects a large settlement. Joe O'Neil is questioned by the police and forever scarred. And Andrew Williams' widow, Margaret, receives an envelope of cash, leading us to believe that Valerie may have orchestrated this bizarre collision of lives, whereby no one is a beneficiary.

In 1989, unwitting Utah actors starred in the undisputed Worst Moviein History: TROLL 2. Two decades later, the legendarily inept film'schild star (Michael Paul Stephenson) unravels the improbable, heartfelt story of an Alabama dentist-turned-cult movie icon and an Italian filmmaker who come toterms with this genuine, internationally revered cinematic failure.

Best Worst Movie Starts at 7pm in the Toby In 1989, unwitting Utah actors starred in the undisputed Worst Movie in History: TROLL 2. Two decades later, the legendarily inept film's child star (Michael Paul Stephenson) unravels the improbable, heartfelt story of an Alabama dentist-turned-cult movie icon and an Italian filmmaker who come to terms with this genuine, internationally revered cinematic failure. & Troll 2 Starts at dusk as part of the the IMA Summer Night Series. Troll 2, a low budget, Italian B-horror film originally released in 1990, is currently ranked on Internet Movie Database (IMDb) as the #1 worst movie of all time. A film by Claudio Fragasso, under the fake name of Drake Floyd, is about a family trip in which a young boy named Joshua is chased by man-eating goblins in a town called Nilbog ("Goblin" spelled backwards, as Joshua realizes). Vegetarian Goblins of Nilbog attempt to transform Joshua's family into edible plant mush until a deceased grandfather and a double-decker bologna sandwich saves the day. NOTE: This film is being shown as a double feature in conjunction with the IMA's Summer Nights. Please arrive at 6 pm in order to put your blankets, chairs, etc. out on the ampitheater. Click here for a list of what you can and can't bring to Summer Nights {http://www.imamuseum.org/summer-nights/basics} If there is inclement weather, Troll 2 will be screened in The Toby.