Mia Farrow

Chris is a first time filmmaker with his heart set on making a low-budget zombie movie masterpiece. It isn't long before problems with the all volunteer cast and crew start to bog down the project. Unable to come to terms with reality he pushes forward as actors quit, locations fall through, and the production team loses faith. Focused on his work Chris fails to realize he is alienating his friends and family, the very people still by his side. Will Chris admit he is in over is head and give up on the dream or will it cost him everything. Safe Zone utilizes scripted, improv, documentary, and mockumentary footage to tell the story of a failed freshman filmmaker in a truly unique way. —Chris Bruemmer

Examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary filmmaker Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States. In 1977, Roman Polanski was arrested in Los Angeles on charges he gave drugs and had sex with a 13-year-old girl he was photographing for Vogue. Eleven months later, having pled guilty to one count, he fled to Europe before sentencing. This film examines that year-long period, using archival footage of the media frenzy and of Polanski's life before the charges, clips from his films, and contemporary interviews with many of the principles - attorneys, the victim, and Polanski's friends and associates. Polanski remains enigmatic, but portraits emerge of the machinations of justice and of a judge more interested in his image than his word or the law. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>

Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans (the film shares the same name as Evans's famous 1994 autobiography). This documentary captures the life story of legendary Hollywood producer and studio chief Robert Evans. The first actor to ever to run a film studio, Robert Evans' film career started in 1956, poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel. His good looks, charm and overwhelming confidence captured the eye of screen legend Norma Shearer, who offered him a film role. After a glamorous--but short-lived--career as a movie star, Evans tried out producing. At the age of 34, with no producing credits to his name, he landed a job as chief of production at Paramount Pictures. Evans ran the studio from 1966-1974. During his tenure, he was responsible for such revolutionary films as The Godfather, Rosemary's Baby, Love Story, The Odd Couple, Harold and Maude and Chinatown. By the early '80s, the Golden Boy of Hollywood was losing his luster. After a failed marriage to Ali MacGraw, a cocaine bust and rumored involvement with the Cotton Club murder, he disappeared into near-obscurity. Only through tremendous will and uncanny luck did he once again rise as the kid who stays in the picture. —Sujit R. Varma Movie mogul Robert Evans self narrates the story of his movie life. Once an aspiring actor, he was a successful business owner of a woman's wear company when, independently, Hollywood royals actress Norma Shearer and producer Darryl F. Zanuck plucked him out of nowhere to be featured in major supporting roles in two separate movies. His acting career was short as he realized that he was not very good at it, and that his passion lied elsewhere in the movie business. He wanted to be the next Darryl F. Zanuck. In large part due to an article written by entertainment columnist Peter Bart, Evans did become a producer and then ultimately head of Paramount Pictures, one of the then lower tier of the premier movie studios. Evans' place at the studio hinged on the success of a few key movies including Rosemary's Baby (1968), Love Story (1970) (working on which sparked the short but passionate personal relationship with future wife, actress Ali MacGraw), and The Godfather (1972). Under his tenure, Paramount became the number 1 studio in Hollywood. Those successes led to an unusual contract with Paramount, which in turn led to his return to producing such acclaimed movies as Chinatown (1974), and ultimately quitting his job at the studio. But Evans' life had some major falls, especially in the 1980's, with the start of his cocaine use, the failure of some highly touted and big budget films such as The Cotton Club (1984), and implication in the murder of aspiring producer Roy Radin, which in combination led to major bout of depression. He would need the assistance of his true friends to help him regain his life. —Huggo

When their best friends announce that they're separating, a professor and his wife discover the faults in their own marriage. When Jack and Sally announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe and Judy. Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> Married New York couples Gabe and Judy, and Jack and Sally are best friends. Just before they are about to go out for one of their regular evenings together, Jack and Sally casually tell Gabe and Judy that they have decided to separate. The casual nature of the announcement is not to make the news a big deal, as Jack and Sally are and will remain friends. Regardless, the news comes out of left field for Gabe and Judy, who always believed Jack and Sally were as happy as they are... or believe they are. The four continue on with their lives as friends with Jack "moving on" from Sally, Sally trying to find someone to date in retaliation while not emotionally ready to move on from Jack, Judy trying to set Sally up with who she believes is the perfect man, and Gabe continuing his work as an English professor. In the process, they all will come to some realizations about the state of their romantic lives, with outwardly passive Judy the one who always manipulates the situation usually to get what she wants. —Huggo When Jack (Pollack) and Sally (Davis, in an Oscar-nominated performance) announce that they're splitting up, this comes as a shock to their best friends Gabe (Allen) and Judy (Farrow). Maybe mostly because they also are drifting apart and are now being made aware of it. So while Jack and Sally try to go on and meet new people, the marriage of Gabe and Judy gets more and more strained, and they begin to find themselves being attracted to other people.

With a serial strangler on the loose, a bookkeeper wanders around town searching for the vigilante group intent on catching the killer. A small and insignificant bookkeeper, Kleinman, is awoken one night by his neighbors who wants his help to track down a strangler who has been killing people all over town. The citizens form vigilance committees, but when Kleinman has dressed, his neighbors have disappeared. Meanwhile a circus has come to town. Irmy and Paul are two of the artists. After a fight, Irmy leaves the circus in the middle of the night. Eventually she meets Kleinman, scared and alone. —Mattias Thuresson It's the middle of a dark and foggy night. Max Kleinman is awaken from a deep sleep by a group of men wanting him to join their lynch mob to capture a serial murderer, who only seems to strike when foggy and who primarily murders by strangulation with a wire cord. Kleinman is included within the plan even though he is largely treated as a schmuck by those that know him, the members of the mob who don't even tell him what his role in the plan is, despite his repeated requests. In his wanderings through the dark and foggy streets, he encounters many people, most notably a young innocent named Irmy. A sword swallower with a traveling circus in town, Irmy left both the circus and her boyfriend Paul, one of the circus clowns, not only because she wants to have a baby and he doesn't, but because she caught him cheating on her. Irmy's own wanderings through the streets to find a place to sleep for the night takes her to many places, including a brothel. In addition to their initial goals of capturing the murderer and finding a place to sleep for the night, Kleinman and Irmy discover that their time together may bring up larger issues in their life. However, they may not only end up being attempted targets of the murderer, but Kleinman in particular may be a convenient scapegoat for what end up being the competing lynch mobs, who want to see someone - anyone - pay for the murders with his own life. —Huggo

At a summer house in Vermont, neighbor Howard falls in love with Lane, who's in a relationship with Peter, who's falling for Stephanie, who's married with children. Everyone is gathering at Lane's place for the weekend, and everyone's in love. Unfortunately, each beloved loves somebody else, and no one seems to realize it. —Cleo <frede005@maroon.tc.umn.edu> For the past couple of years, Lane has been living at the acreage located in rural Vermont given to her by her larger than life boozing ex-actress mother, Diane, the property which Diane and Lane's now deceased father Richard bought before Lane was born. Lane moved there in an attempt to get well following her latest suicide attempt, her depression which in large part is the result of not being able to get over shooting Diane's abusive lover, the man Diane left Richard for, dead when Lane was fourteen. Lane spends much time with two of her neighbors: Howard, a French teacher, who is in love with her, and Peter, an ex-Madison Avenuer and aspiring writer, with who in turn Lane is in love. It's nearing the end of the summer, and Lane's best friend, married Stephanie from Philadelphia, has been staying there for much of the summer both to support Lane and to get away from her unsatisfying marriage for a while. During Stephanie's time there, Peter in turn has fallen in love with her, of which Lane is unaware and which Stephanie plans not to act upon in light of Lane's feelings for Peter. As Lane feels she is ready to move on with her life, she plans on selling the acreage to pay off her medical debts, using the remaining moneys to move back to New York City to start a photography business. Lane's plans could be thrown for a loop with the arrival back for a few days of Diane and Lloyd, Diane's supportive physicist husband. Diane's plan for Peter to write her memoirs and a pronouncement by Diane end up dredging up that painful part of Lane's past that she thought she had placed behind her. —Huggo Lane is selling the family home in Vermont and moving to New York. At the moment she has her mother (and famed entertainer) Diane and step-father Lloyd living with her, as well as her sister Stephanie. Lane has been through a lot but now things seem to be getting back on track. She is in a relationship with Peter, an author. However, Peter is in love with Stephanie, who's married. Meanwhile, Howard, a neighbour, is smitten with Lane. How will things work out? —grantss

Inspired by Sherlock, Jr., Hellzapoppin', and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, it is the tale of a film character who leaves a fictional film of the same name and enters the real world.

As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey? Based on the Dame Agatha Christie novel, our favorite Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot (Sir Peter Ustinov), is on a cruise up the Nile. He is surrounded by an interesting assortment of characters, including a wealthy heiress and her husband, on their honeymoon. It appears that everyone hates the heiress. —grantss As brilliant Belgian detective Hercule Poirot enjoys a lavish cruise down the Nile, an arrogant, newlywed millionairess is found in a pool of blood, murdered on board. With every one of the eclectic passengers on board the luxurious SS Karnak having a good reason to want the wealthy heiress dead, meticulous Hercule Poirot arms himself with patience and dogged perseverance to ferret out the killer in their midst. Surrounded by clues hidden in plain sight, can Poirot shed light on the knotty case of the death on the Nile before another one ends up dead? —Nick Riganas Almost everyone on the S.S. Karnak, cruising the Nile, has a reason to want spoiled, selfish and beautiful heiress Linnet Ridgeway Doyle (Lois Chiles) dead. Her jewels are coveted by elderly Mrs. Van Schuyler (Bette Davis); her maid, Louise, is upset because Linnet won't give her a promised dowry; writer Salome Otterbourne (Angela Lansbury) is facing a libel suit brought by Linnet; Salome's daughter Rosalie Otterbourne (Olivia Hussey) wants to protect her mother; Andrew Pennington (George Kennedy) has been embezzling from the Ridgeway family; and former friend Jacqueline De Bellefort (Mia Farrow) is more than a little angry and upset that Linnet stole her fiancé, Simon Doyle (Simon MacCorkindale). Renowned Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov) must unravel the mystery when Linnet (and some others) turn up dead. —Ron Kerrigan <mvg@whidbey.com>

A Midwesterner becomes fascinated with his nouveau riche neighbor, who obsesses over his lost love. Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy. —Cleo <frede005@maroon.tc.umn.edu>

After being blinded in a horseback-riding accident, Sarah (Mia Farrow) moves in with her aunt, uncle and cousin (Dorothy Alison, Robin Bailey, and Diane Grayson) while she recovers and learns to deal with her blindness. She goes on a brief visit with her boyfriend (Norman Eshley) and during her absence the entire family is murdered. She is unaware of this horror until she finds the bodies one by one and then realizes that she, too, may be in danger. Sarah is trapped in the remote farmhouse and must fight for her life when the killer returns...

This is supernatural tale of the unborn. After moving into a creepy old apartment in Manhattan with her husband Guy, Rosemary Woodhouse begins to experience odd, unpleasant things happening to her. Guy becomes enchanted with their nosy neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet, after the older couple`s ward commits suicide. Then Rosemary gets pregnant after a bad dream in which a horrible creature makes love to her. A caring Minnie keeps giving her some weird concoction for the pregnancy and Rosemary doesn`t feel at all well. The only solution is, as the tag-line says, to "pray for Rosemary`s baby