Welcome to the 30th Big Muddy Film Festival!
February 21st -- March 2nd, 2008

2008 BIG MUDDY FILM FESTIVAL WINNERS ARE ANNOUNCED!!!
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WINNERS OF THE MAIN JURORED COMPETITION:
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HONORARY MENTION:
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JOHN MICHAELS AWARD WINNERS:
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AUDIENCE CHOICE WINNERS:
Since this years is the 30th year of the Festival and the number of showcases is bigger than any year, we decided to have two big groups and pick the most popular film in each category except the Narrative Shorts. Since the festival ran throughout the week, films that were shown on the weekdays got less attendance. So to be fair, we decided upon two groups according to the number of ballots/attendees.

Over Thirty Ballots

Under Thirty Ballots

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In its 30th year edition, The Big Muddy Film Festival is one of the oldest film festivals run by film and art students in the U.S. Dedicated to encouraging and supporting grass-roots filmmaking and film viewing experiences in local communities and beyond, it has become a well-known film event nationally and internationally.

This year, we are excited to showcase a total of 78 competition films (out of more than 300 entries from over 20 countries), including documentary, experimental, animation, and narrative. We believe these films will give our audience a rare chance to look at some of today's most energetic, diverse, innovative, fun, and socially provocative grassroots filmmaking in the U.S. and around the world.

In addition to competition films, we are also excited to present our ever popular Midnight Movies and Children's Movies, including such favorites as Easy Rider, Chinatown, Paprika, The Journey of Natty Gann and Turtles Can Fly, all in their rare original 35mm film prints!

Add to the excitement, is this year's tribute to two of the world's greatest directors Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. We will bring two of their signature films to the audience: L'Avventura (Antonioni) and Through a Glass Darkly (Bergman).

So please make plans to come out and join us at the movies, in celebration of independent cinema and the 30th anniversary of the Big Muddy Film Festival!

Click here to access the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Visitor Information page.

See you all at the movies!

-The Big Muddy Film Festival Committee

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We are excited to introduce our three Jurors for this year's competition:

Naomi Uman
Former private chef to Malcolm Forbes, Calvin Klein and Gloria Vanderbilt, Naomi Uman
later traded in her eggbeater and oven mitts for a 16mm Bolex and acidresistant black
rubber gloves. Naomi's work is marked by her signature handmade aesthetic, often shooting, hand-processing and editing her films with the most rudimentary of practices. Naomi's films have been exhibited widely at the Sundance and Rotterdam International Film Festivals, The New York Film Festival, and the San Francisco International Film festival among others; she has also screened her work at The Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney, The Smithsonian, and Mexico City's Museo de Arte Moderno. She currently resides in Mexico with her small dog, where she teaches workshops in handmade filmmaking at the Fine Art Museum in Mexico City.

Jonathan Caouette
Jonathan Caouette has been making films since he was 8 years old. His shorts include The Ankle Slasher (1987), The Techniques and Scienc of Eva (1988), Pig Nymph (1990), The Hospital (2001), and Fame (2002). As a regional theater actor, Jonathan has
appeared as a schizophrenic John the Baptist in Salome, a queer Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, and both John the Baptist and Judas in Godspell. He has toured with the European company of The Rocky Horror Show, The 30 Anniversary Of Hair in NYC, and has appeared in eight commercials, eleven MTV spots and seventeen student films. Jonathan presently lives in Queens with his partner David Sanin Paz and his mother Renee
LeBlanc. Jonathan is now working on a documentary about the All Tomorrow's Parties Festivals in England, with bands like Iggy And The Stooges, Devendra Banhart, Belle And Sebastian, The Gossip and Antony And The Johnson's. He is also working on a film
entitled Everything Somewhere Else, that Jonathan just recieved a Rockerfeller Fellowship
for. Jonathan just starred in Ash Christian's Fat Girls, which premiered at the Tribeca Film festival in 2006. He is also in development for a film Called Forest Grove with the
producers of Mysterious Skin. As an Actor, Jonathan received extensive training at the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts In New York City.

In 2004, Jonathan directed starred and pieced together Tarnation on his Imac computer, using Apple's iMovie. Tarnation was produced by Gus Van Sant and John Cameron Mitchell. Part documentary, part narrative fiction, part home movie, and part acid trip. A psychedelic whirlwind of snapshots, Super-8 home movies, old answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, snippets of '80s pop culture, and dramatic reenactments to create an epic portrait of an American family travesty. Tarnation went on to Sundance and the Cannes Film Festival as well as many others and was nominated for the GLAAD Media Award, Grand Prix Asturias, Best documentary for the Gotham Award, Independent Spirit Award, and won the Stanley Kubrick Award at the Michael Moore Film Festival (Traverse City), as well as winning the BSFC Award for the Boston Society Of Film Critics, The Chlotrudis Award, The Glitter Award, The Sutherland trophy at The London Film Festival, Best documentary at the Los Angeles IFP/West Film Festival, The NSFC Award at The National Society Of Film Critics, And The San Diego Film Critics Society Award as well as many others. Tarnation is his first feature.

Usama Alshaibi
Usama Alshaibi was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1969 and spent his formative years living between the United States and the Middle East. His work in film and video has been screened at numerous film festivals and venues across the globe. He is the recipient of a generous 2005 grant from the Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts and a Playboy Foundation Award, as well as the winner of the Creative Promise Award at Tribeca All Access in New York City. In early 2004 Usama and his wife returned to his birthplace in Iraq to shoot his first feature documentary titled Nice Bombs, it was produced by Benzfilm Group and Kristie Alshaibi. He has completed one narrative feature titled Muhammad and Jane, and more than thirty short films and videos. He has also produced and directed music videos for a variety of recording artists, including Bobby Conn, Magic is Küntmaster and Panicsville. Usama was the founder and Director of the notorious Z Film Festival from 2000-2005. Alshaibi taught documentary film classes at Columbia College, and he has lectured as an artist in residence at schools and universities throughout the U.S. Currently he is an on-air host and producer for Chicago Public Radio's Vocalo.org. Usama is a co-owner of Artvamp, a multi-media productioncompany founded by his wife Kristie Alshaibi. In addition to reaching an eclectic audience with his film work, Alshaibi's photography has been included in several print and web publications, including Nerve.com. An interview with Usama appears in Studs Terkel's book Hope Dies Last. Feature articles have been written about his work in Chicago Tribune, Time Out, and Variety, and he has made appearances on various TV and radio news programs. Usama is also a life long painter and illustrator working with watercolors
and inks.