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Advancing and Advocating for Social Justice & Equity

National Association for
Multicultural Education
 

NAME Annual Multicultural Film Festival Selections: 
2017 – 2012




2017 NAME MC Film Festival Selections
 

CUBA: In the NAME of Social Justice,
Produced and Directed by Mary E. Parks, American Spirit/PBS

For a third consecutive year, NAME has led a group of nearly two dozen educators on a cultural and professional exchange to Cuba. This summer's trip was captured on film for an American Spirit documentary. It shows NAME members traveling deep inside a biosphere community, dining with Cubans in their home, and engaging with students, educators, artists and musicians to experience culture, cuisine, and sustainability. This important documentary is airing on PBS and at this year's NAME conference. It will make you laugh, cry, enjoy and above all, help you understand how NAME educators are collaborating with Cuba to advance mutual understanding and hopefully, help bring down the blockade that has separated the two nations for more than half a century.
 

MULTICULTURAL FILM FESTIVAL DESCRIPTIONS -- Films shown November 2-4, 2017

American DREAMers.
Produced and directed by Jennifer Castillo and Saray Deiseil. Indigo Project Media. www.tugginc.com. 2015. 85 minutes.
This film tells the story behind the Campaign for an American DREAM (CAD), a group of six undocumented youth and an ally who risk their freedom when they publicly come out as undocumented and walk 3,000 miles to the nation's capital to organize for immigrant rights. These are college students, young professionals, activists, and community leaders. Follow their journey as they come out of the shadows, share their stories, empower communities, and put everything on the line to fight in what they believe is their civil rights movement. They are undocumented and unafraid. And some are UndocuQueer, too.
 

Black Girl in Suburbia.
Produced and Directed by Melissa Lowery.  Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com. 2016. 54 minutes.
For many Black girls raised in the suburbs, the experiences of going to school, playing on the playground and living day-to-day life can be uniquely alienating.  Black Girl in Suburbia looks at the suburbs of America from the perspective of women of color.  Filmmaker Melissa Lowery shares her own childhood memories of navigating racial expectations both subtle and over-including questions like, “Hey, I just saw a Black guy walking down the street; is that your cousin?” Through conversations with her own daughters, with teachers and scholars who are experts in the personal impacts of growing up a person of color in a predominately white place, this film explores the conflicts that many Black girls in homogeneous hometowns have in relating to both white and Black communities. 


Beyond Standing Rock.
Produced and directed by Brian Malone. Fast Forward Films. www.tugginc.com. 2017. 71 minutes.
Beyond Standing Rock is a timely new documentary that shines a spotlight on the conflict surrounding the Dakota Access pipeline and the struggle for Native American rights against the backdrop of a new Trump administration. Over the course of this past fall thousands of tribal and non-Indian protesters traveled from all corners of the country and the globe to push back against the pipeline project. Dramatic confrontations between Native American protesters and riot-clad law enforcement became an international symbol for Native Americans' fight for sovereignty and self-determination over its own lands.
 

El Canto Del Colibri.
Produced and Directed by Marco Castro-Bojorquez. Frameline Films. www.frameline.org. 2015. 53 minutes.
Much like the seldom-heard song of the hummingbird, the voices of Latino fathers are rarely heard addressing LGBTQ issues. But in Marco Castro-Bojorquez’s El Canto del Colibrí, made in participation with Somos Familia and BAYCAT, these voices are amplified in a groundbreaking documentary—the first of its kind. Through raw, heartfelt testimonies, El Canto del Colibrí delves deeply into issues of immigration, prejudice, and isolation, while thoughtfully asking questions of these men’s communities, culture, and even their religious beliefs. The result is a powerful lesson on solidarity and humility in a film that both heals and inspires, ultimately building bridges of hope and solidarity among Latino fathers, their families, and community activists.
 

Dalya’s Other Country.
Produced and directed by Julia Meltzer. Good Docs. www.dalyasothercountry.com. 2017. 58 minutes.
In 2012 Dalya and her mother Rudayna fled Aleppo for Los Angeles as war took over. Months before, Rudayna learns a secret that destroys her marriage, leaving her single at midlife. Arriving in LA, Dalya enrolls as the only Muslim at Holy Family Catholic High School. Can mother and daughter remake themselves while holding on to their Islamic traditions? Come find out the results. 
 

Gaucho del Norte’.
Produced and directed by Sofian Khan and Andres Caballero.  Capital K Pictures. New Day Films. www.newdayfilms.com.  2015.
In the quiet, bucolic Patagonian countryside in the town of Bahia Murta with 587 inhabitants we meet Eraldo Pacheco, a thoughtful man who has recently arrived at a momentous decision. “Things are worse here than ever,” Eraldo tells his father as he announces his plan to move to the United States to fulfill a three-year contract tending sheep almost 6,000 miles away in rural Idaho. In this observational documentary, the imbalance of economic forces is seen in high relief. Once in the U.S., Eraldo encounters Johnny from Peru, a young man who has also made the difficult decision to leave his family behind. Both face the struggles ahead with characteristic strength, as well as moments of deep uncertainty. Did they make the right decision? Ultimately, their paths diverge as each faces the tension between being providers for their families and being present in their lives.

Gaysians.
Produced and Directed by Vicky Du. Frameline Films. www.frameline.org. 2015. 13 minutes.
This film explores family, immigration and language through the voices of five queer and trans Asian-Americans from New York City. The subjects share stories about their families, and in doing so, shed light on the complicated histories that have shaped these intimate and personal relationships. This moving short is an illuminating patchwork documentary exploring family and culture through the personal stories of a diverse panoply of LGBTQ individuals.

Heather Booth: Changing the World.
Produced and Directed by Lilly Rivlin. Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com. 2016. 62 minutes.
Heather Booth is the most influential person you have never heard of. The film profiles the renowned organizer and activist, whose remarkable career helped to impact the most pivotal moments in progressive movements over the last fifty years: from her involvement with Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Summer Project, to her founding of the JANE Underground in 1964 to her personal relationships with respected leaders such as Julian Bond and Senator Elizabeth Warren. This documentary is a compelling look at how social change happens.


I Know a Man ... Ashley Bryan.
Produced and Directed by Richard Kane and Robert Shetterly. www.ashleybryanfilms.org. 2016.    
73 minutes
Meet this amazing 93-year-old creative wonder who skips and jumps in his heart like a child.  He served in a World War II all-Black battalion and experienced the racism of a separatist Army and the carnage of D-Day.  As a result he dedicated his life to creating beauty and joy, spreading love and awe through his art.  He's a poet/illustrator of over 50 children's books, makes magical puppets and sea glass windows from found objects inspired by his African heritage. Ashley lives on the remote Cranberry Islands, Maine and has been using art his entire life to celebrate joy, mediate the darkness of war and racism, explore the mysteries of faith, and create loving community.  He spreads beauty through his linocut prints exhorting “Let My People Go”. His life story and the art he makes are an inspiration to people of all ages.

Inside the Chinese Closet.
Produced and Directed by Sophia Luvara. Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com. 2016. 70 minutes.
In a nondescript lounge somewhere in Shanghai, men and women giggle, eyeing prospective partners, visibly nervous about making the first move.  This isn’t your average matchmaking event—it’s a “fake-marriage fair,” where gay men and women meet to make matrimonial deals with members of the opposite sex in order to satisfy social and familial expectations of heterosexual unions.  Inside the Chinese Closet is the intricate tale of Andy and Cherry looking for love and happiness in vibrant Shanghai. They are both homosexual but their families demand a (heterosexual) marriage and a baby from them.  Because being single and childless would mean an unacceptable loss of face for their rural families.  Will Andy and Cherry deny their happiness and sexual orientation to satisfy their parents’ wishes? The stories of Andy and Cherry mirror the legal and cultural progress that is happening in China against the backdrop of a nation coming to terms with new moral values. 


My So-Called Enemy.
Directed by Lisa Gossels. Produced by Lisa Gossels & Eden Wurmfeld. New Day Films. www.newday.com. 2010. 89 minutes
Follow six courageous Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls who participated in a 10-day cross-cultural young women’s leadership program in the US. The film then documents how the transformative experience of knowing their “enemies” as human beings meets with the realities of their lives back home in the Middle East over the next seven years. Through the coming-of-age narratives of Adi, Gal, Hanin, Inas, Rawan and Rezan, audiences see how creating relationships across political, religious, cultural and physical divides are first steps towards resolving conflict.  “My So-Called Enemy” presents the complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through a human lens – and the possibility and hope that come from listening to each other’s stories. Celebrating diversity and inclusion, while addressing issues of identity and “othering,” this film provides a platform for multi-faith and multicultural understanding. 


Never Give Up: Minoru Yasui and the Fight for Justice.
Produced and Directed by Holly Yasui and Will Doolittle. www.minoruyasuifilm.org.  2016. 55 minutes.
This film relates the life history of an American hero. Minoru (Min) Yasui was born in Hood River, Oregon in 1916. He was the first Japanese American attorney in Oregon and during World War II, he initiated a legal test case by deliberately violating military orders that lead to the incarceration of over 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry in U.S. concentration camps. He spent 9 months in solitary confinement awaiting his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him. After the war, he moved to Denver and continued to defend the human and civil rights not only of Japanese Americans but for Blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, religious minorities, children and youth, the aged, low income people, etc. In the 1970s and 80s, he spearheaded the redress movement to win reparations and a formal apology from the government for the injustices against Japanese Americans during World War II.

Ohero:kon Under the Husk.
Produced and directed by Katisitsionni Fox. Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com. 2016. 27 minutes.
Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are childhood friends on a journey to womanhood. From traditional families living in the Mohawk community of Akwesasne that straddles the US/Canada border, they choose to take part in an adolescent rites of passage ceremony called Ohero:kon, or Under the Husk.  The girls prepare for a year in advance, learning necessary teachings and survival skills.  The “Under the Husk” ceremony can be an arduous one, and once the spring arrives, the girls must face the spiritual, emotional and physical challenges that will shape the women they will become. 

The Revival: Women and the Word.
Produced and directed by Sekiya Dorsett. Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com.  2106. 62 minutes.
The Revival: Women and the Word chronicles the US tour of a group of Black lesbian poets and musicians who become present-day stewards of a historical movement to build community among queer women of color.  As the group tours the country, the film reveals their aspirations and triumphs, as well as the unique identity challenges they face encompassing gender, race and sexuality.


Revolucion!: Five Visions.
Produced and Directed by Nicole Cattell. El Sueno Pictures. nicolecattell@gmail.com. 2006. 53 minutes.
Through their own words and images, this film frames the Cuban revolution through the art of photography, telling the personal stories of five photographers whose lives span nearly five decades of Cuban history. REVOLUCION offers a multi-faceted vision of the rise and fall of the revolutionary dream in Cuba. The beautiful film also offers a study in the role of artists in revolutions. Since the triumph of Fidel Castro’s revolution, Cuba has dared to dream of realizing a utopian society. Yet despite the revolution’s many achievements, (including health care, food, housing and education to nearly all Cubans) the cost has been severe—a matter of exile, life and death for thousands of Cubans. Those who remain on the island have suffered limits to their individual freedoms and effects of crippling economic sanctions. To some, the revolution is a celebrated success. To others, it is a dictatorship. And to many more, it falls somewhere in between. With Cuba on the brink of transformation and the clearly outdated U.S., it is necessary to form a new way of understanding the Cuban revolution which transcends the overly simplistic pro-Castro versus anti-Castro dialogue.

Salaam Neighbor.
Produced and Directed by Zach Igngrasci and Chris Temple. Living On One. 1001 Media. Livingonone.org/Salaam neighbor. 2015. 75 minutes.
Two Americans deliberately head to the edge of war, just seven miles from the Syrian border, to live among 80,000 uprooted refugees in Jordan's Za'atari refugee camp. As the first filmmakers allowed by the United Nations to register and set-up a tent inside a refugee camp, Zach and Chris plunge into the heart of the world's most pressing humanitarian crisis. From meeting Um Ali, a woman struggling to overcome personal loss and cultural barriers, to the street smart, 10-year-old Raouf, whose trauma hides just beneath his everpresent smile, Zach and Chris uncover inspiring stories of individuals rallying, against all odds, to rebuild their lives and those of their neighbors.

70 Acres in Chicago: Cabrini Green.
Produced and Directed by Ronit Bezalel. New Day Films. www.newdayfilms.com. 2015. 58 minutes.
For 70 years, on 70 acres stood a Chicago public housing community known as Cabrini Green. Home to thousands, misunderstood by millions, Cabrini Green once towered over Chicago’s most valuable neighborhoods. A looming reminder of inequality and poverty, Cabrini’s high rises were demolished and an African-American community cleared to make room for another social experiment: mixed-income neighborhoods.  The film documents this upheaval: from the razing of the first buildings in 1996, through the mixed-income clashes, to a rally the night before the last high rise was demolished in 2011.

The Uncomfortable Truth.
Produced and Directed by Loki Mulholland. Taylor St. Films. www.Uncomfortabletruthmovie.com. 2017. 1 hour 25 minutes.
Loki Mulholland, the son of famous Civil Rights Activist, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, grapples with his family’s deep roots in racism as he unearths his family’s history and the truth behind their slave-owning past. Together with Luvaghn Brown, a Freedom Rider, Loki explores, through his very personal history, the United States’ institutions of racism that continue to haunt our country today. It is an unapologetic film that lays bare what we all need to understand about each other with an open and honest dialogue on race and society.

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2016 NAME Film Festival Selections

 





NAME 2016 Multicultural Film Festival Selections
 
Between Allah & Me (and Everyone Else)*.
Produced and Directed by Kyoko Yokoma. Knit Vision Media/Connectedearth. Canada. www.hijabdocumentary.com. 2016.  60 minutes.
The film Between Allah & Me (and Everyone Else) explores the challenges of four Torontonian Muslim women making decisions about wearing or taking off hijab.  This candid and beautifully crafted film follows their spiritual journeys and their interactions with different members of society, and in doing so reveals that the piece of fabric called hijab carries many diverse meanings and messages.  As these women try to follow their faith and their hearts at the same time, the film unveils the intricate and complex effects of hijab on Muslim women, their families and communities and the larger multicultural society in which they live.  Screening at Friday, 2pm.The Filmmaker will be present to discuss in the film in the 3pm break-out session immediately following the screening.
 
Chaldean Voices.
Directed by Peter Alkatib and Miguel-Angel Soria.  Produced by Dante Simi and Jeff Brown. Learn4Life films. United States. www.chaldeanvoices.com. 2014. 82 minutes
Chaldean Voices is a story about Iraqi Christian students, formerly persecuted, and now seeking peace, opportunity and democracy in El Cajon, California. In light of the conflicts in the Middle East and drastic increase in hostility and persecution over the past 10-15 years, thousands of Chaldeans have fled Iraq and the Middle East seeking refuge in the U.S.  Over the past 30 years, they’ve arrived impoverished and traumatized; and today, over 40,000 Chaldeans reside in the City of El Cajon.  This documentary chronicles the experiences of several Chaldean high school students and they assimilate to life in the U.S. 
 
Cincinnati Goddamn*.
Produced and Directed by April Martin and Paul Hill. United States. www.cincinnatigoddamn.com. 2015. 103 minutes.
This feature-length documentary is about police brutality, anti-black racism, and the power of grassroots activism in Cincinnati, Ohio.  From 1995-2001 there were fifteen black men killed by the Cincinnati police.  The film focuses on two of those murders, Roger Owensby, Jr and Timothy Thomas.  Martin Luther King said, “A riot is the cry of the unheard.”  Thomas's death sparked three days of civil unrest and protests.  This poignant and powerful story of injustice is told through news reports, first-person accounts and cinema verité footage of the surviving families' long-suffering battle for justice. Screening at Saturday, 7pm in Superior C. The Filmmakers will be present to discuss the film.
 
Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi.
Produced and Directed by David Shulman. California Newsreel. United States. www.newsreel.org. 2015. 82 minutes.
Dirt and Deeds in Mississippi reveals the largely unknown and pivotal role played by Black landowning families in the deep South who controlled over a million acres of land in the 1960s.  They were prepared to put their land and their lives on the line in the fight for racial equality and the right to vote in America’s most segregated and violently racist state.  The film reveals the extraordinary story of a Delta community called Mileston in which 100 sharecropping families gained control of 10,000 acres of some of the most fertile land in the state as a result of a radical New Deal era experiment in the 1930s and in turn, became the local leaders of the movement in the 1960s. .
 
East L.A. Interchange*.  -- 2016 NAME Film Award Winner
Produced and Directed by Betsy Kalin. Bluewater Media. United States. www.eastlainterchangefilm.com. 2016. 57 minutes.
East LA Interchange tells the story of working-class, immigrant Boyle Heights, the oldest neighborhood in East Los Angeles. Targeted by government policies, real estate laws, and California planners, this quintessential immigrant neighborhood survived racially restrictive housing covenants, Japanese-American Internment, Federal redlining policies, lack of political representation, and the building of the largest and busiest freeway interchange system in the nation, the East L.A. Interchange. The documentary explores how the freeways – a symbol of Los Angeles ingrained in America’s popular imagination – impact Boyle Heights’ residents: literally, as an environmental hazard and structural blockade and figuratively, as a conversational interchange about why the future of their beloved community should matter to us all. 
 
Fly By Light*.
Directed by Ellie Walton. Produce by Hawah. Meridian Hill Pictures. United States. www.onecommonunity.org. 2015. 59 minutes.
A group of teenagers board a bus for West Virginia, leaving the streets of Washington, DC to participate in an ambitious peace education program. For the first time in their lives Mark, Asha, Martha, and Corey play in mountain streams, sing under the stars, and confront the entrenched abuse, violence and neglect cycles of their past. But as they return to DC, each young person faces an unforgiving series of hurdles and roadblocks that challenge their efforts to build a better life. Through breathtaking visuals from street corners to mountaintops, Fly By Light is an intimate exploration of the chaotic, confusing, and emotional journey to rewrite a young person’s future. 

14: Dred Scott, Wong Kim Ark & Vanessa Lopez.
Produced and directed by Graham Street Productions. www.14themovie.com. 2014. 67 minutes.
The film 14 explores the recurring question about who has the right to be an American citizen. The film examines the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment through compelling personal stories and expertly-told history. Under the Fourteenth Amendment, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The story is told through the lives of three ordinary and extraordinary American families who changed history by their courageous challenges to the powerful status quo. The stories from descendants of Dred and Harriet Scott and Wong Kim Ark tell how their ancestors fought all the way to the Supreme Court and changed American history. Rosario Lopez and her daughter Vanessa are both activists in today’s immigrant rights youth movement. Born in the United States and a citizen under the 14th Amendment, Vanessa wants to be “either an artist, a photographer, a lawyer, or a marine biologist” and President of the United States. It is the citizenship of millions of children like Vanessa Lopez, born in the United States to undocumented parents, that is at stake now. Screening, Friday 11am.
 
Havana Curveball.
Directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider.  Executive Producer: Marc Smolowitz. Patchwork Films. United States. www.havanacurveball.info. 2014. 52 minutes
Mica is a classic young teen. Enthusiastic. Idealistic. Dreaming baseball. At 13, he is studying for his Bar Mitzvah, the Jewish coming of age ritual. He takes to heart his Rabbi’s requirement to help “heal the world.” Imagining himself a savior of sorts, he launches a grand plan to send baseballs to less fortunate kids in Latin America. Narrowing his focus, he lights on Cuba, a country with a mysterious pull. He knows only that Cubans lack resources and love baseball like he does. Many of their star players have defected to play in the U.S. professional leagues. He also knows that Cuba gave his grandpa refuge during the Holocaust. Nearly 70 years later, Mica feels a need to repay the debt. Enthusiastically collecting bats, mitts and balls, he never considers that his good intentions might not be enough. Screening Thursday 1pm.
 
Journey of Hope.
Produced and directed by Drew Martin. First Nations Films. United States. www.firstnationsfilms.com. 2015. 60 minutes.
The amazing story of transformation in the lives of several aboriginal youth at risk who have struggled through alcoholism, drug abuse, physical and sexual abuse, attempted suicide, and lives of crime. 12 young people were "taken back to the land" in the wilderness of Northern Quebec to re-connect with their roots and regain their identity as young Cree men and women who have a hope and a future. 

9-Man.
Directed by Ursula Liang. Executive producer: Melanie Riley-Green. Center for Asian American Media and Corporation for Public Broadcasting. United States. www.9-Man.com. 2014. 89 minutes.
9-Man uncovers an isolated and unique streetball tournament played by Chinese-Americans in the heart of Chinatowns across the USA and Canada.  Largely undiscovered by the mainstream, the game is a gritty, athletic, chaotic urban treasure traditionally played in parking lots and back alleys.  9-Man grew in the 1930s at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment and laws forced restaurant workers and laundrymen to socialize exclusively amongst themselves.  Today it’s a lasting connection to Chinatown for a dynamic community of men who know a different, more integrated world but still fight to maintain autonomy and tradition. 
 
Off the Rez.
Directed by Jonathan Hock. Cinema Guild. United States. store@cinemaguild.com. 2012. 86 minutes.
An unforgettable story about a young Native American woman and her family and their determined pursuit of the American Dream.  Off the Rez is and award-winning documentary that follows one of the country’s top high school basketball prospects, 16 year old Shoni Schimmel, who must leave the reservation in order to play in a competitive, nationally-recognized basketball league.

On the Way to School.
Produced and Directed by Pascal Plisson. Cinema Guild. United States. www.cinemaguild.com. 2012. 75 minutes.
This film interweaves the stories of four children from around the world whose desire to learn and better their lives through education forces them to contend with arduous, often perilous journeys every day on their way to the classroom. These children live thousands of miles apart in Africa, South America, and India, but share the same thirst for knowledge. They understand that attending school, every single day, is their only hope for a brighter future, for themselves and their families. 
 
One Drop of Love.
Directed and performed by Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni. Producers: Cox DiGiovanni, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon. United States. www.onedropoflove.com. 2015. 67 minutes.
One Drop of Love is a multimedia solo performance by Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni. This extraordinary one-woman show incorporates filmed images, photographs and animation to tell the story of how the notion of ‘race’ came to be in the United States and how it affects our most intimate relationships. A moving memoir, One Drop takes audiences from the 1700s to the present, to cities all over the U.S. and to West and East Africa, where Fanshen and her father spent time in search of their ‘racial’ roots. The ultimate goal of the show is to encourage everyone to discuss ‘race’ and racism openly and critically.
Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen.
Directed by Jennifer Abod and Jennifer Duprey. Women Make Movies. United States.  orders@wmm.com. 2015. 73 minutes.
Passionate Pursuits is a window into the life of Angela Bowen, who grew up in inner-city Boston during the Jim Crow era, went on to become a classical ballerina, a legendary dance teacher, a black lesbian feminist activist, writer and professor
 
Profiled.
Directed and produced by Kathleen Foster. Women Make Moves. United States. orders@wmm.com. 2016. 52 minutes.
Profiled knots the stories of mothers of Black and Latin youth murdered by the NYPD into a powerful
indictment of racial profiling and police brutality, and places them within a historical context of the roots of racism in the U.S, Some of the victims, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, are now familiar the world over.  Others, like Shantel Davis and Kimani Gray, are remembered mostly by family and friends in their New York neighborhoods. Profiled bears witness to the racist violence that remains an everyday reality for Black and Latin people in this country.
 
Scenarios*. This session will feature two films created by students in the Cleveland area.

  1. Speechless. Produced and Directed by Karyn Kusama and Maura Minsky. Written by Roxanne Lasker Hall. Scenarios USA. www.scenariosusa.org/shop/bullying/speechless. 2012. 15.31 minutes.
Desmond has a secret he cannot share with anyone.  His grades are slipping, rumors are swirling and he feels powerless, especially when he sees his sister being hurt too. With the support of his father and a new friend, Desmond is able to tell his story of being sexually assaulted and the struggle to end the cycle of abuse. Desmond regains his power when he uses his voice. Speechless examines sexual assault and recovery through power / powerlessness, empathy, communication, and gender stereotypes.
  1. House Not Home. Produced and Directed by Joshua Butler and Maura Minsky. Scenarios USA. Scenariosusa.org/shop/bullying/house-not-home. 2014. 15 minutes.

House Not Home is a firsthand account of Terran, an African American gender fluid teenager navigating bullying, violence and rejection from their father and peers before finding their courage and voice to come out.
 
Speaking in Tongues.
Produced and Directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider. Patchwork Films. United States. www.patchworkfilms.com. 2009. 56 minutes.
At a time when 31 states have passed “English Only” laws, four pioneering families put their children in public schools where, from the first day of kindergarten, their teachers speak mostly in a foreign language. Speaking in Tongues follows four diverse kids on a journey to become bilingual. This charming story will challenge you to rethink the skills that Americans need to succeed in the 21st century.
Voices of Muslim Women in the U.S. South.
Directed by Rachel Raimist. Produced by Maha Marouan. Women Make Movies. United States. orders@wmm.com. 2015. 30 minutes.
Voices of Muslim Women in the U.S. South is a documentary that explores the Muslim culture through the lens of five University of Alabama Muslim students.  The film tackles how Muslim women carve a space for self-expression in the Deep South and how they negotiate their identities in a predominantly Christian society that often has unflattering views about Islam and Muslims.


2015 MCFF Selections


 

BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez. Directed by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon.
2015. California Newsreel www.newsreel.org. 50 minute (excerpt)

This film will premiere at the New Orleans Film Festival on October 15.  As a special favor to NAME they are allowing our conference participants to get a “sneak peek” of the film before it premieres.

BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez is a new feature documentary offering unprecedented access to the life and work of renowned poet and  activist Sonia Sanchez. An essential  figure in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s, the documentary reveals how Sanchez has been a continuing  presence in American culture for nearly 60 years using her art to confront injustice and to lift up humanist themes.   The film examines the artistic and political movements she embraced and influenced. Deemed “a lion in literature’s forest” by Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez helped transform the university landscape, advocating for inclusion of African American Studies in curricula.  She revolutionized poetry through her usage of street language and a unique performance style and is widely considered to be a foremother of today’s hip hop spoken word movement.   The film is rich with readings of her work accompanied by live music.   There are lively appearances and commentaries by Sanchez’s contemporaries, Ruby Dee, Amiri Baraka, John Bracey, Jr.,  Haki Madhubuti and Nikki Giovanni,
as well as the newer voices of Talib Kweli, Ayana Mathis, Jessica Care Moore, Bryonn Bain and Questlove.

 

The Storytelling Class. Directed by John Paskievich and John Whiteway. 
Produced by Sedna Pictures Inc. 2010. www. bullfrogfilms.com. 47 minutes.

     Located in Winnipeg's downtown core, Gordon Bell High School is probably the most culturally varied school in the city, with 58 different languages spoken by the student body. Many students are children who have arrived as refugees from various war torn areas of the world.  In an effort to build bridges of friendship and belonging across cultures and histories, teacher Marc Kuly initiated an after-school storytelling project whereby the immigrant students would share stories with their Canadian peers. The catalyst for this cross-cultural interaction was the students' reading of A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, a memoir of Beah's horrific time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone's civil war. These voluntary after-school meetings take dramatic turns and reach their climax when Ishmael Beah and professional storyteller Laura Simms travel from New York to work with them. With their help the students learn to listen to each other and find the commonality that so long eluded them. 

 

We Still Live Here.  Directed by Anne Makepeace.
Produced by Anne Makepeace Productions, 2011.  www.bullfrogfilms.com. 56 minutes.

     Celebrated every Thanksgiving as the Indians who saved the Pilgrims from starvation, and then largely forgotten, the Wampanoag Tribes of Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard are now saying loud and clear, and in their Native tongue, "As Nutayuneân," - We Still Live Here. The Wampanoag's ancestors ensured the survival of the English settlers known as the Pilgrims, and lived to regret it. Now a cultural revival is taking place. Spurred on by their celebrated linguist, Jessie Little Doe Baird, recent winner of a MacArthur `genius' award, the Wampanoag are bringing their language home. Like many Native American stories, this one begins with a vision. Years ago, Jessie began having recurring dreams: familiar-looking people from another time speaking in an incomprehensible language. These visions sent her on an odyssey that would uncover hundreds of documents written in Wampanoag, lead her to a Masters in Linguistics at MIT, and result in an unprecedented feat of language reclamation by her people. Jessie's daughter Mae is the first Native speaker of Wampanoag in a century.

 

A Village Called Versailles. Directed by S. Leo Chiang. 2014.  www.newdayfilms.com. 56 minutes.

In a New Orleans neighborhood called Versailles, a tight-knit group of Vietnamese Americans overcame obstacles to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill. A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES is the empowering story of how the Versailles people, who have already suffered so much in their lifetime, turn a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future. (Meet the Filmmaker? Still waiting to hear from him)

 

By Invitation Only.  Directed by Rebecca Snedeker. 2014.  www.newdayfilms.com.  56 minutes.

New Orleans filmmaker Rebecca Snedeker explores the insular world of the elite, white Carnival societies and debutante balls of Mardi Gras. Questioning their racial exclusivity, she takes an unprecedented insider's look at the pageantry and asks: what does it mean to be the queen of the masked men? As she examines her own place in an alluring tradition, Snedeker challenges viewers to reflect on the roles we all play in our lives. (Meet the Filmmaker)

 

The E Word:A Documentary on the Ebonics Debate.
Written, Directed and Produced by Jonathan Gayles. 2014. www.films.com. 55 minutes.

This documentary critically considers the Ebonics Resolution as well as the myriad  influences on the public debate (or lack thereof) that erupted as a result of the Resolution. Through the use of archival footage and interviews with scholars, policymakers and, most importantly, those directly involved with the Resolution, the documentary pursues a coherent and comprehensive engagement of Ebonics. (Meet the Filmmaker

 

Brown Bread, The Story of an Adoptive Family. 
Directed by Sarah Gross. 2014. www.brownbreadthefilm.com.  87 minutes.

In the hills of Northern California, an unusual family gathers for their reunion. As they join hands around the table, their colorful mix of races looks like the American dream of integration. It started with a vision. The grandparents recall how in the 1970’s they began to adopt. Scenes from the week-long reunion are inter cut with images from their adult children's daily lives. A professor at Stanford, a manual day laborer, an entrepreneur in debt, ... these portraits show radical differences in class and identity. Their ability to laugh and to love across boundaries of social and racial division made this family possible. But their differences still drive them apart. A personal documentary about what it means to grow up in an adoptive family.

 

Playing With Fire: Women Actors of Afghanistan.
Directed by Anneta Papathanassiou. 2014.  www.wmm.com. 50 minutes

In Afghanistan, women deciding to be actors make a dangerous choice. Banned under Taliban rule (1994-2001), Afghan theater is experiencing a comeback with many women at the forefront. But with powerful forces of Islamic fundamentalism, a resurgent Taliban, and patriarchal traditions in play, actresses often face the harshest criticism and are even sometimes viewed as prostitutes. Socially ostracized, and pressured to abandon their careers, they receive beatings and death threats for them and their family. Some are forced to flee the country and some are even killed.
PLAYING WITH FIRE introduces us to six courageous Afghan women
who share their passions for acting, dreams, and difficult realities

 

India’s Daughter. Directed by Leslee Udwin. 2015. www.wmm.com. 62 minutes.

INDIA’S DAUGHTER is the powerful story of the 2012, brutal gang rape on a Delhi bus of a 23 year old medical student, who later died from her injuries. In 2012, it made international headlines and ignited protests by women in India and around the world. This month India’s government banned the film while the BBC moved their planned broadcast up by days and ignited a new controversy. BAFTA winning filmmaker Leslee Udwin, herself a victim of rape, went to India inspired by the protests against sexual assault. With an all Indian crew, Udwin got exclusive, first time on camera interviews with the rapists and defense attorney, none of whom express remorse. The defense attorney goes even further, stating that “immodest” women deserve what happens to them. An impassioned plea for change, INDIA’S DAUGHTER pays tribute to a remarkable and inspiring young woman and explores the compelling human stories behind the incident and the political ramifications throughout India. But beyond India, the film lays bare the way in which societies and their patriarchal values have spawned such acts of violence globally. 

 

Feminism Inshallah: A History of Arab Feminism. 
Directed by Ben Mahmoud. 2014. www.wmm.com 52 minutes.

The struggle for Muslim women’s emancipation is often portrayed stereotypically as a showdown between Western and Islamic values, but Arab feminism has existed for more than a century. This groundbreaking documentary recounts Arab feminism’s largely unknown story, from its taboo-shattering birth in Egypt by feminist pioneers up through viral Internet campaigns by today’s tech-savvy young activists during the Arab Spring. Moving from Tunisia to Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, filmmaker and author Feriel Ben Mahmoud tracks the progress of Arab women in their long march to assert their full rights and achieve empowerment. Featuring previously unreleased archival footage and exclusive multigenerational interviews, FEMINISM INSHALLAH is an indispensable resource for Women’s Studies, Global Feminism, Middle East and Islamic Studies.

 

 

Old South. Directed by Danielle Beverly. 2015. www.wmm.com. 54 minutes.

OLD SOUTH, through a quiet unfolding story, provides a window into the underlying dynamics of race relations that influence so many American communities. In Athens, Georgia, a college fraternity traditionally known to fly the confederate flag moves to a historically black neighborhood and establishes their presence by staging an antebellum style parade. What starts with a neighborhood struggle over cultural legacies in the South, the opening of a community garden becomes a grounds for understanding, as well as a physical and emotional space for healing, offering a sense of possibility and hope for the future. 

 

 

Selma, The Bridge to the Ballot.  Southern Poverty Law Center.
Produced and Directed by Bill Brummel.  Assoc. Producers: Lynn Stevenson and Juan Carlos Velasco.
2015  www.splcenter.org.  40 Minutes

Selma: The Bridge to the Ballot is the true story of the forgotten heroes in the fight for voting rights—the courageous students and teachers of Selma, Alabama, who stood up against injustice despite facing intimidation, arrests and violence. By organizing and marching bravely, these change-makers achieved one of the most significant victories of the civil rights era. The sacrifices of those who fought so hard for equality should never be forgotten. In the 2012 presidential election, more than 90 million eligible voters did not go to the polls. In the 18–24 age group, only six out 10 voted. And, in 2014, voter turnout dropped to a 72-year low. This 40-minute film, narrated by Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer, is a crucial reminder that each of us has the ability to bring about powerful social change and will help inspire young people and communities across the nation
to exercise their right to participate in our democracy.  (Meet the Filmmaker)


Starting Over Again: The Immigrant Experience in Boise, Idaho. 
Directed by Fabio Caramaschi. Co producers: Claudia Peralta and Fulvio S. Orsitto.  2014.  
The film highlights the triumphs and tribulations of the refugee community in the City of Trees. Boise State students collected data for the film produced by award-winning filmmaker Fabio Caramaschi. (Meet the Filmmaker)


Children of the Civil Rights.  Directed by Julia Clifford.  2015.  50 minutes.  
No one knew that a group of Oklahoma City kids were heroes; not even the kids themselves.
For six years between 1958 and 1964, a group of children went into restaurants and asked for service.
It never got violent; it never made national news; but together, they turned around every restaurant except one before the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Fifty years later, CHILDREN OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS Documentary Film shares their six year odyssey to freedom.  (Meet the Filmmaker)
 

The MLK Street Project. Directed by Nigel D. Greaves and Charneice Fox Richardson. Produced by Nigel D. Greaves. 2015. www.mlkstreetsproject.com. 45 minutes.
Birthed out of a Chris Rock joke making fun of the violence often found on streets named for non violent activist, Martin Luther King, this documentary follows 13 high school students from 5 different high schools in the Washington D.C. area as they travel cross country to observe and record, first hand, the condition of America’s MLK streets.  Narrated by Rain Pryor, the film keeps the comedy to cultural commentary connerction alive as it looks critically at the street naming phenomenon of King’s legacy and the effects of gentrification on the streets he once marched through.  For a generation which has heard the I Have a Dream speech like a broken record, the film serves as a radical remix. (Meet the Filmmaker)

Once Upon a Time. Produced and Directed by James Rulenbeck. 
2014. California Newsreel. www.newsreel.org.  32 minutes.
The extraordinary but widely forgotten story of a time when childcare for all wasn't just a fairy tale has been brilliantly told in this film. In the decades since, the evidence documenting high-quality child care as a critical ingredient in determining whether young children, their families and, indeed, the nation are to flourish has grown ever stronger. Once Upon a Time will inspire us to act so that childcare and preschool for all, finally back on the national agenda, will at long-last become a reality.”

Wounded Places: Confronting Childhood PTSD in America’s Shell Shocked Cities. 
Produced and Directed by Llew Smith. 2014. California Newsreel www.newsreel.org. 42 minutes. 

    PTSD isn’t only about combat vets and survivors of natural disasters. Too many of our children, especially children of color living in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty, show the effects of unrelenting structural racism, street violence, domestic instability and other adversities. And their symptoms look a lot like post-traumatic stress disorder. Except for many there is no ‘post'.

Wounded Places travels to Philadelphia and Oakland where a long history of disinvestment and racial social exclusion have ravaged entire neighborhoods and exposed children to multiple adverse childhood experiences (or ACEs). We meet families and some remarkable young people who have been traumatized not just by shootings, but fear, uncertainty and a sense of futurelessness.


An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland.

Directed by Loki Mulholland. 2013. www.anordinaryhero.com. 90 minutes.

“An Ordinary Hero” is the amazing true story of one woman’s courage to help change the world. By the time she was 19 years old, legendary Civil Rights Activists, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland participated in over three dozen sit-ins and protests she was put on death row in Mississippi’s notorious Parchman Penitentiary with other Freedom Riders. She was involved in one of the most famous and violent sit-ins of the Movement at the Jackson Woolworth lunch counter and helped plan and organize the March on Washington.

For her actions she was disowned by her family, attacked, shot at, cursed at, and hunted down by the Klan for execution. Her path has crossed with some of the biggest names in the Civil Rights Movement: Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, Robert F. Kennedy, John Lewis, Diane Nash, John Salter, and Harry Belafonte, to name a few. In addition, she has met such luminaries of that period like Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Marlon Brando, Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson
 

Body and Soul. Directed by Matthieu Bron. 2011. http://bodyandsoulmozambique.com. 54 minutes.

Victória, Mariana and Vasco are three young Mozambicans with physical disabilities, living in the townships of Maputo, Mozambique’s capital city. Victória transmits the self-esteem she received from her education to other physically disabled women by organizing a fashion show; Mariana uses her social energy to create helpful friendships and overcome the urban architectonical barriers and Vasco does business, repairing shoes in the informal sector. Their daily lives reveal their physical, psychological and emotional challenges.
The film explores how they look at themselves and others and raises universal questions about self-acceptance
and how to find one’s place in society.

2014 MCFF Selections:
Tucson Conference

 

In 1985 the important film, Las Madres: The Mothers Of Plaza De Mayo, was nominated for an Oscar. It profiled the Argentinian mothers’ movement that demanded to know the fate of 30,000 “disappeared” sons and daughters. Now, 30 years later, Argentina’s courageous Grandmothers, or “Abuelas”, have been searching for their grandchildren: the children of their sons and daughters who disappeared during Argentina’s “dirty war.” The women in Abuelas are seeking answers about their children that nobody else will give — answers about a generation that survived, but were kidnapped and relocated to families linked with the regime that murdered their parents.

This documentary film plunges us into Boggs’s lifetime of vital thinking and action, traversing the major U.S. social movements of the last century; from labor to civil rights, to Black Power, feminism, the Asian American and environmental justice movements and beyond. Boggs’s constantly evolving strategy—her willingness to re-evaluate and change tactics in relation to the world shifting around her—drives the story forward. 

Directed by Richard Ray Perez. Produced by Molly O’Brien. www.gooddocs.net. 93 minutes.

Cesar’s Last Fast is a Sundance Festival feature about the private sacrifice and spiritual connection behind Cesar Chavez’s struggle for the humane treatment of American farm workers. A panorama of Mexican American and American history, civil rights, non-violent protest tactics, the environment and labor struggles, this important new documentary gives students unprecedented insight into Chavez’s life and the historic farm worker movement. 
 

Children of the Light features the life story of 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu and the crucial role he played in bringing about the miracle in South Africa. Searing images from his own life, from the struggle against apartheid, and from the heart breaking yet inspiring truth and reconciliation process in South Africa will move across the screen, as Desmond Tutu leads us on a journey back in time. 

In Deaf Jam, Aneta Brodski seizes the day. She is a deaf teen introduced to American Sign Language (ASL) Poetry, who then boldly enters the spoken word slam scene. In a wondrous twist, Aneta, an Israeli immigrant living in the Queens section of New York City, eventually meets Tahani, a hearing Palestinian slam poet. The two women embark on a collaboration/performance duet – creating a new form of slam poetry that speaks to both the hearing and the Deaf. 

Defamation is a riveting interactive courtroom drama that explores the highly charged issues of race, religion, gender, class and the law. The premise is a civil suit: A Chicago South Side African American woman sues a Jewish North Shore real estate developer for defamation. Following the viewing of the film the audience will become the jury and vote on the verdict.

Produced by Lee Ann Bell. Directed by Markie Hancock. Teachers College Press. www.tcpress.com. 45 minutes.

This resource offers a powerful way to engage students, teachers, and community groups in honest dialogue about the ongoing problems of racism and what we can do to address them. The film tells the story of the first African Americans to integrate the white high school in Batesville, Mississippi in 1967–69. A provocative and moving conversation emerges from separate discussions with African American alumni, white alumni, and a third dialogue that brings the two groups face-to-face. The 45-minute DVD and Discussion Guide can be used to fruitfully explore several issues and related themes, including the impact of desegregation on both students of color and white students, racial bullying, the impact on victims, the responsibility of bystanders, and the role adults play in perpetuating or interrupting racial microaggressions that negatively impact students of color.

Directed by Mai Masri. Arab Film Distribution. www.arabfilm.com. 56 minutes.

Mona and Manar are two Palestinian girls growing up in refugee camps in Beirut and Bethlehem. Despite the overwhelming barriers that separate them, the girls form a close friendship through letters and a dramatic meeting at the Lebanese border. Shot during the liberation of southern Lebanon from Israeli occupation and at the beginning of the Palestinian intifada, frontiers of dreams and fears articulates the feelings, hopes, and growing activism of a generation of young Palestinians living in exile.  

Kumu Hina.
Directors: Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson. itvs.org/films/kumuhina. 75 minutes.

Can you imagine a world where a young boy can grow up to be the woman of his dreams and a young girl can rise to become a leader among men? Directed and produced by Emmy-winners Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, Kumu Hina is told through the eyes of Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a Native Hawaiian who is a proud mahu, or transgender woman, and an admired kumu, or teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader. The inspiring documentary captures the struggle to maintain the Pacific Islander’s culture and values amidst the westernized society of modern day Hawaii and reveals a side of the Islands rarely noticed by foreign eyes.

Directed by Julianna Brannum (Comanche). Women Make Moves. www.wmm.com. 63 minutes

Using the Verité documentary film style, this film showcases the life of Comanche activist and national civil rights leader LaDonna Harris and the role that she has played in Native and mainstream America history since the 1960s. Filmmaker Brannum, the great niece of Harris, celebrates her life and the personal struggles that led her to become a voice for Native people and her contemporary work to strengthen and rebuild indigenous communities, becoming a leader among emerging Native leaders around the world. 

This film examines the intersection of race, class and gender for Black women professors and administrators working in U.S. colleges and universities today. Through their diverse narratives, from girlhood to the present, Black women from different disciplines share experiences that have shaped them, including segregated schooling as children, and the trials, disappointments and triumphs encountered in Academia.

Directed by Nahid Persson Savestani. Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com. 75 minutes.

A student activist in Iran’s 1979 revolution that overthrew the dictatorial Shah, Nahid Persson Sarvestani fled to Sweden with her baby after Islamists seized power and began persecuting leftists who had been their revolutionary allies. Three decades later, events in Iran inspire Nahid to revisit that part of her life. Prompted by brutal crackdowns on anti-government protests in 2009 and long-suppressed guilt for abandoning a younger brother to imprisonment and death, the filmmaker locates and reunites with 5 female activists who survived torture and terror in the Islamist regime’s jails. Now living in exile, the women share gripping accounts of how their jailers tried to break them physically and spiritually, and describe what sustained them during these horrible ordeals. 

Producers: Yoruba Richen, Yvonne Welbon. Co-Producer: Angela Tucker. Director: Yoruba Richen. California Newsreel.www.newsreel.org. 53 minutes.

The film examines pro and anti-gay rights campaigns over the past 25 years to reveal how outside right-wing religious groups exploit the conservatism in many Black churches to try to make inroads into their communities. Featuring engaging portraits of religious and secular activists on both sides, The New Black culminates with the successful 2012 electoral campaign to preserve marriage equality in Maryland, a state with a significant African American population.

Produced and Directed by Audrey Geyer. www.ourfiresstillburn.com. 57 minutes.

This exciting and compelling documentary invites viewers into the lives of contemporary Native American role models living in the Midwest.  It dispels the myth that American Indians have disappeared from the American horizon, and reveals how they continue to persist, heal from the past, confront the challenges of today, keep their culture alive, and make great contributions to society. Their experiences will deeply touch both Natives and non-Natives and help build bridges of understanding, respect, and communication. 

This documentary celebrates the literary legacy of Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison. Writers, artists and scholars read her work and talk about the magic of her writing, how it subverts easy assumptions, and how its lyricism and spiritualism take our breath away. 

This inspiring documentary, which follows three brave human rights defenders in Liberia, Abkhazia, Georgia and Iraq over six days, gives insight into the everyday struggle to improve the situation of women worldwide. Six Days shines a necessary light on some of the most urgent and important human rights issues facing women today: girls education, honor killings, bride kidnappings and women’s health issues. 

Stuyvesant. Bronx Science. Brooklyn Tech: all nationally ranked public high schools are considered among the best in New York City and the nation. Each year, thousands of 8th graders compete to secure coveted spots at these elite schools by taking the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (the SHSAT). Admission is granted based solely on that single test score. Only one in five will get in. This documentary follows the struggles and challenges of a diverse group of students, many of them immigrants and working class, as they prepare for this all-important test.

2913 MCFF Selections
Oakland CA Confeence

 

In the U.S., race, more than any other demographic factor, determines levels of individual educational achievement, health and life expectancy, possibility of incarceration, and wealth. This film reveals a self perpetuating system of inequity in which internal factors play out in external structures: institutions, policy and law. Festival Opening Event,

Featuring Lynn Phillips. Media Education Foundation. www.mediaed.org

Social and developmental psychologist and author Lynn Phillips explores the line between consent and coercion in this thought-provoking look at popular culture and the ways real girls and women navigate their heterosexual relationships and hookups.

Does God really condemn loving homosexual relationships? Is the Bible and excuse to hate? These questions and more are answered in this award-winning documentary, which brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture—and reveals that religious and anti-gay bias is based almost solely upon misinterpretation of the Bible.

A troubling wake-up call to American women and parents of daughters, this documentary explores the impact of media and pop culture on the identity development of girls.

Distinguished historian John H. Bracey Jr. offers a provocative analysis of the devastating economic, political, and personal toll that racism has taken on white Americans. In a departure from analyses of racism that have focused primarily on white power and privilege, Bracey trains his focus on the high price that white people, especially working class whites, have paid for more than two centuries of divisive race-based policies and attitudes.

Through the eyes of funeral director Isaiah Owens, the beauty and grace of African-American funerals are brought t life. Filmed at Owens Funeral Home in Harlem and the rural South, Homegoings takes an up-close look at the rarely seen world of undertaking in the black community, where funeral rites draw on a rich palette of tradition. history and celebration.

At the International High School at Lafayette, a Brooklyn public high school dedicated to newly arrived immigrants from all over the world, five teenagers strive to master English, adapt to families they haven’t seen in years and create a future of their own while coming of age in a new land.  

Immigrant nation is a series of short films that get at immigration issues around the country in a very personal way. There will be two films shown from the series:

Caretaker (7 minutes) The film explores the relationship between an immigrant caretaker and an elderly woman in the last months of her life.

Mayor (10 minute) A small town Republican mayor has a profound friendship with the Mexican family next door and becomes an unexpected ally for the immigrant in his South Georgia community.

Filmed by graduate students at Boise State University, the film features interviews with members of the Latino community discussing the challenges they face in their daily lives. Although filmed i one community, the film resonates with universal themes for communities throughout the U.S.

The film examines how US news and entertainment media portray –and do not portray—Latinos. Drawing on the insights of Latino scholars, journalists, community leaders, actors, directors and producers, they uncover a pattern of gross misrepresentation and gross under-representation.

The Mosque in Morgantown follows one woman’s crusade against extremism in her West Virginia mosque, throwing the community into turmoil and raising questions that cut to the heart of American Islam.

Women are the fastest growing U.S. prison population today. Mothers of Bedford gives human dimensions to these rarely reported statistics taking us inside Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Shot over four years, Mothers of Bedford follows five women of diverse backgrounds and incarcerated for different reasons in dual struggles to be engaged in their children’s lives and become better themselves. 

When a Palestinian boy loses half of his home to Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem, he joins his community in a campaign of nonviolent protests. Efforts to put a quick end to the demonstrations are foiled when scores of Israelis choose to stand by the residents’ side

These are short films produced by students in a workshop setting sponsored by the California Film Institute. These films tell stories in the students own words about where they live. Students who made the films will be available to talk about their work following the films.

Told through the eyes of a native Punk Rock Band and exploring the lingering and damaging effects that residential schools still have on generations of First Nation communities. The band’s experience of growing up, working and living on reserve is featured while the band’s music provides a dramatic musical landscape for the film.

A coming-of-age historical fiction set in the 1850s, the film provides excellent, well-researched content on slavery in the United States as well as on everyday acts of resistance by enslaved people.

Cultural historian Dave Zirin examines the myriad ways sports culture has worked both to reproduce and challenge the wider culture’s dominant ideas about race and racial difference. Interviewed by Sut Jhally, Zirin’s analysis ranges from the emergence of professional sports in the 1800s to today’s commercial media sports spectacles to show how athletes of color have posed a direct threat to traditional notions of whiteness, white male authority, and American ideals of masculinity.

Sochan was one of the thousands of young women who were forced to marry Khmer Rouge solders in a coordinated effort to increase the population in Cambodia. Sochan’s husband raped and beat her before the then 16 year old girl managed to escape. After years of silence, she decides to file a complaint with the Khmer Rouge tribunal in hopes that the regime will be formally found guilty of the suffering that has overshadowed her life.

The film examines the political and economic forces at work in the trafficking of Burmese girls into prostitution in Thailand.

Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary (short subject), Saving Face is a harshly realistic view of some incredibly strong and impressive women. Every year in Pakistan, many women are known t be victimized by brutal acid attacks. With little or no access to reconstructive surgery, survivors are physically and emotionally scarred. Plastic surgeon Dr. Mohammad Jawad left his prominent London practice to return to his home country and help the victims of such attacks.

Award winning filmmaker Byron Hurt offers a fascinating exploration of the soul food tradition, its relevance to black cultural identity, and its continuing popularity despite the known dangers of high-fat, high calorie diets.

The films document a journey that 100 high school youth from 5 Minnesota high schools went through together during  the 2011-2012 academic year with New Wilderness Project.  The journey was about growing awareness, creative expression, breaking down barriers around race, class, sexual orientation, ability, religion, and ethnicity, and growing leadership for social justice.  The films highlight the students’ courage, ability to take creative risks, and a willingness to be vulnerable and honest about their experience in school.  The lessons they offer to educators and youth by speaking their truth are eye opening and transformative. 


2012 mCFF Selections

 

Films Screened at the 2012 NAME Multicultural Film Festival

 

Anne Braden: Southern Patriot (77 min.)

Director: Anne Lewis/ Appalshop Productions. www.appalshop.org.

For six decades Anne Braden (1924-2006) fought for civil rights in America. Born into a white middle-class family in Louisville, Kentucky and raised in Alabama, her work on newspapers in Alabama and Kentucky provided disturbing stories of the effects of racism and segregation to help facilitate change.

 

The Apollos# (6 min.)

Part of the Citizen Youth Activist Mini Film Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

Meet the trailblazing students who, over 20 years ago, fought to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday.

 

Article of Faith* (10 min.)

Part of the Racial Justice Film Mini-Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

A portrait of Sikh American activist Sonny Singh as he organizes NYC Sikh youth to combat harassment in their schools.

 

By-Standing: The Beginning of An American Lifetime* (5:56 min.)

Part of the Racial Justice Film Mini-Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

Spoken word artist Kelly Tsai raises her voice against war and complacency.

 

Exiled in America# (9:23 min.)

Part of the Citizen Youth Activist Mini Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

A look at immigration in the U.S., focusing on detention and deportation from the point of view of those who are affected most–children.

 

A Girl Like Me*(7:08 min.)

Part of the Racial Justice Film Mini-Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

A young filmmaker addresses standards of beauty imposed on today’s black girls.

 

Homecoming# (5:30 min.)

Part of the Citizen Youth Activist Mini Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

When coming out makes Ron a target, he finds a school where respect and acceptance are taught alongside English and Math.

 

I Am Sean Bell* (11 min.)

Part of the Racial Justice Mini Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

Young boys reflect on the Sean Bell tragedy, speaking out about their fears and hopes as they approach manhood.

 

Immersion*(12 min.)

Part of the Racial Justice Mini-Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

Moises, a ten year old student, struggles to communicate in his new school with limited access to his native language.

 

Into the Current: Burma’s Political Prisoners (83 min.)

Directed by Jeanne Hallacy. Media Library. www.yayzanlan.org/

Tells the story of Burma’s unsung heroes—its prisoners of conscience – and the price they pay for speaking truth to power in a military dictatorship. Using footage secretly shot in Burma, the film uncovers the stories and sacrifices of “ordinary” people of exceptional courage and the leaders who inspire them.

 

The Learning (98 min.)

Directed by Ramona Diaz. Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com/

One hundred years ago, American teachers established the English-speaking public school system of the Philippines. Now, in a striking turnabout, American schools are recruiting Filipino teachers. This film tells the story of 4 Filipina women who reluctantly leave their families to teach in the US, following them as they take their place on the frontline of the No Child Left Behind Act.

 

Living in Two Worlds (24 min.)

Producer: Richard Hersley. First Nation Films. www.firstnationfilms.com

Tells how native people see themselves – their past, present and their future. Young native people explore the meaning of being a native in a modern world while traditional elders highlight the past and the meaning of being managers of the land. This very moving and likeable film is a must see for all who want to catch a candid glimpse of native people as they really see themselves and as they struggle to maintain their identity as they live in two worlds––the old and the new.

 

Maestra (34 min.)

Directed by Catherine Murphy. www.maestrathefilm.org

Cuba, 1961: 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. 100,000 of the teachers were under 18 years old. Over half were women. MAESTRA explores this story through the personal testimonies of the young women who went out to teach literacy in rural communities across the island – and found themselves deeply transformed in the process.

 

Precious Knowledge (60 min.)

Director: Ari Luis Palos. Producer: Isabel McGinnis. Independent Television Services. www.preciousknowledge.com

Tells the stories of students in the Mexican American Studies Program at Tucson High School. While 48 percent of Mexican American students currently drop out of high school, Tucson HS’s Mexican American Studies Program has become a national model of educational success, with 100% of enrolled students graduating from high school and 85% going on to attend college. The filmmakers spent a year in the classroom filming this innovative social-justice curriculum, documenting the transformative impact on students who become engaged, informed, and active in their communities. The film includes comments by NAME President, Christine Sleeter and she will lead a discussion, following the screening.

Rights and Wrong (135 min.)

A film by Corine Huq. Women Make Movies. www.wmm.com

By returning to the roots of Islam and understanding how societies have found justification for their treatment of women within Islamic sources, this film debunks myths about women and Islam. Renowned Muslim feminist scholars and journalists detail how from early on very different understandings of the Qur’an lead to vastly different translations, with enormous repercussions for women living in different Islamic societies around the world. The film alternates between the history of Mohammad and issues facing Muslim women today—from the wearing of the veil, to praying in the mosque, and attitudes towards domestic violence and honor killings. It also looks at how feminism works within Islam in the modern era.

 

Satya, A Prayer for the Enemy (28 min.)

An Ellen Bruno Film. www.brunofilms.com

Since the Chinese invasions of Tibet in 1950, more than one million people have been tortured, executed or starved to death for their role in demonstrations against the Chinese occupation. Tibetan Buddhist nuns have taken the lead in this resistance by fearlessly staging courageous demonstrations for religious freedom and independence. Satya focuses on the personal testimonies of these nuns.

 

Slavery By Another Name (90 min.)

Director: Sam Pollard. California Newsreel. www.californianewsreel.com

Challenges one of our country’s most cherished assumptions: the belief that slavery ended with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. It recounts that following the Civil War, insidious new forms of forced labor emerged in the American South, keeping hundreds of thousands of African Americans in bondage, trapping them in a brutal system that would persist until the onset of World War II.

 

Slip of the Tongue# (4:06 min.)

Part of the Citizen Youth Activist Mini-Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

“What’s your ethnic make-up?” A young man makes a pass at a beautiful stranger and gets an eye opening schooling on race and gender.

 

Somethings Moving*(7:14 min)

Part of the Racial Justice Film Mini-Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

Deals with Native Americans sent to boarding schools and the impact of that on the children in their adult lives.

 

SOSÚA: Make a Better World (55 min.)

Directed by Peter Miller and Renee Silverman. Willow Pond Films www.willowpondfilms.com

Tells the story of Jewish and Dominican teenagers in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood, who together with the legendary theater director Liz Swados, put on a musical about the Dominican Republic’s rescue of 800 Jews from Hitler. Weaves together this little-known Holocaust story with a behind-the-scenes portrait of the making of the theater production. In a neighborhood where Jews and Latinos live side by side but rarely interact, the theater project brings its young actors on an extraordinary journey of discovery of what unites them – both in the past and in the present.

 

Standing on My Sisters Shoulders (60 min.)

By Joan & Robert Sadoff and Laura J. Lipson. Women Make Movies www.wmm.com

In 1965, when three women walked into the US House of Representatives in Washington D.C., they had come a very long way. Neither lawyers nor politicians, they were ordinary women from Mississippi, and descendants of African slaves. They had come to their country’s capital seeking civil rights, the first black women to be allowed in the senate chambers in nearly 100 years. A missing chapter in our nation’s record of the Civil Rights movement, this powerful documentary reveals the movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it – and emerged as its grassroots leaders.

 

Stand Up for Justice (30 min.)

Written and Directed by John Eskai. Visual Communications and Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress. www.vconline.org

Tells the story of Ralph Lazo, a 17 year old Mexican American student at Belmont High School in Los Angeles who devises a remarkable plan to support his Japanese American friends confined at Manzanar concentration camp during World War II.

 

There Once Was an Island (56 min.)

Director/producer: Brian March. Producer: Lyn Collie. On the Level Productions. www.thereoncewasanisland.com

What if your community had to decide whether to leave their homeland forever and there was no help available? This is the reality for the culturally unique Polynesian community of Takuu, a tiny low-lying atoll in the South Western Pacific. As a terrifying tidal flood rips through their already damaged home, the Takuu community experiences the devastating effects of climate change first hand.

 

Teens Talk Racial Privilege(25 min.)

www.teenstalkcultures.com

Teens of different races and ethnicities discuss their experiences with White privilege. Resource appropriate for middle and high school teachers who are introducing their students to the concept of White privilege.

 

Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North (56 min.)

Director/producer Katrina Browne Ebb Pod Productions LLC. infor@tracesofthetrade.org

Tells the story of the film maker’s forefathers, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. Given the myth that the South is solely responsible for slavery, viewers will be surprised to learn that Browne’s ancestors were Northerners. It follows Browne and family members on a remarkable journey which brings them face-to-face with the history and legacy of New England’s hidden enterprise.

 

Walking Home# (4:03 min.)

Part of the Citizen Youth Activist Mini Film Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

For the walkers, talkers and those who say nothing.

White Scripts and Black Supermen: Black Masculinities in Comic Books. (52 min.)

Director/Producer: Jonathan Gayles. California Newsreel. www.newsreel.org

In a serious, lively and humorous manner, the film examines the degree to which some of the first Black superheroes generally adhered to and were burdened by stereotypes about Black men. However we also witness how some images shifted to reflect the changing times.

 

Will I Be Next?# (5:23 min.)

Part of the Citizen Youth Activist Mini Film Festival: 6 Short films from www.mediathatmattersfest.org

Chicago youth explore the effects of gun violence in their neighborhoods and demand change.

Notes on Mini Festivals:

* Racial Justice Film Festival: 6 Short films from Media That Matters. Friday afternoon. 53:17 minutes total running time. All films in this category deal with Racial Justice. www.mediathatmattersfest.org

# Citizen Youth Activist Mini Film Festival: 6 Short films from Media That Matters Film Festival. Saturday morning. 35:25 minutes total running time. These films deal with Citizen Youth activists. www.mediathatmattersfest.org