A SMALL ACT will be a part of ENVISION this Saturday. This is more than a film screening, this is a whole day of ACTION!

A SMALL ACT to be Featured in the IFP and United Nations Collaboration: "Envision Addressing Global Issues Through Documentaries"

This year's program is exploring "Creative Solutions to Global Education Crisis"

This jointly produced event combines film presentations with substantive, live-audience discussions on pressing global issues. The UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) serve as the focal point for presentations, screenings, panel discussions and social networking. The Spotlight Focus for Envision in 2010 will be exploring creative solutions to our global education crisis, specifically focusing on the UN's Millennium Development Goal of achieving universal primary education.

Envision Forum Information:

July 10th, 2010

Located at the Times Center in NYC

For Registration and Ticket Information

Jennifer Arnolds's A SMALL ACT, follows Chris Mburu, a Kenyan boy whose life was dramatically changed when an anonymous Swedish woman sponsored his education, will also be presented. Now a Harvard-educated human-rights lawyer and head of the anti-discrimination section of the UN Human Rights Agency in Geneva, Mburu founded his own scholarship fund to aid a new generation. After the screening speakers will explore "Education Obstacles & Solutions in Africa - The Power of One."

ABOUT ENVISION

The non-profit Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) is collaborating with the United Nations Department of Public Information's Creative Community Outreach Initiative to create an annual destination in NYC that unites the international filmmaking community, civil society organizations, entrepreneurs, activists, journalists, economists, public policy makers, NGOs, and the general public with representatives from the UN in the shared goal of envisioning a better world for all.

ABOUT IFP
After debuting with a program in the 1979 New York Film Festival, the nonprofit IFP has evolved into the nation's oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, and also the premier advocate for them. Since its start, IFP has supported the production of 7,000 films and provided resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers - voices that otherwise might not have been heard. IFP fosters the development of 250 new feature and documentary films each year through its Project Forum of Independent Film Week, Independent Filmmaker Labs and projects in its fiscal sponsorship program. IFP believes that independent films enrich the universal language of cinema, seeding the global culture with new ideas, kindling awareness, and fostering activism. The organization has fostered early work by leading filmmakers including Charles Burnett, Edward Burns, Jim Jarmusch, Barbara Kopple, Michael Moore, Mira Nair and Kevin Smith.

ABOUT UN DPI'S CREATIVE COMMUNITY OUTREACH INITIATIVE

As the public voice of the United Nations, the Department of Public Information (DPI) promotes awareness and greater understanding of the work of the United Nations, communicating the activities and concerns of the organization to achieve the greatest public impact. Launched in 2009, the UN Creative Community Outreach Initiative was designed to highlight critical global issues through collaborations with the film and television industries.

NYWIFT and Women Make Movies present An Evening with Mothers In Film, June 30 at Tribeca Film Center – FREE!

Join NYWIFT and Women Make Movies for two films that question the price of child-rearing in North America! As supporters of women filmmakers, we find it important to recognize balancing child-rearing with making films that change the world! How do filmmakers do it? Answers on a postcard please...

Event Details:
The event is FREE and will take place on June 30, 6:30 PM at the Tribeca Film Center, 375 Greenwich Street (At Franklin) RSVP here

About the Films:
Laughing On, by Katja Esson, director of Academy Award-nominated Ferry Tales, explores the politics of breastfeeding in the US. After Esson's sister gave birth in Germany, she was able to breastfeed her baby anywhere, at any time. When Essen returned home to New York, she found that the breastfeeding her sister enjoyed was largely unseen, so she set out to learn why. Her frequently funny documentary highlights the intersecting economic, social and cultural forces that helped replace mother's milk with formula produced by a billion dollar industry.

Similarly, in My Toxic Baby, a new mother and award-winning filmmaker Min Sook Lee discovered that baby bottles leach a chemical byproduct linked to impaired health and serious diseases, so she set off on a journey that exposes the hidden dangers lurking in infant bath soaps, diaper rash creams, teething toys and many everyday products.

Union Docs now accepting applications!

Resident and Non-Resident openings for the UnionDocs Collaborative Program!

The Details:

Application Deadline August 1, 2010

The online application can be found here

About Union Docs Collaborative:

The UnionDocs Collaborative is a one or two-year program; both a rigorous platform for exploring contemporary approaches to the documentary arts, and a process for developing an innovative group project. The program focuses on providing what we believe are the most effective educational resources for individuals at the beginning of their careers:

* Mentorship toward the production of an original work.

* Dynamic interaction among a network of talented peers.

* Direct contact and structured exchange with visiting artists.

* Exposure to a wide variety of practices and models.

* Regular group critique sessions.

* Exposure through a toured exhibition and/or publication of annual project.

Shooting People + Vimeo Festival Awards = awesome!

Shooting People has paired up with the Vimeo Festival and Awards. WOAH - I know, pretty cool right?

Vimeo is running a film upload competition which features nine categories, a $25,000 grant for 'Best Video', and a jury for which to just die: David Lynch (yes, really), Roman Coppola, Morgan Spurlock, Lucy Walker, DJ Spooky ...

To celebrate, Shooting People want to have a good long debate about when and why to upload your film, and festivals' Premiere Rule. And so Shooting people have built this poll - To Upload, or Not.

Shooting People are going to be running it right up until the Vimeo Festival, NYC 8 & 9 October 2010(news of tickets to this compelling event as it comes to hand). Each week they'll be pulling a name out of the hat of a full, current Shooting People member who has participated in the Poll and commented, and awarding them a free Vimeo+ account.

Need anymore convincing that you should be a member of Shooting People? Check it out!

13th United Nations Association Film Festival October 22-31

“POPULATION – MIGRATION – GLOBALIZATION.”

Population - Migration - Globalization is the theme of the 2010 United Nations Association Film Festival!

Who is UNAFF?:
UNAFF has been MovieMaker Magazine among the top 25 film festivals worth the entry fee in 2010, UNAFF has also been praised by the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Dr. James Orbinsky, who accepted the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) as their President, who called it "not only the greatest documentary film festival in the U.S., but in all of the Americas."

Event Details:
October 22-31, 2010 in Palo Alto, Stanford University, East Palo Alto and San Francisco.

About UNAFF:
UNAFF celebrates the power of films dealing with human rights, environmental themes, women’s issues, protection of refugees, homelessness, racism, children, disease control, universal education, war and peace.

Take a look at the website and see how you can be a part of this great festival.

A Small Act Wins Big at the Nantucket Film Festival!

This weekend at the 2010 Nantucket Film Festival Jennifer Arnold, director of A Small Act was awarded the Adrienne Shelley Excellence in Filmmaking Award! AND her film tied with Radu Mihaileanu’s “The Concert” for the audience award for best feature at the closing ceremony of the fest!!

Here are some articles that discuss Jennifer's BIG win!
Indie Wire and Variety

Inspired to see the film? You can check it out at LAFF this weekend or on HBO, July 12th.

Sheffield Doc/Fest Extends Deadline to June 30!

FILM PROGRAMME SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE EXTENDED TO WEDNESDAY JUNE 30th

Sheffield Doc/Fest has received even more submissions than last year. With so many films coming through the door they are extending film submissions for the Sheffield Doc/Fest 2010 film programme to Wednesday 30 June. Although in a small, industrial town in the North of England, this festival manages to pull off killer films, industry networking opportunities and rollerskating! What more could you ask for?

Go to the Doc/Fest website and register your film before the deadline to ensure you are considered for this year’s programme

Remember their Youth Jury and Innovation Doc winners were pulled from the submissions pool so make sure you are in the running and get your film entered before it's too late.

If you have any questions regarding your submissions please email Doc/Fest's film programmer, Hussain Currimbhoy at hussain@sidf.co.uk

Impact Report from Lioness

Chicken & Egg Pictures is pleased to share a report that we funded with you from Lioness - a documentary film by Meg McLagan and Daria Sommers which tells the story of a group of female Army support soldiers who were part of the first program in American history to send women into direct ground combat. The film has had tremendous success changing hearts, minds and policies. Read the report here.

C&E grantees Sarah and Emily Kunstler's film William Kunstler: Disturbingtler: Disturbing the Universe to premiere on PBS POV TONIGHT at 10 pm!

On June 22, 2010, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe will air on POV at 10PM (or check local listings). Tune in or set your DVRs and tell your friends and family!


"The most hated and loved lawyer of all times" - The New York Times
"A superior documentary."- The LA Times
"Shatteringly good." -The San Francisco Chronicle

About the Film:
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe examines the life of this radical attorney from a surprising angle. Kunstler’s two daughters from his second marriage grew up lionizing a man already famous for his historic civil rights and anti-war cases. Then, in their teens, they began to be disillusioned by a stubborn man who continued representing some of the most reviled defendants in America — this time accused rapists and terrorists. In this intimate biography, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler seek to recover the real story of what made their late father one of the most beloved, and hated, lawyers in America.

Watch the trailer


For more information about the film please visit the website
For more information about POV

Pushing the Elephant: Three and a half years later, a film premieres!

Blog written by Elizabeth Mandel, co-director of PUSHING THE ELEPHANT. CHECK IT OUT THIS WEEKEND!!!

Tomorrow (June 12), Pushing the Elephant, Arts Engine’s ninth Big Mouth Film, will premiere at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center in New York.

Three and a half years ago, Beth Davenport and I were at a lunch exploring ideas for a new documentary in response to a request for proposals put out by PBS. With us at the table were Julia Pimsleur, co-founder of Arts Engine and then-Development Director at the social entrepreneur support organization Echoing Green and Lara Galinsky, Echoing Green’s then-Vice President of Strategy, Sasha Chanoff, an Echoing Green grantee and founder of Mapendo International, and Wendy Ettinger, documentary filmmaker, co-founder of Chicken & Egg Pictures and Mapendo International Board Member.

Sasha was explaining to us the inspiration behind the founding of his organization, which protects and cares for at-risk refugees in Africa. In 2000, Sasha was working for the US government, helping to evacuate Congolese displaced persons. In a camp in Kinshasa, Sasha met Rose Mapendo and her nine children. During the sixteen months of her internment in a death camp, Rose’s husband was killed, she discovered that she was pregnant with twins, delivered those twins, and, through sheer will and resourcefulness, managed to keep her children alive.

Rose and her family were not on the list of people approved for evacuation. Due to complications with Congo’s government, the rescue team had explicit instructions not to add any other people to the final flight out. However, it was clear to the rescue team that the twins would die if left in the protection center. They were malnourished, sick and, at eight months old, weighed about eight pounds each. Knowing that adding people to the flight might jeopardize the entire mission, the team deliberated and finally made the decision to include Rose and her family on the evacuation. Mapendo was founded in the hopes that no others in need would be left off of a critical list.

Beth and I were riveted by Sasha’s account of Rose’s story. I could practically hear the wheels of Beth’s mind turning as she thought about the ways this story could make a fascinating and important film.

And then Sasha continued. “By the way,” he said, “although Rose was evacuated with nine children, she has a tenth. A daughter, Nangabire, was left behind.”

Beth and I looked at each other.

“They haven’t seen each other since Nangabire was four. That was twelve years ago.”

We looked at each other again.

“They are going to be reunited soon. Nangabire’s visa has finally been approved.”

We waited.

“We’re expecting the reunion to happen in the next two to three weeks.”

We knew we had found our story.

We have come to appreciate the power of serendipity over the course of making this film: that we happened to have that lunch and that conversation just three weeks prior to a reunion that had been in the making for years; that Wendy Ettinger was there when the idea was planted, placed her trust in us, and brought on Chicken & Egg Pictures funding and Executive Producing support in time for us to be able to shoot on such short notice; that the reunion took place in New York, rather than in Phoenix where the family lives, and so we were able to call on friends and colleagues to help out.

And we have also come to appreciate the good will, efforts, talents and ideas of those friends and colleagues: established professionals who have donated their time; interns eager to take on new challenges; family members and their incredible fortitude; our creative team, with their fresh perspectives and the passion and commitment they brought to our project. As we pulled together the final elements of the film, the credits list was a reflection and a celebration of the collaborative nature of this project.

And so, it is with gratitude to the forces of coincidence and the perspiration and inspiration of so many, that we head into the final days of our premiere. We hope that the ninety minutes of film these three and a half years have culminated in do justice to all the elements that went into their creation, and to the story of Rose Mapendo and her family.

We hope to see you on June 12th, 13th or 14th at Lincoln Center, or at another screening near you in the near future.

Originally posted on MediaRights by Elizabeth Mandel

PUSHING THE ELEPHANT Premieres at Human Rights Watch next Saturday!

C&E Grantees Beth Davenport and Elizabeth Mandel's PUSHING THE ELEPHANT (formerly Rose and Nangabire) premieres June 12th at the Human Rights Watch! Chicken & Egg Pictures are Executive Producers of the film and have been on board since 2007! We are delighted to see this film go out into the world.

Screening Details:
Saturday, June 12 at 1:45 p.m.
Sunday, June 13 at 4:30 p.m.
Monday,June 14 at 4 p.m

All screenings are located at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater and will have Q & A sessions with filmmakers and Rose Mapendo following the screenings!

For More Pushing the Elephant screening details

About Pushing the Elephant
An intimate family drama set against the backdrop of the 1998 conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pushing the Elephant tells the story of Rose Mapendo, who was separated during the conflict from her five-year-old daughter, Nangabire. Rose survived the atrocities of those years and was eventually resettled in Phoenix, Arizona, with her other children. Now, after 12 years apart, Rose and her daughter Nangabire are reunited in the US. Through the story of their reunion, we come to understand the excruciating decisions Rose made in order to survive and the complex difficulties Nangabire faces as a refugee in the US—torn between her painful past and a hopeful future. In English and Kinyamulenge and Swahili with English subtitles.

About the Human Rights Watch Film Festival
Human Rights Watch and The Film Society of Lincoln Center invite you to explore the humanity beyond the headlines in compelling films from around the globe, many making their exclusive New York or U.S. debuts. Providing in-depth views on crucial issues, this is a film festival that makes a difference! Join in the dialogue-most screenings will be followed by discussions with the filmmakers and other special guests.

Taking Care of Business, REEL ENGAGEMENT style: The final day dawns as the residents pitch their projects!

Seven Filmmakers, three days, three awesome organizations and one goal: to work towards today, May 27^th when the projects get their chance to pitch and have “Quick Quality Time” with representatives from non-profits and funders – 62 of them, to be exact. Our co-founder, Julie Parker Benello, pictured above, took to the podium and shared the Chicken & Egg vision as to how films can play such an important role in the progress of social change. As the pitches took off you could sense how all around the room connections were beginning to be made in the minds of the organizations present as to how they could use these films to further their missions. Why are films important, you ask? I’ll send you to our partner and friends at Working Films who can SHOW you why with a great series of short videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/workingfilmsdocs

In the 10 minutes each filmmaker had, they did a fantastic job sharing their stories, showing their stories and turning their stories into concrete asks from the audiences when the lights go up at the end of the movie. The filmmakers concluded each pitch with the ideas and strategies they would like to discuss with the organizations further during the next session of the day, entitled “quick quality time.” Quick quality time was made of a series of 15 minute sessions where representatives, funders and activists could sit with the filmmakers and be able to talk more in-depth about the needs of the film, the organization and the movement with the idea of solidifying potential partnerships, funding and advocates.

The room was electric and reaffirmed to me why it is so important to have audience engagement partners as early as you can in the process of making your film; because these people work in your subject area full-time and can often bring great ideas, resources and an audience – early – to your campaign. I sat with Jennifer Redfearn of Sun Come Up and there were offers to host parties, link the film on their websites, connect the filmmaker to important people – future work for the filmmaker even!

Congratulations to my colleagues at Working Films, The Fledgling Fund and Chicken & Egg Pictures but most importantly, the filmmakers. I would like to take this moment to make sure you know these titles because they will be coming to a town near you soon – REEL ENGAGEMENT style, or as Lora Smith puts it, TCB (taking care of business).

MEETMARKET APPLICATIONS FOR DOC/FEST 2010 ARE NOW OPEN! DUE SEPT 1

Click here to submit a project to MeetMarket and have the chance to pitch your latest ideas to 150 (or more) international documentary and interactive media decision-makers, buyers, commissioners and mentors! I took part last year and found that I had been opened up to untapped stories, filmmakers and friends - will you be my next meeting when I return in November?

Submission Details:
Due: September 1st 2010
Fee: £10 plus VAT will apply per project in 2010
Application is online
For questions contact MeetMarket

About MeetMarket:
MeetMarket is a Doc/Fest's pitching initiative designed to match documentary, factual and cross-platform makers' most innovative project ideas with UK and international buyers.

An introduction to MeetMarket and what they are looking for!




Posted by Natalie

Want to know what to see at Silverdocs?

Check out C&E grantees Monica & David, My Perestroika, Wo Ai Ni Mommy and Budrus playing in competition at Silverdocs!

Monica and David
Monica and David are in love. Truly, blissfully in love. They also happen to have Down syndrome. Both have strong and long relationships with their respected mothers. Ali Codina's affectionate documentary is an intimate, year-in-the-life portrait of two childlike spirits with adult desires as they prepare for their fairy tale wedding and face the realities of married life afterward. Taking immense pride in their new roles as husband and wife, David wants to bring home the bacon, and Monica wants to fry it in the pan. They want babies of their own. But their unique circumstances still have them living with Monica's mother and husband. How will this unique family face its challenges and move forward?

Screenings Details:
8:00 PM Fri, June 25th AFI Silver Theater 1
1130 AM Sat, Jun 26th AFI Silver Theater 1
For more information on Monica and David Screenings

My Perestroika:
My Perestroika is an intimate and heartfelt portrait of the last generation of Soviet children brought up behind the Iron Curtain. Borya, Lyuba, Andrei, Olga and Ruslan were childhood classmates just coming of age when the USSR collapsed. Raised on communist ideals as children, the classmates must adjust to a post-Soviet reality as adults. Masterfully blending contemporary interviews with rare home movie footage from the ’70s and ’80s, along with official Soviet propaganda films that surrounded them at the time, the film paints a poignant and complex portrait of the challenges, dreams and disillusionments of this cross-over generation.

Screening Details:
6:30PM Thurs, June 24th AFI Silver Theater 3
1:30 PM Sat, June 26th AFI Silver Theater 2
For more information on My Perestroika screenings

Wo Ai Ni Mommy
Eight-year-old Fang Sui Yong is adopted by a Jewish couple from Long Island. Donna and Jeff Sadowsky dub their new arrival from China "Faith." Speaking no English, bewildered by unfamiliar surroundings and pining for her foster family, the girl proves a challenge for Donna and Jeff. WO AI NI MOMMY follows Faith and her parents’ twist-and-turn journey over a year and a half. In the process, the film puts a human face on the issue of transracial international adoption, and it shows how love can translate into every language, overcoming the barriers of an alien culture.

Screening Details
5:30 PM Tue, Jun 22 Discovery HD Theater
11:00 AM Sat, Jun 26 AFI Silver Theater 3
For more information on Wo Ai Ni Mommy Screenings

Budrus
As the conflict in the Middle East rages on, and Israeli-Palestinian tensions continue to escalate, this rousing film about one Palestinian village and its unlikely hero—humble family man turned activist Ayed Morrar—reveals the power of ordinary people to peaceably fight for extraordinary change. When Ayed’s small village, Budrus, is threatened with destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier, Ayed unites disparate Palestinian factions and progressive Israelis, and draws women into the heart of the struggle, in an unarmed movement to save it. BUDRUS eloquently captures the struggles and triumphs of the inspiring movement and challenges us to consider what is possible when people come together for a common cause.

Screening Details
7:15 PM Thurs, June 24th AFI Silver Theater 2
4:00 PM Sat, June 26th AFI Silver Theater 2
For more information on Budrus Screenings

PITCHING TIPS straight from the REEL ENGAGEMENT residency.

Day three and it feels like we’ve known each other forever by now. Today was dedicated to some very thorough pitch training in preparation for tomorrow’s presentation of the films to a group of NGOS, funders and activists. All the writing, pitching, feedback, practicing, pitching, feedback with a great group of filmmakers, organizations and mentors made me think how lucky we were to get the devoted attention of not only the very talented Judith Helfand and the Working Films team but also from the “hands-with” experience, storytelling skills and resources from the other filmmakers attending. Feeling privileged like this can also make you feel a little guilty so I thought I would share some of the tips we learnt today which are useful in honing your pitch.

If filmmaking is your second career, find a way to talk about your prior work/life experience. Your prior work experience (nurse, doctor, business-person, teacher, stock broker, mother, former sex worker, labor organizer…) makes you unique, offers a different kind of credibility, stimulates confidence and is often the source of your access. Take pride in it and use it. DIRTY BUSINESS’s Peter Bull and CAPEWIND’s ROBERT GEMMEL both worked for PBS networks working on non-fictional film and TV before deciding that they had to tell their own stories; their past experience of working in these institutions, but in supporting roles, means that they bring a unique perspective to their own projects.

If you have a personal connection to your project, REFERENCE IT. Personal connections do not equal “not professional” or “not objective” or “biased.” Make it a part of your pitch or written personal statement. Personal connection translates into access that Barbara Walters or 20/20 or Connie Chung or Michael Moore do not have. It is what makes the film YOURS and makes you a “better risk” (especially if you are a first-time filmmaker). Josh Fox’s GASLAND starts with him telling us how his beautiful home, built by his own parents, faces a very lucrative offer from a natural gas company for their land.

Make your characters come to life. Find a unique way to introduce your characters including their name, age, occupation/role in life and/or the thing that happened to them that led them to be the subject of your film. What is their role in your story? Are they recounting their history/story or are you following them as it happens to them? What is it about your trailer or excerpt that will convince us that this character is worth featuring and following? WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE follows an exiled Peruvian indigenous leader, Alberto Pizango, who is fighting the government in order to save the Amazon. Filmmakers Heidi Brandenberg and Matthew Orzel could not make the workshop this week because they are following Pizango’s return from exile to Lima, where he is being arrested as I write. Producer, Taira Akbar, has done a brilliant job this week of taking us into Alberto’s world, sharing with us his passions, his beliefs, his way of life. This opportunity will no doubt secure international support and global awareness of his campaign to save the rainforest.

Trailers/clips don’t have to come at the beginning. When pitching -- Consider using your visual aids (trailer, excerpt or still photos) to kick off your pitch. When the footage stops, pick it up with words, like a runner in a relay race catching the baton, and make a unique segue to your story. Use the placement of the footage/trailer creatively and strategically. Your presentation and/or the very words and images you use are a part of your overall ability to tell a story. The pitch for SUN COME UP starts with a short trailer but her choice to forfeit further pitching time in favor of playing a clip that shares her characters, their plight and their progress is genius as the tears generated by this scene will urge the reader to act more than any words could. Very powerful stuff.

Be prepared to talk about "audience engagement." More and more this is an important part of your package: an asset to a broadcaster, distributor, film festival programmer and social-justice media funder. They want to hear about how you foresee your film being used to support ongoing grassroots movements for progressive change. They want to know about potential and confirmed partnerships with organizations who can move audiences to not only tune in or show up, but also act, shift policy, and push for justice on your issue. For more about this go to www.workingfilms.org. Deborah Anderson brings a year of experience on working on the audience engagement campaign for her film, SPLIT ESTATE. She is able to share the audience need, the monetary value and partnerships formed to build stronger impact.

And, most importantly, SPEAK FROM THE HEART. These people are in the room because they WANT to hear your stories, you made your films because you had to bring these stories to people like this. Dig down deep (ha ha), like Jen Gilomen of DEEP DOWN suggests in this video:



What’s tomorrow you say? On Day Four, filmmakers will come together with representatives from several non-profits and funders. This group will be strategically selected to ensure that we have a cross section of organizations that are working on state, national, and international levels. Importantly, the group will be curated to include organizations that work on the specific micro-issues that each film addresses so that each filmmaker has at least one potential non-profit match in the group, though current partners will also be taken into consideration. Filmmakers will have the opportunity to present their ideas to non-profits leaders working on these crucial environmental issues who may become partners or are in a position to offer valuable feedback on the feasibility and impact potential of their plans.