Archive for March, 2010
Two Independent Lens Programs Win Peabody Awards
The George Foster Peabody Awards, administered by the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, is the oldest, and one of the most prestigious honors in electronic media. Among this year’s winners are two Independent Lens programs:
Between the Folds, by Vanessa Gould, chronicles the stories of 10 fine artists and intrepid theoretical scientists who have abandoned careers and hard-earned graduate degrees — all to forge unconventional lives as modern-day paper-folders. Thousands previewed Between The Folds at free Community Cinema screening events nationwide. Many events included paperfolders and workshops to teach paperfolding.
The Order of Myths, by Margaret Brown , a complex story about race relations and the ever-present racial divide in America told through the pageantry at America’s oldest Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama.
Congratulations to the filmmakers on this incredible achievement! This brings the total number of Peabody awards for ITVS films to 16.
The Peabody awards will be presented May 17 at a luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City with ABC’s Diane Sawyer as host.
Visit the Peabody Award website for a complete list of winners >>
March Community Cinema Events: Dirt Is Your Friend
Throughout the month of March Community Cinema held over 45 free events featuring Dirt! The Movie. Thousands attended the community-building and educational events. Plus, there were the worms, chickens, and microbes. Oh my!
Vandana Shiva - Environmental activist - India
It’s under our feet and under our fingernails, but what is it? And how did it get there? Inspired by William Bryant Logan’s acclaimed book Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, find out how industrial farming, mining and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods and climate change. Dirt is a part of everything we eat, drink and breathe. Which is why we should stop treating it like, well…dirt.
One of our most successful events was in a city known more for its concrete than for its dirt. Dirt! The Movie thrilled crowds in New York City’s Central Park. New York City Department of Parks & Recreation is presenting five Independent Lens documentaries this season as part of the Community Cinema line-up. Find out what happened at the event from Christina Dookwah who helped organize the event:
“The screening was packed with people eager to hear from Bill Benenson, co-director and producer of Dirt! The Movie, and William Bryant Logan, founder and president of Urban Arborists, a leading tree care firm and is a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture who is also the author of the book on which the movie was based.”
There are still five chances to catch Dirt! The Movie for free at Community Cinema tonight ion Houston and in a few more locations in April. Read on for more about our exciting events and for more ways to get dirty. › Continue reading
Seattle Takes A Ride With The Horse Boy
Rowan (left) holds hands with his father while riding together.
This past weekend Community Cinema Seattle presented a free preview screening of Michael Orion Scott’s The Horse Boy. The film explores one family’s answer to the question, “How far would you travel to heal someone you love?”
For one Texas couple, it means a spiritual journey halfway around the world to Mongolia. When their son is diagnosed with autism, they seek the best treatments but nothing works… Until they discover their son’s connection to horses and the effect it has on him. Part travel adventure and shamanic quest, this is the story of how one family found a gateway into understanding their son’s life.
The film’s director explains part of the adventure of the film, “So off we went — into the magnificent, unknowable land of Genghis Kahn, where horseback riding started; where the word shaman (“one who knows”) originated; and where shamanism is, even today, the official state religion. As I galloped through the countryside in my attempt to keep up with the family, a camera in one hand and reins in the other, across the rugged and isolated Mongolian landscape, it all seemed surreal and impossible.” The results were not only possible but moving and beautiful.
We talked to a lot of people at the event and asked them to share their personal adventures both big and small. Even a short journey can change one’s life. Adventure can happen on your own block or on the other side of the globe. Some folks shared their stories on video and some wrote out their thoughts.
Amber, an audience member wrote, “I’ve travelled mexico and lived near the Arizona-Mexico border and witnessed extreme contrast of developed vs. less-developed countries – as well as the tourist exploitation of Mexico.”
Another audience member wrote about a time that changed her life, ” I was a tour director on the Rhine River on 9/11. And, I had to manage group grief.”
How wonderful that so many people are able to travel the globe. Another audience member wrote, “I went to the Ecuadorian Amazon and lived with a shaman and his family – learned from him – shared joy and tragedy.”
This event for The Horse Boy at Community Cinema Seattle highlighted the importance of film as it relates to everyone in our communities.
Free screenings of The Horse Boy begin on April 1 and continue almost daily throughout April, which is National Autism Awareness Month.
Previous Community Cinema Filmmaker Byron Hurt Turns Lens on Soul Food
This month marks National Nutrition Month –– an annual campaign sponsored by the American Dietetic Association designed to focus attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. ITVS recently funded filmmaker Byron Hurt (Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes was a SMASH hit at Community Cinema screenings nationwide) for his latest documentary Soul Food Junkies, which explores the health advantages and disadvantages of soul food –– a quintessential American cuisine. Read Byron’s blog post below to get his personal connection to the subject.
In 2007, my father passed away from pancreatic cancer. One of the many factors leading to pancreatic cancer is a high fat, meat-based diet. My father’s diet consisted of both. While I am not certain that my father’s diet alone contributed to his disease, his illness capped off what had been my lifelong concern for him: his health.
From the earliest time that I can remember, my father was overweight. He loved to eat and he particularly loved soul food. He also loved fast food and sugary desserts, like many people do. Growing up, I wanted to be just like my father so I ate what he ate: grits and eggs covered with cheese and topped with bits of salt pork and bacon for breakfast; overcooked collard greens seasoned with ham hocks, fried pork chops, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, or other delicious but fatty foods right out of the black southern tradition.
In college, though, I began to slowly change my eating habits after learning more about how to eat healthy. I stopped eating red meat and pork and did my best to avoid greasy fried foods. On weekends, when I came home from college, I began to confront my father about his eating habits, often to no avail. I’d challenge him about his food choices. He’d ridicule me for no longer eating beef or pork. We had several tense conversations about his weight. My family and I were concerned he would one day suffer a heart attack or a stroke. We wanted my dad to live a long, healthy life so he could be here to one day meet his grandchildren. Eventually he would make small changes to his diet and began to exercise more, but unfortunately the changes came too late in his life. Doctors diagnosed him with terminal pancreatic cancer and he died at the young age of 63. He never got a chance to meet his first grandchild.
Community Classroom Offers Free Teaching Resources
This Long Island hip-hop group helped set a high bar for sampling artistry with their debut album 3 Feet High and Rising, released in 1989.
George Clinton helped invent the genre of funk with his groups Parliament and Funkadelic (collectively known as P-Funk); his music has been sampled in several important hip-hop songs.
Can you own a sound?
That is the provocative question raised in a new resource from ITVS Community Classroom: four lesson plans and film modules for Copyright Criminals, an innovative and dynamic documentary that explores the origins of sampling culture in hip-hop music, copyright, creativity, and technological change. This curriculum is an invaluable tool for teachers or media organizations seeking to promote media literacy and ethical media production practices among youth.
The film explores how hip-hop rose from the streets of New York to become a multibillion-dollar industry, and what happened when record company lawyers got involved and everything changed. Students will develop not only a deeper historical understanding of “remix” culture, but also contemplate where it is headed. Featured artists include Public Enemy, De La Soul, and George Clinton, as well as several prominent entertainment lawyers and media scholars.
These exciting resources examine copyright law in the history of “borrowing” sounds in music, and raise thought-provoking questions about what is creative and what is criminal. The lessons are directed toward grades 9 through 12, and college students for use in the following subject areas: media studies, media literacy, social studies, history, sociology, media production, music and language arts, business, and legal studies.
Best news of all, all of these resources are FREE to educators and youth-serving organizations.
Check out our FREE resources >>
Watch a video preview of the film below:
Live Streaming Panel Discussion Focuses on the Role of Public Media
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is hosting a live streaming press event at Washington, DC’s Newseum with NPR and PBS. Watch online this Thursday, March 25, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET.
What is the role of public media in local, national, and international reporting?
TODAY, Thursday, March 25, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is hosting a live streaming press event at Washington, DC’s Newseum with NPR and PBS entitled “Public Media and Local Journalism: Meeting Community Information Needs.”
Patricia Harrison, CPB president and CEO, will open the event with an announcement of CPB’s investments in key initiatives to strengthen public media’s news and reporting capacity at the local level.
Paula Kerger, PBS president and CEO, and Vivian Schiller, NPR president and CEO, will follow via live video feed along with a panel discussion. The panel will be moderated by PBS NewsHour Correspondent Hari Sreenivasan and include Tom Rosenstiel, founder and director of Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism; Nishat Kurwa, news director of Youth Media International; Tom Karlo, general manager of KPBS TV-FM; Kinsey Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of digital media at NPR; and Larry Irving, president of Global Government Affairs at Hewlett-Packard Company.
Community Cinema Finds Dirt Lovers in New York City
Just the other night, Community Cinema hosted a screening of the Independent Lens film Dirt! The Movie in New York City’s Central Park. The film looks at how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have endangered soil and resulted in cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods, and climate change. New York City Department of Parks & Recreation is presenting five Independent Lens documentaries this season as part of the Community Cinema line-up. Find out what happened at the event from Christina Dookwah who helped organize the event.
Community Cinema screening of Dirt! The Movie in New York City's Central Park.
The screening was packed with people eager to hear from Bill Benenson, co-director and producer of Dirt! The Movie, and William Bryant Logan, author of the book on which the movie was based.
Dirt! The Movie tells the story of Earth’s most valuable source of fertility –– its soil. Experts from around the world who study dirt –– and developed a beneficial relationship with soil –– were interviewed in the film.
We were fortunate to have two experts join us for a post-screening discussion about the critical issues highlighted in the film. Bill Benenson, who has more than 30 years of producing and directing experience, has worked on such documentaries The Marginal Way, Diamond Rivers, as well as the critically-acclaimed narrative film Mister Johnson. He gains much of his inspiration for his work from once serving in the Peace Corps and as an initial investor in Seeds of Change. He is also active in the National Resources Defense Council, Rainforest Action Network, and Ploughshares.
Our other panelist, William Bryant Logan, is founder and president of Urban Arborists, a leading tree care firm and is a certified arborist with the International Society of Arboriculture. His book, Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth inspired the documentary.
Be sure to come out to Community Cinema screenings either in New York City or one of the 60 plus locations nationwide. It’s a great opportunity to meet others in your community and get a sneak peek of what’s coming up on Independent Lens.
Christina Dookwah
New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
San Francisco Learns About the Dirt Under Its Feet (Under the Concrete)
At the Community Cinema San Francisco screening earlier this week we welcomed over 130 audience members to the San Francisco Main Library to see Dirt! The Movie.
In the film everyone who was interviewed about dirt seemed so excited- thrilled to talk about the relationship they have with dirt. Fortunately for us, this excitement carried over into our discussion after the film.
We had a panel of extremely dedicated and informed professionals in the environmental world join us. We got a chance to partner with SF Department for the Environment for a second time this season, this time joined by Donnie Oliveira the Green Jobs Coordinator. We also had Kirsten Schwind, Program Director for Bay Localize and Suzi Palladino, Program Director from Garden for the Environment.
This video edits together clips from the entire event in just a few minutes. It’s worth a watch.
Audience members had a conversation with our panel about the possibilities of rooftop gardens, how our youth and young adults are helping our local environment as part of the City’s Urban Green Team and how we can all take small steps to be more involved in solutions for our environment.
Donnie suggests that we all try and plant one tree. However, his suggestion is not without a warning: once you plant one tree, you get ‘the itch’ to do more. You get invested- his statement is supported by a friend in the audience from SF Environment, a Green Warrior.
Suzi recommends that we all try to compost. Apparently there are several ways to get started- and you can even compost indoors. For people like me, who would like to try and compost but have no idea how, there are free classes every Saturday at Garden for the Environment.
As is often the case with Community Cinema events, I am completely surprised by something I learn from the panel- this screening was no different. Being a ‘city girl’ I was completely unaware that it’s legal in San Francisco for me to have a dairy cow, a pig and a goat in my backyard… who knew?!
There was a fair amount of talk about accessibility to food in this country and more specifically, access to healthy organic produce. Which companies get subsidies and what struggles do small farmers face?
Audience members also had knowledge to share with one another: which Farmers Markets are great in San Francisco, and farmers who will provide you will fresh, organic produce in exchange for your work.
Dirt! The Movie is definitely the kind of film that energizes people to do something- whether it’s to plant a tree in your yard (or a neighbor’s), to finally figure out what goes in that green bin that’s been empty in your kitchen for months, or a Saturday workshop on composting- it seems there is room for all of us to get a little dirty.
Community Cinema Screens Dirt! The Movie in West Hollywood
Just the other night, Community Cinema hosted a screening of the Independent Lens film Dirt! The Movie at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. The film looks at how industrial farming, mining, and urban development have endangered soil and resulted in cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods and climate change. Regional Outreach Coordinator Desiree Gutirrez gives an overview of what happened and discusses the local impact.
Tracy Fleischman, Lisa Smithline, and Andy Lipkis at the West Hollywood Community Cinema screening of Dirt! The Movie.
It’s early in the morning (okay, afternoon!) and I am still recovering from last night’s tremendously successful Community Cinema screening of Dirt! The Movie. Nearly 300 people gathered to watch the film at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. The evening started with a delicious organic, locally grown, zero-waste reception catered by Jennie Cooks Catering. As guests mingled with their glasses of California-grown, organic wine, filmmakers Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow greeted arriving guests such as Kathleen Kellogg Johnson (Kellogg Garden Products), and Denise Ritchie (Malibu Compost).
The audience was completely engaged with the film. A few audience members had to step out into the lobby to catch their breath and hold back their tears. One guest told me, “The film is amazing, but really hard to watch. We need to be simultaneously having a conversation about water rights and access to water. It’s simply not possible for everyone in the world to grow a little organic garden in their backyards if they don’t have water.”
Getting Dirty In St. Louis
Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. In St. Louis, MO we partner with KETC9 and The Missouri History Museum. KETC9′s Sydney Meyer describes a recent free event for the film Dirt! The Movie.
“Dirt! The Movie did itself proud – you brought us a jewel of a film!” was only one of the positive reactions from the crowd of over 300 who attended the screening of Dirt! The Movie in St. Louis on March 11.
The night began with a lobby full of enthusiastic “dirt” environmentalists. We had tables of information including the “worm lady”, Missouri Stream Team, Slow Food St. Louis, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, and Operation PayDirt. Resources were given and conversations were exchanged for an hour until finally everyone was ready to see the film. Here’s a taste of the action:
The whole night had a positive, upbeat feel. The panel and audience discussed how healthy eating and living are really guided by our society and we are slowly “getting it”. Evidence of this is in the sheer the number of films with powerful food messages for our communities that have been produced in the last few years.
Missouri is really ahead in “green” gardening supported by churches and neighborhood groups. Farmer’s markets abound here and are expanding all over the city and county. The best reason to buy locally is that the food really tastes better! Freshness does matter. But still it was pointed out, each consumer must do their part and open up pocketbooks and buy good local produce and beef and stop buying cheap, “fast food” meals. Read on to hear a radio clip and learn more about dirt. › Continue reading
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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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