Archive for September, 2009
Get the Scoop This Season! Maggie Gyllenhaal Explains
Do you enjoy watching the latest indie films (before everyone else)? Join us at Community Cinema events, which feature previews of films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Best of all — it’s free!
In over 50 cities nationwide, screenings are followed by lively panel discussions, activities, or performances that bring together citizens, organizations and public television stations to encourage dialogue and action around important and timely social issues.
Learn more about Community Cinema in this exclusive video below with host Maggie Gyllenhaal.
This October, Community Cinema will be screening COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, which examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.
Find your Community Cinema screening in our side bar to your right. See you at the movies!
D TOUR Events Draw Potential Donors and Increase Awareness of Organ Donation
(left) D TOUR director Jim Granato and (right) June R. Wallace, Community Affairs Coordinator, California Transplant Donor Network at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center
Throughout the month of September, Community Cinema presented free preview screenings of the documentary D TOUR. Each of the 36 events between September 1 and September 29 connected audience members with information about local organ donation registries and shared the stories of transplant recipients and the donors who saved their lives. The emotionally moving film follows indie rock drummer Pat Spurgeon on a “dialysis tour” as he waits for a kidney transplant match and tours with his band, Rogue Wave. The film lead to many deeply personal and heartfelt discussions with speakers afterward. When D TOUR airs nationally on PBS on the Emmy Award winning series Independent Lens on November 10, 2009 (check local listings) you can still easily connect with the local donor registry in your area.
And, you should. The need is dire. Every 13 minutes another person is added to the national organ transplant waiting list. One in nine American adults— more than 20 million –have kidney disease, and most don’t know it. Nationally, about 106,000 people are awaiting transplants of all kinds. In the Puget Sound region around Seattle there are over 1600 people waiting. In the DC area alone, there are nearly 2,000 people waiting desperately for an organ to save or enhance their lives. More than 3,400 individuals live in the New England region waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. 20,000 people on the wait list live in California.
Every D TOUR event gave audience members a chance to hear the local stories of transplant recipients, donors, doctors, nurses, and/or those living their lives while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
Join Future of Music Coalition, Our National Partner for the Upcoming screenings of D TOUR and COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, at Their Policy Summit in D.C.
Music Technology and Policy go Back to the Future!
Back in the early part of the decade, a certain peer-to-peer application went from being a small bit of code kicked around on college campuses to a worldwide phenomenon. It’s been nearly ten years since the arrival of the original Napster changed the game for everyone in music. What’s changed since the file-sharing shot heard ’round the world? How have artists dealt with the opportunity and uncertainty presented by an ever-growing number of new technologies? Where do we go from here?
The 2009 Future of Music Policy Summit aims to address those questions and more through three days of engaging, interactive programming where the brightest minds in music, technology and policy will discuss the issues that impact the entire music ecosystem. From Oct 4-6 at Georgetown University in Washington DC, an incredible mix of musicians, artist advocates, policymakers, entrepreneurs and music industry professionals will discuss everything from getting paid in the digital age to how policy impacts the lives and careers of artists.
Beyond The Box: Filmmaker Marjan Tehrani Discusses Favorite Films
Beyond The Box, the ITVS Blog, talks to director Marjan Tehrani. Her film ARUSI PERSIAN WEDDING was one of the hits of last year’s Community Cinema season.
We recently caught up with ITVS-funded filmmaker Marjan Tehrani (ARUSI PERSIAN WEDDING, P-STAR RISING) to talk about her favorite films and how they’ve influenced her style of filmmaking. Check out her top favorites below and tell us what you think.
What are your three favorite films of all-time and why?
1. Salesman by the Maysles brothers is one of my all-time favorites! I love this film because you truly feel like you are right there with these salesman as they go door to door and live on the road away from their families. The cinematography is amazing and the pace of the editing is well done. The Maysles have definitely influenced my style of filmmaking and has inspired me to follow in the style of direct cinema (cinema verité).
2. When We Were Kings is another classic documentary that has taught me so much about the craft of filmmaking. It is entertaining like docs should be! It has incredible storytelling with a great arc and footage that is so special and unique. This story and footage is something that I think any filmmaker would love to get their hands on.
3. Amores Perros –– I love this style of filmmaking that Alejandro González Iñárritu has brought to American Cinema. Other films that I greatly appreciate like Traffic have also used this storytelling method of interweaving different plots to tell a riveting and though provoking story. I hope to make a fiction film one day that has complex layers such as this film to make people think but also allow them to enjoy their movie experience.
What is your favorite film you’ve seen recently and why?
I would have to agree (that is with the million awards that this film received!) that Slumdog Millionaire is one of the best films I have seen recently. Danny Boyle did an amazing job directing this film. The casting was brilliant with the children and the the backdrop of India was exciting to see. I was on the edge of my seat through the whole film and I loved the game show story line. I am also a sucker for love stories and this was a good one.
See other filmmakers favorite films in the latest edition of Inside Indies >>
Community Cinema: “In the News”
The Star-Herald in Scottsbluff, Nebraska covered D TOUR and the launch of the Community Cinema season in Nebraska.
DJ Andy Harms of Seattle’s KNND 107.7 “The End” interviewed Pat Spurgeon on his radio show about his dialysis tour and about the film. The End has been Seattle’s alternative radio station for decades. Harms’ interview in its entirety is posted to his blog.
The Grand Junction Free Press in Colorado wrote about our upcoming series of free events at the Mesa County Public Library.
Our own Idaho Outreach Coordinator, Lynn Allen, appeared on the local FOX12 affiliate to talk about Community Cinema and upcoming D TOUR events throughout Idaho.
DC: Building a Transplant Community One Person at a Time
This past Saturday the second of two free screenings of the film D TOUR was held in Washington, D.C. Michon Boston, our Regional Outreach Coordinator for the DC (and Baltimore) area shares her experience at this recent event and one held a few weeks ago.
Washington DCJCC screening 9/13/09 – left to right Ellen Weiser (kidney recipient), Elaine Weiss (liver recipient), Jean Cook (Future of Music Coalition), John Odgen (WRTC), Ellen Blaock (donor parent)
Sunny days in September usually spell bad news for an indoor Community Cinema DC event. So do home team football games, and street festivals. We welcome everyone at our events, nevertheless. Thanks to our community partners the Washington Regional Transplant Community (WRTC) and the Future of Music Coalition (FMC), we had four perspectives represented at our two D TOUR screenings: the donor family, transplant recipients, living donor, and music community.
At our first screening – hosted by the Washington DC Jewish Community Center – Jean Cook, executive director for the Future of Music Coalition, talked with the audience about their program HINT (Health Insurance Navigation Tool), which helps musicians navigate the health insurance maze and find an affordable plan. This will be a session in the FMC’s upcoming Summit October 4 – 6 in DC.
The WRTC has built a local community of supporters, many of whom speak from experience at events like our screenings. Representing a donor family perspective, Ellen Blalock shared her story about her daughter Jennifer who died from injuries from a car crash in 1993. Jennifer, who was 16 at the time, was returning home from a long-day of volunteer work driving from Virginia to Maryland when she fell asleep at the wheel.
Emotionally Powerful Screening Event for D TOUR in Chicago
This past weekend, Community Cinema screened the Independent Lens film D TOUR. The film chronicles musician Pat Spurgeon’s search for a living kidney donor and the challenges associated with finding a viable match. Find out what happened at the screening from Regional Outreach Coordinator Naomi Walker.
I met Evan Farrell, former Rogue Wave bassist, several years ago when I was visiting an old friend in Bloomington, IN. My friend played in a bluegrass combo with him (they also worked construction together to pay the bills). Evan is not someone you can forget. He was an in-your-face kind of guy with an infectious lust for life. You got the feeling that if things ever got dull, Evan would shake it up in a hurry and not allow complacency to set in anywhere he was at. That was in my previous life, back when I worked at a record label.
Having been involved in the underground arts and music scene, I am well aware of the health issues faced by struggling artists. Each month there is a benefit at some venue in town for a musician dealing with health care costs. So it was especially important to me that our post-screening discussion included not only the crucial story of organ donation, but also to pass along resources for uninsured or under-insured artists.
I found out about the work of Dr. David Hinkamp and his Health in the Arts program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. With a background in occupational health, Dr. Hinkamp cares very deeply about the health of artists, including touring musicians. He LOVED the film––and watched it three times.
Independent Lens on PBS Announces Maggie Gyllenhaal as New Host
The secret is out! A brand new season of Independent Lens begins on Tuesday, October 13, and we’re thrilled to have acclaimed actress Maggie Gyllenhaal as this season’s host.
No stranger to the indie film world, Gyllenhaal has starred in a wide-range of films including Secretary (2002), for which she received a Golden Goble nomination playing opposite James Spader, Donnie Darko (2001) and Sherrybaby (2006), where she received her second Golden Globe nomination.
Most recently Gyllenhaal played Rachel Dawes in the Warner Bros. box office hit The Dark Knight (2008) directed by Chris Nolan and in 2009 she appeared in Sam Mendes’s Away We Go. Upcoming, she’ll star in the dramatic film Crazy Heart, alongside Jeff Bridges and Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang with Emma Thompson.
Q&A with Indie Musician Pat Spurgeon at Community Cinema Screening in Philadelphia
On Wednesday, September 23 at 6:30 PM, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia will host a Community Cinema screening of D TOUR with a special “Skype appearance” afterward by Pat Spurgeon from the indie rock band Rogue Wave.
D TOUR chronicles Spurgeon’s search for a living kidney donor and the challenges with finding a viable match. Learn about the myths and facts of organ donation from a panel of local experts and get a chance to ask Spurgeon questions about his life, what he’s learned and how he’s moving forward. Staff and volunteers from the Gift of Life Donor Program will also be on hand to sign up organ donors and answer your questions.
Donate Life California and ITVS Partner for D TOUR Community Cinema Screening
Currently there are more than 100,000 people waiting for a life-saving organ transplant, of which 20,000 on the wait list live in California. Due to a lack of donors, 18 patients die every day awaiting a second chance at life.
Donate Life California and ITVS have recently partnered to spread awareness about organ donation for the upcoming Community Cinema screening of D TOUR in Oakland, CA at 6:00 PM, September 23, at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. The film chronicles musician Pat Spurgeon’s search for a living kidney donor and the challenges associated with finding a viable match.
Taking a few minutes to register as an organ and tissue donor can mean a lifetime to someone else.
For those living in California, register on the Donate Life California Web site >>
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