Partnerships and Supporters
Seattle Really Loves Its Dirt
March in Seattle has historically been notoriously wet and gray. This past Saturday was the perfect cloudless day to enjoy Seattle Center's International Fountain and lawns.
This past Saturday a diverse audience enjoyed part of their day at the free Community Cinema Seattle premiere screening of Dirt! The Movie at Seattle Center. On an unusually gorgeous sunny day in Seattle – especially odd for early March – the audience was eager to discuss what was being done to help Seattle’s ecosystem heal itself and ways they could help. The speakers kept offering to move the discussion out to the sun-drenched lobby, but the entire audience stayed for the entire discussion. Many stayed to ask questions and the topic quickly turned to chickens and worms, but more on that later.
Our panelists and local event partners are inovators in an already crowded field of bioneers in the Seattle and Puget Sound region. We were so fortunate to be joined by Kathryn A. Gardow, Executive Director of PCC Farmland Trust and Brad Halm, a farmer and co-owner of The Seattle Urban Farm Company, which has garnered quite a bit of press for its creative and friendly approach to urban gardening and farming.
Kathryn started by thanking the audience for showing up on such a beautiful cloudless day. She enjoyed the film and asked for a show hands from the audience if they agreed, and every hand shot up. She went on to explain what PCC Farmland Trust is and what it does. PCC Farmland Trust secures, preserves and stewards threatened farmland in the Pacific Northwest, to ensure that generations of local farmers productively farm it using sustainable, organic growing methods. The Trust takes its mission one step further than most land trusts by working to place farmers on the property, actively producing food for the local community. The PCC Farmland Trust is an independent, community-supported non-profit land trust. It was founded in 1999 by PCC Natural Markets as a separate, non-profit organization. Since inception, the Trust has saved four farms totaling 549 acres. What is now PCC Natural Markets began as a food-buying club of 15 families in 1953. Today, it’s the largest consumer-owned natural food retail co-operative in the United States.
Brad Halm (left) and Kathryn Gardow (right) spoke passionately about organic farming and farmland preservation after the Seattle Premiere of Dirt! The Movie
Brad Halm of The Seattle Urban Farm Company is a native of Ohio. He developed an interest in sustainable agriculture while helping tend a garden with housemates at Denison University. That interest has since grown as he has worked on a number of organic farms in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and was most recently employed as the manager of the Community Supported Agriculture program at Village Acres Farm in Mifflintown, Pennsylvania. The Seattle Urban Farm Company uses only organic methods to manage their clients’ gardens, so the soil will be healthy and productive for years to come. Vegetables will be free of herbicides, synthetic pesticides, and genetically modified organisms. By bringing farmers into a yard, it helps share the risks of growing food. If the weather is poor, a garden is not as productive as it might otherwise be. If the weather is good, a garden can produce a bumper crop of delectable vegetables. And your chickens and worms can eat the rest, but more on that later. › Continue reading
Keith Maitland at KLRU’s Texas Independents’ Day
Earlier this week, PBS affiliate KLRU in Austin, Texas, commemorated Texas Independents’ Day by celebrating the work of three local filmmakers whose work will appear on this season of Independent Lens. Learn more about the event from Keith Maitland, filmmaker of The Eyes of Me.
Filmmaker Keith Maitland with film subjects of The Eyes of Me.
Panel moderator Paul Stekler leads a round table discussion with Keith Maitland, filmmaker of The Eyes of Me; Karen Skloss, filmmaker of Sunshine; Michel Scott, filmmaker of The Horse Boy.
Last night, nearly 200 people gathered in a dark room to share an hour-long look into the lives of four blind teenagers. With the twinkling lights of the Austin City Limits stage as a backdrop, I couldn’t ask for a more fitting place to experience the incredible communal experience of watching the live Independent Lens broadcast of The Eyes of Me.
The Eyes of Me follows four blind teens over the course of one dynamic year. It’s about watching these teens growing up before our eyes. As they discover who they are, it is my hope that you will discover something about yourself –– it’s about challenging your own perception and seeing yourself in a new way… at least that’s what it’s always been about for me.
The entire process of creating this film, from a nascent idea, through 250 hours of rolling cameras, and two and half years of editing, has been both rewarding and challenging in degrees that I’m still not sure I can register. Along the way, I have learned many lessons about my creative processes, and my own humanity.
Community Cinema Brings Together Citizens, Organizations, and Public TV Stations
Just a quick reminder for those of you who are just discovering Community Cinema. Our free monthly documentary screenings are followed by lively panel discussions that bring together citizens, organizations and public television stations to encourage dialogue and action around important and timely social issues. Last season, over 40,000 people attended 500 events nationwide.
Are you a community organizer, educator or facilitator? We’ve got opportunities for you to get involved by using Independent Lens programs and resources in your community.
Interested in planning an event in your community? Visit our web site for step by step directions and free downloadable PDFs. Find a free event near you here.
Click here to watch a QuickTime video about Community Cinema presented by ITVS
ITVS Media Partnership for CARE’s “Half the Sky Live” National Screening
In honor of International Women’s Day, CARE –– a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty –– is presenting a one-night-only event on Thursday, March 4 (tomorrow night!), at movie theaters nationwide called “Half the Sky Live.” ITVS is a proud media partner of this special presentation.
Inspired by the bestselling book from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the evening will feature musical performances, celebrity commentary, and uplifting stories about women and girls overcoming tremendous obstacles.
The event will be the world premiere of Woineshet, a short film by Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei and Lisa Leone. Appearances will include performers India.Arie, Diane Birch, Angelique Kidjo, and Michael Franti; actresses Maria Bello and Marisa Tomei; president/CEO of CARE Dr. Helene Gayle; New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof; United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women Rachel Mayanja; Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York; New York Times editor Sheryl WuDunn and others.
The goal of the event is to help women and girls around the world turn oppression into opportunity.
Learn more about this event and download a discussion guide >>
Watch the video below to learn more:
The Eyes Of Me Event in Chicago Overcomes Its Own Struggles With Accessibility
Carrie Kaufman moderates a panel discussion trapped inside a wheelchair lift
Carrie Kaufman is a board member of The Chicago Freedom School and was in the ITVS documentary Terra Incognita: Mapping Stem Cell Research, a Community Cinema and Independent Lens selection. She writes about our recent Community Cinema Chicago event for The Eyes Of Me.
Chicago’s February 20 screening of The Eyes of Me was held in the beautiful Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago cultural Center. The event was appropriately cosponsored by the Chicago Freedom School, a youth focused social justice organization, and Access Living, a disability rights organization.
The Eyes Of Me follows blind youth along their journey at a school for the blind in Austin, Texas. The film details their struggles in and out of that and other schools. The youth in the film have varying levels of visual impairments, and are all at different levels of acceptance and independence. The film doesn’t focus on their visual impairments beyond how it affects the living of their day-to-day life. It shows us about all of the other interests and outlets that each of the youth devote themselves to. The youth are inspirational not because they are living with a disability, but because they are intelligent, talented, and independent people.
The show must go on (while ITVS' Naomi Walker and event panel moderator, Carrie Kaufman, are stuck in the wheelchair lift - left)
Most of the close to 200 attendees stayed for a great discussion following the film. The discussion, however, got off to an ironic start, when I, the moderator, got trapped in the wheelchair lift on the way up to the stage with Naomi Walker, National Community Cinema Coordinator. I remarked on how if the film showed us anything, it’s that it wasn’t necessary for me to see my panelists in order to carry on the discussion with them, so I moderated the first 20 minutes of the discussion about disability philosophy, politics, and accessibility in general from in the wheelchair lift. What a display of obstacles to access!
Find out if Naomi and Carrie ever get out of the lift! › Continue reading
The Eyes Of Me Finishes Community Cinema Run And Airs Tomorrow
Throughout the month of February, Community Cinema welcomed thousands of guests to our 47 free screening events for Keith Maitland’s documentary The Eyes Of Me. The Eyes of me airs tomorrow Tuesday, March 2 on Independent Lens at 10:00 PM on most PBS stations (check local listings).
Filmmaker Keith Maitland attended our screening in Houston presented locally by HoustonPBS. He shares his experience at the event.
Patrick Floyd (left), the producer of The Eyes of Me, and Keith Maitland (right), the director, at the HoustonPBS Community Cinema Screening of their film.
“With more than 125 audience members in attendance –– many of them blind or visually-impaired –– HoustonPBS hosted a wonderful Community Cinema screening of The Eyes of Me. It’s always exciting for me to be able to sit in a crowded theater and share the film with a new audience but there was something very special about this particular screening. Along with producer Patrick Floyd, I was happy to travel to Houston from Austin, Texas, to experience Community Cinema firsthand. Meagan McComic (one of the main characters from the film) and Bill Daugherty, superintendent of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI), joined Patrick and I on the panel after the film, to share their reflections and perspectives with the Houston community –– many of whom had ties to TTSBVI directly. Two of the audience members were alumni of TSBVI –– Michael Garrett, class of ‘69, and Bernice Klepak, class of ‘55. It was exciting to hear Michael and Bernice’s response to the film, and the contrasts between their days at the school and the stories of Chas, Meagan, Denise, and Isaac represented in the film. Bernice was impressed with how honest and natural today’s students were compared to her days when she feels that they were all “pretty straight-laced.”
Meagan McComic (right), one of the subjects of The Eyes of Me, with her mom at the HoustonPBS Community Cinema screening.
At this screening, as we have done at all of our festival screenings before this, we were able to offer live audio description through the use of wireless receivers and transmitters. This system (provided by a grant from the Austin Film Society) gives blind and visually-impaired audience members the opportunity to hear an additional audio track that offers visual information, and reads onscreen text, so that users can experience the film as fully as any audience member. Use of this technology offers accessibility and also educates sighted audience members about accessibility. It’s not surprising that most people have never heard of or considered audio description, we didn’t know about it before making the film either, but I’m happy to be an advocate for accessible media and accessible websites too! (Our website, http://EyesofMe.com, is fully accessible via use of screen reading software, and we offer a fully accessible trailer that is both audio described, and open captioned for the hearing impaired.) What made Community Cinema such a great screening event was that the audience was so active and engaged. The Q&A following the film was a mixture of questions and comments about the film, the specific characters and stories, as well as how themes within the film affected the local community. It was exactly what we’ve hoped Community Cinema would be –– it was wonderful. Thanks so much HoustonPBS.”
Read on for more event highlights, exclusive video, and broadcast information. › Continue reading
The Eyes Of Me Finishes February on A Strong Note: Colorado
Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. In Grand Junction, Colorado, Penny Mitchell describes a recent free event for the film The Eyes of Me by Keith Maitland.
“I know what it’s like to be sighted, and I know what it’s like to be blind. And I do think going blind has given me a different point of view.” Isaac, a subject in The Eyes Of Me
The film screening went quite well and was followed by a thoughtful panel. There was considerable discussion about, Isaac, the young man who lost his vision when the hospital would not operate because the family had no health insurance coverage. Several people thought that couldnt happen in Colorado because hospitals would have a mandate to operate in that situation. But one of our panelists gave several examples of similar problems she knew about in Colorado. She said that although he would be blind without the operation, it was not a life threatening situation and that may be one of the criteria.
The panelists also wanted to note that it was difficult to distinguish in the film which issues were rooted in socioeconomic problems and which were due to visual handicaps. The families in the film were from poorer communities and may not have access to advocates. That brought us to the advocacy groups available in our valley and the blind woman on our panel said that its incredibly hard to find these groups when they are generally only advertised in newspapers and she can’t read! The panelists noted that its been very hard to engage ophthalmology and optometry staff in a process to provide these resources to patients.
Read on for the details of our event in Steamboat Springs. › Continue reading
The Eyes Of Me Finishes February on A Strong Note: St. Louis
Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. In St. Louis, MO from KETC9 in partnership with Missouri History Museum. KETC9’s Sydney Meyer reports on the free event.
Denise, one of the film's teenage subjects preparing for her prom.
The Missouri History Museum was ready and equipped with special earpieces so blind film goers could get a better idea of the picture The Eyes of Me was really painting. Actually, having the earpieces available was exactly what panelist, Pastor Dave Andrus -who runs the Lutheran Blind Mission and who has been blind since age 11- said society needs to move toward. The city of Austin, Texas featured in the film is very equipped to handle its blind residents, and although St. Louis still has a ways to go, the panelists agreed the city is making progress in supporting persons with disabilities especially in the area of transportation services.
Panelist Joy Waddel, Assistant Superintendent of the Missouri School for the Blind, said she and her staff loved the film. She said, “Teens are teens and they all have similar problems growing up. It’s just that these teens have an extra handicap to deal with.” She especially loved the film because as she put it, “It was so great in the film to see the teens put into words how they feel. That is an issue that we often have to work with in school.” Other than that she said, “I could have put St. Louis faces on each of the characters in the film I really have seen those students right in my own school.”
Read on for more details from the event in St. Louis. › Continue reading
Community Cinema Screens The Eyes of Me in Philadelphia
Just the other night, Community Cinema hosted a screening of the Independent Lens film The Eyes of Me at the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia, Pa. The film follows four visually impaired teenagers in Texas as they face the usual challenges of adolescence while simultaneously learning to navigate a world designed for the sighted. Regional Outreach Coordinator Cindy Burstein gives an overview of what happened and discusses the local impact.
The panel –– organized to represent an intergenerational view on being blind –– shared personal experiences as compared to those in the film.
The lobby of the Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia was bustling with activity, as volunteers gathered for the Community Cinema screening of
The Eyes of Me.
Fran Fulton, a staff person with Liberty Resources, Inc. (a partner in presenting the event) was busy training a Villanova University sorority on how to serve as sighted guides. Fulton, who is blind, reminded the volunteers that some of the most basic things that sighted people take for granted are important to remember when assisting blind people, such as telling them which direction the seat is facing, and placing the hand of the blind person on the seat in front of them as a way to guide them into an available chair, which may be four or five seats down the row.
Audio describers from Amaryllis Theatre Company were setting up equipment for live audio description, and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters from the Deaf-Hearing Communication Center were getting acquainted with the space and ready to provide sign language interpretation for the panel discussion taking place after the film.
The Eyes Of Me Finishes February on A Strong Note: Idaho and Arizona
Isaac, featured in The Eyes Of Me, with his horses at home in Paris, TX
Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. Here are highlights from two recent events. One event was way up in the northeast and another way down in the southwest.
In Tucson we partner with the Pima County Public Library system. At the Miller-Golf Links Branch Library we recently featured two panelists who were currently working with blind students in Arizona, and that made for an interesting conversation after the documentary. The film showed the difference between attending TSBVI High vs. mainstreaming in local schools as having a place/community vs. being isolated and odd man out. Our Tucson discussion observed the higher independent living skills displayed by the mainstream students vs. the transition difficulties of blind kids who had attended the Arizona School for the Deaf & Blind.
Lynn Allen, our Regional Outreach Coordinator for all of Idaho held one of her many monthly events at Boise State University. The event drew the attention of the local college press with a feature article in the ARBITER, the campus newspaper. Our speaker did a good job of keeping the conversation going. She was blind from birth and related some of her experiences to those of the teens in the film, but mostly focused on what they were experiencing and how – in so many ways – it was what every teenager experiences. What struck me most about the film is how isolated the blind teens’ lives were when they are mainstreamed. Others in the audience shared my observation. And our discussion left us feeling that there has to be a balance between separation from family and living your own life.
Stay Connected
Program Tools
Community Cinema on Twitter
-
communitycinema (communitycinema): #free #film screening today DIRT! THE MOVIE http://bit.ly/FreeDirt in Grand Junction, CO at 6 PM at Mesa County Central Library #eco -
communitycinema (communitycinema): RT @aetn: Community Cinema will be at the Arkansas School for the Blind, Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. Everyone is invited! http://ow.ly/1fC5Y @communitycinema
-
celiaalario (celiaalario): Omg moab!! Rt @communitycinema: #free #film screenings DIRT! THE MOVIE TOMORROW! http://bit.ly/FreeDirt in Grand Junction, CO