http://www.mediarights.org/film/ Copyright 2008 Tue, 06 May 2008 16:33:54 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Can a good person go tobacco? As the cigarette war rages, small American tobacco farmers have been the often overlooked casualties. Dynamic filmmaking duo Eren McGinnis and Christine Fugate travel across Kentucky to meet the families who have been growing this crop for generations, as they face the consequences of this fuming controversy in their own backyard. http://www.mediarights.org/film/tobacco_blues.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/tobacco_blues.php Tue, 06 May 2008 16:33:54 -0500 When does life become a fate worse than death? In this age of miracles, increasing numbers of doctors, patient and their families are forced to face this question. Phisicians/filmmaker Maren Monsen offers an intensely personal look at this modern dilemma and its timeless implications, as she takes us on a lyrical and heartfelt quest to dicover an art of dying in a world that taught her well to prolong life, but offered few prescriptions for treating death. http://www.mediarights.org/film/the_vanishing_line.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/the_vanishing_line.php Tue, 06 May 2008 16:28:20 -0500 When filmmaker David Zeiger decides to film his son Danny's high school band for a year, he gets a crash course in love, life and marching in formation. This poignant portrait celebrates the hormones, havoc and hope of the teen years and ultimately allows Zeiger to deepen this connection with one son while paying tribute to the loss of another. http://www.mediarights.org/film/the_band.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/the_band.php Tue, 06 May 2008 16:20:50 -0500 Filmmaker Ellen Bruno paints a stunnning and startling picture of an ugly reality of thriving sex industry in Thailand. Burmese girls, lured into prostitution with promises of a better life for themselves and their families, give voice to their exsperinces in this poetic tribute to their struggles for survival. http://www.mediarights.org/film/sacrifice.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/sacrifice.php Tue, 06 May 2008 16:12:52 -0500 A selection of hypnotically engaging short films by and about women that delve into the elation, passion and pain of contemporary female experience. From a vivacious celebration of coming of age in Elizabeth Schub's Cuba 15, to darkly drawn cycles of domestic trauma in Repetition Compulsion by Ellie Lee, to an evocative portrait of acclaimed author Dorothy Allison in Two or Three Things But Nothing For Sure by Tina DeFeliciantonio and Jane C. Wagner, this collection of cinematic gems offers vivid and lyrical pictures of joy, endurance and inspiration. http://www.mediarights.org/film/she_shorts.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/she_shorts.php Tue, 06 May 2008 15:58:20 -0500 The film is a documentary and chronicle of the internationally achieved artist, Yoshitomo Nara, collaborating with Hideki Toyoshima and accomplishing an exhibition, A to Z, in a warehouse, Hirosaki city, Aomori, Japan. http://www.mediarights.org/film/travelling_with_yoshitomo_nara.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/travelling_with_yoshitomo_nara.php Tue, 06 May 2008 15:03:17 -0500 Tzunami Ortega Coyra is about to celebrate her 15th birthday with a quinceanera party (similar to a "sweet sixteen" in the United States.) CUBA 15 narrates her preparations for the party in the little Cuban town of Bauta, where Tzunami says, "the best thing about the town is the discotheque," and the worst is that "the only place to go is the discotheque." Filmed in the course of a week, this short film portrays Tzunami's family, the town's local characters, and Tzunami herself with freshness and originality. Tzunami is a down-to-earth young woman who nonetheless embodies the contradictions of modern Cuba and of teenage girls the world over. She likes Che Guevara for "his human interests and his international experiences, but she likes the Spice Girls even more. She recounts, with the precocious world-weariness of the newly experienced, her "lasting relationships" with boys, even as she fears that with her newfound maturity, love and marriage will separate her from her family. CUBA 15, set to pulsating music against everyday Cuban backdrops, irresistibly captures Tzunami's youthful exuberance and provides a subtle and layered portrait of growing up in Cuba. http://www.mediarights.org/film/cuba_51.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/cuba_51.php Tue, 06 May 2008 13:29:27 -0500 Another State of Mind is a documentary film made in the summer of 1982 chronicling the adventure (and misadventure) of two punk bands -- Social Distortion and Youth Brigade -- as they embark on their first international tour. Along the way they meet up with another progressive punk band, Minor Threat, who they hang out with at the Dischord house for about a week near the end of their ill-fated tour.]]> http://www.mediarights.org/film/another_state_of_mind.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/another_state_of_mind.php Tue, 06 May 2008 13:19:05 -0500 http://www.mediarights.org/film/woodstock.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/woodstock.php Tue, 06 May 2008 13:09:50 -0500 Back in the '60s, the New York Road Runners Club was just a small group of men who ran on the streets of the Bronx. It took one eccentric first-generation Jewish immigrant from Transylvania to turn the NYRR into the largest organization of its kind in the world. Fred Lebow (the erstwhile Fischl Lebowitz) brought the runners to Central Park, where the first New York City Marathon was held in 1970. By the next year New York had two-thirds more runners than the Boston Marathon. But that was just the start for Lebow. Before "event marketing," when corporate sponsorship was in its infancy, Lebow was cutting deals, getting Playboy bunnies to race in the first women's mini-marathon, and helping to feed the growing popularity of running as a social activity. But it was the 26-mile, five-borough marathon, first held in 1976 during the city's financial crisis, that cemented Lebow's legacy. With a flair for showmanship, Lebow leveraged every opportunity, even the 1980 transit strike, to promote the benefits of running. He also faced scandals, including the Rosie Ruiz incident and revelations that he had paid athletes under the table. With New York City Marathon winners Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, and Grete Waitz on hand, as well as many of Lebow's former colleagues, filmmaker Judd Ehrlich (the Emmy-nominated Mayor of the West Side) takes an affectionate look at a New York hero who inspired runners worldwide to go the distance. Fred Lebow's story is the story of the New York Marathon, a scrappy race around Central Park that evolved into a five-borough event that attracts thousands of runners from around the world. --Nancy Schafer, Co-Executive Director, Tribeca Film Festival http://www.mediarights.org/film/run_for_your_life.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/run_for_your_life.php Tue, 06 May 2008 11:09:02 -0500 Bill Utermohlen’s 24 late self portraits prove that Alzheimer patients are aware of their condition: through his paintings he is ‘Telling it like it is,’ in what doctors agree to be a “unique journal of a human experience.” The “unawareness of, or failure to acknowledge ones (...) disability” can’t be considered a symptom for Alzheimer anymore. Bill, who has been a struggling artist all his life, finds himself on TV shows, an exhibition of his late work has toured the World since 2001. Not only did Bill’s painting style evolve and transform, he is for the first time in his life, the ‘bread winner’. Pat, his energetic, voluble wife of 40 years on her journey, facing challenges and changes in the time surrounding Bill’s death in what will be a crucial year in her life. As she re-defines her role, re-thinks her marriage and tries to make sense of it all, it becomes her new quest to fight for Bill’s artistic recognition and for the first time, the art historian is talking about his work publicly. http://www.mediarights.org/film/telling_it_like_it_is.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/telling_it_like_it_is.php Fri, 02 May 2008 10:16:21 -0500 Scientists concerned with human health & ecologic consequences of genetically modified foods question biotech's stance that genetic engineering is safe and combats food scarcity & drought. Globally respected experts debate pros and cons, motivating viewers to learn. Ultimately, consumers control the direction of the food industry. It comes down to what they know about GMOs and what they want. http://www.mediarights.org/film/my_kitchen_is_not_your_lab.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/my_kitchen_is_not_your_lab.php Thu, 01 May 2008 10:12:13 -0500 This is the story of Kenyans who went to vote only to be killed the following day by people they loved. http://www.mediarights.org/film/blood_on_the_ballot.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/blood_on_the_ballot.php Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:36:57 -0500 Otieno, a twelve year old orphan living in Kibera, Kenya, one of Africa’s largest urban slums, lives with the Razors gang. Enraged by a cell phone theft, a mob tries to kill Otieno. He is saved by Wamatope, the community security person who is the enemy of all Kibera gangs. Otieno must choose between gang life and redemption. Filmed on location in Kibera with an all local cast and youth participation, Kibera Kid is a window into the lives of slum youth in Africa and raises many issues about gangs, violence, mob justice, poverty and alternatives. http://www.mediarights.org/film/kibera_kid.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/kibera_kid.php Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:40:12 -0500 Cuba 15, set to pulsating music against everyday Cuban backdrops, irresistibly captures Tzunami's youthful exuberance and provides a subtle and layered portrait of growing up in Cuba.]]> http://www.mediarights.org/film/cuba_15.php http://www.mediarights.org/film/cuba_15.php Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:23:21 -0500