When virtue is lost, benevolence appears, when benevolence is lost right conduct appears, when right conduct is lost, expedience appears. Expediency is the mere shadow of right and truth; it is the beginning of disorder.
A screening of “Wo Ai Ni (I Love You), Mommy” followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Stephanie Wang-Breal kicks off 3-day NALIP Workshop,
Stephanie Wang-Breal is fortunate to have a foothold in two worlds. Born in the USA to Chinese speaking parents, she is fluent in English and Mandarin. Nonetheless, she had to interview more than a hundred families before she found the right one to work with. She invested a good deal of her own money to launch the film project but eventually managed to secure significant additional funding to see her film reach completion.
In production, Stephanie found that her role as filmmaker would at times include that of translator and thus, she was reluctantly drawn in as a supporting actor in her own film. As documentaries often do, the project took on a life of its own. Her efforts have resulted in the creation of a remarkable record of the pairing and bonding of Fang Sui Yong, an 8-year-old Chinese orphan girl and the Sadowskys, a Jewish family from Long Island, New York.
Stephanie also touched lightly on another kind of second life that controversial documentary films must now inhabit – the one that is spawned on blogs and in discussion boards across the Web after a film is released. Not all of these “reviews” have been positive, but they fault the subject and not the film. In some ways this too can be seen as a success, exposing the issue to public scrutiny and fostering a passionate debate. Stephanie Wang-Breal is winning awards for her thought-provoking work, including her most recent, “Best Emerging Director in a Documentary Feature” at the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) in New York.
In the Spotlight this week is the 5th Annual ILLINOIS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (IIFF), celebrating a broad spectrum of indie films and screenplays against the vibrant backdrop of Chicago, Illinois.
With the belief that no matter the film’s budget or the director’s vision it’s the filmmaker’s passion that drives a film, IIFF declares itself a “no limits” festival, screening a multi-genre lineup of films from around the world. From underground and horror films to the more traditional family-friendly fare, IIFF has been known to show a diverse selection of works, offering something on the schedule for film fans of all ages. Noteworthy selections from years past include CRAZY, MASS ROMANTIC, GOD’S EARS, and documentaries HEARTS OF HOPE, JACK BE NIMBLE, FACING SUDAN, and FOUND IN CHINA which enjoyed sold-out screenings.
IIFF’s list of alumni only furthers the point: the festival is rapidly growing and picking up steam early on. Alumni include Mike Reiss (ICE AGE 3, “The Simpsons”), who unveiled QUEER DUCK at IIFF; Tony Wash (IT’S MY PARTY AND I WILL DIE IF I WANT TO), who recently inked a distribution deal; and Mark Roberts (writer/producer of “Two and Half Men”), who presented WELCOME TO TOLONO and declares it “a wonderful experience for showcasing my film.”
UPCOMING DEADLINE
July 31, 2010 – Late Deadline
Upgraded projects save $5 on this deadline
MISSION AND OBJECTIVE
The Illinois International Film Festival brings audiences and filmmakers together to better enjoy the art and fun of filmmaking.
MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Exhibiting filmmakers receive two all-access passes to IIFF festivities and a gift bag filled with swag. What’s more, the Festival emphasizes the filmmaker’s role in the equation; filmmakers participate in engaging Q&A sessions, sharing their behind-the-scenes stories and perspective on their films. Networking opportunities abound with fellow filmmakers and visiting industry players. Alum Warren Sheppard (STEWARD) gushes that IIFF “is an amazing…opportunity to meet…artists. I had the best time!”
Filmmakers & Screenwriters: to present your work in the great city of Chicago, submit to the Illinois International Film Festival today!
I hope to meet you at “Doing Your Doc,” an upcoming 3-day seminar in St. Paul sponsored by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) in conjunction with Native American Public Telecommunications, Native American Journalists Association, InMotion, St. Paul Neighborhood Network, IFP Minnesota, Intermedia Arts, UST, Latino Public Broadcasting, NBPC, ITVS, CAAM, PIC and Twin Cities Public Television.
Here’s a unique chance to work with story consultant Fernanda Rossi, the Documentary Doctor, author of the book “Trailer Mechanics,” plus receive project mentoring on your proposal, trailer or documentary idea. This intensive 3-day workshop is tailored for anyone… whether you are just beginning, have already shot footage on a documentary project or are seeking finishing funds.
“Doing your Doc” is designed especially for media makers in the diverse communities of Minnesota, preparing them to receive production funding and apply to national professional programs while developing unique stories and views. It takes place starting at 3 pm on Sunday and runs all day on Monday and Tuesday.
The Oscar-winning documentary film has been edited by Japanese distributor Unplugged, blurring out faces of fishermen and police, inserting tickers that express opposing points of view in parts where opinions differ.
If that’s not bad enough, 3 of the 26 theaters that planned to screen the film have backed off, canceling their scheduled screenings after threats of violence and intimidation. Japanese nationalists call the film anti-Japanese and claim that foreigners are trying to disrupt a 400-year-old tradition.
But scientists and environmental activists agree that one of the most important issue affecting the Japanese people is not about saving sea mammals. Dolphin and whale meat has been found to be very high in mercury says Tetsuya Endo, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido and one of the world’s foremost authorities on mercury levels in dolphins and whales caught off Japan’s coastal waters. He has shown in studies conducted on hair samples taken from residents of Taiji, Japan who eat the whale and dolphin meat sold in local stores, that they have extremely high concentrations of mercury in their bodies.
They call TestTube, an “ideas incubator.” This is where YouTube engineers and developers test out the latest advancements in beta format and ask you to test drive them. Here you can find the new online video editing application YouTube just released.
The new YouTube video editor is still in development, so the features are somewhat limited… for now. Here’s Dave Kaminski explaining how to use it to edit and mashup your videos adding in royalty-free sound files that YouTube provides:
There is an applications called CaptionTube that will let you add captions and subtitles to your YouTube videos. Video Annotations will let you add interactive commentary to your videos, link to other videos add notes and more. These are only a few of several interesting development projects you can find in TestTube.
“Alejandro is on the radio. Fuck it sounds so good, we did it little monsters,” – tweets Lady Gaga.
The dissolution of boundaries between music, art, theatre, dance and film, underway since the launch of MTV: Music Television in 1981, occasionally spawns elegant short form works of cinematic fine art. I must admit that last month, I scoffed at Time magazine’s inclusion of Ladt Gaga in their recent list of the 100 most influential people of the year… but I now withdraw that opinion. Alejandro, her latest video, fashioned with director and photographer Steven Klein, is crafted in the genre of an early Fritz Lang cinema noir masterpiece and immediately brings to mind scenes from Metropolis.
The latest Gaga video also reminds me of a rule I personally attribute to Ingmar Bergman – that each and every frame of a film should be so well composed that it could be printed as a still photograph and exhibited in a gallery. Allejandro exhibits that kind of attention to detail in Klein’s careful framing, form and placement of everything and everyone. It may be surprising to realize that Madonna’s “Express Yourself” video, also a Klein creation, was released 25 years ago. The comparisons are obvious…
As an ex-Catholic, I have always enjoyed the irreligious subtext in Klein’s work with Madonna and now with Lady Gaga. Alejandro is rich, dark and elegantly erotic. I am glad to be converted at last to just another Gaga worshiper, one of her little monsters.
Come back every day to vote for your favorite submission – even if it’s your own. Keep up with the contest on Twitter using the #pbsvideocontest hashtag.
At PBS.org, you can watch your favorite PBS shows on the new video player, in their entirety, whenever you want. You can interact with PBS producers and talent through live chats. Or you can get up close and personal with your favorite shows through blogs, Facebook Fan Pages, Twitter and YouTube.
The Associated Press said “PBS may be cooler than you think.” Check out our online offerings and see if you agree. Then SHOW us what you think. Create a 30 second video showing something surprising about PBS on the web.
Top 10 Tips for Making Your Video
Your video must show something surprising about PBS on the web.
Be innovative, clever, engaging or cheeky.
Your video must be 30 seconds in length, including a 5-second PBS video logo resolve. Click the link to view the video resolve, or right click to save the file to your computer: (Right click to download the PBS video logo)
Your video must be under 32MB in size.
Video must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. EST April 18th. Register, login and click UPLOAD MEDIA from the menu bar to submit your video.
You can submit up to three entries.
You must live in the United States to be eligible.
You must be at least 18 to participate.
Check out the HOME short video for ideas and guidance before you get started.
Videos should be thirty (30) seconds long, including a five (5) second PBS video logo resolve (an animated version of the PBS logo available from the contest site). Videos can be shot with camera phones, digital video cameras, or any other digital moving image format. No still photo entries will be accepted. All entries must be received by 11:59:59 p.m. on April 18, 2010. There is no cost or purchase required to enter the Site or submit a video.
As part of the BBC’s SuperPower season, take part in the MyWorld competition – make a two-minute video about how you see the world and you could be broadcast by the BBC around the world.
Stephen Kastner
MyWorld
The BBC says, “No-one sees the world the way you do. The BBC wants to see things from your perspective – and create a unique picture of our lives today across the planet.”
We are asking you to use any camera you can find – a mobile phone, a point-and-click, or a friend’s camcorder – and shoot a two-minute documentary with the theme MyWorld.
We are looking for original films that you think the world should know about and will shortlist films that are emotionally touching, important or visually impactful.
The best will then be selected by a panel of the world’s top documentary makers and assembled into sequences showing the stories of each continent.
About the competition
We are looking for entries from across the planet
You can interpret the MyWorld theme any way you choose. Your film could be a compelling personal story, tell of a place that is changing, or document the joy or difficulty of your work life.
Each film must be relevant to one of the five major continents – Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania – and must be tagged as such. You can shoot a single shot documentary, if appropriate to your story, or edit your film with any editing software available to you.
A selection of all work received may be shown on TV and online and an ultimate winner will be selected based on the judging criteria.
After submissions close, five prestigious MyWorld curators will each be assigned films from a particular continent. From each, they will choose and assemble a sequence of up to ten of the best films creating a fascinating portrait of the world today (Editor’s note: 10 films x 5 continents = 50 films).
Finally each of the five curated sequences will be available to view online and on BBC World News. An overall winner will then be chosen and receive a prize of a semi-professional HD mini DV camcorder.
You can enter the competition by clicking here.
(Closing date 1600 GMT March 5, 2010)
Five continents, any camera, any editing, plain and simple or complex and highly-crafted, no rules, no limits… where do I start? By taking the first step! I clicked there… and found:
MyWorld competition
Send us your videos for the MyWorld competition.
BBC World Service wants you to tell us the story of your world in a two-minute video. Full details of the competition are here.
To enter, we need you to do two things:
Fill in the form below. Don’t forget to include your name, email address and some background information about your video – and don’t forget to attach the video itself!
Email us at myworld@bbc.co.uk with the additional Information requested below. This is very important – if you do not do this we cannot accept your video for competition.
Your age (if under 18) – If you are under 18, please indicate that you have your parent or guardian’s permission to enter and provide their name and contact information.
Film Title
Country of Entry
Country of Filming
Synopsis
Original Language
Please write an English translation of all speech
Duration in seconds including any titles and credits:
Your Email address
Your contact phone number
Please name all contributors featured
Please list all contributor contact phone number(s) and email contacts
*If any contributors are under 18 then please provide their age and the name and contact details of their parent/guardian.
Please confirm that consent has been given by all contributors to both appear in the film and for their personal details to be supplied to the BBC.
If featuring music please confirm that this is your original composition and performance.
Remember that when filming please do not endanger yourself or others, take unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Please read our Terms and Conditions for the full terms of our – and your – rights.
The second step will be to spend one day – this day – the last day in the year of the rat, thinking about the synopsis of my world. Profound or simple. What is My World? It seems like a very appropriate way to end this year and enter into the New Year… of course, following the Lunar New Year, which seems more appropriate for me than the typical western habit of the Gregorian calendar. If nature rules my life then those are the cycles I honor – certainly not one dictated by Papal decree!
But My World is a hybrid, a mix of the natural and the technological. I work with computers and digital technology all day (and into the night) and heat my home with wood. I shovel my snowy driveway by hand with a shovel and often ride a bicycle, yet I have an old pickup truck. My World is a weird mix of ancient and modern.
Recently a Nexus One Android entered my life. I think it will very soon become my digital soul. I am wired now, everywhere I go, always LlinkedIn… seeking my synopsis.
Ingenuity goes a long way toward compensating for lack of capital, an axiom Kenneth Cole proved back in the early 1980s when he launched his fledgling shoe store out of a borrowed truck parked along a fashionable Midtown Manhattan street. Gaining a parking permit required a clever ruse. Cole added the word “Productions” to his company name, reinvented himself as a film director, hired models as “actors,” and got a license to shoot a film appropriately titled The Birth of a Shoe Store. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (the tongue-in-cheek name remains to this day) may not have produced much actual film that day, but it did sell an impressive number of shoes. Today, Kenneth Cole Reaction blends fabulous fashion with functionality, creating urban-inspired footwear for work or play.
Working with Debra Hadraba is an effortless “task” thanks to her innate capacity to spontaneously animate her songs. She calls it “working from the heart.” There has been much written about the heart-mind connection. Lots of it covers all of the negative emotions and their effect on health and well being. But there is another school of thinking that delves into “heart-smartness.”
This seems to be the same wavelength Debra operates on…
Together we are learning to create a whole new spectrum of “enhanced CDs” – ones that not only include regular music that plays in any standard electronic device, but also an additional collection of multi-media content accessible through a computer. The “Time on Fire” CD will include video e-books, our music videos, lyric sheets and more.
You can find out more about her work, order a copy of “Time on Fire” – and if you act before midnight on December 21, 2009 your name can be listed on the CD jacket as a Sustaining Patron. Details are at her Website: HonorYourTruth.com.
Special thanks to my neighbor, Kevin Nordahl for building and igniting the enormous bonfire featured in the above…
We are looking for entries from across the planet