Film & Video

Transformazium Music Video

Posted March 11, 2010 by k_c_ in Film & Video

An endearing animation about a project some friends have been creating in Braddock, PA. I can't say I feel the same about Braddock. The sound of the steel mill and the polluted environment are thankfully absent. Regardless the folks involved are in a category of the most dedicated and hardworking peeps I know, and they know creative folks, watch it!

Transformazium Music Video from Joshua Tonies on Vimeo.

Avram Finkelstein: Silence=Death Project

Posted March 9, 2010 by jmacphee in Art & Politics

My friend Chris Bravo just sent along this great short video/interview piece with Avram Finkelstein, one of the early AIDS activists in NYC and member of the Silence=Death Project. It's a really nice short piece where he explores the relationship between image making and negotiations with the power structure:

Logorama

Posted March 6, 2010 by k_c_ in Film & Video

Clever, and nominated for the Academy Awards best animated short

[Oscars 2010 Mejor Cortometraje] - Logorama

Logorama short film Logorama is a 15 min animated short made using only Trade Mark Logos as characters and scenarios. It was made with 2,500 logos, by the French Animation Studiom H5 and Minuit Productions.

Blockadesong

Posted February 18, 2010 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Strange and hilarious video I found on RebelArt. Karen Eliot and the Antifa Swingers!

The Story of Cap & Trade

Posted February 18, 2010 by k_c_ in Campaigns

While doing some research on tar sands(see below for info) for the Justseeds 2010 portfolio-Resourced, I came across this video. From the folks that produced the "Story of Stuff", is the Story of Cap and Trade. It was produced for last Decembers UN climate talks that happened in Copenhagen. The website is incredibly user friendly, making materials easily available for download. A good example of how a website can disseminate media for campaigns.

The Story of Cap & Trade from Story of Stuff Project on Vimeo.

The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the "devils in the details" in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from what’s really required to tackle the climate crisis. If you’ve heard about cap and trade, but aren’t sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.

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New Gil Scott-Heron!

Posted February 13, 2010 by jmacphee in Film & Video

A handful of us over here in Justseeds NYC have a thing for Gil Scott-Heron, and no shit, he has his first record out in almost 20 years!!! His voice is really haggard, but pretty damn amazing...

Chris Stain at work

Posted February 11, 2010 by k_c_ in Film & Video

Chris Stain paints Flowers for January's Take 5ive event. Music by Cory Hillis.
Here's Chris' newest print in the Justseeds store.

You can see a bunch of other new prints Chris has available on his BigCartel store.

ADM Tries to Take Down Funny Video; Big Business Has No Solutions; Now What?

Posted February 6, 2010 by k_c_ in Culture Jamming / Ads & Adbusting

Davos Annual Meeting 2010 - ADM CEO Patricia Woertz from World Economic Forum on Vimeo.

A legal complaint from agribusiness giant ADM has resulted in the removal from Youtube of a fake video of ADM's CEO making over-honest pronouncements.(The video is still available here, here, and, for download and reposting, here.)

Last week, the filmmaking team behind The End of Poverty? partnered with the Yes Men to create a parallel, imaginary World Economic Forum in which world leaders came up with real solutions to poverty. The leaders seemed, in a series of videos, to be supporting a set of initiatives based on 10 Solutions to End Poverty, a petition for which the filmmakers are trying to get ten million signatures by the end of 2010.

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Boycott of Iran Film Festival

Posted January 26, 2010 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Iranian filmmakers have called for a boycott of this years Fajr Film Festival in Tehran, Iran in hopes of pressuring the government to ease up on repression and release political prisoners, some of whom are filmmakers. Other international artists are supporting the boycott, including Ken Loach, one of my favorite contemporary directors, whose new film "Looking for Eric" was supposed to play the fest. More info can be found HERE and HERE.

Creative Violation: The Rebel Art of the Street Stencil

Posted January 12, 2010 by k_c_ in Film & Video

This popped up in the inbox today, you may recognize some Justseedsers.

Creative Violation documents the exploding underground art form of the street stencil and explores its roots in political street art, industrial signage and graffiti. These illicit spray paint markings, not to be confused with traditional graffiti tagging, steal the language and techniques of advertising and turn them against the imperatives of the mass market, punctuating the urban landscape in cities across the world.

Check it out on IMDb.
Its also available for purchase at: http://ffh.films.com/id/15958/Creative_Violation_The_Rebel_Art_of_the_Street_Stencil.htm

Avatar-same old story

Posted January 5, 2010 by k_c_ in Film & Video

Just saw Avatar tonight. I appreciated the anti-capitalist, pro-environment message, its too bad it comes in the tired narrative of whitey coming to save the natives. It was exciting, the CGI was entertaining and helped numb the brain enough to deal with the bad dialogue.

The movie represents the characters relationship to Capitalism as a permeating factor in life's choices and lays bare its systemic view towards nature-resources to be extracted, to make objects for consumption, leading to profits/wealth for a few (late night simplicity for ya).

So what should one do about it? Well, the conscientious objection of one character during a "battle" scene still leads to the incredible devastation of the indigenous characters homeland. The real resolution portrayed in the film is-direct action and armed resistance.

From this portrayal I wonder if this film is capable of encouraging civil society and our governing institutions to expand the definitions of "resistance", reducing those of "terrorism". Because identifying with the films protagonists aligns one to many of the animal & environmental activists, and political prisoners incarcerated in the United States today. But that's a lot to expect from art, isn't it?

I also question "if a gabillion dollars was given to make a film from a perspective other than the white male hero, what would it look like?"

I guess we'll find out when that story can sell over a billion dollars in cinema tickets, worldwide!

Star Non-violent Civil Disobediences

Posted December 21, 2009 by roger_peet in Film & Video

Here's a little gem that Icky forwarded to me, which is oh-so apropos in the aftermath of the Great Failure of the Copenhagen Forum. Keep on telling yourselves you can fix it! All the self-righteous self-aggrandizing and moral outrage is positively hilarious to watch for those of us who've kicked the hope habit. Especially when people start chanting "Reclaim Power!" Since when have any of you had any power? And what on Earth would you do with it? When I say "Humans", you say "Out"! "Humans!" "Out!" Take it away, Derrick!

Roads Through Palestine: Driving the Geography of War

Posted December 17, 2009 by k_c_ in Film & Video

Our pal Brett Story's film Roads Through Palestine can be viewed online now. It's an impressive collection of imagery captured in the West Bank over 2003-5, I believe.

I came across the video on Art Threat, where Rob Maguire says:

Billowing smoke pours from a bus, as a fire crew attempts to douse the flames. Long, aching lines of motionless vehicles sit at one of Israel’s hated checkpoints. Two men habitually pray on the road alongside their stopped car. A lone helicopter hovers overhead, reinforcing the reality of perpetual occupation.

Roads Through Palestine is a cinematic portrait of life in the West Bank, and an intimate reflection on the geography of war. The short film, directed by Brett Story with music by Stefan Christoff, features scenes that are eerie and evocative, yet painfully commonplace.

Having spent time in the West Bank myself, I recalled the outrage I felt every time I was trapped at the checkpoint, where a handful of teenaged occupiers unjustly stood between us travelers and our destinations. But the feel of the 11-minute piece, with its muted colours and choppy, slow motion picture, more closely reflects the banal humiliation suffered by the Palestinian people day in and day out, for whom occupation is not a novelty, but a 40-year curse.

Banner project video

Posted December 16, 2009 by jmacphee in Art & Politics

Justseeds member Roger was caught on video printing letters for the Climate Change March in Copenhagen. Roger posted some stills from the project HERE a week back or so, but I just stumbled on this video, for those interested:

Deep Dish TV Holiday Sale

Posted December 14, 2009 by dara_g in Film & Video

Deep Dish TV is doing some fund raising which includes a 50% off sale on their DIY Media Series: Movement Perspectives.

The following is from their email:

2009: Deep Dish TV continues its 23 year commitment to using new technologies to produce and distribute video that educates, inspires, and- most importantly- activates. If there were any doubts that this country needs a robust and far reaching independent media network, it should be dispelled by the latest round of doublespeak and distortion that justifies the continued occupation of Iraq and the military escalation in Afghanistan.

Deep Dish TV provides FREE independent, critical programming to public access TV stations, satellite TV, and streaming online on YouTube, Blip TV, Facebook, and of course www.deepdishtv.org. Please support our work by making a donation or by purchasing DVDs as a gifts for yourself or your friends and family.

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Students in the Streets

Posted December 8, 2009 by jmacphee in In the News

Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley was occupied again today, and halfway across the globe students from AmirKabir Uniiversity in Tehran tore the gates off their school! Check out the video below:

Amilcar Cabral!

Posted December 7, 2009 by jmacphee in Events

Tonight the African Diaspora Film Fest in NYC is showing a hard to see documentary about 1960s/70s African revolutionary Amilcar Cabral (which is playing with a doc about Frantz Fanon as well!). It's rare to be able to see any footage of or about Cabral, so this is a rare treat. Cabral's book Return to the Source contains a number of interesting essays exploring the connections between African liberation (particularly in his native Guinea Bissou) and culture. Details about the film and screening are HERE.

(The image is by Beth Gutelius, from Reproduce & Revolt, and as printed on a t-shirt by Liberation Ink, still available HERE.)

Nuart looking for a few things

Posted December 1, 2009 by k_c_ in Film & Video

Justseeds members Chris Stain and Swoon recently traveled to Stavanger, Norway to participate in the Nuart Street Art Festival. The folks that organized the festival are creating a documentary and have posted this request, below, for some advice on distribution.

We're currently looking for distribution and screenings of our fabulous up close and personal street art documentary, Eloquent Vandals. Get in touch if you have any smart ideas about how we can get it out there.

Nuart is an annual international street art festival based in Stavanger on the West Coast of Norway. From the first week of September an international team of street artists start to leave their mark on the city's walls as well as contribute to a one month long indoor exhibition.

Occupied Berkeley: The Taking Of Wheeler Hall

Posted November 30, 2009 by k_c_ in Film & Video

A handful of my favorite media-making friends were in California documenting the recent actions over the "austerity measures" in the California University system.

Brandon Jourdan has some strong feeling about these actions being the beginning of a serious movement. We shall see

What is Democracy?

Posted November 29, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Oliver Ressler has a new, interesting looking documentary out. Right now you need to be in Vienna or Ljubljana to see it (see below for dates and locations), but hopefully it will circulate farther soon:

WHAT IS DEMOCRACY?
A film by Oliver Ressler
118 min., 2009

“What is democracy?” is not one question, but is actually two questions. On the one hand, the question relates to conditions of the current, parliamentary representative democracies that are scrutinized critically in this project. On the other hand, the question traces different approaches to what a more democratic system might look like and which organizational forms it could take.

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Animating Chickens

Posted November 25, 2009 by jmacphee in Art & Politics

New animated print videos by my friend Nathan Meltz. These are amazing, defininitely take the 15 minutes to watch them!!!

Bulldozed at Mix 22

Posted November 14, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Our friends Vanessa Renwick and Jem Cohen have short films in a screening at the New York City Mix Fest going on right now. Here's the info on Bulldozed:

Gentrification is the talk of the town. It is rapidly changing the demographics and aesthetics of every major city in the world. It is apparent and controversial, but it is by no means new. From Brooklyn to Berlin to Nova Scotia, the films in this program trace different histories of gentrification and corporate takeover from the late 1960s to present day. Some are tender, delicate tributes to histories and landmarks erased and the communities disappeared and displaced. Others turn the lens inward towards the artist, examining personal longing for “home” and examining its elusive nature. There is humor, spirit and courage in these films to search for what was, to hold one’s ground and to celebrate the vibrancy that survives vacancy.
Curated by the Festival Programming Committee. TRT: 78 min.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Films by Vanessa Renwick, Jem Cohen, Leigh (Jen) Fisher, Liss Platt, Dana C. Inkster, Niklas Goldbach, Jack Waters, Samara Halperin.

More info HERE.

The first Independent Media and Video World Festival ~ Solidarity Has No Borders ~ In Memory of Brad Will. October 27th – November 30. 2009.

Posted October 27, 2009 by santi in Film & Video

The first Independent Media and Video World Festival ~ Solidarity Has No Borders ~ In Memory of Brad Will. October 27th – November 30. 2009.

Invitation.

To all video and media activist, film makers, alternative and independent media journalist, radio activist and technicians, web activist, progressive audiovisual workers, and all peoples of the world in general, an invitation to participate in the first ever Independent Media and Video World Festival: Solidarity has No Borders-In Memory of Brad Will. The Festival begins October 27th, the day video activist Bradley Roland Will was assassinated by gunmen men protected by the Mexican government while carrying out his work as an independent media video reporter during the Oaxacan uprisings, and ends on November 29, the tenth anniversary of the indymedia.org project, born during the WTO protest in Seattle.

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Political Cinema.... part deux

Posted October 17, 2009 by icky in Art & Politics

"Les miettes " (Crumbs) directed by Pieree Pinaud in 2007.
I projected this silent film last night at my work, in a program of new French shorts. It's a beautifully made, aesthetically retro, allegory about capitalism, solidarity, and (even) the necessity of armed self-defense.
Well worth a half hour of your time!

"The Fire This Time" NYC Screening

Posted October 14, 2009 by molly_fair in Film & Video

Thursday, October 15, 2009
NYU's Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square South, room 914 at 8 p.m.
Doors will open at 7:30.

This event is free and open to the public, but please bring a valid, state issued ID to show at the door.

There will be screening of a 'sneak peak' of the film The Fire Next Time, followed by a panel discussion moderated by CBS and LOGO's 365 Gay News anchor, Chagmion Antione, with grassroots community organizers from FIERCE, the Audre Lorde Project and the filmmakers. The Fire This Time is a documentary directed by my friend Blair Doroshwalther about the New Jersey 7 (also known as the NJ 4).

In August, 2006 seven young African-American lesbian women from Newark, New Jersey were enjoying a night out in the gay-friendly West Village neighborhood of New York City. As they walked down the street, they were sexually harrassed by a man named Duane Buckle. When they told him they were not interested, and that they were lesbians, Buckle verbally attacked them using homophobic slurs, and physically assaulted them. In a not uncommon travesty of justice, the New Jersey Seven, as they came to be called, were sent to prison for defending themselves. 3 of the women accepted plea bargains and on June 14th, 2007 Venice Brown, Terrain Dandridge, Patreese Johnson, and Renata Hill received sentences ranging from 3 1/2 to 11 years in prison.The Fire This Time tells the story of the seven women’s trial and prison sentences, and the years-long fight by relatives and activists to get the women released. Along the way, the film reveals in devastating detail how the media, homophobia, and racism all work together in American culture to stigmatize and victimize gay people of color.

Please come out and show your support!

The Fire This Time The Film from blair doroshwalther on Vimeo.

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Made In Palestine

Posted October 1, 2009 by k_c_ in Film & Video

Here is video exploring many different aspects of the Keffiyah; its history, colonization, the appropriation of symbols of resistance. and how Palestinian businesses are affected by the global market.

Watch the first part of Made In Palestine on Youtube.

Here is Part 2:

One might conclude, from this video, that the behavior of Israel is consistent with other colonizers throughout history.

Here in NYC and the USA the pattern found on the Keffiyah has been used by the fashion industry making it contextless, and significant only in its trend. Attractive people from all backgrounds enjoy wearing the scarves and may not know its reference to Palestinian resistance.

This "decontextualization" becomes more and more common, since everything is
capable of being commodified, that is when revolutionary cultural expressions are sold to the dominant, and mainstream, culture.

How does this effect or change the way people struggle?

Red & Blue

Posted September 27, 2009 by jmacphee in Art & Politics

A great short document of a circus action in Christiania, in Copenhagen. Thanks to Nils Vest (long time Christianian and filmmaker) for sending this along....

Blu & David Ellis timelapse collaboration

Posted September 26, 2009 by k_c_ in Inspiration

If you haven't checked it out already, David Ellis and BLU have created a collaborative timelapse video while partaking in the Fame Festival in Italy.

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Both artists have produced similar videos, David, having collaborated with a group called the Barnstormers as well as many of his own projects. This was the first time these two artists have worked together. The video is interesting and enjoyable, visually. There is so much context and information that I wish was available along with the it. I have obvious questions about the logistics of such a piece and place, as well as the purpose and intention behind the collaboration. Maybe there's an interesting interview out there somewhere that will explain everything I have to inquire about...

Crude:The Real Price of Oil

Posted September 7, 2009 by k_c_ in Film & Video

Crude: The Real Price of Oil will be screening in NYC at

September 9-22, 2009
IFC Center
323 6th Ave at W3rd St

Three years in the making, this cinéma-vérité feature from acclaimed filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Brother’s Keeper, Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster) is the epic story of one of the largest and most controversial environmental lawsuits on the planet. The inside story of the infamous “Amazon Chernobyl” case, Crude is a real-life high stakes legal drama, set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film subverts the conventions of advocacy filmmaking, exploring a complicated situation from all angles while bringing an important story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.

The landmark case takes place in the Amazon jungle of Ecuador, pitting 30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – spent three decades systematically contaminating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land. The plaintiffs allege that the pollution has created a “death zone” in an area the size of the Rhode Island, resulting in increased rates of cancer, leukemia, birth defects, and a multiplicity of other health ailments. They further allege that the oil operations in the region contributed to the destruction of indigenous peoples and irrevocably impacted their traditional way of life. Chevron vociferously fights the claims, charging that the case is a complete fabrication, perpetrated by “environmental con men” who are seeking to line their pockets with the company’s billions.

Creative Violation

Posted September 4, 2009 by jmacphee in Street Art & Graffiti

Chris Stain, Shaun Slifer and I are all featured in Creative Violation, a cool short film about street stenciling made by Andrew Stevenson that's quietly been making the rounds at small and progressive film festivals. It's now showing at Urbanity, a film series in Calgary put on by the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers and Truck Contemporary Art Society.

Here's a trailer for the film:

Strike Anywhere

Posted July 25, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video

My friends Benj Gerdes and Jennifer Hayashida have just finished up an interesting video they've been working on for awhile called Strike Anywhere. Strike Anywhere takes as its direct subject Ivar Krueger, the match king of Sweden, who in the 1930s used financial markets to create matchstick monopolies in at least 34 countries, and become one of the richest men in the entire world. On a broader scale, the piece is a meditation on early finance capital, how me got into the mess we're in now, how it makes us feel, and where we go from here. The video is traveling around European art spaces right now, but if you're not going to be in Germany or Sweden in the next month, you can watch the entire 32 minute film on Benj's website here.

Panther films

Posted July 16, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Molly found this, but I don't think either of us wanted to re-type all the info, so I'm just re-posting this pdf announcement for Black Panther films in relation to the upcoming Emory Douglas exhibition at the New Museum here in NYC:

Tuff Stuff from the Buff

Posted July 14, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Justseeds fellow traveler Marc Moscato is about to head out on 2 week Northwest bike tour showing a collection of short films and videos by artists in his hometown of Buffalo, NY. Riding along with David Gracon (and organized with Julie Perini), Marc will bring Tough Stuff from the Buff to a dozen theaters, all ages venues and non-traditional spaces throughout the Pacific Northwest this July-August.

Here's the dates:
July 17-18 Anacortes, WA | What the Heck Fest
July 19 Bellingham, WA | TBA
July 20 Vancouver, BC | Pacific Cinematheque
July 21 Vancouver, BC | Spartacus Bookstore
July 22 Nanaimo, BC | Outdoor show at CHLY
July 24 Victoria, BC | Open Space Gallery
July 26 Port Townsend, WA | The Boiler Room
July 27 Langley, WA | private screening
July 28 Seattle, WA | The Vita Warehouse
July 29 Tacoma, WA | private screening
July 30 Olympia, WA | Olympia All Ages Project
July 31 Chehalis, WA | The Matrix
August 2 Portland, OR | The Waypost

According to Marc:

Tough Stuff from the Buff highlights Buffalo’s DIY media arts community, focusing on works that blur the lines between video art, personal documentary and media activism. Representing a diverse group of artists, from accomplished media makers to youth-produced projects, the collection reflects the city’s public spaces, political struggles and its resiliency under late capitalism. Tough Stuff from the Buff acknowledges the origins of this tradition, while focusing on contemporary examples of those persevering against the odds of creating media in a dying rustbelt town. A website (tuffstuffbuff.wordpress.com) will be regularly updated, with photos, video and stories from the road.

Testure: Animal Torture, Skinny Puppy video edit

Posted June 20, 2009 by roger_peet in Environment

All the talk of waterboarding, stress positions, walling, psychological assault etcetera, has put me in the mood for a little perspective. Bush endorsed "enhanced" techniques, Obama hasn't put a stop to them, oh! The wringing of hands. Folks, torture is normal. Waterboarding is for the weak. Let's have a look at some REAL torture, of the sort that culture demands. This is some of the worst shit ever.
Click here to have an unpleasant experience.

Bill Daniel/Shaun Slifer quick n' dirty tour...

Posted June 2, 2009 by shaun in Justseeds & Member Projects

Here's the schedule for the tour I'm headed out on with Bill Daniel this week. We'll be showing Bill's film "Who is Bozo Texino?", as well as putting up a couple shows of Bill's work along the way. I'll be opening for his film with a short presentation about a couple of current projects of mine. If you're in any of these spots, drop in!

June 5 -> St. Louis, MO - Cranky Yellow
June 6 -> St. Louis, MO - Black Bear Bakery
June 7-9 -> Dallas, then Austin, then back to Dallas... (that's in Texas, no gigs there)
June 10 -> Shreveport, LA - Danzell House (? house show ?)
June 11-12 -> Little Rock, AK - Chaulk Legends @ Arkansas Community Arts Cooperative (w/ Buz Blurr aka Colossus of Roads) (pictured below)
June 13 -> Nashville, TN - Little Hamilton Collective / Firebrand Infoshop
June 14 -> Knoxville, TN ?

Sydney Anarchist Film Festival

Posted May 29, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video

The two anarchist bookstores and infoshops in Sydney Australia, Jura and Black Rose Books, have put together the first Sydney Anarchist Film Festival. They are showing 14 great films over June 5th-8th. The films include tasty rarities as well as anarchist smash hits.

Film Festival Program
Friday 5th June:
-> 6pm: An evening of local short films (at Black Rose)
Saturday 6th June:
-> 12pm: Manufacturing Consent (Jura); Living Utopia (Black Rose)
-> 3pm: Angry Brigade (Jura); Viva Zapata (Black Rose)
-> 6pm: Born in Flames (Jura); Panther (Black Rose)
Sunday 7th June:
-> 12pm: Paris is Burning (Jura); This Revolution (Black Rose)
-> 3pm: Libertarias (Jura); Land and Freedom (Black Rose)
-> 6pm: Free Voice of Labour (Jura); The Weather Underground (Black Rose)
Monday 8th June:
-> 6pm: Lucio Anarquista (Jura)

For full details and descriptions of each film go to: http://www.jura.org.au/filmfestival

Tickets are only $8 per film ($5 concession) or get a gold pass to the entire festival for $30 ($25 concession).

Richard Porton/Arena in NYC

Posted May 28, 2009 by jmacphee in Events

Richard Porton, editor of the recently published Arena: On Anarchist Cinema, will be presenting in New York City on Friday. Anarchist cinema is a difficult idea, but Porton will unravel this history - from film collectives formed in the early twentieth century to contemporary video activism. Join Porton for discussion and showing of movies made by anarchist or having anarchist impetus. Porton is also the author of the great book Film and the Anarchist Imagination.

Friday, May 29th @ 7pm
Bluestockings Bookstore
172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington

Arena can be found in our store here.

Palestine film events in the metro Detroit area

Posted February 21, 2009 by bec_young in Film & Video

There are some really interesting films regarding Palestine coming up in Southeast Michigan. Tonight will be the second showing of a one-hour film called Once a Wall, a Ripple Remains by Tirtza Even, a University of Michigan professor originally from Jerusalem. I saw the first showing of this film in and was very moved. The film uses still photos Even took while in Palestine in 1998, and uses digital animation to make the images move and interact. Her work seems to play with the idea of the wall as a metaphor, as she undermines our idea of what is real or unreal - people that seem real become cardboard cutouts, or become transparent so that they are only outlines. The host for this event is a fabulous new gallery in Hamtramck, called 2739 Edwin. I also saw a really inspiring show of papercuts about Palestine at the same gallery last Fall, by Detroit area artist Toby Millman.
The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn is hosting a film series called Chronicles of a Refugee. Here is a description from their website: "Chronicles of a Refugee is a six-part documentary series created by Perla Issa, Aseel Mansour and Adam Shapiro looking at the global Palestinian refugee experience over the last 60 years. Filmed in over 15 countries, with more than 250 interviews of Palestinian refugees who have lived in over 25 countries, the series aims to provoke debate concerning strategy and asks: ‘What makes the most sense for a strategy to achieve Palestinian rights as part of a vibrant and viable Palestinian national movement?’" Today at 4 pm, Episode 3 of the series will be shown; Episode 4 will be shown March 11 at 6:30 pm.
Also on Wednesday, March 11 is the debut of the first ever Ann Arbor Palestine Film Fest! According to the organizers: "The Ann Arbor Palestine Film Festival showcases films about Palestine and by Palestinian directors. Educating through the screen arts, the film festival amplifies the voice of the Palestinian people as a nation and a diaspora. The film festival is an independent and non-sectarian organization." The festival runs through Saturday, March 14.

Our City Dreams

Posted February 11, 2009 by k_c_ in Film & Video

For those in NYC there is a documentary film called Our City Dreams, which profiles 5 women artists in NYC. One of which is Justseeds member Swoon.

Filmed over the course of two years, OUR CITY DREAMS is an invitation to visit the creative spaces of five women artists, each of whom possesses her own energy, drive and passion. These women, who span different decades and represent diverse cultures, have one thing in common beyond making art: the city to which they have journeyed and now call home - New York.

You can catch it at the Film Forum

February 4-18, 2009
209 W Houston St
New York, NY 10014

There are Q&A's with Chiara Clemente, the filmmaker, Thursday, February 12, 6:00 show and Tuesday, February 17, 6:00 show.

You can watch the trailer at First Run Features.

Incite! Journal online

Posted January 4, 2009 by jmacphee in Film & Video

My friend Brett Kashmere has recently released the first online issue of Incite! journal of experimental media & radical aesthetics. The theme of the first issue is "Manifest," and there's a ton of material in the first issue online, and they are hoping to release a print edition. There something in here for lots of different interests but it is heavily bent towards experimental film and video. Here's how Brett describes the contents:

In this issue:

* Legendary collage filmmaker and programmer Craig Baldwin talks with Steve Polta about the 70s avant-garde, Baldwin's college years, political activism, and midnight screenings: all of which lead him to filmmaking and to his unique curatorial aesthetic.

* In a strong diatribe against capital-driven mainstream cinema, the famed American independent film impresario Jonas Mekas celebrates the pioneering avant-garde and its connections to the heavenly.

Read the rest of the entry »

Bill Daniel Projection / Audio Performance

Posted December 5, 2008 by mary_tremonte in Events

From Justseeds buddy Bill Daniel, hobo filmmaker. You can still catch his installation "The Great Depression" for another month at Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

"Hello Friends,

I'm writing to you today to tell you about two musical projection performance deallies that I'm organizing at Pittsburgh Filmmakers. The first will be this Saturday, Dec 6th, and will feature an improvisional performance by Jim Lingo, Josh Tanzer and Jarret Fate, who will be sonically interacting with the audio from a big reel of 16mm post-industrial found film oddities. The show will transpire in the gallery space where I currently have a photo/video installation up, called The Great Depression.

The other performance will be Jan 10th at the Melwood Screening Room and will feature Centipede Eest performing a live score to a collection of film and video collected from the American Road."

Saturday December 6
Doors at 7:00, performance at 8:00
FREE all ages
Pittsburgh Filmmakers
477 Melwood Ave
412-681-5449

Check out this sweet, though slightly inaccurate, review of The Great Depression in Pittsburgh's City Paper here

It’s the End of the World as We Know It

Posted December 3, 2008 by jmacphee in Events

If you are in NYC, come out to our big Justseeds show at the Brecht Forum tomorrow night, Thursday Dec 4th! After our event, cruise over to The Change You Want to See in Williamsburg for this video program!:

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT

The Change You Want To See Gallery
Thursday, December 4, 8pm
84 Havemeyer Street, at Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn NY 11211

Since its humble beginnings in 1994, subMedia has grown from a small group of determined filmmakers into a grassroots network of socially and politically engaged artists and individuals. subMedia scrutinizes popular culture and media through the production of film, performance art, video, music and zines.

Equal parts performance and protest, an attitude of art following action defines subMedia’s productions. From the regularly released and highly produced video blog “It’s the End of the World as We Know It”, to the collaborative documentary Ground Noise & Static, their work injects a radical analysis into the culture in a most entertaining way.

Please join subMedia founder, director and producer Franklin López (aka The Stimulator) as he steps out from behind the talking boxes to tour us through a video montage of his latest works, mixing culture jamming, news, radical commentary, music and action.

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Many Yeses, One No: Confronting Corporate Globalization

Posted November 20, 2008 by jmacphee in Events

Short Notice, this one is tomorrow in NYC:

Many Yeses, One No: Confronting Corporate Globalization
A Retrospective Film Screening and Panel Discussion
November 21st, 7pm
Labowitz Theater
715 Broadway, NYC
Free and open to the public.

As the anniversary of the Seattle protests against the WTO approaches,
the world economic system- a system whose logic and shape has been
defined by neoliberal economic theory- is in ruins, and the United
States has elected a new president that many people hope and expect
will bring about "real Change."

What does this mean for a movement that seems to have seen its
heyday, but whose critique of the problem- neoliberalism run amok-
now seems more salient, and more urgently needed, than ever? If we
were to look at the Global Justice Movement, or Alter-Globalization
Movement, as historians, what lessons might we learn from this
history? How can these lessons be applied to the current moment?

Films to be Excerpted:
Breaking the Bank (2000)
Showdown in Seattle (1999)
Fourth World War (2003)
It's A Riot (1989)
The Debt Game (1992)
A Cry for Freedom and Democracy (1994)

Total screening time will be approximately 45 minutes, to be followed
by panelist remarks, and audience Q and A.

The Panel:
Sameer Dosssani, Brooke Lehman, Ritty Lukose, Manuel Pérez-Rocha, Rick Rowley,
David Solnit.
Moderated by Stephen Duncombe.

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Support Renata Hill of the NJ4 Thursday! Queer Docs Friday!

Posted November 19, 2008 by molly_fair in Events

One of the NJ4 defendants, Renata Hill is having a hearing tomorrow and FIERCE! is mobilizing a support crew:

Thursday November 20, 10AM
Meet outside 100 Centre Street, NYC
(Part 91 - 15th Floor)
Judge McLaughlin

On August 18, 2006, seven young African American lesbian women from Newark, New Jersey came to Manhattan’s West Village for a night out. A man named Dwayne Buckle harassed and assaulted the young women, making sexist and homophobic comments to them as well as lewd advances and telling one of the women that he would “F—k her straight.” A physical altercation ensued, and two men came to the aid of the women. One of the men stabbed Buckle, and then left the scene. The women continued on their way and were arrested shortly after. The trial that took place was a farce, the judge was condescending and offensive, the media demonized the women as a "lesbian wolf-pack", there was never a search for the two men who stabbed Buckle, requests for forensic testing on the supposed weapon were ignored as was footage from a surveillance camera that clearly showed Buckle was the perpetrator. After a year-long trip through the legal system, three women of the women- Chenese Loyal, Khymesha Coates, Lania Daniels took plea bargains and the other four were convicted of crimes and given shocking prison sentences in April 2007. Terrain Dandridge was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars; Venice Brown, five years; Renata Hill, eight years; and Patreese Johnson, was sentenced to an unbelievable 11 years. Terrain Dandridge’s case was overturned, all her charges were dropped and she was released on June 21st, 2008. She has recently been speaking out with her family and with supporters such as Angela Davis in San Francisco and in NY.

For more info, there is an excellent article Re-Thinking "The Norm" In Police/Prison Violence & Gender Violence: Critical Lessons from the New Jersey 7 in the most recent issue of Left Turn Magazine by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence & FIERCE! that addresses issues of violence and bias against queer youth of color and the struggle to make these issues visible.

To find out how you can support the NJ4 and for future updates check out:
FIERCE!, Justice 4 New Jersey 4, Free the NJ4

There is a screening of documentaries about the lives of LGBTQ youth in the West Village:

Friday November 21, 7pm
Maysles Films
343 Lenox Ave/Malcom X Blvd.
NYC
Panel 8pm, reception to follow

Fenced Out dir. FIERCE! with Paper Tiger TV & The Neutral Zone (2001)

Fenced Out documents the fight for the Christopher St. pier, a long-established hangout and safe haven for New York City’s youth of color and lower-income, homeless, lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender, questioning and two-spirited youth. In the summer of 2000, development for a state park began “fencing out” the kids, with support from residents of nearby waterfront properties. “You are lowering the property value,” notes one police officer bluntly. The video examines the clash between the groups that claim ownership of the pier, from the perspective of the youths who feel it is the only place where they belong. The documentary includes interviews with “pierets” about how important the pier is in their lives, and with LGBTQ activists about the history of the piers and their connection to the gay liberation movement of the 60’s. It explores how the struggle to save the pier connects to a larger historical and social movement, and develops a plan of action to save them.

Life on Christopher Street dir. Maria Clara, 2002

Through the eyes of these urban male youth, known as "Homolife on Christopher St. Thugs", we see gay rappers, "Blood" gang members, pimps, and sex workers in their struggle to maintain dignity. The film is an exposé of a rising subculture of Black and Latino gay youth born in the late 70's to early 80's, representing the Hip-Hop generation. These urban gay youth living on the most popular gay strip in the world maintain the aggressive hyper masculine image and attitude represented in the Hip-Hop culture, contradicting the stereotypical image of homosexuals.

Life on Christopher Street Director & Producer Maria Clara and Kimberly Gray, FIERCE!, RJ Supa and Steven Gordon of The Ali Forney Center (housing for homeless LGBTQ youth)

reception to follow

ChristieBooks Film Channel

Posted November 18, 2008 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Stuart Christie has a lot under his belt: anarchist, former anti-fascist prisoner in Spain, founder of the UK Anarchist Black Cross, founder of Cienfuegos Press, and more recently publishing books under his own imprint ChristieBooks. For a number of years he has been building up an amazing collection of films on his website, which now contains hundreds of films and videos, including Spanish Civil War newsreels, Jean Vigo and Luis Bunuel features, anarchist biopics and more current radical news footage. If you are at all interested in anarchism and film, it is well worth taking a look. Check it out here.

In addition, Christie is working on a new anarchist journal, called Arena, which is being published in collaboration with PM Press and the first issue should be out early next year. The first issue is focusing on anarchist cinema, and is guest edited by Richard Porton, author of the fabulous book Film and the Anarchist Imagination, published by Verso.

Benefit for Political Prisoner Ojore Lutalo

Posted November 6, 2008 by molly_fair in Events

November 8 at 7:30pm
Sixth Street Community Center
638 E 6th St, between Avenues B and C, in Manhattan
Suggested Donation $8-10, refreshments will be served

Longtime New Afrikan Anarchist Prisoner of War, Ojore Lutalo, is set to be released after 26 years of confinement in the New Jersey State Prison, having completed the maximum amount of time the State of New Jersey could hold him. While his exact release date is not finalized, it will most likely be late November or December. Money is being raised to help Ojore secure housing, food and clothing to help with this transition.

Ojore Lutalo is locked down in Trenton, New Jersey for actions carried out in the fight for Black Liberation. According to Lutalo, he is serving a parole violation sentence stemming from a 1977 conviction for expropriating monies from a state bank and engaging police in a gun battle which took place in 1975.

Kazembe Balagun, writer, activist, teacher, and biographer of the late New Afrikan Anarchist freedom fighter Kuwasi Balagoon will be in attendance to talk about New Afrikan Anarchism of the past and future.

There will be a screening of the film Frame Up! The Imprisonment of Martin Sostre (1973)

Frame Up! follows the story of Afro-Puerto Rican political activist Martin Sostre who served time in Attica prison during the early 1960s. He was arrested in 1967, at his Afro-Asian bookstore in Buffalo for sale and possession of narcotics, riot, arson, and assault- charges later proven to be fabricated by COINTELPRO. He was convicted and sentenced to serve forty-one years and thirty days. Sostre became a jailhouse lawyer and regularly acted as legal counsel to other inmates, and won two landmark legal cases for the advancement of prisoner rights- Sostre v. Rockefeller and Sostre v. Otis.

A People in the Shadows

Posted November 4, 2008 by jmacphee in Events

My friend Bani Khoshnoudi is doing a sneak preview of her new film A People in the Shadows next Friday in New York City. I'm really excited about the film, but unfortunately all of us Justseeders will be at our annual retreat in Milwaukee. Some of you will have to go and tell us how it was!

A PEOPLE IN THE SHADOWS (2008, 90 min.)
Friday, November 7, 7pm
at DCTV
87 Lafayette Street (south of Canal Street), 3rd Floor
NYC
(subways: N,R,W,Q,6 to Canal)

Almost thirty years after the revolution, and twenty since the end of the long Iran-Iraq war, A People in the Shadows takes us on a voyage into the heart of Tehran, a megalopolis of 14 million people. The city is still recovering from its past, as talk of sanctions and a possible American attack resonate. Using cinema direct methods, the film takes an intimate look at the way people live in this immense city today- caught up in the paradoxes and contradictions of their society, surrounded by images of past and future death, yet finding ways to juggle state propaganda and foreign threat on a daily basis.

The Great Depression

Posted October 31, 2008 by molly_fair in Film & Video

Bill Daniel has a new photo and video installation up at the Pittsburgh Filmmakers called The Great Depression which is part of his Sunset Scavenger project. The gallery space has been transformed into a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie, with projected video, large-scale still photography and several interactive installations complete with hobo shack. The show will be up until Jan. 10, 2009.

Sunset Scavenger is an on-going project exploring images and themes of social and environmental collapse in the last decades of the petroleum era. It's also the name of a '65 Chevy sailvan, and the video show that is projected on its sails, and the coast-to-coast tour that will bring the show to your town. The sailvan -- a 2-masted gaff-rigger schooner-- functions as tour vehicle, as well as projection screen. The video program is a 2-projector documentary-essay on low-down survival strategies in a world of ecologic and economic collapse.

Sunset Scavenger tells the real-world stories of ascendant down'n'outers and their earnest lessons of self-reliance in the face of civil decay. See and hear the anchor-outs, rubber tramps, off-the-gridders, desert rats, and punk river rafters that are today's true cultural vanguard.

This low-budget, non-linear, semi-documentary epic and morally beneficial apocalyptic allegory features the Abandoned RV starring in a hastily revised New Urbanism, and is supported by the surprise comeback of Advanced Woodworking and Basic Piracy. Here's what happens when there's more cars than houses, more bad weather than gasoline, and more poor people than cops.

Flood Teaser

Posted October 25, 2008 by jmacphee in Film & Video

Long-time friend and collaborator of some of us Justseeders Todd Chandler has recently released a teaser clip of his current film project Flood. Flood was shot cinema verite style during the travels of Swoon and co.'s Swimming Cities of the Switchback Sea. Members of the raft trip and his bands Dark Dark Dark and Fall Harbor make up the cast. Some of the shots are quite striking, looking forward to seeing this project develop. Check out the Flood website here.

FLOOD teaser from flood movie on Vimeo.

New York Screening of Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans

Posted September 5, 2008 by molly_fair in Film & Video

The film Dos Americas: The Reconstruction of New Orleans by Upheaval Productions focuses on the experience of the Latino community, one that seems to be overlooked unsurprisingly in the media and unfortunately by activist communities as well. This is not to be missed.

Post-Katrina reconstruction is still in progress throughout the Gulf Coast, with much of the City of New Orleans still in ruins. This documentary focuses on those rebuilding this city through interviews with some of the estimated 100,000 Latino migrant laborers who have converged in this area over the past two and a half years. Despite terrible working conditions, massive fraud, a housing crisis, severe harassment by law enforcement, and very limited resources, New Orleans’ Latino community has mushroomed since the storm and is establishing an infrastructure proportional to its size.

Take a look at how this community is organizing to defend itself against numerous injustices and the attempts to bridge the gap between themselves as new residents and the pre-Katrina population, all within the extremely unique and tragic context of post-Katrina New Orleans.

Presentado en inglés y español.

9/7 @7pm- Make the Road by Walking
301 Grove St, Brooklyn, NY

9/8 @7pm- Bluestockings
172 Allen St Btw Stanton & Rivington, New York, NY

They Live

Posted September 1, 2008 by molly_fair in Film & Video

at BAM, Wednesday, Sept. 3

I gotta say that They Live is one of my favorite movies and I'm not gonna miss my chance to see it on the big screen. I mean come on- an entertaining critique of capitalism starring "Rowdy" Roddy Piper of the WWF as our fearless blue collar hero leading the rev- what could be better? Also it has one of the most drawn-out, ridiculous fist fight scenes ever.

Part science fiction thriller and part black comedy, the film echoed contemporary fears of a declining economy, within a culture of greed and conspicuous consumption common among Americans in the 1980s. In They Live, the ruling class within the monied elite are in fact aliens managing human social affairs through the use of subliminal media advertising and the control of economic opportunity.

"On Paper Wings" documentary screening

Posted August 11, 2008 by icky in Film & Video

My friend and co-worker Ilana Sol will be screening her just-completed documentary, On Paper Wings, in Portland this weekend. Check it out if you're in town.
"In the spring of 1945, a Japanese balloon bomb claimed the lives of the only people killed on the continental U.S. as the result of enemy action during WWII. Forty years later, the decision to fold a thousand paper cranes would unite the Japanese and American civilians who were involved in and affected by this incident."

Her film is accompanied by "Passing Poston," a documentary about a Japanese-American internment camp in Poston, Ariz.

The Hollywood Theatre -
42nd and NE Sandy Blvd.
Portland, OR

August 11th-12th (Monday & Tuesday): 7:00pm
August 16th-17th: 12:15 & 3PM (Matinee Shows)