The 2008 Lake County Film Festival ran from February 28th – March 3rd. We showed 28 selected features and 95 short films. Additionally, our closing night film was Grace is Gone by James C. Strouse, starring John Cusack.

Opening Night:
Nosferatu (1922) with new score by Del Rey & The Sun Kings.

Narrative Features:
A Thousand Hills (d. Mary Allison Wilmarth)
Bad For Business (d. Jeff P. Rodia)
The Chemistry Of Dating (d. Matt Olson)
Greetings From The Shore (d. Greg Chwerchak)
The Half Life Of Mason Lake (d. Tim Lotesto)
L’estate d’Inverno (d. Davide Sibaldi)
Last Stop For Paul (d. Neil Mandt)
One Night With You (d. Joe D’Augustine)
Shut-Eye (d. John Covert)
Statysci (Extras) (d. Michal Kwiecinski)
White Out (d. David Grelck)
Wristcutters: A Love Story (d. Goran Dukic)

Documentary Features:
An Alternative To Slitting Your Wrist (d. Owen Lowery)
Beyond The Call (d. Adrian Belic)
Break-Up, Date (d. Collin Souter)
Deportee (d. Daniel Kolen)
FEMA City (d. Jamin H. Griffiths)
Golden Days (d. d. Chris Suchorsky)
Indestructible (d. Ben Byer)
Kamp Katrina (d. David Redmon & Ashley Sabin)
King In Chicago (d. Seth McClellan)
River Ways (d. Colin Stryker)
Shadow Of The House (d. Allie Humenuk)
A Soldier’s Peace (d. Kristin & Marshall Thompson)
Urban Explorers: Into The Darkness (d. Melody Gilbert)
Weiner Takes All (d. Shane MacDougall)

Narrative Short Films: 
8 Minutes To Love (d. Thom Harp)
787 Cliparts (d. Oliver Laric)
A Fish Tale (d. Charley VanPortfilet)
A Good Scratch Is Hard To Find (d. Lisa Fotedar-Miller)
A Perfect Place (d. Derrick Socchera)
About Film Festivals (d. Jim Jacob)
Der Aufreisser (The Pick-Up Artist) (d. Steffen Weinert)
Bad Brownies (d. Dano Johnson)
The Blower (d. Banks Helfrich)
Bombay Skies (d. Rita Rani)
Crushed (d. Keith Ingham)
The Double (d. Rani DeMuth)
Dunk (d. Patrick Bagot)
DVD (d. Ciro Altabas)
Flossing (d. Banks Helfrich)
Die Flugbegleiterin (The Stewardess) (d. Marcin Glowacki)
Fortune Hunters (d. Thom Harp)
Found (d. Bill Sebastian)
Frank (d. Glynn Beard)
Hit (d. Kerry Anne Mullaney)
Honey, I’m Home (d. David Branin)
How My Next Door Neighbor Discovered Life On Mars (d. Austin Andrews)
I Just Want To Eat My Sandwich (d. Julia Radochia)
Idea Men (d. Bill Sebastian)
The Image (Charles McGuire)
Jim & Jung (d. Matt Paulson)
Kidney Thieves (d. Toby Wilkins)
Letting Go (d. Dan Masucci)
Loom (d. Scott Kravitz)
Love: The Movie (d. Adam Bertocci)
Mail Fantasies (d. Bill Sebastian)
McLaren’s Negatives (d. Marie-Josee Saint-Pierre)
Ménage à trois (d. Kimberley M. Wetherell)
The Mercury Men (d. Christopher Preksta)
Moviebonics (d. Donald Unverrich & Lance Miller)
Nintendo Office (d. Christopher Preksta)
No. 6 (d. Robin Larsen)
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t (d. Attila Szász)
Obara & The Merchants (d. Manauvaskar Kublall)
Ode To Fredo (d. Simon & Zeke Hawkins)
Partially True Tales Of High Adventure (d. Murphy Gilson)
Pop Foul (d. Moon Molson)
The Price Of Acorn (d. Jonathan Schwartz)
Real Lemonade (d. Matt Meindl)
The Ringmaster (d. Wenchung Lu)
Sad Sculptor (d. Matthew Scott Harris)
Sadie Turns Seven (d. Todd Tinkham)
Saguaro (d. Oliver West Randall)
Santa’s Camels (d. Rahel Kent)
Scare Tactics (d. Mark Diestler)
Script Cops (d. Scott Rice)
Seed (d. Joe Hahn)
Small Talk (d. Karen Lindholm-Rynkiewicz)
So, A Guy Walks Into A Bar (d. Adam Rench)
Speechless (d. James Cooper)
Strides (d. Ward Bergan)
String (d. Naomi Wright)
Sunlit Shadows (d. Ben Piety)
Three-Fifty (d. Maurice Chauvet)
Untied Strangers (d. Nathan Adloff)
Untitled (d. Mike Alfini)
Víctor Y la Máquina (Victor & The Machine) (d. Carlos Talamanca)
Who’s On First: The Movie (d. Steve Barr & Danny Grossman)

Documentary Short Films: 
A Map With Gaps (d. Alice Nelson)
Art In The Middle (d. Liz Brandenburg & Annie Gregory)
Bassmaker (d. Brett Schwartz)
Clean Freak (d. Chris Hansen)
Covered Tracks (d. Nathan Kensinger)
Deconfliction (d. Edward Tyndall)
Fish Kill Flea (d. Brian Cassidy, Aaron Hillis & Jennifer Loeber)
Gimme Twelve Steps (d. C. Scott Shuffitt)
Janis: A Daughter’s Portrait (d. Sara Peak Convery)
Ma Rainey’s Lesbian Licks (d. Robert Philipson)
Please, No Smoking (d. Mac Eldridge)
Regret Case Study (d. William Flegal)
The Recyclergy (d. Jeremy Kaller)
Skate Or Die (d. Scott Shuffitt)
Tale Of Two Cemeteries (d. Charles McGuire)
We Hear Sirens (d. Alex Harder)
Weeding By Example (d. Sarah McKnight, Kathleen Ledet & Ken Suran)
Who’s Ma Ma! Joe Ma Ma! (d. Sean Jourdan)
Why We Wax (d. Kimberly M. Wetherell & Amy Axelson)

Cinema Obscura Room: 
2007 LCFF Award-Winning Shorts
As The Tables Turn
The Blind Lead
Brooklyn Independent Shorts Collection #1
Captain Blasto
Cartoons From Hell! (curated by Patrick Smith)
Genghis Blues
Johnny Berlin
Midlothia
Senator Obama Goes To Africa

Awards
Audience Awards:
Daniel Chapp Award For Best Narrative Feature: L’estate d’Inverno
Best Documentary Feature: A Soldier’s Peace

Jury Awards:
Best Short Drama: Now you See Me, Now You Don’t
Best Short Comedy: Speechless
Best Foreign Short: The Pick-Up Artist
Best Student Short: Pop Foul
Best Cinematography: Sunlit Shadows
Best Local Short: Untied Strangers
Best Documentary Short: A Map With Gaps
Honorable Mention: McLaren’s Negatives

Press:

Fear And Loathing at the Lake County Film Festival: A Tale From The Competition Trenches – Microfilmmaker Magazine – 2008
Fifth-Annual Lake County Film Festival Arrives From Feb. 28 to March 3, 2008 – Hollywood Chicago – Feb 5, 2008
Local features abound in Lake County Film Festival Feb. 28-March 3; focus on indies, fewer venues – Reel Chicago – Feb 19, 2008
Fifth-Annual Lake County Film Festival Announces Jury Winners – Hollywood Chicago – March 3, 2008
2008 Lake County Film Festival Features Wide Array of Chicago Talent – Hollywood Chicago – March 5, 2008