SPRINGFIELD, USA

Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.

As children, British actor Paul Blackthorne and Australian photographer Mister Basquali both fell in love with America. Later they each fulfilled their dream to live here, but after two wars, a near economic collapse, and uncertainty about the country's direction, these two expats began to have doubts - was America still the great place they once dreamed of? They drive across America to find out, interviewing random people about issues that affect and confront us all. From the ghetto to the gun show, the courthouse to the cattle yard, they are touched by the wisdom and insight of the people they meet. This American Journey is a cinematic postcard from the people to the people, teaching us that hearts can be healed at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected places.

Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family up to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

This documentary is a journey into our own fascination, a collection of portraits of folk musicians living in New England, and a study of the ground on which their music is founded. We listen to them as they tell their stories and play their music. First and foremost, Behind a Hill is a tribute to these musicians and a rare peep into the house parties and basement jams of New England, in the northwestern corner of the USA, with the vain hope attached that maybe you, the viewer, will grow as fond of the music as we have. When we first encountered these musicians, we were overwhelmed by the quality of their musical output. We were entranced by the melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and tempos and every other element that constitutes a song (or, as is often the case, a piece of abstract drone music, heavy feedback, or someone banging a steel pipe against a bag of dirt while chanting in a yet undiscovered language, or...).

DOWN HOME is a rural drama set in New England and stars Leatrice Joy as Nancy Pelot, daughter of the town drunk. He was once a businessman and still owns a local farm, but Nancy now supports her father and herself with a mysterious job in a nearby town.

Brent Podosek stars in director Richard Corso's surreal Americana satire about a traveling salesman who seeks knowledge and direction from a cult like group of salesmen, lead by their spiritual leader played by Cody Dermon. Winner of the Best Actor and Best Film award at the New York Film Awards, and nominated for Best Film at the CFVA Awards.

Exploring American lives, sex work, and the power of God.

An intimate portrait of the acclaimed North Carolina band The Avett Brothers, charting their decade-and-a- half rise, while chronicling their present-day collaboration with famed producer Rick Rubin on the multi-Grammy-nominated album “True Sadness.”

Documentary looking at the culture of three motels and their owners who remain untouched by homogenization and corporatism, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Florence, Arizona; and the semi-ghost town of Death Valley Junction, California. Everyone has an unusual story to tell.

Award-winning comedian Rich Hall takes a country music journey from Tennessee to Texas to look at the movements and artists that don't get as much notoriety but have helped shape the genre over the years. With the help of prominent performers and producers including Michael Martin Murphey, Robbie Fulks and Ray Benson, Rich explores the early origins of country music in Nashville and Austin. He visits the rustic studios where this much-loved sound was born and discovers how the genre has reinvented itself with influences from bluegrass, western swing and americana.

People's Stuff is a document of six collectors of unusual objects. Creating an environment for storytelling, the subjects reveal inner dreams and motivations as they share both their collections and their lives with the viewer. Charmaine Burrell collects Purple Cows. Fred Crane, Professor Emeritus of Musicology at the University of Iowa, collects jaw harps (he calls the instrument a trump). George Preston collected commercial signs. Ruth Rasmussen is in the Guinness Book of World Records for her salt and pepper shaker collection. Irene Redfearn collects sea shells and Craig Starr, spark plugs. Ruth Rasmussen is in the Guinness Book of World Records for her salt and pepper shaker collection. Irene Redfearn collects sea shells and Craig Starr, spark plugs.