JAM

East Coast Premiere

Ah, the seventies! Long gone are the days when Leif Garrett and Shaun Cassidy graced nearly every cover of Tiger Beat magazine, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW became a surprise midnight hit, The Captain and Tennille ruled the airwaves, and roller derby was in its heyday. Up until recently, roller derby was about as contemporary as gladiatorial combats and chariot racing-but not to San Francisco-based Tim Patterson, who made it his mission to resurrect the game and its players from obscurity.

Shot over the course of seven years, Mark Woollen's exhilarating film follows Tim as he gathers together his original rag tag team of skaters in an arduous attempt to reestablish the American Roller Derby League. What this motley crew of characters may lack in agility, they make up for in spirit. And the two decades that have filled the space between their '70s heyday and 21st-century revival-decades that have seen the aftershocks of the AIDS epidemic, Reaganomics, dotcom mania, and general wear and tear after years of excess and agingÑinform every "block," "jam," and "pileup" they perform in the ring.

Tim's battle for roller derby relevancy is uphill all the way, and it calls into question whether his devotion verges on the delusional. With a crooked business partner, a fatally ill lover, and a quickly depleting bank account, one can't help but wonder whether this dream in fact adds up to a nightmare, or if it is the only thing keeping him from plunging into darkness.

-Sky Sitney

DIRECTOR BIO
Mark Woollen's most recent short film DRUMMER WANTED garnered acclaim from Slamdance to Edinburgh. Previously, he has directed award-winning videos for the Fugees and the RZA. He owns one of Hollywood's most prestigious advertising agencies, which has created campaigns for films such as CRASH, TRAFFIC, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND and LOST IN TRANSLATION. His work has been featured in The New York Times, and on NPR. JAM is his first feature.

Print Source:
Josh Braun
Submarine Entertainment
132 Crosby Street
New York, NY 10012
josh@submarine.com

PRECEDED BY...PROJECT: B-BOY | KUJO
Brad Hasse
USA, 2006, 14 MINUTES

The resurgence of breakdance! Partially deaf dancer Kujo has a fluid, gravity-defying style, using the audience's motion as his beat.

Print Source:
Doug Shineman, DMedia Entertainment
48 Brighton Ave. #25
Allston, MA 02134
617.933.9064
doug@dmediaentertainment.com

6/16 at 2:30 PM
6/17 at 10:00 PM

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