Press Release, mentions Johanna Divine and her film, Young Agrarians
May 12, 2005
Online at: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050512/nyth125.html?.v=10
MediaRights Launches the Fifth Annual
MEDIA THAT MATTERS FILM FESTIVAL at BAMcinematek and Online June 1
Presented by Loreto
Bay Company
Thursday May 12, 11:34 am ET
Sam Seder of Air America Radio's 'Majority Report' Hosts
Awards Ceremony at HBO May 26
Netflix, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Foundation, Utne
Magazine and Others Sponsor Yearlong Outreach and Distribution Campaign for
Festival's Inspiring Short Films
NEW YORK, May 12
/PRNewswire/ -- MediaRights, a Project of Arts Engine, launches its fifth
annual MEDIA THAT MATTERS FILM FESTIVAL with premiere screenings at
BAMcinematek and an online launch June 1. HBO's Manhattan headquarters will
also host a VIP awards ceremony celebrating the winning filmmakers work on May
26. Sixteen provocative, short, social-issue films make up this year's festival
and range from fast-paced musical animations to insightful personal
documentaries that offer new perspectives on the war in Iraq, racial identity,
global warming, gay rights, civil liberties, sustainable
agriculture/development, drug addiction and more.
The festival includes
a year-long program of web streaming, DVD distribution and screenings around
the country intended to connect audiences to inspiring, independently and
youth-produced short films that spark debate and action. Tickets to the June 1
premiere screenings at BAMcinematek are $10 and are available at the BAM Box
Office (718.636.4100) or through http://www.movietickets.com.
The fifth annual
MEDIA THAT MATTERS FILM FESTIVAL is produced by MediaRights, an organization
dedicated to maximizing the impact of social- issue documentaries by connecting
filmmakers, educators, nonprofits and youth. The festival is presented by
Loreto Bay Company, a real estate developer dedicated to sustainability.
A jury of media
professionals, activists and filmmakers met in February to choose the sixteen
official selections that make up this year's slate of films out of a pool of
over four hundred and fifty submissions from around the country. The jury
included Morgan Spurlock, Director of Super Size Me, Tia Lessin, Producer of
Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sean Wilsey of McSweeney's, as well as librarian Jessamyn
West (Librarian.net) and teen filmmakers from Manhattan Neighborhood Network's
Youth Channel.
"We were
thrilled to double our number of submissions from last year," said Katy
Chevigny, Executive Director of Arts Engine, Inc. "There is an increasing
demand for independent media, and we've found the most entertaining, timely and
innovative work out there. We can't wait to bring these vital perspectives to
audiences around the country."
DIVERSE TOPICS
The sixteen short
films tackle topics such as: politics and civic engagement (Battleground
Minnesota, Pizza Surveillance Feature), the war in Iraq and military
recruitment (All That I Can Be), media policy and the digital divide (The News
Is What We Make It, Laptop), gay rights (A Girl Named Kai, Homecoming),
juvenile justice (Bad Choices, System Failure), drug addiction (Happy Ending),
global warming and transportation alternatives (Neglected Sky, Fast and
Reliable), sustainable agriculture/development (Young Agrarians, World on Fire,
The Luckiest Nut in the World) and racial identity and tolerance (Something
Other Than Other). (Please see official selections below for full descriptions
of festival films and awards.)
DIVERSE FILMMAKERS
The sixteen festival
shorts were produced by independent filmmakers from around the United States as
well as some from Canada and the U.K. They include a mix of men and women,
adults and youth, African-Americans, Latino-Americans and Asian-Americans, and
gay, straight and transgender individuals. Filmmakers include teenager Chris
Johnson, aka Shakademic, a hip-hop artist from Minneapolis, who talks politics
and music with former Vice President Walter Mondale in his film Battleground
Minnesota; agricultural activist Johanna Divine, a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food
and Society Fellow from Flagstaff, Arizona who profiles the next generation of
farmers in Young Agrarians; Canadian singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan whose
music video World on Fire is a call to invest in development in impoverished
countries.
Noteworthy this year
is a large number of films made by teenagers: Battleground Minnesota, All That
I Can Be, Homecoming, Bad Choices, Happy Ending and Neglected Sky.
SPECIAL LAUNCH EVENTS
HELP KICKOFF THE FESTIVAL
On Thursday, May 26th
comedian Sam Seder, co-host of Air America Radio's "Majority Report,"
will host an awards ceremony for the filmmakers at HBO's Manhattan
headquarters. All sixteen films will be honored with awards and $10,000 in cash
grants will be distributed to select filmmakers. Additionally, Netflix is
providing 6-month subscriptions to their online DVD rental service to all 16
filmmaking teams. Ms. McLachlan is expected to accept her award via remote
video conferencing.
Other events include
an invitation-only VIP Party for festival supporters at DEKK in Tribeca on the
evening of Wednesday, May 25 and the "Media In Action Coalition-Building
Workshop" at the International Center for Tolerance Education in DUMBO on
Friday, May 27.
The "Media in
Action Coalition-Building Workshop" is a day-long workshop connecting
festival filmmakers with nonprofit workers and educators working for social
change. Filmmakers will present their work and their goals for making an
impact, while the nonprofits will identify tactics through which they can
utilize the films to reach new audiences and galvanize their constituencies.
Educators will explore ways in which the films can enhance their curricula and
inspire their students to become engaged citizens. Active partnerships will be
established and participants will walk away with concrete ideas for collaborative
events and actions that harness the power of the Media That Matters Film
Festival films. Participating organizations include Indyvoter, Free Press, New
Visions for Public Schools. Guest presenters include Clay Shirky, internet
culture commentator, and Robert McChesney, media reform author and activist.
At the Wednesday,
June 1 premiere at BAMcinematek, the films will be screened at 7 p.m., and
audiences will have an opportunity to meet filmmakers and get involved with the
issues at a Take Action table in the theatre lobby. An encore screening will
take place the same night at 9:20 p.m.
Also on June 1st, all
sixteen festival films will begin streaming online for a full year at http://www.MediaThatMattersFest.org
. Visitors to the site will be able watch the films and take action via links
that empower them to volunteer, sign petitions, write to Congress, or donate to
key organizations. The site will include a highly-trafficked news blog (over
500,000 visits last year) that will connect the films to current events and
alert visitors about upcoming screenings, new resources and opportunities to
take action throughout the year.
FESTIVAL SPONSORS
The Presenting
Sponsor of the fifth annual Media That Matters Film Festival is Loreto Bay
Company.
Other festival
sponsors include: Activators - Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Foundation,
Netflix, Utne magazine; Motivator - HBO; Celebrators - Paola Freccero, Frank
Marshall, Marcia Brady Tucker Foundation, Oxfam America; Initiators - DEKK,
Docurama, Alexander Summer Family Foundation, Filmmaker Magazine, Time Warner
Inc; Underwriting from - National Endowment for the Arts, Third Millennium
Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Additional underwriting from - Benton
Foundation, Expedia Media LLC, Lucius and Eva Eastman Fund, New York State
Council on the Arts.
Principal Partner -
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival; Additional partners -
Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers, Alliance for a Media Literate
America, Bay Area Video Coalition, Center for Social Media, Creative Commons,
Magnatune, National Council of Teachers of English.
ABOUT MEDIARIGHTS
The Media That
Matters Film Festival is produced by MediaRights, an organization that builds
the capacity of community organizations and filmmakers to reach, teach,
activate, and educate their constituencies. MediaRights promotes the exhibition
of documentaries in non-traditional venues and puts filmmakers in touch with
new audiences. Equipped with the nation's most comprehensive database of
politically and socially engaged films and videos, MediaRights provides
educators and activists with the tools they need to create video curricula,
curate audio/visual collections and use film more effectively in the classroom
and in lobbying campaigns. More than 30,000 users visit MediaRights each month
making the site one of the most vibrant online centers for community/filmmaker
collaborations. MediaRights and the Media That Matters Film Festival are projects
of Arts Engine, Inc., a nonprofit organization.
For more information
about MediaRights, visit http://www.mediarights.org
or call 646-230-6288.
ABOUT ARTS ENGINE,
INC.
Arts Engine, Inc.
supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and
promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general
public. By fostering the production and use of independent film, video and new
media, Arts Engine connects media makers and active audiences in order to spur
critical consideration of pressing social issues.