events
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.
Community Cinema Rocks the Bay Area
Sara Brissenden-Smith, regional outreach coordinator for the Bay Area, gives us highlights from a season of Community Cinema screenings.
I just completed my first full season of Community Cinema — that’s 18 screenings, with more than 30 community partners, 40 panelists, and more than 1,000 audience members.
A DJ spins at the Copyright Criminals screening in Oakland
Copyright Criminals brought out some of our most energetic and diverse viewers. People flooded into the theater and almost immediately lost themselves in the music. Maybe it’s because I’m a hip hop fan, but having youth DJs mixing Lauryn Hill and Tribe Called Quest started my night off right. Law students, hip hop enthusiasts, teenagers, established authors, and DJs all contributed to conversations about artistic expression, creative ownership, and the overall impact on hip hop.
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.
S. Leo Chiang Goes to Jail (with Community Cinema)
Last month filmmaker S. Leo Chiang participated in a discussion after his picture, A Village Called Versailles, played before for an audience of inmates at the San Bruno County Jail in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chiang offered his account of what was an unlikely setting for a film festival…
When ITVS emailed me about showing A Village Called Versailles, In, of all places, a jail as a part of Community Cinema screenings, I was taken aback at first, and then I was excited. I had never been inside a jail, and I wasn’t about to pass up the chance. I am, after all, a documentary filmmaker with innate anthropological curiosities.
I set out to the San Bruno County Jail #5, which is a part of the San Francisco County Jail system. My ITVS rep and I clear up confusions about our security clearances, pass through many remotely operated thick, metal, sliding doors, and walk down long, non-descript hallways. I see guards and rooms full of inmates in bright orange jumpsuits. So far, the experience looks a lot like a scene out of Oz on HBO.
We are here to present the film to students in classrooms of a pioneer Charter high school inside the San Francisco County jails, the Five Keys Charter School. The inmates take classes from inside the jail with the aim of getting their high school diplomas.
I enter the classroom and am nervous. The students had seen my film the day prior, and I’m there to answer questions and discuss their reactions to the film. I wonder if anyone would even speak or, let alone, raise a hand to ask a question. Or, will they just be rowdy? Will the session disintegrate into chaos?
› Continue reading
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).
Use Films to Organize and Engage Your Community
Can a film change the world if everyone just sits on their sofas and watches it, and then goes to bed? OK, sure, films can change minds and inform, but at ITVS, our goal is to leverage great films to engage and activate communities. The whole idea is to create a conversation — from the local town hall to the halls of justice around the world.
If you work for a community organization, a non-profit, or dedicate your free energy to volunteer for a cause you feel passionately about, ITVS.org is an amazing and easy-to-use resource to help you to foster dialog and move the conversation forward.
There are many ways you can use our new website to access films that address the issues you’re interested in:
- Attend a Community Cinema or theatrical screening: Type in your zip code and find out when you can attend a screening in your area, often with spirited panel discussions and additional resources to delve into the subject presented.
- Search by topic: Right from our new front page, you can search our nearly 800 films to find the ones that speak directly to your cause.
- Drill down into our catalog: Narrow your search by region, genre, or television series to find the film that most accurately suits your needs.
And check out our new engagement section, where you can learn more about Community Cinema as well as our engagement campaigns that include discussion guides, printable posters and postcards, and more.
Dive in and let us help you get your community talking about the issues that matter where you live. And share your success stories with us!
Our Own “Super Tuesday” for A Village Called Versailles: 6 Screenings Today!
A village called Versailles rises from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina
Community Cinema is having our own “Super Tuesday” today with six screenings of our May documentary selection, A Village Called Versailles. The film has been a festival-circuit hit all year. The link above will connect you to all of our upcoming free screenings as well as our free downloadable discussion guide. The guide will give you background information, a statement from the film’s director S. Leo Chiang, and resources you can use to support Versailles and your own community.
Please join us!
San Francisco, California at 5:45 PM
San Francisco Main Public Library, Koret Auditorium
100 Larkin St. 94102
Queens, New York at 6:00 PM
Al Oerter Recreation Center
131-40 Fowler Ave
Manhattan, NYC at 7:30 PM
East 54th Street Recreation Center
348 East 54th St. 10033
Rochester, New York at 7:00 PM
WXXI
280 State St. 14614
Houston, Texas at 7:00 PM
Rice Cinema hosted by HoustonPBS
6100 Main St. 77030
Event Web site »
Montrose, Colorado at 7:30 PM
Hosted by Rocky Mountain PBS
Montrose Regional Library
320 South 2nd St. 81401
Here’s a clip from the film.
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