Archive for August, 2009
Community Cinema Los Angeles: Lots to Talk About
Aero Theatre in Santa Monica
While you are out enjoying the last of the summer sun I am diligently working on the final touches for the next season of Community Cinema in Los Angeles and West Hollywood. As always, we have an amazing and diverse group of films for you (more on that in a second).
I am really thrilled to share some news about Community Cinema in the Los Angeles area with you.
Thanks to our friends at the City of West Hollywood we have had Community Cinema in the West Hollywood area for the last five years. The City remains a strong supporter of Community Cinema and they will once again help us produce a screening series split between the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
I am also pleased to announce that through a new partnership with the City of Los Angeles, Community Cinema will see an exciting expansion this year. The City is planning to have a traveling series making a presence in each area of Metro Los Angeles over the course of the season. A full schedule will be out in the next couple of weeks.
ITVS Community is also working on a partnership with the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department in hopes of screening select Community Cinema films for inmates. ITVS Community works to bring communities together and connect them with information, resources and opportunities for education, engagement and positive change, and thus we hope to develop a model that may be replicated at other correctional and rehabilitation facilities across the country.
One Size Fits All: Community Cinema Flexes Its Flexibility
Volunteers at the Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women
One aspect of having worked with the Community Cinema program for the past four years is that I have had the pleasure of working with people from so many communities including Washington, D.C. and Grand Junction, Colorado as well as Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Miami. Recently a few of my colleagues asked me to share some of their impressions about the Community Cinema program. We welcome your comments especially if you are a Producing Partner, Cinema/Outreach Coordinator, or an audience member.
Meet Sara Brissenden-Smith who represents Community Cinema in the Bay Area. She is always asked, “So, what’s the topic this month?”
Meet Tiffany L. Verkler who is Promotions Supervisor for Arkansas Educational Television Network. This is her first season with Community Cinema. We are all excited to bring Independent Lens documentaries to Arkansas audiences.
Meet Lynn Allen who has represented Community Cinema statewide in Idaho since our very first season.
New Venue Joins Community Cinema Philadelphia
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia joins Community Cinema this season as a venue partner to host our kick-off event on Wednesday, Sept 23rd for D TOUR!
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, founded in 1787
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, founded in 1787, is the oldest professional medical organization in the country. Twenty-four physicians of eighteenth-century Philadelphia gathered “to advance the science of medicine and to thereby lessen human misery.” Today, over 1,500 Fellows continue to convene at the College and work towards better serving the public.
The College is home to the Mütter Museum and the Historical Medical Library. Outreach programs include Philly Health Info.org, [external link] an online health information, resource and educational program serving the Delaware Valley, and the C. Everett Koop Community Education Center. The public is invited to attend the many lectures, workshops, and conferences the College offers in support of their mission to advance the cause of health.
In addition to the College, the Gift of Life Donor Program [external link] will be joining us as a community partner. Gift of Life is the non-profit agency serving the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, and responsible for recovering and distributing organs and tissues used in life-saving and life-enhancing transplants.
Founded in 1974 by the Greater Delaware Valley Society of Transplant Surgeons, Gift of Life is one of the oldest and largest of 58 non-profit, organ and tissue procurement organizations in the United States. Gift of Life is part of the nationwide organ and tissue sharing network run by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Upcoming Community Cinema Screenings
D TOUR kicks off Community Cinema in September
Earlier this month, we announced the exciting line-up of Independent Lens films coming to Community Cinema.
Be sure to check out this year’s schedule of upcoming screenings. Join us in September for free screenings of D TOUR, which chronicles musician Pat Spurgeon’s search for a living kidney donor and the challenges with finding a viable match. Watch the trailer and then find a free screening near you.
Visit the Community Cinema events page to find free preview screenings near you.
Tension Creates Successful CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America Event in Nashville
L to R: Rodney Britton from Galaxy Star Drug Awareness; Moderator Jonathan Martin from WSMV-TV; and Clemmie Greenlee from Galaxy Star Drug Awareness
Nashville’s to-capacity screening of CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, was our most rewarding and interesting event. The film examines conditions that have led to the devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Police pressured us to cancel the event out of fear of violence. That’s not the response we envisioned for an event about peace, change and solutions. Of the nationwide events––where the local police were involved––Nashville’s police had the most serious reservations about holding the event.
Nashville has been making the “10 most violent” cities list [external link Forbes Magazine] and gang violence is a serious problem in the metro area, so I know police were just being cautious. The screening made people nervous and added a bit of tension to the night. Middle schoolers from Nashville’s All the Kings Men leadership program [external link] attended the event.
My Best Experience Producing a Community Cinema Event: Sydney Meyer – KETC TV – St. Louis
KING CORN Event Attendees Mingle and Learn
350 people filled the Missouri History Museum Lobby for the KETC St. Louis Channel 9 Community Cinema screening of the film KING CORN on March 8, 2008.
The night began an hour early with a festive Farmers Market loaded with “healthy foods”. The market had excellent resources with great information and wonderful locally grown, healthy foods. The “Healthiest Potato Chip You Can Get” was the Channel 9 staff’s favorite! It was fun and informative and people were really enjoying themselves. It was a great way to begin the KING CORN evening.
KING CORN event attendees browse the event's farmers market
After the film and discussion we ended the night with an after-the-film event at a local, near-by restaurant. The owner prepared a special KING CORN dish – “Fresh, buttery Sea Scallops and a zesty relish made with bi-colored corn grown for us by sweet corn local, farm specialists. The big, fat, juicy kernels have captured the bright sun and blue skies of a long Missouri Summer, lying blissfully at slumber in our big freezer since August of ’07.”
KING CORN Learning Station
I just loved that colorful description after our discussion had pointed out our lost connection with the food we eat! The conversation continued into the night ending with the idea there need to be more films on this topic and other environmental issues. This is a very popular subject with our audiences.
Thanks, the film was a great pick. We “hunger” for more films from the KING CORN producers!
Sydney Meyer
Project Manager
KETC TV
St. Louis, MO
At the Community Cinema Retreat with Sally Rosenthal of BETWEEN THE FOLDS
Sally Rosenthal, executive producer of BETWEEN THE FOLDS.
Community Cinema Regional Outreach Coordinators and Producing Partners practice their origami folding skills after learning about the film BETWEEN THE FOLDS.
Community Cinema is the largest civic engagement program in broadcast television, featured in over 50 cities nationwide. Screenings are followed by lively panel discussions that bring together citizens, organizations and public television stations to encourage dialogue and action around important and timely social issues. None of it, however, could be possible without the support of ITVS’s Regional Outreach Coordinators (ROC) and Producing Partners, who organize screenings in their local communities.
Last week, ITVS invited ROC’s and Producing Parters to discuss the upcoming Community Cinema season and meet with filmmakers and ITVS staff. Sally Rosenthal, executive producer of BETWEEN THE FOLDS, shares her thoughts on the experience.
The Community Cinema retreat was another reminder how fortunate we are to be part of the ITVS family. We are even more excited about the year ahead when BETWEEN THE FOLDS, which looks at the ingenuity of some of the world’s best paper folders, airs on Independent Lens and screens across the country as part of Community Cinema.
I was struck by the welcoming atmosphere, and pleased to meet other filmmakers like Jim Granato and film subject Pat Spurgeon of D TOUR; for me, that’s been a rewarding part of being involved with this project.
Community Cinema’s New Season of Free Events
Are you a fan of indie films? Be sure to check out Community Cinema, a free monthly screening series that showcases films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens
In over 50 cities nationwide, screenings are followed by lively discussions and activities that bring together community members, leading organizations and public television stations to encourage dialogue and action around important and timely social issues. From interactive workshops and forums, to live performances and discussions featuring filmmakers and local experts, Community Cinema offers the unexpected.
This year’s line-up features stories from around the world and delves into topics as diverse as music sampling in the hip-hop industry to origami enthusiasts who bridge science and art. Discover powerful stories that continue to shed light on the lives devastated by Hurricane Katrina. And see personal stories such as one family’s unorthodox quest to help their severely autistic son to one man’s search for a living organ donor while trying to make it big as an indie rock star. These stories and many others will be coming to Community Cinema, starting this September.
Visit the Community Cinema Web site for more information >>
Join the conversation and become a fan on Facebook >>
Check out the season line-up…
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communitycinema: #Compost THIS! Cow/horse manure (outdoors only), cardboard rolls, chopped leaves, coffee grounds (worms love these) MORE: http://dld.bz/kSXD
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Jenn Wilcox: RT @GlobalFundWomen: In #SF nxt wk? Come to the Womens #Empowerment #FilmFestival to watch inspiring films abt #women @communitycinema @IMOW http://bit.ly/bjZuPz
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Simon Kilmurry: RT @communitycinema: Women's Engagement Film Series NEXT MONTH! Partners incl @unfpa @CARE @unifem @povdocs http://dld.bz/nQbH #FF Thanks!