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Grand Rapids Kicks Off the New Season of Community Cinema
D TOUR Panel Receives Well-Deserved Round of Applause
- left to right: Emily Coyle, Tricia Coyle, Emily Maurin WGVU, Sue Lewis and Jill Morrill
Michiganders kicked off Community Cinema’s 2009-2010 Season last night in Grand Rapids at The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts. After the screening of D TOUR, we had a small but passionate crowd for this film, and an extremely knowledgeable panel. Just a few months ago, Jill Morrill donated her kidney to her 12-year-old daughter, who suffers from cystinosis. Sue Lewis donated her kidney two years ago to the father of one of her son’s friends. Tricia Coyle received a donated kidney a couple of months ago through a paired donor program in Toledo. Her daughter, Emily Coyle, worked hard to spread the word about her mother needing a donor – and recently found out that she suffers from the same genetic disorder that caused her mother’s kidney to fail.
Special Community Cinema Screening in Chicago: ESTILO HIP HOP
This past weekend, Community Cinema hosted a special screening in Chicago of the Global Voices documentary ESTILO HIP HOP, which chronicles the lives of three hip hop enthusiasts from Brazil, Chile and Cuba who firmly believe that hip hop can change the world. This screening was presented by WTTW, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Southwest Community Coalition. Get the full report below from Regional Outreach Coordinator Naomi Walker:
DJ Man-O-Wax mixes music while B-Boy Brave Monk shows off some moves.
Panelists B-Boy Brave Monk, MC D Nick the Microphone Misfit and Graf Artist Lavie Raven take questions from the audience.
In the audience of ESTILO HIP HOP were the young leaders from the K.I. Eco Center, a youth development program that runs the Community Cinema program in Indianapolis, IN. I had the privilege to attend their screening of TULIA, TEXAS last January and was very impressed and inspired by the event. To see young people, ranging in age from ten to 18 years old, leading adults in a post-screening discussion showed how documentary film can be used as a tool for cross-generational engagement. It was so cool that they were able to take the time to come up to Chicago for this event.
The host for the afternoon was Super InLight, movement/teaching artists, and the choreographer and director of the Stick & Move Dance crew. Super InLight (literally) kicked off the proceedings with a birthday tribute to the dance innovations of Michael Jackson, acknowledging the influence that hip hop dance moves like pop lock had on Jackson and vice versa.
Presenters DJ Man-O-Wax, MC D Nick the Microphone Misfit, B-Boy Brave Monk and Graf Artist Lavie Raven, co-founder of the University of Hip Hop, represented the five elements of hip hop. The fifth element of hip hop––knowledge––was represented by all the presenters, who shared their stories and insights on what inspires them and what they tell the young people they teach (yes, they are ALL teachers by day!).
Community Cinema Los Angeles: Lots to Talk About
Aero Theatre in Santa Monica
While you are out enjoying the last of the summer sun I am diligently working on the final touches for the next season of Community Cinema in Los Angeles and West Hollywood. As always, we have an amazing and diverse group of films for you (more on that in a second).
I am really thrilled to share some news about Community Cinema in the Los Angeles area with you.
Thanks to our friends at the City of West Hollywood we have had Community Cinema in the West Hollywood area for the last five years. The City remains a strong supporter of Community Cinema and they will once again help us produce a screening series split between the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.
I am also pleased to announce that through a new partnership with the City of Los Angeles, Community Cinema will see an exciting expansion this year. The City is planning to have a traveling series making a presence in each area of Metro Los Angeles over the course of the season. A full schedule will be out in the next couple of weeks.
ITVS Community is also working on a partnership with the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department in hopes of screening select Community Cinema films for inmates. ITVS Community works to bring communities together and connect them with information, resources and opportunities for education, engagement and positive change, and thus we hope to develop a model that may be replicated at other correctional and rehabilitation facilities across the country.
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.
New Venue Joins Community Cinema Philadelphia
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia joins Community Cinema this season as a venue partner to host our kick-off event on Wednesday, Sept 23rd for D TOUR!
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, founded in 1787
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, founded in 1787, is the oldest professional medical organization in the country. Twenty-four physicians of eighteenth-century Philadelphia gathered “to advance the science of medicine and to thereby lessen human misery.” Today, over 1,500 Fellows continue to convene at the College and work towards better serving the public.
The College is home to the Mütter Museum and the Historical Medical Library. Outreach programs include Philly Health Info.org, [external link] an online health information, resource and educational program serving the Delaware Valley, and the C. Everett Koop Community Education Center. The public is invited to attend the many lectures, workshops, and conferences the College offers in support of their mission to advance the cause of health.
In addition to the College, the Gift of Life Donor Program [external link] will be joining us as a community partner. Gift of Life is the non-profit agency serving the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, and responsible for recovering and distributing organs and tissues used in life-saving and life-enhancing transplants.
Founded in 1974 by the Greater Delaware Valley Society of Transplant Surgeons, Gift of Life is one of the oldest and largest of 58 non-profit, organ and tissue procurement organizations in the United States. Gift of Life is part of the nationwide organ and tissue sharing network run by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Upcoming Community Cinema Screenings
D TOUR kicks off Community Cinema in September
Earlier this month, we announced the exciting line-up of Independent Lens films coming to Community Cinema.
Be sure to check out this year’s schedule of upcoming screenings. Join us in September for free screenings of D TOUR, which chronicles musician Pat Spurgeon’s search for a living kidney donor and the challenges with finding a viable match. Watch the trailer and then find a free screening near you.
Visit the Community Cinema events page to find free preview screenings near you.
Tension Creates Successful CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America Event in Nashville
L to R: Rodney Britton from Galaxy Star Drug Awareness; Moderator Jonathan Martin from WSMV-TV; and Clemmie Greenlee from Galaxy Star Drug Awareness
Nashville’s to-capacity screening of CRIPS AND BLOODS: Made in America, was our most rewarding and interesting event. The film examines conditions that have led to the devastating gang violence among young African Americans growing up in South Los Angeles.
Police pressured us to cancel the event out of fear of violence. That’s not the response we envisioned for an event about peace, change and solutions. Of the nationwide events––where the local police were involved––Nashville’s police had the most serious reservations about holding the event.
Nashville has been making the “10 most violent” cities list [external link Forbes Magazine] and gang violence is a serious problem in the metro area, so I know police were just being cautious. The screening made people nervous and added a bit of tension to the night. Middle schoolers from Nashville’s All the Kings Men leadership program [external link] attended the event.
Community Cinema Launches 5th Season of Free Film Events in September
A Packed House at Community Cinema Chicago
Join us in September 2009 for another season of Community Cinema. Stay tuned for the announcement of our line-up on July 29th.
Community Cinema wrapped up another record-breaking season last season with more than 40,000 people attending 400 events in 55 communities across the country. Working behind-the-scenes were Community Cinema’s Regional Outreach Coordinators and Producing Partners who organized the events and worked with over 1,000 local and national organizations, including American Legion Auxiliary, Disabled American Veterans, California Newsreel, Women Make Movies, The Green Belt Movement, The Nature Conservancy, 350.org and many more.
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communitycinema: Hint #2 about our top-secret new host for the upcoming @IndependentLens season: Host starred on a top-rated ABC series.
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celiaalario: Via @communitycinema: guess this season's new @IndependentLens host Hint #1: person has won an Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award.
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communitycinema: See if you can guess who this season's new @IndependentLens host will be! Hint #1: This person has won an Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG Award.