At IDFA? Check out the Chicken & Egg projects there!

MONICA & DAVID by ALI CODINA:

PUBLIC SCREENINGS:
Monday 23/11, 11:00 (Munt 11) **
Thursday 26/11, 18:15 (Tuschinski 2) **
Saturday 28/11, 14:15 (Munt 13) **

**Monica, David & the director will be present for Q&As at all public screenings!

INDUSTRY SCREENINGS
Sunday 22/11, 12:45 (Tuschinski 3)
Wednesday 25/11, 12:15 (Tuschinski 3)

Monica and David explores the marriage of two adults with Down syndrome and the family who strives to support their needs. Monica and David embody child-like spirits with adult desires; they are aware of their need for assistance, but also capable beyond traditional expectations. Behind the couple's blissful love are two mothers who struggled against an intolerant world, and with this wedding, realize a dream.

GARBAGE DREAMS BY MAI ISKANDER:

PUBLIC SCREENINGS:
Friday, November 20th at 17:30
@ Tuschinski 2

Saturday, November 21th at 16:00
@ Tuschinski 4

Sunday, November 28th at 21:30
@ Munt 11

GARBAGE DREAMS follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world's largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen, Arabic for "garbage people." Far ahead of any modern "Green" initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.

MORE INFO ON IDFA AND TO PURCHASE TICKETS https://www.idfa.nl

Read about how STORY LED TO ACTION for Lioness at 92Y last night.

Last night, Chicken & Egg Pics, hosted the second round of the 'Story Leads to Action' series held at 92y Tribeca with a screening of C&E produced, award winning film 'Lioness'. Directed by Meg Mclagan and Daria Sommers, the film follows one of the initial core groups of female veterans to have served in direct combat missions in Iraq in 2003.

After the screening of the documentary, the filmmakers lead a discussion specifically aimed at breaking down successful outreach strategies and audience engagement practices with fellow filmmakers and audience members.

Below are some of the tips from the 'Lioness' crew about how this story, that was a mere footnote in the press, came to be screened on Capitol hill and had a direct role in pushing for better support for female veterans under government law: The bill S. 597: Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009 was officially passed yesterday, neatly coinciding with yesterdays event in honour of their achievements as an example of a Story which lead to Action, and so it follows that their first tip in a successful outreach campaign is;

* TIMING - The filmmakers emphasized their luck or should we say gift with the right timing.
The film was shot as the story was unraveling which coincided with media interest and related advocacy organizations working to highlight the issue and bring it to the right policy makers attention. KEY; Awareness of timing in related public institutions and media.
e.g. Over the last couple of years the VA has been undergoing a huge overhaul to review its practices and provide better care for the increasing number of veterans in the U.S. 'Lioness' helped to increase pressure, so that specific care for female veterans be taken into consideration and drafted into the annual budget.

*INTERVIEWEES - Many of their subjects interviewed in the film became good outreach contacts, who provided them with the most suitable leads to get the ball rolling towards a self-sustaining public outreach campaign, first through VET Centres, VA libraries etc.
e.g. one of the interviewees happened to be the Marine Liason for the House of Representatives which had considerable impact in bringing the film to the attention of the right policy makers.

*FACE to FACE CONTACT is something we all learn in the most basic of career advice, but with time and expense considerations often this form of meeting poses an unnecessary burden when the efficiency of email is close to hand. However Daria and Meg pushed for considerable grants from a variety of film funds (Chicken&Egg, Fledgling Fund, OSI Institute etc.) concerned with investing as much in the outreach process as in making the film, which afforded them the travel and time to organize the presence of key members of the Lioness team, for site specific screenings where their presence would be felt most.
e.g. Female veterans attended a key screening on Capitol hill which took nine months to organize and were also present for formal appointments with government officials, working to personalize the story, heighten audience engagement and play a decisive role in changing government policy.

The Result
- An immeasurable increase in awareness and respect of the bravery shown by women who engaged in combat without question to duty, despite having very little training beforehand or receiving any formal recognition and support for their service in combat on their return home.
- Compensation for female veterans who can now be recognized by the V.A. as having served in direct combat.
- Improved female health care provided by the VA, including GYN care and funding to explore gender differences in PTSD symptoms and subsequent variations of required support.

AND as of yesterday...

The Senate passage of the Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health bill was passed by a vote of 98-0, containing Senator Murray's Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009, which aims to equip the VA for the long‐term needs that will be associated with a larger women veteran population through assessment, expansion, and improvement health care services to women veterans, particularly those brave women who have served our country in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Women now make up fifteen percent of current active duty Guard and Reserve forces, and the number of women veterans enrolled in the VA system is expected to double in the next five years,” said Senator Patty Murray.“Because the conflicts of today do not have the clear front lines of past wars, women, like all of our servicemembers, are always on the front lines - riding on dangerous routes, guarding key checkpoints, and seeing the horrors of war first-hand. We simply cannot overlook the growing number of women veterans, or their unique needs, any longer. Instead, we need to make sure that the VA is prepared to care for the needs of these honorable veterans today.”

Garbage Dreams named on the Academy's shortlist for Best Documentary

Congratulations to I BELIEVE IN YOU grantee Mai Iskander for reaching the Academy's shortlist with GARBAGE DREAMS.

The full story from indiewire can be read here:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/academy_names_15_to_documentary_shortlist/

"Garbage Dreams" follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world's largest garbage village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen, Arabic for "garbage people." Far ahead of any modern "Green" initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 percent of the garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the globalization of its trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.

Read about their progress in Cairo, their success on the festival circuit and look up their screening schedule at IDFA at www.garbagedreams.com

THIS WEEK: STORY LED TO ACTION. NOW WHAT? Special LIONESS screening and discussion.

The next Chicken & Egg Pics installment of the Story Leads to Action Series hosted with Working Films and the Fledgling Fund will take place this Thursday, November 19th at the usual venue, 92Y Tribeca, at 7:30pm.

This evenings example of a story that made some permanent impact in policy and initiated a self-sustaining campaign, is C&E executive-produced 'Lioness' directed by Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers, a film that re-counts the experiences of a group of female vets re-adjusting to life on the home front after serving (un-trained for) combat time in Iraq.

The aim of the evening is to bring together filmmakers with fellow advocacy workers to share and review effective outreach and audience engagment strategies, with 'Lioness' filmmakers leading the discussion to highlight their achievements, in particular instigating the proposed government bill; Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2009.

So you've made a film that has played at festivals, had a national TV broadcast, and had lasting impact on an issue (in this case women in the military and womens' veteran health care). How do you keep the momentum going? How can your film, and the activism it inspired, live on?

To keep updated on recent news about the film visit the Lioness home page here

The screening will be held at 92y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013

To purchase tickets click here
There is a special discount for veterans and servicemembers. Please use LION when purchasing your tickets and present your card when picking them up.

The Fledgling Fund Outreach and Engagement Grant for Social Issue Documentaries Awards its 1st Film

THE WAY WE GET BY is the first film to receive the $10,000 Outreach and Engagement Grant For Social Issue Documentaries made possible by the Fledgling Fund and supported by The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers.

Recently broadcast on POV over Veterans Day (November 11)THE WAY WE GET BY, directed by Aron Gaudet, and produced by Gita Pullapilly, documents a group of troop greeters devoted to honoring those who serve in the military by welcoming them home off their flights in Maine. A simple act offering poignant insight to deeper human struggles with aging, loneliness, war, and mortality.

The award was given to support a particular aspect in the films outreach, to fund three community screenings around military bases that have had the highest casualties and rate of suicides, PTSD cases, and domestic violence. These three community screenings will also highlight the companion web-based RETURNING HOME PROJECT, as well as inform and educate audiences relevant to the film following the national broadcast on P.O.V.

“This grant speaks directly to the core of Fledgling's mission: to foster audience engagement around the issues presented in documentaries," says Milton Tabbot, Senior Director of Programming. "We greatly appreciate The Fledgling Fund's continuing support of social issue documentarians from IFP Programs, which they have done since 2006.”

Additional grant finalists included one of Chicken & Egg's own grantees, LAND OF OPPORTUNITY, directed by Luisa Dantas; FRESH, directed by Ana Sofia Joanes; and SPEAKING IN TONGUES, directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider. The grant was open to recent alumni projects of IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries program where the social-issue driven project is now in post-production or completed.
The juried award was selected by Pat Aufderheide (Professor and Director, Center for Social Media at American University), Caitlin Boyle (Founder, Film Sprout), Sheila Leddy (Executive Director, The Fledgling Fund) and was presented by The Fledgling Fund's Founder and President, Diana Barrett.


The Fledgling Fund leverages their resources by funding projects around a cluster of critical issues, including: girls' empowerment and women's leadership, health, immigration, and systemic poverty, among others. The Fledgling Fund seeks projects that not only highlight the complexity of these social problems but also offer solutions.

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe OPENS TONIGHT

A touching retrospective of the 'The most hated and most loved lawyer in America', the late William Kunstler's life as a radical civil rights lawyer is intimately explored by his two daughters Emily and Sarah Kunstler. In the 1960s and 70s, William Kunstler fought for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. and represented the famed “Chicago 8” activists who protested the Vietnam War. When the inmates took over Attica prison, or when the American Indian Movement stood up to the federal government at Wounded Knee, they asked Kunstler to be their lawyer.

For a further insight to the highly controversial cases the man who 'dared to disturb the universe' fought, most well-known being his historical defense of the "Chicago 8", and why his daughters felt compelled to share the personal story of a publicly revered and reviled man, see an interview with Emily and Sarah at GRITtv with Laura Flanders earlier this week.

Screenings continue all week from Friday, November 13 at Cinema Village
Address: 22 East 12TH Street
Tickets: $11.00 online or at the theater or call (212) 924-3363 for tickets and showtimes

For further information and screenings elsewhere visit their website here