http://www.mediarights.org/news/ en miannone7@gmail.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-09T14:30:11+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/dctv_presents_insuring_you_your_films_on_5_24/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/dctv_presents_insuring_you_your_films_on_5_24/#When:14:30:11Z Event / Call to Action 2012-05-09T14:30:11+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/CinemadaMare_Film_Festival/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/CinemadaMare_Film_Festival/#When:10:36:59Z International, Media, Youth, Event / Call to Action 2012-05-08T10:36:59+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/Call_for_Entries_6th_Annual_Toronto_Urban_Film_Festival_TUFF/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/Call_for_Entries_6th_Annual_Toronto_Urban_Film_Festival_TUFF/#When:17:59:02Z Environment, Family & Society, Gay/Lesbian, Gender/Women, Human Rights, Immigration, International, Africa, Asia, Australia/New Zealand/South Pacific, Canada, Carribean Islands, Central America, Europe, Middle East, South America, Media, Digital Media, Racial Justice, Arab-American, Youth, Identity, Event / Call to Action 2012-05-07T17:59:02+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/free_spirit_media_presents_focus_party_2012/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/free_spirit_media_presents_focus_party_2012/#When:16:14:28Z Media, Digital Media, Media Literacy, Youth, Event / Call to Action 2012-05-03T16:14:28+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/world_savvy_10_year_anniversary_celebration/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/world_savvy_10_year_anniversary_celebration/#When:16:29:16Z Human Rights, Media, Media Literacy, Youth, Event / Call to Action 2012-05-01T16:29:16+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/docuclub_screenings_next_docuclub_wednesday_may_23_at_92y/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/docuclub_screenings_next_docuclub_wednesday_may_23_at_92y/#When:15:40:16Z Media, Censorship, Film / Screening 2012-05-01T15:40:16+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/call_for_entries_reckoning_with_torture/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/call_for_entries_reckoning_with_torture/#When:19:22:51Z Human Rights, International, Politics/Government, Peace/War, Call for Entries / Submissions 2012-04-19T19:22:51+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/ateqah_khak/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/ateqah_khak/#When:17:26:27Z The Shortlist article series is your opportunity to learn about the films that inspire intellectual, artistic and activist leaders – leaders like Ateqah Khaki. We asked Ateqah to share her favorite films and her thoughts on the power of documentary to change the world. So what films make Ateqah’s Shortlist? Keep reading to find out. Who is Ateqah Khaki? Ateqah Khaki Ateqah Khaki is a senior communications strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) where she works to develop and implement campaigns and projects related to the organization’s work on national security; human rights; and speech, privacy & technology. She co-produced “Justice Denied: Voices from Guantánamo” an ACLU film that features five men who were held by the U.S. in Afghanistan and Guantánamo for years without charge or trial or any opportunity to challenge their detention. The film was awarded the “Global Justice Award” in the Tenth Annual Media That Matters Film Festival. Since 2009, Ateqah has worked as a communications and advocacy strategist for the “Reckoning With Torture” project, which seeks to shine a light on the scope and human cost of America’s post-9/11 torture program, as well as the courageous public servants and soldiers who opposed the torture program or sought to expose it. The project, a crowdsourced film collaboration between the ACLU, PEN American Center and director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Swingers), evolved from a series of ACLU/PEN-organized staged events that brought together actors, writers, and former military interrogators and intelligence officers to read from a script of detailing the treatment of prisoners after 9/11, interspersed with video clips from “Justice Denied” and artwork created for the project by Jenny Holzer. Footage from these staged events will be intercut with scenes of Americans reading selections from the same documents. Outside her work at the ACLU, Ateqah keeps herself busy working on personal projects including My Best Friend Is Muslim, a website she founded to fight back against Islamophobia, and HeartsHeartsHearts, a photo blog of heart-shaped objects in the world. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and will be beginning a graduate program in Media Studies from at The New School in the fall of 2012. Ateqah Khaki on the Power of Film I love documentaries because they are real, and quite often more dramatic than anything one could script. The stories they tell are real. The hardship and joy that they depict are real. And so, the impact that they have are real, too – both on the ideas and individuals whose stories they tell, as well as those of us in the audience who consume them. Story-telling through documentary film allows us to travel to places we may not otherwise go, to meet people we may not otherwise encounter, to contemplate ideas we may not otherwise consider, allowing our hearts and minds to open in a way that they might not otherwise. After we staged “Reckoning With Torture” before sold-out audience in venues ranging from the Sundance Film Festival to Lincoln Center in New York City, we began to realize the power of the simple act of standing up and reading the words of the documentary record in public places. The impact of these words made us think about how we could make that experience possible for more people around the country. By asking people around the country to help us make the movie, we are also asking them to take part in a national truth and reconciliation process. The film is both a call for a reckoning with torture and a record of a reckoning as it is happening. Ateqah Khaki’s Shortlist In chronological order, these are the films that have inspired me in some way over the course of my life: A Little Princess I have to begin with the film (and book!) that inspired me most as a young girl, and helped me to grow my imagination as a child. I recall watching this movie over and over again, even once in Spanish though I didn’t understand a word! The scene that stands out most is the one where the main character, Sara – after years of suffering negligence and abuse from the mistress of the boarding school where she is forced to work after her father is thought to be dead – awakens to her bedroom filled with riches beyond her wildest imagination. This scene will never escape my memory, because it was such a victory for Sara’s imagination and her humanity. The White Balloon Around the same time that I was compulsively watching “A Little Princess,” my parents took me to see this Iranian film, which tells the very simple story of a young girl who wishes to buy a goldfish. Then unaware of the broader political implications of the film and the critical acclaim that it received, I found the film strangely compelling even though nothing much happens, and am still moved by the humanity of the everyday that it so artfully depicts. Amélie Like everyone else in the world, I was so moved by the painfully shy Amélie Poulain, and her altruistic desires to change the lives of those around her for the better. I’m still inspired by that spirit, and endeavor to be a little bit like Amélie in all that I do. (And I find the soundtrack especially good to listen to when I’m cleaning my apartment!) Taxi to the Dark Side This is one of the most gripping and most important documentaries made about the so-called “war on terror” after 9/11. As an advocate who has worked to raise awareness about torture, extraordinary rendition, and indefinite detention under the Bush administration, I appreciate this objective and sober presentation of information in this documentary, which left me feeling disturbed, but motivated. Life in A Day I attended a premier of this crowdsourced documentary at Sundance Film Festival in 2011 when we were presenting a staged performance of Reckoning With Torture. I was so captivated by the film which was produced from thousands of clips submitted from nearly 200 countries around the world, and even more enchanted by the variety of filmmakers (ranging from professionals to children) who appeared on stage afterward for a Q&A. This film helped to inform the vision for “Reckoning With Torture” and opened my eyes to the power and potential of collaborative/crowdsourced filmmaking. KONY 2012 Regardless of how one feels about filmmaker/activist Jason Russell, the organization Invisible Children, or Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army, it is undeniable that this film has changed the landscape of video advocacy online irreversibly which is why I have included it on my list. As an advocate and a media maker, I believe there are important lessons to be learned from KONY 2012 and the literally millions of conversations and action that it inspired within just days. Article, Shortlist 2012-04-19T17:26:27+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/culture_project_presents_a_workshop_directed_by_max_stafford-clark/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/culture_project_presents_a_workshop_directed_by_max_stafford-clark/#When:15:33:51Z Event / Call to Action 2012-04-19T15:33:51+00:00 http://www.mediarights.org/news/register_for_the_9th_annual_games_for_change_festival_before_april_20th_and/ http://www.mediarights.org/news/register_for_the_9th_annual_games_for_change_festival_before_april_20th_and/#When:15:20:47Z Media, Event / Call to Action 2012-04-19T15:20:47+00:00