- When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel, they expected the usual complications, but what they encountered made them believe the Norse gods were actually against them. A series of events continued to put the project in jeopardy. While filming, the production faced one disaster after another - set and vehicle destroying weather, ill-fated pagan blessings and financial crises. The financing had not closed, the film was seriously over budget, and the bonder sent a representative to Iceland. The production was put under intense scrutiny, while the cast and crew were fighting the onset of a ruthless Icelandic winter and diminishing daylight. The storms tore roofs of buildings and swept away equipment. Sarah Polley called it a sheer demented ambition.

- You want to know how to start some #!@%? Ask Dixie Chicks singer, Natalie Maines. Her infamous one-liner attacking the President ignited a fire-storm of controversy, enraging their fan base, inspiring a nationwide corporate ban of their music, and ultimately turning country music into one long episode of professional wrestling. In Christopher Fleeger's funny, and frequently ominous film, PROTESTING THE DIXIE CHICKS, country music fans reveal their quirky conceptions of freedom and patriotism, as well as the anger and violence which accompany the impulse to defend them. Here, we discover a distinctive American discourse on discourse itself. When and where is criticism acceptable? And by whom? If you think you've heard it all before, you've never been to a Dixie Chicks concert.

- Beginning with high school/Hell?s Angels dropout/spiritual visionary Michael Metelica and eight friends in a treehouse in 1968, the Renaissance Community grew into the largest, most controversial New-Age commune of its era. At its peak, it boasted four hundred full-time residents, its own airplane, national rock band, and a million income. The commune's story, both humorous and tragic, and that of the rise and fall of founder, Michael Metelica, reflected a generation. It survived the intense hostility of the world around it - governmental attempts to throw them off their land, the burning of communal buildings, and the brutal murder of a commune member - only to fail because of internal forces, not least of which sprung from the negative changes in Metelica himself.

It's Happiness - 60min, USA-Ohio
Dir. Craig DiBiase
Starring: John Pinter, Willie Nelson

- A pair of documentary filmmakers try to explode the myth that all polka fans are collecting Social Security. "It's Happiness" is an in-depth look into the somewhat strangely not well-known world of polka, its history and boom of the music and dance that goes along with it.