Father Vien Nguyen accepting the AAPCHO Community Champion Award

In February, the organization I work for, the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), at their fundraising awards gala, showed excerpts from A Village Called Versailles, and presented Father Vien Nguyen with AAPCHO’s Community Champion Award.

For those of you who are not already familiar with AAPCHO’s work, AAPCHO is a national organization representing community health centers dedicated to promoting advocacy, collaboration, and leadership that advances the health status of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders. So when my organization began having conversations about honoring a community champion, we wanted to recognize Father Vien’s work towards re-establishing primary health care services in New Orleans East post-Katrina. As chronicled in A Village Called Versailles, Father Vien’s leadership helped galvanize Vietnamese Americans in Louisiana to rebuild their region, and fight a toxic landfill that threatened the well-being and health of their community.

When ITVS learned that AAPCHO planned to honor Father Vien, they graciously loaned us a copy of the film to show at our awards ceremony. While Father Vien’s accomplishments were read by our emcee, film and television actress Tamlyn Tomita, the audience was visibly moved, as footage from the documentary was simultaneously projected on two large screens. The film punctuated the remarkable battle Father Vien and the Vietnamese American community of Versailles had fought and won to reclaim and protect their home.

Watch the trailer for A Village Called Versailes >>

From l to r: John McComas (CEO of AlohaCare), Jeff Caballero (Executive Director AAPCHO), Congressman Mike Honda, Father Vien, Dr. Regina Benjamin (U.S. Surgeon General)

As a health advocate, the documentary reminds me that the definition of healthy communities reaches beyond the ability to see a doctor for your annual check up (although that is very important too). Father Vien and the community members of Versailles recognized that environmental health is intrinsic to personal health.

A Village Called Versailles also illustrated the important point that healthy communities are empowered communities. Empowered communities are not only driven by a sense of self-preservation, but also by the principles of compassion and respect, where the voices of both the young and elderly are equally valued.

At the awards ceremony, Father Vien graciously accepted AAPCHO’s Community Champion Award presented by Congressman Joseph Cao. He was quick to highlight the hard work and advocacy of his fellow community members.

I continue to be inspired by Father Vien and the Vietnamese American community of New Orleans East. It’s my hope that many others will learn about this remarkable story, and also draw inspiration from the film, just as I have.

Grace-Sonia Melanio
AAPCHO Membership Relations Associate

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.

A village called Versailles rises from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina

ITVS Community and National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies (NAVASA) are proud to support A Village Called Versailles with Community Cinema screening events and materials in support of its national broadcast on Independent Lens later this month.

The Vietnamese Americans were a quiet community, barely noticed outside of East New Orleans. Self-sufficient and industrious, they tended lush garden plots, ran a weekly farmer’s market, built homes, bought cars, and generally achieved the American dream.

The center of their community was — and still is — Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church, and its pastor and leader, Father Vien, who joined the congregation in 2003.

When Hurricane Katrina destroyed all that they had built, it was an emotionally wrenching time. When the flood waters covered their community and they were forced to evacuate, those who had once fled their country in boats now found themselves in boats again, looking for refuge.

Although they were dispersed to several cities in Texas and to Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas (where many had originally come as refugees from Vietnam), the tight-knit network created by the church helped Father Vien to maintain communication with his flock. Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina, some residents of Versailles came back and started rebuilding.

Watch a preview of the film here.

A Versailles gardener takes a moment away from her work

The film’s director, S. Leo Chiang, says of the experience, “It took two and a half years to capture this story. I am grateful that members of the Versailles community trusted me to tell their story. Before I made this film, the word “community” would come up in conversations from time to time, but making this film has taught me what “community” really means — a group of people, family or not, who always have each other’s back. I want the audience to walk away from this film moved by this story as much as I have been and continue to be. I also want them to feel empowered, especially viewers who are a part of any underserved and/or underrepresented group. I want them to believe that, united with their friends and family, they, too, can make a difference.”

The film doesn’t just scratch the surface of the complex and frustrating reactions to hurricane Katrina it opens a new window on the story. Rebuilding a community (literally from the ground up) can only happen if all the residents young and old join together. This is the story of rebuilding… everything. Find your free event!

“An invigorating look at an invaluable substance we take for granted that makes the case that ‘dirt might be more alive than we are.’” -Los Angeles Times

Community Cinema previewed Dirt! The Movie at over 50 free events nationwide. We engaged audiences in communities large and small to challenge their understanding of soil, dirt, and our Earth.

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.

Dirt! The Movie premieres tonight, Tuesday, April 20 at 10:00 on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

Denise Zmekol with Chief Almir Surui

I traveled to the Brazilian Amazon on several occasions between 1987-1990 to assist on television documentaries. During my journeys, I had the opportunity to visit many indigenous and rubber tapper communities, always with my camera by my side. What caught my eye were the children. Born to parents who had relied on the rainforest for their survival, these children were growing up surrounded by new ways — ways that were destroying the forest. I also photographed the legendary rubber tapper Chico Mendes and his family. Chico had become renowned the world over for his nonviolent resistance movement to protect the rainforest.

Fifteen years later — and a world away — I returned to these slides, which were never printed, never shared. The images brought back a particularly searing memory: a phone call from Chico in December 1988, asking me to film his funeral. Two weeks later he was shot dead by a rancher. Stirred by faces of the children in my photographs and haunted by Chico’s untimely death, I was inspired to travel to the Amazon again — this time, to make Children of the Amazon.

In 2008, six years after I shot Children of the Amazon, I returned to the Amazon to film with the Surui tribe again — this time documenting its unique collaboration with Google Earth Outreach. The partnership, a result of Chief Almir Surui’s request that Google help raise visibility for his tribe, involves training the Surui people to use Internet technology to protect their forest, preserve their culture, and empower their people.

—Denise Zmekhol, Producer/Director of Children of the Amazon

Get broadcast listings for public television and Link TV and learn more at www.childrenoftheamazon.com

In celebration of Black History Month, ITVS and PBS are offering a special slate of new and encore programs throughout February. Select programs are also available on the PBS video player. Be sure to check out the Independent Lens documentary February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four, which looks at the pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement when four college students staged a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. Also, be sure to check out last year’s Independent Lens Audience Award winner Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene, which tells the unlikely story of America’s original shock-jock, Petey Greene, who battled the system and his own demons during a time of civil unrest in the nation’s capital.

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes and P-Star Rising, both Independent Lens documentaries, will be available online February 10.

Visit the PBS video player >>

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a leading Vietnam War strategist, concludes that America’s role in the war is based on decades of lies. He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon’s resignation, and the end of the Vietnam War. Ellsberg and a who’s-who of Vietnam-era movers and shakers give a riveting account of those world-changing events. The film is by award-winning filmmakers Judith Ehrlich (The Good War and Those Who Refused to Fight It) and Rick Goldsmith (Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press). The film will air later this year on P.O.V. on PBS.

Nominees for Best Documentary Feature of the year include:

• Burma VJ
• The Cove
• Food, Inc.
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
• Which Way Home

Also, Independent Lens series host Maggie Gyllenhaal received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her compelling role as a journalist and single mom in the film Crazy Heart. When shooting the Independent Lens host introductions in New York City last August, Maggie talked about this flim and how proud she was of the work. She praised her co-star Jeff Bridges and predicted that his performance would receive wide acclaim. We want to congratulate Maggie on her Academy Award nomination and are honored to be working with her on Independent Lens.

Nominees for Best Actress in a Supporting Role include:

• Penélope Cruz in Nine
• Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air
• Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart
• Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air
• Mo’Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Check out the entire list of this year’s nominees >>

The 2010 Academy Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 7. Stay tuned to the ITVS blog Beyond the Box for further coverage. Congratulations and good luck to all the filmmakers!

Watch a clip of The Most Dangerous Man in America:

For blind teenagers crossing an intersection, cooking a meal, or navigating unfamiliar areas can be a challenge that sighted viewers never consider.

Our Community Cinema selection for February is the documentary The Eyes Of Me by Keith Maitland.

How do you see yourself, when you can’t see at all? At the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI), in Austin, Texas students juggle all the usual pressures of high school along with the added struggles of growing up blind. Spend a dynamic year with four blind teens learning how to fit in and live independently. Forced to confront the world without sight, they share their inner-visions of the outer world. Ultimately, you cannot understand their perceptions without challenging your own.

Denise sings a duet in the school play

Filmmaker Keith Maitland explains, “I’ve always been intrigued by questions of perception and identitybuilding, specifically how teens and young adults define themselves within their communities. After a chance meeting with a staff member from the Texas School for the Blind, I realized that I could delve into these questions of perception and identity through the experiences of the students at the school. Meeting Chas (the first blind person I’d ever met) convinced me that I had to make a film that would explore these questions, simply by spending time with him and experiencing his life as it unfolded that year. Additionally, I chose to follow Denise, Isaac, and Meagan, all unique characters with unique perspectives.”

Preview The Eyes Of Me here.

Can you own a sound? As hip-hop rose from the streets of New York to become a multibillion-dollar industry, artists such as Public Enemy and De La Soul began reusing parts of previously recorded music for their songs. But when record company lawyers got involved everything changed. Years before people started downloading and remixing music, hip-hop sampling sparked a debate about copyright, creativity and technological change that still rages today.

Copyright Criminals premieres tonight, January 19, at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).

Learn more about Copyright Criminals and other special Music Month programs >>

From our first free preview screening event at the Saratoga Springs Public Library in Saratoga Springs, New York on October 3, 2009 to our last two events on October 29, 2009 in Charleston, South Carolina and Indiana, Pennsylvania Community Cinema thrilled audiences with live DJs, hip-hop dancers, and fascinating panelists from musicians to lawyers. Co-producer of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS Kembrew McLeod told us “I feel honored to be part of the Community Cinema program which has allowed the film to be seen far and wide by a diverse range of audiences. Plus, it’s free. Who doesn’t like free?”

“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. It is a sword that heals. [It] cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

At the heart of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s was the use of nonviolent direct-action protest. Inspired by the example of Jesus, and the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi during India’s struggle for independence, black church and community leaders in the United States began advocating the use of non-violence in their own struggle. Beyond spontaneous and planned student sit-ins, several organizations were formed to fight for civil rights using Gandhi’s model of nonviolent dissent and action. Three of the most influential groups—the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee—were pivotal in bringing about social change in America.
Read more about the life of King, Jr. on the Independent Lens website >>
Check out the PBS Indies page on iTunes where you’ll find these powerful films about the African American civil rights movement

Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Green

The unlikely story of America’s original shock-jock — Petey Greene — who battled the system and his own demons during a time of civil unrest in the nation’s capital.


Banished

From the 1860s to the 1920s, towns across the U.S. violently expelled African American residents. Today, these communities remain virtually all white. As black descendants return to demand justice, Banished exposes the hidden history of racial cleansing in America.
Each film is now available for rent for $2.99 or for purchase at $9.99.

Visit the iTunes store >>