Why are so many low-budget and community films let down by poor attention to sound? What do we need to do to make our films a resounding success?
The obvious answer is that we live in a world where the visual takes priority. We don't really listen to the sounds around us. In fact we often - without realizing - block out sounds that may be distracting. But when we play back a recording the wrong sounds leap out and obstruct the message.
Our golden rules and tips for success with sound are
Accept that manufacturers of budget camcorders often cut costs by using a poor microphone device. A small investment of $150 will make a big difference to your recordings.
Practise listening to the world around you. How many sounds can you hear? Traffic? The computer's fan? Birdsong? The rustle of your clothes? Your keyboard as you type? A chair creaking? Your breathing? Your heartbeat? (Try to count twenty environmental sounds as a listening exercise with your film crew.)
Some background sounds are helpful in creating an atmosphere. But if some of your sounds begin to distract from the clarity of your speaker's voice, for instance, then urgent remedial action is required. Remember than you can add a track with background or atmospheric sounds - on top of the voice interview. This approach gives you far more control over your material.
With artificial amplification the effects on our listening and hearing are easier to discern. Therefore I recommend that you invest in a good external microphone and learn how to use it. Practise listening to the world around you with a good quality microphone and headphones. Learn to notice how different the recording can be from 'normal' hearing.
When making your film it is good practice to have one person with responsibility for recording and monitoring the sound. Attentive listening can also be a shared activity and is very strenuous and tiring as it demands a lot of concentration.
Microphone position is also important. Again trial and error is essential. A boom pole, for example, allows you to place a microphone in an ideal position just above a speaker's head. With a shotgun microphone you can point at an object to be recorded. Clip microphone can also be effective for interviews.
If you are doing an interview try to avoid the urge to speak over the interviewee; also avoid fidgeting, laughing, and vocally (dis)agreeing as the person speaks - off-screen sounds cannot be deleted.
A lot of time is spent thinking about locations in visual terms. But it is also essential to think about the recording as a sound environment. Set up you camcorder or microphones underneath the air-conditioning system, for instance, is not a good idea. Some large rooms may have unpleasant echo and reverb effects. Unfurnished rooms lack warmth.
A wind-jammer can be effective to cut down on noise caused by wind. You will find that cheap cameras are adversely affected even by a light breeze that begins to sound like a raging hurricane.
Watch the recording levels on your camera or recording equipment. Set the Gain/Volume so that the louder noises do not push the recording levels into the red zone where the recording will sound distorted. Trial and error take planning and time. Don't cut corners.
Timing: Don't start recording until everyone is ready. Don't stop until everyone has finished. It is good practice to record an extra minute of sound.
Do not set the volume levels too low. You can increase them on playback but you will also be increasing the unwanted background noises.
Remember that there is no remedy for badly distorted recordings at the film/sound edit stage.
Pay attention to sound in your editing. Reject clips with bad sound just as you would dispose of clips that are out of focus.
Consider investing in recorded music as part of your soundtrack. It really lifts a film and can also add continuity by linking section of the film thematically. Or maybe you can record a community choir or local band. Think local and DIY.
Experiment with fading sounds in and out in your edit.
Ensure that sound levels have been balanced and equalized across your film. It is annoying if we have to keep turning the sound up and down on a DVD.
If you are using music in your film comply with legal requirements.
Invest in, and insist on, excellent speakers and amplification when you screen / present your film to the public.
Think Disability. Are subtitles and audio description appropriate and helpful? - and in your budget?
Communities have things done to them; they are seldom in charge of their own destiny. Sometimes it's quite difficult to work out who is really pulling the strings. The sources of power are often hidden and far away.
The disparity between donor and beneficiary exists on many levels: North/South; urban/rural; male/female; black/white; bourgeois/worker; West/Oriental; Christian/Islamic and so on.
Ideally the funding programme will have been informed by research with the oppressed community in order to ascertain their needs, and their priorities for change.
The reality is more likely to be guided by the donors’ existing scheme of values. Their ways of doing things. Their priorities. When we enforce an alien doctrine we do more harm than good. We deal with the wrong priorities. Our efforts, perhaps well-meaning, are misguided.
A recurring issue in the field of education and development work which is insufficiently documented is how certain scenarios and pressures cause us to deviate from the empowerment and participation strategies which have been demonstrated to work effectively. The possibility of successful work is compromised on a variety of levels and at different stages of a project. On a more global scale, the encompassing strategy may be flawed in the process of research, planning and development. For the community development worker there will be experiential issues of conscience and compromise, of fear and frustration, that do not make it into the final evaluation which often ends up being as neutral as is neutered.
The most common problem is the disjunction between the aspirations of the funding bodies and their target groups; the preoccupations of distant charities and remote trustees often have a poor fit with the lived experience on the ground.
I often think of the ventriloquist and the dummy. While the dummy appears to lead, has the best lines, and a comic energy, behind the scenes the power balance belongs to the ventriloquist. The dummy appears to be the leading actor and occupies the stage, but when the curtain falls, dummy returns to his box and the ventriloquist is free and self-determined in his expression.
Note that I’m not saying that the oppressed are silenced; just that smooth operators are skilled at speaking on their behalf. There is a necessary communication deficit when we talk through someone, rather than being liberated to speak for ourselves.
(Let me know what you’re thinking if you’ve read Nick Couldry’s new book Why voice Matters: Culture and Politics after Neoliberalism London: Sage Publications 2010).
One example which I cam across recently was female genital mutilation. It is an issue which is being widely and rightly addressed by campaigners, support workers, help groups, and development education programmes worldwide. But Dr Augustin Hatar, a theatre education researcher, discovered that amongst the Barbaig, a nomadic ethnic group in Northern Tanzania, female genital mutilation was not an identified issue or priority for change. Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) had been using the participatory theatre methodology to sensitize women about their rights. Dr Hatar noted that
“The central themes of these previous experiences centered around issues such as domestic violence, girl education, property inheritance for women, HIV/AIDS and women, early and forced marriages as well as girl education.”
Meanwhile, HAWOCODA (Hanaang Women’s Counseling and Development Association) formed in 1993 had by 1999 recorded 388 cases related to women’s problems, including 115 cases for rape and 87 cases for domestic violence.
But from the villager’s perspective the first issue was reclaiming their grazing rights; levels of poverty; men pocketing sales of goats and cows and squandering the money gained on alcohol; men frequenting bars and consorting with women; acquired sexually transmitted diseases.
The women noted violence against them but also complained of their grinding poverty and excessively hard work. As Dr Hatar noted, “wife beating was an expected phenomenon. Not that it was seen to be good, but that it was seen as an ordinary event.” (15-16)
Education of females also required special consideration when considered from within the local social context:
“With regard to girl education, the community said that they saw no value from the end products of such schooling as instead those who went through school brought them enormous embarrassment and shame when they took jobs of “ washing dishes” for rich people.”
When you’re speaking on behalf of someone, or working for the donor, there’s a danger that you’re not meeting the needs of the ‘beneficiaries.’ You’re putting words into their mouths.
Participation is under attack. We are encouraged to take part but in the process part of us is commodified and sold off. How can people keep hold of the power that is their birthright? Why do I constantly get stuck in the net of someone's else's program(mme) ?
In the current exploitative model of participation, my contribution to the web and my use of emails, cell / mobile phones, apps etc chiefly supports global corporate power, because it
permits part of me/my world to be stolen for the use of corporate interests;
fragments the potential or full force of my personhood from acting on the world;
duplicates and replicates the status quo;
fuels the engine of consumer capitalism and hinders genuine emancipation;
allows components of my personal data to be used for the profit of others;
supports surveillance strategies of corporate and governmental agencies;
converts my work into free intellectual capital for the gain of others;
creates an illusory sense that my contribution makes a difference;
strengthens the authority of the most visible global powers;
fails to redistribute power and influence or strengthens inequalities;
conceals a circularity and tautology of ‘participating in participation’;
masks a weakening of informed consent;
promises a reward, gift, or return, that never arrives or materialises (myths of monetisation).
I’ve deliberately heightened the language here because we are seldom aware of the progressive, insidious, unnoticed and concealed diminution of our public and private identity. It is almost as though the notion of ‘going public’ necessitates and permits our self to be sold off. There is seldom an option knowingly to consent.
And let’s recall how far the dice is loaded against the protection of my self and your self, from manipulation and control. Compare, for instance, the global corporate advertising budget ($466,000,000,000) with the several million that support the global human rights movement. That is the true weighting of the Scales of Injustice.
Approached from another direction there is also the problematic of community participation. It sounds great, does it not? But how often does it mask power and authority under the guise of inclusion?
Here are some of the recurring problems that often beset or compromise community led participatory initiatives:
existing or trusted leaders speak on behalf of the community;
those best equipped for participation participate most;
community is homogenized, totalised, simplified;
differences are minoritized or relegated for the sake of group / collective voice;
radical or traditional perspectives must be accomodated to working compromises;
agreement is transitory and unsustainable;
community interests are in reality displaced by the larger priorities of donors / funders;
the underlying and unspoken terms of reference and methodolgy are not up debate;
the idea of community mythologises and romanticises;
community displaces and conceals larger differences of race, class, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, faith, age, education, or caste
Cooke and Kothari (2001) outline the case for and against 'participation':
The ostensible aim of participatory approaches to development was to make ‘people’ central to development by encouraging beneficiary involvement in interventions that affect them and over which they previously had limited or no control or influence. […] This recognition and support for greater involvement of ‘local’ people’s perspectives, knowledge, priorities and skills presented an alternative to donor-driven and outsider-led development and was rapidly and widely adopted by individuals and organizations. Participatory approaches to development, then, are justified in terms of sustainability, relevance and empowerment. (5)
But the premise of their book is that
Participatory development’s tyrannical potential is systemic, and not merely a matter of how the practitioner operates or the specificities of the techniques and tools employed. (4)
They conclude
In sum, then, tyranny is the illegitimate and/or unjust exercise of power; this book is about how participatory development facilitates this. (4)
And why the image, above? It is Hobbes’s Leviathan in which the people participate in and through the person of the monarch. Is that the kind of freedom we're looking at?
Today, global institutions such as the IMF and World Bank are the new agents for and on behalf of the people. But are their methodologies just another form of tyranny? How far, in league with NGOs and business are we encountering new forms of power masked by the kind face or pseudo-participation.
Today, arguably, monarchs and tyrants are in decline. Participation is not.
The NGO movement is now a trillion dollar industry. But is it sufficiently accountable? What do you think?
Further Research:
Simon Bell (1994) “Methods and Mindsets: Towards and Understanding of the Tyranny of Methodology” Public Administration and Development, 14(4), 323-338.
Bill Cooke and Uma Kothari (2001) Participation: The New Tyranny (Zed Books Ltd)
Samuel Hickey (Editor), Giles Mohan (Editor) (2004) Participation: From Tyranny to Transformation? - Exploring New Approaches to Participation in Development (Zed Books Ltd)
Panel “Tyrannies of Participation” ISEA 2011; Friday, 16 September, 2011 - 09:00 - 10:30
Chair Person: Seeta Peña Gangadharan ; Presenters: Jon Leidecker ; Joshua Kit Clayton ; John Kim ; Anthony Tran ; Vasily Trubetskoy
When a digital film editor begins to put a film together he has a variety of clips or digital files to choose from. Think of these clips as a database; files of information waiting to be used.
These 'files' can be assembled in a logical sequence, or can be out of sequence. In a story the events are typically in chronological (time/event) order; in the narrative plot we may begin in the middle of thins (in media res) and then have flashbacks.
Dislocations of sequence add to suspense and keep the spectator intrigued. The plot becomes a kind of puzzle and the spectator may have to do more work. One result is a feeling of greater participation. Also it is possible to re-tell the story with a different outcome, if the components are re-arranged. An example is the film Run Lola Run.
In some cases clips or files that have been uploaded can be played back by the application in random order with the result that each viewing will be different from the one that came before.
Or clips uploaded can be run alongside an established film for irony, collision, similarity of difference. An example of database film as participatory
engagement is Man With a Movie Camera: The Global Remake. As their website explains, the film is
“a participatory video shot by people around the world who are invited
to record images interpreting the original script of Vertov’s Man With A Movie Camera
and upload them to this site. Software developed specifically for this
project archives, sequences and streams the submissions as a film.
Anyone can upload footage. When the work streams your contribution
becomes part of a worldwide montage, in Vertov’s terms the ‘decoding of
life as it is’.”
When the material is linked thematically it is possible to preserve a degree of coherence in the material.
Alternatively, the material submitted can be curated, selected or composed by a Director or a team of editors. An example is the YouTube sensation Life in a Day.
A more radical step is to abandon storyline and allow free access to all of the footage, and to provide options for the reader to re-arrange it. Potentially, each participant creates his or her own film composition.
As the technology evolves we can anticipate more complex editing options and a great range of source material that can be used as 'free commons.'
The options currently available for print and text that Burroughs and B.S. Johnson experimented with fifty years ago with will soon be available to experimental film makers.
If you want to read more on this topic, see my blog
PostFilm
supplements and supplants the modernist project of
Film - its heavy demands on capital; its specialisation and division of
labour; its guild restrictions; its white male supremacy and its glossy
media moguls.
PostFilm
is an interaction between the emerging
vitality of the community and the enriching
ambition offered by an artistic outlook. It is process and product.
PostFilm
embraces innovation and
creativity but it also critically
inhabits the life forces latent in tradition and ‘the past.’
PostFilm
overthrows the capitalist structures, metaphors, motivation, ego-laden
late capitalist film processes and products.
PostFilm
is everyday. It is a cultural materialism more than a textual
postmodernism. Kant’s logical tact, tricks of Homer’s Odysseus and untheorized
ordinary life of Michel de Certeau.
PostFilm
shakes hands with visual studies, visual anthropology, and video
ethnography; with participatory and community media. It’s the School and
the University which fragments power, and polices disciplinary boundaries.
PostFilm
is Visual Plus because the
visual cannot be isolated, bounded, commodified or self-contained without
a necessary remainder. Let’s listen
and look. Enact. (Trans-) Form
temporary alliances, co-working relationships. Seek out the pool and
unlock the skills of the oppressed. Their lifeworld is seldom a desert;
just as a desert is never a desert. (Freire)
PostFilm
celebrates the multiple convergences
between film, music sound worlds, games and other technological-driven
opportunities. Transmutation is divine. Plunder and proliferate. Gifts are more powerful than gadgets.
PostFilm
is inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary. The PostFilmers play across the arts, across
traditional disciplines; he or she inhabits
multiple communities and life worlds. Voyagers and fence-breakers. the
chink in the armour. The hole in the wall. Bottom’s drama and ‘sub-plots.’
PostFilmers
courageously challenge the single rooted individual; PostFilmers oppose
tedious repetitions and the boredom that besets the excessive and cramped
divisions of labour, established roles and settled hierarchies, the rigid
machinery of certification and professionalised elites.
PostFilm
embraces the ‘individual’ who embraces the collectivity offorces which are composing him or her.
The PostFilm personality is enquiring and talkative. As Joyce said, Here
Comes Everybody (H.C.E)
PostFilm
occupies three world or lifeworks: public services, the private sector and
community-led activities (the Third Sector) and the Fourth
Way. (Gurdjieff)
PostFilm
rejects the tyranny sometimes imposed by the geekmachines, technocracies
and jargon-weavers; we celebrate those people and those sites which are
helping us to decode and replace unnecessary technical jargon.
PostFilm
is pragmatic. It shamelessly embraces any tool that comes to hand.
Bricolage. Beg, borrow and steal.
PostFilm
is a mixed bag of tricks. But the magic is the community not the machine.
PostFilm
is post credit crunch; for PostFilmers’ enforced leisure, there is
opportunity, innovation, and enterprise.
PostFilm
welcomes artists who see themselves as entrepreneurs. Labouring to enrich
the community we require a solid understanding of risk and ambition.
Immaterialism is another mode of decadence.
PostFilm
notes that there have never been so many opportunities to explore
diversity and difference. And to identify, discuss and celebrate what we
have in common.
PostFilm
is a sanctioned universal piracy. Honest theft. Enlightened Piracy rules. A Robin Hood reversal that adds to
the Common Stock.
PostFilm
says Farewell to Stars; they have expired in terms that they define as success. Farewell to
the starry firmament of globalized products, brands, icons.
PostFilm
is haunted by its own extinction, the impossibility of its future
presence. PostFilm in parenthesis.
PostFilm
questions the obsession with the 90 minute product. PostFilms are
momentary, discontinuous, un-terminated. (Peter Greenway’s suitcases)
PostFilm
welcomes opportunities for byproducts. PostFilm is gymnastic multimedia.
Recycle, re-use. PostFilm embraces all ethical products and productions
for the common good. Co-opportunity and sustainability (John Grant)
PostFilm
welcomes fans and followers, relationship management, public relations and
an antagonistic but warm relation to its critics. Ho, ho, ho.
PostFilm
notes the Loss of the Awesome, ‘He’s
a film director’, ‘Hollywood’
PostFilmers
want more from the experience; they want the event. Let’s say that people
want more than to watch content. They are coming together to discuss,
participate, engage, co-create. Popcorn is not enough. Re-negotiate the
Spectacle (Mikhail Bakhtin and Guy Debord)
PostFilm
finds opportunities in the lack
of standardised structures and
products for investors since that situation obstructs cross-colonisation.
Pragmatic PostFilmers are tricksters who find a way to make their magic with the community, not against it.
PostFilm
retires from action the mobile army of grubby agents and the surplus of
parasitic service providers and fees, the arts aristocracies and their
bleating councils of denial and despair. (Nietzsche)
PostFilm
is the ultimate efficiency because it springs from the absolute
commitments of its participants. (Marx)
PostFilm
brings joy to its participants rather than feathers for patrons and cash
for investors.
PostFilm
is reciprocal, slippery, multi-faceted. PostFilm inhabits our life, we
inhabit its lifeworlds. A renewal and encounter with Being. (Heidegger)
PostFilm
is a notion of experienced time that cannot be fully recovered: a less
progressive, directional notion of time. Mediated subjects but not the
immateriality of the inter-subjective. The trace of the other. (Derrida)
PostFilm collectivizes
and extends without limit the post-production phase “The
process of editing film or video after acquiring the footage” Remix,
mashup, wreckage. In the end is the beginning.
PostFilm’s
Progress is imperceptibly slow or fast, depending on your point of view.
Fortunately, it lacks early visibility. It is constantly finding itself unfit. Major patrons have left the
room. It is too small for
government and too relevant for private backers. For the YouTubers it is
exponential and omni-absent.
The PostFilm
Producer is a practice and a paradox.
PostFilm
Festivals are value-added. Festivals are more of an experience and less of
a market. They are participant and community-led.
PostFilm
stops trying to be everything to everybody. A Global Commodity is not our
objective. We say No! to the tyranny of the lowest common denominator; we always
and everywhere affirm the validity of the remainder, the undigested, the
uncompromised.
PostFilm
asks about the prehistory of film. Also the lost traditions. What can PostFilm
rescue from the old studio system (‘a vast array of disciplines were
brought together in the same place every day with the sole purpose of
developing, making, and marketing films.’ Ted Hope) But we also note the
criticism that "The studio assembly line smothered creativity."
PostFilm
democratizes the Grand Jury, but it does not abandon opportunities to make
informed judgements. Cans not Cannes.
PostFilm
originated in Birmingham, West
Midlands, UK,
the home and source of Cultural Studies
Retrospective
"Let
us exhibit it instead as a cruel denunciation, as a painful testimony
to the level at which the peoples of the world have been forced to limit
their artistic creativity. The future, without doubt, will be with folk
art, but then there will be no need to call it that, because nobody and
nothing will any longer be able to again paralyze the creative spirit
of the people.
Art will not disappear into nothingness; it will disappear into everything."
(Julio Garcia Espinosa) - Havana, December 7, 1969
“The alienation of the spectator to the profit of the
contemplated object is expressed in the following way: the more he contemplates
the less he lives; the more he accepts recognizing himself in the dominant
images of need, the less he understands his own existence and his own desires.
The externality of the spectacle in relation to the active man appears in the
fact that his own gestures are no longer his but those of another who
represents him”
Recently I have enjoyed reading Julio Garcia Espinosa's Jump Cut essay "For an Imperfect Cinema." (Translated 1979 [1969]).
Before considering the relevance and living force of his ideas for contemporary cinema of the people may I propose reading some short samples of his work that clearly express the appealing direction of his thought, his vision, and his relevance for us today?
"Nowadays, perfect cinema — technically and artistically masterful — is almost always reactionary cinema. The major temptation facing Cuban cinema at this time — when it is achieving its objective of becoming a cinema of quality, one which is culturally meaningful within the revolutionary process — is precisely that of transforming itself into a perfect cinema. [...]
What happens if the development of videotape solves the problem of inevitably limited laboratory capacity, if television systems with their potential for "projecting" independently of the central studio renders the ad infinitum construction of movie theaters suddenly superfluous? [...]
What happens then is not only an act of social justice — the possibility for everyone to make films — but also a fact of extreme importance for artistic culture: the possibility of recovering, without any kinds of complexes or guilt feelings, the true meaning of artistic activity.[...]
Imperfect cinema is an answer, but it is also a question which will discover its own answers in the course of its development. Imperfect cinema can make use of the documentary or the fictional mode, or both. It can use whatever genre, or all genres. It can use cinema as a pluralistic art form or as a specialized form of expression.[...]
"Imperfect cinema is no longer interested in quality or technique. It can be created equally well with a Mitchell or with an 8mm camera, in a studio or in a guerrilla camp in the middle of the jungle. Imperfect cinema is no longer interested in predetermined taste, and much less in "good taste." It is not quality which it seeks in an artist's work. The only thing it is interested in is how an artist responds to the following question: What are you doing in order to overcome the barrier of the "cultured" elite audience which up to now has conditioned the form of your work?"
May I also take this opportunity to recommend his work to all community film revolutionaries? You can read more of his essay here.
And a second recommendation.
Take a look at the Plymouth-based collected called Imperfect Cinema.
They've been reading Jacques Ranciere (which has to be a good sign). But I'll let them speak for themselves:
"The project takes inspiration from their shared backgrounds in DIY punk, and seeks to activate key methodological techniques of this subculture to describe, position, interrogate and socialise a micro-cinema practice which directly addresses issues of sustainability & inequality existent within the mainstreams of contemporary film culture."
They were in Birmingham UK recently for the SuperSonic Festival and I'm told that they plan to make their footage available for remixing. A living database cinema has arrived. Long live free commons! Time to revisit my forty-part anti-film manifesto that MySpace Forum banned?
I'm not sure that I can improve on Espinosa.
But I'd like to think that I'm following in his footsteps. With a torch. And a camera.
In the traditional classroom it's often the same children answering the questions. As a result many young people feel left out and they may become alienated from education altogether. They feel that their educational needs are lost in the large class environment. Their voices are drowned out. But children are our most precious resource. Like our fragile planet they need care, support and respect in order to thrive.
Let' be honest: teachers struggle too. Larger classes, less money. More bureaucracy, less creativity. Examinations not celebrations ...
Collaborative learning can be a very effective way to promote participation in lessons between children.
In collaborative learning projects the teacher provides supportive interventions, and acts as a guide or facilitator, rather than the discipline-obsessed dictator in the corner. I'm not suggesting that teacher abandons his or her role. But the emphasis shifts from teaching to learning; from a state of spoon feeding dependence to the young people doing their own digging.
Collaborative learning requires its own skills of community and co-operation and these have to be learned and can be improved upon. But they are also key life skills that we need urgently to develop if we are to face the challenges of issues that require concerted global action such as poverty, inequality, environmental destruction, species loss and climate change.
What we are finding is that if we trust children or young people to work together on research and the presentation of their findings we will have successful outcomes together with pleasurable and sustainable learning. Collaboration works well because research and presentation exercises involve a process of acquisition and a process of revision. In both regards, collaborative work is ideally suited to an approach driven by process.
Before taking a look at a case-study it ought to be noted that collaboration can extend beyond the classroom to encompass children of different ages, in different schools, in different parts of the world.
And why stop there? What about active collaboration with parents and members of the 'adult' community? The collaborative approach works well when the issue to be explored is complex; when it is open to multiple interpretation and affects a wide range of people. Broad topics are a good starting point but that does not mean that you are banned from specialization at a later stage.
If you want to take a look at a recent success story consider the use of Google Docs & Spreadsheets
to explore strategies for combating global warming. In this flagship project Google partnered with Global SchoolNet to invite teachers and students to use collaborative software. Children of all ages from more than 80 schools around the world participated. Here are their results
Include global warming/climate change in school curricula (as part of National Science Standards), so when the students are in charge they can make educated decisions.
Increase availability of low-interest Energy Efficient Mortgages to support homeowners who increase the energy efficiency of their homes.
Put light sensors in all office and school buildings so all lights go off when the rooms are empty.
Require that all products contributing to global warming be marked with a specific color (e.g., chemical pesticides could be marked with a red sticker for being extremely dangerous to the environment).
Use less paper; use the back of the paper to print on or write on; use recyled paper.
Plant more trees to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Teach recycling techniques in classes and school-wide programs.
Make recycling mandatory in all public facilities, such as schools, parks and beaches.
Do public service announcements on TV featuring celebrities promoting carpooling, walking, riding bikes, using public transportation, conserving electricity and recycling.
Give grants and tax credits to companies that invest in alternative, sustainable, emission-free fuel technologies while ending such subsidies for fosssil fuel production.
The media should conduct interviews of legislators to help the public become aware of their ability and willingness to help solve the problem.
Replace incandescence light bulbs with fluorescence light bulbs.
Restrict the use of chemical fertilizer in agriculture.
Provide incentives and policies to encourage car makers to make more fuel efficient cars.
Protect wetlands and preserve more open space.
Provide tax incentives for regular recyclers and car poolers.
Use solar panels in the construction of new homes and office buildings.
Substitute local community transportation fleets with hybrid vehicles.
Require that car dealers hand out fact sheets that inform car buyers about the pollution levels of different cars.
Send scientists to talk about global warming in schools. They can bring hands-on activities so students feel more involved.
Unplug all electronics from the wall when they're not in use.
Have another Global Warming Student Speakout in one year - to see if any of these ideas have been implemented.
Raise mandatory emissions standards for cars and other vehicles sold in the US.
Use solar power in the day and use electricity at night when needed.
Give tax rebates for using solar power.
Congress should ratify the Kyoto Agreement.
Establish off-shore wind farms - saves land space and produces reliable power.
Levy higher taxes on companies that pollute the air.
Wait until you have a lot of clothes to wash before using the washing machine.
Provide tax incentives for companies that create Hybrid cars. That will reduce the need for oil.
Schools and businesses should be fined for not having recycling bins available to the people on their premises.
The media should tell us about what is really going on with global warming. We don't think that we have all the information we need.
At the end of the weather forecast, report “CO2 emissions levels today…” or comparative average temperatures (i.e., this year's temperature as it compares to the past several years).
Lead by example and convert 50% of government vehicles to environmentally friendly cars by the year 2020.
Place recycling bins throughout the city wherever there is a trash can.
Require companies to limit the amount of packaging an item can have and it must be recyclable.
Block bills that cause more damage to the environment.
Media could reduce advertising costs for alternative energy products to inform and increase sales in these areas.
Keep your tires fully inflated to improve gas mileage.
Replace old appliances with Energy Star appliances.
Promote awareness of local recycling centers.
Require college and high school students to take a global warming class.
Give tax reductions to public transportation users.
Protect our oceans - prevent plankton in the ocean from dying.
People running for elections should use email, radio and other media to campaign and stop using so many paper signs and flyers that use up our natural resources and then get left out and become pollution.
Reuse newspapers as wrapping paper for gifts.
Enforce laws about littering.
Use less electricity, turn off the TV, read books, walk, run, bike, surf, play tennis.
Business should require employees to telecommute several days a week.
Provide scientists appropriate resources to help them research the future of energy and the freedom to explore innovative ideas.
Deploy images, diagrams, sound, music and video to strengthen your message and to make your learning more inclusive of different learning styles
Collaborate: community work is often more efficient and more effective
I've taken the LIBERTY to add TWO ideas to the project as presented above and on the Google website for the project. 51 and 52 are my ADDITIONS. Now that we've collaborated there's one idea for every week of the year. A minor improvement, admittedly, but I do feel closer to it now as a participant.
And I'm going round the house now unplugging gadgets.
The life of Muslim community leader Cllr. Chauhdry
A Rashid, who has served as a Justice of the Peace and the Lord Mayor
of Birmingham (2008), in the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
He was born in Kashmir, Pakistan, but has lived most of
his life in Birmingham and Workington.
He has been a leading campaigner on diversity and equality issues and has been an inspiration to many in his community. In this film he talks about the importance of education and what he loves about living in the City of Birmingham.
The second International Community Film Festival was held at The University of Northampton 11th September – 12th October 2008. The festival featured
a selection from over 100 films sent to us from twenty countries.
Several films included in the opening night presented issues of
conflict, peace and violence. They remind us of an ongoing cycle of
terror, aggression and dogma that 9/11 is an occasion to commemorate.
But
the stories selected by our film-makers were primarily concerned with
the people behind the headlines, and by the work that they are
undertaking to improve their community-life. The directors find ugliness
and beauty; a sense of visual poetry often reminds us of compassionate
and redeeming human qualities. A sense of hope, based in collective
action, comes through more powerfully than the familiar portraits of
tragic situations and political deadlock.
We
find evidence that individuals and community groups are taking up the
camera rather than the gun as the best tool to fight for a better world.
One example of new media being used to reflect and reform the world is
the Network of Community Video Units in India:
“We
will show our lanes, our slums and our issues. We will not show our
problems, we will show our struggles and our victories … You will get
information about our slums. It will have your words, your voices, which
we will present through Hamari Awaaz (Our Voice).”
We hope you enjoyed the films presented at the ICFF 2008 launch event. (Prof Ian McCormick)
Race and Diversity/ War and Conflict
1pm – 4 pm on Thurs 25th Sept; The Avenue Cinema
13:00
Red Terror
Joel Jonsson
Sweden
15:00
13:15
Lights
Reem Al Ghazzi
Syria
4:00
13:19
Tuesday at the Grand
Chris Taylor
UK
10:00
13:30
Little Babel
Idhebor Kagho Crowther
Nigeria
11:00
13:42
Te Whare
Richard Green
Aotearoa (NZ)
31:00
14:15
Survivor
Nicole Volavka
UK
14:00
14:30
Something Invisible
Ryuichi Hiraishi
Japan
37:00
15:08
Perceptions
Ali M. Ali
Nigeria
10:24
15:19
Furrows - The Pain of Memory
Nawafeth Youth Forum/zaLa
Palestine and Italy
24:30
13:00
Red Terror
Joel Jonsson
Sweden
15:00
Red
Terror tells the story of an Ethiopian family in the 1975 revolution.
During the time of the Red Terror the Ethiopian army forced every first
born male to join the battle against the rebellious liberation front.
Scared of the ruthless dictatorship Mahari sends his son Alemu away to
hide from the military forces. But when the army arrives and finds the
son gone, they take Mahari instead; leaving behind his wife and his
younger son Tatek.
Unable to bear this
burden, Alemu trades himself for his father and joins the army while
Mahari reunites with his family. In a twist of fate the army returns to
the village presenting the dead body of Alemu to the village, to make
clear how they handle disobedience. This leaves Mahari with a tough
decision to make. http://www.mandy.com/1/film3.cfm?id=11007
13:15
Lights
Reem Al Ghazzi
Syria
4:00
It’s about a place without its basic needs of living,
But it’s also about People with hope and courage.
A whole community live in a hard condition, and get used to it,
But what about their future; their children?
It’s about a place where there is no electricity but it is full of Lights …
It has its own kind of Light.
13:19
Tuesday at the Grand
Chris Taylor
UK
10:00
'Tuesday
at the Grand' illustrates the personal traumas and struggles faced by
young asylum-seekers in and around the complex of a successful hotel.
This
setting infused the film with a familiarity that provided a framework
to then explore issues that may be alien to British citizens.
By
contrasting the comfort of the British workers with the issues faced by
the young people 'Tuesday at the Grand' is able to subtly help its
audience to recognise that these troubles are encountered on their own
doorstep and not simply in the headlines.
Hot
spot social drama about 4 young and easy living Southerners who find
themselves in the cultural melting pot, Jos in the middle of 2001. Not
familiar with the local dialect (Hausa) they get mixed up in a fight
with a local suya seller, which stemmed from a controversial pun on halla.
Confusing the word to mean a derogatory attack on his faith, the suya
seller takes offence and moves in for the kill, fanning the flames for
an ethnic/religious conflict. The film gives an insight of what can
easily give birth to ethnic crises in this part of the world and it is
due to these little misunderstandings, which can easily be avoided, if
we give way to peace to prevail.
13:42
Te Whare
Richard Green
Aotearoa (NZ)
31:00
This
parable explores the relationship of Tangata Whenua (people of the land
- Maori) and Europeans who signed The Treaty of Waitangi in 1840
confirming Maori Tino Rangatiratanga (Sovereignty) and Crown Governance.
Te Whare sees
Hone opening his home to his friend Richard who has just broken up with
his girlfriend and need a place to stay. Initially the relationship is
positive, but slowly Richard invites his own friends to come to the
house and by film's end Hone finds himself on the couch - a guest in his
own home. The film parallels the experience of Maori and many other
indigenous peoples who have experienced the devastation of colonization.
14:15
Survivor
Nicole Volavka
UK
14:00
What happens when a Rwandan genocide survivor meets a young man from Darfur?
This is a tale of a friendship made on fragile emotional grounds. A
subtle treatment of a complex subject, set in the world of London’s night cleaners. Survivor is based upon the Director’s experiences living in Rwanda whilst working on the feature film Shooting Dogs…
14:30
Something Invisible
Ryuichi Hiraishi
Japan
37:00
About 4 months before the atomic bomb, there was the last ground battle between Japan and the US/UK. It was the battle of Okinawa. Yomitan village in Okinawa was where the US
soldiers first landed for the battle. In this village there is a cave
called Chibi-chili-Gama. 143 civilians were in the cave to protect them
from the bombing. For a long time after the war, the survivors had been
silent about what happened in the cave. It had been a taboo in this
community. This document tells the story of what happened in the cave,
how it happened, and why it happened.
15:08
Perceptions
Ali M. Ali
Nigeria
10:24
Nigeria,
a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic society has three major ethnic groups;
Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba. These three ethnic groups characterize the three
major regions of the country (North, East and West), thus defining the
behaviours and outlooks of the life of the people. The diversities of
these three languages has made it possible for each to have its own
perceptions about the others thereby creating a mixture of perceptions
that is very important in defining the picture and story of the Nigerian
nationhood and the struggle of its people to understand their
differences for better co-existence and respect for each other.
15:19
Furrows - The Pain of Memory
Nawafeth Youth Forum/zaLa
Palestine and Italy
24:30
Furrows on an old people’s face. Furrows on the fields.
Wounds. Maybe fertile.
Or maybe just carrying the weight of memory – that is, in Palestine, sometime oppressive. Memory that shapes a public, sometimes obsessive, victim’s identity.
We’ve searched for a different way to listen.
We were looking for histories, not History.
In
a village in which nearly the entire population is formed by refugees, a
community film crew’s job is to listen, to save, to challenge
collective memory.
In a country in which memory is a soldier in the conflict, sharing memories can be a step in a path toward peace.
Thursday 2nd October 2008
16.00-17.42 @ The Avenue Cinema
16:00
Brad: One More Night on the Barricades
Miguel Castro
Brazil
55:00
Boardroom
16:00
Trouble Sleeping
Robert Rae
UK
1:42:00
16:00
Brad: One More Night on the Barricades
Miguel Castro
Brazil
55:00
Boardroom
When Mexican paramilitary forces shot Brad Will in the chest (27th October 2006),
killing him, his camera fell from his hands. But it didn't stop
recording. It continued moving from hand to hand, telling Brad's story,
as well as the story of the movement of movements that he was a part of.
From the squats of New York to the forests of Oregon, from the
anti-globalization protests in Seattle, Prague, Quebec to the popular
uprising in Oaxaca, Brad's camera paints us a picture of what his life
was about, and what so many of his friends continue to struggle for.
16:00
Trouble Sleeping
Robert Rae
UK
1:42.00
Trouble
Sleeping was the brainchild of Robert Rae, artistic director of the
Edinburgh Theatre Workshop. ‘It was an opportunity to tell a story from
their perspective,’ he said. ‘For refugees escaping political
persecution, the fact they are political makes them committed to where
they come from. To go into a strange world and a strange culture is
tough.’ Rae hand-picked a team of writers with direct experience of the
issues facing refugees in Scotland’s
capital, including Edinburgh-based Palestinian playwright Ghazi
Hussein. ‘We listened to each other’s stories and made them into a
fairly coherent, complex narrative,’ Rae explained. One
character has been refused asylum so turns to a woman friend for help -
although if she does help him her own life will be ruined. It also
features an Iranian who poses as a gay man in order to claim refugee
status while disguising the fact from his Iranian friends that he really
is a homosexual. ‘Although it is fictionalised, everything is true and
the individual refugees are often playing their own stories,’ says Rae.
‘You can have a legitimate claim to asylum but through lack of
communication skills you can find yourself being deported. ‘Security
forces say on their websites that in many situations if they can’t
deport someone because they have no evidence then they will do it on the
basis of non-compliance. ‘So people coming here are faced with a really
complex legal challenge in a different language and documents written
with a different script. And they have to try to represent what happened
to them. I hope people see the film and look at the world through their
eyes.’ Producer
Eddie Dick believes Trouble Sleeping is a wake-up call to people who
are hostile towards asylum seekers and to politicians seeking to grant
longer detention powers to the police. ‘How can we sleep soundly unless
we treat these people equitably and fairly?’ he asked. ‘It is something
urgent for us to deal with on a human level, not in terms of extending
detention to 42 days or charging people when they are not even allowed
to know the charge against them.’ Rae
persuaded professional actors Gary Lewis, Alia Alzuogbi, Alison Peebles
and Nabil Shaban to work alongside the amateurs, but there is no
question of who the real stars are. However, some of the refugees
involved wish to keep a low profile, fearing that their families might
be persecuted in their home countries. One of the few actors willing to
speak was Waseem Uboaklain, 38, who worked as an aircraft engineer in
Palestine but now runs a cafe in Edinburgh: ‘Scottish people are
generally very welcoming, but only after they know you. Perhaps a film
like this will give more people an idea of who asylum seekers are.’
21.15-22.00 The Film Lab @ The Picturedrome
Selection of films from Community Video Units in India and from local film makers in Northampon UK.
Health, Education, Arts
16.00-18.30 pmThursday 9th October 2008
16:00
Tanvir’s Travelogue
Ranjan Kamath
India
78:00
Boardroom
16:30
Securing Livelihoods: Fighting HIV and AIDS
VSO
UK & Mozambique
3:41
17:18
1000 Journals
Andrea Kreuzhage
USA
88:00
Boardroom
16:34
Penye Nia Pana Njia
Derek Thorne
Tanzania
18:17
16:52
My Life as a Carer
Jay Robinson
UK
29:00
17:30
Turnabout: The Story of the Yale Puppeteers
Dan Bessie
USA
58:00
17:30
My Time My Space
Philippa Forsey
UK
5:30 Foyer
17:36
Fit for Life
Philippa Forsey
UK
5:30 Foyer
17:30
My Time My Space
Philippa Forsey
UK
Foyer
17:36
Fit for Life
Philippa Forsey
UK
Foyer
My
time My Space highlights NESA’s creative work with women experiencing
post-natal depression, enabling their journey towards recovery. This
project enables women to increase their self-confidence and self-esteem
using the creative arts as an inspirational tool. Participants are able
to determine their own artistic outcomes and encouraged to develop their
own interests and skills. The project shows the progression of
individuals on their creative path.
Fit
for Life highlights NESA’s creative work with school children
emphasizing the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Norton Radstock has
some of the highest levels of obesity in Bath
and the North East Somerset and the range of creative activities on
offer encouraged physical and creative engagement in exploring healthy
lifestyles.
16:00
Tanvir’s Travelogue
Ranjan Kamath
India
78:00
Boardroom
Tanvir
Ka Safarnama is the enthralling theatrical journey that happens when a
pipe-smoking urban sophisticate like Habib Tanvir travels via Europe
to return to his homeland - in Chhattisgarh - to create an essentially
Indian theatre. Working with unschooled, uneducated villagers, living
together as a family over 50 years, Tanvir has ploughed a lonely furrow
to produce theatrical masterpieces. His adaptations of Shakespeare,
Brecht and Indian Sanskrit classics have regaled audiences around the
world with humour and humanism. This film joins the joys, trials and
tribulations of Habib Tanvir and Naya Theatre on the road over two
years.
16:30
Securing Livelihoods: Fighting HIV and AIDS
VSO
UK & Mozambique
3:41
Many communities in Mozambique
struggle to feed themselves. The problem isn’t purely a lack of food:
lack of access to markets, seasonal variations and underlying poverty
contributes to what is termed ‘food insecurity’. At the same time, 14.5%
of the population in Mozambique
is HIV positive. Life expectancy is expected to drop to 35 years by
2010. Already vulnerable, the people have no guarantee they will be able
to feed themselves over time – in other words they are food insecure –
because their crops are periodically destroyed by drought and flooding.
This has created a cycle of poverty that two VSO volunteers, Maryrose Ikumi from Kenya
and Rosemarie Obana from The Philippines, are trying to break, working
with the Association of Agriculture and Livestock Technicians to tackle
the issues together. Maryrose, who specializes in HIV & AIDS says:
“In
rural areas, when you want to do an HIV project, it is difficult to
talk to people about HIV, as their main problem is that there is no rain
or food. So we approach food security and HIV together, giving people
seeds to grow their own food and explaining the importance of growing
nutritious food. We take community educators to our centre and they
stay there for five days while we train them on HIV & AIDS,
micro-enterprise and nutritional issues. Then when they come back to the
community, they disseminate the information. That way we are building
up knowledge, and increasing the possibility of open discussions on HIV
& AIDS issues.” Rosemarie, an agricultural small business adviser says, “As
part of my job, I go out to the fields to check the plants that the
communities are growing, to see if we can improve the way they plant the
crop and make production better.” Such has been their success that
both Maryrose and Rosemarie have extended their placements beyond the
original two years they started in 2002. Maryrose says: “I’ve seen a
change in the community – people can talk about condoms now, though it
was taboo before, especially in front of a crowd. When people have
educators within their own community, they know them and listen to them.
That’s why we believe in training people in the community so people
don’t depend on us.”
The
presence of the volunteers has reaped other social changes too. “When I
arrived in 2002, most of my colleagues were surprised to see that I was
brown and a woman. They thought women were supposed to sit and say
nothing, but now the women express themselves more and their suggestions
are considered,” says Rosemarie.
17:18
1000 Journals
Andrea Kreuzhage
USA
88:00
Boardroom
The
1000 Journals Project is an ongoing collaborative experiment attempting
to follow 1000 journals throughout their travels. The goal is to
provide a method for interaction and shared creativity among friends and
strangers.
How
it Works: Those who find the journals add something to them. A story,
drawing, photograph, anything really. Then they pass the journal along,
to a friend or stranger, and the adventure continues. Unfortunately,
you've got a better chance of winning the lottery, then of getting a
hold of a journal. That's the problem when there are only 1000 of them.
Now, you're best bet is to check out 1001 Journals
where you can sign up for a journal, or launch your own traveling,
location, or personal journals. You can also check out the new book,
which contains entries from journals around the world. It looks just
like a journal, has these crazy stitched pages inside.
16:34
Penye Nia Pana Njia
Derek Thorne
Tanzania
18:17
Written and filmed by six young people at the FolkDevelopmentCollege in Iringa, which is a vocational training college.
Penye
Nia Pana Njia translates as ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’. This
drama follows the story of two young people, one boy and one girl, as
they try to make money and get ahead in life. The boy finds he can’t get
a good job without the necessary education certificate; but where can
he find the money to get more education? Meanwhile, the girl works in a
bar and wonders whether her terrible working conditions are worth
putting up with.
16:52
My Life as a Carer
Jay Robinson
UK
29:00
My
Life as a carer is a moving and uplifting film that features carers and
young carers speaking about what their role means for them, the impact
on their lives of caring for a relative with a long term illness or
disability and the strength and support to be found from other people in
the same position.
17:30
Turnabout: The Story of the Yale Puppeteers
Dan Bessie
USA
58:00
“This
is a brilliantly, sweet film that offers a slice of history not easily
accessible to most. Written and produced by the Yale Puppeteers' nephew,
the viewer has a chance to witness, thanks to this film, the puppeteers
passions, work and lives in the context of a time that just wasn't
ready for them. A bit eccentric, certainly off beat and creative, the
puppeteers and their story - as well as their place in history - is
meticulously documented and tugs at the heartstrings. Politics, love, a
despicable era in US
history, theater, music, creativity and two unusual personalities shape
this film in an wondrous way. I love it. It's one understated film that
stays in your head for myriad reasons.” (Internet Movie Database)
Films about the Environment
Friday 10th Oct 2pm-8.30 pm @ The Avenue Cinema
14:00
Polis Is This
Henry Ferrini
US
56:48
14:57
Crafta Webb
Adrian Lambert
UK
40:00
15:37
Organic Farming
AWFT
Zimbabwe
10:16
15:48
Bike2OZ
Paul O’Connor
Ireland
34:00
16:17
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer
USA
58:10
17:20
The Rising Wave
Yask Desai/Shweta Kishore
Australia
65:00
18:25
We are the City
Jam Vafai
USA
18:00
18:43
Garbage In
Pithon G. Muchoki
Kenya
13:26
18:56
The Source
Martin Maracek
CzechRepublic
75:00
Further Information:
14:00
Polis Is This
Henry Ferrini
US
56:48
Polis
is This wrestles with the six foot eight inch 275lb colossus of poetry.
Charles Olson, in the squared circle of understanding. Through never
before seen footage and interviews actor John Malkovich leads an
all-star unit in a search and explore mission.
Olson,
the "big fire source" for a restless generation of poets known as The
Beats stands more revealed than ever before. Through Ferrini's
poetry-in-motion lens, viewers can now see Olson's landscapes through
the fresh eyes of America's Archaeologist of Morning.
"Sublime...simply stunning" says Author Jim Harrison. "An invaluable contribution to our literature" notes Russell Banks.
Charles
Olson the "original aboriginal" fights to save his town from so-called
progress as the bullzoder of change rumbles down Main Street USA.
His
challenge to us? We must either rediscover the earth or leave it. Have
we all become estranged from that which is most familiar? See Polis Is
This before the cultural wetlands are completely drained and maybe you
can save the place where you live.
14:57
Crafta Webb
Adrian Lambert
UK
40:00
When
11-year old Anna finds herself dumped in the English countryside to
start a new life, it’s one she’s sure she never asked for or ever really
wanted. Alone and isolated, she wanders the empty lanes until a chance
meeting creates an unlikely friendship that reveals the story of Crafta
Webb. Three Herefordshire villages embarked in this ambitious community
film project with the Rural Media Company to attempt to discover the
story of Crafta Webb and its legacy. The result is a powerful new drama
devised and performed by the local community that captures the spirit of
this mythical village.
15:37
Organic Farming
AWFT
Zimbabwe
10:16
Africa
Women Filmmakers Trust (AWFT) was launched in 1992 by a group of young
Zimbabwean women who were moved by a desire for a more inclusive and
democratic audio-visual landscape. See ‘Participatory Video’ screening
on 11th September for more information.
15:48
Bike2OZ
Paul O’Connor
Ireland
34:00
Bike2Oz is the the epic adventure of a young school teacher and a train worker in Oxford. After teaching her pupils about global warming, Lowanna decided she couldn't risk damaging the climate by flying home to Australia.
With her partner Kevin, the couple travel the 12,000km to Sydney using
only sustainable transport- the train, bicycle and cargo ship.Pedalling
through 16 countries over 485 days, the couple joined in Car Free day in
Italy, escaped arrest in Iran, got groped in Pakistan and fell ill in
India. Their journey brought them through storm ravaged forests in France, torrential downpours in the Mediterranean and severe drought in Iran. The effects of Climate Change could be seen everywhere they went.
16:17
Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea
Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer
USA
58:10
“Fabulously
offbeat and refreshingly upbeat, this lovable film gets friendly with
the natives of the Salton Sea, an inland ocean of massive fish kills,
rotting resorts, and 120 degree nights located just minutes from urban
Southern California. This award-winning film from directors Chris
Metzler and Jeff Springer details the rise and fall of the Salton Sea,
from its heyday as the "California Riviera" where boaters and Beach
Boys mingled in paradise to its present state as a decaying, forgotten
ecological disaster. From wonderland to wasteland, PLAGUES &
PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA captures a place far more interesting than
the shopping malls and parking lots of suburban America,
a wacky world where a beer-swilling Hungarian Revolutionary, a
geriatric nudist, and a religious zealot building a monument to God all
find solace and community. Crisply and hilariously narrated by oddball
auteur John Waters, and featuring music by desert lounge rockers Friends
of Dean Martinez, PLAGUES & PLEASURES ON THE SALTON SEA melds high
camp with stark realism, offering both a sobering message about the
consequences of tampering with nature and a heart-warming tale of
individualism.”
17:20
The Rising Wave
Yask Desai/Shweta Kishore
Australia
65:00
In India water has a deep spiritual and functional significance. The Rising Wave
explores water, both as a sacred element and as a common resource
essential for survival and generating livlihoods. The film eloquently
presents a culture built on water being shared, used and managed in ways
unchanged for centuries. Richly filmed in three different states of India, The Rising Wave
uncovers groups that have been dependant on their local natural water
resource for generations as they fish and farm for livelihood. In the
rapidly transforming economy of India,
corporations now lay claim to control and determine access to this
natural resource. A contrasting picture emerges; a contrast between the
two divergent views of water; water as a billion dollar industry
against water as a sacred natural gift for all humankind. This spells
conflict for the future. Renowned ecologist Vandana Shiva interprets the
current situation.
18:25
We are the City
Jam Vafai
USA
18:00
We Are the City: Voices from the West Side
was one of the four documentaries screened as part of Channels -
Stories from the Niagara Frontier, a new community based documentary
production program of SqueakyWheelMediaArtsCenter.
The four documentaries demonstrated a unique and affirmatively strong
perspective of the city to its residents like Kevin. "We are the city",
the voices from West Side can be applied to the whole city of Buffalo
facing confusions towards future development, as one of the community
worker interviewed in the documentary said, "We want to make residents
believe that they should do something for their own neighbourhood,
instead of waiting for people to fix the problems, because it will take
forever for other people to fix the problems, maybe never." Looking at
the four groups of people already doing it, the message was clear to the
audience. As Kevin said after the screening, "Now I feel the urge to
really get involved into my neighbourhood activities."
18:43
Garbage In
Pithon G. Muchoki
Kenya
13:26
A
documentary highlighting littering as a social menace that is
threatening to harm the environment and also cause harm to the Embu. The
documentary showcases those responsible for keeping the environment
clean and how at it is in the end the Embu locals who will ensure a
clean environment and good littering habits.
18:56
The Source
Martin Maracek
CzechRepublic
75:00
Documentary
filmmaker Martin Marecek´s and activist Martin Skalský´s film opens
with an animated sequence that illustrates in shorthand the road from
the mining fields of Baku to the full fuel tank, to the real price of oil. Contemporary Azerbaijan is implicitly undemocratic, with a strong presidential system and clan mentality, exploited by Western corporations.
Looking
at the broader context, the film explores the project of oil pipelines
supported by the World Bank. The documentary is the first filmic output
of the extensive social project Auto*Mat, which confronts various forms
of human mobility.
While
the power of the heir to the presidential throne Ilham Alyiev is
satirized by the straightforward image of the matrushka dolls, each
concealing another one (concealing, too, wilful arrests and torture of
local opposition), one of the key motifs of the film is – aside from the
portrayal of the irony of the symbols of power floating over the
disconsolate social landscape, or tokens of civic resistance – to unmask
the use of language, where the idioms of the Communist apparatchiks are
used to convey the message of globalization.
The
authoritarian use of language defending the benefits of global
corporations anticipates the control of a certain territory by ownership
without context, where there is no responsibility towards the borders
of local culture, which is often also the border of local language. In
an unknown and unspecified language of the new power, there thus merge
the residue of communist totalitarianism and the imperial ambitions of
expanding capital, non-concrete and non-committant, which aptly reminds
us of the waning power of individual countries to decide their fate.
The
oil stain thus mirrors a new, updated version of capitalism, a
neo-liberal challenge that is the driving power of rapid social,
political and economic changes. But what to do with those who don't want
things that way? Entertain them to death, or throw them in jail. Auteur documentary by Martin Marecek and Martin Skalský. Baku in Azerbaijan,
the site of the world’s first oil well, is once again becoming a focus
for foreign investors eager to exploit the country’s vast oil riches.
“Source” traces the pipeline from our commuter highways back to this
surreal and sinister landscape on which our way of life depends, where
cows graze on polluted land and children play in toxic gunge. With three
quarters of the population living under the poverty line, the country’s
post-Soviet government is promising oil will turn Azerbaijan into a ‘real country’, a prosperous and flourishing ‘New Kuwait’.
People and Places
Sunday 12th October 2008, 1-5:15 pm @ The Avenue Cinema
13:00
“600”
James Z. Feng
Chinese- American
7:19
13:08
Unity day
Kenneth Yates
UK
13:50
13:22
One Day in Northampton
Rob Farmer
UK
30:00
13:52
Four Stories
Derek Thorne
Tanzania
19:04
14:22
Common Thread
Akira I Thompson
US
7:20
14:30
Photographing Shenzhen
Yu Tiangqi
China
25:00
14:55
Building the Future Together
AWFT
Zimbabwe
14:42
15:20
A Journey of Faith
Rebecca Ohene-Asah
Ghana
35:00
16:00
Before Nine
Hana Abdul
Canada
26:00
16:26
Freedom Ain’t Free
Chocolate Films / FLM
UK
9:24
16:36
Lil’ Red
NDCS/FLM
UK
5:21
17:00
Uswazi
Derek Thorne
Tanzania
14:05
Further Information
13:00
“600”
James Z. Feng
Chinese- American
7:19
Winner
of 2 awards at Shanghai Short Film Festival: Best Actor + 2nd Best
Film. James Z. Feng's movie about life in a new country after a few
years. Questioning life decisions and soul searching. James Z. Feng is a
new Asian-American filmmaker talent and this is his first film. This
film is currently sent out to many festivals(17), many are
Asian-American film festivals all across USA
13:08
Unity day
Kenneth Yates
UK
13:50
Unity
Day is an annual event held on Hyde Park Leeds, planned, organised, and
staged by the local community of the Leeds 6 Area. After a devastating
riot in 1996 the community united with the aim of providing a focal
point top showcase the skills and talent of local people. This film
features interviews volunteers involved and footage of the whole fun
day.
13:22
One Day in Northampton
Rob Farmer
UK
30:00
Celebrates the work of a group of ethically minded volunteers who organised the 2007 Umbrella Fair Festival in Abington park, Northampton.
The purpose of the festival was to promote the issues of environmental
awareness, economic sustainability and the local community in
Northampton, and the festival featured music, poetry, storytelling, art
and crafts from local people, all of whom gave their time for free in
order to support the event. The film begins in the early hours of the
morning of the festival, with the arrival of first people on site, and
goes on to document the work of the volunteers throughout the day and
into the evening as they strive to make the event a success.
13:52
Four Stories
Derek Thorne
Tanzania
19:04
Written
and filmed by four young deaf people who work at Neema Crafts in
Iringa. Neema Crafts is an organisation set up by the Anglican Church
which provides employment for people who are deaf and people with
disabilities.
The
film features four young deaf people – Godfrey, Eliza, Modestus and
Zawadi – telling their life stories in Swahili sign language. They talk
about childhood, education, employment, and how they have worked to earn
the respect of those around them.
14:22
Common Thread
Akira I Thompson
US
7:20
A
young boy travels from his village to a large city market, where he
discovers a world he didn’t know. Upon his return to attempts to share
what he has discovered and create change, but will the older generation
accept these new ideas?
14:30
Photographing Shenzhen
Yu Tiangqi
China
25:00
This documentary has been awarded the Grand Jury Prize and the Best Documentary at Screentest 2008-UK’s national student film festival. It has also been broadcast by Discovery Network Asia. The film is a journey through time
and space, chronicling her father, an established Chinese social
photographer, Yu Haibo, as for more than two decades he has been
capturing the social transformation of Shenzhen, the fast developing
young city built up by migrants in three decades and among the first
cities open to the world in modern China. It is also a personal journey of her own as she has herself migrated to Shenzhen with her family at the age of 9.
14:55
Building the Future Together
AWFT
Zimbabwe
14:42
Africa
Women Filmmakers Trust (AWFT) was launched in 1992 by a group of young
Zimbabwean women who were moved by a desire for a more inclusive and
democratic audio-visual landscape. See ‘Participatory Video’ screening
on 11th September for more information.
15:20
A Journey of Faith
Rebecca Ohene-Asah
Ghana
35:00
The true story of Janet Obobigu, born in a poor Navarongo community, upper-East Ghana.
Unable to go to school due to the difficult economic conditions, Janet
joins the dangerous head-potter business, where young girls carry loads
throughout the day for a little fee. Quite often these girls are abused
by clients or street boys. With hard work and determination she goes
through basic education, establishes a business, employs and trains the
youth in various aspects of textile designing. She is recognised
internationally. The film was produced by a four – member crew in Ghana for the ILO.
16:00
Before Nine
Hana Abdul
Canada
26:00
Before
Nine is a short fiction that explores issues of identity among
Canadians who are subject to racism, alienation and gentrification. It
is also a story about friendship and the ways in which sexual and ethnic
differences can serve to bind people together in hostile environments -
such can be the Canadian urban landscape. Award-winning filmmaker Hana
Abdul is a Torontonian writer/director/producer. Her short films have
screened in festivals across the country as well as in the US, UK, Spain and South Africa. Hana is currently working on her second television documentary.
16:26
Freedom Ain’t Free
Chocolate Films / FLM
UK
9:24
Influence
by the work of artists Jennifer and Kevin McCoy a group of 16 to
18-year-olds created this powerful docu-drama focusing on individuals’
troubling stories as their worlds collide when ordering food in a
chicken restaurant. From near-fatal stabbings and mistaken arrests to
parents being deported the young people share their pretty harrowing
tales with the camera.
16:50
Lil’ Red
NDCS/FLM
UK
5:21
Lil’
Red is a group of eight 13-18 yr old contemporary version of the
classic fairytale Little Red Riding hood. Punctuated with imagery and
words from the original story Lil’ Red brings together a world of
internet chat rooms and teenage relationships to create a modern day
morality tale with a dark twist of an ending.
16:56
Uswazi
Derek Thorne
Tanzania
14:05
Written and filmed by six young people from the Makolongoni ward of Iringa.
This
is a visual dictionary of Tanzanian slang, in which five young people
select five popular slang words and explain their meanings by using
drama and interviews. There’s a word for gossip, words for boys and
girls who like to party, and even a word for someone who likes to ‘get
full by using cunning’.
Programme for the Opening Night – 11 September 2008
18:00
Crack
Reem Al Ghazzi
Syria
4:13
18:05
Under The Same Roof
Nawafeth Youth Forum/zaLa
Palestine & Italy
19:17
18:25
The Wiener Library
The Media Trust
UK
4:00
18:29
Participatory Video
AWFT
Zimbabwe
6:16
18:35
The Forgiveness Project
The Media Trust
UK
4:00
18:41
Children Need Playgrounds
Samvad/ Community Video Unit
Gujarat
India
6:00
18:47
Harmony
Sakshi Media/ Community Video Unit, Gujarat
India
6:00
Further Information
18:00
Crack
Reem Al Ghazzi
Syria
4:13
A man separated from his life by a closed shop door, and his son, by a prison door.
In a City
Where there could be millions of doors …
Millions of stories … and possibilities …
The closure of one small laundry shop says it all.
Where a man closes the door that earns him money …
When a Self stands behind a door …
On the borderline of need and desire:
“secrets and losses become familiar friends”
When the eyes tell it all and the music fills the soul,
Then it’s a crack …
In the soul
In the door,
In the self,
& in the City.
18:05
Under The Same Roof
Nawafeth Youth Forum/zaLa
Palestine and Italy
19:17
“Mohamed
and Taghreed live in Biddu, a village which is soon going to be
enclosed by a wall. Mohamed spends his days on the streets and playing
pool. He left school, and no longer believes in a possible future since a
roof is the only missing element to definitively close his people in a
cage. Taghreed stays at home: she can’t continue her studies because she
doesn’t have a permit to cross the wall. Conflict emerges both in their
daily life and in their stories. The film was produced thanks to a
co-operative effort focussed on opening windows through the wall. It is
the first story that comes out of the window. The film won the Pieve Corto Concorso Festival and was selected for Sole Luna Festival (Italy) and Inventario (Spain).”
“The
author of these films is an independent, youth-led, grassroots youth
centre. His name is Nawafeth, which in Arabic means openings. And to
open windows in the Wall is the main goal for the centre. It runs
English, music, photography and painting courses; it also runs afternoon
lectures for students preparing exams for secondary school, and it
animates a project on human rights.”
18:25
The Wiener Library
The Media Trust
UK
4:00
“If we don’t save our history it will perish”
“The
Wiener Library is one of the world’s leading and most extensive
archives on the Holocaust and Nazi era. Formed in 1933, the Library’s
unique collection of over one million items includes published and
unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony.
18:29
Participatory Video
AWFT
Zimbabwe
6:16
Africa
Women Filmmakers Trust (AWFT) was launched in 1992 by a group of young
Zimbabwean women who were moved by a desire for a more inclusive and
democratic audio-visual landscape. The founder members, among them,
Tendai Munawa, Rebecca Kapenzi and Chido Matewa had no experience of
using participatory video. There was also no institution in the country
or region to their knowledge using it, hence no point of reference. The
founder members were exposed to propaganda mobile films by the then
Ministry of Information during the colonial era. They had therefore
witnessed how the tool had been effective in maintaining the status quo
(Cruz, 1999). Africa Women Filmmakers Trust founders, based on their
experiences, looked at ways the same media could be used for the
empowerment of the marginalised rural communities. Inspired and
encouraged by the late Reverend Stephen Matewa who was also an
educationist and development activist, Africa Women Filmmakers Trust was
launched. The project therefore believed in an ecumenism, which sought
to combine the spiritual and material to develop a whole person in the
target groups. Such a philosophy it was believed, would contribute
immensely to the emphasis of development as an enterprise in favour of
the poor. This firmly anchored on its concerns in the political, social
and economic circumstances under which AWFT found itself (AWFT Project
Document, Undated:3). The founder members observed that Media Women were
greatly marginalised and lacked the means to produce programmes
highlighting issues of concern to women. The 'Trust' therefore hoped to
establish a production house which media women could access at nominal
fees. Establishment of a production house would also give women an
opportunity to control and manage a media institution whose major aim
was the production of programmes highlighting issues of interest and
concern to women. The participatory approach was to be adopted in the
production of these programmes. However, neither the participatory
process nor the extent to which the targeted communities were to have a
say in the project was defined in the project document.
18:35
Forgiveness Project
The Media Trust
UK
4:00
The Forgiveness Project
is a charitable organisation which explores forgiveness, reconciliation
and conflict resolution through real-life human experience. We
use stories, and in particular our powerful exhibition The F Word, to
open up a dialogue and promote understanding. Many of those whose voices
are celebrated on this website, also share their stories in person. We
work in prisons, schools, faith communities, and with any group who want
to explore the nature of forgiveness whether in the wider political
context or within their own lives. Aims:
Awareness – raise the debate by collecting and sharing personal stories (and images)
Education – encourage and empower people to explore the nature of forgiveness and alternatives to conflict and revenge
Inspiration – engage civil society, as well as transform hearts and minds
“We
will show our lanes, our slums and our issues. We will not show our
problems, we will show our struggles and our victories … You will get
information about our slums. It will have your words, your voices, which
we will present through Hamari Awaaz (Our Voice).” This is the message of the Community Video Unit Hamari Awaaz, which is one of a number of Community Video Units in India
set up by different local NGOs in partnership with two media
organizations, Drishti (www.drishtimedia.org) and Video Volunteers
(www.videovolunteers.org.)
“Every
eight weeks each Community Video Unit makes a new video, on a topic
decided by the community, and then they screen it on wide screen
projectors. Between 150-400 people come each night to the screenings.
This approach bridges the literacy barrier, and communicates to people
in the visual medium they like best. Finally it promotes community-led
change, through focussed discussions and follow-ups with audiences
around a Call to Action in community screenings that often reach the
majority of villages and slums.” “Through the establishment of
Community Video Units in which the disenfranchised produce and
distribute their own locally relevant video programs, we empower local
communities to lead, connect and change, and then voice their issues to a
global audience. With a five-year goal of training more than 200
Community Video Producers on four continents, Drishti and Video Volunteersaim to transform the global media landscape by enabling those who are currently excluded to be seen and heard around the world.” “Samvad
did a month long video workshop with slum children to build loyalty
with their fellow slum residents, who paid a small fee for their
children to participate. The children made a film demanding playgrounds
in their areas, because playing in the streets [they] get harassed by
adults or hurt in road accidents. The children took the video to the
Collector who agreed to act on their request, which became a great
lesson in civic engagement for the children and their families. The
video is now being screened on schools throughout the city and the kids
who participated describe it as one of the best.”
18:47
Harmony
Sakshi Media/
CVU Gujarat
India
6:00
Sakshi
media is a Community Video Unit set up by the NGO Yuvshakti in
partnership with Drishti and Video Volunteers. Sakshi Media means
‘Witness’ Media. The Producers in this CVU were all witnesses to
terrible violence in their district of Gujarat in 2002, when communal
riots led to the deaths of more than 2000 Muslims in their state. They
are supported by the NGO Yuvshakti, who believe that this half-Hindu and
half-Muslim team can build unity amongst Hindus and Muslims, by uniting
them around their common development challenges.”
European Dialogues
12-3.30 pm Saturday 20 th September
12:00
Statement 710399
Refik Hodzic
Bosnia
54:00
12:54
Doboj / Fingerprints – 15 years later
Aldin Arnautovic
Bosnia
27:37
13:21
The Migrators
Ana-Maria Caia
Romania
55:00
14:21
The InvisibleCity
Lucia Asue Mbomio
Spain
52:00
15:10
The Nogay and Crimean Tatars: An Oral History
Funda Ozyurt Torun
Turkey
Audience Choice
15:10
A history of 4000 years: the Laz
Funda Ozyurt Torun
Turkey
Audience Choice
12:00
Statement 710399
Refik Hodzic
Bosnia
54:00
The
Story of a father trying to find out what happened to his son who
slipped out of his hand and disappeared during Srebrenica genocide is in
fact a story of Bosnia and Herzegovina, country permanently scarred by war crimes and their legacy.
12:54
Doboj / Fingerprints – 15 years later
Aldin Arnautovic
Bosnia
27:37
One of a series of 24 documentary TV programmes which will address the efforts of local communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina
to overcome the legacy of war crimes committed during the nineties. The
episode tells the story about Doboj and how its citizens are dealing
with the legacy of war crimes. It shows a portrait of people who belong
to the victim population in the community and their efforts to
re-establish their lives in the community, and on the other hand a
portrait of individuals forming the ethnic group whose members
perpetrated the war crimes and their views of the past events and how
they shape the life of the community today.
107
The Migrators
Ana-Maria Caia
Romania
55:00
“Tells
the stories of four million Romanians who left their country to search
for a better life. It is a succession of migrant portraits,
representative of a general situation. The final conclusion is in fact
one big fear … that all this impressive number of Romanians living in
other countries of the EU will remain suspended in time, between
countries, between identities.”
42
The InvisibleCity
Lucia Asue Mbomio
Spain
52:00
It is the largest illegal settlement in Europe.
Abdul’s house has just been demolished like many others. It was built
on an ancient cattle breeding path. La Canada Real is home to 40,000
people from 4 different communities: Spaniards; Muslims; Spanish Gypsies
and Romanians live there either in shacks or more luxurious dwellings.
There are also drug pushers, drug addicts, volunteers … and 10,000
children. But there are no schools, no hospitals and there definitely
aren’t any cattle. These communities have been occupying the land for 40
years but now according to some, it’s time to go … but where?
8
The Nogay and Crimean Tatars: An Oral History
Funda Ozyurt Torun
Turkey
X
A
documentary about the migration of the Nogay and Crimean Tatars to the
“White Territory” of the Ottoman Empire … the film presents a series of
migration stories, lands left behind and new horizons; the old and
continuing traditions of these people; their language, sociology and
architecture, birth, wedding and funeral traditions, children’s games,
culture and poetry, grammar, alphabet and history, their past
migrations, food culture, fabrics, ethnography, folk dances and farming
traditions
11
A history of 4000 years: the Laz
Funda Ozyurt Torun
Turkey
X
“The Greeks, Urartians and Assyrians referred to them as Colchis. The Laz protected the borders of the Byzantine Empire;
they trained warriors for the Trabzon Empire. Empress Anna Anachoutlu’s
accession to the throne was preceded by a Laz invasion. They brought
about great turning points in history. Now, for the first time ever,
they are retrieved from the annals of history to become the subject of a
documentary.”
Dr Ian McCormick served as Professor in the Arts at the University of Northampton. He works as a teaching advisor in educational creativity and participatory methodology. He also enjoys reading literary fiction, and writing about disability and the grotesque. His PhD was in the field of English literature and cultural history.
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