TEXAS. Austin. February 2012 Date: February 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 2012 Location:The Amazing and Awesome La Peña! 227 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701 Access:Wheelchair access Admission: Free of Charge
_February 20th, 2012
February 20th, 6:00pm ~ “Nostalgia for the Light” (United States)
For his new film master director Patricio Guzmán, famed for his political documentaries (THE BATTLE OF CHILE, SALVADOR ALLENDE), travels 10,000 feet above sea level to the driest place on earth, the Atacama Desert, where atop the mountains astronomers from all over the world gather to observe the stars. The sky is so translucent that it allows them to see right to the boundaries of the universe. The Atacama is also a place where the harsh heat of the sun keeps human remains intact: those of Pre-Columbian mummies; 19th century explorers and miners; and the remains of political prisoners, “disappeared” by the Chilean army after the military coup of September, 1973.
So while astronomers examine the most distant and oldest galaxies, at the foot of the mountains, women, surviving relatives of the disappeared whose bodies were dumped here, search, even after twenty-five years, for the remains of their loved ones, to reclaim their families’ histories.
Melding the celestial quest of the astronomers and the earthly one of the women, NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT is a gorgeous, moving, and deeply personal odyssey.
"NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT is not only Guzmán’s masterpiece; it is one of the most beautiful cinematographic efforts we have seen for a long time. Its complex canvas is woven with the greatest simplicity. For forty years, Patricio Guzman has had to struggle every inch of the way, with a vivid memory and intimate suffering to reach this work of cosmic serenity, of luminous intelligence, with a sensitivity that could melt stone. At such a level, the film becomes more than a film. An insane accolade to mankind, a stellar song for the dead, a life lesson. Silence and respect."—Juan Mandelbaum, Le Monde
"Stunningly beautiful. I don’t know how you can put more into a film, or make one that’s more deeply moving."—Stuart Klawans, The Nation
"An extraordinary film about the unknown and the unknowable."—Sight & Sound Magazine
"An amazing film! Nostalgia for the Light gave me goosebumps so many times I lost count." —Andy "Copernicus" Howell, Ain't It Cool News
"Deeply Affecting!" Critics Pick—New York Magazine
"Such a moving masterpiece... NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT is Guzmán's leap into a different sort of cinema: a philosophical treatise that is as stunning to the eye as it is disturbing to the brain... I was enthralled. So was the audience around me."—B. Ruby Rich, SF360
★★★★ "NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT may just be the most profound movie I have ever seen."—Peter Howell, Toronto Star
★★★★ "The ideas in NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT are nearly as big as the Big Bang, but Guzmán’s wise and lovely film maintains a careful balance between matters both macro and micro."—Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly
"The film is gorgeous, purposefully slow, almost a meditation. Guzmán tells us life in the Atacama Desert is an eternal book of memories. And he lingers on every page, capturing shots of constellations with the care of a master photographer. Imagine Ansel Adams, working in colour, let loose in the Milky Way."—Stephen Cole, The Globe and Mail
Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival
Winner Best Documentary, Prix ARTE, European Film Academy Awards
Winner Best Documentary, Abu Dhabi Film Festival
Official Selection, San Francisco International Film Festival
Official Selection, Miami International Film Festival
Official Selection, Melbourne International Film Festival
February 20th, 7:30pm ~ Group Feedback about “Nostalgia for the Light” (United States) and/or possible Teleconference call with Patricio Guzmán.
February 20th, 7:45pm ~ “Cartografía de la soledad” - Cartography of loneliness (Spain)
Widow in Nepal.
Widow in Afghanistan.
3-Line Synopsis (English) The documentary is akin to a map tracing the emotions and feelings of women in three countries, India, Nepal and Afghanistan.
India is the country with the most widows in the world, 45 million. In Nepal, half of the female population is widowed. Afghanistan has the highest proportion of widows in the world after 30 years of war.
Tradition, society and religion have determined the course of their lives following their husbands' deaths.
Many widows are abandoned by their families, or victim of women trafficking, or condemned to social ostracism.
I lived with them 4 months and they told me their amazing stories.
3-Line Synopsis (French) Le documentaire est semblable à une carte retraçant les émotions et les sentiments de la femme dans trois pays, l'Inde, au Népal et en Afghanistan.
L'Inde est le pays avec la plupart des veuves dans le monde, 45 millions. Au Népal, la moitié féminine de la population est veuve. L'Afghanistan a la plus forte proportion de veuves dans le monde après 30 ans de guerre.
Tradition, de la société et la religion ont déterminé le cours de leur vie après la mort de leurs maris.
les veuves sont souvent abandonnées par leur famille, ou la victime de la traite des femmes, ou condamné à l'ostracisme social.
Je vivais avec eux 4 mois et ils m'ont dit leurs histoires impressionnantes.
Medium Synopsis The documentary, 'Cartografía de la soledad' (Cartography of Loneliness), is akin to a map tracing the emotions and feelings of women who find themselves totally alone on losing their husbands in three countries, India, Nepal and Afghanistan.
The choice of these three countries which are so near each other and have significant ethnic and religious differences is not by chance. India is the country with the most widows in the world, totaling over 45 million. In Nepal, half of the female population is widowed or have been abandoned by their husbands: they are called 'child widows' or baikaylas. Afghanistan has the highest proportion of widows in the world after 30 years of war.
Tradition, society and religion have determined the course of their lives following their husbands' deaths. Many widows are abandoned by their families, or victim of women trafficking, or condemned to social ostracism.
War, AIDS and child marriages are the main factors behind these figures.
After living with them for 4 months, there have been impressive stories in a very determined historical, social and religious context, and also the medicine, human rights and education are intertwined in their lives.
Country of Production Spain
Country of Filming Afghanistan, India, Nepal
Exact Runtime 01 hr : 08 min : 33 sec
For more photos and information about “Cartografía de la soledad” - (Cartography of loneliness) please see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found here.
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February 21st, 2012
February 21st, 7:00pm ~ “18q- A different Kind of Normal” - (Australia) with Special guest speakers from San Antonio, Texas
Photo: Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center in San Antonio, Texas.
3-Line Synopsis An intimate, autobiographical documentary with an eclectic mix of 3D animation, observational footage, home video and personal interview, by filmmaker, Veronica Wain, as she comes to terms with life as a single mother when her youngest child, Allycia is born in 1995, with a rare chromosome abnormality known only as Chromosome 18. After being told there were only a handful of people living with the condition, a ten year search culminates in their meeting an international community, numbering in the hundreds, in the United States. This touching film explores ideas about normality, disability, beauty, religion and science as the family embarks on their journey to find other people born with the same condition.
Programming Descriptors FORMS:Documentary GENRES:Family, Human Rights, Social Issue, Biography NICHES:Disability Culture, Women, Children
Production Veronica Wain Director (1st Feature); Producer (1st Feature)
Camera Julian Filer Cinematographer/DP
Post Production Martha Goddard Assistant Editor
Nicole Bourke Editor
Paul Van Opdenbosch Digital Effects
Tfer Newsome Sound Editor
Exact Runtime 01 hr : 20 min : 00 sec
Country of Production Australia
Country of Filming Australia
February 21st, 8:20pm ~ Jannine D. Cody, PhD, Special guest speakers from San Antonio, Texas. After the "“18q- A different kind of normal” film, Jannine D. Cody, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics; Director of the Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center located in San Antonio, TX and Founder & President of The Chromosome 18 Registry & Research Society will offer a Question and Answer period.
Jannine De Mars Cody is founder and President of the Chromosome 18 Registry and Research Society. She founded the Registry in 1990 as a way to bring affected families together and to learn from each other. To date, the Registry includes more than 3000 families affected by chromosome 18 abnormalities from around the world. Then in 1991, in order to ensure that the research into these conditions was done and was what was important to families Jannine enrolled in a Ph.D program at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. While pursuing her Ph.D., she developed the multidisciplinary Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center. Jannine is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. The families of the Chromosome 18 Registry now fund over a quarter of a million dollars a year in research. This research ranges from the molecular biology of the conditions, to the clinical consequences, to the psychosocial ramifications for the affected individual, the parents and the siblings.
For more information about “18q- A different kind of normal” please see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found here.
February 21st, 8:45pm ~ A speaker will give a very short excerpt from a speech on
“Justice, Peace, Prosperity and Sustainability: Why economics obstructs these goals, and what we can do about it.” by Kellia Ramares
Economics obstructs these goals because we use money to acquire the goods and services we need to survive as a biological being (food, clothing, shelter and healthcare) and to thrive as an engaged member of society (education, transportation, communication, and the tools of one’s chosen trade or profession).
For most of us, access to money is rationed via access to jobs, and access to jobs is rationed via competition. It is this fact of competition for access that is at the basis of the economy’s failure to satisfy everyone’s needs.
Even if all greed, corruption, discrimination and war were to magically disappear tomorrow, the fact of competition would be there. Competition for resources is at the root of the other four. By trying to eliminate those four without eliminating competition for resources is only treating the symptoms and not the disease that afflicts humanity today.
Capitalist politicians across the political spectrum, as well as socialists, talk about job creation as the answer. Job creation does not solve the problem because you cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet.
Even if you could have a very high level of employment, after a while, you run into the problem of “enough”. Especially with today’s technologies that increase individual productivity, we overproduce, which is a waste of environmental resources. Also, when we overproduce, inventory builds up, workers get laid off, and their decreased purchasing power kicks off a chain reaction that gives us the familiar boom and bust cycle. Overproduction is the problem of capitalism that socialism’s insistence on the human right to a job does not solve.
Creating a just, peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world for all means firstly a revolution in thinking, which is why I wish to give this talk to raise consciousness. The revolution will include relegating our competitive urges to the sports and games sector, (re)building community and (re)learning how to share, recognizing that individual freedom and achievement is maximized by being in community not outside it, and ultimately abolishing monetary systems, which ration goods unfairly and destroy community.
I will talk about the values we must develop (pointing out where we have them already), encourage discussion of values and lead an exercise in community building without money.
My qualifications to undertake this project are a lifetime in the work world, where I have seen “close up and personal” the failure of economic systems based on money to provide well for people, formal education in economics (BA Fordham University 1977) and law (JD Indiana University – Bloomington, 1980), and over a decade in journalism, including work for Pacifica Radio Station KPFA, Free speech Radio News, Women’s International News Gathering Service WINGS) Indymedia and Radio4All.net (Under the names R.I.S.E. and Broadcaster At-Large. I have also written articles for several web sites, most frequently Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal), Center for Research on Globalisation and my own web site The End of Money: A Critique of Paying, Owing and Working “for a living.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kellia is a freelance journalist in Oakland, CA who left the Pacifica Radio Network in July, 2010 after 11+ years in the KPFA news department and over 10 years with Free Speech Radio News. She has also done extensive work and audio and print on the Internet, most frequently for Women's International News Gathering Service and Online Journal. She has covered a wide range of stories, for Pacifica and independently, from the controversy over spraying pesticides to control an infestation of glassy-winged sharp shooters in Sonoma county, to 9-11 Truth, Peak Oil, a plethora of environmental stories and performance enhancing drugs in major league baseball. She also writes book reviews and commentaries for the Internet on occasion. Kellia is looking forward to spending more time on a book project called: The End of Money: a critique of paying, owing, and working "for a living", which asks the question: "Why must we pay to live on the planet we're born on?"
February 21st, 2012 9:00pm ~ Many Short Films.
Steve and Mark's Wedding photo by Tom Trevor
Steve and Mark at Rally in West Hollywood on August 4, 2010 after Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that California's Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.
_
February 21st, "Good Things Are Always Happening. " 9:10pm ~ 9:15pm with Q+A afterwards with Director Steve Ledoux
3-Line
Synopsis It was a good thing when Steve Ledoux and Mark Becktold met in 2005
and later decided to become a family. They consider themselves marriage pioneers
since they legally married in California before Prop. 8 passed. Here, they share
their story and testify to the importance marriage equality holds in their
lives. Since they met, good things are always happening.
Programming
Descriptors FORMS:Documentary, Short GENRES:Family, Romance, Personal
Narrative, Social Issue NICHES:Gay/Lesbian
Medium Synopsis It was
a good thing when Steve Ledoux and Mark Becktold met in 2005 and later decided
to become a family. They consider themselves marriage pioneers since they
legally married in California before Prop. 8 passed. Here, they share their
story and testify to the importance marriage equality holds in their lives.
Since they met, good things are always happening.
For more information about this award winning film, please see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found at www.LoveToSurge.org or visit their profile page found here.
February 21st, 9:15pm ~ 9:30pm Director Steve Ledoux , Special guest speaker from California.
Pig with a sausage jump rope in a bacon rainstorm. photo by Kristen Palana
Veggie Propaganda Audience photo by Kristen Palana
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February 21st, "Veggie Propaganda. " (Italy) 9:30pm ~ 9:40pm
Long Synopsis Veggie Propaganda is a quirky, sing-song animation that puts a spotlight on animals, our relationship with them and their rights. This 2D fine-art/digital animation features original music performed by New York City band, The Penultimate. It explores childhood myths about animals vs. the reality of their lives in a human-centered world, where our food really comes from and how by simply eating less meat individuals can make an astounding positive impact on their health, their finances and the environment.
Independent animator, Kristen Palana has been a flawed, on-again/off-again vegetarian since the age of twelve. She continually is torn between her love of animals and the powerful cravings that make her want to occasionally eat them (especially when pregnant). She created this animation to raise awareness about the lives animals lead and to show that normal everyday meat-eaters have the power to make things better for animals, themselves and the planet just by taking a few baby steps towards eating less meat.
The idea to make Veggie Propaganda originally stems from Kristen's lifelong love of animals and the growing realization as a child that perhaps the relationship between animals and humans was not as innocent as she was originally led to believe.
Kristen Palana writes: 'I think every animal lover can remember the day when they first learned where meat actually comes from. For me it was at my family's kitchen table in Swansea, Massachusetts back in 1982 when I was about four years old. Previously I had taken the bits of information the well-meaning adults told me such as “ham comes from pigs, etc...” and came up with the idea that animals “laid” the meat (good friends of ours that they were) just like a hen lays eggs or in the way that milk is extracted from a cow. I proudly repeated my theory to my parents and then 9 year-old brother to let them know that I was in the loop and knew how the world worked. I still remember my shock and dismay when my brother told me in less-than-friendly terms that in fact the meat WAS the animal. I was in fact, a misguided idiot.
My mother, wishing to console me as I tried to process this earth-shattering news reassured me with, 'Oh Honey, don't worry! Animals don't feel pain.' It worked though. I didn't really think about the issue again until around the age of twelve when most kids really start to ask tougher questions. That's when I started my first stint as a vegetarian; a label I have worn with varying degrees of success, failure and hypocrisy these last twenty three years.
I wanted to make an animation that got people thinking about their relationship to animals and to their food. I have found that many 'propaganda' offerings that seek to convert people into vegetarians or vegans come off as heavy-handed or extremist and ultimately turn off more people to their cause. My goal was to make something funny, quirky and yet full of educational information that was targeted to regular every day meat-eaters who might be looking for good reasons to eat less meat.
From 2008 to 2010 I actually wrote and rewrote Veggie Propaganda three times during pre-production because I was trying to strike just the right tone. Also, after sending off my rough (a huge understatement) attempt at a song in to my friend Steve Rittler of Queens, NY., he ultimately got his band, The Penultimate together and they recorded a much better version- albeit two whole minutes longer than what I had originally planned for! However, I was so happy with their take on the song that I decided to rework my storyboard/animatic yet again and the result is this current six minute version.'
Kristen Palana, Director of Veggie Propaganda.
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Kristen Palana is a multimedia artist based in Rome, Italy and is currently a
tenured Associate Professor of Digital Media at The American University of Rome.
She has eleven years of university teaching experience and has also taught BA,
BFA, and MFA candidates at the Pratt Institute of New York and in the Art
Department at William Paterson University of New Jersey.
Kristen is a
dual American/Portuguese citizen and has offered art and multimedia courses in
North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Her work is exhibited internationally
and online and has received a number of awards. Kristen received her MFA from
Pratt Institute in Computer Graphics and Interactive Media and also holds a BFA
in Painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Previous
animations and video shorts include "Larry & Roz" (2008) - a fine art
animation about one couple's six decade relationship which screened at 25
international film festivals and won five Best Animation awards, "Lucky" (2006)
-a documentary about one Indian American girl's arranged marriage and "Yellow
Ribbons," (2004) -a stop motion animated political ad created for Moveon.org.
Her multimedia animation about her experiences in Brooklyn and India, "Five
O'Clock Shadows," screened in international animation and film festivals in 2002
and 2003. Excerpts and stills of her work can be found at her website at:
http://www.kpalana.com.
She has lived and worked in Ireland, Scotland,
India, Tanzania, Liberia, and Italy. Traveling and volunteering in developing
countries rank among her biggest interests. She is currently expecting her
second child, a son, who will be born in December of 2011. Kristen lives with
her husband Michael and two year-old son Lukas in Rome, Italy.
For more information about this award winning film, please see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found at www.LoveToSurge.org or visit the profile page found here.
Bradd Hopkins is an award-winning screenwriter, author and publisher of award-wining fiction and non-fiction books. Bradd's Debt to Society screenplay is based on his award-winning original short story by the same name.
February 21st, "Debt to Society " 9:50pm ~ 10:07pm with Q+A afterwards with Director Bradd Hopkins and Lead Actor Rene Reyes.
Programming Descriptors FORMS:Short GENRES:Drama, Horror, Thriller, Human Rights, Social Issue NICHES:Hispanic
Long Synopsis An
imprisoned felon in a dystopian future pays his Debt to Society in
sinister lottery when his number is drawn the day after a poignant visit
from his wife and children.
Xavier, prisoner 1031, is doing hard
time for manslaughter, soon to be paroled, when his number comes up as
an involuntary organ donor in the corporate correctional system’s legal
lottery.
Co-opted by their own economic necessities in a jobless
economy, prison administrators, parole board members, and guards, as
well as the prisoners and their families, are insulted, desensitized,
and dehumanized in a macabre process that is designed only to assure
fiscal viability at the expense of human dignity.
At every
contact with the dysfunctional system, Xavier’s family is violated and
degraded incidentally, but in the broader view, it becomes hard to
determine who the victims really are. As the viewer absorbs the impact
of Xavier’s losses, awareness emerges that the losses to the victimizers
are even greater.
This work touches on the psychological horror
of a powerful institutional system-gone-mad that compromises human
values and ethics in the name of profits while maintaining a
hypocritical façade of callous political correctness and superficial
legality.
For more information about this award winning film, please see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found at www.LoveToSurge.org or visit the profile page found here.
February 22nd, 5:30pm ~ Filmmakers Panel with Steve Ledoux, Bradd Hopkins, Rene Reyes, Patrick Shanahan and members of the Occupy Movement.
February 22nd, 6pm ~ 6:30pm ~ Screenwriters Panel with Steve Ledoux, Bradd Hopkins, Patrick Shanahan and more!
February 22nd, 6:30pm ~ 7:30pm ~ Script Readings, Exhibitions, Performances and Eternal Flame Award Presentations as well as Certificates of Achievements.
February 22nd, 7:30pm ~ "Soleil" Followed afterwards by a Q+A with Director Patrick Shanahan.
Soleil 3-Line Synopsis In a Land of Conformists, where all it's inhabitants wear the same mask, one man chooses to step outside. For love, for himself, for life. What will become of Soleil without the mask? Love? Life? Death?
3-Line Synopsis (French) Dans un Land de Conformistes, où tous les habitants porter le même masque, un homme choisit d'étape dehors. Pour l'amour, pour lui-même, pour la vie. Ce qui va devenir de Soleil sans le masque? L'amour? La vie? La peine de mort?
Medium Synopsis Soleil is one man in the Land of Conformists. Everyone in the Land wears a mask. Soleil, an artist and a courier, chooses a different path on a day like any other day. What happens however, is unlike anything, on any other day.
Medium-Word Synopsis (French) Soleil, c'est un homme à la terre de Conformistes. Tout le monde dans le pays porte un masque. Soleil, un artiste et un courrier, choisit un chemin différent sur un jour comme les autres. Que se passe-t-il cependant, c'est contrairement à quoi que ce soit, sur tous les autres jours.
Long Synopsis Soleil wakes up in the Land of Conformists. It is a regular day, however the events that unfold are completely irregular. Through the people he meets and the packages he delivers, Soleil, is tired of the monotony. With beauty and art as his inspiration, he finds the courage to reveal his true self to the one he loves.
Patrick Shanahan: Art Director, Camera Operator, Choreographer, Cinematographer/DP, Costume Designer, Digital Effects, Director, Editor, Executive Producer, Gaffer, Manager, Preview Return, Print Return, Print Shipper, Producer, Production Designer, Property Master, Set Decorator, Set Designer, Story, Submission Contact, Supporting, Writer Patrick Shanahan is the founder of MINDS of the INDEPENDENT SCREEN and writer/director for the production company. Attended North Carolina State University for Film Studies and The New York Film Academy for 16mm Film Making. Shanahan holds true to the traditional forms of filmmaking using filmstock and a blend of national genres. Shanahan has written and directed several short films, as well as a feature coming this fall, The Carolinian. Soleil has been brewing in his mind for two years and it is his hope that it finally makes its way to audiences everywhere.
Charles B. Allen: Lead Actor Charles B. Allen is an award winning actor based in Raleigh, NC. Co-Founder of MINDS of the INDEPENDENT SCREEN along with Patrick Shanahan, the two have taken their dream to the next level. Charles is a young, inspired artist with talents beyond his own knowledge. His part in front of the camera is as essential as any other piece of the MIS puzzle. His credits include; The Locket (2011), The Revolutionary (2010), The Carolinian (2011), and several other short films. He won BEst Actor in Campus Movie Fest 2010.
For more information about this award winning film, please see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found at www.LoveToSurge.org or visit their profile page found here.
At Tucson High School, charismatic teachers and a rigorous curriculum help Latino students complete high school and realize their dream to go to college.
Precious Knowledge interweaves the transformative stories of seniors in the Mexican American Studies Program at Tucson High School. Inequalities in education continue to affect people of color. The ticking time bomb story of our time is that fewer than six in 10 Latino adults in the United States have a high school diploma. These alarming dropout rates will continue to have a serious impact on our nation. Our documentary goes further, however, by illustrating forms of critical pedagogy that can empower Latino youth and other youth of color and change this state of affairs. Precious Knowledge will illustrate to a nationwide audience a Mexican American Studies program that inspires 82% of its students to enroll in college. The themes of Precious Knowledge are embedded in the journey of each student as they: self reflect, seek out precious knowledge, begin to act, and ultimately transform, while nurturing positive images of Latino identity and embracing the dignity of all cultures and histories.
Important Note Regarding the Below Schedule: Make certain to click on "Look for more" found below in order to see more events.
Exact February 2013 Schedule of films and screenplay reading will be posted in early 2013.
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"One must remember that in choosing the lesser of two evils, one still chooses evil." --Hannah Arendt, Philosopher, Activist
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