Slowboat Films

The Kingdom of Survival explores modern skepticism in America, challenges the status quo and uncovers provocative links between survivalist philosophy, ecumenical spirituality, radical political theory, and outlaw culture. The audience is invited into a thoughtful conversation with the likes of Prof. Noam Chomsky, Dr. Mark Mirabello, Ramsey Kanaan, and the riveting final interview with beloved author, Joe Bageant. These unique thought leaders cast a rare shadow of doubt over our most blindly accepted American traditions.

Franz Wright, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, departed over four years ago on May 14 at age 62. In the years following his lung cancer diagnosis in 2010, Franz, during work sessions, recorded hundreds of hours of audio alone and with his wife Elizabeth ranging from finished poems to revisions and fragments, from favorite poems to memos, personal observations to banter. LAST WORDS is a project that began as an abstract radio play and has evolved into a film that merges poetry and cinema. A film that frames the at times poignant and humorous and at times otherworldly and ecstatic stream of consciousness of Franz & Elizabeth's recordings. LAST WORDS is a film of deliberate restraint and austerity - a film that drops in and out of consciousness and pays quiet homage to one of the great poets of the late 20th/early 21st century.

Follows folk blues singer Jon Konrad a.k.a. Possessed by Paul James on tour from Texas to Louisiana as he attempts to make enough money to supply for his unborn child. On his journey he crosses paths with musical peers, honky tonk proprietors, and religious mavericks. Together they explore their struggles, doubts, hopes, and demons, or - as Jon's friend Scott Biram puts it - "We can rejoice in one another's sharing of pain!"

Hard Soil traces the history and evolution of American Roots music and examines its social and cultural relevance in the 21st century. Nowhere is America's cultural evolution and diversity as palpable as in the music of the people. Folk music or alternately roots music, a collective term encompassing a variety of musical styles from Bluegrass, to Blues and from Country to Gospel. Today a wild and vibrant subculture of musicians has begun to infuse these musical styles with the sounds of the 21st century keeping the evolution of American Roots music that is not only heard in the land of Lincoln but across the globe. To many it has not only become the soundtrack to their lives it has become a way of life.

M.A. Littler's film diary, Beyond the White Rains, subtly reflects the dichotomy of man, mind, and place. In Littler's singular style, the film juxtaposes an author's interior landscape with the dramatic exterior of a remote coastal setting. Set within the interior of an old whaler's cottage, the film captures the ever-changing weather, the impervious sea, and moving clouds, reflecting a lifelong study of the interaction between man and place. Enigmatic, elegiac, and at times eerie, the film's pared-down images and otherworldly sound design reveal both the external beauty and the haunting interior landscape.