KCPT’s most recent Community Cinema screening featured the compelling documentary Troop 1500 followed by discussion with a local chapter of the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program and, of course, cookies. Troop 1500 follows several young girls in Texas who have monthly Girl Scout meetings in a Gatesville prison with their incarcerated mothers. The film explores both the challenges for these daughters and mothers as well as the positive impact of this unique troop.

Margaret Moore of the NE Kansas & NW Missouri Girl Scouts

After the screening Margaret Moore from the Girl Scouts of NE Kansas and NW Missouri talked about her work with Troop 2026, which meets monthly at the Topeka Correctional Facility (TCF). Troop 2026 is made up of about 30 girls, who come from all over Kansas, and even parts of Missouri, to visit their incarcerated mothers and take part in traditional Girl Scout activities. Moore has worked with Troop 2026 since the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program came to TCF in 1994.

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Alison Cuddy, Mariame Kaba, Jaquanda Villegas, Jacinda Bullie, Shira Hassan, Ameena Matthews and Niambi Jaha-Echols

Saturday’s screening of The Interrupters at the Chicago Cultural Center was packed to the gills with 300 people in attendance. The event honored six great Chicago women who work as mentors to young people facing violence and hardships in their neighborhoods, helping them to navigate the difficult terrain of the transition to adulthood. The screening was hosted by Alison Cuddy, host of Eight Forty-Eight on Chicago Public Radio and co-presented by WBEZ, WTTW Channel 11, ITVS, Chicago Foundation for Women, Kartemquin Films, and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

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Anne Makepeace (left) and Dr. Mishuana Goeman (right)

Anne Makepeace reports from Los Angeles …

What a weekend I’ve just had! Still jet-lagged from Saturday’s flight, I screened We Still Live Here - Âs Nutayuneân at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles on Sunday for one of the many free Community Cinema screenings organized by Independent Lens. Desiree Gutierrez, an Outreach Coordinator for Independent Lens, had arranged the event with co-sponsorship of the UCLA American Indian Studies Center. For a gorgeous Sunday afternoon, we had a terrific and very diverse crowd; including a Wampanoag man far from his home in Mashpee, Massachusetts. more »

Abigail Disney, moderator and member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Jennifer Mirren, and Anasuya Sengupta, Regional Program Director, Asia/Oceania, Global Fund for Women

Humaira Ghilzai was a panelist for the San Francisco Community Cinema screening of Peace Unveiled, one of the episodes of the groundbreaking Women, War & Peace series, which aired on PBS. She joined series producer Abigail Disney, moderator and member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists Jennifer Mirren, and Anasuya Sengupta, Regional Program Director, Asia/Oceania for the Global Fund for Women. Humaira wrote to us recently about the activism of Afghan parliamentarian Simeen Barakzai, who was on her 12th day of an 18-day hunger strike in Afghanistan to protest allegations of election fraud. Barakazai, mother to three small boys, was the first person to use hunger striking as a form of government protest there.

“For the first time in American history, our generation was at risk of having a shorter lifespan than our parents. And it was because of what we ate.” —Curt Ellis, KING CORN filmmaker

As a celebration of four years of Community Cinema at the holiday season, we asked our event producers and producing partners to share reflections on past events.  Desiree Gutierrez is our ITVS National Community Cinema Coordinator based in the Los Angeles area. Desiree shares her thoughts on how the Community Cinema selection King Corn changed her life.

I think it’s safe to say that most kids in America grow up on a diet of frozen chicken fingers, processed macaroni and cheese, and soda. My childhood was different in that my parents had met in cooking school and operated a catering business. So, I not only grew up working for the family business, but I was also exposed to a variety of food types. In fact, I’ve been cooking since I was five (my first specialty was an egg over easy).

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Seniors at Impact Academy screen the Independent Lens doc Me Facing Life: Cyntoia's Story

Last week, ITVS hosted a live chat with Dan Birman, the director of Me Facing Life: Cyntoia’s Story, and the seniors at Impact Academy High School in Hayward, CA. Julie Galender will graduate from Impact this year and was a former intern with ITVS. Julie helped organize the live chat and offered CC her thoughts on the discussion.

Recently, I had the opportunity to intern for the Independent Television Service (ITVS).  My time working at the San Francisco organization got me really interested in watching documentaries and I wanted to share my excitement with all my friends.

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(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, 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.

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