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 ~ Genevieve Vaughan will give a special reading from her book followed by a Q+A.
Genevieve Vaughan, www.gift-economy.com is the author of For-Giving, a Feminist Criticism of Exchange and Homo Donans. She is editor of two anthologies Il Dono/The Gift, a Feminist Perspective and Women and the Gift Economy, a Radically Different Worldview is Possible. Her books and articles as well as video records of many related conferences and events are available free on her website.
Look Closely. Those are items of art in their hands.
Director Iara Lee
Cultures of Resistance 3-Line Synopsis
In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, director Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it, heading for self-destruction. After several years, traveling over five continents, Iara encountered growing numbers of people who committed their lives to promote change. This is their story.
Programming Descriptors FORMS:Documentary GENRES:Independent, Environmental, Period/Historical, Social Issue, News
Medium Synopsis Does each gesture really make a difference? Can music and dance be weapons of peace? In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, director Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better understand a world increasingly embroiled in conflict and, as she saw it, heading for self-destruction. After several years, traveling over five continents, Iara encountered growing numbers of people who committed their lives to promote change. This is their story. From IRAN, where the graffiti and rap became tools in fighting back the regime, to BURMA, where monks acting in the tradition of Gandhi take on a dictatorship, moving on to BRAZIL, where musicians reach out to slum kids and transform guns into guitars, and ending in PALESTINIAN refugee camps in LEBANON, where photography, music, and film have given a voice to those rarely heard, CULTURES OF RESISTANCE explores how art and creativity can be the ammunition in the battle for peace and justice.
Featuring: Medellín poets for peace, Capoeira masters from Brazil, Niger Delta militants, Iranian graffiti artists, women’s movement leaders in Rwanda, Lebanon’s refugee filmmakers, U.S. political pranksters, indigenous Kayapó activists from the Xingu River, Israeli dissidents, hip-hop artists from Palestine, and many more...
People in the Film CULTURES OF RESISTANCE does not focus on one place in the world where a military unit or private corporation is violating a group of people’s human rights. Instead, the film looks at conflicts all over the world and seeks out artists who devote their work to fighting injustice and violence.
Poets for Peace Medellín, Colombia, a city once notorious for drug violence, is reinventing itself as a world center for the living word. We attend the Medellín International Poetry Festival, which has been instrumental to this transformation by bringing the work of poets committed to promoting peace and social justice to the wider public. Founded in 1991, when the streets of Medellín were at their worst, organizers envisioned the festival as a form of artistic resistance against injustice and terrorism at the hands of drug cartels and the military. Over the years the festival has brought 1,000 poets from over 140 countries to Colombia and in 2006 received a Right Livelihood Award, widely known as "The Alternative Nobel Peace Prize.
Iranian Graffiti Artists In Iran we encounter citizens who are at once patriotic—in rejecting heavy-handed threats from the U.S.—and critical of their own government—taking personal risks to demand greater political freedoms. Among these are the so-called Tehran Rats, a group of graffiti artists that under the cover of night expresses its dissent with spray-paint on city walls. As one of their members says, “good art is something that moves and shakes you.”
Rwandan Women Leadership In Rwanda, where a greater proportion of women serve in the legislature than in any other country, we meet Hutu women who risked their lives to protect Tutsi children during the country’s 1994 genocide. One survivor, standing next to the rescuer who put herself in danger to help him, describes his experience: “She took me into the house and suggested that I hide up in the roof,” the survivor says. “I came out after three months, together with this brave woman.”
Liberian Cartoonist In Liberia we encounter Leslie Lumeh, a survivor of his country’s civil war in the 1990s, who has since made sketches to recreate scenes from the conflict. Lumeh’s work was featured in a short documentary that aired on a local television station in Monrovia, which provoked then-president Charles Taylor to force the artist and his family into exile. Since his return home in 2005, his work has been widely welcomed and he continues to draw and paint to encourage ongoing peace in Liberia.
Brazilian Favela Photographer Artists and community organizers work to stem violence in one of the most turbulent urban spaces in the world: the slums of Rio De Janeiro. One of them is photographer Andre Cypriano, whose startling images document the existence of those who persevere to build peaceful lives amid widespread poverty and despair. “These communities are where the violence exists,” Cypriano tells us. “But why? Through my photos I try to show where the problem is, where the solution is.”
Lebanon’s Refugee Filmmakers In Lebanon we meet filmmakers who are devoted to offering their craft to those trapped within the walls of refugee camps. By giving the art of film to members of these communities, they are providing the tools to make visible what life is like for Palestinian refugees. As one member of the Zakira Photo Project says, “When you give them the camera, they feel a responsibility to document the community, so you are empowering them.”
Political Pranksters The Yes Men are about as skilled as it gets in the art of deception. They first garnered international attention when one of them posed as a spokesperson for Dow Chemical on live television to make an announcement that would temporarily cause the company’s stock value to fall by over $1 billion. Since then, they have continued to pull off outrageous stunts, including the distribution of a special edition of The New York Times. The fake newspaper announced the end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other improbable news, and asked its readers to think deeply about the state of our world.
Indigenous Activists We travel to the Xingu River, a tributary of the Amazon, where the Brazilian government has for decades pushed for the construction of the so-called Belo Monte dam. If built, it would be the world’s third largest dam and would displace many thousands of the region’s residents. During our visit we encountered an uprising of over 1,000 people from various indigenous communities who were joined by national and international supporters to express their unequivocal opposition to the project. Today, their resistance remains as unified as ever.
Israeli Dissidents The Israel/Palestine conflict often gets reduced to worn-out accusations and talking points, and in the process loses sight of the real human suffering that comes as its result. Jeff Halper, an Israeli citizen who has become a vocal opponent of many of his government’s policies, is one member of a surprisingly vibrant community that condemns its government’s policies toward the Palestinian people.
Hip-Hop Artists from Palestine Palestinian hip-hop group Katibe 5 carries on a tradition of socially conscious rap, even as the genre becomes increasingly commercialized in the U.S. The group is made up of five members who came of age together inside the walls of a refugee camp in Beirut where over 16,000 people reside in less than a square mile. While the plight of the Palestinian people is a central focus of their work, they rap in solidarity with other struggles around the world. As one member put it, “We're not just Palestinian refugees speaking about our problems, or our lives in the camps, because the problems we face are not only a Palestinian problem. All over the world there are people who are oppressed, people who are incarcerated, people who are suffering."
Monks of the Saffron Revolution In Burma, where a military junta has refused to recognize the democratically elected leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi and has ignored calls for national dialogue, voices of dissent have been brutally repressed. But there are signs of hope and courage here, too. Dressed in brilliant saffron robes, the monks in this heavily Buddhist nation have braved the possibility of arrest, torture, and even execution in order to give voice to a more humane ethics.
This is only a handful of the inspiring artists who appear in the movie. You can see them and many more perform their music and explain what motivates their work in CULTURES OF RESISTANCE.
The Power of Nonviolence: A statement by Iara Lee Cultures of Resistance director Iara Lee states: "The Cultures of Resistance (CoR) feature documentary profiles conflicts in over 10 countries—including Israel/Palestine, Nigeria, and Burma—with a focus on how artists and musicians creatively oppose various forms of oppression. As both a filmmaker and an activist, I believe that nonviolent resistance is the only effective, long-term approach to conflict resolution. Nonviolence does not mean passivity. In fact, strategic nonviolence is often militant, active, and requires its practitioners to put themselves on the line. It uses unarmed resistance to create a crisis that undermines the viability of violence and oppression.
"In the film, I try to explore the challenge of violence; I show situations where victims of injustice resort to violence in order to address their grievances. While I can sympathize with the deep frustration and legitimate indignation that motivates such action, I do not endorse their approach. I ultimately believe that artistic resistance combined with active nonviolence, as advocated by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., is the only way to break the cycles of militarism and oppression upon which so many of the world’s injustices depend.
"When combating a massive military machine that profits from the creation of militarized conflict, choosing the path of armed resistance plays into our opponents' strengths. I hope to show in my work that our strengths--the strengths of forces promoting democracy, human rights, and economic justice--are based in art, creativity, and grassroots participation in nonviolent social movements."
For more photos and CULTURES OF RESISTANCEplease see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found here.
February 20th, 9:15pm - 9:30pm ~ Group Feedback about CULTURES OF RESISTANCE and/or possible Teleconference call with Director Iara Lee.
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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.
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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.
World Premier: Debt to Society
Play the Slideshow for Cast and Crew Attending the World Premier.
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.
February 23rd, 7:30pm A Little Revolution- A Story of Suicides and Dreams Followed afterwards by Suezean Matarazzo, Cinematographer and Nathan Matarazzo, Grip of the film.
3-Line Synopsis A Little Revolution- A Story of Suicides and Dreams, follows the remarkable journey of filmmaker Harpreet Kaur, who travels from the rural villages of Punjab to the capital of India with children of farmers, who've committed suicide. She confronts the government's highest officials with the hope that they will understand the effects of their policies and avail the opportunity to help these children.
3-Line Synopsis (French) A Little Revolution-Une histoire de suicides et de rêves, suit le parcours remarquable du cinéaste Harpreet Kaur, qui se déplace dans les villages ruraux du Pendjab à la capitale de l'Inde avec les enfants des agriculteurs, qui ont commis le suicide. Elle se confronte plus hauts responsables du gouvernement avec l'espoir qu'ils comprennent les effets de leurs politiques et saisissent cette occasion d'aider ces enfants.
Programming Descriptors FORMS:Documentary GENRES:Family, Drama, Educational, Human Rights, Independent, Culture, Personal Narrative, Social Issue NICHES:Asian, Third World, Women, Senior/Aging, Student, Youth/Teen, Children
Medium Synopsis A Little Revolution - A Story of Suicides and Dreams, follows the remarkable journey of filmmaker Harpreet Kaur, who travels from the rural villages for Punjab to the capital of India with children of farmers, who've committed suicide. She confronts the government's highest officials with the hope that they will understand the effects of their polices and avail the opportunity to help these children.
Vast area of rural India are currently facing a crisis that few outside of the subcontinent are aware is even occurring. Yet, whether or not the world watches, the crisis deepens. At the center of this emergency are the thousands of Indian peasant farmers who have taken their own lives. Like many other crises currently facing the world at this moment there is no one single, complete answer to the farmer suicides in India. However, the general consensus is that a farmer takes his own life due to high interest loans, taken to fulfill India's pro-industrial farming policies, and ecological damage.
February 23rd, 8:30pm - 9:30pmSuezean Matarazzo, Cinematographer and Nathan Matarazzo, Grip, who worked on the film A Little Revolution- A Story of Suicides and Dreams will lead a Q+A and group discussion
_Suezean Matarazzo- Cinematographer
Suezean,has 20 years of experience in film and video. She got her
start in Los Angeles working her way up from grip to camera. Later
moving to Austin and co-founding the music software company Nemesys,
that developed the GigaStudio product, which was used to score, Once
upon a time in Mexico, the Academy award winning Gladiators score and
hundreds of other films and network shows. After selling NemeSys to
Tascam Japan in 2001, Suezean returned to her passion.
Suezean has a history of serving her community by sharing her love of
film. Former CFO of (AFA) Austin Film Alliance, she mentors RTF
students from the University of Texas, along with other interns from all
walks of life. She serves on non-profit boards and volunteers her
services to promote film in her community. Suezean has a visual
style that has been compared to top photographers from National
Geographic. Suezean travels around the world to shoot documentaries and
narrative projects. Gazing at the world through her lens, she tells
stories with shadow and light.
Nathan Matarazzo- Grip Nathan
is a Systems Analyst by trade, but has been involved in film
production for the last four years working as a grip and Gaffer. His
knowledge of computers has made him a valuable asset in production of
digital media - "wrangling" digital files, converting formats and
creating backups. Additionally, Nathan volunteers his computer and film
experience to local non-profit organizations in the Austin area.
More information about the film:
Long Synopsis
A Little Revolution A Little Revolution - A Story of Suicides and Dreams, follows the remarkable journey of filmmaker Harpreet Kaur, who travels from the rural villages of Panjab to the capital of India with children of farmers, who've committed suicide. She confronts the government’s highest officials with the hope that they will understand the effects of their policies and avail the opportunity to help these children.
Vast areas of rural India are currently facing a crisis that few outside of the subcontinent are aware is even occurring. Yet, whether or not the world watches, the crisis deepens. At the center of this emergency are the thousands of Indian peasant farmers who have taken their own lives. Like many other crises currently facing the world at this moment there is no one single, complete answer to the farmer suicides in India. However, the general consensus is that a farmer takes his own life due to high interest loans, taken to fulfill India's pro-industrial farming policies, and ecological damage.
This is a story of hope, empowerment and simple dreams. Director Harpreet Kaur, forces the audience to not limit the dialog to the economic, environmental or political side of the issue but to adjust the lens and focus on the plight of the farmer's children who are left behind carrying this burden. Kaur takes the viewers from the picturesque countryside of rural Punjab into the homes of these families. The children in these families have accepted their fate but aspire for an opportunity for a better future. Kaur, gives them the opportunity to share their stories with the world and confront the Government with their personal letters that offer a raw, humanistic and honest portrait of what impact their parents suicides have had in their lives.
Tagline: A Little Revolution-A story of Suicides and Dreams
Country of Origin: India Year of Completion: 2011 Production Company: Sach Productions Premiere Status: Texas Statewide Premiere in SURGE Film Festival
Technical Information: Feature Length: 60 minutes Language: English & Panjabi (with English subtitles)
A few of the many Previous Screenings include: - Official Selection at Sikh International Film Festival 2011 - Official Selection at Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival 2011 - Official Selection at Chagrin Documentary Film Festival 2011 - Official Selection at Sikh Lens Film Festival 2011
Director As a filmmaker, Harpreet Kaur has touched the lives of the individuals in her documentaries and has captured audiences with her ability to effectively, creatively and honestly tell stories that convey a strong sense of the people and places she covers.
Her most recent work, A Little Revolution - A story of Suicides and Dreams takes the viewers from the picturesque countryside of rural Panjab in India, into the homes of children of farmers, who've committed suicide. The children in these families have accepted their fate but aspire for an opportunity for a better future. Kaur, gives them the chance to share their stories with the world and confront the Government with their personal letters that offer a raw, humanistic and honest portrait of what the impact of their parents suicides have had in their lives.
Harpreet
Kaur's personal pursuit is to continue to create films on pressing
issues that bring minority issues into the mainstream media.
Producer Manmeet
Singh worked with a diverse crew from Austin, San Antonio, Washington
DC, New Delhi and Chandigarh, and managed to create a high definition
feature length documentary which will not only educate the people on
issues of farmers in rural India but would encourage them to engage in
finding solutions.
In addition to the film work, Manmeet has over two decades of experience in Indian Classical Music
and has been involved in community endeavors for over 15 years and is
now pursuing projects that will influence the direction of the South
Asian community in India and abroad.
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.
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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