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When Storytelling Ignites the Neighborhood
Sara Brissenden-Smith, Regional Outreach Coordinator, ITVS Community Cinema
By: Sara Brissenden-Smith
Regional Outreach Coordinator for ITVS’s Community Cinema.
Media is such a huge part of our lives today. You can stream live video of events happening on the other side of the world from your office, watch TV episodes on your iPod as you ride Muni, upload your political perspective and your interpretation of Beyonce’s latest video on YouTube… tweet about the meal you just had and break up with your boyfriend via Facebook… all on your way to the BART station. Access to media has definitely changed.
As a young woman of color, I grew up with some very narrow definitions of my community presented in the media. One-dimensional snapshots of my community have often left me feeling disconnected from representations of ‘my experience’. Truthfully, I have a love/hate relationship with media.
I don’t think I really understood how powerful media was until I had the chance to go to Ghana, West Africa about 10 years ago. I met young African boys who were dressed like American rap artists and African girls who strived to look like young women in our music videos. I had always assumed that the challenges I faced looking for diversity and depth to images of my community was an American struggle, one that primarily existed in our inner cities and urban areas. The idea that an 8 year old African girl in a small village in Ghana could be affected by the same images I encountered was unsettling for me. That trip changed my perspective in a lot of ways. It made me aware of the need for communities to come together and dialogue about social issues and I realized that while media can be damaging, it has the potential be a great tool as well.
About a year and a half ago, I had the chance to start working with Independent Television Service (ITVS). ITVS funds, presents, and promotes award-winning documentaries and dramas on public television and cable, innovative new media projects on the Web, and the Emmy Award-winning weekly series Independent Lens Tuesday nights at 10:00 PM on PBS. Community Cinema is a groundbreaking public education and civic engagement initiative featuring free monthly screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens. Community Cinema is on location in more than 60 cities nationally, bringing together leading organizations, community members and public television stations to learn, discuss, and get involved in key social issues of our time. I have the chance to produce free screening events of documentaries by independent filmmakers who tell stories that are unique, diverse and rarely seen.
Organizing screenings in the Bay Area (both in San Francisco and Oakland), I have to say the level of community involvement and engagement has been amazing. Each month hundreds of people come out to see films and community partners share their work and knowledge. Some people come because they don’t know anything about the subject- others because the film tells the story of their lives. I have seen mothers bring their children to learn about tree planting (Taking Root), a grandfather coming to learn about autism to deal with his grandson’s recent diagnosis (The Horse Boy), teachers bringing students to learn about recycling efforts in Egypt (Garbage Dreams), and youth DJs come to learn about the history of sampling in hip-hop (Copyright Criminals). Every month is something different but the formula is consistent, communities share space for a couple hours and leave with questions, ideas and often a greater understanding of the issues and how we are all connected.
For me, working with Community Cinema has really reinforced the importance of telling the stories that are important to you, whether you went to film school, or just learned how to use a video camera. While the experience can be empowering and liberating for the filmmaker and the film subjects, the scope extends far beyond the participants and can have a ripple effect, impacting audiences, communities and the world at large.
I feel fortunate to be able to witness community members as they participate in this process. Many audience members return month after month, bringing family members, friends, co-workers and neighbors. The conversations that happen are dynamic, sometimes charged and always transformative. People leave screenings knowing more about how huge societal issues are being addressed by organizations down the street from where they live and many are encouraged to learn more and participate, whether that means they learn to compost, or volunteer at a school. As I am encouraged every month, my appreciation for the power and true purpose of media grows, one documentary at a time.
WEI Screenings Take Philly
Coalition of Labor Union Women
Ellen Slack is a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, which is partnering on the Philadelphia Women’s Empowerment Initiative Screening. She offered this report about an upcoming screening of Made in L.A..
Here in Philadelphia, the views in many neighborhoods are still dominated by old factory buildings that once housed our city’s garment and textile industries. The forces that emptied those buildings of the activities they were constructed for are essentially the same forces that in recent years have brought millions of Latinos—and others—to this country.
Manufacturers in search of cheap labor moved to other parts of the U.S. and then many send the work overseas. At the same time, globalization devastated local industries and destabilized economies in huge regions of the world, leaving their working people with little choice but to migrate to the U.S. and western Europe.
Summer Film Series to Address Women Creating Change
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, by Lisa Merton and Alan Dater, is part of the summer film series in select cities.
When women and girls are provided with opportunities for education and jobs, access to health care services, and are a vital voice in governance, we can make great strides in addressing serious social issues such as poverty, violence, and political corruption. There has never been a better time than now to use film as a tool to shine a light on women and girls who are affecting change around the world.
This summer in more than 10 cities across the country, ITVS will be partnering with local public television stations and community organizations to present a special series of screenings that will highlight issues affecting women across the globe and in communities here in the U.S. Previous Community Cinema audience favorites such as Taking Root, Iron Ladies of Liberia , and Shadya will be featured among the 15-plus films selected for this exciting series of events.
Partner organizations include the Chicago Foundation for Women, Seattle University Women Studies Program, Priority Africa Network ,and the City of Los Angeles. Among the cities in which the screenings will be held: Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Louisville, Rochester, New York, St.Louis, and Denver.
Stay tuned here for event listings. Follow us on Twitter or become a fan to be the first to receive updates on these and other upcoming events!
The Horse Boy at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts
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 by Michel Orion Scott. Our producing partner in Grand Rapids, Michigan shares highlights from the event.
Rowan (center) and his family travel Mongolia
We had an amazing screening! One of our biggest crowds of the year, and a truly great speaker. Liane Holliday Willey, our speaker, is a local 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 shared experiences about when her daughter and father had been bullied and beat up as children. Her daughter was bullied even in the first year of college, because of her differences. Liane herself suffered several attacks.
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 discussed the effect of animals on children with autism. Several people in the audience shared their experiences with family members who are autistic, including siblings and children. We also discussed whether genetic engineering should be used to eliminate autism, and the general consensus between both Liane and the audience was a resounding no. Liane talked about her friendship with Temple Grandin and the amazing work that Dr. Grandin has accomplished because of the focus that autism gives her. She said that her father had a similar experience, as he became a gifted engineer.
It was a very emotional and touching discussion overall, with lots of tears and smiles. Liane’s books are: Pretending to be Normal: Living with Aspergers Syndrome; Asperger Syndrome in the Family: Redefining Normal; and Adolescents and Asperger Syndrome in the Adolescent Years: Living With the Ups and Downs and Things in Between. She is working on a new book that tells her personal story now.
Dirt! The Movie Asks You to Watch What You Are Stepping On
Vandana Shiva - Environmental activist - India
Community Cinema invites you to join us for Dirt! The Movie starting today in Brooklyn, New York and then screening for free daily throughout the country in March.
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.
Our national partners create ways for audiences to learn more about the issues raised in the film and “get dirty” through environmental service learning projects and be part of imagining solutions for a sustainable future.
Bioneers is inspiring a shift to live on Earth in ways that honor the web of life, each other and future generations. Bioneers provides solutions-based education and social connectivity through the Bioneers national and local conferences and programs, including: The Bioneers: Revolution From the Heart of Nature radio series; anthology book series; television programs and online community.
Youth Service America improves communities by increasing the number and the diversity of young people, ages 5-25, serving in substantive roles. The impact of YSA’s work through service and service-learning is measured in student achievement, workplace readiness, and healthy communities.
Find your event! And, read on for more about dirt and Dirt! The Movie. Watch video clips and more! › 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
One Size Fits All: Community Cinema Flexes Its Flexibility
Volunteers at the Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women
One aspect of having worked with the Community Cinema program for the past four years is that I have had the pleasure of working with people from so many communities including Washington, D.C. and Grand Junction, Colorado as well as Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Miami. Recently a few of my colleagues asked me to share some of their impressions about the Community Cinema program. We welcome your comments especially if you are a Producing Partner, Cinema/Outreach Coordinator, or an audience member.
Meet Sara Brissenden-Smith who represents Community Cinema in the Bay Area. She is always asked, “So, what’s the topic this month?”
Meet Tiffany L. Verkler who is Promotions Supervisor for Arkansas Educational Television Network. This is her first season with Community Cinema. We are all excited to bring Independent Lens documentaries to Arkansas audiences.
Meet Lynn Allen who has represented Community Cinema statewide in Idaho since our very first season.
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communitycinema: #Compost THIS! Cow/horse manure (outdoors only), cardboard rolls, chopped leaves, coffee grounds (worms love these) MORE: http://dld.bz/kSXD
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Jenn Wilcox: RT @GlobalFundWomen: In #SF nxt wk? Come to the Womens #Empowerment #FilmFestival to watch inspiring films abt #women @communitycinema @IMOW http://bit.ly/bjZuPz
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Simon Kilmurry: RT @communitycinema: Women's Engagement Film Series NEXT MONTH! Partners incl @unfpa @CARE @unifem @povdocs http://dld.bz/nQbH #FF Thanks!