Online Connections
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.
Find That Film. Indie Film Finder. Fun!
Want to see where that hot new indie film is playing near you? Search by zip code at itvs.org and find out how close your favorite independent films are to you.
Local listings and video clips are all available online. Browse the titles most interesting to you with our “find films” feature here.
Celebrate Gay Pride Month with ITVS
They’re here, they’re queer, they’re ITVS films that document and celebrate the LGBT community. Get used to it!
At the core of ITVS’s mission is to amplify the voices of the underrepresented in traditional media. In June, we get to celebrate the films airing this month across the nation, as well as those in our catalog that tell the rarely heard stories from the gay, lesbian, and transgendered communities.
This month, a remarkable film – City of Borders – airs on various PBS stations (check listings here). The film documents an astounding array of regulars at Jerusalem’s only gay bar. Palestinians (some who must sneak over Israel’s “security fence” to get there) mingle with Israelis, Muslims with Jews, men with women, gay people with straight people. It’s a stunning microcosm of peace and shared humanity amidst a landscape rent with conflict.
But also take a moment to browse through our film catalog’s sortable search engine for all of our films on LGBT topics.
Among them, notably, given recent news, is Ask Not, a film about the United States military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy that systematically bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the armed forces. Now that repeal of DADT has been passed in both houses of Congress, there’s hope that this film is about to become an archival document of a sad time gone by.
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.
Green Minds Think Alike
ITVS Community is all about going green these days. Our goal is to foster awareness and action around environmental issues all year long through Community Cinema screenings and Classroom resources. To see what we’ve got going on, visit our site.
To help us connect to more people who are passionate about the environment, we’ve partnered with WiserEarth.org, a nonprofit that offers social networking for the international sustainability movement, launched today in French, Portuguese, and Spanish (beta versions). This effort was realized thanks to more than 10 months of work by a team of 43 volunteer translators based in Brazil, France, Mexico and the US. French, Portuguese and Spanish speakers can now connect with like-minded people on WiserEarth, set up their own groups, and search easily for information on nonprofits and social change organizations all over the world.
WiserEarth offers a free and ad-free network to a vibrant member base of 37,000+ people from 231 countries, regions and territories. It is an innovative alternative to commercial social networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut, and contains over 2,000 member-created groups and 110,000 organizations in its directory.
The site was launched three years ago on Earth Day by environmentalist, writer and visionary, Paul Hawken. WiserEarth has stood the test of time and become a valuable resource for activists, social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders and changemakers working towards a just and sustainable world. “I knew that if we could understand the connections and visualize the breadth of global efforts on behalf of social and environmental justice, we would recognize the largest movement the world has ever seen. WiserEarth is where this movement can begin to see itself.” – Paul Hawken
Visit A Village Called Versailles Where Even Hurricane Katrina Couldn’t Keep New Orleans’ Vietnamese Community Down
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!
From Trash to Trade: The Garbage Dreams Game
Garbage Dreams Game
Filmed over four years, director Mai Iskander’s documentary Garbage Dreams goes inside the world of Egypt’s Zaballeen (Arabic for “garbage people”) to reveal the lives of three teenage boys born into the trash trade.
Premiering on Independent Lens on April 27th (check local listings), the broadcast of Garbage Dreams is accompanied by the Garbage Dreams Game, in which players assume the role of the Zaballeen. The game demonstrates that recycling is not just good for the environment; it’s also sound economic practice.
Players start with cash and expenses, one very hungry goat, one neighborhood, and one paper recycling factory. To grow their business and build efficiency, players can make investments in new equipment to recycle other materials, buy extra trucks, hire workers, or expand into wealthier neighborhoods.
Players sort through trash and recycle what can be recycled in Cairo — paper, organics, aluminum, tin, plastic, and glass — all against a ticking clock, sorting through trash piles with the speed, strategy, and efficiency required to match the 80 percent recycling rate of the Zaballeen within 12 rounds of play.
Corresponding lesson plans for grades 9-12 and middle school complement the game and the film, and further explore the issue of recycling and the globalized economy.
Goats, trucks, and territories; organics, paper, and tin. Learn how Egypt’s Zaballeen turn trash into cash. Play the recycling game.
Happy Earth Day From ITVS, Community Cinema, Community Classroom, and Independent Lens!
Earth Day. Maybe for you it evokes happy thoughts of planting trees and gathering with friends to celebrate the planet and toast to its good health. Maybe it’s one of those extra-dose-of-guilt days when you’re extra conscious of separating your trash and ashamed of the fact you still use an internal-combustion engine to get to work. Perhaps you’re aware enough of the climate crisis, species on the verge of extinction, and the plight of the rainforest, that today you’ll just duck your head back under the covers and wait it out until tomorrow.
Whichever Earth Day style fits you best, we’d like to offer up some helpful resources to make your day a little happier and greener. First off, check out our slate of green-themed films for the occasion, including Dirt! The Movie, Garbage Dreams, and A Village Called Versailles, all airing this month on Independent Lens. And from last season, revisit Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. That one’s definitely worth revisiting for its inspiration factor alone.
Ah but as Kermit said, it isn’t always easy bein’ green. For example, have you ever been confused about what you can recycle and what you can’t? Same here. As part of our film Garbage Dreams we’ve put together a handy tip sheet for you. Even better, we’ve launched a super-cool interactive recycling game so you can put your newfound wisdom to work. And check out a resource we found when we were researching this: Earth911.com, a site that lets you know what recycling facilities are near you so you can really pump up your recycling efforts.
As they say, we’ve only got one planet so we better treat it right. We salute the filmmakers, community organizers, and educators who work every day to ensure that somebody speaks for the Earth when it can’t speak for itself. Stay green, people!
Maggie Gyllenhaal Discusses Autism Awareness Month and The Horse Boy
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.
Learn more about autism and get involved by attending a Community Cinema screening of The Horse Boy this month. To find a screening near you, visit www.pbs.org/independentlens/horse-boy/getinvolved.html.
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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