The Doors Art Foundation
www.doors-art.com

presents

Upcoming film screenings at the
Two Boots Pioneer Theater
every first Thursday of the month

Thursday, January 5, 2006 @ 7PM

FINE DEAD GIRLS

Fine Mrtve Djevojke

2002, Alka Film, Croatia 77 MIN
Director: Dalibor Matanic
www.dalibormatanic.com
Cast: Olga Pakalovic, Nina Violic, Inge Appelt, Kresimir Mikic,
Ivica Vidovic, Jadranka Dokić, Milan Strljic, Zdenko Sertic Krieger
Croatian (English subtitles)

Two Boots Pioneer Theater
is located at:
155 East 3rd Street (at Avenue A) / NYC / (212) 591-0434
Tickets: $9.00 adults, $6.50 members

Seating is limited so we encourage you to buy your tickets in advance.
http://pioneertheater.tix.com/Event.asp?Event=44871

The Doors Art Foundation is proud to present monthly screenings featuring a selection of films from the Croatian cinema of the last decade. This unique project is a result of a creative collaboration between The Doors Art Foundation, the Croatian film critic Jurica Pavicic and the featured Croatian filmmakers.

 

PRVI SUSRET KLAPA IZ HRVATSKOG ISELJENIĹ TVA U DOMOVINI

24. lipnja - 2. srpnja 2006.

VaĹĄe prijave uputite najkasnije do 20. sijecnja 2006.

Hrvatska matica iseljenika iz Zagreba u 2006. godini planira po prvi puta okupiti u Hrvatskoj klape iz iseljeniĹĄtva i predstaviti ih naĹĄoj javnosti kroz koncerte koji ce se odrĹžati tijekom desetodnevne turneje slijedecim rasporedom:   Subota, 24. 6.          okupljanje klapa u Zagrebu, dobrodoĹĄlica i druĹženje                                 s domacim klapama Nedjelja, 25. 6.        koncert u Crikvenici Ponedjeljak, 26. 6.  koncert u Zadru Utorak, 27. 6.           koncert u Sinju Srijeda, 28. 6.          koncert u Veloj Luci na Korculi Cetvrtak, 29. 6.        koncert u Podgori Petak, 30. 6.             koncert u Bolu na otoku Bracu Subota, 1. 7.             koncert u KaĹĄtel Starom Nedjelja, 2. 7.          koncert u OmiĹĄu u okviru 40. Festivala dalmatinskih                                  klapa   U svakom od navedenih mjesta na koncertima ce nastupati uz klape hrvatskih iseljenika i klape domacini. U sklopu turneje bit ce odrĹžane i dvije radionice za pjevace i voditelje klapskoga pjevanja, u Zadru i KaĹĄtel Starom, koje ce odrĹžati renomirani klapski voditelji.   Uvjeti sudjelovanja: Organizator – Hrvatska matica iseljenika placa troĹĄkove smjeĹĄtaja, prehrane i prijevoza za sve klape od dolaska u subotu, 24. lipnja, do zavrĹĄetka turneje u ponedjeljak, 3. srpnja, nakon dorucka. Klape same placaju troĹĄkove svog dolaska do Zagreba i povratka od Splita.   Umjetnicki voditelj programa je mr. JoĹĄko Caleta, a organizatorica Srebrenka Ĺ eravic.   Tko moĹže sudjelovati: Na susret se pozivaju organizirane vokalne skupine ciji clanovi (vecina hrvatskog podrijetla) na repertoaru imaju i klapske pjesme. Prednost imaju skupine koje njeguju a capella pjevanje. Prema dosadaĹĄnjim informacijama u iseljeniĹĄtvu znamo za postojanje muĹĄkih klapa i muĹĄkih klapa s vodecim Ĺženskim glasom ĹĄto ne znaci da se na susret ne mogu prijaviti Ĺženske ili mjeĹĄovite klape.   Koncerti: Obveza svake klape je otpjevati 2 hrvatske klapske pjesme na svakom koncertu uz jednu pjesmu iz drĹžave iz koje dolaze. Obrade tradicijskih (klapskih) napjeva i novokomponirane klapske kompozicije u a cappella izvedbama bit ce izabrane od strane selektora programa. Svaka klapa je duĹžna poslati umjetnickom voditelju mr. JoĹĄku Caleti snimku od desetak pjesama sa svog repertoara od kojih ce, nakon pregleda svih prijavljenih pjesama svih klapa mr. Caleta izabrati i predloĹžiti klapi pjesme (dvije ili viĹĄe) koje ce pjevati na koncertima. Isto se odnosi i na predloĹžene pjesme zemalja i tradicija iz kojih klape dolaze. Na kraju svakoga koncerta sve klape zajedno otpjevat ce jednu zajednicku pjesmu za koju ce na vrijeme od organizatora dobiti note. Prijave: Klape se trebaju prijaviti pismenim putem, poslati CD sa snimljenim pjesmama i jednu fotografiju u boji. Umjetnicki voditelj selektirati ce prijavljene klape i njihove programe.   POZIVAMO KLAPE IZ HRVATSKOG ISELJENIĹ TVA DA SE PRIJAVE ZA SUDJELOVANJE NA PRVOM SUSRETU U DOMOVINI!   VaĹĄe prijave uputite najkasnije do 20. sijecnja 2006. godine na slijedece adrese:   HRVATSKA MATICA ISELJENIKA CROATIAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION   Voditeljica: Srebrenka Ĺ eravic, prof. E-mail: folklor@matis.hr   Trg Stjepana Radiaa 3 10000 ZAGREB HRVATSKA / CROATIA tel:  (+385 1) 61 15 116 fax: (+385 1) 61 11 522 www.matis.hr   mr. JOĹ KO CALETA E-mail: josko@ief.hr

The New Yorker announces Klapa Sinj and Nenad Bach


 

Musicians and night-club proprietors live complicated lives; it’s advisable to call ahead to confirm engagements.

B. B. KING BLUES CLUB & GRILL
237 W. 42nd St. (212-997-4144)—Nov. 30: The Led-Zeppelin-lite guitarist and singer Billy Squier. Dec. 1: Yngwie Malmsteen is a genius to some and a punch line to others. He was perhaps the swiftest-fingered soloist of the eighties, and his technical chops remain impressive. Just don’t expect anything new. Dec. 3: The Max Weinberg 7, the house band for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,â€? provides a shot of rockin’ boogie and jump blues.

BEACON THEATRE
Broadway at 74th St. (212-307-7171)—Dec. 2-4: The “American Idolâ€? crooner Clay Aiken swings by with his highly theatrical holiday show, “Joyful Noise.â€?

WORLD MUSIC INSTITUTE
Wadada Leo Smith is a free-thinking trumpeter. Alan Kushan is an avant-garde composer who plays a custom-built santir, a type of Persian zither. Together they have written “Tabligh,â€? a piece that incorporates jazz, classical Persian music, and music from the zikr, a Sufi ceremony of remembrance. (Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th St. Dec. 1.) The vocal ensemble Klapa Sinj, which comes from the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, makes its New York City dĂŠbut, in the company of the Croatian singer-songwriter Nenad Bach. (New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 W. 64th St. Dec. 2.) The young Israeli singer Yasmin Levy performs Sephardic Jewish songs from fifteenth-century Andalusia, Morocco, and Turkey. (Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall. Dec. 3.) “Songs of the Spiritâ€? unites Meshell NdegĂŠocello, Odetta, DJ Spooky, the Klezmatics, Sekou Sundiata, the Tibetan Monks of the Drepung Loseling Monastery, and others. (Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St. Dec. 6. For more information about all the shows, call 212-545-7536.)

BOWERY BALLROOM
6 Delancey St. (212-533-2111)—Dec. 1: Prefuse 73 (one of the many aliases used by the experimental hip-hop producer Guillermo Scott Herren) crafts wide-ranging electronic music. Dec. 2: The shimmering indie pop of the Bay Area outfit Rogue Wave. With Shelby, a local group with the power and grace of its namesake iconic sixties muscle-car designer.

BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC
30 Lafayette Ave., Brooklyn (718-636-4100)—Nov. 30-Dec. 1: Patti Smith celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of her dĂŠbut album, “Horses,â€? by playing songs from the influential disk, from the unforgettable opening lines (“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mineâ€?) straight through to the end. She’ll be backed by the original band members Lenny Kaye, on guitar, and Jay Dee Daugherty, on drums, along with the bassist Tony Shanahan and the guitarist Tom Verlaine, who played on the original album as a guest artist during his days with Television. Flea, of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, will also be on hand. Smith has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but she was recently named a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Minister of Culture and Communications, perhaps for the good work she did introducing legions of alienated souls to the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud.

IRVING PLAZA
17 Irving Pl., at 15th St. (212-777-6800)—Dec. 2-3: Anchored by the singer and guitarist J Mascis, who has a lethargic drawl and a caterwauling approach to his instrument (think of a punky Neil Young), Dinosaur Jr. inspired countless alternative bands in the wake of its eighties heyday. There was an acrimonious breakup at the end of the decade, but the original lineup got back together earlier this year for a reunion tour that shows no sign of slowing down. Dec. 5: The brooding California ensemble As I Lay Dying. Dec. 6: Funeral for a Friend shares its name with a plangent Elton John tune, but this Welsh band is all loud guitars and frayed vocal chords. The band’s third album, “Hours,â€? is an amalgam of emo histrionics and metal-guitar heroics.

JOE’S PUB
425 Lafayette St. (212-539-8777)—Dec. 1-3: The Loser’s Lounge, an ad-hoc collection of fun-loving musicians led by the keyboardist and cultural archeologist Joe McGinty, turns to the coolly sophisticated music of Roxy Music and Brian Eno.

KNITTING FACTORY
74 Leonard St., between Broadway and Church St. (212-219-3055)—Nov. 30: The nineteen-year-old British m.c. Lady Sovereign, a key member of the U.K. grime scene, is a pint-sized white girl who deals in high-energy and highly danceable material. Sov, as she likes to be called, returns to the scene of a triumphant show earlier this year in which she overcame technical glitches and other problems. The d.j. Ghislain Poirier, who remixed one of Sovereign’s songs for her just-released U.S. dĂŠbut album, “Vertically Challenged,â€? will also perform. Dec. 2: Beatallica dissolves the lines between parody and tribute as it conflates the songs of its musical heroes, the Beatles and Metallica. Jaymz Lennfield Krk Hammettson, Kliff McBurtney, and Ringo Larz are their pseudonyms. Studious vocal mimicry, inventive musicianship, and crunching metal arrangements are their stock in trade. They are so adept, apparently, that they have stirred speculation that they are actually Metallica in disguise. Dec. 5: Pretty Girls Make Graves (see Warsaw).

“LET’S ZYDECOâ€?
The roving concert series dedicated to the indigenous dance music of Louisiana presents a holiday show with the Bruce Daigrepont Cajun Band, from New Orleans. With Li’l Anne & Hot Cayenne. (Hungarian House, 213 E. 82nd St. For more information, call 212-685-7597 or visit www.letszydeco.com. Dec. 4.)

MAKOR
35 W. 67th St. (212-601-1000)—Dec. 5: The acerbic young singer-songwriter Nellie McKay.

NOKIA THEATRE TIMES SQUARE
Broadway at 44th St. (212-307-7171)—Dec. 1: The British trio Morcheeba set the standard for trip-hop in the mid-nineties with its downbeat grooves and the smoky cooing of its vocalist, Skye Edwards. But that was then. The band, which is the property of the two other members—brothers Paul and Ross Godfrey—is back with a lively new album, “The Antidote,â€? that features the earthy vocals of a new singer, Daisy Martey. Now, however, they are touring with yet another vocalist, Jody Sternberg. Dec. 3: Damian Marley, the youngest of Bob Marley’s seven sons.

NORTHSIX
66 N. 6th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-599-5103)—Dec. 3: Bob Mould’s first band, the post-punk trio HĂźsker DĂź, had a sizable influence on groups like Nirvana and Green Day. After it broke up, in 1987, Mould had a solo career, briefly fronted another band, Sugar, and then spent much of the nineties writing scripts for professional wrestling. His more recent musical enterprises reveal a fixation with electronic music, although his latest album, “Body of Song,â€? has the rock edge that got him started.

WARSAW
261 Driggs Ave., Brooklyn (718-387-0505)—Dec. 6: Seattle’s Pretty Girls Make Graves have charmed critics with their second album, “The New Romance,â€? by capturing the spirit of vintage punk rock without sounding derivative or retro.


BIRDLAND
315 W. 44th St. (212-581-3080)—Nov. 30-Dec. 3: Two of jazz’s most incisive mainstream pianists, Bill Charlap and Bill Mays, perform duets.

BLUE NOTE
131 W. 3rd St., near Sixth Ave. (212-475-8592)—Nov. 29-Dec. 4: The Cuban émigré Arturo Sandoval is an athletic trumpeter who regularly transforms excess into a virtue.

DIZZY’S CLUB COCA-COLA
Broadway at 60th St. (212-258-9595)—Nov. 29-Dec. 4: There are few musicians in a better position to pay tribute to Ray Charles than the saxophonist David (Fathead) Newman, who was one of the chief soloists in the glory days of the late, lamented soul genius. His guests include the singer Cynthia Scott.

FEINSTEIN’S AT THE REGENCY
540 Park Ave., at 61st St. (212-339-4095)—The high-spirited entertainer Michael Feinstein is a true mensch. He delivers his annual holiday program with ecumenical evenhandedness. Through Dec. 31.

IRIDIUM
1650 Broadway, at 51st St. (212-582-2121)—Nov. 30-Dec. 4: The union of jazz and the music of the celebrated indie-rock band Pavement was hardly inevitable but it is certainly intriguing. On their new album, “Gold Sounds,â€? the saxophonist James Carter, the pianist Cyrus Chestnut, the bassist Reginald Veal, and the drummer Ali Jackson take on the work of Stephen Malkmus and company. Mondays belong to the electric-guitar innovator Les Paul. The Mingus Big Band takes over on Tuesdays.

JAZZ STANDARD
116 E. 27th St. (212-576-2232)—Dec. 1-4: The pianist Pablo Ziegler keeps the spirit of his former boss, Astor Piazzolla, alive through his vibrant tango band.

SWEET RHYTHM
88 Seventh Ave. S., at Bleecker St. (212-255-3626)—Dec. 1: When Lewis Nash, the most elegant drummer of his generation, and Steve Wilson, an inventive alto saxophonist who first found acclaim in Chick Corea’s Origin band, get together and engage in searching duets, the results are always unpredictable and satisfying.

VILLAGE VANGUARD
178 Seventh Ave. S., at 11th St. (212-255-4037)—Nov. 29-Dec. 4: The Jim Hall trio. Some guitarists are bent on cramming together as many notes as possible. Hall plays the instrument with a jeweller’s touch: a gorgeous chord here, a lyrical phrase there. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra holds sway on Mondays.

ZANKEL HALL
Carnegie Hall, 57th St. at Seventh Ave. (212-247-7800)—If the musical “Cabaretâ€? gives you the chills, Max Raabe and the Palasat Orchester is right up your strasse, er, alley. The twelve-piece Berlin ensemble has been re-creating the sounds of Weimar days (and reimagining the work of such decadent but more contemporary performers as Queen, Prince, and Labelle) for nearly twenty years. It makes its New York dĂŠbut on Nov. 30, with a program of dance and film music from the twenties and thirties by Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Allie Wrubel, and Franz Lehar.

http://www.newyorker.com/goingson/nightlife/articles/051205goni_GOAT_nightlife

A WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT in ballot for OSCAR

The official Croatian candidate for this year's 78th Annual Academy Awards is a successful film A WONDERFUL NIGHT IN SPLIT, directed by Arsen Anton Ostojic and produced by Jozo Patljak. The film, among other awards, was nominated for the European Film Award last year and is the winner of the Best Director Award at the Queens Film Festival in New York a month ago. There will be a total of 6 screenings on the West Coast in January, one of which is the closed screening for the members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on Saturday, January 7th in Los Angeles.
 

Other screenings, open for the public, are:

Friday, January 6 at 9:15 PM, at Regal Theater, Palm Springs
(the director & the producer will both attend)

Sunday, January 8 at 2:30 PM at Beverly Hills Fine Arts Theater,
8556 Wilshire Blvd. (west of La Cienega), Los Angeles
(star Coolio together with the director and the producer will attend)

Tuesday, January 10 at 1:30 PM at Regal Theater, Palm Springs

Friday, January 13 at 9:00 PM at Smith Rafael Film Center, San
Rafael, Marin County, north of San Francisco (phone: 415 454-1222)

Sunday January 15 at 8:30 PM at Smith Rafael Film Center, San
Rafael, Marin County, north of Francisco (phone: 415 454-1222)

For any additional questions please contact arsen@post.com

www.arsenantonostojic.com

Pianist plays lounges at night, preschools during day
By Nicole Janok

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
For Palm Beach Gardens resident Bob Voca, life is about one thing: music.

For most of his life, the Croatian native has studied and performed the piano around the world.
CYDNEY SCOTT

photo:

Bob Voca makes sure Lake Worth tot Gage Milligan, 2, has a steady grip on a hanging bar while Milligan's playmates from West Palm Beach's Palm Beach Preschool play aboard Voca's Ladybug Tumble and Music Bus, which Voca uses to teach kids gymnastics and music.

A classically trained musician, Voca, 61, spent much of his career on Mediterranean cruise ships and hotels throughout Europe. In fact, while playing in one of Croatia's ritziest hotels, Voca met his second wife of 17 years — a South Florida resident named Diane. For the past 18 years, Voca has called Palm Beach County home and held a rotating schedule of local piano performances. He plays at Nordstrom's at the Mall at Wellington Green and McCarthy's Restaurant & Pub and Cafe Heidelberg in Tequesta.

In the past two months, music has ataken on a new role in Voca's life — he is the proud owner of Lady Bug Tumble and Music Bus, a traveling classroom that teaches preschoolers gymnastics and music.

Several days a week, Voca drives the big red bus, which he decorated himself, to local preschools where he uses over-sized musical notes and a xylophone to teach basic percussion skills.

"It's pretty neat," he said.

Complete with a trampoline and mini roller coaster, the 30-minute sessions are split between tumbling and music. Another instructor teaches tumbling.

"They love the bus," he said. "It's beautiful."

Voca came up with the idea after seeing other businesses that had a similar idea.

"I said, 'That's very neat, and I can do it during the day.'" And with a little administrative help from his wife, Voca wants to keep the Lady Bug running for a while. "I wouldn't want to become a millionaire with this bus," he said. "I don't want to get bigger; it's not a big plan to get bigger." Because that would interfere with his true passion: Playing for his local fans.

It's really all he's ever known. At 7 years old, Voca started music lessons after his uncle noticed his talent.
"My father didn't really care," he said. "So my uncle put me in private lessons... and I loved it so much."
His sister, Elvira Voca, also is musically talented — she's a well-known singer in Croatia who regularly performs on television, he said. Voca continued studying music throughout his primary and secondary education. He then went on to study at the Music Conservatory for Piano and Solfeggio in Salzburg, Austria, home of one of his favorite composers, Mozart. While he worked as a musician in Croatia, Voca had three sons, Oliver, 21, Daniel, 23, and Kresimir, 24, who all live in Germany near their mother. Voca visits his sons and his sister two or three times a year.

Although Voca prefers classical and jazz music, he said he doesn't let his preferences get in the way of a performance.

"You have to open your eyes and see what's around you and play what people want to hear," he said.

While traveling and studying, Voca realized he had another gift: Learning languages. He currently speaks five — Russian, Croatian, German, English and Italian.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/pb_gardens/content/neighborhood/pb_gardens/epaper/2005/10/26/npp5_vocapro_1026.html
 

COOKBOOK REVIEW 'COOKING IN CROATIA & BOSNIA:

425 CROATIAN and BOSNIAN RECIPES' by KARMELA KIS

By Katarina Tepesh

We owe a huge debt to Croatian homemakers who have been cooking the dishes listed in Karmela’s cookbook pages for a thousand years, and who continue to inspire each new generation.

Karmela Kis received the recipes from her great aunt Ivana who dominated her kitchen like a maestro conducting an orchestra. She selected 424 mostly traditional comfort foods we remember our mama and baka making all their life.

Among the many enticing Croatian dishes, such childhood favorites as stuffed paprika and cabbage, risotto, blood sausages with apples, pork cutlets, lamb in open fire, puran with mlinci are included, along with many tempting seafood dishes like squid, cevapcici, raznjici, burek, gulas with polenta, fresh fish such as carp and pike. With a nod toward healthful ingredients of buckwheat and barley, using herb infused style of cooking.

For desserts old Croatian favorites are featured inspired by wild blueberries, the apples, peaches, plums, pears along with rice pudding, knedelce plum dumplings, war cookies, kremsnite from Samobor, our ancient Croatian potica, poppy seed, palacinke, strudl, chocolate rum torte, snow balls, apple compote, Istrian fritters, wine foam, rich bishop’s bread, rum balls, almond meringues and many others delicious desserts.

Karmela suggests cooking techniques of boiling, poaching, steaming, sautĂŠing, braising, stewing, grilling and broiling from all areas of Croatia, covering Istria, Dalmatia, Slavonia, Zagorje, Podravina and includes recipes from Bosnia.

Croatian cooking comes both from the heart and intellect, being somehow flexible to substitute in a pinch, but devoted to Croatian spirit.

Karmela Kis owns an organic farm in Istria where she grows her own ingredients and is actively involved in Europe’s perm culture movement. She holds a degree in Language and Literature from Zagreb University.

In her cookbook, Karmela uses metric measurements. You will need to keep in mind how 1 pound = ½ kilogram or 455 grams; 1 ounce = 30 grams; 1 liter = 2 pints or 32 fluid ounces; 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces;

Keep Croatians cooking! Above all, have fun and Dobar tek!

'Cooking in Croatia & Bosnia: 425 Croatian and Bosnian Recipes' by Karmela Kis published by BookSurge available in paperback at www.amazon.com  $16.99
 

Weekly Bulletin from Croatian Embassy in Washington DC

Embassy_of_Croatia__Weekly_Bulletin___Vol._2__Issue_53_.pdf

Croatia:Croatian Koncar Co. Posts 11-mo Revenues Up by 9.4%

16:42 - 20 December 2005 - Croatian electrical equipment and engineering company Koncar posted 11-mo consolidated sales up by 9.4% y/y to 1.586 billion kuna (214.5 million euro).

Its domestic sales for the 11-mo period rose by 11% to 968.5 million kuna, while exports increased by 7% to 617.2 million kuna. Koncar's divisions, which provide goods and services to the energy and transport sectors, contributing 74% to the company's sales. Koncar said its main domestic client was the state-owned electricity monopoly Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP), which had 44% of domestic sales. Most of Koncar exports in the January-November period were directed to Serbia and Montenegro, Bosnia and Slovenia.
Koncar includes parent company Koncar - Elektroindustrija, 23 subsidiaries and four affiliated companies.

http://www.reporter.gr/fulltext_eng.cfm?id=51220164249
 

Nenad Bach composed the score for two of the nominated films,

Danny Schechter's Weapons of Mass Deception &

Brenda Brkusic's Freedom from Despair

All nominated films, by virtue of its selection as a nominee, become a part of the IDA/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Film Archive.
 

LOS ANGELES, December 14, 2005— Finalists in the 21st Annual International Documentary Association (IDA) Distinguished Documentary Achievement Awards competition were announced in September, among them, a feature documentary Freedom from Despair by 24 year old filmmaker Brenda Brkusic. The winners were feted here at the IDA Awards Benefit Gala on December 9, 2005, at the Directors Guild of America Theatre. 'All of these films tell compelling stories about an important subject in a memorable
way,' says IDA Executive Director Sandra Ruch. 'They were chosen by a jury of peers out of hundreds of artfully crafted films from every part of the world. The purpose of the IDA Awards is to celebrate and recognize their successful quests for excellence, and also to inspire other filmmakers to strive to fulfill their dreams.'

The IDA Awards selection process began with peer group juries who viewed all submissions to select nominees in each category for final review by a blue-ribbon panel. All nominated films, by virtue of its selection as a nominee, become a part of the IDA/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Academy Film Archive.

'It is a great honor to be nominated by this most respected organization,' said Brkusic of her nomination for a David L. Wolper Student Documentary Achievement Award. Brkusic was also invited by the IDA board of directors to be considered for a Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award. She said, 'in 2004 I met Michael Moore at the IDA Awards when he was nominated for Fahrenheit 9/11. I never imagined that the following year I would be nominated. The IDA receives so many compelling, professionally crafted films, and I am grateful that they offered one of the coveted nominee slots to Freedom from Despair. I am also excited that the film will now become a part of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences Film Archive.'

Freedom from Despair, which has won a myriad of international awards, including the prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award, was showcased along side films by top industry professionals and films by produced by CNN, the Discovery Channel and PBS. 'The teams that make up these films are amazing' said Brkusic, "I was lucky to work with actors Michael York, John Savage, Beata Pozniak and
music composer Nenad Bach on Freedom from Despair." Nenad Bach composed the score for two of the films that we nominated this year, Brkusic's Freedom from Despair and Weapons of Mass Deception by Danny Schecter. "Freedom from Despair is a story about my father's escape from the tyranny of Communist Yugoslavia and his people's struggle to attain freedom and human rights. It is a story which represents millions of Croatians."

Eastman Kodak Company has sponsored the IDA Distinguished Documentary Achievement Awards Gala since its inception in 1984. IDA is a nonprofit, public interest organization. For more information on the IDA, visit www.documentary.org  or call 213-534-3600.