Audience Talkback
YOUNG@HEART Was Community Cinema’s Holiday Gift To Our Audiences
Young@Heart director Bob Cilman doing a run-through of the James Brown classic "I Feel Good"
As a gift to our audiences, Community Cinema presented the heart-warming and inspiring hit documentary YOUNG@HEART this past December 2009. Many of our over 42 free events included live performances. Exceptional seniors shared their talents and personal stories of courage, persistence, and triumph in the face of adversity.
Our national partners created unique ways for audiences to learn more about the link between creativity, culture, and aging. The mission of the National Center for Creative Aging is to foster an understanding of the vital relationship between creative expression and healthy aging and to developing programs that build on this understanding. Learn more about their public awareness campaign “The Art of Aging: Creativity Matters” and the center’s free online resource guide “Creativity Matters: The Arts and Aging Toolkit.”
WTTW Reception for young musicians and their families at the Chicago Cultural Center
Local partners connected our audiences with “on the ground” resources to turn the passion they experience during the film into action in their community. Audience members have said after an event, “I’m going to look for a local choir for my husband!” and “Made me want to join a chorus even if I can’t sing.” Our partners included such distinguished and esteemed partners as the Jazz Institute of Chicago, WTTW Channel 11, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (BMAC), KETC, the Missouri History Museum, the SIFF Cinema at Seattle Center, the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Office of Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, and Project:Involve. Project:Involve’s mission is to foster diversity in the film industry and to promote independent film making.
Our events included many super seniors who keep young at heart by performing their talents into their 70′s, 80′s, 90′s, and beyond. Watch videos and see photos from our events. › Continue reading
Unfolding BETWEEN THE FOLDS
In cooperation with OrigamiUSA and The Mathematical Association of America Community Cinema presented 42 free screening events for BETWEEN THE FOLDS a documentary by Vanessa Gould that delves deeply into the magical intersection of mathematics, science, and art that is paperfolding which is also known as origami. The film drew record-breaking crowds across the country.
Rodger Despres, a local Michigan paper folder, displays a 45-foot long paper model train that took him 1,500 hours to construct.
Our first free event for BETWEEN THE FOLDS took place at the fabulous Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Community Cinema is in its 3rd smash season. Emily Maurin, Community Cinema Producing Partner with WGVU, told us, “We were extremely lucky to have two amazing paper folders with us––Richard Alexander, one of the film’s participants, and Rodger Despres, a local paper folder who has constructed a 45-foot long paper model train. They each offered a different perspective on paper folding. Richard spoke about his artwork as well as his experiences making his own paper. Rodger discussed how he has used paper to engineer working train cars and tracks. He was very excited since Richard was the first paper folder he had met! They talked about how paper folding is almost a secret society that is just now emerging as a mainstream art.”
In the video below, director Vanessa Gould gives a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like making the film, how she worked with artists and a discusses a variety of issues related to independent filmmaking.
“Crease Is the Word!” Jim Ridley wrote in Nashville Scene about BETWEEN THE FOLDS at the Nashville Public Library. “Vanessa Gould’s documentary has received rapturous notices for concentrating on the intersection of art and science that the ancient paper-folding art represents.”
Mary Delach Leonard wrote in the St. Louis Beacon about our event at the Missouri History Museum. “Watching a former sculptor in France fold a flat sheet of paper into a three-dimensional human caricature … is worth far more than 1,000 words — which makes “Between the Folds” one of those unexpected documentaries you have to see to appreciate.” Read more>>
In St. Louis, approximately 340 people showed up for the viewing of the film at the Missouri History Museum. Sydney Meyer of Community Cinema Producing Partner KETC said, “I was amazed watching the diversity of people fill the auditorium and overflow onto the steps and the sides of the theater. People of all ages laughed and clapped at various parts of the film, signaling they understood what the artists were trying to communicate to them. After the film, the fun continued as more than 120 folks stayed to try their hand at paper-folding with artist Sugi Taylor. There was a lot of laughter and concentration as people attempted to make a paper box and bird.” As I walked around the tables, I heard comments like “I thought the simple figures would be easier. Now I admire the film artists even more!” or “I loved the film and I am amazed I can make this figure out of almost nothing… one simple square of paper.”
Director Vanessa Gould spent 3 days at 3 Community Cinema events in The Los Angeles area, and we were so lucky that she took time to write about it. › Continue reading
COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS Demystified Sampling from its Roots in Early Hip-Hop to Modern Day Video Mash-ups
Kembrew McLeod, co-producer of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, answers questions from the audience with Tony Berman of Berman Entertainment and Technology Law, who is featured in the film.
For more than 30 years, as hip-hop evolved from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry, hip-hop performers and producers have been reusing portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. But when lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.” Through interviews with many of hip-hop music’s founding figures—like Public Enemy, De La Soul and Digital Underground—along with emerging artists such as audiovisual remixers Eclectic Method, COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod illuminates both sides of the debate, from traditional musicians who view sampling as pillaging to those who argue that the practice of borrowing is by no means new nor is it unique to hip-hop or even music: Think of Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans.
With OVER 50 free screening events from coast to coast audiences were able to sample the flavor of hip-hip and electronic music first-hand from some of the subjects featured in the film. The Philadelphia event featured worldwide DJ sensation based in Philly, RJD2 (RJ Krohn – pictured to the right, on the left). The photo is a TwitPic uploaded live from the event. Our event in Oakland welcomed DJ legend Jeff Chang. Local hip-hop radio DJs hosted events in St. Louis and Seattle. In Seattle, KUBE 93 FM DJ Hyphen who co-hosts “Sunday Night Sound Session” introduced the film. “Sunday Night Sound Session” airs every Sunday night at 10:45 PM. “J. Moore and I offer listeners the newest, dopest hip-hop from all around the country, including local music from our own backyard,” boasts DJ Hyphen. Tune in around the Puget Sound Region or online worldwide. DJ Hypen introduced COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS and left the audience with some things to think about while watching the film.
Read on for more video clips, photos, and community connections.
D TOUR Events Drew Potential Donors and Increased 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 2009, 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. Even if you missed one of our events, 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.
Ngôi Làng Mang Tên Versailles – (A Village Called Versailles)
Panelist Uyen Le is interviewed for Saigon TV KJLA
Community Cinema’s National Coordinator Desiree Gutierrez reflects on a screening of A Village Called Versailles held earlier this month before an entirely Vietnamese audience in Southern California.
As one of the National Community Cinema Coordinators, I am use to hosting screenings with diverse crowds, but Sunday night I had the chance to be the outsider at a screening of A Village Called Versailles hosted by Nguoi Viet Daily News in Orange County’s Little Saigon.
The newspaper was the first Vietnamese publication outside of Vietnam and has a rich history. As it was told to me, the newspaper originated out of a series of letters that traveled back and forth between Vietnam and the U.S. as people tried to track down their family members and friends after the war.
Tiffany Le a reporter at Nguoi Viet reached out to me last month wanting to learn more about hosting a screening of A Village Called Versailles. She knew the residents of her community would want to see the film, but as she pointed out, they would not drive to LA or West Hollywood to attend one of our already scheduled events. We made arrangements to host the film at the newspapers auditorium in the heart of Little Saigon.
The newspaper had given us tremendous media coverage. We had a feature with images run a few days before the screening, and an interview with the filmmaker run the day of the event, not to mention a half page ad in the World Cup edition of the paper. Needless to say, the Vietnamese community knew we were having an event and they turned out. Nearly 200 people and four media crews filled the auditorium, and as I had been warned, I the only “Westerner” in the room.
A Village Called Versailles Inspires and Moves Communities Across the Country
A Village Called Versailles continues to move and inspire audiences at Community Cinema screenings through this week. Two events on Tuesday coincide with the national broadcast television premiere of A Village Called Versailles on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings). A recent event in St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum exemplifies the power of this documentary to move people in communities large and small to take action. 
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 the recent free event.
One couple in the audience, a retired teacher and professor who regularly show up for our events, were themselves survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Even before the film they spoke with me and said how much they enjoyed Community Cinema, “We support Public Television and these events assure us that are money is being put to good use! They are so educational especially the discussions which Jim [KETC producer] facilitates so well. Thank you.”
A village called Versailles rises from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina
The audience talked a lot after the film. Many felt the film had great impact was very emotional and showed the power a group of people can have when united for a common cause. The Vietnamese residents of Versailles in the film inspired Denise DeCou a panelist representing The National Conference for Community and Justice. It was a group who started out with no voice, not even on the area map, and rose up to be leaders and cause change for their community. She said, “It inspires and gives hope to our own region which struggles with racial issues, that we can empower people to lead and cause changes too.” Jennifer Kapczunski, professor from Washington University, felt the key issue in the film was how communities are defined. Communities can be erased from a region’s map unless they come together and create a powerful voice directed at the political persons in charge.
Power is embodied by organizing as a neighborhood around a key issue. In our own community there are groups that are forgotten and ignored. “The most interesting thing in this film is how the youth became so involved and that is key to a communitys survival.” Two other key points embodied in this film were the use of home video in documentaries and how the church is central in many communities. Home videos in the right hands can enhance a film and they are having more and more of a place in documentaries. Secondly, Father Vien empowered the people to join together to cause change. He knew what to do, but he guided the people to stand up for themselves. The discussion ended on a positive note with an audience member saying, “This film embodies the American Dream. People came to America to better themselves, work hard and now the younger generation is carrying their ideals forth.”
Tune in Tuesday to watch the national broadcast television premiere of A Village Called Versailles on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
It’s A Video Festival In Your Blog
Community Cinema has amassed quite a collection of videos from our free documentary screening events. We’ve talked to community leaders, performers, a few DJs, and audience members just like you. Here are a few of the short video clips we’ve collected from this exciting season of Community Cinema. We’ll have videos from our current film selection A Village Called Versailles coming very soon.
We asked audience members at last month’s events for The Horse Boy about what brought them to the event, how the film affected their feelings about the topic of autism and alternative healing, and finally what was their experience at Community Cinema.
In March, we presented Dirt! The Movie in dozens of communities nationwide. One of our most successful events was at the San Francisco Public Library. This video is an edited wrap-up of the event including speakers, the audience, and what people were talking about after watching the powerful film.
We presented the award winning documentary Garbage Dreams in January. This edited video captures the activities surrounding our event in Oakland, California.
December’s gift to Community Cinema goers was the delightful and touching Young@Heart about the Young@Heart chorus which is made up of older folk who sing punk, rock, and a lot of roll. We were so fortunate to be joined by many talented seniors at our events. Including Legendary jazz musician Willie Pickens at Community Cinema Chicago.
In Seattle, Young@Heart audiences were treated to a few numbers by Seattle’s Raging Grannies.
And in West Hollywood we were inspired by a number fo talented seniors at the Community Cinema Senior Talent Show.
In November, the runaway smash hit of the Fall was Between The Folds a compelling documentary about paperfolding and origami. Many of our events included interactive paperfolding workshops with local experts sharing their talents. Here’s a glimpse of the paperfolding activities.
Copyright Criminals asked, “Is sampling stealing?” at dozens of events throughout October. We had some stellar DJs and other artists speak and perform at events around the country. We talked to Seattle’s DJ Hypen who was the host of our event.
The audience also weighed in on the question of music as an artform and/or a business.
We want to hear from you.
Community Cinema April Selection The Horse Boy Airs Tonight on Independent Lens
Rowan holds hands with his father while riding together.
Community Cinema’s April selection, The Horse Boy airs nationally tonight on Independent Lens on PBS. (check local listings). The film was such a success at Community Cinema, I wanted to share a few more stories from the events. Tune in tonight.
Regional Outreach Coordinator Cindy Burstein and Co-Coordinator Sara Zia Ibrahimi in Philadelphia, produced a unique event with PBS station WHYY for The Horse Boy.
“On April 21, Station Partner WHYY hosted a screening in Philadelphia. More than 200 people packed the venue, including many parents who are raising children who have Autism. To create engagement opportunities around the screening, ITVS awarded WHYY a Station Outreach grant to support an innovative video project that captures the stories of families with Autism called The Horse Boy Family Media Project. Designed in collaboration with local families affected by autism; WHYY’s Community Relations Department, Learning Lab, and Health and Science Desk; and several local autism organizations, the Family Media Project creates a supportive space for families with Autism to find their own voice. Watch the videos here.”
Producing Partner Emily Tobin in Grand Rapids, Michigan produced an event featuring an author with experience dealing with Asperger’s Syndrome.
“We had an amazing screening! One of our biggest crowds of the year, and a truly great speaker. Liane is a local speaker and author who has Asperger’s Syndrome – as do her father and daughter. She discussed her own experiences at length, especially the difficulties she had with her daughter, who had terrible tantrums, much like in the film. She talked about experiences that her daughter and father had being bullied and beat up as children and for her daughter, even in the first year of college, because of their differences. Liane also discussed her work with a local group who uses horses in therapy with children who have mental and physical disabilities. She spoke of the amazing changes she has seen in these children, as well as adults who have been victims of abuse and violence. We discusses the affect of animals on children with autism, and several people in the audience shared their experiences with family members who are autistic, including siblings and children. It was a very emotional and touching discussion overall, with lots of tears and smiles.
Sydney Meyer our Producing Partner at St. Louis’ KETC TV always packs the house at the beautiful Missouri History Museum.
There was a full house for The Horse Boy event in St. Louis. We had a smaller room than usual at the Missouri History Museum and so we had to keep adding more and more chairs as 160 people flowed in to watch and discuss this wonderfully, touching film. One of the panelists, a professor of film studies, pointed out, ‘This film humbles us because it points us toward what we don’t know. It is an example of a film that is great because it shows us the heart of the filmmaker. It is love in action’. Several panelists who advocated more traditional treatment methods acknowledged that we don’t know all the answers to autism and that what works with some does not work with others. But the best voice of the night was a young autistic man who said, ‘I do not have a disorder. I am uniquely wired and parents should keep trying new ways to open up our world. Mine opened up by typing. But the most important thing to remember from this night is that the world should except all people, however different they are and not separate us from everybody else’. The night ended with applause but the talking and discussing went on as groups filed out of the museum. I’d say that was a successful night!
Michel Orion Scott, director of The Horse Boy
Julie Coan at Producing Partner Houston PBS produced an amazing event at Rice CInema.
“Our screening of The Horse Boy, during Autism Awareness Month, was wonderful. I heard many of the audience members express their surprise that the film was so insightful and poignant, yet real. One audience member said to me that she was surprised by how “non-typical” the film was in that it offered viewers another perspective on Autism. Topics for discussion were varied and had the entire audience raising thier hands and asking questions. On the medical aspect of Autism, Dr. Soares explained the research his institution conducts on Autism and the medical breakthroughs his UT Medical branch is currently making in the field. We also discussed the issue of ‘faith healing’, or alternatives to Western Medicine in the treatment of Autism. What we learned from this discussion was that, while there has been a lot of research done, Autism is still a medical mystery and treatment options have varying success rates, depending on the child. We also discussed the need for adult programs for those with Autism and other Neuro-psychiatric conditions. On the whole, the audience was extremely engaged in the discussion and everyone, including the panelists, thanked us for bringing this topic up for community discussion.”
Following up on The Horse Boy: Boise and Boston Audiences Are Moved
One family's journey to find healing in Mongolia
While our free screenings of A Village Called Versailles continue through May with events Tuesday, May 11 in Colorado, California, and Wisconsin our audiences were so moved and touched by our April documentary selection, The Horse Boy that I wanted to share some follow up stories.
Community Cinema Regional Outreach Coordinator, Lynn Allen says of the event in Boise ID for.
“This is what we dream about–a Community Cinema screening that was a life-changing event for one audience member. A graduate student at Boise State University earning her Masters in Social Work said after the event ended that this film and the follow-up discussion changed her career choice. Watching the trials and triumphs of the family and of Rowan convinced her that working with autistic children is what she wants to do after she graduates. She also mentioned that it was great to have an opportunity to talk with service providers in the audience about their work.”
Community Cinema events in Boston are hosted by our Producing Partner, Boston Cares. Shannon Crane of Boston Cares shares the details of her event.
“We had an intense and revealing conversation following the film, our panelists opened up about their personal experiences with autism. Of the three speakers, two have children with autism and their journey hasn’t been easy. The resistance on mother met in attempting to enroll her daughter in extracurricular activities within her school district motivated her to create the Autism Higher Education Foundation. She has built a ground-breaking, first-in-the-nation program at the prestigious Boston Conservatory to support the educational development of young musicians on the autism spectrum. The program will be expanded to 24 students in the fall of 2010 and she is working to expand this movement to Conservatories all across the country.”
The Horse Boy Wraps Up A Month of Adventure and Healing
April is National Autism Awareness Month. Watch the exclusive video below with Independent Lens host Maggie Gyllenhaal who discusses The Horse Boy, which explores one family’s unforgettable journey as they travel halfway across the world in search of a miracle to heal their autistic son. The Horse Boy, airs Tuesday, May 11 at 10 PM, check local listings)
Our national partner The Autism Society, the nation’s leading grassroots autism organization, exists to improve the lives of all affected by autism. Learn more about their research initiatives and programs on their website.
Community Cinema held 42 free screening events for The Horse Boy throughout April. Here are few stories from those events. There is always a lot going on at Community Cinema events.
Bill Zukovsky with his son Andrew
On April 21st, WHYY and Community Cinema hosted a screening of The Horse Boy in Philadelphia. More than 200 people packed the venue, including many parents who are raising children with Autism. To create engagement opportunities, ITVS awarded WHYY’s Learning Lab a grant to support the Family Media Project, an innovative video project that explores how three local families have engaged in their child’s autism diagnosis. Parent Bill Zukovsky shares his experience working with the Family Media Project:
Wow… What an amazing experience! I couldn’t believe I was going to have a camera on my shoulder and a microphone wrapped around my arm while I tried to capture what it was like to be my son, Andrew. There is no way I would even take a photograph, let alone video tape something that was going to be shown online. What was I thinking taking on this project? But let me tell you something, I’m glad I did.
The WHYY Learning Lab creates an opportunity to help others understand what it’s like to be you; your problems, your issues, your trials, and your triumphs.
Rowan holds hands with his father on a ride in The Horse Boy.
Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present free Community Cinema screenings across the country. Here are a few snippets from a recent event for The Horse Boy. Our producing partners at the San Diego Public Library shared these highlights from their event.
This screening turned out differently from all the previous Community Cinema screenings. Not only did many new attendees show up, the film also attracted several audience members with autism spectrum disorders. There was a mother and her young son who were attending a library film screening for the first time. An older mother with Asperger’s Syndrome has a son in Montana taking part in a horse and autism therapy center similar to the one founded in West Texas by the Isaacsons at the end of the movie. She had read the book before and was thrilled to see the movie. She also saw parallels between the ‘big sky country’ of Montana and Mongolia.
Director of the film, Michel Orion Scott, comments on the many adventures depicted the film as well as the process of making a documentary about an adventure, “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
Michel Orion Scott, director of The Horse Boy
isolated Mongolian landscape, it all seemed surreal and impossible. I was thrown from my horse, contracted Giardia, and faced each day with a level of aching soreness beyond what I had ever experienced. And all of this for a film? Yes, but even more for the sake of a boy with autism whose parents were willing to go, literally, to the ends of the earth to find healing for their son. To me, this is the true beauty of the story. The beauty of the outcome is that the family did accept it, while at the same time, Rowan was healed. I challenge the viewer, as I was challenged in the making of this film, to imagine how we can embrace the idea of ‘healing’, while understanding that unique individuals who think and behave differently than the status quo, are an integral part of human culture and development. Perhaps the line between the healer and the healed is not as clearly defined as it appears.”
We talked to a lot of people at the Community Cinema Seattle 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.”
The Horse Boy will air nationally on Independent Lens on May 11 at 10:00 PM on PBS (check local listings).
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