Bayou City Inspirational Film Festival

Mike has shown the way to others by surmounting many difficulties and by fulfilling one of his dreams of helping others with a mental illness. He values his life and his work by serving as an example to others and his focus is always on never giving up. This film focuses on Mike's personal recipe on how he manages his daily schedule.20% is the medication he takes. 80% is all the rest he does in order to keep his life under control.

An aspiring university student moves to Bujumbura from the countryside and has to deal with a dangerous living situation. Abuse is one of five short dramatic films made during the pilot-project launch of a media development project the Burundi Film Center in the summer of 2007. Four filmmakers traveled to the war-ravaged East African nation of Burundi with no funding and borrowed equipment to train youth aged 18-25 the basics of film theory and production. The result is a truly inspiring cinematic initiative under the mandate to "Inspire. Educate. Entertain."

In the twilight of his life, Ned reflects on his past, his remaining years, and discovers how his role in life has changed. Against the Wind is a sentimental film that shows the old truly are young at heart and that universal emotions live within us all.

In 2007, The Appalachian State football team pulled off what's been called the biggest upset in college football history. This film is a first-hand, inside look at how they did it, from the very first practice to the improbable win in the stadium known as "The Big House" against football powerhouse University of Michigan.

This fascinating 30-minute documentary explores the history of how the Peters Equal Area World Map came into being. It was filmed on-location at Dr. Peters home in Bremen, Germany, as well as in the UK and the USA. The film includes scenes from the WEST WING TV show that featured the map and cartographic critiques that show the tension and conflict that the Peters map generated amongst the cartographic establishment. The film contains the only English-language interviews ever conducted with Arno Peters. Dr. Peters died in 2002, just fifteen months after these interviews were filmed. The Peters World Map was a radical map, and Arno Peters was truly a remarkable man. His impact will be felt for generations to come. This screening is dedicated to the memory of filmmaker Ruth Abrams for her labor of love and for leaving behind a wonderful and inspiring work. We pay special tribute to Ruth Abrams, a true legend, for her heroic, tireless, passionate and dedicated efforts as a filmmaker. (Ruth Abrams, April 22,1924 - April 30, 2008)

"As For Me and My House" follows the lives of single-parent sisters, Nicole and Michelle, and all their children. A modern take on the old ‘Odd Couple’ series from the 1970s, Nicole is a mid-30s attorney in Houston pursuing the position of partner with her law firm. At first glance, she seems to have it all together. She has the house, the car and two (2) kids in private school. But she raises them on ‘happy meals’ and ‘blockbuster nights’ because of her hectic work and socializing schedule. Her younger sister, Michelle, is a street-savvy hairstylist in New Orleans with three (3) children, all from different fathers. The irony is that, though Michelle’s personal life decisions have been a little suspect, her parenting skills far outweigh those of Nicole. Because she is closer in age to her children, she is more hip and understands all the latest teenage lingo. But she is also a “tough love” disciplinarian and wields an uncanny respect (Nicole calls it fear) from her children often by shooting them that ever familiar mother’s “look.” When Hurricane Katrina claims Michelle’s home, she does the obvious: With her kids in tow, she packs up all her pressing combs, her tarot cards and her gumbo pot and makes the trek to H-town to move in with Nicole and her suburban family. Now both women must check their attitudes at the door and blend their differences of opinion, educational levels and authoritative styles into a flavorful, yet spicy blend of cultural gumbo. “As For Me and My House”… This ain’t the Brady Bunch!

Seventeen-year-old August feels he has to change his looks in order to fit in, ultimately deciding to undergo surgery to change his face to become the "perfect image" of a high-school teenager.

Marta Gonzales suffers the burden of grief and guilt a decade after the murder of her twenty one year old daughter. Marta's yearly trip to the cemetery, takes a dark turn, when weighed down by dispair, she contemplates ending her own life in the swift rapids of the river near the cemetery. Her attempt is interrupted by an unassuming bull rider with bare feet, named Jesse, passing through the terrain near the cemetary on a fishing trip. Jesse, through his annoying, but, pointed questions to Marta about her daughter's death, leads Marta to a new hope and peace with her life and leaves the audience wondering if Jesse is truly real or a spiritual appariton, sent to save Marta from her crisis of the soul.

In a Mother Teresa meets Indiana Jones adventure, three middle-aged men, former soldiers and modern-day knights, travel the world delivering life saving humanitarian aid directly into the hands of civilians and doctors in some of the most dangerous places on Earth, the front lines of war. Ed Artis, Jim Laws, and Walt Ratterman are self-styled Knights of Malta who in 1995 formed Knightsbridge International, a unique humanitarian aid organization whose motto is "High Adventure and Service to Humanity." As Artis explains, "We're not there to change anybody's politics, we're not in the God business, and we pay our own way." Their specialty is going where death from landmines, bullets, or bombs is as frequent as death from hunger, disease, or the elements. Their personal convictions and courage drive them to places such as Afghanistan, Albania, Chechnya, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Rwanda, and the southern Philippines, often when few if any other humanitarian aid organizations are around. The camera follows Artis, Laws, and Ratterman as they take us on a journey into the heart of humanity and the soul of courage.