Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss have made a nonfiction war film for our times. Full Battle Rattle takes us into the world of a hot, desert climate, not in the Middle East, but in California’s Mojave Desert, where the US Army has built a “virtual Iraq,” replete with Iraqi citizens, full-scale villages, insurgents, and the American troops that will eventually be deployed into this run-away freight train of a war. A billion dollars has been spent by the army on an urban warfare simulation, populated by hundreds of role-players. Moss and Gerber follow an army battalion through this simulation, posting themselves with the soldiers, as they go through their rotation, and in the fictional town of Medina Wasl, aka Junction City. This was the first time any filmmaker or journalist had been given access to the simulation site and these two talented filmmakers, teaming up for the first time as co-directors, made the most out of that privilege. The footage they individually shot in each location comes together in a tour-de-force film that does not shy away from the surrealism, absurdity and pathos that real war brings. They clearly pay homage to films such as Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, and Altman’s Nashville and M*A*S*H. In January of this year, the film world-premiered at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, Panorama, and also won a special jury prize at the ’08 SXSW Film Festival back in March. They also exhibited at Hot Docs in Toronto in April where I first saw this amazing film. Opening July 9 for its US theatrical run at Film Forum, New York and also playing at Film Forum West in Seattle, the film will continue its international festival run. I had a wonderful chat over lunch with this dynamic filmmaking duo one spring afternoon about their mind-blowing, and ultimately, incredibly moving film:

We Are Wizards is a documentary about the creative community that has sprung up around the Harry Potter books, including the musical sensation known as Wizard Rock. At its heart it is a film about the joys of fandom and it has been delighting audiences at festivals around the country from SXSW to and the Sarasota Film Festival. Director Josh Koury tells us more.

"This is cinema verite on every scale, an epic nestled in the eternal moment. With poetic luminous images, The Chances of the World Changing is not just about turtles, it's a meditation on time, mortality." (Maclean's). "One of those special films that combines masterful filmmaking with incredibly engaging subject matter. . . . an enchanting score . . . . , exquisitely photographed." (International Documentary Magazine). These are just a couple of the stellar reviews filmmaker, Eric Metzgar, received for his debut nonfiction feature. An Independent Spirit Award Truer Than Fiction nominee for his debut, Metzgar has now completed yet another transcendent, incredibly moving piece of cinema with his sophomore effort, Life. Support. Music.. (He comes up with great titles for his films, too.) The New York-based Metzgar tells intimate stories of individuals doing extraordinary things. His work ethic may be DIY (he produces, directs, shoots, and edits his films), but his aesthetic is the best of what modern cinema can offer us - finding inspiration in the unlikeliest of places, masterful storytelling, and gorgeous cinematography. (You can read my review of Life. Support. Music. here.) A fan since seeing Chances on POV last summer, I met Eric for the first time after seeing his latest film at the True/False Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri, where it showed as a work-in-progress, and again at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival a few weeks ago in Durham, North Carolina. When Shooting People asked me to interview him, I was more than happy to carve out some time to talk to this talented guy. Luckily, we both live in Brooklyn, so our interview took place while strolling through Prospect Park on a glorious spring day, as we talked about art, movies, music and making it as an artist in the Big Bad Apple. Here's our conversation:

The Apology Line is a short documentary based around the creation of a real "apology line" where members of the public could anonymously confess their deepest secrets over the phone. The idea is based on an earlier project conceived by the late New York artist Allan Bridge. The film, directed by James Lees, is haunting and beautifully shot. It has been garnering much festival attention and has deservedly won a number of awards including a Special Jury Mention at Clermont-Ferrand and Best Short Documentary at HotDocs.

A microbudget debut documentary feature, applauded and awarded by festivals everywhere, a Grierson Award, distributor backing, two CDs and a world that just seems to want to embrace your first film fruits. A fairy-tale beginning for a pair of film careers? Perhaps, but for Shooters Paul Taylor and Teddy Leifer, it was a reality - one that has completely transformed the lives of a whole group of young people in KwaZulu Natal in South Africa, orphaned by the HIV/Aids epidemic that is crippling families all over that continent. These are the children of Agape, an orphanage set up by a concerned, caring and loving grandmother figure, whose chose its name from Ancient Greek. It stands for “unconditional love.” That is what the children receive at Agape and that is what comes out in their singing, for the narrative core of the film is told in song and particularly in the song which gives its name to the title of the film; We Are Together. It is a remarkable film about some remarkable children and a stunning debut for two careers; those of the film’s director, Paul Taylor and producer, Teddy Leifer.

Take a director who has yet to make a feature debut, a trio of actors who have never performed for the big screen before, a DoP who has never shot a feature before, add five grand and shake well, in a journey around Scotland in a camper van. This is the unlikely premise for a debut drama feature that was the toast of Raindance, where it not only gained a nomination for best British Independent Feature (against Control) but took the Raindance Award. A very promising start then, to a career directing for the big screen from Shooter Charles Henri Belleville. And don’t be fooled by the gallic flavour of the name. He’s as Scottish as Irn Bru and deep fried haggis and chips! Let’s hope living in London doesn’t change him too much.

When he was a 14-year old Shooter, Stuart Urban played at war and filmed it taking inspiration from his own father’s war experiences, escaping first the Nazi holocaust and then, the Soviet gulag system. Stuart little realised then, how years later he would travel to film his father’s story: in the places where he was tortured, where his family was butchered, meet the woman his father loved, who sheltered him, and uncover many disturbing secrets in trying to discover just who was this man, the man that was his father. The resulting documentary Tovarisch I Am Not Dead took over 14 years to make, travelling in some very dangerous places, being arrested by secret police, uncovering many very dark places and even darker deeds that happened in them. The film is the Raindance nomination for a BIFA award and is an extremely moving investigation into one man’s life under two oppressive systems. It is a life that raises almost as many questions as it answers, about the hidden worlds of cross-border traffic and international espionage during the Second World War and the Cold War, that may well continue to this very day.

After dropping out of film school, Shooter Simon Miller made his first film two years ago, a short that was screened at Edinburgh, in Gaelic; Scotland’s minority language. For his second film, he thought he would make a feature for the cinema. He made it in Gaelic and guess what? It is accepted in competition for the Michael Powell Award, at Edinburgh. This is a fine feature, the first feature for cinema in Gaelic and a feature that draws heavily on Gaeldom’s rich culture of stories and music, as well as language, to enrich the narrative. For good measure he throws in some of the most attractive scenery to be found in the West of Scotland, in the island of Skye. Miller wants to expose the riches of Gaelic culture to a wider world through cinema, with subtitles for those who don’t speak or understand the language. He’s a man on a mission. He is succeeding. His is an extraordinary achievement.

Shooter Leo Sedgley's first post-graduation film was made using two actors in a real location - a day centre for homeless people. Filmed over an extended period to capture seasonal changes the film has caught the eye of the Edinburgh selectors and will be in competition for this year's short film award.

The Ballad Of A.J Weberman is a feature length documentary chronicling the life, times and crimes of notorious Bob Dylan obsessive and Garbology inventor, A.J Weberman, co-director by Shooter James Blumel. It’s an irreverent and witty exploration into one man's obsessions, his life lived on the New York fringes and a uniquely twisted take on the American dream. The film enjoys an unforgettable cast of characters including Lower East Side street punk-poet David Peel, former child dancer Jay Byrd and Aaron Kay aka 'The Pieman'. A rare and astonishing telephone conversation between Weberman and Dylan appears in the film as an animation. And to top it all, the film is accompanied by a vivid Americana soundtrack performed by members of the cast.